Wham Line / Live-Action TV

Please don't hide spoilers in this page. Wham Line is a spoileriffic trope by nature, so it's pointless to spoiler tag every example.

Works with their own pages:

• Doctor Who
• Survivor

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• The 10th Kingdom: When Virginia asks Snow White's mirror who the fairest in the land is, The Queen appears leading to Virginia to react in confusion, and Tony in horror, as both clearly recognize her.
  Tony: Christine! Oh my God! That's your Mother!
• The 4400:
  • When we finally find out why Isabelle exists:
    Isabelle: I was sent to eliminate the 4400!
  • This exchange been Tom Baldwin and Dennis Ryland:
    Tom Baldwin: These soldiers you're creating... Are you really going to use them to defend the country? Or are you just going to send them after the 4400?
    Dennis Ryland: Is there a difference?
  • Maia's Journal entry
    Mommy's bosses will be punished for betraying us.
  • In the episode appropriately titled Mommy's Bosses
    Maia Skouris: Nothing is over. It's just starting.
    Diana Skouris: Sweetie, what are you talking about? What's started?
    Maia Skouris: The War.
  • Maia's final words to Diana in the series finale
    Maia Skouris: We are in charge now, it's better that way.
• 30 Rock had one in the Grand Finale where Jenna ends her Running Gag of crazy things Mickey Rourke did with her.
  Jenna: I can't do this anymore. (into the camera) I've never met Mickey Rourke.
• 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd: Has the exchange in the first episode:
  Justin: I still don't get how I'm the only one who can hear you talk.
  Eddie: I think it's because I hung you up from that flagpole.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
  • In "End of the Beginning": "He^note The "clairvoyant," the mind-reading bad guy who they've been investigating all season doesn't have abilities... he has security clearance. He's an agent of SHIELD."
  • In "Turn, Turn, Turn:" If Coulson's Oh, Crap! face in response to Garrett saying "...that same machine she used to brainwash that bitch in the flower dress." wasn't enough, this line from Coulson was: "I never said Raina was in the machine. I never told that to anyone."
  • In the episode Shadows, we get the revelation that Ward knows Skye's Disappeared Dad and just how bad Fitz's mental state in, including the fact that the "Simmons" that the audience has been seeing all episode is just a hallucination.
    Ward: There so much more I wanted to tell you about - [wall goes opaque and Skye walks out] - your father.
    Coulson: Fitz said he could engineer cloaking, but I'm afraid he can't do anything. The damage to his temporal lobe was too extensive. He's not the same and since Simmons left, he's only getting worse.
  • From Meet The New Boss:
    Frederick: We shouldn't have used the Darkhold.
• Alex Rider (2020): When Mrs Jones realises Yassen Gregorovitch is involved, and mentions that he recognised Alex.
  Blunt: Alex does look quite a lot like his father.
• A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017)
  Mother: Children... Children? Duncan, Quigley, Isadora?
• Alias:
  • "I've waited almost thirty years for this." "MOM?!" (Irina to Sydney, "Almost Thirty Years")
  • "Congratulations sir. Phase one is complete. The Alliance is gone." (Sark to Sloane, "Phase One")
  • And from the same episode: "Yes, I'm in position. Everything's in place." (Double!Francie to Sark, "Phase One")
  • "Syd...since that night...you were missing. You've been missing for almost two years." (Vaughn to Sydney, "The Telling")
  • "Well, for starters, my name's not Michael Vaughn." (Vaughn to Sydney, "Before the Flood") This is a Wham Line for another reason: The car they're riding in is immediately hit by a truck. End scene.
• Alphas has this exchange from "Rosetta", which was, appropriately, a Wham Episode:
  Gary: Anna, you work for them.
  Anna: No Gary, I don't work for them. They work for me.
• In American Idol Season 8, the top 12 had just been chosen, leaving Anoop Desai, standing on the stage looking upset about not being chosen. Just as he gets ready to step off the stage, he's stopped, and given this shocking news.
  Simon: Anoop, I wanted to say something to you, and this is on behalf of all of us. We decided, recently...we're going to make this a top 13.
• Played for Laughs in the first episode of The Amanda Show, in a one-off skit called "A Poem By Mother Caboose". The title character (played by Amanda) reads a poem about a girl named Katie Beth Sue and the poem starts out as a Sickeningly Sweet tale of a cute and friendly young lady. And then, with one line, the whole thing switches to Refuge in Audacity:
  "She lived by the shore in a quaint little hut, with a smile on her face and a SORE ON HER BUTT!"
• Andor: Kino was so resistant to helping Cassian plan a prison break but then helped lead it once he realized that the Empire wasn't going to let any of the prisoners out alive. When they reach the ledge to jump into the water below, which is the only exit from the prison, Kino backs away with a heartwrenching line that suddenly completely changes the perception of his attitudes and actions:
  Kino: I can't swim.
• On Angel:
  • From "I've Got You Under My Skin", revealing that Ryan was already evil:
    Wesley: You didn’t get that boy’s soul.
    Ethros: Hmph, what soul?
  • "You're Welcome":
    Cordelia: That...you have to get. Oh, and you're welcome.
    Angel: [picks up phone] Hello? Yes, I know, she's... But that's impossible, she's standing right...I'm sorry. Yeah. Did, um, so when did she die? Did, she, um... She never did wake up? I see. [hangs up] Thank you.
  • From "The Price":
    Connor: [bursts through a portal and kills a monster with little effort before pointing a crossbow at Angel] Hi, Dad.
  • From "Calvary":
    Cordelia: Why do you think I let him out, you stupid bitch?
  • From "Forgiving":
    Angel: You thought I was going to turn evil and kill my son. I didn't. It's important you know that. This isn't Angelus talking. It's me. Angel. You know that, right? Good. [starts smothering Wesley with a pillow] Son of a bitch, you are going to pay for what you did! You took my son, you son of a bitch! You bastard! You think I forgive you? Never! You're going to die, you hear me?! You're going to pay! You took my son! You took my son! You took my son! Never. Never. Never! I'll kill you! You're dead! You're a dead man, Pryce! You're dead! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! You're a dead man! Dead! Dead!
  • From "Home":
    Fred: Who's Connor?
  • From "Forgiving":
    Fred: So what are you lyin' about?
    Sahjhan: I don't like to brag but... read any good prophecies lately?
  • From "A Hole in the World":
    Fred: "Cavemen win. Of course the cavemen win."
  • Darla to Angel in "Lullaby":
    Darla: This child, Angel, is the one good thing we ever did together. The only good thing. You make sure to tell him that. [stakes herself]
• Arrested Development has a few:
  • "Let Them Eat Cake" has one when the family are watching a news report on mini-castles for Saddam Hussein's men and Michael discovers what Kitty meant by George Sr. building houses overseas:
    Reporter: The mini-castles appear to be of American construction and also appear to be very shoddily constructed.
  • "Out On A Limb" has this when Buster goes swimming in the ocean:
    Narrator: And then a loose seal bites off Buster's hand.
  • "Spring Break-Out", after Kitty kidnaps George Sr. and steals the cooler full of evidence, Michael goes to rescue him. He flatly says he's going to do something he should have done earlier...only to get an unexpected response:
    Michael: This cooler full of evidence is going straight to the police.
    George: Go ahead. That should prove I'm innocent.
  • Starting with "For British Eyes Only", it's implied that Rita's secret is that she's a spy investigating the Bluth Family. Then "Mr. F" reveals the real secret:
    Agent: So, this is the Leeds girl.
    Frank: Don't bother. She's an MRF.
    Agent: What does that mean?
    Frank: Mentally Retarded Female.
  • "Blockheads":
  George Michael: ...How'd you know about the photo booth?
• Arrowverse:
  • Arrow:
    • In the episode "Betrayal"
      The Hood: Moira Queen! You have failed this city!
    • In the season finale, when all seems over:
      Malcolm Merlyn: If I had learned anything since my time as a businessman, it is redundancy.
    • In S02E07
      Moira Queen: (to Malcolm Merlyn) You're alive???
      Malcolm Merlyn: Imagine my joy at learning that Thea is my daughter.
    • At a party, Felicity comes face to face with the Calculator, the wicked hacker that's been fighting the team.
      Felicity: Oh my God. Dad.
    • On a rooftop, Evelyn (aka Artemis, one of the new recruits to Team Arrow) finds herself meeting the evil Prometheus.
      Artemis: Don't worry. They don't suspect a thing.
  • Legends of Tomorrow:
    • "River of Time'' as Rip faces the Time Masters:
      Rip: Savage. You're in league with him.
    • "Legendary" as the team asks who this stranger is:
      Rex: My name is Rex Tyler. I'm a member of the Justice Society of America. ^note  Later he was erased out of existence.
  • The Flash (2014)
    • From "Out of Time":
      Harrison Wells: You and I have never been properly introduced. I am Eobard Thawne.
    • Same episode, seconds later:
      Cisco: You killed Nora Allen.
      Wells/Thawne: It was never my intention to kill Nora. I was there to kill Barry.
    • From "Killer Frost":
      Acolyte: You can't make Alchemy do anything. He's just an acolyte, like me. We both serve the speed god, Savitar. He's shown us the future. I saw you there. You were glorious and powerful. My lord has special plans for you, Caitlin Snow. Or should I say... Killer Frost?
    • Later in the same episode, when Julian reveals what he wants from Barry to leave the crime lab in exchange for keeping quiet about his attacker being Caitlin.
      Julian: Quit.
    • Then there's the last words of the episode, revealing that Julian was Evil All Along -
      Savitar: Become my servant once more. Become... Alchemy.
    • And the dramatic reveal of just who Savitar really is.
      Barry: All this time, we thought that we couldn't stop you because you were one step ahead. But that's not it! You don't just know what's gonna happen to us... you were there... you lived it... you remember...when you were me.
    • Barry confronts DeVoe about being the Thinker.
      Clifford DeVoe: Who's asking: Barry Allen or the Flash?
    • Wham Text variation: After discovering that the Thinker has been forcing her loyalty via the Weeper's tears, Marlize tries to film a warning to herself in case she forgets. But when she attempts to name the file...
      Error message: A file by this name already exists.
    • "December 10, 2019." From Elseworlds to the Season 5 finale, the coming Crisis has been teased. At the end of the Season 6 premiere, we finally get a precise date.
  • Supergirl (2015):
    • "I am not Hank Henshaw...my name is J'onn J'onzz." This is particularly shocking, because Hank had been behaving suspiciously for a while now, and the audience had been seeing glimpses of him exhibiting signs of having superhuman powers. Alex's mother had also warned that Hank had something to do with Alex's father's disappearance. All of this was pointing to a reveal of Hank Henshaw being Evil All Along, and anyone with knowledge of the original comics would recognize his name as the supervillain Cyborg Superman. Instead, we learn that a government organization responsible for monitoring alien activity is secretly being led by a shapeshifting alien superhero.
    • "Go get 'em, Supergirl." As said by Cat Grant in "Nevertheless, She Persisted". Normally, this wouldn't be a Wham Line - but Cat said it as soon as Kara left her.
    • "Don't worry, Doctor. Everything is as it should be. The stage is set. Worlds will live. Worlds will die. And the universe will never be the same." Said by the Psycho Pirate at the very end of the Elseworlds crossover event.
  • Stargirl (2020): Henry Jr. believes his father Brainwave fully turned to darkness after his wife was murdered by the supervillain Icicle (Jordan Mahkent), but may be redeemed by appealing to her memory. It turns out he's wrong about a key detail.
    Brainwave: Jordan didn't kill your mother, son. I did.
• Ashes to Ashes (2008):
  • "What? You expected us to disappear? In a puff of smoke? Matter meets anti-matter, time imploding on itself, that sort of thing?" (Martin Summers, 2x07, telling the Blinovitch Limitation Effect to go eff itself.)
  • "Bolls! Bolly! Listen, I don't know if you can hear me, Bolls. The nurses are going to be back in a minute. I need you to wake up. What about if I gave you a slap? Would that help?" (Gene Hunt, on the television in 2008)
  • "I say yes." "It's a godawful small affair, to the girl with the mousey hair..." (Shaz, 3x02)
  • This bit of dialogue from the finale, though most viewers had caught on already:
    Gene: He didn't deserve a shallow grave, did he? Did he, Alex?
    Alex: No. No you didn't.
• Ash vs. Evil Dead: From the Cliffhanger ending of "Bound in Flesh", when the ritual supposed to destroy the Necronomicon is instead clearly unleashing something:
  Ash: You don't know what you're doing!
  Ruby: Of course I know what I'm doing. I wrote this book.
• The series one finale of Atlantis
  Pasiphae: Who is this?
  Leper Leader: That is our son.
• Babylon 5:
  • From the third season's penultimate episode: "Hello, I'm Anna Sheridan. John's wife."
  • "The Babylon project was our last, best hope for peace...It failed."
  • "It's a trank. Don't fight it, or they'll hurt you." (Garibaldi to Sheridan, as he's betraying him to the enemy)
    • It's worth noting that this is only a Wham Line from Sheridan's point of view. The audience knew what was coming. However, the scene was so well constructed that the emotional impact was certainly there.
  • "Captain, I believe [President Clark]'s turned the defense grid towards Earth."
  • "I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes, and wave... like this. [Does a mocking little cutesy wave.] Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"
    • This line marks the point when it was established beyond question that Vir was so much more than a Bumbling Sidekick.
