Used as a Running Gag, where Rene was frequently surprised by his wife while making out with one of his cafe's hot waitresses. After an initial moment of confusion, he would roll his eyes and tell her a blatant lie ("You stew-pid woman! Can you not see that ..."). She always fell for it.
In the episode "Sanctuary", following on from the Buffy episode "Who Are You", Buffy has chased Faith all the way to Los Angeles on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, since Faith had used a device left behind by Mayor Wilkins to pull a Grand Theft Me on her and used the situation to sleep with Buffy's new boyfriend Riley. When the crisis is resolved after Faith turns herself in, Buffy insists to Angel that she came because he was in danger (Faith had initially been hired by Wolfram & Hart to assassinate Angel), but Angel doesn't by it for a second, knowing that Buffy just used it as an excuse to come to L.A. for revenge; Buffy doesn't deny it.
In the episode "Sense & Sensitivity", Kate is interrogating a stereotypical mobster.
Kate: Your boss is wanted for the murder of a city supervisor. Criminal: I heard it was a suicide. Kate: Supervisor Caffrey shot himself? Criminal: It happens. Kate: Six times in the back of the head. Criminal: He'd been depressed.
G.O.B.: Lindsay's been staying at the Four Seas for, like, a month. She's probably charging the company. Michael: Lindsay's been in town for a month? G.O.B.: I don't think so.
After Curtis returns to his husband and gets an earful for rushing off without explanation, Curtis pretends he was helping the police solve the crisis but—scary and exciting as it was—he now realizes that he belongs back home and there will be no more disappearing acts. Given the enthusiasm with which Curtis worked with Team Arrow, if he's not lying to his husband he's certainly lying to himself at the end of "Beacon Of Hope".
Nearly every word Oliver says to Felicity, up until the point where she learns his secret identity.
Oliver: I was at my coffee shop surfing the web, and I spilt a latte on it. [a laptop he's asking her to get information off of] Felicity: Really. ... 'Cause these look like bullet holes. Oliver: My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood.
When Lucas first confronts Anna/Carrie she tells him that Deva is 13 years old. He clearly does not believe her and easily confirms that Deva is in fact 15.
In one of the webisodes, Lucas calls Job from prison to ask him about Anna. Job tells him that he has not seen Anna in years. Lucas does not believe this but can't do anything about it. For added irony, at that moment Anna is actually sitting right across from Job.
Staff are willing to come up with various excuses for how dirty the bar, kitchen, or storage is. Likewise, expect the next minute or two to be a rather angry host storming about with footage showing why these things are dirty and that the excuses are completely false.
The winner of that particular one has got to be Steve, owner of Headhunters, whose excuse for why he's running a bar that has mold, grime, and roaches all over the place, even inside the drink bottles crosses over into Cloud Cuckoo Lander territory boils down to this.
A good number of minutes of the O'Face episode is this regarding the origins of its name. The episode starts with one of the owners saying that it's a reference to his nickname. It becomes very apparent that the name is actually a reference to having an orgasm, given the various sexual references all over the bar, and their signature cocktail is called "the O-gasm". About halfway through the episode, Taffer ask the staff directly what the name means, and Dave, the bartender, comes up with a blatant lie before he forced to acknowledge what it actually means. This only contributes to the building rage that leads to Taffer leaving the bar.
The "chef" of Fairways Golf and Grill claimed that he was the graduate of a culinary academy and cleaned regularly. Not only did he not know how to cook anything, even a simple hamburger, but the kitchen and walk-in refrigerator were so filthy that fungal blooms were growing inside the fridge. He maintained his lies even after he was fired for his astounding incompetence.
Los Angeles Brewing Company's sign advertises 100 beers on tap, but due to financial difficulties they actually have less than 20.
During the Hideaway Bar & Grill episode (season 8), the employees comment in private interviews that the owner drinks heavily enough to hurt the bar's business. None of them repeat those claims during Taffer's visit, either out of a sense of solidarity or because the owner has bullied/bribed them into silence, and they still say nothing even after Taffer plays back the interview footage for all to see. He finally gets fed up with being called a liar and pulls the crew out without doing the rescue.
Being Human: Mitchell and George's landlord wonders why their flat is almost entirely empty, the real reason being that George is a werewolf and accidentally destroyed most of the furniture when he transformed the night before. Eager to make up an excuse, George gives a long rambling explanation about minimalist living. The landlord says he would have just figured they were redecorating.
George: ... That would have made more sense.
Many eccentric news pundits will feed this trope into their Chewbacca Defense generator to fill some airtime or to shut up an opponent that they couldn't defeat otherwise. One mildly funny example is a segment Bill O'Reilly did about a shooting in a Washington DC Holocaust Museum. He said that since his guest/opponent was a democrat, and that democrats were, in some way responsible for the shooting, that his guest had blood on her hands. He then said that she had different beliefs than he did, that he respects that and would never cast judgment upon her for that, and then screamed "BUT YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS."
In one Big Train sketch a driver whose car has broken down asks two locals whether they speak English. They reply, in perfect English, that they don't speak English, and start a conversation (in perfect English) about how they really should have paid more attention to their English lessons in school. When the driver tries to explain that her car broke down, they apologise (in perfect English) for not being able to understand a word of it. They eventually tell her there's a village five miles away where she might find someone who speaks English. As she walks off toward the village, the locals jokingly admit to each other that they do speak English.
Blackadder: Happens too many times to count throughout this show, but some of the more memorable are when Blackadder single-handedly rigs an election in the third-season opener.
Announcer: The Acting Returning Officer, Mr. E. Blackadder, of course. And we're all very grateful, indeed, that he stepped in at the last minute, when the previous Returning Officer accidentally brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving. [and again, moments later...] Blackadder: I took over from the previous electorate when he, very sadly, accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair.
Breaking Bad: After figuring out that Walt was the one who poisoned Brock, Jesse rushes over to Walt's house with a jug of gasoline, sprays it all over the place, and prepares to burn it down. Hank arrives and is able to talk him down, but when Walt arrives home later, he finds gasoline all over the place. While he hires a cleaning crew to get rid of the evidence, they aren't able to fully remove the gasoline smell on such short notice. He concocts a story about a pump malfunction at the gas station to explain the smell to his wife and son when they come home that night, even spilling gasoline on his clothes and on his car as "evidence", but such a ridiculously contrived story seems unlikely to either of them. Walt is forced to confess to his wife later that night what really happened when she demands to know the real reason behind the smell.
This show was full of this: "gangs on PCP" (group of vampires); "slipped and fell on a barbecue fork" (vampire bite resulting in loss of blood, consciousness, and memory); "office broken into by a pack of wild dogs" (students possessed by hyenas eating the principal); "neck rupture" (vampire bite); "gym full of asbestos" (full of recently-dusted vampires)... By the sixth season, it's gotten to the point where the official line is "Mayhem caused;monsters definitely not involved."
It was on fullest display during Anya and Xander's wedding, where the various demons sitting on the bride's side were explained as being "circus people".
Non-"Sunnydale Syndrome" example: during the episode where Buffy turns invisible, Xander goes to Spike for information and walks in on the two of them having sex. Spike's explanation is that he's exercising...naked...in bed. Xander seems to buy it, possibly for the sake of his sanity. "You know, jokes aside, you really should get a girlfriend."
Giles apparently used to tell girls he helped to found Pink Floyd. He probably didn't mention that this must have been when he was 11.
Buffy catches herself almost talking about her sex life to her mother:
Buffy: And I'm sure he'll come over later looking for a little... Bible study. Joyce: Well, good. I mean just as long as two of you are spending some quality time with... the Lord.
In the Season 2 episode "Lie to Me":
Giles: Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.
