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"A new evil has revealed its face. Who are these mysterious enemies, and do Gohan and Krillin stand a chance? The answer to these questions will be revealed... [Beat] ...Right now: Zarbon, Dodoria, Freeza, and oh my, no."
Narrator, Dragon Ball Z Abridged

A montage at the end of an episode to entice the viewer into watching the next week's episode. Often used in conjunction with a To Be Continued, and often implies that loose end plotlines will be tied up. Usually done by the network, rather than being bundled with the episode itself.

As with other promos, the scenes and quotes are often taken out of context to mislead the viewer. This is especially true of daytime soap operas, which as a rule drag stories out longer than their fans would like.

On the Next used to be fairly common, but it's been largely phased out in favor of placing a commercial for the next episode over the credits. It's still going strong in Japan though, mainly in Tokusatsu. Anime also makes extensive use of this trope, where it's become increasingly common to add omake gags, chitchat between the characters, and other nonsense which doesn't really tell you anything "serious" about the next episode. They can also become a good excuse for No Fourth Wall jokes. This may explain why shows tend to have very short trailers nowadays.

If a trailer shows much less than normal and has no dialogue, or just one word, be warned that it's probably going to be a disturbing episode.

However, some shows' next episode previews have been believed to spoil too much...

Contrast Previously on…. Compare Precap, Find Out Next Time. Sometimes comes with a catchphrase.


Examples:

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    Anime 
  • Fist of the North Star featured an amusing twist on this, inserted by the voice actor (Shigeru Chiba) who did the narration. Over the course of the series, the narrator's tone of voice grows increasingly hammy and Hot-Blooded, until by the final episode previews he is almost literally screaming his lungs out ("Almost literally" because Chiba was genuinely afraid of giving himself an aneurysm if he kept it up too long). On a slightly more trivial note, each trailer ends with Kenshiro telling the audience that "[They] are already dead" or some variation thereof.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The series initially had a "Next Time" card, followed by characters saying lines that would be said in the episode, ending with the title of the next episode. Part 4 onwards changed it up a bit, instead of showcasing scenes, it would be a short animation transition showing the next episode's title.
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. In the anime's Japanese run, the trailer consisted of Haruhi and Kyon arguing over the number of the next episode due to the Anachronic Order. The English and Russian dubs released the episodes in chronological order, rather than broadcast order, and so the previews were changed to the typical montage of scenes, but the dialog is nothing more than Yuki "Next time, on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, episode N''. Watch it." The DVDs included the original trailers as special features.
  • Lucky Star features main characters... talking about absolutely nothing related to the next episode. Or occasionally, guest voice actors, acting like their characters from other shows. Followed by their catchphrase: "Look forward to it!". This phrase was especially common in anime made "back in the day" (i.e., 60s, 70s, and 80s), although not all anime did this.
  • Higurashi: When They Cry does this, but just has words float across the screen so that you don't even get the context of the rest of the one-second snippet. The words describe scenery, such as "The tree blows gently," lines like "You won't transfer, will you, Keiichi?" and objects such as "needle" while Frederica Bernkastel recites a sort-of three line poem that refers to the next episode only in the vaguest sense. Then they end with "Can you believe in this?" while giving you one shot of a character against a TV static background (instead of the scenery the character would be accompanied by in the episode). The trope description holds true — the episodes are, for the most part, pretty darn disturbing.
    • In the second season, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai (which isn't actually an Oddly Named Sequel), the previews actually feature cute chibis of Rika and Hanyuu AKA Oyashiro-sama exchanging banter. In between them is a small screen that shows several things that will happen in the next episode. To some fans, too much.
  • Sailor Moon burnt the last episode of its second season for both a Recap Episode and also a vague preview of the next season.
  • Cowboy Bebop had previews which only vaguely related to the episode's plotline, and were usually a humorous conversation between two or more characters. None of the previews were actually scripted: the actors simply ad-libbed dialog for thirty seconds at the end of each episode.
    • This led to bits such as Ed attempting to hijack the show. One episode ends with every character falling asleep; the preview for the next ep has Ed telling the audience that they weren't asleep, they had all died (except for her) and thus she would be taking over as the main character. All this while footage from the next episode, showing everyone clearly alive, was playing.
    • One preview had nothing but Ein's barking, while selected footage of the next episode played as normal. Spike lampshaded the crypticness of these segments after Ein's "lines", saying something along the lines of "who cares, you can never figure out what's really going to happen from these things anyway."
    • The Post Episode Trailer for episode 20, Pierrot Le Fou, in a prime example of the "disturbing episode" style of trailer, simply had the title character's mad laughter playing over the footage from the episode in question.
  • Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: At one point Kirby sings one of the show's ending themes, and he took over narrating a certain episode's On the Next segment (though all you hear in that one is Kirby saying "poyo" multiple times).
  • The trailers in Azumanga Daioh were less descriptive and more the nonsensical chitchat variety. For example, the trailer at the end of the first episode had the girls wondering, since there's a "Great King Azumanga" (a play on the title of the series), if there's also a "Prince Azumanga," finally concluding that the preview itself is the Prince.
  • Like a lot of other anime tropes, this was parodied on Excel♡Saga. For example, the last episode featured a "trailer" that was a preview for the series, which was capped by Excel asking "Hey, why are we showing this now?!"
  • Likewise, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi has a spurious trailer at the end of its last episode (for the first episode, judging by the credits), where Sasshi continues to waste the whole time bemoaning that he doesn't get to do actual preview instead of actually doing them.
  • My-HiME sometimes has the characters talking about the episode that just finished, or just random, silly gags. Its sequel series My-Otome does this every episode. When a much-hinted at character appears near the end of the series, every idea she comes up with to talk about have already been talked about by other characters in earlier episodes.
  • Pani Poni Dash! not only goes with nonsensical chitchat, but features crudely-drawn gag yonkoma, with no preview of the next episode, yet it is still labelled as a preview for the next episode.
    • The "preview manga" (also called Hekiru Hikawa Theater) is drawn by Hekiru Hikawa (The creator of the series). The previews also went with their own plot, from Himeko fighting Ichijo, after she turn into a giant, to Akira Miyata doing something (then being killed, in each one), then Black Miyamoto challenges Rebecca to a fight, however, whereas Rebecca's a genius, her twin... not so much.
    • The show also featured a preview in the last episode, told by Ichijo the Class Rep. It wasn't for the next episode however, but instead was for "Super Wolf Ichijo: The Great Turn The Tables Operation."
      Will they be airing it?
      This is Ichijo we're talking about here.
    • Then they did it again in the OVA. Though it became a discussion of how great it would be it there actually were a next episode.
  • Chou Kuse ni Narisou ("I Could Totally Get Used To This") featured the Unknown Rival breaking the fourth wall in the Post Episode Trailer by butting in to make self-serving comments.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion made a Running Gag out of boasting about all the Fanservice and all the exciting action that would be in each upcoming episode. The former promise was phased out as the show started taking a turn for the darker.
    • The Rebuild of Evangelion film series continues this, even at the end of the surprisingly dark third film.
  • Maria Watches Over Us plays with its Post Episode Trailer quite a bit, with Yumi and Sachiko adopting a myriad of different styles, random jokes, and so forth. See this one for a particularly epic example.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) gives one or two-sentence statements hinting at the content of the next episode... except for the trailer for the last episode, where it simply had Alphonse screaming.
    • The Japanese version focused more on funny, with the characters doing such strange things from talking about how people mispronounce their names to accidentally killing the director, all with the footage of next episode's preview running. And in one case, where the episodes were intended to be shown back-to-back, Edward claims he's just transmuted your TV so it will explode if you change the channel. Which would be in line with the manga philosophy...
    • Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, however, just features melancholic Fauxlosophic Narration by Father/the Narrator.
  • K has cute, Leaning on the Fourth Wall style dialogues between the characters in the episode previews, discussing the events of the episode, and also sometimes revealing extra characterization. Neko's unique method of storytelling shows up here first, and doesn't make an appearance in the actual episodes until season 2. Also noteworthy is Kuroh's monologue after episode 11, when Shiro's true identity is revealed. Kuroh says that even though Shiro is hopelessly irresponsible and careless, "I find myself wanting to stand by his side, and fight for him,".
  • Bleach plays around with its Post Episode Trailer: characters that haven't even shown up yet will introduce themselves, certain characters can't bring themselves to describe the episode, and so on. Every time, Ichigo complains that they're wasting what little time they have.
    • Most recently, they've even had characters that died during the episode say things. Which prompt some amusing comments from others doing the comments, as well.
      • One even had Nel apologizing to the audience for the upcoming filler arc, saying that the studio executives made them do it.
    • The space will occasionally be filled with a character reciting one of the poems Kubo adds at the beginning of volumes. In most cases, the poem is dedicated to a character who is going to die/be defeated in the following episode, and is recited by that same character. Example, in the preview of episode 272, the one where Ulquiorra dies, Daisuke Namikawa reads the poem from volume 40 (yes, the infamous "I lust for everything about you" one).
  • Super Robot Wars: Original Generation: Divine Wars is in love with the goofy variation. While their chattering usually has something to do with the next episode, its usually them commenting on the trailer itself, as if this is the first time they saw it too.
  • The Kujibiki♡Unbalance TV series featured the characters from Genshiken (the show it is a Spin-Off from) discussing the show over its next episode preview.
  • Every episode of Fate/stay night has Kotomine saying the series' title at the beginning of the preview and the next episode's title at the end of it, with no dialogue in between.
  • The Angelic Layer previews have Icchan bringing up a cryptic hint about the next episode's content with Misaki. Due to her Pollyanna nature, she always takes it the wrong way, like ignoring hints that she'll have to battle her friends and instead heaping praise on them and halting the conversation.
  • The Hellsing trailers are of the ridiculous variety, done in a style very different from the show itself and bearing little to no relation to the events of the next episode - or any episode of any show, for that matter.
    • They're actually drawn in the style that the manga's author uses for an Imagine Spot. The flying fat man? That's Seres's gun, Harkonnen.
  • Negima!? had strange little skits showing the character the next episode would "star."
  • sola had characters humourously conversing while the screen just showed clouds. Something of a Mood Whiplash, considering how dark the series could be.
  • Bamboo Blade's feature chibi versions of the characters in different settings talking about something related to the episode, or just time-filling fun. In one instance, Satori ends up giving the title to the episode that had just aired.
  • Now and Then, Here and There - the first such trailer reveals just what sort of show this is. Each one features a rant by the insane dictator Hamdo that is loosely related to the events of the next episode and extremely creepy.
  • Junjou Romantica doesn't even bother pretending to trail the next episode: the post-episode clips have a caption with the next episode's title, but are in themselves just little domestic moments between Misaki and Usami.
  • Ah! My Goddess usually has Keiichi and Belldandy discussing events to come. It usually ends with Belldandy giving the title and Keiichi giving some kind of freaked-out comment.
  • Shugo Chara! has the post episode trailers for none other purpose than to hang a lampshade precisely from the very explanatory episode titles...
  • Naruto Shippuden seems to be experimenting with different styles of Post-Episode Trailers. A few of them early on in the series were characters talking about the scenes that were being shown as though they were actually something else (for example, talking about surfing on Kisame's wave attack). More recently, they tend to be either characters talking about the situation at hand (usually paraphrased from actual dialogue), or Naruto taking on an omniscient narrator role, even referring to himself in the third person.
  • Phantom Quest Corp.: Each episode ends with a preview segment of the next Incident File, during which, Ayaka provides a summation set to the accompaniment of the show's theme tune. Followed by Karino's catchphrase:
    Karino: Ms. Ayaka, are you alright?
  • Eureka Seven's post-episode sequences follow a common, distinctive formula; Renton's voice goes, "To Be Continued!" and a montage of scenes from the next episode is shown, with an extremely mellow Talho offering a very cryptic description of the events to come, followed by "Next episode: [title]."
    • Eureka Seven AO is much the same, with Ao saying the "To Be Continued!" line and the addition of an extra preview scene after the next episode's title card where the announcer (Chie Nakamura) says "Hear the cry of the children of the stars." Episodes 17 through 21 seemed to change the formula, but it turns out it was just the broadcast station shortening the previews (other broadcasts showed the full preview). On the other hand, Episode 22 eschewed the standard preview to explain that there would be a Series Hiatus before the last two episodes (thanks to some Schedule Slip).
  • Haruka Nogizaka's Secret's Post Episode Trailer starts out kind of normally. But by the end of the trailer, it always ends with another show's "On the Next Episode of..." Catch-Phrase, including "And we promise more fanservice!", "Final Fusion approved!", "Everyone, watch it!", Inazuma Kiiick!, "Another page turns in the history of the galaxy."
    • Purezza had Nogizaka Vocabulary Essentials, a segment where chibified versions of characters would explain certain words used in the show.
  • Dai-Guard's PETs are usually done by Akagi, except for once when another character cuts him off, reminds him that he's still unconscious as of the end of the just-finished episode, and then gives the preview in his place.
  • Code Geass post-ep trailers are very predictable on Lelouch saying something. Only twice is this broken: The final eps of S1, in which the episodes are back-to-back, and right after episode 18 of R2, the Wham Episode of R2: The trailer had no dialogue whatsoever, and the episode title is aptly named The Betrayal: The Order of The Black Knights betrayed him, Nunnally (supposedly) died, and finally, Rolo gives his own life in a Tear Jerker Alas, Poor Scrappy moment.
  • The Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! would end with a Post Episode Trailer narrated by Anzu, which she'd always end with "Duel standby". From episode 200 onwards, she would say "Otanoshimini" ("Have fun," or "Enjoy it"). Probably because the arc had almost no duels, so "Duel standby" wouldn't make much sense. This changes again at episode 223, the penultimate episode, where she ends the preview with "Duel no naku ga oeru." (The duel of tears will be finished).