  • Elric the technomage delivers a prophetic one to Londo:
    Elric: As I look at you, Ambassador Mollari, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand. And I hear sounds—the sounds of billions of people calling your name.
    Londo: My followers?
    Elric: Your victims.
• The Barrier:
  • The fact that Álex promised not tell La Résistance the name of the person who gave him the password clashes with co-leaders Jorge and Iris' Properly Paranoid measures to avoid being discovered by the authorities. At some point, a third member of La Résistance shows up at the appartment, spots Álex and tells Iris she knows him. The new person is not the one who told Álex about La Resistance in the first place.
  • Álvaro explaining a government plan for which he and Luis have been Locked Out of the Loop: "Demographic reorganization", aka killing many people under the pretense that there aren't enough resources for everyone, that's going to be sold to the public as something else.
  • Early episodes establish a few elements of Alma's method to get anti-bodies for The Plague from children she's secretly keeping in a scientific institute. They get injections that sometimes make them sick, get sedated via Slipping a Mickey in their food, then get their blood harvested while they are asleep. In her private life, Alma has a case of Nephewism, a little boy name Sergio. One scene has Rosa, the Apron Matron among Alma's house staff, walk in on Alma having a midnight glass of water. Alma tells Rosa she's been giving Sergio a medical treatment the audience is hearing about for the first time, but that Rosa is well-aware of. The following exchange happens while discussing Sergio's treatment:
    Rosa: Poking children makes me so sad...^note Injection
    Alma: No worries, you know Sergio. When he's asleep, nothing can wake him up.^note Sedation
    Rosa: Does [the treatment] work? He looks so skinny... ^note Blood harvest
  • Álvaro's pregnant mistress Clara, after having stress-induced blood loss, seemingly has a fever-induced moment of paranoia that her baby will be taken away from her after his birth even if she doesn't miscarry him. Emilia tries to reassure her it's not going to happen. Clara's reponse indicates not only that it's not pure paranoia, but that she knows the information that Álvaro was trying to spread before his suspiciously untimely death:
    Clara: You're kind, but you know nothing.
  • The old man who attempted to kidnap Sergio earlier in the episode shows up at the appartment occupied by the people currently watching him at Alma's request, this time with a middle-aged couple in tow. The old man and the couple ask to be allowed into the apparement and they are refused for obvious reasons. The woman from the couple makes a plea that gives the scene a whole new spin:
    Woman: Please. We believe our son is inside.
  • While discussing test results with Alma, Alejo mentions that one set of results stood out, even within a group of children selected for their capacity to produce antibodies for The Plague. He promptly goes on to mention that the child with odd results is currently not in his custody, which means it has to be Marta, a little girl who is known to have been implanted with a subcutaneous chip of unknown nature. Not only does this finally give the audience an idea of what the chip does, but that the other existing chip, which is inside Marta's aunt Julia, has been having the same effect on her all along.
  • While Julia is trying to get away from Alejo, a policeman in full raid gear comes behind Julia and covers her mouth right as she's insulting Alejo. Alejo responds to the event by daring Julia to repeat her insult, only to hear the policeman do so, revealing him to have been someone who was on Julia's side all along.
  • The President having a coughing fit during a call with Enrique. The show's iteration of The Plague is subject to Incurable Cough of Death.
• Battlestar Galactica (2003):
  • From Season 3's "Rapture": Number Three sees the Final Five... And recognizes one of them:
    Number Three/D'Anna: "You! Forgive me, I had no idea."
  • "Crossroads, Part II": "We're Cylons. And we have been from the start."
    Kara: "Hi Lee...It's gonna be OK. I've been to Earth. I know where it is. And I'm gonna take us there."
  • Season 3's "The Eye of Jupiter" had a whopper.
    Tigh: They're testing us. Want to know if we're bluffing about nuking the planet.
    Roslin: Well, unfortunately we are bluffing.
    Adama: Are we? Mr. Hoshi... Order nuclear ground-strike missiles into launch tubes 4 through 10.
    Roslin: What are you doing?
    Adama: Getting ready to nuke the planet.
  • From the original Battlestar Galactica pilot, after Zack's Viper is destroyed:
    Adar: What was that?
    Adama: That was my son, Mr. President.
  • From Season 2's "Pegasus":
    Gaeta: Sir... sir, I'm getting Colonial transponders.
  • From Season 4's "Six of One".
    Cavil: Centurions can't vote!
    Six: Oh, they're not here to vote.
    (The Centurions draw their guns on Cavil)
• Becker: In "Subway Story", Becker went out of his way to help an old woman who was lost, finally dropping her off at the right stop before seeing her sit down. When he approaches, he learns that her son "would have been forty" that day.
  Woman: It was funny. He got to work early, that morning, and called me just to chat. About dinner, that weekend, the trip he was planning... the weather. It was such a beautiful September day.
• Better Call Saul:
  • In "RICO", Chuck states the amount of money he and Jimmy want from the shady nursing home and raises the stakes for a (what was until then) a rather low-stakes sub-plot.
    Chuck: $20 million.
  • In "Pimento", Chuck changes the entire tone of his person in a single cruel insult that confirms all of his brother's worst suspicions.
    Jimmy: It was always you, right? Right back to when I passed the bar and tried to join the firm. You didn't want me. Speak up. Tell me why. It's the least you can do for me now. I am your brother; we're supposed to look out for each other. Why were you working against me, Chuck?
    Chuck: You're not a real lawyer.
  • Kim and Jimmy's rooftop argument in "Wiedersehen":
    Jimmy McGill: "There you go, kick a man when he's down."
    Kim Wexler: "Jimmy, you are always down."
  • In "Winner", after Jimmy gets reinstated and announces that he's not going to practice law under the name McGill, Kim asks what he's doing. He turns around quips, "S'all good, man!" This signifies that his permanent turn into Saul Goodman has arrived.
  • In the same episode, Mike's line to Werner Ziegler:
    Mike: Werner, nothing you can say or do will make anyone trust you again.
  • In "Waterworks", after confronting Marion, Gene begins to hear this line:
    Video: Hi, I'm Saul Goodman! Did you know that you have rights?
• The Big Bang Theory:
  • From "The Grasshopper Experiment": "Where did my life go, Penny?" Context? Raj was drowning his sorrows and that was technically his first spoken words to Penny, establishing that being drunk counteracts his selective mutism.
  • When Raj behaved obnoxiously while drunk with Penny as his date to a People Magazine function, he tried to apologize while sober via handwriting. Penny refused to read the letter and demanded something verbal, after a few seconds of mustering up the courage he squeaked out "Sorry." which was the first words he has consciously spoken to her without alcohol.
  • In the Season 5 premiere, after Raj and Penny got drunk and then woke up in bed together, naked.
    Raj: You might like to know that, um, we didn't have sex in the conventional sense... I had trouble putting (the condom) on and you tried to help and... that was all she wrote.
  • After Leonard wondered what Penny's feelings were towards him, they had an argument over his neurotic, jealous behavior and she says "You're too hard on yourself, you know I love you so can you please relax because you are driving me crazy." Both are stunned almost to the point of tears.
  • When Sheldon permits a rumor that he and Amy are having sex (to distract from his subpar work) Penny asked him straight up if they will ever have sex. After a short monologue about his struggles in dealing with emotional and physical intimacy he concludes with "It's a possibility." Once he turns his back Penny silently starts freaking out, clawing Leonard's arm.
  • In the season six finale, in the middle of a conversation where Raj is having an emotional breakdown, Raj mentions to Penny that he's completely sober. This means that he has finally overcome his selective mutism.
    Penny: That's just the booze talking.
    Raj: No, it's not! I haven't had a drink since last night!
  • In season eight, Amy goes through the motions of telling Sheldon she loves him, reassuring him that he doesn't have to say it himself and especially not if he just thinks that social convention dictates it...but he stuns her by responding "I love you too".
    • Given more impact because he said it first.
  • In a season eight episode, Howard excuses himself to take a phone call. At the end, he hangs up and looks horrified.
    Leonard: Hey, you okay?
    Howard: No.
    Leonard: What's wrong?
    Howard: My mom died.
  • Two in the Season 8 finale:
    • After a discussion with Sheldon over Leonard & Penny's hesitation on choosing a wedding date, Penny turns to Leonard...
    Penny: I'm free tonight...
    • At the end of the episode (which featured a lot of relationship turmoil between Sheldon and Amy), Amy tells Sheldon via Skype that she wants a break. After ending the conversation, Sheldon turns to his Gollum action figure...
    Sheldon: Well, Gollum... you're an expert on rings... [gets engagement ring out of drawer] ...what do I do with this one?
  • In "The Valentino Submergence", Howard and Bernadette are nursing a rabbit they found drowning in their hot tub back to health. Howard gets bitten by the rabbit and freaks out, and as he goes to the hospital, Bernadette tells the rabbit, "We'll find another time to tell him I'm pregnant."
  • The second-last episode has Sheldon, Amy, Leonard and Penny awaiting news on the first two's chances for a Nobel Prize. Amy then receives a phone call, and simply tells Sheldon, "We won!"
  • Final episode, Leonard to Penny: "Was Amy suspicious when they had to let your dress out?" with the audience IMMEDIATELY picking up on the implication. Directly confirmed by Penny shortly thereafter: "Well, can't get any MORE pregnant."
• Blackadder:
  • Paraphrased from the pilot episode, just as Lord Percy is carrying the (unbeknownst to him) head of King Richard as spoils of war and believing it to be the head of another nobleman from which he can claim manhood.
    Blackadder(seething with anger): And just whose head is that?
  • There are two in the final episode:
  • While they're discussing Darling's arrival in their dugout. To this point in the episode, George has happily awaited the order to advance, going so far as to turn down an offer to leave with General Melchett before the battle.
    George: Well, this is splendid, comradely news! Together, we'll fight for king and country, and be sucking sausages in Berlin by teatime.
    Edmund: Yes, I hope their cafes are well stocked; everyone seems determined to eat out the moment they arrive.
    George: No, really, this is brave, splendid and noble! ...Sir?
    Edmund: Yes, Lieutenant?
    George: I'm... scared, sir.
  • Just before they go over the top.
    Darling: I say, listen - our guns have stopped.
    George: You don't think...
    Baldrick: ...perhaps... the war's over? Perhaps it's peace.
    Darling: Thank God. We lived through it. The Great War, nineteen fourteen to nineteen seventeen.
  • By this time in the war, the guns would still have been firing since the "Creeping Barrage" was standard practice - the artillery gradually extended the aiming point at roughly the same speed as the advancing infantry. The Artistic License involved adds to the impact of the scene because it sounds like the war's just ended - then Darling's line hits you, and you know it hasn't.
• Black Mirror:
  • "Fifteen Million Merits": "I'll gift it to you."
  • "White Bear": Victoria spends the entire day running from "hunters", has her crimes revealed to her, and is driven before a crowd of onlookers baying for her blood. She pleads to be killed. Baxter's response:
    "That's what you always say."
  • "Shut Up and Dance": Two utterly chilling moments.
    Other Victim: What'd they get you for?
    Kenny: [trying not to cry] I just looked at some photos. That's all. I just looked at one or two photos.
    Other Victim: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I just "looked at pictures" too... How young were they? In the pictures? How young?
    Kenny: [breaks down crying]
    Other Victim: Yeah. Well, me too.
    • And then later:
      Kenny's Mother: What did you do, Kenny?! They're saying it's kids! That you've been looking at kids! And Lindsey saw it. There's a video of you. All of her friends have got it! KIDS, Kenny! Tell me it's not...
  • "San Junipero": "Try a different time. [I've] seen her in '80, mid-'90s, 2002 one time..."
  • "Black Museum": "Take a seat if it makes it easier." What especially makes it an example is the speaker's accent changing for this line.
• Blade: The Series: The Big Bad Marcus van Sciver is talking to Krista about his plans. Then he suddenly grabs her throat and asks, "How long have you been working for Blade?"
• Blake's 7:
  • "Star One", after Vila and Jenna discover that an alien invasion fleet is approaching the galaxy:
    Vila: Do you think Blake knows what's happening? Why hasn't he come back yet? What are we supposed to do, Jenna?
    Jenna: Give the alarm.
    Vila: Terrific idea, who do you suggest we tell?
    Jenna: Servalan.
  • "Orbit", when Avon, Vila, and Orac are on a shuttle that will crash unless they can lose 70 kilos:
    Avon: Dammit, what weighs 70 kilos?!
    Orac: Vila weighs 73 kilos, Avon.
• Boardwalk Empire:
  • Two from "A Return to Normalcy":
    Lucy: (to Van Alden) You got me pregnant.
    Eli: (after walking into the Commodore's home) You tell him about our plan?
  • From "To the Lost":
    "Welcome to Cicero!"
  • Two from "Two Imposters":
    Eddie: There is no one. The line is dead.
    
