In one episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny distracts an angry elephant by saying, "Isn't that Don Knotts?" After realizing he'd been had, the elephant remarked "I hate it when people use Don Knotts to deceive me."
Johnny pulls the same trick on a killer doll, using Pinocchio.
Various characters in Secret Squirrel, good and bad guys alike, had a thing for using Fred Flintstone to fulfill this trope.
Parodied on Codename Kids Next Door, when the trick is pulled at the Grand Canyon by a character who yells, "Hey, look! The Grand Canyon!"
Used the same way in "Operation: T.R.I.P.", which took place in Japan:
Conductor: The ticket, please.
Brother: Look!
Sister: Mount Fuji!
Conductor:(looks away) Huh? Where? (the twins sneak onto the train)
Used in an episode of Drawn Together, where Clara keeps distracting Foxxy by claiming that Denzel Washington is in the hallway. Foxxy falls for it time after time, but on the third distraction it is subverted in that Denzel is actually there. Clara then distracts Foxxy again by claiming that further down the hall is a bi-phallic version of the same man, but alas, there is only a tri-phallic Wesley Snipes.
Spoofed in the Family Guy episode "Wasted Talent", where Peter accidentally says "Look over there!" to Lois and "Run!" to the cops who caught them drinking at a teen party. Oddly enough, it works. Considering that the cops were hassling them for being a little old for drinking at an underage party, one would have to consider this an intentional inversion.
Peter uses this often. When he crashed into the TV satellite dish:
During one of Peter and Ernie's fights (specifically in the episode where Quagmire is forced to become chasted by his neighbors) Peter ends up giving an implied "Look behind you!" reaction to Ernie as the propeller blades of the aircraft they are fighting under are drawing closer to Ernie (he sees the propellers, gives an "Oh Crap" look, and then braces himself). Ernie seems to take the hint and looks behind him... only to get cut up by the propellers, á la Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Brian has also tried this. In "Brian: Portrait of a Dog" he tells an angry dog to look because there is a tasty little baby. He then tries a Groin Attack which doesn't work, noting "I see someone's been neutered." He distracts Civil War survivors in "To Love and Die in Dixie" by shouting, "Look over there! It's a newly-married, interracial gay couple burning the American flag!"
Veggie Tales did a musical number called "Look, Olaf!" that was all about this trope in "Lyle the Kindly Viking".
Larry the Cucumber: Look, Olaf! There's a turtle And he's wearing pink pajamas And he's got a cowboy hat upon his lid! Look, Olaf, very close, and see He's riding on a llama And he's chasing down a herd of giant squid!
In "A Case of Ed", Ed is rather less successful at distracting Kevin by pointing and shouting "Sponge stampede!"
Ed also tries to distract Eddy during a footrace in "Eds or Tails" by shouting "Look, Eddy, it's Rolf!"
In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer manages to trick Lisa with this ploy, though it takes a bit of extra effort on Homer's part.
Homer: Lisa, look out behind you!
Lisa: Dad, I'm not gonna fall for that.
Homer: No, Lisa, I swear to you, I'm 100% completely serious! You've got to turn around right now before it's too late!
Lisa: Huh? (Turns around)
Homer: Sucker! (Runs away)
Moe is also extremely susceptible to these. Once, Bart needed to get the Red Hot Chili Peppers out of the bar, so he did this:
Bart: Hey Moe, look over there.
Moe:(Turns around) What? What am I looking at? (Bart ushers the band outside) I'm gonna stop looking soon. What, is that it? (Homer comes in)
Homer: Hey Moe, can I look, too?
Moe: Sure, but it'll cost you.
Homer: My wallet's in the car!
Moe: He is so stupid. And now back to the wall...
In one episode, Homer tries this on a cow, and it works.
Homer: Look! A flying saucer!