  • Kaiji's previews have no voiceovers, just scenes from the next episode with ominous music playing in the background until the end, where the announcer simply says "Next time" followed by the name of the episode.
  • RideBack's post-ep trailers features images from the next episode, put as a backdrop of the show's side characters in chibi form performing comedy gags... Up until Suzuri is killed by police brutality in episode 10 and the episode's segment is turned into a Really Dead Montage.
  • Hakugei Densetsu (Known as Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick in the USA) did this on every DVD disk, rather than every episode. They even used the phrase: "On the next Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick: ..."
  • School Rumble parodies this trope. In the final episode of the first season, Tenma begins the post-episode trailer like normal until she is interrupted by Karasuma, who reminds her that the show is over—there isn't a next episode. Further played with in the following OVA—Tenma begins the same preview verbatim before stopping herself when she realizes how familiar it sounds. The characters then reveal that the trailer is a teaser for the next season of the show.
  • In Hetalia: Axis Powers, this would sometimes happen, but sometimes not. Sometimes the preview would be brief, and other times it would take up a significant part of the five minute episodes. Still other times, the episode being previewed won't even be the next episodes, but many weeks later.
  • Paranoia Agent: "To begin...a haiku-like Mind Screw consisting of Fauxlosophic Narration that will somehow all make sense once you've actually seen the next episode. And then... *WHAM*"
    • There was even an On the Next teaser for the last episode, narrated by a less-than-sane Maniwa. What was it previewing? Why, the whole series, of course - the show itself encourages you to watch it again to catch Fridge Brilliance and rewatch bonuses.
  • The episode previews of Baccano! feature Isaac and Miria misinterpreting the otherwise straightforward episode titles.
    • The extra episodes replace this with Wrench Crazy Graham Specter ranting and raving incoherently about the next episode title.
  • The Shaman King (2001) anime starts out with fairly normal previews, featuring Manta overreacting to the clips from the next episode. However, as the series progresses they turn utterly bizarre, as if voice actress Inuyama Inuko was just asked to stand behind the microphone and do whatever came to mind, from short skits to surprisingly good imitations of her fellow actresses, over completely unrelated bits of the next episode. The segments go back to normal for the show's climax, something that doesn't go unnoticed ("Lately the previews have become rather serious...").
    • In a later episode of the English dub, there is a subversion of this trope, with an "On This Episode" featuring at the beginning. This was probably made to fill time.
  • Harukanaru Toki no Naka de has the next episode previews narrated by one of the Hachiyou - often, but not always, the one who gets a prominent role in that episode; and the one for the last episode is narrated by the main character. Sometimes, but again, not always, the previews give away the exchange of the regular Ending Theme for the character's Image Song in the episode in question, replacing the Anime Theme Song BGM with that Image Song.
    • There are also omake previews on DVDs, narrated by the Big Bad. These are recut to focus more on the Oni clan, and consist mostly of said Big Bad trying to get the main heroine to The Dark Side. The preview for the last episode has him losing his Large Ham tendencies somewhat, seeing as he's clearly not going to win.
  • As much of a Gag Dub as Samurai Pizza Cats is, the show is a rare example of an anime with a clearly "localized" dub doing it (Speedy: On the next..../General Catton: PIZZA CATS!!!!).
  • Soul Eater follows a similar pattern to Bleach as mentioned above, although putting one both before and after the credits. Each preview usually ends with Maka saying "I'll take your soul" or some variation.
  • Happens in the Japanese version of PokĂ©mon: The Series:
    • Oak has a habit of having poetry sections after (or is it before?) these too. Oak's lectures are actually before the preview, adding, along with the endings, even more space between the episode itself and the post-episode trailer.
    • From the Best Wishes series onwards, Ash usually introduces them. It translates to "Our next adventure is...!" while he throws a PokĂ© Ball. Most of them are also narrated by Ash but sometimes other characters do them. On one occassion we weirdly got May and James narrating the preview together.
  • Ladies versus Butlers! has the preview delivered by any two characters. At the same time. The viewer must keep up with overlapping dialogue that may or may not be related to what the actual preview is showing.
  • Planetes makes its trailers deliberately misleading.
  • Sound of the Sky previews weren't part of the show, you had to go the official website to watch them. The one for Episode 7 was incredibly misleading, source of the meme "The preview lied, people died".
  • Mob Psycho 100: Next episode previews were narrated by Reigen, who describes them in an over-the-top manner.
  • One Piece episode previews feature Luffy, narrating what will happen next (or just messing around), usually with other characters chiming in, as the first opening instrumental We Are plays in the background. Then, Luffy says "On the next... One Piece!" and gives the next episode's title. At the very end, Luffy yells "I'm gonna be king of the pirates!"
    • At some point before the pre-timeskip episodes onwards, previews are instead narrated by longtime series narrator Mahito Ohbanote ; and in the post-timeskip episodes instrumental versions of the openings "We Go!" and later "OVER THE TOP" play in the background since their debut.
  • Highschool of the Dead has a clips package with dialogue snippets from the episode playing over it, very often overlapping, and without context. Hope you're paying attention.
    • Any subbed version of those stingers is insane, you try reading three lines of text at once when each only stays on screen for a second, with no knowledge of Japanese whatsoever.
  • Scrapped Princess differs by doing their 'next episode' preview segment before the end credits of the current one. Raquel's VA gives a brief summary, set to a montage that ends with a still frame along with the next episode's title.
    Raquel: [cheerfully] See you next time!
  • Angel Beats! is similar to the above, except it doesn't even bother with the clips package. All the dialogue is spelled out according to its line in the script. It's easier to discern (somewhat), but again, hope you're paying attention.
  • GUNĂ—SWORD had fairly standard trailers always narrated by Wendy. Occasionally she revealed information about her changing state of mind or emotions, including her developing feelings for Van. The trailers take on significance in the Distant Finale, when you learn that the narration is actually Wendy talking to a reporter about her adventures years after they happened.
  • Parodied in the Gundam 00 season 2 "preview", where Lockon Stratos (fails to) come back to life, Tieria is revealed to be a robot, and space aliens invade. Strangely enough, there is a grain of truth to it all...
  • Every series of Digimon did this until Digimon Fusion came along; in the dub it was omitted until Digimon Data Squad. The narrator varied depending on the series: a Timeskipped Takeru for Adventure and 02, while the other series simply had relevant characters for the next episode saying snippets of lines that would normally belong to the next episode's dialogue but for some reason don't actually show up in their exact form.
  • Oddly, halfway through Martian Successor Nadesico's run, the promos switch from a a hammy announcer promising lots of Fanservice to the "character chitchat" version mentioned above.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Dragon Ball Z:
      • The English dub was notable for this. It even featured a hammy announcer. It was even lampshaded by the actual announcer at a con once.
        Announcer: Next time, on Dragon Ball Z, nine minutes of Vegeta screaming! Eleven minutes of Goku fretting! Plus, someone throws a punch! Find out who it is, next time, on DRAGON BALL Z!!!
      • In the Japanese versions, Son Goku greeted everyone saying "Ossu! Ora Gokuu!" and explained the next episode with other character's lines from the next episode helping explain the plot. Funimation never got these next episode previews from Toei until their release of the Dragon Box, forcing them to make their own previews.
      • The Latin American version, which was directly dubbed from the Japanese one, kept these intact. Mario Castañeda's lines of "¡Hola, soy Goku!" and "El prĂłximo capĂ­tulo de Dragon Ball Z será..." note  became of his most recognized (and loved) by the fans.
    • Dragon Ball Z Kai ends with these, usually starting with Goku introducing himself, and the others joining in after he explains the premise. Occasionally another character takes over, depending on the content of the episode.
  • Wandering Son incorporated the preview into the ending. So every episode part of the ending near the end would show clips of the next episode. They never really said anything though. All we saw were parts of scenes set to the music.
  • Yumeiro Pâtissière had normal previews for most of the episodes. Except episode 39, who ends with team Ichigo going to Paris. The preview is indicating a Filler episode with the spirits, but when they are about to announce the name of the next episode, Ichigo says "This is wrong!" three scenes from the human part of the episode are shown and she says the name of the next episode.
  • The final episode of Robotech features a preview for the first episode with the narrator telling the audience the show is replaying the entire series from the beginning.
  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is one of the few anime to NOT use this at the end of each episode. It played to better effect to leave the viewers guessing just what would happen next. The first season was largely episodic, with only an ongoing story coming back into play every now and then - something expected in the day to day life of a police officer, they can't just cover one case then move on. They multitask. The 2nd season did this to an even better effect of keeping the watchers anticipating what will happen next week because the storyline is all connected together. Each episode covers an aspect related to a much larger encompassing storyline.
  • Every preview for the next episode of Mobile Fighter G Gundam begins with the narrator saying "Everybody, it's the moment you've been waiting for..." and ends with the phrase "Ready...GO!" Except for the final episode in which the narrator says "It's time to say goodbye..."
  • Day Break Illusion manages to contain a lot of information without any of it being more relevant to the next episode than the title: You have the Tendou sisters being cute, an image of one of the major arcana from the show's stylized deck, and quickly-scrolling text detailing the symbolism of the card.
  • In Umi Monogatari, next episode previews generally have Marin talking about sea creatures.
  • Cross Ange's next episode previews have characters, mostly Ange, complaining about the episode or the show itself.
  • The Japan Animator Expo has one of the two main voice actors voice the Series Mascot while making an "On the Next" anouncement.
  • Each episode of Kemono Friends ends with stick puppets of PPP giving commentary about an animal that'll show up in the next episode. Or trying to.
  • Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu has the two most important characters of the episode talk in a cutscene-like segment mimicking the Recollection scenes in its parent game.
  • Bakugan had one at the end of every episode, except season finales. In one unusual case, the plot described was not what actually happened in the eventual episode.
  • Tales of Zestiria The X has these at the end of most episodes and hilariously presented in the same format as the skits that Tales Series games are known for. They are usually very funny and reveal very little actual information about what's coming up on the next episode.
  • Parodied in the Pop Team Epic anime, which ends every half-episode with a teaser for the next episode of Hoshiiro Girldrop, a fictional idol anime adaptation of a oneshot manga that the creator has repeatedly used as the bait for Bait-and-Switch announcements about Pop Team Epic.
  • Before some of the episode previews in Massugu ni Ikou there are shorts are called "Mame's Picture Diary". They are little diary segments that depict Mametarou in a crude Super-Deformed art-style. The actual previews themselves are the standard clipshow kind.
  • Case Closed has "Next Conan/episode of Conan: (episode title)" following a brief preview. The English dub had Conan announcing, for example, "One truth prevails on the next Case Closed, A Hunting We Will Go!" And yes, that was the English title of one of the episodes.
  • My Hero Academia has the protagonist Izuku Midoriya narrate the next episode's preview, alongside a character relevant to the episode in question, before ending with the show's Arc Words: "Go beyond! Plus Ultra!". They're naturally quite zany and funny, with every character alternating between narrating and goofing around. Episode 28 features villain Tomura Shigaraki co-narrating; Izuku craps himself throughout the entire preview, and Shigaraki refuses to say "Plus Ultra", prompting Izuku to nervously repeat himself.
  • Dr. STONE shows live-action footage of a science experiment that causes the next episode's title to be revealed.
  • Tamagotchi has previews at the end of almost every episode where the characters explain what's going to happen in the forthcoming episode, with their speech superimposed over clips of said episode.
  • The episode previews at the end of each episode of Cap Revolution Bottleman are usually delivered by Natsu and Momo, the AIs that officiate Bottleman battles, and completed with their catchphrase, "Bottle battle go!" Later, they are given by other characters, sometimes in a very intentionally cruddy art style.
  • Zombie Land Saga has these featured after each episode (sans the season finale episodes), with one of the members in Franchouchou (minus Tae Yamada, who is The Unintelligible) talking about themselves and/or the team in regards to the next episode's plot, although there were a couple of episodes in the series that had the chosen character not acknowledging the following episode's plot (and for good reason).
    • Episode 9 of the first season has such a ridiculously lengthy episode title, which means Saki Nikaido is only given enough time to say the episode title in the preview of said episode. She even lampshades this in the Japanese version.
  • My Roommate is a Cat shows very brief clips of the next episode while Haru and Taro have a conversation unrelated to anything. The episode title isn't even shown and it goes by so fast it's hard to notice it's even a preview of the next episode.
  • Much like the game, Makai Senki Disgaea also used Etna for nonsensical trailers, which is likewise subverted for the last one.

