Coincidental Broadcast - Television Tropes & Idioms

This has been Plot Convenience News, providing exposition since Amazons Attack.

— Atop The Fourth Wall: Nightcat #1

Any television or radio accidentally turned on during a tension-filled moment will automatically display a news story relevant to or actually about the current source of dramatic tension. Incidentally, the broadcast will either be just starting or give enough detail for the characters (and viewers) to know what's going on, even if the characters turn on the television on advice from a telephone call. From watching this broadcast, the viewer(s) will gain an insight — or a kick in the pants — which will launch the next phase of the story.

This is also rapidly becoming a Discredited Trope considering how many sources parody this convention.

Compare: Contrived Coincidence See also: Crystal Ball Scheduling, Practical Voice Over, News Monopoly, and Your Television Hates You, for the gag version.

Examples:

Anime & Manga

A slightly different version of this trope happens in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure. Joseph quickly switches between different channels to get a complete message; it's justified as manipulating machinery to see the future is the power of his Stand.
When the Black Knights get their new RV mobile fortress, one of the first things they do is check out the TV set — which happens to be broadcasting news of the hoteljacking incident. Conveniently, it's right at the start of the incident, allowing them to move in and save the day.
Slight variation in Futari Wa Pretty Cure episode 36 where the Guardian's description of a place full of flowers happens to match a newspaper article in front of them instead of a news broadcast.
In Junjou Romantica, when Hiro walks in on Nowaki and his coworker Tsumori sleeping on the floor of Hiro and Nowaki's apartment, a news broadcast about a famous married actor being caught with another woman is on the TV. It is however, not what it looks like.

Film

Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Roy Neary obsessively creates sculptures of a butte/mesa to match the image placed in his mind during a UFO encounter. A news broadcast shows Devil's Tower, Wyoming, which is an exact match for his sculptures. Neary takes the hint and leaves for Devil's Tower. Somewhat justified in that the government had planted false stories of an anthrax outbreak centered on Devil's Tower to drive people away from the area so they wouldn't see the alien spaceships arriving.
- Spielberg also plays with the trope by having Neary fail to notice the TV for several minutes while it's showing footage of Devil's Tower.
Subverted in Shaun Of The Dead, where Shaun switches on the news to find they're talking about the zombie plague...and promptly changes the channel.
- But if you listen to the chunks of speech from the various channels, it will still make sense (even though Shaun doesn't seem to notice anyway).
  Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Though no one official is prepared to comment, religious groups are calling it Judgement Day. There's...
  Morrissey: - Panic on the streets of London...
  Newsreader: - as an increasing number of reports of...
  Commentator: - serious attacks on...
  Newsreader: - people, who are literally being...
  Narrator: - eaten alive.
  Jeremy Thompson: Witnesses' reports at best are sketchy, but one unifying detail seems to be that the attackers in many instances appear to be...
  Vernon Kaye: - dead excited to have with us here a sensational chart topping...
In The Terminator, there's a news broadcast about a killed Sarah Connor. When Sarah is fetched from the resturant, the newscaster conveniently adds "To recap:" and then repeats the entire story.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, while hiding in the theater from The Weasels, Eddie was about to give up on piecing together the connection Cloverleaf Industries had with Acme's murder when a news reel came on about Maroon's sellout to said company.
In Babylon A.D., this is used a bit more judiciously. There's an entire wall showing dozens of channels, which makes it easier to accept if at least one of the channels is showing something relevant.
Spoofed in Return Of The Killer Tomatoes, when the hero turns on an old monster movie, where the character therein gives him a foolproof plan for saving the day. And then gives it to him again. And then again. And then points out that he has just given the hero a GOOD IDEA ALREADY. The hero, finally realizes what he has to do, much to the relief of the guy in the old movie.
Extremely parodied in Johnny Dangerously when the villain, Vermin, needs to kill the DA. Vermin turns on the radio, which immediately (1920 era tube-warmup time notwithstanding) details that the DA will be watching a movie premier that night. After he turns the radio off, his lackey asks what theatre they will be at. Vermin turns the radio back on, and the radio gives him the theatre name and address.
In Ghost Busters the female lead sees the advert right before she opens her fridge to find a parallel universe in there.
BAS Eketball features a scene where the main character is depressed and driving down the road listening to the radio. At first the lyrics are vaguely inspirational, then become progressively more specific: "Even though your best friend's turned his back / And your girlfriend thinks you suck / All you have to do is explain to them / That it's all part of some rich guy's evil plan! / Look out ahead, there's a truck changing lanes / And you've got something stuck in your front teeth / And those warts on your dick will go away / If you use topical cream, every day!"
Possible example in The Dark Knight: Bruce Wayne has a television on in the background as he gets ready for a party. When the story about The Joker offing a fake Batman comes on, Bruce turns up the volume.