In the episode where Buffy's mother dies, when Buffy gets to the hospital she asks the doctor for reassurance that her mother hadn't been in any pain when she died. The doctor answers, but the words the audience hear—"I have to lie to make you feel better"—don't match his mouth movements and are implied to be Buffy's imagination.
Season 9: "I've been over Buffy since the first time we brought down a house." Yeah Spike, sure you were.
Castle: Most criminals lie to some degree, but one episode have Beckett/Castle interrupt the Irish mob in the process of beating a rival gang member to death, resulting in this (paraphrased) exchange with the victim:
Victim: Can I be real with you detective? Beckett: Oh, please do. Victim: The truth is, I fell, and they were just helping me up. Castle: And your head? Victim: Before I fell, I hit my head on the wall, which is why I fell. Beckett: And the burns on your hands? Victim: After I hit my head... and I fell.. I put my hand out onto the grill, you know, to catch my fall. Castle: Thanks for keeping it real.
The power plant's managers are desperately trying to cover up the extent of the problem and tell Deputy Chairman Shcherbina that the lumps of graphite reported by plant workers are "concrete" scorched by the roof fire. Shcherbina immediately calls them out on this and says that he happens to know a lot about concrete, and what they saw from the helicopter definitely isn't that.note Shcherbina is actually relying entirely on Legasov's identification of the graphite, but trusts him based on the fact that Legasov thought it was less dangerous to countermand an instruction from someone who reports directly to Gorbachev than fly over the reactor. And, though it's not mentioned explicitly, Shcherbina had a previous career in construction that did make him very familiar with concrete.
Later, a couple at the hotel bar asks Legasov about the accident and if it's anything they need to worry about. Legasov hesitates, smiles awkwardly, and says no. Despite his clear discomfort, the couple accept this and give him a casual toast. Later, it's revealed that they were both KGB agents and their questions were a Secret Test—had he answer honestly, he probably would have been arrested and replaced with another scientist for spreading "alarmism."
Chuck: In one episode, Devon has to explain a day's absence to Ellie. He decides to go with the story that he was jogging in the park when he noticed a cat in a tree, which turned out to be a bear, which then attacked him, leaving him with no choice but to decapitate it. When, surprisingly, Ellie doesn't buy it, Chuck leaps in with the no less blatant but slightly more believable lie that Casey had been arrested for public intoxication, and Devon had spent the day trying to get the charges dropped.
Class of '07: Renee claims to be a doctor at the reunion, and so gets appointed de facto medic after the pocko. Not only is she not a doctor, she seems to know less about medicine than anyone in the school, or indeed most of the viewing audience. The others later say they saw through it due to this.
Comedy Central Roast Of Pamela Anderson: Courtney Love insist throughout the Roast that she is sober, when it's clear to everyone in attendance that she's anything but. The other roasters repeatedly make jokes about it throughout the show.
Troy:[breathless and exhausted] How'd you like... those apples? Abed:[clearly not breathless and exhausted] I don't like those apples. I'm so upset. It was clearly a fluke that I won those other games.
In a later episode, a therapist attempts to convince the gang that their entire time at Greendale College was a shared delusion. This would be a lot more believable to take in if their wasn't certain evidence to the contrary, such as pictures on a phone, families who have been to college, and Annie wearing a Greendale backpack during this whole conversation. Needless to say, the therapist turned out to be a fraud.
His next attempt to fool them, claiming that Greendale was purgatory and he was the Devil, was even less successful. Mostly.
Troy: I knew it! Jeff: [Dope Slap] Stop letting him make you realize stuff!
Control Z: In 1.04, Rosita assured Natalia that she would tell everyone to stop ignoring her. However, Natalia reaches her breaking point after it is revealed that Rosita had actually done the opposite through a dare (Freeze Natalia) in which anyone seen talking to her would be banned from attending the NONA party.
Late in the first season of Curfew, a shootout occurs at a gas station, killing Meg Donahue and Zane and possibly killing Lou Collins. The shootout is witnessed by Max, the race organizer. During the final dash to the finish, Lou's daughter Hanmei teams up with Meg's mother Jenny and brother Roman and they end up winning the race together. At the finish, Roman claims that Hanmei is Meg. Max accepts this even though he knows better.
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report: At least one third of these two shows are dedicated to exposing the prevalent lies spewed by politicians and the media, frequently by showing clips one after the other, where whoever they are targeting says exactly the opposite of what they are currently saying. The fact they have enough material to fill out about 10 minutes of their show every day is depressing.
Dead Like Me: George uses every kind of excuse she can think of to get out of work for her reaper duties. (Trying to see an executive, she claims that it's "about his son, who drugged me, and then videotaped it while homeless people had sex with my unconscious body.")
The Devil Judge: Ga-on tells Soo-hyun he was safe and far away from the terror attack on the Supreme Court. Actually he was there when it happened and he jumped in front of the bus to protect a child.
In Dexter, Dexter is stalking a victim to prevent him from killing his friend, when he is approached by a couple scary-looking thugs speaking Spanish. Since this is Miami, everybody speaks a little Spanish, but at that particular moment, Dexter needed to get the heck out of where he was as fast as he could. So he said he didn't speak Spanish. This might have worked, except he was so flustered that he accidentally said it IN SPANISH. Nice one, Dex.
Doctor Who: The Doctor has been doing this since pretty much day one.
The Doctor: I've learned to stay out of the affairs of others years ago. Ian:[laughs] The Doctor: Don't be absurd. I'm not the least bit curious. Barbara:[laughs] The Doctor:[is already pressing the guy who'd just told them to leave while they still could for more information]
"The Dalek Invasion of Earth": Barbara convinces the Daleks that the resistance forces are attempting an immediate assault... working together with the Boston Tea Party, and General Lee and Hannibal are poised to perform a synchronized cavalry strike on the Dalek base. The Daleks, having never heard of those, assume the worst.
A rare instance of the audience being let in on the joke, but the characters are not, occurs in "Pyramids of Mars". The Big Bad has to navigate a Death Course and complains when a particular puzzle looks complex, but is actually simply a "find the different one" match game. (The audience is shown how easy the puzzle actually is.) When the Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive later, the Doctor weaves an elaborate commentary on the puzzle involving scale, ratios, and physics while measuring with his scarf. He then solves the puzzle while making a show of protecting Sarah in case there is an explosion.
The Doctor: I don't suppose you've completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any Nitro-9, have you? Ace: What if I had? The Doctor: Naturally, you wouldn't do anything so insanely dangerous as to carry it around with you, would you? Ace: Of course not. I'm a good girl, I do what I'm told. The Doctor: Excellent. Blow up that vehicle.
"The Unquiet Dead": After the Gelth light-show at the theatre, Sneed the undertaker and his maid Gwyneth haul the dead body of the woman they were possessing to their hearse. Rose, seeing this, follows them and asks Gwyneth what they're doing. Gwyneth claims that the woman has a "brain fever" and they're taking her to hospital, despite the fact that she's obviously dead. Rose doesn't buy it for a second, which gets her chloroformed and abducted by Sneed, desperate to cover up his zombie problem.
"Aliens of London": When Jackie demands to know what Rose was doing when she disappeared for a year, Rose simply says that she was "travelling", which Jackie doesn't buy because her passport was at home the entire time. Rose also claims that the reason she didn't phone is because she meant to, but forgot. The actual reason is a Year Outside, Hour Inside situation.
It's stated at the end of "World War Three" that Blatant Lies are used at first, along with people's natural Weirdness Censor, by the British government and UNIT to paper over the Doctor's various adventures. In a later subversion of the trope, it's ultimately shown that no one in London is buying what Downing Street is selling anymore, to the point where the city is nearly deserted on Christmas Eve in "Voyage of the Damned".