    Comic Books 
  • Most comics will have something akin to this on the last page. "Next: [something happens]!"
  • Jack of Fables ends each issue with a summary of the next issue told by the titular main character. But since he's a Small Name, Big Ego, the summaries are gratuitously self-indulgent and completely false. In one issue, he doesn't even bother with a preview, instead bragging about how perfect his hair is. In another, he tells off the reader for expecting one of these when he's just been impaled with a sword.
  • Many of the issues of The Loud House have a sneak peek at the end that gives a preview to one of the stories from the next issue.
  • A Running Gag from What's New? With Phil And Dixie was that they'd always proclaim that they'd be discussing "Sex in D&D" next issue. And the issue after that. And the one after that...
  • Valiant Entertainment has been doing this with their Archer & Armstrong reboot, providing the first page of the next issue at the end of the current one.

    Fan Works 
  • A Game of Cat and Cat: After 2023's Halloween Episode is a preview of the chapter "after next", a.k.a 2 chapters ahead.
  • Subverted in Dragonball Abridged, Episode 13:
    Narrator: A new evil has revealed its face. Who are these mysterious enemies, and do Gohan and Krillin stand a chance? The answer to these questions will be revealed... Right now! Zarbon, Dodoria, Frieza, and Oh my, no.
  • Each episode of Super Therapy! end with a glimpse of the next superhero/supervillain patient(s). The dialogue is usually unique to this ending and not repeated the next episode.
  • The Differentverse: A Quest for Harmony ends with an author's note stating that "The Bearers will return in... Different Bearers: A Case of Family", and confirms it will be centered around Scootaloo's family. (It's a reference to the below-mentioned James Bond version of the same thing.)
  • Each chapter of The New Adventures of Invader Zim is built like a show episode, including closing with an author's note that gives a brief advertisement of what happens in the next one.
  • The author's note for Half Past Adventure always plays this for laughs with an out-of-context quote from the next chapter.
  • PMD: The Rogue Team features an anime-styled next episode preview as the last page of a chapter, complete with a catchphrase, panels from the following chapter and dialogue where characters discuss the chapter's content.
  • A Diplomatic Visit: The story ends with an announcement: "To be continued in… Diplomat at Large"
  • The Parody Fic Captain Proton and the Planet of Lesbians is presented In the Style of a 1930's Radio Drama, with cliffhanger endings for each chapter followed by Parody Commercials and Large Ham promos of what's going to happen next.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Played with in Takashi Miike's live action Yatterman film, where The Stinger Sequel Hook is presented as a mock next episode preview. This follows on the various lines in the movie about things occurring once a week, which themselves are lampshade hangings over the 70s and 2008 Yatterman series being both broadcast weekly.
  • In a rare film example, Back to the Future Part II ends with a montage of clips from Part III, as well as a "To be concluded..." This was included because Robert Zemeckis wanted to make it clear that the next installment was already well into production, and audiences wouldn't have to wait years for it to come out.
  • Captain America: The First Avenger, being the last Marvel Cinematic Universe film released before The Avengers, included a full-length trailer for The Avengers after its credits, in addition to the by-then-customary "[Hero Name] will return in The Avengers" line at the end of the credits.
  • Films in the James Bond franchise in the 1960s-1980s would promote the next film at the end of the current one. "James Bond will return...in [title of next film.]"