    Al Capone: We've been on the road for eighteen hours. I need a bath, some chow...and then you and me sit down, and we talk about who dies.
• Bones:
  • From the first season finale: "That... is Christine Brennan."
  • And again in the sixth season finale. "I'm pregnant. And you're the father."
  • Brennan’s Catchphrase, “I don’t know what that means” becomes one in the series finale when she has a head injury and can’t understand bone information she wrote down.
• Boy Meets World: Had "Cory, will you marry me?" from the episode "Graduation".
• Breaking Bad:
  • In season 1's "Crazy Handful Of Nothin'":
    Walt: This... is not meth.
  • In the Season 2 finale "ABQ", while Walt is under anesthesia:
    Skyler: Walt, did you bring your cell phone?
    Walt: Which one?
  • Another line later in the same episode which kickstarts the climactic plane crash:
    Don: Juliet-Mike-21... ...climb and maintain 17,000. Clear direct to Albuquerque via the— Aircraft calling, please stand by. Jane-Mike-21, turn, heading— Disregard.
  • In "No Mas":
    Skyler: You're a drug dealer.
  • Forms the name of the episode "I. F. T.":
    Skyler: I fucked Ted.
  • The last line of the Season 4 episode "Shotgun":
    Hank: Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?
  • From "Crawl Space":
    Gus: If you interfere, the problem becomes much simpler. I will kill your wife. I will kill your son. I will kill your infant daughter.
  • From "Face Off":
    Walt: I won.
  • From "Fifty-One":
    Skyler: [I'm waiting] for the cancer to come back.
  • A flashback version that Hank recalls in "Gliding Over All":
    Hank: "To W.W. My star, my perfect silence." W.W. I mean, who do you figure that is, y'know? Woodrow Wilson? Willy Wonka?...Walter White?
    Walt: You got me.
  • From "Blood Money":
    Walt: If you don't know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly.
  • From "Confessions":
    Marie: Why don't you just kill yourself, Walt?
    • Another one from the same episode:
    Walt: If you're watching this tape, I'm probably dead, murdered by my brother-in-law, Hank Schrader. Hank has been building a meth empire for over a year now and using me as his chemist.
  • From "Rabid Dog":
    Skyler: We've come this far. For us. What's one more?
    • Also:
    Walt: I think I might have another job for your uncle.
  • From "Ozymandias": Somehow a baby manages to have one of the most hard hitting examples in the series and it wasn't even scripted.
    Holly: Mama, Mama, Mama.
    • Also:
    Hank: You're the smartest guy I ever met, and you're too stupid to see... he made up his mind ten minutes ago.
    • Also also:
    Walt: I watched Jane die.
  • From "Granite State": Doubles as an Ironic Echo.
    Flynn: Then why don't you just die already?!
  • From "Felina":
    Walter: I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And, I was really...I was alive.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: In "Bureau", the 99 work with a FBI agent called Bob Anderson to figure out who within the FBI is trying to assassinate an undercover agent. Just as they've arrest the seeming culprit, this happens:
  Amy: Did you get the other guy?
  Jake: What other guy?
  Amy: Some guy named Bob Anderson.
  • In "Crime and Punishment", Jake and Amy are confident they will win the case until Terry drops the following bomb unknown to him, from where Hawkins is sending her money to shell accounts.
  Terry: Flaxton Hill Holdings.
  • Immediately after the above wham, the judge only has this line.
  Judge: Guilty. On all charges.
  • In "99", Charles is trying to figure out who Rosa's new boyfriend is, then this is heard on her phone:
  A Female Voice: Babe, are you alright? Is everything okay?
  • Before all that, in Season 1 episode "The Pontiac Bandit", an affable identity thief named Doug Judy volunteers for a deal to catch the eponymous Pontiac Bandit in exchange for getting free. After Doug Judy goes back on his deal, we have this exchange.
  Rosa: Doug Judy's gone. He ran.
  Jake: Why would he do that? He helped us catch the Pontiac Bandit, that was the deal. It doesn't make any sense unless - Doug Judy is the Pontiac Bandit.
  • During the fifth Halloween heist appropriately titled 'HalloVeen', Amy finally gets a major lead on Jake.
  Amy: You see, Jake, I'm always gonna be one step ahead of you. You've lost the ability to surprise me. Ya just plain boring.
  Jake: Again, weird take on a very loving relationship.
  Amy: And it's midnight, so I guess I'm an amazing human/genius.
  Jake: Yeah. Although... you might wanna read the inscription on that belt.
  Amy: Why? Oh, no, what does it say? "Amy Santiago, will you marry me?"
  Jake: Surprise.
  • In the climax of 'The Suicide Squad' when Jake seems to be in a major trouble after 'play-acting' an officer's kidnapping and Wuntch taking Kelly's phone to celebrate Kelly and her victory.
  Wuntch: "We got it, Peralta!"
  • In the first part of the Grand Finale, Jake compliments Amy about their heist scheme when Jake drops this bombshell.
  Jake: Now, let the Last Day Heist begin.
  Amy: It's an amazing plan, babe.
  Jake: Thank you very much. And everyone's gonna be so shocked when they find out the big surprise: that I'm leaving the Nine-Nine.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • From "Halloween", Giles confronts Ethan, who responds with an old nickname, revealing a hint that he wasn't always the man he is now and that he's capable of being far more ruthless than he appears.
  Ethan: Hello, Ripper.
  • From "What's My Line, Part 1": "I am Kendra the Vampire Slayer."
  • From "Bad Girls", after Faith accidentally kills Allan Finch, Buffy confronts her about it in her motel room.
  Buffy: You don't get it, Faith. You killed a man.
  Faith: No, you don't get it. I don't care.
  • In the next episode, Buffy decides she can't lie, and goes to Giles to confess what Faith did, only to find that Faith has already "confessed".
  Faith: It's okay, Buffy. I told him.
  Buffy: ...You told him?
  Faith: I had to. [beat] He had to know what you did.
  • In "Enemies", Angel has once again turned into his evil alter ego Angelus and helps Faith with luring the others into a trap:
  Faith: What can I say, I'm the world's best actor.
  Angel: Second best.
  • From the end of "Two to Go": "I'd like to test that theory."
  • In "The Replacement":
  Riley: But she doesn't love me.
  • In "Checkpoint", Quentin Travers gets to supply the episode-ending Wham Line: "Glory isn't a demon. She's a god."
  Buffy: ...oh. [cut to black]
  • A textbook one comes at the end of "Buffy vs. Dracula":
  Joyce: "Buffy, if you're going out, why don't you take your sister?"
  Buffy and Dawn: "Mom!"
  • "Flooded": "You're a very stupid girl." — Giles, starting a massive What the Hell, Hero? speech to Willow.
  • "Seeing Red": "You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that? Think again!" (opens fire)
    • "Your shirt."
  • "Grave": "Very well. We will return... your soul." (to Spike)
    • Context: Leading up to the season six finale, Spike has succumbed again to his demonic nature, attempting to rape Buffy, getting thrown out of the Scoobies, and leaving Sunnydale, promising to give Buffy what she deserves. He's shown to be fighting a series of duels to prove his worthiness in attaining something unfathomably powerful and dangerous. At long last, the mysterious holder of this devastating force agrees with Spike that he has earned his reward...
  • From "I Was Made to Love You":
  "What'cha doing? ...Mom? ...Mom? ...Mommy?"
  • Two from "Earshot":
  This time tomorrow, I'm going to kill you all.
  "I came up here to kill myself."^note When Buffy confronts the supposed mass shooter and convinces him to give up the gun. The line reveals that the real killer is still loose and she has no idea who that might be.
  • In "Who Are You?" Tara is fretting that the Scoobies don't even know she exists. Willow assure her that she will introduce her to them, but for the moment she wants something that is just hers.
  Tara: I am, you know.
  Willow: What's that?
  Tara: Yours.
  • Spike has a good one in "I Only Have Eyes For You": After being stuck in a wheelchair for much of the season and taking heaps of abuse from Angelus.
  Angel: Try to have fun without me. (leaves)
  Spike: (scowls, then smirks) "Oh, I will." (slowly rises to his feet, then kicks his wheelchair over) "Sooner than you think."
  • Spike in "Out Of My Mind": "Buffy, I love you. God, I love you so much. ...Oh, God, no. Please, no."
  • Dawn has an inadvertent one when talking to Riley about Buffy's relationship with Angel:
  Dawn: "Everyday was like the end of the world. She doesn't get worked up like that over you."
  • Dawn has another inadvertent one in "Crush" which she says to her sister.
  Dawn: "Buffy, Spike's completely in love with you."
  • In the season 3 episode "Gingerbread", the whole town goes crazy trying to avenge two dead kids believed to be murdered by witches. Buffy suddenly asks "Who are they?"
  Buffy: We know everything about their deaths, but we don't even know their names.
• Burn Notice:
  • A number of episodes, including:
  • "False Flag": "I'll do whatever you want, just don't go after my son!" or, just in case you didn't get that one, "It's a great technique, as long as you're not the someone else."
  • "Breaking and Entering": "But we did meet, Michael! Tell Sam thanks for the help with the crossword."
  • "Friends and Family": "They're not coming for Rufino. They're coming for you."
  • "End Run": "What about Bel-Anna? I mean, Annabel."
  • "Friends Like These": "The only one who knows where that ledger is is her!"
  • "Enemies Closer": "I left you like three messages!"
  • "Friends and Enemies": "Mike, you just burned a spy."
  • "Reckoning": "This one's for my boys"
• Call the Midwife:
  • "This... has my name on it." That's young, seemingly-healthy Sister Bernadette, looking at an x-ray that's positive for tuberculosis.
  • In Series 4, an expectant mother with severe morning sickness is curious about the anti-nausea pills she was given. Dr. Turner’s explanation of how they work is innocuous to him and the other characters, but a massive punch in the gut to the viewer:
  Dr. Turner: The tablets are known as Distaval. The magic ingredient is called thalidomide.
• Candy (2022): In Episode 3, "Overkill", Allan's response to Candy's questions about the marriage retreat he attended with his wife, Betty and whether Betty now knows about her friend sleeping with her husband:
  The only affair that came out in Marriage Encounter was Betty's.
• Cape Town: "Do you know anyone who wears turtlenecks?" Turns out, Joubert does - and realizes that van Rees' turtleneck covers the scars caused by Joubert's father in revenge.
• Caprica: "Zoe?" said Daniel Greystone to his robot, who is being controlled by the virtual avatar of his dead daughter.
• Carnivàle:
  • "Tipton" - "There's rules, boy. To give life, you gotta take it from someplace else." (Rebecca Donovan, to Ben Hawkins)
  • "The River" - "Privyet, Ira." (Justin to Iris, using her Russian name)
  • "Day of the Dead" - "I did it for you." (Iris to Justin, confessing to setting the ministry fire)
  • "New Canaan, CA" - "This is your house." (Omega!Sofie to Sofie)
• Castle:
  • "Sucker Punch": A big step in the Myth Arc.
    Dr. Murray (to Beckett): "Detective Beckett, there is no doubt in my mind that Jack Coonan was killed by the same man who murdered your mother."
  • "Rise": After telling Castle she didn't remember anything about getting shot, she tells her therapist, "I remember everything."
  • As the characters discuss Ryan's engagement in "Til Death Do Us Part" while Castle reads a murdered pickup artist's scrapbook, Castle suddenly asks when Ryan and Jenny met. Upon being told that the couple has been together since April, 2009, Castle reveals that Jenny slept with the victim during that time (although it later transpires the relationship wasn't exclusive yet).
  Castle: Bailey's May 20, 2009 entry.
  • "Pandora": A Deep Cover Agent reveal.
  Castle: The Sophia Turner I knew would never betray her country.
  Sophia: Well, that's the thing, Rick. (In RUSSIAN) This was never my country.
  • "Always": A Relationship Upgrade.
    Castle: Beckett, what do you want?
    Beckett: You.
  • "The Lives of Others":
    Beckett and others: SURPRISE! ^note Castle(on crutches), Ryan and Esposito just charged into an apartment after Castle, looking into the apartment from across the street(the whole episode was an homage to Rear Window), saw a man pull a knife on Beckett. Turns out the whole thing was a set-up for a surprise party for Castle.
  • "Watershed": "Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?"
  • "Bad Santa": "Mr. Castle, you are no longer permitted to work with the NYPD."
  • "The GDS", after Castle watches a video from himself from his blackout period in which it's revealed he was tracking Loksat before Beckett:
    Castle: What happened was my fault. The murders of Beckett's former AG team...in trying to protect Beckett from Loksat, I inadvertently sentenced them all to death.
• Chernobyl:
  • "It's not 3 roentgen. It's 15,000."
  • In the final episode, when asked why the rector's control rods were tipped with graphite which contributed to the explosion, Legasov gives a really simple answer.
  Legasov: It's cheaper.
• Chuck:
  • "Chuck Versus the Ring" delivers a combination of Wham Line, Wham Episode given how it completely changes the dynamic for the characters.
  Chuck: Guys, I know Kung Fu!
  • Later in season 3:
  Chuck: That's completely insane, who told you this?
  Daniel Shaw: I did.
  • "Okay. I got this." Spoken by Sarah, as she's given no other option than to upload the brain-damaging version of Intersect to her head, in order to save a kidnapped Chuck at the end of "Chuck Versus Bo".
    • Almost every season 5 episode ended with a wham for example, in episode 7, Sarah visits Shaw in prison.
    Shaw: Does Chuck know about you, and the baby?
• Cobra Kai:
  • Miguel Diaz used to be a meek boy joined the eponymous dojo and learning an imperfect, pragmatic way of karate. But with "Mercy", the season 1 finale, his attempt to patch things up with his firmer girlfriend, Samantha LaRusso, shows how this kind of fighting has changed him for the worst.
    "You have to strike first. You don't wait for the enemy to attack."
  • In season 1, Cobra Kai's students consisted of people who had been bullied, and thought that karate would be the only way to get back at their enemies. However, over time, they started to become the very bullies they fought against. And when Miguel's nerdy friend, Demetri, decides to join Cobra Kai at the end, what he says changes our previous perceptions of Cobra Kai about positve empowerment. Instead, it has become an enabler for the worst aspects of its students.
    "I'm still not into the idea of getting hit in the face and all, but I respect the safety-in-numbers aspect of joining a gang!"
  • Johnny Lawrence is drinking after seeing Miguel win the All-Valley Karate Tournament by exploiting his opponent's injured shoulder. If that wasn't bad enough, the former Cobra Kai sensei, John Kreese, makes his return and remarks that this dojo's return to glory is just the tip of the iceberg.
    "They thought we were done. But now they see... that the real story's only just begun."
• Cold Case:
  • In the Season 7 premiere, "I put you there too, sweetheart."
  • Stillman telling Scotty that his girlfriend committed suicide.
  • In "Bad Night", Lily gives a line that's a combination of this and Let Me Get This Straight...: "You heard Vicky say her leg hurt, and you saw her try and kick off the seatbelt?" Technically the Wham comes in when these things are shown in the flashback, but it's easy to overlook until Lily straight-up points it out.
• So often on Columbo, just when it looks like the killer is about to get away with it all, a single line makes them realize too late they've fallen into Columbo's trap.
  • "Coumbo Goes To College": "This is my wife's car."
  • "A Friend In Deed": "He doesn't live here. I live here."
  • "Suitable For Framing": "Oh, no, we're not looking for your prints." Because they're actually looking for Columbo's prints.^note The murderer killed the victim and stole his paintings with the intent of framing a third party, and had them at his house when Columbo had came around to ask him some questions; Columbo had asked to take a look at them and briefly touched them.
  • "Candidate For Crime": "I dug this bullet out of that wall three hours before you said that somebody fired it at you three minutes ago."
  • "Prescription: Murder": "Always planning ahead, aren't you, Ray?"^note Ray's just been tricked into thinking his accomplice is dead and has been goaded by Columbo into admitting he never loved her. This is her annoucing she's alive and heard the whole thing.
• Community:
  • Season 2 finale:
    Pierce: No thanks, I'm done with you guys.
  • When the study group are sent to a fake psychiatrist. He was actually desperate to cover his own ass because the study group was too close to the truth.
    Dr. Heidi: But you can't go back to Greendale!
    Britta: Why, because it isn't healthy?
    Dr. Heidi: Because it doesn't exist.
  • A few minutes later when the gang realises the jig is up, he tries again:
    Dr. Heidi: Greendale is purgatory and I am the Devil.
    Troy: I knew it...
    Jeff: [Slaps him] Stop letting him make you realize stuff!
  • The previous episode has a genuine Wham Line:
    Director: Then, by order of this board, Jeff Winger, Annie Edison, Troy Barnes, Shirley Bennett, Abed Nadir, Pierce Hawthorne, and Britta Perry, you are hereby expelled from Greendale Community College.
  • From "Digital Estate Planning":
    Gilbert: So. Am. I. ^note Revealing that he is Cornelius Hawthorne's illegitimate son and Pierce's younger half-brother.
  • Season 4 finale:
    Pierce: I'm graduating, too!
  • Season 5 premiere:
    Shirley: Andre left again.
  • From Basic Intergluteal Numismatics:
    Shirley: Pierce is dead.
• The Chosen: At the end of Season 2, Simon meets a young man who is interested in learning more about the man Jesus. The man's name? "Judas."
• Control Z: How we find out that María is the Honey Bunny in 1.04.
  Pablo: What's up? You wanted to talk?
  María: Yeah, don't text me anymore.
  Pablo: Then don't answer, Honey Bunny.
• Criminal Minds:
  • "God is in all of us." "So is Tracy Lambert." ("Lucky")
  • "Hey Garcia? I've been thinkin' about doin' this all night." ("Lucky")
  • "Did you get all that?" ("Masterpiece")
  • "Don't tell them about your brothers." ("Bloodline")
  • "You really should have taken the deal." ("...And Back")
  • "There! Were! Rules!" (First season finale)
  • "There won't be anyone to open that door for at least 13 minutes." Picks up picture of a previous victim "It took me less than five to do this." ("Damaged")
  • "Welcome back everyone." ("Supply and Demand"; one of the supposed Human Trafficking victims reveals herself to be the leader)
  • From "Proof":
  Reid: What if I had started taking Dilaudid again?
  JJ: But...you didn't...
  Reid: Yeah, but I thought about it.
  • "Dallas P.D. found an unidentified male body with his mouth sewn shut." ("The Apprenticeship")
  • "It's Gideon." ("Nelson's Sparrow", as the team stands over a body)
• CSI:
  • From "Cool Change", when it is revealed Holly died from the shooting in the previous episode, during a conversation between Warrick and Sara:
    Sara: Look at me. Did you log on...tell dispatch where you were going?
    Warrick: Do you know how many times I've been left alone at a crime scene when I was a rookie?
    Sara: Yeah, well, this time is different.
    Warrick: Yeah, why's that?
    Sara: Holly Gribbs died on the operating table twenty minutes ago.
  • "Living Doll", in a line that casts the previous two seasons in an entirely new light:
    Grissom: [about Sara] I took away the only person she ever loved, so she's going to do the same thing to me.
  • On a smaller scale, there's this bit from "And Then There Were None." The team are pursuing Darin Hanson, a casino robber suspected of murdering his two accomplices, when they discover the one of the casino's pit bosses was in on the heist. They get more than they bargained for when interrogating him.
    Pit boss: Look, Darin was the only one I talked to; I never even met the other three!
• CSI: NY:
  • When they identify the burned victim in "Heroes," Mac quietly and sadly sums up everyone's feelings in one word... "Aiden."
  • After Angell is shot in the season 5 finale, Pay Up," Danny rushes to the hospital to check on her and finds Flack sitting in the hallway, visibly upset. Danny looks questioningly at him and Flack simply says, "She's gone."
• Dallas:
  • Many episodes ended with one of these:
  • "New Beginnings":
    Jeremy: I want you to call our offices in the Far East, I want every available man sent to work, have them send you every document they can get. I want Cliff Barnes to have all he needs for a full investigation.
    Dave: We're changing sides? We're getting into bed with Cliff Barnes?
    Jeremy: I want Ewing Oil involved in a scandal so big that their charter will be revoked. I want to see the end of Ewing Oil so that I can pick up the pieces, and if J.R. Ewing goes to jail, so much the better.
  • "It's Kristin, calling from California. She just gave birth to a baby boy. You have another son."
  • And, of course, the series' most infamous Wham Line was one of the most innocuous two-word phrases in the English language:
    Bobby: (in shower) Good morning!
• Dance Moms:
  • The ending of season 4's "Hollywood Here We Come, Part 2" had one of the most hard-hitting lines in the entire show. The episode in and of itself was pretty sad, but it was this line that provided the final nail in the coffin:
    Chloe: I still wanna dance, I still wanna do this...but I don't wanna do it with her [Abby] anymore.
  • From season 2: "Four to six weeks, she can't dance." Kelly telling Abby how long Paige is out for her broken foot.
• David Letterman: "And now we get to, what was all the creepy stuff that he was going to put into the screenplay and the movie. And the creepy stuff was, that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is...yes I have."
• Daredevil:
  • "Hello Matthew"
• Designated Survivor:
  Conspiracy Woman: Cheer up, Peter. You're about to be a heartbeat away.
  Peter MacLeish: And how many more good people need to be destroyed before that happens?
  • In 'Commander-in-Chief'
  Charles Langdon: On the day of The State of the Union, I got a phone call from a woman I'd come to know... who had blackmail information on me, she said she had one last job for me to do.
  Tom Kirkman: What was it?
  Charles Langdon: She wanted me to name you designated survivor.
• Desperate Housewives: In the season 6 finale: "It's in the detonator."
• Dexter
  • "Seeing Red": "Mommy loves you, Dexter."
  • "Born Free": "Where could your brother be hiding?"
  • From season 4: "Hello, Dexter Morgan." When Trinity learns that Dexter lied about who he was to investigate him.
• Dinosaurs: "Considering the thickness of the cloud cover, scientists predict it may be tens of thousands of years before the sun shines over Pangaea again." That's when you realize they're killing off the dinosaurs.
• Dollhouse:
  • "There are three flowers in a vase. The third flower is green."
    • After that: Mellie: "I have a message for you from inside the Dollhouse."
  • "Thank you."
  • "Why didn't I think of that?....Did I think of that?"
  • "We're ready."
  • "I remember everything."
  • "Where's Sierra?"
• Doom Patrol (2019): In the penultimate episode of the first season: "The tragedies that befell you, they weren't accidents. I was responsible for everything that has happened to each of you."
• In Dopesick, Billy, the Purdue Pharmaceutical rep, has come to visit Dr. Finnix during his court-mandated stint in rehab. He's horrified to hear Finnix has lost his medical license and makes a sincere apology for introducing Finnix to Oxycontin in the first place. Finnix tells him it's okay, and that's not why he asked him to visit in the first place.
  Finnix: You think you can get me some pills?
• Downton Abbey:
  • The WHAM line that kicked off the plot, when Lord Grantham reads about the Titanic.
    It seems James and Patrick were on board.
  • The line that changed Mary's life forever. She lost her virginity to Pamuk, then...
    He's dead. I think he's dead. Oh, I know he's dead.
  • Even if you knew this was coming, the last line from the first series changes everything:
    Robert: I am sorry to announce that we are at war with Germany.
  • The Reveal of Sybil and Branson's secret relationship in the season 2 premiere.
    Sybil: It's hard letting you go. My last link with home.
    Branson: Not as hard as it is for me.
• Drive (2007) had one in the first episode. One of the participants in the race, Wendy Petrakis, is trying to get away from her abusive husband Richard. Shortly after the race begins, Wendy gets arrested because Richard reported her minivan stolen. He then comes to the police station, gets her, and takes her to a quiet place. There, she says something that makes you wonder about the race organizers' intentions.
  Wendy: I didn't tell them anything. (Beat) Please, you have to believe me.
  (Beat)
  Richard: I believe you.
  Wendy: Can I ask you one question?
  Richard: Yes.
  Wendy: Who are you?
  "Richard": Oh, my name's Brad.
• The Dropout: Erika Cheung writes to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about Theranos's fraudulent practices. The CMS sends out an inspector to check out the labs at Theranos; COO's usual strategies of distracting or intimidation don't work with a mere civil servant. Soon after, his report comes out:
  "CMS ORDERS ALL LAB OPERATIONS AT THERANOS TO CEASE WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT."