Literature

Happens straight in the novel Layer Cake where the drug dealer protagonist who has thus far been talking about how well things are going sees a broadcast discussing the brutal murder of a Dutchman. Turns out that he was a supplier and the men who tortured him to death had drugs stolen from them by the protagonist's associates.
Justified in On A Pale Horse: the Purgatory News specifically puts together separate broadcasts for each resident.

Live Action TV

Subverted in The Pretender episode "Meltdown", which ultimately reveals that the television in question has been rigged as part of a sting operation to receive specially tailored fake news broadcasts originating from the next room.
The same ploy was used in Mission Impossible: "Ultimatum," using the "We interrupt this program" formula (which really should be its own trope). The target of the sting was not genre-savvy enough to question the coincidence that his music program would be repeatedly interrupted with information directly relevant to his own situation.
Subverted in Arrested Development, when the prosecuting attorney turns on the news to show Michael that his brother has been arrested in Iraq... and they have to wait through about twenty minutes of unrelated stories. When the story has finally aired, the attorney remarks, "And imagine how much more dramatic it would have been had it come on right when I turned on the TV!".
Played straight in the famous Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode Hush: The Scoobies are all grouped around a TV showing a news broadcast from LA regarding everyone in Sunnydale losing their voices. A strong argument could be made that this example is justified: An entire freaking town losing their voices simultaneously is bound to get through at least one person's Weirdness Censor.
In the Doctor Who Made For TV Movie, just as the Doctor has convinced Grace that the only way to save the planet is to gain an atomic clock from somewhere, the news reports that one is being unveiled at a nearby university.
- Another Who episode, "The Lazarus Experiment", has a variation; a Coincidental Phone Call telling the characters to turn on the news.
Parodied in Dinosaurs, in which turning on the news reveals that an asteroid is about to hit the family's television, after which it immediately happens.
The invention exchange in one episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 has Joel and the bots making a radio that only tunes to plot-relevant information.
Spoofed in Monty Pythons Flying Circus naturally, with the "Penguin On The Telly" Sketch.
Newsreader: It's 8:30, time for the penguin on top of your television to explode.
Penguin: (explodes)
Old Lady: How did he do that?
Newsreader: More of an educated guess, really.
Done at least once in The X Files.
Averted on Fringe in the episode "August", where the title character has to wait a few minutes for the right news to come on. Then played straight when Olivia and Peter hear the same news on the radio, though they were already listening.
Played with on FlashForward in "A561984" where the redemption scene is playing over the final scene in the airport, with Demetri and Mark who has just been fired from the FBI. Could also be a case of Crystal Ball Scheduling, but Mark visibly turns to look at the broadcast before his line.
Humorously averted in Cheers: when Lilith announces she's leaving Frasier, the latter threatens to jump off the building above the bar. Meanwhile in said bar, the gang is obliviously watching TV with Norm channel surfing and happening to glance a report about "some guy threatening to jump off a building". An extremely agitated Cliff then shouts at Norm to go back...to an episode of Quincy. Only then does Sam ask to change to the "jumper" and they realize who it is.
Subverted in the Made For TV Movie Special Bulletin, the terrorists who land in Charleston Harbor grab a TV crew who happen to be covering an unrelated story at the docks.