At the end of "Dalek", Rose asks the Doctor if Adam can come along on their adventures. When the Doctor asks if this is because Adam is good-looking, Rose coyly responds that she never noticed.
"The Long Game": The Doctor punishes Adam for attempting to steal information from the future for his own benefit. It's implied that he might have been a bit more lenient had Adam not foolishly chosen to lie about the information, which he'd recorded onto the answering machine of his home phone, even though the Doctor had already worked out what the score was.
"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
"Boom Town": The Doctor asks Margaret Blaine's secretary to tell her he's there. The secretary comes out, looking stunned, and this exchange happens.
Secretary: The Lord Mayor says thank you for popping by. She'd love to have a chat, but, er, she's up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week? The Doctor: She's climbing out the window, isn't she? Secretary: Yes she is.
"School Reunion": One of the alien cafeteria workers gets oil from a mysterious barrel all over herself, and is quickly rushed into another room. Rose is calmly informed by the head cafeteria worker that she'll be fine. Even after she starts billowing smoke and screaming.
Worker: It's OK... she does that.
"Rise of the Cybermen": Alternate Universe Jackie Tyler claims that she's not 40 years old (because that's what her official biography says), and insists that all the decorations at her party reflect this. Her husband Pete's opening speech, and the guests' reactions, suggest everyone present knows this is bull.
"Army of Ghosts": After Rose is caught sneaking around the Torchwood facility, the Doctor claims not to know who she is. After an unconvinced Yvonne replies that in that case, she can have her shot, the Doctor quickly caves, resulting in Yvonne's amusement when she finds out that the Doctor dragged his companion's mother along for the adventure.
Martha, meanwhile, claims that she's not interested in the Doctor because she only goes for humans. The very next episode shows otherwise.
"The Family of Blood": At the end, Martha tells the Doctor "I would have said anything to get you to change" regarding her earlier Love Confession when trying to persuade John Smith, the human persona created by the Chameleon Arch, to turn back into the Doctor. He knows she's lying, but goes along with it.
"Planet of the Ood": Solana Mercurio reassures the reps visiting Ood Operations for a sales event that the alarms going off are definitely fire alarms that are tested at this time daily, not alarms going off because an Ood has escaped and made a run for it.
"The Unicorn and the Wasp": Nearly all the suspects' statements about where they were when Professor Peach was murdered are this, as flashbacks show that they were actually having a gay tryst, looking at period porn, etc. Especially Roger ("lonely as the proverbial cloud"), who's clearly trying too hard.
Twice, when the Tenth Doctor is grieving, on being asked if he's okay he replies "I'm always alright." Lampshaded by Donna in "Forest of the Dead" when she asks "Is 'alright' a special Time Lord code for 'really not alright at all'?"
"Midnight": Val Cane is one of the first people to demand the Doctor be thrown out of the bus because the entitypossessing Sky has apparently moved into him. She even embraces "Sky", relieved that she is apparently cured. However, after the entity is destroyed and the Doctor freed, she has the gall to tell him "I said it was her." His response is an exhausted Death Glare.
"The Stolen Earth": The leader of the Shadow Proclamation demands that the Doctor hand over the TARDIS so the Proclamation can go to war against whoever's stolen 27 planets for nefarious purposes. The Doctor responds that he'll just get her a key, steps inside and immediately takes off, leaving her shouting impotently as the TARDIS dematerializes.
"The Next Doctor": While searching a dead man's house, the Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver behind the title character's back and starts scanning with it. When the Next Doctor asks Ten what the noise was, the Doctor claims he was whistling, proceeding to do a very credible imitation of the screwdriver's noise as "proof".
The Doctor: You know when grown-ups tell you, "Everything's gonna be fine" and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better? Amelia: Yeah. The Doctor: Everything's gonna be fine.
In "Meanwhile in the TARDIS" 1:
The Doctor: It's camouflage. It's disguised as a police telephone box from 1963. Every time the TARDIS materializes in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyses its surroundings, calculates a 12-dimensional data map of everything within a 1000-mile radius and determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment... And then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963. Amy: Oh. Why? The Doctor: It's probably a bit of a fault, actually. I've been meaning to check. Amy: What, it's a police box every time? The Doctor: Yeah, I suppose, now you mention. Amy: How long has it been doing that? The Doctor: Oh... you know. Not long...
The Doctor: Remember, we are observers only, no matter what happens. In all my travels, that's the one rule that I've always stuck to.
"The Vampires of Venice": The Doctor's response to the TARDIS console sparking, smoking and exploding? "It's meant to do that."
"The Big Bang": After Amy brings the Doctor back into the recreated universe with her Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory at her wedding reception, she asks him if she's managed to surprise him...
The Doctor:[wearing a top hat and tails] Uh, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that.
Used as a Tear Jerker in "A Good Man Goes to War". Upon meeting a dying girl who met the Doctor when she was younger, and expects the Doctor to know who she is, the following exchange takes place:
Lorna: Doctor... The Doctor:[smiling delightedly] You helped my friends. Thank you. Lorna: I met you once. In the Gamma forest... You don't remember me. The Doctor: Of course I do, Lorna. I remember everyone. Hey, we ran — you and me! [Lorna smiles weakly and dies. The Doctor composes himself.] The Doctor: ...Who was she? Vastra: I don't know, but she was very brave. The Doctor: ...They are always brave. [swallows his own shame] They are always brave...
"The Ghost Monument": After finding the TARDIS, the Doctor reaffirms her vow to get her new friends home. Yaz points out that the Doctor herself seemed to doubt that a few minutes ago, which she immediately denies.
It transpires that Ryan has been covering for his travels with the Doctor at his job by claiming to be suffering from a succession of serious medical problems, including appendicitis, a hernia and a detached retina.
As a Rewatch Bonus, O claims that he's never done undercover work. This is coming from the self-proclaimed Master of Disguise.
"Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror": After dealing with protestors outside his lab and going through a stack of angry letters, Nikola Tesla claims that he doesn't care about other people's opinions of him before leaving the room, after which a thump is heard implying that he got angry and either threw or hit something.
Escape at Dannemora: As their supervisor in a prison factory, Tilly makes threadbare excuses to meet Sweat and then Matt in private circumstances to have sex with them. The rest of the prisoners see what's really going on and roll their eyes whenever she does so.
Everybody Loves Raymond: If Ray even suspects that Debra (or anyone else, for that matter) will be unhappy about something he did/n't do, he will immediately begin lying, often continuing long after it's obvious they've figured it out. He will do this even in situations where he really should know that telling the truth is the best option.
A poignant version on ER. After Carter and Lucy are stabbed by a deranged patient, Lucy dies from her injuries. In the next episode, Lucy's mother visits him in the hospital and asks what it felt like when he was attacked. Carter looks her in the eye and declares, "It was very fast. No pain", knowing full well that she needs to believe that her daughter didn't suffer. In a subversion, it seems obvious that she doesn't believe him, but she clearly appreciates his efforts at making her feel better..
In one episode it's revealed that Bishop Brennan has a fear of rabbits. So naturally it is Played for Laughs which culminates in the Bishop waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by rabbits and Ted and Dougal stood in the room holding rabbits in a way that makes it look like they put them there. To which Ted says "It's just a bad dream your grace." The bishop believes it for a moment before screaming.
Earlier in the episode he tries to hide the presence of rabbits from the bishop by explaining the cage and lettuce as being where he grows lettuce and the rabbit droppings as caviar. The bishop believes all this because he thinks Ted is a moron.
"That money was just resting in my account!"
In the first episode Ted is trying to hide the fact that there is a TV crew coming to Craggy Island from the rest of the house. When Mrs Doyle receives a phone call about it she informs Ted who acknowledges it before telling Dougle he never heard of the man on the other end to cover his tracks.