The subversion pops up in "Bart's Comet": Bart accidentally discovers a never-before-seen comet, and the next morning at school, the nerds (including Lisa) try to get him join their science club. They ask Bart if he'd show them his comet, and he responds "There it is right there," pointing out a window. The head nerd imperiously retorts that "I make it a point to never turn around unless I expect to see something." Bart presses the issue and when they finally look, they do indeed see his comet - and realize that it's close because it's on a collision course with Springfield.
Another subversion is when Homer yells out "Look, a bear!" seemingly in an effort to escape from the hospital without paying his bills. Unfortunately, since he was in for a broken leg, he doesn't get very far - and while we're busy laughing at that, pan right to reveal that there is a bear!
Knowing the history of Shelbyville, Bart escapes from a gang by yelling, "Hey look! Someone's attractive cousin!"
From Dilbert, Dogbert is teaching a Girl Scout to cheat at blackjack at an illegal casino set up in the office by Wally.
Dogbert: Look, Asok, it's a rewarding career
Asok:(turns as Dogbert looks at the top card of the deck) Where? I don't see a rewarding career.
Girl Scout: Look Asok, it's a woman who respects you despite your low status and income.
Asok:(turns as Girl Scout replaces her deuce with an ace) Where? I don't see a woman who respects me despite my low status and income.
Loud Howard: Look, Asok, it's a brick wall.
(Asok doesn't react)
Loud Howard: What am I doing wrong?
During the Nickelodeon run of Doug, Doug's tormentor Roger is forced to escape the bully Percy by pretending to see Percy's uncle, the school's hardline vice-principal, and Percy falls for it every time...until the end, when Doug tries to use the trick. Percy has finally caught on- but as it turns out, it wasn't a trick this last time. Making this a straight-straight-subversion.
In the Looney Tunes short "Eight Ball Bunny", Bugs Bunny gets rid of a penguin by shouting, "Hey! Look! A four-legged airy-plane!" and kicking the bird down an icy slope when it turns around.
In "Robin Hare", Bugs thwarts the Sheriff of Nottingham twice with "Lo! The King approacheth!"
In the Beast Wars episode "Bad Spark", Silverbolt and Blackarachnia are stuck traveling together to escape an energon storm (and Silverbolt pledges to protect her from Tarantulas). When they find out Tarantulas is indisposed, Blackarachnia predictably tries to destroy Silverbolt. He sees something, yells "Behind you!", and Blackarachnia laughs and answers "Don't be pathetic". The next instant she's jumped by a Smilodon.
Jackie Chan Adventures has an episode where Jade and Finn were battling atop a moving train (Jade using a jetpack, Finn the levitation talisman), when Jade shouts out and flies out of reach. Finn says, "Yeah, right, like I'm gonna fall for—" and smacks right into a concrete tunnel overhang. Lucky he also had the immortality talisman, or...
Another episode had Jade doing this to several mooks while in Scotland by saying the Loch Ness Monster was behind them, sure enough they look. This was subverted in a dream sequence in the same episode where she also does this, but this time the Loch Ness Monster is behind them, since it was a dream.
When they first faced the Monkey King, Jade did this to them, and it worked! When he realized what had happened, he lampshaded it, saying he couldn't believe that worked on him.
In Catscratch, Mr. Blik pulls this to get away from an angry alley cat. It works, but the cat catches him eventually anyway.
Blik: Look! A flying saucer is giving away free gold!
Timmy pulls this ploy in The Fairly Oddparents when Francis the Bully was about to beat up Timmy,:
Timmy: Look! A Rottweiler!
Francis: I'm not falling for that one.
Timmy: You're right, it's just a brick wall.
Francis (looking): A brick wall?! Where?!
There was also "Look! A hot shower!" to which Francis responded with terror.
An episode of Batman Beyond has Batman trying to warn Shriek to look behind him because a building is about to fall on him. Being deaf, Shriek thinks Batman is begging for mercy and gets crushed.
As Kim Possible and Dr. Drakken fight on top of a train, Kim suddenly gasps and hits the deck. Drakken turns to look, and meets the roof of a tunnel.