E-I

• EastEnders:
  Zoe: You can't tell me what to do, you ain't my mother!
  Kat: Yes I am!
• Elementary: "Then a few hours ago, she tried to have me killed." (Not so much who says it than who they're talking about. At this point, Sherlock had suspected that his former lover Irene Adler was secretly working for Dr. Moriarty. Even he was shocked to realize that Dr. Moriarty and Irene Adler are the same person.)
• The fourth season premiere of Eureka has the gang going on a time travel trip to the 1940's. But when they return home, they realize their actions have altered the timeline...
  • After finally kissing Allison, Carter returns home...to hear his long-absent girlfriend Tess calling out to him as they never broke up.
  • Allison comes home to find autistic son Kevin...now speaking without any communication difficulties, meaning that he's not on the spectrum in this reality.
  • Henry finds a strange woman he's never met before in his garage...who gives him a wedding ring while joking about "you keep forgetting this."
  • Jo goes to see boyfriend Zane, pouring her heart out on how she will accept his marriage proposal. Zane stares at her..and then laughs "you and me together? In what world?" as a stunned Jo realizes she and Zane not only never dated but as far as he's concerned, they hate each other.
  • The following episode adds another twist as Fargo and Allision head to her office only to discover none of Allison's personal items are there, but Fargo's are, which has Fargo realizing "I'm the head of Global Dynamics."
• Eurovision Song Contest:
  • The qualifiers announcement each year is full of them, particularly if a country makes it that doesn't usually qualify (and, by indication, if a usually successful country misses out). The first hugely surprising one was in 2014, and it's gone down in Eurovision history:
  Pilou Asbæk: Country #6 is...San Marino! ^note For context: the Sammarinese contestant, Valentina Monetta, had tried for three consecutive years to bring her country to the final. Now, on her third try, she finally had.
  • Plenty of moments in the voting, too. Among the highlights:
    • From Italy's voting in 1991: "And France, twelve points." (Thereby tying the result at the very end of the voting.)
    • Yugoslavia got two in 1988. Firstly, "Switzerland, six points," seemingly dooming Céline Dion to second place in favor of the United Kingdom's Scott Fitzgerald. Then, the votes kept climbing higher with no mention of the United Kingdom. When the United Kingdom hadn't been announced as receiving ten points, the tension was insane. Either Switzerland would snag a one-point victory over the United Kingdom, or it would be a clear win for the latter. And then...
  "And France, twelve points."
  • From Belarus' voting at the most recent contest in 2019, a vote so out-of-character it turned out to actually be wrong:
  "Our twelve points...go to Israel! Congratulations!"
  • Similarly, when Turkey voted in 2007:
  "And finally, our twelve points go to...Armenia!"
  • Their twelve to Greece in 2005 was also this to a degree, even though Greece and Turkey have been on better terms as of late (although it still led Greece's Helena Paparizou to do a surprised double take).
  • From 1969, after the voting had ended and four countries were tied for the highest score. Basically, paraphrased from Spanish:
  Laurita Valenzuela: I'm going to ask Mr. Brown: who, exactly, is the winner tonight?
  Clifford Brown: This year, we have four winners.
  • When Spain voted last in 1979, they had one of two options: either they could award no points to Israel's song, thereby allowing them to win, or they could give them an honest vote, which would cost Spain victory and put Israel ahead. What did they do?
  "Israel...ten points."
  • Another big cliffhanger vote came in 1998, also involving Israel. With just newcomer Macedonia left to vote, Israel and Malta were tied for the highest score. The votes climbed higher with no mention of either country, until they announced that eight points went to Israel. This seemed to tie it up in Malta's favor, until...
  "And finally, our twelve points go to...Croatia."
  • After a few years of songs that landed on the right side of the scoreboard and a failure to qualify for the Grand Final in 2010, Sweden got a renaissance starting in 2011, leading to SEVEN Top 5-finishes. And in 2018, it seemed like they would get another one with Benjamin Ingrosso getting 2nd place from the juries, but then the televotes were getting started...
  Daniela Ruah: With 21 points...Sweden!^note Which was the televoters' 23rd place
• Faking It: After Amy and Lauren figure out that Amy's mom is cheating, Lauren demands they open up and show themselves.
  Man: Hi, honey.
  Amy: Dad? ^note Farrah divorced Amy's dad, then married Lauren's dad.
• Farscape:
  • Noranti whispers in Crichton's ear : "Aeryn...is...with child." Naturally this is followed seconds later by Moya being swallowed into a wormhole, and then John is unable to contact Aeryn for "some time" (long enough for him to grow an impressive beard, at least).
  • "I condemn you, John Crichton...to live! So that your lust for unfulfilled revenge...will consume you."
    • Made even worse in that this was in the middle of a procedure that temporarily removed the speech center of John's brain, during which Scorpious presumably killed the doctor, the one person on the planet (if not the galaxy) who could have repaired the damage.
  • Crichton attempts to return to Moya from Einstein's realm via wormhole fails, taking him to (1980s) Earth instead. "Whoops."
  • Crais, after revealing to Aeryn that her mother Xhalax Sun and father Talyn had her out of love which is forbidden by the Peacekeepers, Crais informs her just why he told her this:

    Crais: Xhalax Sun is head of the Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad.

  • In "Green-Eyed Monster":
  Aeryn: Talyn just spaced John.
• Father Ted: When Ted finds out the penalty challenge Father Dick Byrne has asked him to do at the end of "Escape from Victory":
  Ted (reading): "Dear Ted: you have until next week to . . . kick Bishop Brennan up the arse!"
• Firefly: At the end of "Heart of Gold": "I'm leaving."
• FlashForward (2009):
  • D. Gibbons is a bad man.
  • Message received.
• In Fleabag Claire drops one so good that Fleabag actually runs away from the audience.
  Fleabag: You have to believe me!
  Claire: How can I?
  Fleabag: I'm your sister!
  Claire: After what you did to Boo?
• Forever:
  • In the pilot, when the anonymous caller tells Henry it seems death isn't an option for either of them.
  Caller: We share the same pain, same curse, same affliction.
  • At the end of "Best Foot Forward" we get two. First, Jo tells Henry she realized she didn't want to go to Paris with Isaac, then Abe interrupts with important news for Henry.
  Abraham: I found mom.
  • More of a Wham Sound Effect in "The Last Death of Henry Morgan" when Adam pulls out the gun that killed Henry the first time and fires it to get Henry to stop.
  Adam: I can make you play, Henry! *bang*
  Henry: You have my gun?!?
  • When Adam reveals his true aim, what he thinks Henry fears above all else — exposure. He intends for Jo to either find Henry dead, or for her to see him disappear before her eyes.
  Adam: What you fear more than anything in this world is someone finding out your secret. I assume she heard that last shot. If not, she's sure to hear this one.
• Frasier: Frasier is high on painkillers as Daphne gives him a massage in "Back Talk". The following lines even shocked the studio audience, who gave out a loud Gasp!
  Daphne: When I said to your father "Dr. Crane's in love with me," he said it's been going on for six years now. What did he mean by that?
  Frasier: (dreamily) Oh that... he meant Niles.
  (Kaboom!)
  Daphne: What?!
  Frasier: (dreamily) Niles... he's crazy about you.
  (Cue Daphne BSOD)
  • What makes Frasier's line particularly whammy is that it comes in the middle of a comedy of misunderstandings plot (Daphne overhears Frasier saying he loves her, not realizing he didn't mean it in a romantic sense), which were very typical of Frasier, and which were usually resolved by the end of the episode so that status quo could return. The viewers most likely didn't predict that a simple line in a seemingly throwaway scene in a seemingly generic episode would finally lead to resolving the UST between Niles and Daphne that had been going on for over six seasons.
  • Later, after Frasier tells Niles that Daphne is in love with him in the second part of "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue", another wham line caused the studio audience to GASP! again, even more shocked. After Daphne told Niles how upset she was that Frasier told him how she felt about him, Niles responded, "No, Daphne, I'm glad he told me - because I love you."
  • In "Halloween", when everyone is speculating on who Roz's baby's father is, after Frasier blows the secret that Roz might be pregnant.
  Frasier: No! Listen, everybody, I am not the father of Roz's baby! In fact, we don't even know for sure if there is a baby!
  Roz: [appearing] We do now.
  • Not to mention the words the series ends on:
  Pilot: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Chicago.
  Frasier: ...wish me luck.
• The debut of Fox NFL Sunday in 1994 was literally a game-changer (as Fox became a legitimate network in the eyes of many, CBS sunk as Fox had taken their crown jewel of sports coverage, their announcers and their affiliates, and introduced things we take for granted today, like a constant on-screen scorebox), but after a little opening bit with Terry Bradshaw riding a horse onto the Fox backlot, came the debut of the famous theme, and announcer Dick Ervasti practically growling at you that the game would never be the same:
  (as the dramatic theme kicks in) This...is it. Today, the curtain opens on a new era! Football at its' best, coverage at its' finest. The NFL on Fox!
• Friends:
  • Season 1 - "Remember when Ross first fell in love with Carol and he bought her this ridiculously expensive crystal duck?"
  • Season 2 - "You're over me?"
  • Season 3 - "You told Rachel?" "Was I not supposed to?"
  • And: "I'm your mother."
  • Season 4 - "I, Ross", "Take thee, Emily," "Take thee, Rachel."
    • Which was preceded by another wham in the very same episode - "Do you think he knew I was here?"
  • Season 5 - "Well, hello, Mrs. Ross!"
    • Preceded by - "It's a four."
  • Season 6 - "I can't believe you're gonna propose to Monica."
    • Also: "You wanted it to be a surprise"
  • Season 7 - "I didn't take a pregnancy test."
  • Season 8 - "OK." ^note Used twice. The first is when Chandler reveals to Monica he's ready to have children, and the second is when Joey accidentally proposes to Rachel
    • "Hey, my sweater!"
  • Season 9 - "There's a good chance this may never happen for us." ^note  Chandler and Monica trying to have children
  • Season 10 - "Did she get off the plane?!" "I did get off the plane."
    • Preceded by - "The next baby should be along in a minute."
    • Earlier in the season: "WE'RE GETTING A BABY!"
    • During the last clip episode of the show: "We totally got that house!"
• Fringe: During the third season's 19th episode, after Peter and Walter successfully rescued Olivia from the confines of her mind, Peter comes to visit her to see if she's okay. He notices a drawing of "Man X" whom they met aboard the zeppelin, and Peter asks who he is...
  Olivia: I dunno, I never met him before. But, I think he's the man who's gonna kill me.
• Game of Thrones:
  • "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things":
    • Catelyn reveals who sent the assassin after Bran. The truth is more complicated:
    Catelyn [about Tyrion]: This man came into my house as a guest and there conspired to murder my son, a boy of ten. In the name of King Robert and the good lords you serve, I call upon you to seize him and help me return him to Winterfell to await the king's justice.
  • "You Win or You Die":
    • Renly shows that Stannis isn't a popular ruler in-universe
    Renly: We all know what Stannis is. He inspires no love or loyalty. He's not a king. I am.
    • Littlefinger reveals his treachery
    Littlefinger: I did warn you not to trust me.
  • "The Pointy End":
    Robb: They want me to go to King's Landing, I'll go to King's Landing. But not alone. Call the banners.
  • "Baelor":
    • When Ned Stark has made a false confession of treason in an attempt to save his daughters, it seems that Joffrey will allow him to be exiled to the Night's Watch. Then he drops this bombshell.
    Joffrey: Ser Ilyn, bring me his head.
  • "Fire and Blood":
    • Robb gets an Awesome Moment of Crowning
    Greatjon: "There sits the only king I mean to bend my knee to. The King in the North!"
  • "A Man Without Honor":
    • Xaro reveals he has betrayed Daenerys
    Pyat: When I learned you were coming to our city, I made an arrangement with the king of Qarth. He procured them for me.
    Dany: There is no king of Qarth.
    Xaro: There is now. That was the other half of the arrangement.
  • "The Prince of Winterfell":
    • Cersei reveals she has captured Ros, who she thinks is Tyrion's whore
    Cersei: I have your little whore.
    • Later subverted, however, as it turns out that Cersei got the wrong one.
  • "Blackwater":
    • Just when it seems that Stannis might be winning, Tywin says this line
    Tywin: The battle is over. We have won!
  • "Valar Morghulis":
    • Three blasts mean that the White Walkers are back. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!"
    Grenn: Three blasts.
    • While in chains, Daenerys demands her dragons burn her captors alive.
    Daenerys: Dracarys.
  • "And Now His Watch Is Ended":
    • Daenerys reveals she understood Kraznys perfectly
    Daenerys: Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor.^note Means "A dragon is not a slave", but the words are not as important as the fact that they are spoken in High Valyrian.
    • Ramsay reveals that him saving Theon was a ruse.
    Ramsay: I brought (Theon) back. He killed the others. (beat) Put him back where he belongs.
  • "Kissed By Fire"
    Tywin: (to Cersei) Tyrion will do as he's bid. As will you. [...] You'll marry Ser Loras.
  • "The Climb":
    • Ramsay claims he's the son of Rickard Karstark
    Ramsay: You forgot to ask if I was a liar.
  • "The Rains of Castamere":
    Walder Frey: My king is married and I owe my new queen a wedding gift.
    • A bit earlier, the execution of Rains of Castamere counts as Wham Music in that it's a signal that a bloody slaughter is about to take place
    • Roose reveals he has betrayed Robb
      Roose Bolton: (to Robb) The Lannisters send their regards.
  • "The Lion and the Rose":
    • Cersei demands that Tyrion be arrested for the murder of Joffrey
    Cersei: He poisoned my son. Take him. Take him!
  • "Oathkeeper":
    • Olenna reveals she had Joffrey killed.
    Olenna Tyrell: (to Margaery) You don't think I'd let you marry that beast, do you?
  • "First of His Name":
    • Lysa reveals she was the one who poisoned Jon Arryn at Littlefinger's insistence and not the Lannisters.
    Lysa Arryn: [to Littlefinger]: What wife would've done for you the things I've done for you? What wife would trust you the way I trusted you? When you gave me those drops and told me to pour them into Jon's wine, my husband's wine? When you told me to lie to Cat that it was the Lannisters...
  • "Mockingbird":
    • Oberyn volunteers to fight The Mountain on Tyrion's behalf
    Oberyn: I will be your champion.
    • Littlefinger reveals he never loved Lysa but rather Catelyn
    Littlefinger: Your sister.
  • "The Children"
    • Cersei reveals the truth to Tywin
    Cersei: Everything they say about Jaime and me is true... your legacy is a lie!
  • "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken":
    • Ramsay prepares to rape Sansa
    Ramsay: Take off your clothes.
  • "The Gift".
    • The High Sparrow turns against Cersei.
    "What will we find when we strip away your finery?"
  • "The Dance of Dragons": "Forgive me." When Stannis says this to Shireen, it becomes clear that he has decided to sacrifice her.
  • "Mother's Mercy": It becomes clear that the Night's Watch brothers have betrayed Jon Snow. Cue the knives.
    A post reads: Traitor.
  • "The Door":
    • We find out how Hodor got his name
    Hodor: HOLD THE DOOR! HOLD THE DOOR! HOLD THE DOOR! HOLDTHEDOOR! HOLDTHDOOR! HOLDDOOR! HODOR!
  • "The Winds of Winter":
    • [Arya disguised as a wench serves Lord Walder's sons in a pie] "But they are already here, my lord. Here, my lord."
    • Ellaria and Varys convince Olenna Tyrell to side with Daenerys: "Vengeance. Justice. Fire and Blood"
      Lyanna Mormont: I don't care that he's a bastard. Ned Stark's blood runs through his veins. He is my king, from this day until my last day.
    • We find out who Jon Snow's mother is
      Lyanna Stark: If Robert finds out, he'll kill him. You know he will. You have to protect him. Promise me, Ned. Promise me. [cuts from her baby's face to Jon Snow's]