    Literature 
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events: Lemony's letters to his Kind Editor, which include the title of the next book and a few random details from it. As the series goes on, these letters become increasingly obscured, such as by tearing and water-stains, and so the information is increasingly elusive. In the case of the eleventh book, only half the title was known; the twelfth book's title was completely lost; the letter about the thirteenth book was just a single sentence written on a napkin — with the title included, but nobody realized at the time as it deviated from the usual title pattern.
  • The Disgaea Novels pull this the same way as they do in the game section below, complete with a picture to further demonstrate the insanity.
  • Myth-O-Mania: In the epilogue of each book, narrator Hades tells one of his friends or relatives which story from Classical Mythology he will retell next.
  • Water Margin: Every chapter ends with enigmatic allusions to the events of the next, capping off with "Read our next chapter if you would know." This makes both tropes Older Than Print.

    Live-Action TV 

In General:

  • A staple of network television programs — mostly dramas and action-oriented programs — since the early days. As the introduction suggests, the montage of clips were used to tease the following week's episode. Often, this was omitted if it were either the season finale or the final episode of the series.
    • In multi-part episodes that are "to be continued", teasers will sometimes be used to heighten the dramatic effect ... often by making it appear that one or more protagonists are receiving the worst of the episode's conflict, with things cutting off just before the dramatic climax. The opposite of this, then, is "Previously on…", which will sometimes open the following episode.

Networks:

  • Bravo went through a long period of commissioning Magazine Shows, such as Game-Pad, with an eye to repeating them a few times concurrently, with a On the Next at the end. Savvy producers would end the last show in the series with a preview of the first episode.
  • In the 2005-06 season, shows on the WB abused On the Next egregiously. For example, on Gilmore Girls, all of the clips in the On the Next they show tonight will take place in the last three minutes of the next episode, which we will see next week. And so on.

Series:

  • The live-action syndicated series The Adventures of Superboy ended every episode with a preview of the next. These often ended with the narrator exclaiming "...on the next Superboy!"
  • The Amazing Race has them, but they're only misleading to people who aren't familiar with them. Anyone who's watched more than a few episodes will realize than anyone shown to be in danger in the preview will survive the next leg 95% of the time.
  • Andi Mack ends every episode with such.
  • Subverted in Arrested Development as the scenes shown in the "On The Next" sequence are never actually shown in subsequent episodes, though in Arrested Development's case, the "previews" resolve or expand on plot threads from the current episode and are thus implied to occur between episodes.
    • The show actually takes this one step further — because you are so used to seeing scenes that will never show up, they occasionally threw a genuine important plot point from the next episode in as well. Viewers would think this was just another gag — until the next episode.
    • A rather excellent example occurs when Michael's almost-wife Rita walks across a pool on the surface of the water and Michael asks his magician brother Gob whether that was one of his magic tricks. Gob denies it, and the episode seems to end on a mystical moment. The "On the next episode" segment continues immediately from this moment with Gob clarifying that it was one of his ILLUSIONS... as he shoots lighter fluid out of his trick sleeves, accidentally setting Tobias on fire. The narrator notes, "Michael relives a wedding nightmare."
  • The Barrier: A montage of various scenes from the next episode follows each one. Scenes that are misleading when out of context or telling only part of the story are frequent. The last episode ends with a montage of snippets from the entire series.
  • Batman (1966) literally ran on this trope, since most stories were two-parters (unusually, both parts originally ran on consecutive nights instead of following the more typical format of one episode per week). The first episode of each complete story nearly always ended with the narrator pointing out how big a jam Batman was in at the moment and concluding that if viewers wanted to see how he'd manage to get out of it they'd have to "Tune in tomorrow! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!"
  • Being Human, also on the BBC, does it too, erring on the misleading side.
  • Christmas on Vesterbro has a narrator doing this in a voice-over at the end of every episode, much to the confusion of the characters who are able to hear him, leading them to ask several questions about the identity of the strange disembodied voice and the plot points he is talking about, much to the narrator's irritation. In the pen-ultimate episode, the narrator finally gets fed up with the characters' constant heckling, leading him to emerge from a closet while announcing that he is quitting this job for good and walks out of the scene, leaving the almost illiterate Danny to narrate the final "On the Next" segment.
  • CSI , all 3 shows. The voice-over person varied (although Nick/George Eads always gives the voice over at the end of the show before original CSI, saying that it's coming up next), although on CSI: NY it was always Mac/Gary Sinise. The line is always "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode." Absent if a rerun or no episode airs the next week.
  • Doctor Who:
    • Standard on the new series, multi-part story or not. The exceptions are if the next episode or special is going to air months away. Usually kept intact on the DVDs, with the singular exception of Series 5.
    • The classic series used a multi-part story format with cliffhangers at the end of each episode bar the last. The lack of cliffhangers in the new single-episode format meant that the first two-parter was eagerly awaited by fans hungry for their first cliffhanger in sixteen years ... the resolution to which was promptly spoiled in the On the Next trailer, which ran straight after the end of the episode. After this, the On the Next for the first part of two-parters was moved to run after the credits for most episodes.
      • In the original series, the final shot or scene from the previous episode would always be the opening shot or scene of the next episode. In some cases where they needed to pad out the story, this reprise could run as long as several minutes.
      • Uniquely, though, the final parts of "The Enemy of the World" and "Doctor Who and the Silurians" featured a next episode trailer for "The Web of Fear" and "The Ambassadors of Death", respectively. For those who wish to see them, an amateur reconstruction of the former trailer can be viewed here (the original video was junked by the BBC), and the latter can be viewed here.
      • Fans of the original series have created similar trailers for the classic episodes on YouTube.
    • The US On the Next trailers employ the standard overdramatic, spoilery voiceover all trailers seemingly share. The trailer for "Utopia" said, basically, "The Doctor's greatest enemy returns!" right before showing said enemy and showing him yell his name. The US, unfortunately, did have an trailer for "Journey's End", which was basically this:
      Narrator: The Doctor faces his greatest enemy — the Daleks — with the help of a lot of friends — such as Jackie and Mickey who save Sarah Jane and K9-and there's an shocking secret to saving the Earth... the Doctor-Donna!
      • They actually said in the trailer that the shocking secret was the Doctor-Donna and showed several clips to that effect. About the only thing they didn't spoil was what happened to Donna.
      • The US On the Next trailers have dropped the spoilery narrator in recent series.
  • Extraordinary Attorney Woo has a preview at the end of every episode, providing a basic outline of the next episodes plot by putting clips of it into a brief montage.
  • Fast Layne shows this at the end of every episode.
  • Fortitude interweaves the end credits with brief scenes from the next episode. Most of these snippets mean little when taken out-of-context but there's a few spoilers mixed in.
  • Every episode of Gabby Duran & the Unsittables has a preview of the next episode in the closing credits. However, it mostly avoids going the cliffhanger route, and it completely avoids Previously on… segments.
  • Gladiators (2024): The first episode ends with clips of the next episode's new challenges and highlights the new Gladiators making their debut in the next episode. Once all new challenges and Gladiators in the season are introduced, this is dropped.
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022): With the exception of the Season 1 finale, each episode on the AMC+ streaming service includes a preview for the next episode. However, this doesn't apply to the AMC channel's telecasts.
  • Most ending credits in Janda Kembang is shown on top of clips from the next episode.
  • Life on Mars did this for all non-finale episodes except the second-to-last episode of Series 2, which ended on a plot twist. Ashes to Ashes (2008) usually uses them as well.
  • In the first series of spoof educational show Look Around You, each episode would end with a reference to what the next show would be about, although these were never used. Topics included hitchhiking, Italians and reggae.
  • Straight after the final episode of Lost season 1 in the UK, Channel 4 was so far behind America they showed a season 2 trailer showing many notable moments from the second series, including Hurley's dream of Jin speaking English and the chicken suit. This was intended to blow the viewer away rather than any sort of cliffhanger.
  • Luther interweaves the end credits with montages of the next episode, except for the last episode of each series.
  • Mad Men uses the interesting tactic of picking entirely random clips from the next episode, so the viewer has to watch the next episode to figure out how they all fit together. Sometimes an important plot development is hinted at, but rarely in a way that you can guess what they episode will be about.
  • In Saban's Masked Rider, during the credits, a sequence was run that was more a parody of "On The Next" promos, spoofing something that happened during the current episode and saying nothing about the next one. (For example, a scene of Dex using a water-based power-up was shown, and the announcer said "Will Dex learn to take his clothes off before taking a shower?" After two or three such instances, the announcer would say "All this and more on the next exciting adventure of... Masked Rider!")
  • The Mentalist uses this at the end of every episode, said by Simon Baker, no less. And in a rather distinctive Australian accent.
  • Merlin, on the BBC, does this. The balance between misleading and spoilery can vary.
  • Mirai Sentai Timeranger has an interesting case of this for the next episode previews for Case Files 3 to 22, the blurb before the shouting of the "On the Next Episode of..." Catch-Phrase reads:
    They travel the present, past and future
    to explore the future all by myself.
    Heroes of Justice going over time and space,
    whose name is TIMERANGER!!
    • After that, when the next episode catch phrase is said, the above blurb (Excluding TIMERANGER) disappears to say "next", and the TIMERANGER word zooms in leading to the episode preview itself.
  • Every episode from Power Rangers in Space up to Power Rangers Wild Force had these. They were removed when released on Netflix.
  • The children's fantasy game show Raven and its three spinoffs have these types of sequences at the end of most of the episodes.
  • All three Stargate television series have rather unremarkable On the Next sequences at the end of episodes.
    • Stargate SG-1 is currently being re-run in chronological order on TH!S, a local channel broadcast out of Talladega, Alabama. Even though the episodes are up to a decade old, they made their own trailers for upcoming episodes, which consist of a non-character omniscient narrator describing what problem SG-1 would face in the next episode.
    • The Sci-Fi channel promos for Stargate SG-1 had the disappointing habit of giving away major plotlines for the episode. An example revealing that the SG1 team were in fact robot duplicates - when that surprise wasn't revealed in the actual episode until halfway through.
  • Star Trek:
    • Used only once during the run of the original series to great effect for the only two-parter, "The Menagerie", the one made using most of the original pilot. At the cliffhanger, Leonard Nimoy's voice-over promised that "you'll learn next week" why Spock had inexplicably committed mutiny, leading into a trailer for the second part. Footage of a confused and heartbroken Kirk leaving the impromptu courtroom followed, with "To Be Continued Next Week" overlaid. For syndication, the voice-over audio was edited to remove the word "week", and the shot with Kirk was freeze-framed with a new caption reading "To Be Continued".
    • The shows since The Next Generation have come with next-episode previews. Voyager had the misfortune to be stuck with UPN's publicity department, which made notoriously bad previews; fans were left wincing at the corny narration, the deceptive editing that bordered on outright lies, and on one memorable occasion, the description of Seven of Nine as "Voyager's Battlestar Babe."
    • The original series had its famous "Star Trek - Next Voyage" teasers, which have become a permanent feature of DVD releases. The "Next Voyage" previews had a definite tendency to highlight Superdickery and Fanservice. They frequently ended with Kirk in apparently inescapable doom or even with Kirk apparently dead.
  • Supernatural always does this, which gives its fanbase time to speculate about the possibilities of next week's episode. The short trailers are usually quite vague and broad and include clips from all over the episode, which gives the fanbase a lot to anticipate and guess about.
  • A Touch of Cloth: Parodied. The "next episode" montages feature completely non-existent plots. For instance, the one for the third series had an Alien Invasion and ghost banshees (in a show that spoofs gritty cop dramas).
  • Parodied in Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. At the end of the Halloween episode, all of the leads are killed off. Thus follows an 'On The Next' consisting entirely of shots of the abandoned Pizza Place. (The show continued next week as though nothing had happened).
  • Walt Disney Presents: Before the end credits, Walt would introduce a preview trailer for next week's show.