Mrs Doyle: Father, there was a call from a Terry MacNamee. Ted: Ah, yes. Dougal: Who's that Ted? Ted:[voice creaking] I've never heard of him.
In "Entertaining Father Stone", Ted and Dougle try desperately to find an excuse to get Father Stone to leave the house. Among the excuses is the paintings needing to be rehung because it would be very dangerous to stay in the house while that happens apparently.
Firefly: Averted Trope. In the first episode, Jayne, the ship's resident amoral mercenary, mouths off and is told to leave the room. He claims that "[He] isn't paid to talk pretty", but leaves. Simon asks what Jayne does, and Capt. Reynolds responds: "Public Relations." Given the kind of public the crew is used to dealing with, Jayne deals with thempretty well. Especially if the public includes whores.
Phoebe's song "Two Of Them Kissed Last Night" about Betty (Rachel), Neil (Ross) and Loolie (Julie).
Joey's racoon story.
Ross's "I haven't had sex in a very long time!"
When the gang are in London, Joey buys a ridiculous Union Jack hat from a salesman who assures him everybody in London wears them. When Chandler points out that literally nobody walking past is wearing them, the salesman replies "They're all tourists!"
Phoebe's reaction when Ross tells her that he's the father of Rachel's baby: "THAT IS BRAND NEW INFORMATION!"
There's a classic episode where Will pretends he's Ashley's father (complete with pipe and fake moustache) and goes to her Parent-Teacher conference so that Ashley wouldn't have to tell her parents she transferred to public school. Later the Teacher meets Phil. Will spends the whole scene saying things like "Nice meeting you for the first time ever in my life."
When the teacher uncovers Will's deception, the following exchange takes place:
Teacher: That's a fake mustache! Will: No it's not! Teacher: [rips mustache off] Yes it is! Will: No it's not! Ashley: Will! Will: No it's not!
When King Robert Baratheon (who is ignorant of his youngest brother's homosexuality) asks him, "Have you ever fucked a Riverlands girl?", Renly's vague response is "Once, I think." Renly's annoyed facial expression indicates that he often uses this line whenever someone inquires about his sexual conquests.
In "A Golden Crown," after the fight between Jaime and Ned in the previous episode, a furious Cersei claims to her husband Robert that Ned attacked her brother in a drunken rage after returning from a brothel. In reality, Ned was only visiting the brothel as part of his investigation of Robert Arryn's death, was completely sober and was the victim of Jaime's attack in retaliation for Ned's wife abducting Jaime's brother.
In "What Is Dead May Never Die," Renly blames the wine for his inability to perform, but his wife Margaery sees right through his charade.
Margaery Tyrell telling King Joffrey in "Dark Wings, Dark Words," "The subtleties of politics are often lost on me."
When Ser Jaime Lannister asks Lorasnote the late Renly's lover if he is looking forward to his wedding to Cersei Lannister, Loras hesitates for a moment before replying, "Yes, very much."
During Tyrion's trial in "The Laws of Gods and Men": Arguably the biggest piece of bullshit in the series' history, Grand Maester Pycelle at one point describes Joffrey as "the most noble child the gods ever put on this good earth." Cersei inverts the truth to claim Joffrey fought bravely in the Battle of Blackwater while Tyrion plotted to kill him.
The above is challenged pretty much anytime Ramsay Bolton refers to himself as "merciful" in anyway. One would rather be outright killed than face his "mercy". Furthermore, any time he promises safe conduct, he's just screwing with his enemies and plans to torture them anyway. Another specific example is, at the beginning of Season 4 when Roose chides him for torturing and castrating Theon Greyjoy because this effectively ruins Theon's use as a potential hostage to negotiate with Theon's father Balon Greyjoy (and Balon does abandon Theon for dead due to Theon's castration since now Theon can no longer further the Greyjoy line). Ramsay defends himself by saying that he tried to negotiate with Balon, but he wouldn't listen, so he tortured and castrated Theon. This is the complete opposite of what actually happened: the very first message that Ramsay sent to Balon was delivered along with a box containing Theon's severed genitals. Roose's criticism is entirely accurate, he just plain didn't think that he was ruining Theon's value as a hostage by mutilating him. Later, absolutely nobody believes his claim that Roose was "poisoned by his enemies" for a hot second.
When Robb asks how his mother treated Jon while visiting Bran's sickbed in "The Kingsroad", Jon says, "She was very kind."
Tyrion has to struggle manfully to call his borderline-retarded jailer a "smart man" in "A Golden Crown".
Lancel's account of Robb's victory at Oxcross includes accusations of cannibalism and using sorcery to conjure an army of wolves.
Sansa's continued refrain that she is loyal to Joffrey, her One True Love, even moments after being stripped, beaten, and threatened on his orders.
Brienne is a Bad Liar whenever it comes to denying her affection for Renly.
Joffrey's boasts of saving the city and winning the war in "Two Swords" rather than the truth that he damaged troop morale by retreating at a critical time.
The High Septon tries to pass off his brothel visit as tending the souls of the common people in "High Sparrow".
Ironically, this is what Cersei does by declaring the charges of fornication, treason, incest, and murder against her to be this trope.
When Oberyn asks him if he denies involvement in Elia Martell's murder, Tywin answers, "Categorically", but the uncharacteristic, deflective tone of his voice hints he's at least uneasy with the assertion. In the books, Tywin states to Tyrion during a private conversation that he had explicitly ordered Rhaegar's children dead but never mentioned what should be done with Elia, and Gregor Clegane had simply filled in the blanks in his usual manner. Tyrion remains skeptical and later Oberyn tells Tyrion that Tywin was acting out of spite because Aerys spurned Cersei over Elia for Rhaegar's bride.
Tywin claims that he wouldn't let Tyrion be executed (while Tyrion was aiming a crossbow at him), despite Tywin ordering the execution himself. Charles Dance's delivery is so good and there's just enough of a kernel of truth to that speech that it's just possible to believe Tywin was telling the truth.
In the DVD extras, Viserys tells one after another in defense of House Targaryen. Of course, he may actually believe his lies.
Half the things Sue says are funny because of this trope.
Sue: You know, William, that's what one Hubert Humphrey said back in 1968 at the start of the Democratic National Convention. But then hippies put acid in everyone's bourbon, and when an updraft revealed Lady Bird Johnson's tramp stamp, and tattoos above her ovaries, Mayor Richard J. Daley became so incensed with sexual rage that he punched his own wife in the face, and spent the next hour screaming 'sex party' into the microphones of all three major networks.
Kurt claiming to be straight for the first few episodes of Season 1. No one believed him.
Goodnight Sweetheart: The main character constantly switches between 1941 and the modern day, meaning that he often ends up in the past with technology that shouldn't exist in that time. When anyone asks him about it, he invariably claims the gadget comes 'from America'. Everyone believes this without question, which is probably Truth in Television.
The Good Place: Michael says a "Class 55 Doomsday Scenario" is simply a minor inconvenience.
The Great British Bake Off: James's claim in the biscuit week of series 3 that his derelict gingerbread barn was the intended outcome. Unfortunately he'd already showed the judges and by extension the audience the plans for the intact barn, so wasn't fooling anyone. Except perhaps Paul, who genuinely seemed to think he might have been leading them on with the complete version.
The Handmaid's Tale: Offred claims she consented to being a Handmaid and that she's happy when the Mexican ambassador asks, though later in private she reveals the real facts.
Season 2, Episode 6 Brad needs Max to come help him when he's supposedly in Michigan.
Max: In Michigan? I don't know where that is. Brad: You absolutely know where Michigan is. You were an extra in the movie 8 Mile.
Later on,
Max: Your apartment? I don't know where that is.