Truth In Television

Somewhat truth in television in that the major cable news networks repeat the same current traumatic event every 10 minutes, due to people calling friends and saying 'Did you hear about...?'
Really happened to the vice president and countless others, as reported here.

Video Games

Max Payne and the sequel. No matter how long Max waits to get to plot-specific televisions, it's always just in time to learn the next bit of broadcaster news about the rampage he is currently involved in. Oddly enough, this applies to several differing television dramas that are also playing on other channels.
Futurama the Game."
Farnsworth: (having sold Planet Express to Mom) It's not like this is the end of the world as we know it. (Fry switches on TV.)
Morbo: This is the end of the world as we know it. With the recent purchase of Planet Express, Mom now owns 50% of Earth, making her its supreme ruler.
Bender: Has anyone ever noticed how Fry always turns on the TV at just the right moment?

Web Original

In a sketch from That Guy With The Glasses (GNN - Interviews the Joker), the Joker idly asks the interviewer, Lori Prince, if he was forced to choose between the life of his dog and his cat, which he would choose. After saying he would pick the cat, an explosion is heard from the Joker's end. Shortly afterward, the news ticker at the bottom of the screen starts saying things like BREAKING NEWS: Small explosion rocks upscale home of late night talk show host, Lori Prince.

Webcomics

Spoofed in one of the Doctor McNinja comics. The Big Bad, Frans Rayner, turns on a news broadcast for his captive Gordito that explains how Fran's plan is affecting the world. The Alt Text of the comic says "That isn't live TV. Frans tivoed it earlier that day."
- This trope was lampshaded even earlier, when a convenient newscast gave the doctor necessary information after he'd spent the day investigating.
Sluggy Freelance: More Lampshade Hanging in this strip, in which the news not only tells Gwynn exactly where to go, but reminds her of it again after she hesitates.

Western Animation

Spoofed in Family Guy, as quoted above.
The Simpsons has made frequent use/spoofs of this. Half the time, the characters don't even have to actually be shown turning on the TV themselves to catch the Coincidental Broadcast;
Homer: That's it! I'll make money with a chauffeur job! Good thing you turned on that TV, Lisa.
Lisa: I didn't turn it on, I thought you turned it on.
Homer: No. Well anyway, turn it off.
Lisa: It is off... (cue creepy music)
Lampshaded on Johnny Test when Johnny wants to win a trophy, but doesn't know how:
Johnny: You know how we'll be sitting here and that guy on TV gives us an idea?
Dukey: That is ridiculous.
Hank Anchorman: So you wanna win a huge trophy?
In "One Too Many Jem" episode of Jem, after Jerrica "Jem" Benton claims that she saw Jem at a show, Kimber turns to news and the Holograms discover someone else is playing Jem.
Kim Possible uses this a lot. No matter if it's revealing information about the latest villain plot, Kim's parents wondering what she was doing parachuting into their front yard at 7:45am, or after Kim has blow up the superweapon, if someone turns on a TV, it's there.
Parodied in The Fairly Odd Parents.
Cosmo: Timmy! Check the [problem] in this conveniently positioned TV! (indicating a TV in the middle of nowhere).
All over the place in Justice League. Sometimes it seemed like if the news media wasn't covering a supervillain's rampage, the League would never know about it.
Disguised Eclipso: How would one go about contacting this "Justice League"?
Soldier: Put on a gaudy costume and threaten to hurt a lot of people...
- A similar joke was made in Superman The Animated Series when Lobo asks a policeman about Superman
  Policeman: Superman? Oh, we don't keep tabs on him. He usually shows up when there's trouble.
  Lobo: Trouble? Oh, I can do trouble...
Often seen in Garfield And Friends.
- It was lampshaded once when Jon says something about "I wish I was more X...", immediately followed by a commercial "Do you wish YOU were more X?" and Jon says "How come my TV always knows what I'm thinking?"
In Invader Zim episode "Rise of the Zitboy", Zim develops a spot. Shortly after being told by Gir 'You've got a pimple!' an advert for 'Acne-Blast' comes on the TV.
Happens constantly on Futurama.
Used a lot in Batman The Animated Series.

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