    Magazine 

    Podcasts 

    Puppet Shows 
  • Parodied in the "Veterinarian's Hospital" sketches on The Muppet Show, which always end with the announcer saying "Tune in next week to hear Doctor Bob say..." and Doctor Bob making one last joke. This joke is, of course, never in next week's episode, because they've already made it.
  • In Seasons 27-29 of Sesame Street, each episode ends with Big Bird saying, "Coming soon on Sesame Street!" over a purple static background. A clip from the next episode is then shown, after which Big Bird says, "Toodle-oo!" In Season 30, these previews were dropped, but the "Toodle-oo!" was still used for a few more years.

    Radio 

    Video Games 
  • A Signature Style of Telltale Games' episodic adventure titles, to keep you buying the seasons in their entirety.
  • Asura's Wrath has one at the end of each episode (except for episodes 18 and 22). they each have an instrumental of the games main theme song, "In Your Belief." Here's a memorable one:
    Asura and Yasha. They are like Oil and Water, Fire and Ice. Yet their paths never fail to cross one another. Their long journey together, comes to an end.
  • Disgaea:
    • Disgaea: Hour of Darkness parodied this trope by using post-chapter trailers that were outlandish lies by secondary character Etna. Then it subverted itself by having one of these trailers, the most outlandish yet, actually be the next chapter.
    • Disgaea 2 plays with the concept by having its post-chapter trailers be summary news stories of the previous chapter and its impact, rather than previews of the next, almost all of which are in-universe examples of Cowboy BeBop at His Computer as well.
    • The third game returned to the old system, this time with a different character narrating each "on the next"-segment, most of them parodies of different animes, every episode is also referred to as the final one. The preview for the post-game chapter is narrated by Etna, who has had no role until this point. The cast makes a point to be in awe of her experience narrating previews.
    • Disgaea 4 continues the tradtion:
      Fenrich: Your commitment and devotion to sardines... is quite admirable...
      • Keeping the Disgaea tradition of referencing various manga/movies/series/whatever those On the Next segments have their share of shout outs as well. An example is the one featured at the end of Chapter 6, where Fuka references One Piece by shouting that she's going to become the President, the same way Luffy shouts he's going to become the Pirate King at the end of every of One Piece's own On the Next segments. Another outright states that the show being previewed is Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei !
      • Extra episodes released via DLC or the Updated Re-release brings with it new segments. The Fuka and Desco Show episodes end with Fuka being portrayed as a lovesick maiden who gets a new boyfriend to over her every episode while the Time Leap segments initially start out as a normal recap of Tyrant Valvatorez' adventures only for the present-day Prinny Instructor Valvatorez to hijack the entire segment for more sardine trivia.
    • Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance has Seraphina continue the tradition, only this time, she has silly versions of her male allies join her in her narration, who often worship the ground she's on, while their real counterparts snark at the proceedings. Also, unlike the previous games, Disgaea 5 uses CG event art instead of sprites, allowing for some really over-the-top depictions of the characters. There was one instance where Red Magnus and Zeroken do their own preview, only for Seraphina to beat them both black-and-blue and apologize to the viewer. A future one had Christo do one of his own without retribution. Another future one was done by Killia and Usalia, only revealed to be a curry fever dream by Usalia.
    • Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny changes things up and does a Previously on… at the start of the chapter instead, in the form of black-and-white comic panels narrated by Zed. The recaps are just as inaccurate and nonsensical and expect a bunch of weird references.
  • Evil Zone follows each fight with a narrated preview of the next episode or round or whatever this character's scenario calls it.
  • Final Fantasy XIV has this with the Manderville Quest Lines, which were released as "episodes" on a patch-by-patch basis. Completing an episode gives you a teaser preview of the next episode with out-of-context clips that typically don't actually appear exactly as they do in the actual quest, a note that "HILDIBRAND WILL RETURN IN <name of next episode>", and then a stinger where Nashu addresses the camera directly while shenanigans, always involving Hildibrand, Gilgamesh's pet rooster Enkidu, and a Coblyn (even, or perhaps especially, when it takes place in an area a Coblyn has no reason to show up in), unfold in the background.
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn does the same thing for the different "parts" of the game. In the English release anyways, it wasn't there in the JP version.
  • The credits for the Kingdom Hearts HD Remixes does this in a way. 1.5 featured scenes from the games that would be in 2.5, while 2.5 featured scenes from Kingdom Hearts 3D and the announcement trailer for Kingdom Hearts III.
  • Metal Gear Solid V has a preview for the game's second major act after defeating the first chapter's Final Boss, hinting at Quiet's true importance, Eli's rebellion, and the truth behind the identity of Venom Snake.
  • NieR: Automata: After earning endings A and B, a preview plays for the endings C and D route, with the YoRHa commander giving a speech to her subordinates before launching the Final Battle against the machine lifeforms juxtaposed over pivotal scenes in the story to come.
  • Phantasy Star Universe not only has a Next Time sequence for every 'episode' in the plot, it also has a prologue, an intro sequence, and a credits sequence too. The narrator actually says 'Next time on Phantasy Star Universe'.
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time does this at the save points. Considering that some of the shown futures include the Prince dying, they might be interpreted as the Prince getting a glimpse at the games in which you reverted to the save point...
  • Sakura Wars was notable for this, as each individual game in the series is split up into several episodes, with each episode having both an opening and Next Time sequence.
  • Before the credits of Shadows of the Empire, there's a message to the effect of "Did Dash really die? Replay on Hard to find out!"
  • Skullgirls: Parodied in Squigly's joke story mode ending, where Filia gives a deliberately vague preview of Squigly's actual story mode, with a couple of quips from Samson here and there.
    Samson: Don't miss it, or I'll knock your teeth out!
    Filia: Samson, be nice...
  • Sonic Adventure 2 did this as well, when one story mode was completed, it would have a preview of the other one, and once both had been beaten, finishing either would set up a preview of the "last episode" (aka the Last story). This also had the side effect of making it so that if you want to see both trailers, you have to go through the game on two separate files—once beating Hero first to see the Dark trailer and once beating Dark first to see the Hero trailer. And there is something very interesting that happens with these trailers: In the original Dreamcast version, whichever story you beat first would still play the opposing trailer upon beating the story a second time. In the Gamecube version, once both stories have been beaten, the Last Story trailer will play for both of them.
  • At the end of every section of races on Split/Second (2010) there's a trailer showing some of the things that occur in the next section. Some of these are the best way to see the powerplays in action, as you don't usually get a good view in game. It's done to help enhance the idea that the game is actually a TV show, and every chapter also starts with a "coming up on the next Split Second," which features much the same footage; annoying if you're not taking a break at the end of a chapter.
  • The NES version of Strider plays this straight whenever the game is quit.
  • Super Robot Wars Original Generations has the bonus section called OG 2.5 which is a post-game trailer for Original Generation Gaiden.
  • Tenchu: Fatal Shadows is notable for being the first, and thus far, only game in the series to do this. It lends a sort of samurai drama tv series vibe to the game.
  • As a result of being Divided for Publication, the first volume of Twilight Syndrome ends on a Cliffhanger with an after-credits preview of sorts showing scenes from the second volume which would be released the same year.
  • Viewtiful Joe, which just adds to the Tokusatsu-like feel of the series.