Himmelsdalen: Siri tells Helena a bunch of lies in the pilot. First she claims to have found love with another woman (surprising Helena since she had expressed homophobia) who was abused by her husband (she's actually a fellow patient Siri beat) and wants to leave so she can be with her (as a ploy for escaping the sanitorium where she's being held).
Hogan's Heroes: Commandant Klink gets so many Blatant Lies fed to him by Hogan that he should just put on a bib every time the colonel comes into his office. Hogan gives them to Sergeant Shultz too, although Shultz doesn't seem to truly believe them - he just chooses to ignore what Hogan and his men are doing.
Barney from How I Met Your Mother breathes this trope. He generally targets these lies to very stupid women, and has successfully used lies to the following effects:
Claimed to be Neil Armstrong (bonus points for the "Cosmic radiation caused me to age backwards" excuse for why he clearly wasn't old enough to have even been born at the time of the moon landing).
Claimed to be Barack Obama.
Pretended to be black ("Barnell").
Convinced a woman he was a famous person she hadn't heard of before.
Pretended to be a time traveller from the future and told a girl that having sex with his "past self" will save the world from global warming.
Pretended to be a genie whose penis granted wishes.
As he was having a competition with Lily and Robin to see if he could pick up any potential girl in the bar, Robin convinced a random woman that if she waited she would get together with Ryan Gosling. Barney simply walked up and stated that he was Ryan Gosling and slept with her.
Human Target: Winston is faced with disarming a remote timer, which will trigger enough C4 to level the building around him. Faced with two wires and no clue, his only hope is Geurerro, a seedy freelance agent he calls over the phone... who doesn't have a clue either.
Winston: [hearing something 'plink' in the background] Did you just flip a coin?! Guererro: ...No.
The IT Crowd: In this British comedy series, Blatant Lies are featured several times. Some notable examples:
In "Yesterday's Jam" Jen, the new manager of the IT department, lied in her application, saying she had "a lot of experience with computers", and is successful with these lies just because her new boss doesn't know a lot about computers either. During that episode, she gets caught a few times more (pretending to talk on a disconnected phone, or typing on an unplugged PC).
In "Calamity Jen", Jen lies about her shoe size so she can buy a nice pair of shoes (destroying her feet). When a fire breaks out in the IT office, they put an old hollowed-out monitor in front of it just before the boss enters the room, making him shout "nice screensaver!".
"The Haunting of Bill Crouse" is almost completely based on a Blatant Lie told by Moss when he was supposed to get rid of an annoying coworker for Jen. He tried making up excuses and finally settled for "She's dead", making him believe he's being haunted by Jen whenever he sees or hears her.
In "The Speech", Roy and Moss explain to Jen that the internet is a small black box with a blinking red light on top. When she later explains this in a speech, none of the listeners seem to suspect anything. When the box is destroyed, a panic breaks out.
In episode 27, when hiding their secret relationship from Sri who saw them romantically holding hands on the table, Neneng and Rais claim that they were arm-wrestling.
In the same episode, Seli tries to distract Jufri by claiming a goat is flying. Despite stating how obvious Seli's lie is, Jufri looks up anyway.
Season 2 of Kids in the Hall features a sketch where a man is asking for directions from another man, who tells him in increasingly convoluted sentences (in English) that he can't help him since unfortunately he doesn't speak a word of English.
The King's Woman: Queen Dowager Zhao claims Lao Ai was only there to give her a massage, right after Ying Zheng walked in on her making out with Lao Ai.
Kitchen Nightmares: Has this in full spades. Gordon Ramsay visits a restaurant that is in need of serious help and in nearly every episode, the owner, the chef, or just anybody working in the place will lie to Gordon's face whenever he asks something that is related to their problems, such as if the food is made fresh or is frozen. (One actually tried to claim it was "fresh frozen"!) This is usually the people trying to hide a bigger problem or downplay them.
Happens somewhat. Michael Knight made up various stories about who/what both KITT and himself are during the run of the show. On the other hand, a surprisingly large number of guest stars, after displaying initial shock and surprise, accepted the idea of a talking, sentient supercar surprisingly quickly. Far better than Michael himself did despite being hand-picked for the job.
Several villains even point out "Up until X years ago, Michael Knight didn't exist". They don't really find this too terribly odd beyond the mention, but given the frequency this happens you'd think The Foundation would have found a way to fix that in the background check systems.
In the Season 6 finale of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, John Oliver took a victory lap over a defamation lawsuit that had been aimed at him by a coal magnet named Bob Murray getting tossed out by a judge. He did a musical number full of these about things Murray "did" because as he pointed out, statements that are clearly jokes are protected speech. The lies about him are included but not limited to : "murdered Arch Duke Ferdinand and started World War I" , "masturbates to Schindler's List, "break into people's houses to ejaculate in their Wheaties", "is the Zodiac Killer", "doesn't like Tom Hanks", "cut off Van Gogh's ear", and "fucks squirrels".
Law & Order: Criminal Intent: In "Dramma Giocoso", Logan and Barek discover that a woman at the center of their case ended up in an emergency room, but the ER doctor can't talk to them about a patient, so Logan suggests they hypothetically discuss a scenario where his "poor, sweet mother" came in with the same symptoms. This description is so far from the reality of what Logan's mother was that Barek visibly reacts while repeating the adjectives as part of a follow-up question.
LazyTown: "Robbie's Dream Team": Stephanie and Stingy come across Robbie setting up a trap for Sportacus, however he convinces them that he's just trying to catch "the world's largest invisible bird."
The Government Conspiracy interrogating David Haller over what happened at Clockworks initially dismiss Sydney Barrett as part of his delusion. They're very much aware that she's real, and are attempting to use David to find her.
After David accidentally smashes a lamp in his sister's basement, Amy takes away the sharp gardening tools to remove the risk of him potentially hurting himself, but the fake reason she gives for doing this is, "Ben, he's gotta get to the garden tomorrow morning, you know?"
When David searches for Syd, he tells the person on the other end of the phone, "I'm her father, Max."
In "Chapter 26", when Amahl Farouk inquires about the stranger that Charles Xavier has brought to the palace, Charles introduces his time-travelling son David as an old army buddy from World War II. (This is impossible because David was born in the 1950s.)
Charles: This is David. An old friend. He was stationed here in Morocco during the war and well, he decided to stick around. Farouk: So, David, where were you stationed? David: Mohammedia. Just outside Rabat. Came in with Operation Torch, like the rest of the meddling Americans.
Leverage: While you would expect a lot of blatant lies from a show about con artists like this one, one exchange between the team members fits this trope perfectly: Eliot called Sophie to ask for advice while she was on vacation, and asked her not to tell Nate he'd called. Parker, who'd just done the same thing, asked Eliot who it was. His reply: "cable company."
Lie to Me: Every episode is full of them. One hilarious example, however, is a known drug dealer saying: "All I told them to do was run product... and by product I mean chewing gum."
Lizzie McGuire: Matt McGuire ends up faking a lot of his genealogy report due to jealousy towards his mute friend Lenny for being related to someone famous (in Lenny's case: Crispus Attucks, the first casualty of the Boston Massacre). He does this by claiming to be related to George Washington, Davy Crockett, and Elvis. Although everyone else didn't see through the lies about Washington and Elvis (except for Lenny), one person besides Lenny did in regards to Crockett.
Lost: Benjamin Linus does this almost constantly. If you listen to Ben a lot you realize that he lies just for the hell of it, such as when he tells Jack his mother taught him to read or said he was a Pisces. Even when the truth would be fine, he lies anyway.
Madam Secretary: Russian Foreign Minister Anton Gorev claiming there are no Russian troops in Ukraine in "The Rusalka". His expression makes clear he's just repeating the party line and knows full well it's total BS, and Liz calls him on it with a sarcastic remark about how many coffins are being snuck back into Russia in the dead of night.