In the Word Girl episode "A Simple Plan", Dr. Two-Brains (who is consciously making his plots much less complex) escapes by using this phrase and running away while her back is turned. As Word Girl readily admits to a nearby grocer, "That... was embarrassing."
Played straight in Re Boot where Mouse distracts two agents with the "open-mouthed stare" variant, then takes that split second to cut their guns in half with her trusty katana. Considering that there was something running around preying on unsuspecting victims, they can probably be excused.
In a Dexters Laboratory short, Dee Dee keeps Crying Wolf, taunting Dexter with "Dexter, what's that?" Then she says "Dexter, what's that?" one last time, and Dexter replies, "I'm not falling for that again" - when there's a giant bug sitting on his head, big enough that it's even obscuring his vision.
South Park: In the episode "It's a Jersey Thing", Kyle pulls one on Cartman.
Kyle: Dude, what is that behind you?
Cartman: Kyle, do we really have to resort to that? Your tactics don't work on me. (2 second later) Dude, what the fuck is that thing behind me?
The episode "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants" has an even funnier one. Cartman is cornered by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and distracts him by shouting: "Look, an infidel!" Once Osama's head is turned, Cartman pulls down his pants. Osama isn't wearing underwear, and it's revealed that he has a freakishly small penis. Cartman concludes that it's no wonder Osama is so mad at the world.
In "Gaz, Taster of Pork", Dib tells a pair of pig monster guards "Hey, look! There's something a pig thing would like!" It works, but the guards catch him soon after he gets past them.
From Big Guy And Rusty The Boy Robot, the episode "Hard drive" has a subversion. When Big Guy starts getting the upper hand in their fight, Hard Drive which is really a Powered Armor piloted by Dwayne Hunter's (Big Guy's pilot) friend backs away and threatens to set off a bomb in Rusty's new rocket. Big Guy then shouts out "Behind you!" Hard Drive mocks Big Guy's attempt to distract him with the oldest trick in the book, claiming that "only a robot would fall for that". His motivation is to prove that humans could never be replaced by robots. Only it's not a trick. The other threat of the episode, a gigantic insect Hive Queen monster, really is right behind Hard Drive and promptly crushes him in her jaws.
In Arthur, Buster, after apologizing for his cocky persona after letting his heroism get to his head, shouts to Francine and Arthur "Look out! A Runaway Piano!" Francine utters "Very funny!" in a disbelieving manner, but the POV shows that Buster was being very serious when he tells them this, as a piano was rolling towards them, causing Buster to tackle them to get them out of the way.
Ice King: Look! A supermodel!...Look! A hoverboard!...Look! The apocalypse!...Someone got hit in the boingloings...Hit in the boingloings. Boingloings. Boingloings. Someone got hit in them. (Scorcher looks)PEACE OUT! (Freezes him)
In the cartoon version of Space Ace, episode "Wanted Dexter", during the scene where Dexter falls into the water, after turning into Ace, Ace says to the sheriff, "Baby Face Nerks went that way." The sheriff falls for it, and Ace tries to escape, only to get caught between the hands of the two servants of the sheriff.
Demolisher: (throws a grenade, Lion-O braces himself, but it releases smoke) A harmless toy for a harmless boy. Unlike the one behind you! (Lion-O turns around, Demolisher hits him) Ha ha ha! You fell for the oldest trick in the book!
Frida: Where? (Turns around, then realizes Chipotle ran away) Aw, man!
In the Transformers Generation One episode "Money Is Everything", the Technobots angrily prepare to beat up Dirk Manus for leading them into a trap. Manus nervously backs away and suddenly tells them to look out. They angrily say that they're not falling for his lies... then one gets shot in the back by the Sharkticons.
In The Angry Beavers, Dagget distracts a group of angry bears by pointing behind them and yelling, "Look! Balloons!"
Duckman prefers being straightforward in Ebony Baby:
Duckman: I'M A DIVERSION! I'M A DIVERSION!
In one episode of Sonic SATAM Sonic yells "Look behind you!" at a robot, who falls for it. But instead of doing anything, Sonic just stays in his spot and says he was just kidding.