    Visual Novels 
  • At the end of every episode of Daughter for Dessert, there is a montage of pictures from sexy scenes to be included in the next episode. The same montage is shown regardless of whether the player cannot access certain scenes shown because of choices in previous episodes.
  • Each episode of Double Homework ends with a preview montage for the next one (or next couple).

    Web Animation 
  • DEATH BATTLE! does this at the end of each battle, with "Next time on Death Battle", which is then followed by the appearance of the next two fighters.
  • Deadly Space Action!: Parodied in season two; the episodes end with an "On The Next" with a horribly inaccurate description.
  • In the Youtube uploads of TOME, the second parts always end with one of these. They're all painfully awkward, but that's justified, since they're also meant to make fun of this trope.
  • Parodied in the final episode of Season One of Mega Man Dies at the End. Every previous episode has one of these, and it's usually played straight, but since Mega Man... well... dies at the end, the one in this episode is just the lifeless corpse of Mega Man. Parodied throughout the rest of the season as well, since the "teaser" is, for the most part, an short out-of-context clip of the next episode. This continues partway into season two before getting dropped until the multi-part finale. Parodied in the season two (and series) finale as well; since it really is the end this time, it cuts to a test screen.

    Web Comics 
  • The two current printed volumes of El Goonish Shive feature nonsensical "previews", courtesy of Justin.
  • Dub This has a character (Bandai Guy) who parodies the worst of this breed...
  • City of Reality used to show individual panels from the next chapter, as well as a character giving a very vague idea as to what the next chapter was about. It is uncertain whether they will keep this up under the new format.
  • T Campbell often does a strip made up of sans-dialogue panels which serve as teasers for the coming year of one of his comics. An exception is the 2011 preview for Fans!, which instead presents dialogue snippets sans images.
  • The print volumes of Housepets! have these, which always show panels from later strips - specifically ones which seem silly/bizarre when deprived of context.
    Max, wearing a paper bag on his head and holding an orange soda can: LIVE FAST! DIE YOUNG! LEAVE A PICKLED CORPSE!

    Web Videos 
  • Parodied as the concept of Next Time on Lonny
  • Dragonball Z Abridged would have characters do the "Like and subscribe" thing at the end of videos and occasionally comment on the next episode, though they'd typically do it via speculating on the current episode's reveals and wondering what would come next.

    Western Animation 
  • [adult swim] / Toonami occasionally does this for their shows in a bumper starting with "On the next episode of [title]".
  • One of The Simpsons Halloween episodes plays with this as well, lampshading the fact that the Treehouse of Horror are outside of the show's (already very loose) continuity. A Frankenstein parody ends with Mr. Burn's head sewed to Homer's body. The scene fades to black, and we're treated to a preview of "next week, on The Simpsons," where Homer and Burns' head have an argument over where to go for dinner: Homer wants to go to a spaghetti restaurant, while Burns insists on attending a reception for the Queen of Holland. Homer moans that he hates having two heads. In the REAL next episode everything is back to normal.
    • This sequence is made all the more funny by the fact that The Simpsons never actually does next episode previews.
  • On Frisky Dingo, one episode ended with reporter Grace Ryan hanging for her life from a 30+ story building. The episode's On the Next? "Oh, my God, she fell."
  • In a two-part episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law ("Deadomutt"), Birdman is facing the death penalty. During the credits, the next episode is previewed: the jury foreman reads the "not guilty" verdict, then a Jump Cut to Birdman being strapped into the electric chair.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) provides a unique case of these, as each episode ends on an uniquely animated illustration of what's to come for the next episode, with a few small sigils also correlating to the upcoming episode's plot or focus characters.
  • In an interesting variation, Justice League Unlimited would sometimes feature scenes (usually Fight Scenes) from the next episode playing over the credits.
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • Parodied on the episode "Chronicles of Meap." At the beginning of the episode, it makes it look like the episode is actually an episode of a show called "Chronicles of Meap" (and that the episode is actually called "More Than Meaps the Eye"). At the end of the episode, they do a fake preview for another episode of "Chronicles of Meap" called "Meapless in Seattle" featuring multiple action movie cliches such as Major Monogram ordering Agent P to turn in his hat, Perry throwing his chair at the screen in retort, Candace expressing shock at Jeremy attending something, and Suzy and Meap fighting.
    • The Credits gag was narrated by Don LaFontaine, who died shortly afterwards. The Credits include a tribute screen to him.
    • "Meapless in Seattle" was later made a real episode, which started with the narrators stating they were forced to make it. Almost every scene happens in the episode. Major Monogram orders Perry to turn his hat in because he's getting a new one. Perry throwing the chair at Monogram's viewscreen to test the screen's durability - it passes, but Monogram remarks the chairs need a similar upgrade. Candace expresses shock at Jeremy attending something as an example of a hypothetical situation that would take higher precedence than busting her brothers. Suzy fights Meap in another preview montage, instead of the episode proper - Doofenshmirtz lampshades this.
  • Clone High did this all the time; one episode even has the narrator 'accidentally' spoil the 'twist' ending of the next Very Special Episode.
  • From 1963 to 1968, ABC's Saturday morning cartoon shows featured scenes from the ensuing week's episodes.
  • Played for Laughs in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Let's Get Serious", in which the Titans put on their "serious faces" in order to be better respected as superheroes, which last for the entirety of the episode. The preview for the next episode has the Titans back to their usual goofy selves.
  • On Special Agent Oso, "The Living Holiday Lights" was presented in two parts overseas (in the US, it aired as a full hour special), this was used at the end of the first part. This special case was the only time it was used on the series.
  • The Venture Bros.: Parodied in "Return to the House of Mummies Part II", where the five-minute Previously on… is all that exists of Part I. Ends with an On the Next preview for a Part III which never happens.
  • The end credits for the first two seasons of Wakfu have a silent clip from the next episode playing in the background while a short sequence involving one or more characters that relates to the episode that just showed happens in the foreground. The finales of both seasons instead show what various characters are up to.
  • Winx Club uses this at the end of every episode in the current season to show what happens in the next, which is helpful since most end on cliffhangers due to the seasonal arc. It is bookended with Previously on….

Next time, on TV Tropes...

Alternative Title(s): Post Episode Trailer, Next Time On, Next Episode Preview

Top

Spy fiction?

The Bonboomgers's episode 2 preview starts with the team tasked to go after classified items.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (1 votes)

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Main / OnTheNext

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