In episode 18, Bambang denies to Anto that he is sulking while sitting alone in the car wash and frowning. Becomes more blatant after Bambang rants about Prima within Anto's earshot, yet he still denies it.
When Kai forces Alan to help him collect debts from Alan's own dormitory in episode 20, Alan tries to hide from Pipin and claims he is a cat when he is spotted.
In episode 22, Alan has been scared of the ghost that Pipin mentioned and even more so after he hearts the ghost's voice. Right after running away from Mami Bibir's house while screaming, Alan insists that he was not scared and was just trying to come up with a new strategy to deal with the ghost.
In episode 46, Alexi tries to enter Mami Bibir's house after getting kicked out by claiming to be the RT leader, with the same voice he normally uses just with a bad accent.
In episode 47, Melani looks through the house's window to see Bambang quietly. When Mami Bibir catches her, Melani unconvincingly claims she was just checking whether the glass pane is on the window or not.
Also in episode 47, Melani insists to Pipin that she isn't acting cold towards Pipin, while putting a fake smile and speaking with her teeth clenched.
In episode 61, Bambang's attemped excuse for why Slamet can't talk with Melani right now is because Melani is playing with sand.
Miranda (2009): There is at least one in every episode, who often then lampshades it by turning to the camera to contradict herself. In the Christmas episode, she's sharing a bed with Gary, and rolls over, doing the dreaded 'breast clap'. Her response to him wondering what it was? "A duck quacking."
Misfits: The Christmas episode has this gem from Nathan:
Nathan: We may have done sod all with our powers, but we never abused them. We never raped or murdered anyone. Curtis: [Alisha] raped me, and we killed loads of people.
In "Mr. Monk and the Leper", Randy pulls an old photo of his off the wall of his dermatologist's waiting room, taking a piece of wall with it... right as the doctor is coming in. "This fell off the wall."
Then there's "Mr Monk and the Garbage Strike", in which Monk denies sending his trash to Dr. Kroger in spite of a) his hatred of garbage, b) his handwriting on the packages, and c) the fact that said trash is sorted and color-coded.
The Dead Parrot sketch, where Michael Palin's character insists to John Cleese that the parrot isn't dead, just asleep, even though the very dead parrot has been nailed to its perch to keep it upright.
The Argument Clinic too, especially when John Cleese's character starts to spew lies in order to scam more money out of his client.
NCIS. While stranded at the airport, Tony gets suspicious of a sloppily dressed passenger who doesn't want to go through security again and snatches his cap to search through it. When he finds a stash of marijuana, the guy looks him straight in the eye and declares, "That's not mine."
Patriot: When asked how he's doing, reluctant secret agent John Tavener will always respond, "Pretty good," even when he's physically falling apart from injuries and delivering a thousand yard stare due to accumulated mental trauma. When he tries to gauge someone else's state and gets the same response, he asks if they're actually pretty good, admitting that it's his own default answer.
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: The 'Bible: Fact or Fiction?' Episode - "Elvis didn't do no drugs!" Blatant Lies by any other name...
Primeval: In one episode, Jenny "explains" a prehistoric crocodile on a rampage in central London as a charity fun-run gone wrong. This is one of her more plausible explanations.
Psych: Uses this trope frequently. The lyrics to the theme song even point out that "I know you know that I'm not telling the truth." The premise of the series is founded on this trope as Shawn is a fake psychic detective. In the pilot, when Shawn is pressed by the police to explain how he solved a crime, Shawn lies, "Okay, okay. Fine, you win. I got the information, because...I'm a psychic."
When Olive questions Chuck about why she and Ned don't touch each other (because Ned brought her Back from the Dead, and she would die again if he did):
Olive: Do you have some kind of deadly food allergy to Ned? Chuck: I'm going to say yes.
In "Pie-lette", some time after Ned visited the morgue posing as a dog expert, he visits again:
Kryten makes this a Subverted Trope somewhat by audibly engaging his "Lie Mode" software:
Rimmer: Kryten — will this work? Kryten: Lie Mode. [pause] Of course it will work, sir. No worries. [winks to Lister] Hook, line, sinker, rod and copy of Angling Times, sir.
On another occasion:
Kryten: Are you of the school that, when faced with bad news, prefers to hear that news naked and unvarnished, or are you of the ilk that prefers to live in happy and blissful ignorance of the nightmare you're facing? Rimmer: Ignorance, every time. Kryten: Congratulations sir! You've come storming through your medical with flying colors! See you next time.
He also plays it straight in the episode "Camille", which is when he first gains the ability to lie. He actually says (while lying himself blue in the face): "You have to believe me! I'm a mechanoid! Mechanoids can't lie!"
He does it again the "The Last Day", where he shuts down the replacement robot by telling it that there is no Silicon Heaven and no afterlife for androids. When the rest of the crew question Kryten about why the "newer model" couldn't handle that revelation and his could, this happens:
Kryten: Well, I knew something he didn't. Lister: What? Kryten: I knew I was lying! No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?
Revolution: In the episode "The Children's Crusade", Randall Flynn says "I just want us to be friends," to two different people. Given that those two people never got anything good by working with him, and that his ultimate plan is to launch Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles at Philadelphia and Atlanta, he was either lying through his teeth, or he has a very twisted definition of the word "friend".
Jon Lovitz's recurring character "The Liar" makes obvious lies in a cartoonish manner, following each with, "Yeah, that's the ticket!"
The classic Land Shark sketch, the titular character would knock on an apartment door is called out by the woman for his blatant lies, which rank from being a flower delivery man who doesn't know who the recipient of the flowers is supposed to be, a plumber the occupant did not call, and finally a Candygram deliver. The woman is able to call him out on the second attempt as a Land Shark (she saw a news report on the TV) and the Candygram attempt confirms the status of the shark... who then decides to claim he's really a dolphin. This actually works.
Alexis tries to prevent Twyla from singing the song she's writing by saying, "I don't like music," with the earbuds from her iPod dangling over her shoulders.
Johnny tells David that he and Moira didn't forget his birthday and have been talking about it for weeks, when it's clear they forgot.
After Patrick catches David and Stevie with the gift he brought David, they claim they only put it on the table so nothing would spill on it.
David claims he hasn't gotten back together with Patrick because he's still hurting when it's obvious he's enjoying being showered with gifts and attention.
Moira uses an absurd monologue from her days on a Soap Opera to convince a disgruntled guest to take down a bad review of the motel.
Alexis, while wearing a turban-like hat, tells Ted that she has come to work on Saturday to help a client Meredith who has lice that she got from her dog. Ted debunks this and immediately realizes that Alexis is the one that has the lice and helps her.
The Almighty Janitorloves this trope. One of the most memorable, when he was explaining how he knew sign language:
Janitor: I used to hang out at the zoo a lot, and there was this one gorilla who knew sign language. I learned it so I could talk to him. Well it turned out he only knew a few words. Big. And boobs. He liked 'em big and hairy. But I always remembered him, because he inspired me. J.D.: Was any of that true? Janitor: Someone would have to read it back to me.
This happens a whole lot in Scrubs, since a lot of the dialogue is improvised. There are a ton of outtakes where the actors are just making crazy stuff up, getting progressively more ridiculous, and then one of them comes out of character and goes 'ha, no, there's no way we can use that'.
In the very first episode, Dr. Kelso informs Turk about how patients lie to their doctors all the time, even when lying to their doctor may actually be dangerous for them to do. Cut to a montage of patients lying to Turk, including a "virgin" being pregnant... again, a big, fat guy claiming to have eaten nothing but salads since his bypass, and a guy getting his penis caught in his flashlight on accident.