      Qyburn: [just before killing Pycelle] Whatever your faults, you don't deserve to die alone in such a cold, dark place.
    • Qyburn proclaims Cersei the new Queen
      Qyburn: I now proclaim Cersei of the House Lannister, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms.
  • Several in "The Queen's Justice". But the crowner has to be this one from Lady Olenna Tyrell:
    Olenna: (gulps down a cup of poison) I hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck. Foam and bile spilling from my mouth. Eyes blood red. Skin purple. Must have been horrible for you, as a kingsguard, as a father. It was horrible enough for me. A shocking scene. Not at all what I intended. You see, I'd never seen the poison work before. Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me.
  • "The Spoils of War":
    • Bran reveals he can recall events he wasn't there to witness personally
    Bran: Chaos is a ladder.
  • "Eastwatch":
    Gilly: It says he issued an annulment for Prince Rhaegar and married someone else at a secret ceremony in Dorne.
  • 7x07: "The Dragon and the Wolf":
    • Sansa reveals she and her sister Arya have outwitted Littlefinger and have him executed
    Sansa Stark: [seemingly judging her sister Arya] You stand accused of murder, you stand accused of treason. How do you answer these charges... Lord Baelish?
• Girl Meets World:
  • 2x12: "Girl Meets Yearbook":
    Maya: We have so much in common Lucas! It's like you're my brother! It's like you're my...Oh.^note Maya has put on a Riley persona and in doing so, has discovered Riley's actual feelings toward Lucas.
• Gilmore Girls
  • In A Year In The Life, Rory drops one at the end of the mini-series when she delivers the unexpected news to her mother Lorelai (after a string of complicated romances).
  Rory: Mom?
  Lorelai: What?
  Rory: I'm pregnant.
• House of the Dragon: King Viserys explaining the prophecy of the Song of Ice and Fire to his daughter Rhaenyra for when she will inherit the crown. Which turns out to be about the Long Night, the cold-flavored Zombie Apocalypse of the White Walkers less than two centuries later in Game of Thrones.
  "Tis to begin with a terrible winter gusting out of the distant north... Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those winds. And whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living. When this Great Winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of men is to survive a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark."
• Glee:
  • From the episode "Furt":
    Kurt: It's good to know that I have friends here at McKinley, as well as a true brother. Which is why it's so difficult to leave.
  • Also from "Rumours":
    Finn: Then why were you in that motel?!
    Sam: Because that's where I live now! My dad lost his job a few months ago, then we lost our house, so now we live in that motel in one room.
  • Hilariously a Subverted Trope in a first season episode, however. When asked if she and Puck are dating, Santana replies "Sex is not dating." Brittany adds, "If it were, Santana and I would be dating." There's a long silence...then everyone else continues as if she never said anything, apparently not wanting to touch Brittany's contribution with a ten-foot pole. Brittany and Santana's relationship is barely even mentioned again until nearly a season later.
• Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything has perhaps the shortest Wham Line ever:
  Ashley: I'm in.
• Ghosts (UK):
  • Towards the end of the first episode, Alison — who has recently suffered a fall and received a head injury — is instructed by a builder beginning work on the Big Fancy House she's inherited to wear a hard hat at all times. As she looks around, she notices a man standing behind her and playfully tells him that "You should be wearing a hard hat." A seemingly innocuous exchange... except the man is Julian, one of the titular ghosts, and the fact that she can see and converse with him reveals that, due to her injury, she can now see the dead.
  • In the next episode, Alison has been driven to the end of her tether by the ghosts variously haunting her, yelling at her and just being plain irritating, and so has gone to a hospital. The doctor listens to her story intrigued, and when the time comes for a diagnosis reveals that her injury left her so close to death that she can now see the dead. When Alison, incredulous, reacts to this, it leads to this little doozy of a moment:
    Doctor: Well, can you see me?
    Alison: ["obviously"] Yes.
    Doctor: [Pleasantly] Exactly. I'm dead.
• Played for laughs on The Goes Wrong Show. Each one of the plays attempts this...but because of the horrible on-stage mishaps, one or two of the actors being idiots and other bungling, it falls flat.
  • In both "The Pilot (Not the Pilot)" and "The Trial," Dennis gives away the would-be major plot twist about twenty minutes early.
  • "The Pilot (Not the Pilot)" is supposed to end with Jonathan (as Winston Churchill) suddenly cackling in a German accent he's not Churchill...but he can't get the makeup off so settles for "I really am Winston Churchill."
  • Actually pulled off in "90 Degrees" as "Renee" and "Barbara" spend the entire play sniping and insulting each other with Barbara using her knowledge of Renee with her brother, Larry, to get him to sign over control of the family company to Renee. After he does, she just tells everyone anyway.
  Barbara: Anyhow, I'd love to stay and talk but we have to get back to Connecticut. Ain't that right...Renee?
  Renee That's right, Barbara. (heads over to kiss her hand)
• The Golden Girls':
  • From "Letters to Gorbachev":
    Blanche: [reading Rose's letter about nuclear war] It scares the girls in my cadet troop, too. They talk about what they want to be... if they grow up, not when they grow up.
• In the Good Luck Charlie episode "Girl Bites Dog":
  Teddy: ... I didn't know you were his^note Spencer's cousin.
  Skyler: I thought you were his cousin.
• Good Girls Revolt:
  • “I, uh, I never had any problems after.” Cindy's had abortions in the past. All throughout the first season there have been more and more hints that she doesn't want/feel ready for a child, but this radically alters the perception of her character, showing how proactive and goal-oriented she really is and has been for a while.
• The Good Place:
  • "Tahani al-Jamil" has The Reveal for Jianyu's real identity: "I'm not supposed to be here either. I don't know how I got here, I have no idea what's going on, and I am freakin' out, homie!"
  • "What We Owe to Each Other" has Michael seeming to realize that Eleanor is the problem that's been causing the Neighborhood to go haywire, and we're expecting him to out her to the assembled crowd at the end. Instead he says, "The problem ... is me! And now I have to leave you, forever."
  • This previous Wham Line gets flipped around at the end of the next episode, "The Eternal Shriek". By the end of the episode, Michael no longer believes he's the cause of the Neighborhood's problems, but is still clueless that Eleanor is the cause. Things seem poised to return to the status quo, until Eleanor stands up and confesses, "Michael, the problem in the Neighborhood ... is me. I was brought to the Good Place by mistake; I'm not supposed to be here."
  • And probably the most Whammy five words in the series: "This is The Bad Place." With that one line, we go from watching a charming sitcom about a woman who ended up in Heaven by mistake to watching a chilling drama about four people who are being tortured in Hell while being made to believe that they're in Heaven. (Although one that still has a lot of jokes.)
  • That may be topped in season 3's "Janet(s)" as Michael goes to the office where the "number crunching" to determine who gets into the Good Place is made. He starts pressing on the latest entries only to find they can't find any. Michael asks point blank when the last time someone got into the Good Place was. After some checking, the clerk responds: 521 years ago.
• Grey's Anatomy:
  • In the last five minutes of the series 5 finale. "Oh... oh... seven. Double-oh seven?"
  • "I'm Lexie. Lexie Grey."
• Grimm
  • Season 1's cliffhanger wham line:
  Woman in Black: (whom Nick has just been trying to fight, unsuccessfully, while she takes down a villain) Nick! Nicky!
  Nick: Mom?!
  • Season 4:
  Juliette: "Who said I needed anyone's help?"
• Hammer House of Horror:
  • "Rude Awakening": "I can't help you, Mr. Shenley. You see, I'm dead."
• Haven:
  • Said to Audrey in "Spiral": "I'm Special Agent Audrey Parker. Who the hell are you?"
  • The letter Duke finds in "Business As Usual": "Duke- If you're reading this, then I haven't survived. You are my Son. My heir. It's up to you to finish my work. You must kill her." Attached to the letter is a picture of Audrey.
  • Two in "301". The kidnapper telling Audrey, "Did you think you're the only one who loved the Colorado Kid!?" When the group finds "Find him before The Hunter." inscribed in the Colorado Kid's empty coffin, they question who wrote it, and Audrey answers, "I did. This is my handwriting."
  • Duke explaining to Audrey in "Stay" that when a meteor shower called "The Hunter" occurs in 49 days, she will disappear again.
• Hawaii Five-0: At the very end "Ua Hala", the second-season finale of the reimagined show, McGarrett finally gets the answer to that season's Driving Question: Who is Shelburne?
  McGarrett: Mom?^note  Since the first episodes of the series it had been apparently established that she had died years ago in a car-bombing.
• Henry Danger: In "I Know Your Secret", Charlotte finds out from Piper that Henry's identity as Kid Danger was not the secret Jasper found out, once she gets to the following line:
  Piper: Henry shoulda waited for Jasper to go see that movie.
• Heroes:
  • "I work for your father." Said by the supposedly mute Hatian.
  • "Tou-san?" Said by Hiro to the mysterious man who has just kidnapped him. For those not up on their Japanese, it means "Dad?"
  • "We need to talk, Nathan." Said by Claire's biological mother when she manages to track her biological father down on the phone.
  • "I already have you... Mr. Sylar." Said by Mohinder to Sylar, who he has up to now been tricked into believing is named Zane Taylor.
  • "You may as well come inside, Claire." Said by Mama Petrelli the first time she meets Claire, the granddaughter she supposedly knew nothing about.
  • "There are things you need to hear. Things I know about you. ... That you can fly, for instance?" Said by Mr. Linderman to Nathan.
  • "I know you're there, Peter." Said by one of the characters when Peter is having what appears to be a Pensieve Flashback.
  • "Turns out you're the villain. I'm the hero." Said by Sylar to Peter.
• Homecoming:
  • In "Test" (1x07), when Heidi calls her boss Colin asking him for permission to reduce her patients' dosage now that the medication is beginning to adversely affect their memories:
  Colin: I'll present this to the DOD, and they are going to open the fucking hose! We'll be able to deploy these guys way sooner than we thought!

  • Earlier, Heidi is talking to Walter in a counseling session, the two getting along well. Heidi then asks Walter about the prank he played on a fellow soldier making up a movie called "Titanic Rising" and how he loved it...only to met by a blank stare.
  Walter: What's Titanic Rising?
  • In "Giant" (2x02): "Alex, are you ok?"
• Homicide: Life on the Street: In "Thrill of the Kill", Bayliss and Pembleton capture Newton Dell, a serial killer who has been killing people along the I-95 highway. When they interrogate him, Dell blames the murders on someone else, with Bayliss and Pembleton assuming he's crazy and has a Split Personality. Am angered Dell responds thusly;
  Newton Dell: Did you ever wonder why both doors of the truck were open?
• House:
  • "Three Stories":
  "God, you were right... it's House."
  • "Cain and Able":
  "God doesn't limp."
  • "Finding Judas":
  Wilson: (to Tritter) "I'm gonna need my thirty pieces of silver."
  • "House's Head'':
    "What's my necklace made of?"
  • "Saviors":
  Amber: (to House) "Solved another case, busted Wilson. Looks like you're not losing it after all."
  • "Both Sides Now":
  Amber: So this is the story you made up about who you are. It's a nice one.
  Kutner: Too bad it isn't true.
  • "Body and Soul":
  Wilson: "I have cancer."
  • "Everybody Dies":
  House: SHUT UP YOU IDIOT.
  • Many episodes featured the Wham Line "you're dying" or something to that effect. Sometimes they really were dying, but it was usually the penultimate diagnosis and was followed by a "Eureka!" Moment in which House had an epiphany and came up with the correct diagnosis. Cue happy, or, at worst, Bitter Sweet Ending.
• House of Anubis:
  • Towards the beginning of Season 1, while Nina, Fabian and Amber are listening to the recordings:
    Young Sarah: He's coming!
    Victor: It's ten O'clock. You have five minutes precisely, and then I want to hear a pin drop.
  • Towards the end of the first season:
    Jerome: (On the phone) Hello, is this Rufus Zeno?
  • The beginning of season 2:
    Vera: (on the phone) Hello? I'm in.
  • Jerome and Mara reading a letter from Trudy in the middle of season 2:
    Mara: Jerome, look! The first letter of each line.
    Jerome: ...Help Me.
  • The finale of season 2, discussing Senkhara wanting the Mask of Anubis, despite not having a body to wear it with:
    Patricia: She's not going to wear it. She's going to make Nina wear it.
  • The middle of season 3:
    KT: Why would Victor let me leave so easily, if they needed me for the ceremony?
  • Eddie having a vision in the middle of the season:
    Frobisher-Smythe: There's a viper in your nest.
  • The end of season 3, after Eddie and KT plant the Staff of Osiris to defeat Team Evil:
    Frobisher-Smythe: (laughing the rest of the sinners) I needed that staff to awaken Ammut, and you two just completed it for me!
  • Halfway through The Touchstone Of Ra:
    Fabian: Anyone who's ever held the stone...Turns to stone.
• House of Cards (US):
  • Towards the end of Chapter 12, the penultimate episode of Season 1.
    Raymond Tusk: The President values my advice, and he tends to follow it. Like when I advised him not to make you Secretary of State.
  • Episode 10, Season 4.
    Frank Underwood: But of course it makes sense that they would have haunted me, because... it's all true.
  • Episode 11, Season 5, Claire is walking to the halls, steps back and addresses the camera.
    Claire: Just to be clear, it's not that I haven't always known you were there.
• How I Met Your Mother:
  • At the end of the pilot, future Ted delivers the First-Episode Twist after we are lead to assume that the attractive journalist he went on a date with is the mother:
    Ted: Because that kids... is the true story, of how I met your aunt Robin.
  • From "Bad News":
    Lily: Something's happened. Your father had a heart attack, and... he didn't make it.
    Marshall: M-my dad's dead?
    Not only a wham line for the audience, but for the actor; Jason Segel was not told this line before Alyson Hannigan delivered it. What aired is the only take.
  • And prior to that, in "Canning Randy", Zoey has got Ted's architecture class to abandon him and turn against him after he wanted the Arcadian to be blown up while they didn't. When asked if he has anything to say for himself, what's his response? "Anyone not in class tomorrow gets an F." And it works.
  • Symphony of Illumination features Robin telling her kids how she met their father, despite the entire episode revolving around Robin finding out she can't have kids. The audience sees Robin's kids as she tells the story. At the very end...
    Robin: Whatever. It's better this way. No one holding me back, no one preventing me from travelling where I want to travel, going where I want to go. That's why I'm glad you're not real.
    [the kids fade away, leaving Robin all alone]
    Robin: Really glad.
  • In The Final Page Part 2
    Barney: Turn it over.
    The words written on the back of Barney's Final Play "The Robin" are: "Step 16: Hope she says 'yes'"
    Robin: Yes.
  • In "The Time Travelers"
    Barney: Ted, this moment is already gone.
  • The very end of "Something New"
    The Mother: Hi. One ticket to Farhampton, please?
  • Several in the last season, and the finale "Last Forever", but the series can probably be boiled down to one last revelation...
    Penny: No. This is a story about how you're totally in love with Aunt Robin... C'mon, Dad. Mom's been gone for six years now. It's time.
  • Throughout the episode when Barney meets his biological father for the first time since he was a little kid (and the first time knowing the man was his father and not his uncle), Barney spins a story for his friends about his dad still being a hard-partying badass, and when this lie is exposed, spends the episode being disappointed that it's not true. One might write it off as Barney being Barney, until...
    Barney: You're lame, okay? You're just some lame suburban dad.
    Jerome: Why does that make you so mad?
    Barney: Because if you were gonna be some lame suburban dad, why couldn't you have been that for me?!
• How to Get Away with Murder:
  • The trailers for the fourth episode, "Let's Get To Scooping", advertised that the last nine words of the episode would make your jaw drop. And they weren't wrong:
    Annalise: [To Sam] Why is your penis on a dead girl's phone?
  • Bonnie's reveal at the end of "He Deserved To Die" that Lila was six weeks pregnant before she died.
• I Dream of Jeannie: Major Tony Nelson almost blew it in one of the final episodes when he introduced Jeannie to Gen. Schaffer and Dr. Bellows:
  Tony: I'd like you to meet my fiancee.
• I Love Lucy: After returning from a visit with the doctor, a gleamy eyed Lucy basically floats back home to an awaiting Ethel.
  Lucy: Ethel, we're going to have a baby!
  • Later from the same episode, Lucy makes a visit to Ricky's club, after Ricky is told someone in the audience is expecting.
  Ricky: (passing by Lucy while singing "Rock-a-bye Baby") Oh hi honey!
  (Lucy Nods to him with a dreamy smile on her face, Ricky stops in his tracks)
  Ricky: Honey? You mean...
  Lucy: Yes.
  Ricky: IT'S ME! I'M THE FATHER! (club erupts in applause) I WANT YOU TO MEET MY MOTHER... I MEAN MY WIFE, SHE'S GOING TO BE A MOTHER!
• The Inside:
  • "Everyone is here. The ninth victim is Margaret Alvarez." - Web, "New Girl in Town"
    • And later in the episode: "You expect us to believe Alvarez did this to herself?" - Danny
  • "Him! That's the voice! Real distinctive voice." - The witness in "Thief of Hearts" fingers Web as the guy who bribed her.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): At the end of the Season 2 SDCC trailer, Claudia asks Armand about the identity of the portrait that hangs on the wall of the Théâtre des Vampires ("Who's that handsome man on the wall?"), and Armand answers "Our co-founder, Lestat de Lioncourt," which is a shocking revelation to viewers who haven't read the books.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: In "Hero or Hate Crime?", the Gang goes into arbitration over who gets to claim a $10,000 lottery ticket prize; the title refers to Frank screaming "LOOK OUT, FAGGOT!" to Mac as he was about to be crushed by a falling piano, and the rest of the episode details how the Gang's day led to that moment. At the end, the lawyer listening to the group makes up her mind—Mac is entitled to the ticket, but only if he's actually gay, and he happily comes out to sign the necessary documents. Now, Mac's Transparent Closet has been a running gag on the series for years, and the Gang fully expects him to simply "in" himself now that he has the money. But then comes the line which not only sticks, but changes his dynamic with everyone in the show:
  Mac: I don't know. Maybe...maybe I'll stay out. Yeah. I'm...I'm gay.
• iCarly: The one comment on the video of Carly and Sam mocking Miss Briggs which inspires the creation of iCarly.
  "Carly and Sam, you chicks are hilarious! When's your next show?"