Selfie: In one episode, right after Eliza tells Henry she won't text her sex-buddy/co-worker Freddy as an attempt to have interests outside of casual sex, Henry walks away from Eliza. She then starts taking pictures of her cleavage and when Henry spots her, she says they were for her mom.
Sherlock: Played for Drama in "The Reichenbach Fall". Sherlock tells John that he's a fraud, and faked all of his deductions, in particular those he made upon first meeting John (the lies being part of a Batman Gambit to save John's life). Considering the time John has spent with Sherlock, and the numerous cases they've been on together, Sherlock's statements are nothing short of completely ridiculous, and John is simply left knowing what he said wasn't true and totally bewildered as to why he said it.
In the series finale "The Final Problem", Sherlock is given the Sadistic Choice of having to kill either John or Mycroft, Mycroft tells him that there's really no choice other than to kill John, as he is an idiot compared to them and his life matters less. He's actually trying to sacrifice himself by goading Sherlock into killing him, but Sherlock doesn't buy it for a second.
The Sketch Show: One sketch involves Tim, who's standing on the other side of a fence, boasting to Karen about all his achievements, including owning the Ritz hotel, marrying Claudia Schiffer, and giving Bill Gates his first job. Then we see a warning sign that reads "Beware of the Bull".
Sliders: Whenever the team lands on a new world and has to explain why they don't know what's going on, they use the excuse "We're from Canada." We've hardly ever seen it fail. Although one time they had to pretend to be illegal immigrants from Canada the entire episode, who had snuck south into Mexico for work. (Thanks to the non-existence of America in the middle, and Mexico ending up with California.)
During the earlier seasons, when any questions Clark Kent was asked about his interest in the caves or any Native American symbols that were related to his Kryptonian heritage were met with "It's for a term paper" — to the point where Lex Luthor himself actually lampshades it later.
At one point Clark uses it as an offensive tool, saying he wanted to write a term paper on a project Lex was funding, which Lex had lied about earlier prior to Clark's finding and dismantling it.
Also used whenever Clark, Lana and Chloe say they are Just Friends.
Chloe: My feelings for Clark are so ancient, they're... they're fossilized!
When it comes to his big secret, however, Clark usually evades the question. It gets funnier when he uses more and more lies when Chloe already knew his secret, though...
Also a ton of it when Lex and Lana start to get close.
Clark: Is there something you are not telling me? Chloe: No. Not at all.
In "Identity", Clark beats Jimmy to reaching Chloe even though the latter is speeding all the way, and he finds a family photo of Clark wearing red and blue (it is a really dumb idea to wear only two colours, instantly recognizable), but Clark and Chloe still deny everything.
A serious example in "Stiletto". Chloe tells Clark she is fine when she sounds like she's on the verge of tears. Hard to blame her when Jimmy broke up with her, being taken over by the OmnicidalBrainiac, and keeping Doomsday in her basement.
The Stargate Program and the SGC is officially "Analysis of Deep Space Radar Telemetry". Carter's father, Major General Jacob Carter, obviously didn't believe her in "Secrets". Which leads to the hilarious event where Sam was receiving a medal for saving the world — with deep space radar telemetry. Carter, being a physicist, is at least plausible. O'Neill, whose explanation for everything is "magnets" makes this even more of a blatant lie when he talks of the cover. The medal they received for saving the world was the Air Medal. Which is awarded "for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight." A reporter approaches Jack to ask about a comment he'd overheard to the effect of "I can travel through the Galaxy without getting lost..." Jack explains his comment away by talking about a very large class of airplane called a Galaxy. The reporter clearly doesn't buy it.
On one occasion when Teal'c did leave the base, O'Neill explained him away as "a simple technical sergeant." When asked what Teal'c specialty was, O'Neill responded: "speech writing." In a later episode, he moves out of the Cheyenne base and attempts to set up a civilian life. When anyone asks about his manner of speaking, or why he's ignorant of customs, or the inlaid gold tattoo on his head, he tells them he's from "Mozambique". He explains the gold tattoo as "a tribal mark from his homeland", and mostly people at the very least buy it enough to move on. (It actually is a tribal mark, since it's the symbol of the System Lord he used to work for...)
Daniel Jackson, upon meeting an oncoming Goa'uld ship, identifies himself as "The Great and Powerful Oz". In Goa'uld, no less.
Lampshaded in "Off the Grid", after SG-1 is kidnapped:
Worrell: I don't want to torture you. In fact, if you tell me the location of the Stargate, I'm prepared to release you. Mitchell: No, you are not! [to Daniel] Can you believe he just said that?
In the famed episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" where Kirk and Spock travel back to the Great Depression, Kirk tries to explain Spock's vaguely alien appearance by saying he's from China; then he has to justify his pointed ears by claiming he got his head stuck in a "mechanical rice picker" as a child.
Not to mention Spock's attempt to convince Kirk, Chapel, and McCoy that his near-outburst upon finding out that Kirk wasn't Killed Off for Real was merely "quite logical relief that Starfleet had not lost a highly proficient captain." McCoy makes it clear that the lies were far too blatant for him.
McCoy: Of course, Mr. Spock, your reaction was quite logical... in a pig's eye!
In one episode, Data, having been transported back through time to 1893 San Francisco, explains his uniform and skin color with the excuse that he's French. The fact that he can speak French fluently helps. Another TNG episode has Data in the holodeck in a pastiche of the 1920s or thereabouts; this time, he explains his skin tone with "I am from South America."
Data's Evil Twin Lore lied frequently, not just about his motivations, but about their history. One of his cruelest lies was that Data was built by Dr. Noonien Soong after Lore was because the colonists on Omicron Theta demanded a "less perfect" android. Soong himself later dismissed this claim as absurd, telling Data the only real difference between them was some programming.
In the episode "QPid", Worf finally can't stand any more of Geordi's lute-playing, grabs the instrument, smashes it against a tree and then hands back the remnants.
Worf: Sorry.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Garak is always very adamant that he didn't have anything to do with all those murders at the Romulan embassy. He was really just a gardener who just worked there purely by coincidence. He also makes it clear with his first introduction that he's just "plain, simple Garak", a tailor on Deep Space Nine, and definitely not a spy. Oh, and he was definitely exiled for tax evasion and, no, he'd never lie about that because it's something he's not at all proud of. It becomes rapidly apparent that most of what he says is a lie of some sort. In fact, his lies are so blatant, he doesn't simply cross the line into Self-Proclaimed Liar, he's set up house and home there and has even planted a flag.
Bashir: What I want to know is, out of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't? Garak: My dear doctor... they're all true. Bashir: Even the lies? Garak: Especially the lies.
In the context of the above quote, Garak told three different stories to the same person as to why he was exiled. They are all contradictory to each other, and what's more, the one detail that's common to all of them*the appearance of a man named Elim is revealed to be fictitious. Of course, the Expanded Universe goes on to explain that they are indeed all true (up to a point).
In one episode, Odo is instantly convinced that Garak is telling the truth when he says he doesn't know why someone would try to kill him... because if he was lying, he'd make up a story far more elaborate than "I don't know".
"In The Pale Moonlight": Sisko approaches Garak for his help to manufacture evidence that the Dominion is planning to invade the Romulans. Garak starts insisting that he is just a simple tailor, and Sisko rolls his eyes with an exasperated look on his face before continuing to outline the mission.
At the end of the episode Sisko(who really compromised himself to make this happen) is saying "And I think I can live with it" (stares...) "I CAN live with it". Arguably one of the best examples of telling one's self a blatant lie.
Garak once spun Worf a tale about how he wished to join Starfleet. After an impassioned speech, Worf reluctantly agrees to consider sponsoring him. Then Garak goes one too far and the conversation ends like this:
Worf: Do not play games with me. You have no desire to join Starfleet, do you? Garak: No, I'm afraid I don't. Worf: Then why all of this deception? Garak: Because lying is a skill like any other, and if you want to maintain a level of excellence, you have to practice constantly.