J-Q

• JAG: In "Desert Son", after Boone has been found to blame for the mishap, Williams is out spotting for artillery strikes again, and remarks that he never knew how much better he'd be at spotting artillery simply by doing it while sober. The corporal riding in the humvee with him is stricken speechless by the implications of this remark.
• A light-hearted version is used in the series finale of Jane the Virgin. Mateo is loudly reading out a poem to the audience at his parent's Jane and Rafael's wedding. Jane comments on this big-boy voice of his when he turns around proudly and goes:
  Mateo: "I practiced with Great Glam-ma. She said I'd be great at voice-over work."
  Narrator: (drops the accent he's used throughout the series) And for the record, I am. (Resumes accent) But I'm getting ahead of myself.
• On The Jeffersons episode "They Don't Make Preachers Like Him Anymore", Florence is rocked when a visiting minister steals the money intended for a church group trip. In a church alone, Florence rails about it and considers quitting completely. The friendly Reverend Taylor arrives to give her a talk on faith that raises her spirits. Coming home, Florence tells Louise about the chat she just had with Taylor and how he knew just what to say. She heads to her room and misses the baffled looks Louise and George share.
  George: How could Florence talk to Reverend Taylor when his sister said he passed away in his sleep four hours ago?
  • In another episode, a branch of the Ku Klux Klan establishes itself in the building around the same time as a rash of burglaries has been occurring, leading to George inadvertently attending a KKK meeting. It's a comedy of errors at first, but then the leader of the meeting has a heart attack. George jumps to the rescue and performs CPR, and as the paramedics take the leader away, his son tells him that George is the one who saved his life. His response? "You should have let me die." It also qualifies in-universe, as the idea of this man hating black people so much that he would choose death over their company leads nearly every Klan member to walk out, turning their back on the group.
    • Another one happens earlier when Louise and Florence take up CPR and hijicks ensue when they perform on the doll. When the teacher calls up the next two people, a father and son, only for them to for some reason refuse. The teacher tries to get them to stay saying they're all friends, when the father says this.
  Father: Well you may all be friends, but we make it a habit to never touch anything kissed by a nigger.
• Jekyll: Wham Line Generator of a miniseries.
  • "They've turned off the cameras... all of them. Nobody can see or hear us... suckers."
  • "I'd forgotten the room number," "You know what? HE didn't..."
  • "I don't own a black van."
  • (To Claire, after her sons have been taken away, supposedly to get breakfast) "In the meantime, I'd offer you breakfast, but the truth is… we don't have any."
  • "Tom Jackman isn't a clone, Claire. You are."
  • "Hyde... is love. And love is a psychopath."
  • "Oh I expect I did, I must check."
• Jericho (2006):
  • After Denver is nuked, a group of people are listening to an answering machine message where Dale's mother describes seeing the explosion, cut off as she's incinerated. "I didn't even know your mother was in Denver." "She was in Atlanta." Cue freakout.
  • In "Black Jack", as they're looking at the map of the US. "But there are six stars up there? Where's the president?" "Which one?"
• Jeopardy!: "What is Fedex?" is a perfectly innocent wrong Final Jeopardy answer that would have been forgotten if given by any other second place contestant...But not by Ken Jennings.
  • Another one came in a YouTube video:
  Alex Trebek: Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
• Joan of Arcadia loved these.
  • "I DID THIS!"—Kevin admitting that he is the guilty party regarding the accident that left him paralyzed: he and his friend were drinking at a party, and rather than be responsible and tell his friend not to drive, he let him get behind the wheel.
  • "But today I hate my breasts...because I just found out my mother has breast cancer."—After an Alpha Bitch plays a mean-spirited prank on Joan, she and her friends conspire to steal the teen's diary and read it to the whole school (despite God warning her not to seek revenge). They share the mean girl's embarrassing secrets, then start to read a passage out loud to the cafeteria...and discover the diagnosis listed above.
  • "When I found out you would never walk again, I was happy."—Luke, to Kevin, revealing that he resented constantly being in his big brother's shadow and was glad to hear that he was paralyzed.
  • "...It was evil. And I don't throw that word around."—God (in the form of a businessman) telling Joan about some violent paintings her mother Helen's created in college (Joan found the paintings earlier, but her mother wouldn't talk to her about them). They were Helen's method of coping after being raped by a stranger in her bed.
  • "She would have been the first to go."—God, in the form of an elderly woman, explaining why she had Joan take a troubled teen to a school dance: if she hadn't, he would have brought a gun to school and killed students, teachers, and himself.
  • "I missed you...": God tells Joan that he wants her to help a nerdy boy win the student council presidency. He's running against a popular jock, and Judith convinces Joan to follow the athlete around to get some dirt on him (especially because the jock had told everyone in school that his rival's father was in jail). Joan and Judith see their target headed for the football field, where he meets another (male) teen that Judith says is a known drug dealer—all they need is a picture. Then the jock says the above line, the two tenderly caress, and we realize what his real secret is.
• Kamen Rider Decade:
  • Connected to Shinkenger below: Genta encounters Kaito, who steals the Ika Origami and calls himself a "passing-through Kamen Rider". Genta's response? "What's a Kamen Rider?" The World of Shinkenger/Super Sentai World is a World Without a Kamen Rider.
  • Wataru has just revealed that by Decade's efforts the nine Riders Decade has aided will live through their stories. When asked about Decade, his answer: "Decade... does not have a story."
  • Additionally, his line towards Decade in the finale regarding his mission: "Do you remember my words? You needed to destroy all Kamen Riders. Instead you became comrades with them. That was...a big mistake."
• Kamen Rider 555: "On that day, we all died."
• Kevin (Probably) Saves the World: In "The Right Thing", Amy demands to know the whole truth and actually gets it:
  Kevin: That meteor wasn't a meteor; it was actually a warrior from God. Her name is Yvette, and she was sent here to protect me because I was the last righteous soul, and my mission is to anoint new righteous souls and save the world. Wait, did I say that?
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent:
  • "Monster":
    Goren: If you can't remember anything about the attack, then who told you about the sand?
    Jane Stevens: Detective Marston.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: "Liv, Elliot put in his papers." And so, the central duo we've been following since the premiere is no more. (Although the effect is lessened by the announcement that Christopher Meloni would not be returning.)
  • All the way back in Season 2, "Wrong is Right," Fin enters the SVU headquarters for the first time:
    Fin: Fin Tutuola. I've been reassigned.
    Jeffries: (smiling ruefully) You're here for my job. ^note She was fired for admitting a psychiatrist that she slept with a former suspect; she later sues for wrongful termination, but soon drops the suit.
  • In 8x22, "Screwed": During Darius Parker's trial, he represents himself and questions his "aunt," recently revealed to be his biological mother, on the stand:
    Teresa Randall: My father raped me.
    Darius Parker: That's a lie!
  • In 9x19, "Cold," Casey is caught committing a Brady violation:
    Casey Novak: How much trouble am I in?
    Judge Donnelly: Censure. Possible suspension.
    Casey Novak: For how long?
    Judge Donnelly: A year. Maybe more.
  • In "Heartfelt Passages", when Chief Dodds tells Benson what's happened with Mike. He can't even get the words out, but his stammering, broken explanation manages to be more of a Wham than just saying it outright would be.
    Dodds: They... they say it's, uh, you know... There were clots in his brain. And then bleeding, and uh... They tried transfusing platelets or something, but... You know, it's just a massive stroke. We can see him breathing. His heart's beating. It's strong. But, you know, neurologically he, you know, he's... he's already... the, uh, the only reason they keep the machines on is... is, uh... [breaks down crying] Oh, God. For his organs.
• Leverage:
  • From "The Lost Heir Job":
    Nate: Ms. Walton, what color is my tie?
  • Also from "The Lost Heir Job":
    Ruth Walton: My lawyer? I never met her before this week. She told me she was with you.
  • The Season 2 finale:
    Nate: My name is Nathan Ford...and I am a thief.
  • From "The Big Bang Job":
    Damien Moreau: That's no way to treat an old friend.
  • "The Radio Job":
    Jimmy Ford: I took this job for you, dammit!
  • Another one from "The Radio Job":
    Jimmy: Tell 'em stories about me. Tell 'em… tell 'em how much Jimmy Ford loves his son.
  • "The Long Goodbye Job":
    Ellen Casey: Mr. Ford, how did your friends die?
• The League of Gentlemen:
  Iris: At least my husband's still alive.
  • Shortly followed by:
    Judy: (to Iris) Mum!
  • And then there's this.
    Hilary Briss: One of us had to stay in control.
• Life on Mars (2006):
  • "Series 2, Episode 8":
    Sam Tyler: I can't feel anything.
• Liv and Maddie:
  • From "Sweet 16-A-Rooney":
    Karen: No, Pete! I'm not telling them they were born on seperate days!
  • From "Flugelball-A-Rooney":
    Diggie: Traveling really changed me, it's really different now. That's why I wanna be a foreign exchange student again.
  • In-Universe in Voltage from "SkyVolt-A-Rooney":
    Tess: I can't. You're SkyVolt now.
  • From "Californi-A-Rooney":
    Parker: You moved that?
  • From "Sing it Live!!!-A-Rooney:
    Liv: Something happened. It's bad.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:
  • "Udûn":
    • Galadriel reveals what happened with the Elves enslaved by Morgoth.
    Galadriel: When I was a child, I heard stories of Elves taken by Morgoth. Tortured, twisted. Made into a new and ruined form of life. You are one of them, are you not? The Moriondor. The Sons of the Dark. The first Orcs.
    • Adar telling Galadriel what he did to Sauron.
    Adar: I split him open. I killed Sauron.
  • "The Eye" is a rare case of a Wham Chyron as the title of "The Southlands" burns away to be replaced by Mordor.
  • "Alloyed":
    • Celebrimbor unknowingly utters Sauron's words while talking about his project with Mithril. Galadriel, having heard the exact same words from Adar, has the first definite clue of Halbrand's real identity, and so does the audience.
    Celebrimbor: We are on the cusp of crafting a new kind of power. Not of strength, but of spirit. Not of the flesh, but over flesh. This is a power of the Unseen World.
• Lost:
  • "I need to talk to you."
  • "Jack! One of them isn't on the manifest. He wasn't on the plane."^ContextHurley informing Jack that the Survivors have a traitor in their midst
  • It belonged to the man I killed!!!
  • "The Others are coming."^ContextRousseau confirming there are hostile people on the Island
  • "At the other end of the Island, is there a woman... named Rose, with you?"^ContextThe speaker is Bernard, Rose's husband, whom everyone assumed died in the crash
  • "Only, the thing is...we're gonna have to take the boy."^ContextTom Friendly reveals his true colors just before attacking the survivors on the raft
  • "I think I crashed your plane."^ContextDesmond realizing that he caused the plane crash and that the button is as important as they think it is.
  • "Ignore everything I'm saying."
  • "Interesting theory... LIGHT 'EM UUUUUUPPPPPP!!!!"
  • You'll have to give back the ring, Desmond. ^Context The lady saying this not only knows who Desmond, a complete stranger is, but also why he is there.
  • "What-what boat?" ^ContextPenny confirming that the boat the survivors think are there to help is lying about their origins
  • Because I want it to crash, Kate. ^ContextJack admitting he wants the plane to crash so that he could end up on the island again, where he was last happy.
  • "We have to go back, Kate... we have to go back!" ^ContextJack and Kate apparently managed to escape the Island, but Jack's saying they need to go back
  • "He said "what are you talking about? Doctor is fine."^ContextThey've found this doctor's dead body on shore while simultaneously confirming that Daniel is lying
  • "What... friends?"
  • "Who's Aaron?"
  • "We have to move the island."
  • "Yes, I was here 30 years ago. And I do. I remember these people. I remember meeting them very clearly because...I watched them all die." ^ContextRichard confirming that half of the survivors have time travelled to the past
  • - "Why are we going to Jacob?" - "So I can kill him."^ContextLocke and Ben discussing their plans for Jacob, whose leadership they've been following this whole show
  • "It's good to see you out of those chains, Richard."^ContextRichard and "Locke" have a history that leaves Richard in terrified shock
  • "Always nice talking to you, Jacob."
  • "I'm sorry you had to see me like that."
  • "LaFleur." ^ContextSawyer gives a fake name to Richard and becomes the group's de facto leader
  • "You don't have a son." ^ContextJack gets the first seeds of doubt that lead to the discovery of the flash-sideways timeline
  • "Are you Jack? My name's Daniel Faraday; I'm here to rescue you..." ^ContextJack and Kate just watched his helicopter crash, implying the survivors are still stuck
  • "I'm here Charles to tell you that I'm going to kill your daughter."
  • "How are you here?" ^ContextJack is talking to his deceased father Christian, who's currently alive and talking to him
• Lucifer (2016):
  • The first season closes on one, as Amenadiel realizes that Lucifer is scared at the prospect of having to track down and return someone who recently escaped from Hell:
    Amenadiel: Lucifer, who escaped?
    Lucifer: ...Mum.
  • Season 2's "God Johnson" has the titular character drop the line "It's real good seeing you, Samael.", causing Lucifer to realize that this person locked in a mental institution may actually be God.
  • "Quid Pro Ho" has this from Amenadiel, having realized just why Chloe is special.
    Amenadiel: Thirty-five years ago, Father, He asked me to come down here to bless a couple who was unable to have a child. He had never asked me to do anything of this sort, and He never did again. Today, I met the mother again. And I found out what the result of that miracle was. Or, rather, who.
  • "The Good, the Bad and the Crispy": Lucifer makes a decision and calls Chloe to tell her:
  Lucifer: ... But I also wanted to say that I am done hiding. So, I'm coming over now... to tell you the truth about me.
  • In "The Sin Bin", Lucifer stabs Pierce in the chest... and Pierce sits up from it.
  Lucifer: I wonder why I didn't figure it out sooner. The world's first murderer. Marked by God and doomed to walk the Earth alone and for a tortured eternity. It's quite the moniker. Still nowhere near as ridiculous as "the Sinnerman". Wouldn't you agree... Cain?
  • "The Angel of San Bernardino", when Lucifer confronts Pierce after the latter breaks up with her:
  Lucifer: Your mark... It's gone.
  • "A Devil of My Word": Chloe finally sees Lucifer's devil face. "It's all true..."
  • "Spoiler Alert": "That's enough! Children, you know I hate it when you fight."
• Mad Men:
  • "Hello. This is Dick. I want to talk to you."
  • "She has cancer, Don."
  • "Would you say I know something about you, Don?" with the follow up: "After all, who's really signing this contract anyway?"
  • "Well, if you want to break your contract agreement and sell insurance, go ahead." "I don't have a contract."
  • From the first season: "Mr. Campbell ... who cares?"
• Magnum, P.I.: "Ivan...Did you see the sun rise this morning?"
• The Mandalorian
  • From "The Jedi", Ahsoka Tano asks the Magistrate where her master is.
  Ahsoka: Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?
• Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • WandaVision
    • From "Breaking The Fourth Wall", Wanda finally learns whose been behind everything.
  Agnes: Wanda, Wanda. You didn't think you were the only magical girl in town, did you? The name's Agatha Harkness. Lovely to finally meet you, dear.
  [...]
  Chorus: It's been Agatha all along!
  Agatha: And I killed Sparky too!!!
  • Ms. Marvel (2022) delivers one of the biggest in the MCU so far considering the potential it unlocks. The closing moments of the series finale has Bruno approaches Kamala with his theory that they were wrong about the source of her powers. When Kamala shows obvious confusion, what is his expanation?
  Bruno: Kamala, there's something different in your genes. Like... Like a mutation.

  • Followed by the briefest flicker of a very iconic theme tune...
• M*A*S*H:
  • Season 3's finale, Abyssinia, Henry, opens with Radar delivering Henry Blake's discharge papers in good spirits. The episode ends with Radar delivering this legendary bombshell:
  Radar: "I have a message: Lt. Col. Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in...There were no survivors."
  • The series finale, Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, has Hawkeye suffer a nervous breakdown after he ordered a refugee to keep a chicken quiet on a bus, leading to the woman smothering the chicken to death. Sidney soon realizes that Hawkeye distorted the true victim of the incident in his mind:
  Hawkeye: "I did not—I—I just wanted it to be quiet. It was—it was a baby! She, she smothered her own baby. You son of a bitch, why did you make me remember that?"
• The Mentalist:
  • Season three, episode nine (Red Moon):
    Todd Johnson: Tyger, tyger. ^note It's the first line of a poem Red John quoted to Jane in the finale of Season Two.
  • Season five, episode nine (Red Sails in the Sunset):
    Lorelei Martins (about Red John and Jane): I only wonder why the two of you didn't become lifelong friends the moment you shook hands.
• Merlin:
  • The young druid boy's words "My name is Mordred" ends the scene with a sinister reminder that this little boy will one day kill Arthur.
  • "You can't control my feelings anymore than I can. I won't deny them any longer - I love her. I love Guinevere." There was no going back after that outburst.
  • "There can be no place for magic in Camelot." It's not so much the line as who's saying it.
• Mister Rogers' Neighborhood:
  • Not the main show itself, but in a night-time 6-minute sketch made in response to the death of Bobby Kennedy. The sketch starts off with Daniel Striped Tiger asking Lady Aberline if people are like balloons; if they lose all their air when they breathe out, do they go limp, like the balloon he had her blow up, then deflate. She explains that no, people aren't like balloons — when they breathe out, they also breathe in new air, which she demonstrates for Daniel by blowing up the balloon, then inhaling through her nose. After doing this three times, Daniel works up the courage to ask the question that we thought we'd never hear him say: "What does 'assassination' mean?" Wow.
• Monster Garage had six episodes where the build crew went through torture to complete the vehicle. The "Grim Ripper" looked to be about the same with the crew getting a vital piece of equipment running just before time ran out...then the engine caught fire. Even though the clock runs out, the builders talk about how they could get the vehicle working. Then they include Jesse in the discussion.
  Builder: What do you think, Jesse?
  Jesse: You want me to B.S. you or you want the truth?
  Builder: Truth.
  Jesse: We didn't do it. This is the one that fails.
• Motive would frequently have these — one could argue that the 'Victim/Killer' lines at the very beginning of each episode qualify as Wham Lines. However, there are still some significant ones.
  • "Angels with Dirty Faces" (2x08)
    Angie: Olivia Dent's your mother.
  • "The Glass House" (3x04)
    "How did Sophie get that scar on her lip? Where? When? A father would know."
  • "A Problem Like Maria" (3x13)
    "That isn't Maria Snow."
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024):
  • "As if you could just retire. Like the Company would be so openminded." The other John's cackling response informs John and Jane they are not allowed to retire from the Company.
  • The question from "Hihi", "Do you want to replace your John?", causes the Smiths' relationship to tailspin.
  • The final conflict is kicked off by the line "Terminate your Smith!"
• Mr. Robot:
  • "wh1ter0se" (1x08):
    Darlene: Did you forget me again?
  • "m1rr0r1ng" (1x09):
    Darlene: Who are you talking to?
  • "h4ndshake" (2x07) has two:
    "When you see Whiterose, make sure you say I did good," and "Where do you think you are right now?"
  • From the season 2 finale, "pyth0n-p2":
    Angela: Tyrell, you did what you needed to do.
  • Also from "pyth0n-p2":
    Tyrell: I love him.
  • From the season 3 finale, "shutdown-r":
    Price: (to Angela) I met your mother, Emily, thirty-two years ago.
  • Also from "shutdown-r":
    Darlene: You took your baseball bat, and you smashed the window, and then you kept telling Dad you were gonna jump.
  • "402 Payment Required" (4x02):
    Elliot: "If it wasn't you, and it wasn't me... who was it?"
  • "407 Proxy Authentication Required," essentially recontextualizing the entire show:
    Krista: Elliot. Did your father sexually molest you?
    Elliot: (devastated and crying) Yes.
• Mortal Kombat: Conquest:
  Shao Khan: You're already in Outworld!
• A case where the line works even if used more than once: So many times on Murder, She Wrote, Jessica will be alone with another character only to slowly realize they're the killer. The two will talk about how it was done as the killer gloats on how foolish it was for Jessica to trust them and come alone...and then Jessica just nods before calling out "did you get all that, Sheriff/Detective/Inspector?"
• Mystery Science Theater 3000:
  • In "Mitchell", Joel manages to escape from the Satellite Of Love, but Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank still want to continue the experiment. They immediately realize they'll need to send someone to the Satellite to replace Joel. Then Mike comes to them.
    "Could you guys sign my time card?"
  • Possibly a better line: "Say Mike, what size jumpsuit do you wear?"
• Nick from Nash Bridges suffers from Alzheimer's, but seems to manage well enough most of the time. Then, his granddaughter Cassidy kisses him goodnight and goes off to bed.
  Nick(to Nash): Nice girl. Tell me, where do we know her from?
• Nashville:
  Olivia Wentworth: (to Juliette) I know you're sleeping with my husband. But what I don't understand is why you're not sleeping with me. (She then kisses her.)
• NCIS:
  • "Tell me everything you know about this...NCIS." Saleem to a captive Ziva at the end of season 6.
  • "It's nice to meet you, Antony DiNardo." A freaking international arms dealer to Tony, proving that his relationship with Jeanne was an undercover assignment.
  • A quieter one from Abby: "But they would have adopted a child. And they did. Me... I'm adopted, Gibbs."
  • "Tali is Ziva's daughter. And your daughter, Tony." An absolutely insane Wham Line in an already insane Wham Episode, since this comes just after Tony has been told Ziva has been killed in an explosion.
• Night Gallery:
  "Here, Mr. Meredith. Here's the other way out" (tosses him the last bullet)
• NUMB3RS:
  • In "The Janus List", someone is reading off the eponymous master list of double agents:
    "Colby Granger, FBI, also working for the Chinese."
  • In the following episode, "Trust Metric", the Big Bad gets one after Colby makes a reference to no longer being an FBI agent: "Mike Kirkland ^*Colby's FBI handler says differently."^note He wasn't actually trying to imply that Kirkland gave Colby up (which he didn't); what he was really telling Colby was that he knew about the operation.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi:
  • From Part 2, primarily In-Universe, as while the viewer knows about this from Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan sure didn't.
  Third Sister: Anakin Skywalker is alive.
  • A piece of graffiti in Part 3:
  Writing: Quinlan was here!
  • In Part 5, Vader revealing he knew who Reva was the whole time:
  Vader: Did you really believe I did not see it, youngling?
• The Office:
  Brian (aka boom-mic guy): Hey Pam... you ok?
  • The infamous season two finale "Casino Night." Jenna Fischer's reaction was so convincing that there was a rumor that she hadn't been given that page of the script and was unaware of what John Krasinski was about to say, just like her character:
    Jim: [to Pam] Hey, can I talk to you about something? (...) I was just... I'm in love with you.
  • Season 3 finale - The Job: After years of being out of synch romantically with Pam, Jim is interviewing for the executive position at Dunder Mifflin corporate in NYC and dating Karen
    Pam: I haven't heard anything, but I bet Jim got the job. I mean, why wouldn't he? He's totally qualified and smart; everyone loves him. And... if he never comes back again, that's okay. We're friends and I'm sure we'll stay friends. We just... we never got the timing right, you know? I shot him down, and then he did the same to me. But you know what? It's okay, I'm totally fine. Everything's going to be totally—
    Jim [suddenly entering]: Pam! [looks at camera] Sorry. Um, are you free for dinner tonight?
    Pam: Yes.
    Jim: All right, then it's a date!
    Pam: [to the cameraman, completely flustered] I'm sorry, what was the question?
• The Old Man:
  • When Julian Carson asks Morgan Bote if he knew Angela Adams, a CIA agent and Carson's target Dan Chase's daughter, Bote responds with this bombshell.
  Bote: Didn't know? I recruited her.
  • During "VII", Dan reveals both the reason Faraz Hamzad has expended so many resources to teach him down and kidnap his daughter Abbey and why he was unable to kill him years ago.
  Dan: It would have been so easy to kill him... But I couldn't do it. Not in front of his daughter.
• Once Upon a Time has these in spades:
  • The very last line of the second episode, "The Thing You Love Most":
    Gold: *to Regina* I'm not going to answer you, dear. so I suggest you excuse me. Please.
  • Following up on the above in "Skin Deep":
    Regina: Tell me your name.
    Gold: ... Rumplestiltskin.
  • From "A Land Without Magic", the reveal of Rumplestiltskin's endgame for the season:
    Gold: Magic is coming.
  • Doubling as a Wham Shot from "We Are Both", the reveal of Emma and Snow's cellmate:
    Emma: Who are you?
    Cora: A friend. My name's Cora.
  • The reveal of Greg and Tamara's boss- and Season 3's villain- in the final scene of "And Straight On 'Til Morning":
    Felix: Peter Pan never fails.
  • From "The Heart of the Truest Believer", just as Henry thinks he's escaped the Lost Boys, his new ally drops this bombshell:
    "I am Peter Pan."
  • Emma's breakup with her new boyfriend in "New York City Serenade" takes an unexpected turn:
    Emma: I wish you could see this the way I see it.
    Walsh: And I wish you hadn't drank that potion.
  • As "There's No Place Like Home" draws to an ending, a wrench is thrown into Regina's newfound relationship with Robin:
    Robin: Marian?
  • From "Heroes and Villains", Gold's attempt to kill Hook doesn't go as planned:
    Gold: I don't understand. Why can't I...?
    Belle: *wielding the Dark One's Dagger* Because I commanded you not to.
  • From "Poor Unfortunate Souls", August reveals that the answers the group has been seeking have been Hidden in Plain Sight:
    When Gold asked me, I didn't know where the door was because I didn't know where Henry was keeping this page. Regina, this isn't just an illustration. This is the door. The Author is trapped inside the book.
  • The ultimate fate of Maleficent's daughter in "Best Laid Plans":
    Adoption Agent: What will you name her?
    Adoptive Parent: Lilith. We're wanna name her Lily.
  • Robin reveals why he refuses to leave Zelina in "Lily":
    "She's pregnant."
  • From "Dark Swan", Emma reveals to her parents what exactly happened in the missing six weeks of their memory:
    "You went to Camelot to get the Darkness out of me. And you failed."
  • "Changelings" has two in the last few minutes of the episode.
    • The first, in the flashback section, finally explains Rumplestiltskin's longstanding hatred of fairies:
      Black Fairy: It can't be...
      Rumplestiltskin: Oh, but I'm afraid it can, Mother.
    • And the second, in the present-day section, casts the preceding events of the episode in a rather different light:
      Evil Queen: I wanted to see what happened when you poisoned your love.
      Gold: I did no such thing. You did.
  • From "The Final Battle Part 2"- the last episode before the pseudo-reboot of Season 7- we get the reveal of how exactly the little girl from the opening scene ties into the plot:
    *to a previously unknown man in an apartment* Hi, are you Henry Mills? ... My name's Lucy. I'm your daughter.
• One Foot in the Grave:
  • In "The Man In The Long Black Coat", when Pippa is in hospital following a road accident and Margaret says that drunk drivers should be locked away for life, this Wham Line (which actually gets a big laugh):
    Pippa: No, I don't think you understand, Margaret. My breath test was positive.
  • The opening scene of the final episode.
    Margaret: And thirdly, as my husband's now been dead for five months...
  • From One Foot in the Algarve…
    Mrs. Warboise: Well, look at them… Look at them, Alfonso! They are both left shoes!
• Orphan Black:
  • Season 1, episode 3: "We're clones... and they're killing us off." Averted by the fact that the ad campaign for the show repeated the line like crazy.
  • Season 1, episode 9: "I had twins".
  • Season 2, episode 10: "While Dyad carried the females to term, the military faction carried the males."
• The Outer Limits (1995):
  • From "Quality of Mercy": "They're not changing me. They're changing me back."
  • From "Afterlife": "Don't you get it? They were testing us! And we failed."
  • From "Trial by Fire": "Let us be your friends."
• Peaky Blinders ends the finale of season 3 with a major one:
  Tommy: You can go, Arthur, but you won't get far. I spoke to Moss last night, he told me that the Chief Constable of Birmingham has issued a warrant for your arrest. Murder, sedition, conspiracy to cause explosion. John, they're coming for you as well. Murder, conspiracy to cause explosion. Michael, for the murder of Hughes. Polly, the murder of Chief Inspector Campbell.
• Person of Interest:
  • Season 1 finale. Turing introduces herself to Finch. "You can call me Root."
  • Also from the Season 1 finale; "He's in danger now because he was working for you. And now you're going to help me get him back."
  • At the end of Zero Day: "Can...you...hear...me?"
  • Season 3 finale. Root warns Reese and Finch "Get out of the library. It isn't safe there anymore."
• Power Rangers:
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: In "Return of an Old Friend", the Rangers have lost their parents and Power Coins to Goldar. But all is not lost just yet:
    Kimberly: So what do we do now? Goldar has all the power coins.
    Jason: Not all of them. Still have one. [holds up the weakened Dragonzord coin]
    [back at the Youth Center]
    Tommy: Where's everybody?
  • Power Rangers Zeo: In "A Zeo Beginning", the Rangers realize there's five Zeo Sub-Crystals and six of them. That's when Billy, last of the original five, gives newcomer Tanya his spot on the team.
    Billy: What I'm trying to say is that I think its time to pass the power to someone else. Tanya, I'm giving my Zeo crystal to you.
  • Power Rangers Turbo:
    • In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Justin, the Tagalong Kid of the movie, suddenly appears.
      Justin: Guys, I'm the new Blue Ranger! Isn't that cool or what?
    • In "Chase Into Space", the Turbo Rangers have boarded the shuttle for Eltar. They notice one's missing:
      TJ: Justin, we're missing someone!
      Justin: He... he can't go with you, there's reasons.
  • Power Rangers in Space:
    • In "Secret of the Locket":
      Andros: [to Astronema] You are my sister.
    • In "The Rangers' Leap of Faith", Andros has seemingly found Zordon:
      Zordon: Andros, I've always known that you're such a fool! [reveals self as Dark Spectre]
    • In "Countdown to Destruction", Andros has finally found Zordon, who gives him this instruction to thwart the universe-wide invasion:
      Zordon: The forces of evil have already captured most of the universe. Soon they will capture the Earth.
      Andros: Yes, I know...
      Zordon: You can stop it from happening.
      Andros: How?! Tell me!
      Zordon: Shatter my energy tube.
  • Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: In "Journey's End", Terra Venture crash lands on an unknown planet. Until Maya recognizes it as her homeworld:
    Maya: We've landed on Miranoi!
  • Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue: In "From Deep in the Shadows", when the Rangers ask Captain Mitchell why he stopped them from finishing off the Titanium Ranger:
    Carter: Why, sir? Why did you stop us?
    Cpt. Mitchell: Because, he's my son.
  • Power Rangers Operation Overdrive: In "Things Not Said", the Rangers are hit by a computer virus. But everything seems normal. Right?
    Mack: Good thing. [laughs] Good thing. [laughs] Good thing. [laughs] Good thing. [laughs] Good thing. [laughs] Good thing. [laughs] Good thing...
  • Power Rangers RPM: In "Doctor K", in a flashback, Dr. K reveals to her friends, Gem and Gemma, how she plans to escape from Alphabet Soup ... and reveals to the audience the origins of the show's Big Bad and Robot War.
    Gem: But we don't...
    Gemma: ...have access to Alphabet Soup's security computers.
    Dr. K: I don't need access, I just need to blind the servers for a few minutes, with this: [opens laptop] a wireless upload of the Venjix virus. It's a self-aware, self-generating computer virus. Meet Project Venjix.
  • Power Rangers Samurai: In "Fight Fire With Fire", with Jaden down, the other Rangers take on a giant-size Fiera on their own. But then, someone joins the battle in Jaden's Lion Zord, and even Fiera is confused:
    Fiera: Who's in the Lion Zord?!
  • Power Rangers Megaforce:
    • In "End Game", the Rangers have beaten Vrak (for now) and his forces, but are worn out from the battle. How can this get any worse? Gosei has the answer when the Rangers contact him:
      Gosei: Rangers, morph now!
      Troy: [visibly confused] What? Why?
      Gosei: MORPH! MORPH! MORPH! [cue the arrival of the Armada]
    • In "Vrak is Back: Part 1", Vrak all but tells the Rangers they're about to face a Brainwashed and Crazy Robo Knight:
      Vrak: I won't finish you off just yet, Rangers. I want you to suffer with the despair of this defeat. Plus, there's someone else who should have the honor of destroying you. [...] My next move is Prince Takes Knight and soon Checkmate. [he leaves]
      Noah: Wait! That looked like the Robo knight Zord!
  • Power Rangers Dino Charge:
    • In "Roar of the Red Ranger", the Aqua Ranger demorphs:
      Aqua Ranger: It's me. [demorphs] I'm your dad.
    • In "The Rangers Rock", Heckyl gives Shelby a piece of advice relevant to the series endgame:
      Heckyl: A hint to the wise: get off this planet.
  • Power Rangers Beast Morphers: In "Source Code", Evox reveals his origin story, not only revealing his connection to one Ranger, but that he is also a former Big Bad reborn.
    Evox: [Nate] was just a foolish little boy, trying to power old Ranger Morphers with Morph-X and snake DNA. All your efforts failed, until you tried the Cell Shift Morpher. That DNA became part of my data and I was released into your system. A dead end for you, a new beginning for me. You're starting to put it together. A Cell Shift Morpher. That could only mean one thing: I... WAS... VENJIX!!!
• Powerpuff: The pilot ends on quite the cliffhanger, with Jojo revealing that his father is Not Quite Dead.
  Jojo: (addressing his pet monkey) I’ll find another way to win re-election. We took them out once, we can do it again. Right, Dad?
• Preacher (2016):
  • "Sundowner":
    Jesse: Go to Hell, Eugene!
  • "Call and Response":
    Jesse: Where is God?!
    "God": I don't know! Nobody knows! God is missing!
• Princess Returning Pearl:
  • "If my mother's story is true, then my father is none other than the current emperor."
  • Xiao Yan Zi, I am your brother.
• Profit: In the pilot, Jim Profit is visited in his office by a mysterious sultry-looking woman who immediately walks up to him and shoves her tongue down his throat. His following response is exactly this trope:
  Jim Profit: Hi mom.
• Punky Brewster comes home from school crying in the episode "Accidents Happen." Henry asks what happened and Punky explains her class was watching the space shuttle Challenger launch when..."it blew up."
• Quantum Leap:
  • At the end of "Lee Harvey Oswald," Sam is blaming himself for not saving JFK's life but Al tells him he did manage to make things better: "The first time...Jackie died too."
  • The very last words of the finale — Dr. Beckett never returned home.
  • The end of "The Leap Home, Part 2" — "I'm alive, and it's all thanks to you, little brother."