Even Enabran Tane, head of the Cardassian Obsidan Order, is impressed at how consistently and skillfully Garak lies: "That man has a rare gift for obfuscation". Although Tane is Garak's former handler / boss and his father, so perhaps he is biased.
In the episode "Covenant", Dukat becomes a cult leader among Bajorans who worship the Pah-wraiths. One of his female Bajoran followers ends up giving birth to a half-Bajoran half-Cardassian child, and it's obvious to Dukat, Kira, and a few others that Dukat, who had a long and sordid history of keeping Bajoran mistresses, is the child's biological father: the only ones who don't question this are those who are too blinded by their faith.
In "Maps and Legends", Laris is an ex-Tal Shiar agent, so she would know perfectly well that her device is not permitted within the Federation.
Picard: Romulan methods of forensic molecular reconstruction are illegal in the Federation. Laris: Really, I had no idea.
In "The End Is the Beginning", Soji's mother reassures her that Dahj is perfectly fine when she calls, being very concerned following what she has heard from Ramdha's prophecy, who claims that one sister dies. However, it appears Soji realizes that her mother may be lying due to micro expressions as she speaks, which provides her first clue that something is very wrong.
In "The Impossible Box", when Dr. Agnes Jurati explains to Jean-Luc Picard that Bruce Maddox died because his heart couldn't handle the injuries he had sustained on Freecloud, it's a fabrication because she had murdered him.
Later in the same episode, after Narek sighs in frustration during their Walk and Talk, Soji asks him, "What's wrong?", and his false reply is, "Nothing." She doesn't buy it and follows up with, "Narek, what is it?"
In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", Narek claims that he was afraid that Soji would kill him, which is why he attempted to murder her in the Zhal Makh meditation chamber, but this is a big fat lie because she hadn't activated yet, so she presented no danger to him at the time. Soji, now a Living Lie Detector, tells him to shut up.
In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", after Seven of Nine forces Narissa to discard her disruptor, the latter claims she's unarmed. Seven sees right through her fib and removes Narissa's concealed knives.
The State: In one sketch, a husband denies he's cheating on his wife, even as he is talking to his mistress. He also tells his mistress that his wife (still in the same room) is dead. Avoids Implausible Deniability because his two-faced fast talk actually works.
Stranger Things: Lucas somehow gets away with this lie at Will's "funeral" despite Dustin's comment:
Lucas: We're... in mourning... Dustin: [at the buffet table] Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers!
In the Season 1 episode "The Benders", Dean pretends to be a police officer to enlist the help of a real cop in finding Sam, who's been kidnapped. Unknown to him the cop ran the number on the badge Dean gave her and this happened:
Cop: It says here your badge was stolen. And there's a picture of you. [she turns the computer to reveal a heavy-set African American man] Dean: I lost some weight. [laughs nervously] And I got that Michael Jackson skin disease...
In plain view of Lucifer, Castiel forces the Archangel Michael to teleport away by throwing a flaming bottle of holy oil at him (while calling him an "assbutt").
Lucifer: Did you just molotov my brother with holy fire? Castiel: Umm... no?
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Cameron can't get through the metal detectors in the school she attends. John explains this away by saying she's got a metal plate in her head, and is believed because of Cameron's...odd behavior (it's even technically true, though John neglects to mention that her entire head is metal plates). Later on, when a guidance counselor calls Sarah to comment on Cameron's demeanor, Sarah explains that a tornado did it. Probably a rather subtle Wizard of Oz reference on Sarah's behalf. The series is peppered with them.
That '70s Show: When Jackie redecorates Hyde's room he hates it and tells her to put it back the way it was, then he grows to like it just in time for her to actually listen to him and put it back the way it was.
Fez: [After hearing Hyde scream] Hyde's in trouble. [Gang runs into Hyde's room] Hyde: She took it all down. Eric: Did you just scream like a girl? Hyde: No. [Looks down] Aw man. What happened to my lavender scented candle? Eric: Did you just say "What happened to my lavender scented candle?" Hyde: No.
The Thick of It in the very first episode had them deciding to announce a policy, believing they had permission. When it turned out they didn't, they had to call all the journalists they'd already told about it and claim it had been leaked by a disgruntled civil servant. After they managed to not announce the policy during a press conference, the Prime Minister then decided to support the policy. They then had to convince the journalists that they had announced it at the press conference (and that the journalists just didn't notice) and that the story about the policy being leaked by a disgruntled civil servant, was in fact leaked by a disgruntled civil servant...
Titus: When a social worker was inspecting Titus's home and Ken fires a gun thinking his violently unstable ex-wife is there.
Dave: It was a car backfiring. Social Worker: Four times? Dave: Four cars. Social Worker: He had a gun, and now I smell gunpowder. Dave: Five cars.
In the truck driving challenge, Richard Hammond's cargo (a small car) had fallen out of the trailer during the alpine course. Afterwards, when Jeremy Clarkson showed up:
Jeremy Clarkson: This is totally... so anyway, how was your car? [beat as May and Hammond exchange glances] James May: Car's... Richard Hammond: [interrupting May]Stolen! That's what it is, I've just thought of it now: stolen. The damnedest thing.
This show throws out lies like this on a regular basis, especially if a host thinks it'll make their car (or cars in general) sound better. After one challenge where a train, bike and motorboat beat a car across London during rush hour, all three hosts banded together to claim that the footage had been edited, going so far as to claim that the Thames didn't exist and Jeremy Clarkson had died violently during the race (stated by Clarkson himself).
This exchange between Jeremy and Cameron Diaz.
Jeremy: What do you drive? Cameron: A Prius. Jeremy: Oh, I love the Prius. (Studio audience cracks up)
In the Albania special, the hosts claimed to have received a request from the Albanian mafia to test a Rolls-Royce against a Mercedes and a Bentley. However, Bentley pulled out at the last second and Jeremy wound up driving a Yugo instead. For the rest of the episode, Jeremy refers to the Yugo as a Bentley and talks about it using the Bentley's specifications.
Then there's the Australia Special where James May claimed to have had The Stig hidden in his car boot (trunk to Americans) all along. This is in outback Australia where anyone in an unventilated metal box would almost certainly have died, and certainly wouldn't have been in condition to win a mine race. The Stig then drives in the mine race, wins, and James May claims that he won it.
Vic Reeves Big Night Out: The Living Carpets did nothing but tell each other blatant lies. These included "I colour in the black bits on Frisian cows with a special biro", "Perry Como uses me as a practice pad" and "I live inside a crab with Gunga Din and the Pat-a-Cake man".
Used for dramatic effect in the series finale. Dukie hits up Prez for some money, saying he's going to take a GED. Prez points out that he's too young to take that test but acquiesces anyway, and they part on the unspoken agreement that Dukie is about to spend his life as a homeless drug addict and they will never see each other again.
Clay Davis was also a frequent source of these. His impassioned speech on the stand while on trial for corruption was perhaps the biggest.
Bunk's line 'The bigger the lie, the more they believe'.
You Me Her: Jack and Emma try to pretend Izzy is their niece rather than having become lovers with them both, though no one really buys it. This goes for the lies they try to spin on the fly in general.
Young Sheldon: Mary's attempts to lie to Georgie when he asks if he was conceived out-of-wedlock. The kicker being that he was "a big fat preemie" when Georgie points out that he weighed nine pounds at birth.
Mary (praying): Lord, forgive me for lying. I'll tell him the truth when he's 30. Amen.
on a rampage in central London as a charity fun-run gone wrong. This is one of her more plausible explanations.