R-Z

• The action/suspense series Rabbit Hole (2023), given the title, naturally has a few...
  • Season One, Episode Two: Weir is interrogating a man in the bathroom who worked with Miles, attempting to find a way to get into his comms, and drops this line, which both explains why Homm is in the basement of his house and manages to muddy the waters of his framing even further.
  Weir: I did everything I was hired to do. Valence paid me to keep my team in the dark, I did it. When he paid me to kill Homm, I did it.
  • Also from episode 2, Weir and Hailey have just arrived home from finding Valence's algorithm key, only to find Homm quaking in fear as a man walks into the room and begins to criticize John for his handling of the situation. Not only is that startling enough, given that we've never seen him before, but John's response manages to completely redefine a significant portion of the episode's flashbacked events.
  John, sighing: Nice to see you too, Dad.
  • Season One, Episode Four: While attempting to figure out what the NFT transaction receipts in Valence's email mean (he didn't like art, and according to John was never interested in newer economy concepts), a shouted response from Homm through the vents cracks the entire thing wide open, and shines a rather sinister light on the crypto receipts we've also seen previously in Hailey's email account.
  Homm: It's how he was getting paid!
  • Season One, Episode Eight: "You see, 'cause the woman that you've got... isn't my ex-wife. She's the person I sent in to get her. The badass. So good luck with that, motherfucker."
• Raines is about a police detective who has a tendency to converse with an imaginary version of the victim in the case he's working on. He also still meets with his former partner whose career ended after he was hit in a shootout. Raines mentions his tendency to converse with imaginary people with his partner who thinks it's cool. Near the end of the first episode, he reveals why he approves:
  And why do you imagine me with a cane? I didn't get shot in the leg, I got capped in the head!
• In Resident Alien, Harry Vanderspeigle is an alien in a Hugh Mann disguise, having killed the human Harry. At the end of "Birds of a Feather," he has just discovered the kids Max and Sahar passed out on his basement floor. He is dismayed to find them still alive, but bags them up and takes them upstairs, only to discover an unknown woman in the cabin. He asks her how she got in, given that the door was locked. She tells him, "I have a key. I am still your wife."
• Revenge (2011):
  • "Infamy":
    David: Six months ago, Victoria gave birth to a baby girl. Her name is Charlotte. You want proof I'm telling the truth? Ask her who the father is.
  • "Reckoning"; Nolan and Emily are watching a recording of Victoria, Conrad, and the white-haired man. Victoria brings up David's dead wife:
    Victoria: If you look a little deeper, you'll find there's much more to the story.
    Emily: What is she saying? That they killed my mother, too?
    Nolan: No. What she's saying is that your mother's alive.
  • "Secrecy":
    Margaux: Thanks for meeting with me, Ms. Davis.
    Lydia: It's Lydia, and believe me, the pleasure is all mine.
  • "Exodus":
    Daniel: I heard everything.
  • A rare example of a Wham Line being basically used twice and having the same effect:
    Emily: (to Jack in "Truth" and to a whole bunch of people on live television in "Clarity") I'm Amanda Clarke/I am Amanda Clarke.
• Revolution: The last line of the first season finale, as the power is restored and Randall's superiors are revealed:
  Mook: It's time to go home, Mr. President.
• Ringer: 4th episode of the 1st season:
  Gemma: What, Siobhan, what, because there is nothing you could possibly say to make this okay!
  Bridget: I am not who you think I am! I'm not Siobhan... I-I'm Bridget.
• Robot Wars Extreme:
  • Little Joe Watts of Bigger Brother revealed that his team's Vengeance match against Comengetorix was all based on lies:
    Craig Charles: (After Bigger Brother wins) "They really upset you, didn't they, Joe?"
    Joe Watts: "No"
    (everyone, including the audience, bursts out laughing)
  • It was later revealed that there was no grudge between them and that they just wanted to fight Sir Killalot.
• Rome: Caesar, suspecting that Brutus is allied with his political enemies, tries to virtually exile him, with the thin excuse that Brutus will be taking over as governor of a backwater province. Brutus sees right through it and burns all the bridges between them, making Caesar's fate inevitable.
  Caesar: Be reasonable! You're on every wall with a knife at my throat! It would be foolish to ignore it.
  Brutus: [seething] Only tyrants need worry about tyrant slayers!
• In the Season Five opener of Roseanne, "Terms of Estrangement," the Conner family's life is upended when Dan and Roseanne are forced to close their motorcycle shop. Becky is particularly upset because her boyfriend Mark, who worked in the shop, is faced with the choice of taking a much better job in Minneapolis or staying with her in Lanford. Then, at the end of the episode, the phone rings, and it's Becky calling from a pay phone...
  Dan: What you do mean you got married?
  • In "Crime and Punishment," Roseanne discovers that Jackie is hurt and asks if her boyfriend Fisher has been told:
    Roseanne::You come over here, your back's all bruised up, you won't tell me nothin' about it—how do I know you didn't get raped or mugged or something? Does Fisher know about this?
    Jackie: Why...why can't you just drop it?
    Roseanne: ...that son of a bitch.
• Russian Doll:
  Nadia: Didn't you get the news? We're about to die.
  Alan: It doesn't matter. I die all the time.
• Salvation: Season 2 finale. Darius has finally figured out why the railgun has missed the world-killer asteroid heading for Earth. He's desperately trying to prevent Harris from launching all of the world's ICBMs as a last-ditch effort to destroy it.
  Harris Edwards: Why would I do that?
  Darius Tanz: Because... it's not an asteroid^note Asteroids don't dodge out of the way then resume their previous course..
• Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: Act 20. Genta has just caught someone taking the Ika Origami. When he asks who he thinks he is, Daiki Kaito holds up the DiEnd card and says "...well, you can say I'm just a passing through Kamen Rider." And thus the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai meet for the first time.
  • "Ikkan Kenjou!" With that, we learn that there is a sixth Shinkenger in the world.
  • "This glorious person is the 18th head of the Shiba Clan: Shiba Kaoru!"
• The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Lost Boy. Clyde brings the photo of Luke and his family to Mr Smith so he can analyse it to see if it's a fake. Before Clyde can even finish his sentence, he gets his answer:
  Mr Smith: You're right, Clyde. It is fake. I faked it.
  • Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith has one.
    Ruby White: We're all going to miss you, Sarah Jane. Me and all your little chums. Wonderful, brilliant Rani and amazing, plucky Clyde. Oh, and your son. Lukey wukey pukey. But you don't want these. Your mind's made up. No looking back, no goodbyes. You're a hard woman, Sarah Jane. What am I going to tell those poor, poor kids?
• Scorpion: Before the events of the series, Cabe and Walter's falling out occurred because a program Walter developed to air-drop care packages was repurposed to drop bombs, which ended up killing several thousand Israeli civilians. Then came the episode "Cliffhanger", where Cabe is forced to tell Walter the Awful Truth:
  Cabe: Three days before the bombs were dropped, Merrick^note Cabe's boss told me of the true agenda.
• Scrubs:
  • The episode "My Screw Up" has J.D. take care of one of Dr. Cox's patients while Cox goes out to run errands. When he comes back, J.D. informs him that the patient died while he was away. Cox spends the rest of the episode working out his feelings with his brother-in-law Ben, then goes to his son's birthday party:
    Dr. Cox: Aren't you going to take some pictures?
    JD: Pictures of what?
    Dr. Cox: You know. Crying babies covered in chocolate. People singing happy birthday to my son who've never even met him before. You know, the whole routine.
    JD: ...Where do you think we are?
    It turns out they're actually at Ben's funeral.
  • In "My Lunch", an annoying patient seemingly commits suicide after J.D. blows off lunch with her. Fortunately, she's an organ donor and three of Cox's patients receive her organs. Then after the transplants, he finally gets to see the donor's autopsy report.
    Dr. Cox: She died of rabies?
• Seinfeld: From "The Invitations":
  Doctor: "I'm sorry, she's gone."
• Sesame Street: When Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper, died, the creators were debating what to do with Mr. Hooper, because they knew the kids would notice he was gone. Their decision was made known with the line "Big Bird... don't you remember we told you? Mr. Hooper died." Nobody expected Mr. Hooper to die as well, and tackling the issue of death head-on while completely averting Never Say "Die" is still considered a milestone in children's programming.
• Sharp Objects: The very last line of the very last episode completely changes everything about the series up to that point. Camille, back in St. Louis and having been granted guardianship of her half-sister Amma, discovers that Amma's dollhouse has a floor made of teeth.
  Amma: Don't tell Mama.
• Sherlock:
  • "A Study in Pink" has a brilliantly comical, subverted take on this trope, when Sherlock and John encounter the mysterious and ominous man who has introduced himself as Sherlock's arch-enemy.
    Mycroft: This petty feud between us is simply childish; people will suffer... And you know how it always upset Mummy.
  • And the line that introduces us to our villain in "The Great Game".
    Moriarty: I gave you my number. I thought you might call.
  • "A Scandal in Belgravia" has another fantastic one.
    Irene: Oh, dear God. Look at the poor man! You didn't actually think I was interested in you? Why? Because you're the great Sherlock Holmes, the clever detective in the funny hat?
    Sherlock: No. Because I took your pulse.
  • "The Reichenbach Fall" starts with one:
    John: My best friend, Sherlock Holmes...is dead.
    • And another good one near the end of the same episode:
      Moriarty: Well, good luck with that! [shoots himself]
  • "His Last Vow":
    Moriarty: Did you miss me?
    • Slightly earlier in the same episode, Magnussen is about to get away with everything, but then...
      Sherlock: Oh, do your research! I'm not a hero; I'm a higher-functioning sociopath! Merry Christmas! (shoots Magnussen in the head)
  • "The Abominable Bride" has Mycroft referring to "the virus in the data", a glaring anachronism that is the first sign that the episode isn't just a Victorian AU version of the show.
  • From "The Lying Detective":
    Eurus: I'm Eurus. It's Greek; it means "the east wind". My parents loved silly names. Like Eurus, or Mycroft...or Sherlock...
  • From "The Final Problem":
    Eurus: What was Father allergic to? What's the one thing he'd never let you have, no matter how much you begged? A dog. ... We never had a dog, Sherlock. ^note  For context, the supposed drowning of Sherlock's pet dog by Eurus had been a plot point. This line revealed that the "dog" was actually a childhood friend of Sherlock.
• Sisters:
  • The four sisters have been approached by a doctor who tells them that a patient of hers is in need of a bone marrow donation. When they ask why they would be a match for this woman:
    Dr. Charlotte Bennett: "Because my patient is your sister."
  • She refuses to identify the woman, citing patient confidentiality, but when they continuing pressing her:
    Dr. Charlotte Bennett: "It's me. I'm the patient."
• Sister, Sister: From the episode when the twins meet a photographer named Matt who knew their biological mother and shows them a photograph of her:
  Tia: She's so beautiful.
  Matt: I thought you knew her.
  Tamera: We never met her, but she was our biological mother.
  Matt: (shocked) This is unbelievable. If Rachelle Gavin is your mother, then I'm your father.
• Sleepy Hollow. There are two in the finale, both from Henry Parrish aka Jeremy Crane aka the Horseman of War.
  "He's here. I assure you." (In reply to Katrina's assertion that War isn't in his grave.)
  "Half-mortal. After all, I am what you made me. Mother... and Father.
• Smallville:
  • Episode 3x16: "I've been, um, diagnosed with a rather unique...liver disease and I'm running out of options."
  • Episode 4x16 "Lucy": "How does he know you don't like tomatoes?"
  • Season 4, episode 6, Freak: "Regarding our most recent subject...keep a close eye on her."^contextChloe is abducted to Lex's secret lab and is then experiment on and painfully humiliated. Chloe figures out she is the next in line to be killed and orders Clark to burn a hole in her shoulder to remove the tracking device, and is about to stab herself before Clark is forced to comply. At the end of the episode, Lex watches a video of Chloe stripped naked and strapped to the experiment table. As she struggles, he delivers the line with a hint of Psychotic Smirk, despite giving no reason to suspect that he knows his men had held Chloe captive before. He straddles the line between Kick the Dog and Moral Event Horizon by such cruel treatment of someone he used to count as a friend and is extremely close to Lana.
  • "Your secret is safe with me...Kal-El."
  • "I was raised in your shadow. Now you're gonna die in mine. No one will even remember your name."
  • Last line of Season 8: "Zod!"
  • After Lois is kissed by the enigmatic and mysterious superhero known as "The Blur" in 9x21: "Clark!"
  • Episode 10x8: "Abandoned". Not so much a Wham Line as a Wham Birth Certificate. "Lutessa Lena Luthor"
• Sports Night:
  • "You're wearing my shirt, Gordon."
  • "Isaac's at Columbia Presbyterian. He's had a stroke."
• Stargate Atlantis:
  • "Progeny":
    Rodney McKay: They're machines. Replicators.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • "The Devil You Know Part 2":
    "From this day forth I will reclaim my real name." (removes helmet) "Apophis."
  • "Threads":
    Jim: Who, me? I have nothing against Oma. I think she's great! Hell, she's the one who helped me ascend.
  • "Unending":
    Thor: Very soon, we will all be dead.
  • "The Fifth Race"
    Simmons: Chevron seven... is encoded?
  • And seconds later:
    Simmons: Chevron eight is locked.
  • "Lost City, Part 2"
    O'Neill: Terra Atlantis.
• Stargate Universe:
  • "Common Descent":
    Jason: You're the ancestors.
  • "Epilogue":
    Alternate!TJ: It's ALS. Lou Gehrig's Disease.
  • "Light":
    Young: Unless you knew.
  • "Justice":
    Young: I know it was you.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • "The Search Part II":
    Kira: You belong to the Dominion, don't you?
    Female Changeling: Belong to it? Major, the Changelings are the Dominion.
  • "The Die Is Cast":
    Odo: Why are you helping us?
    Lovok: Because no Changeling has ever harmed another.
    • Earlier, after the Cardassians and Romulans attack the Founders homeworld:
      Romulan Officer: The first barrage is complete.
      Enabran Tain: Effect?
      Romulan Officer: 30% of planetary crust destroyed in open volley. No change in lifeform readings...
      Tain: What? That's impossible. Some of them have to be killed.
      Romulan Officer: Our sensor readings have been confirmed by 3 other warbirds. There's no change in the number of life signs on the surface.
      Garak: They're using an automated transponder to send back false sensor readings! THE PLANET'S DESERTED!
  • "In the Pale Moonlight" has "The Dominion have invaded Betazed.".
    Vreenak: "It's a FAAAAAAAAAKE!"
• Star Trek: The Next Generation:
  • In "Remember Me", the computer's definition of the universe: The universe is a spheroid region, 705 meters in diameter.
  • "The Best of Both Worlds":
    • "I am Locutus of Borg."
    • As well as "Mr. Worf, FIRE!" from the cliffhanger of that episode.
  • From "I Borg":
    Picard: You will assist us to assimilate this vessel. You are Borg. You will assist us.
    Third of Five/Hugh: I will not.
    Picard: What did you say?
    Hugh: I will not assist you.
    Picard: "I"?
    Hugh: Geordi must not be assimilated.
    Picard: But you are Borg.
    Hugh: No. I am Hugh.
  • From "Sins of the Father":
    Kurn: That is the response of a Klingon! The response I would expect from my older brother.
  • From "Parallels", after Troi kisses Worf:
    Worf: I do not believe this is appropriate behavior!
    Troi: Not even for your wife?
  • In "Future Imperfect", after Riker has been made to believe that he is the Captain of the Enterprise in the future but ultimately sees through the deception, "Ambassador" Tomalak says the following:
    Tomalak: As you wish, Commander Riker... the charade is over.
• Star Trek: The Original Series:
  • From "The City on the Edge of Forever":
    Spock: Jim... Edith Keeler must die.
• Star Trek: Discovery had more than a few, owing to its serial format:
  • The crew discovers the identity of the time-traveling Red Angel:
    Burnham: Mom?!
  • From "Perpetual Ininity", when the crew finally confronts The Red Angel about the Red Burst signals that have been leading them from one crisis to the next:
    Pike: Tell us what the signals mean.
    Gabrielle Burnham: I don't know about any signals.
  • From "Terra Firma Part 2", Burnham demands to know who the mysterious old man named Carl really is after Georgiou returns to the Prime timeline unchanged.
    Carl: (voice echoing) I am the Guardian of Forever.
• In State of Play: "She'd fallen in love with Collins. She'd gotten herself pregnant to him."
  • Also, "Sonia meeting Paul Canning on a daily basis down at the Trocadero, telling him everything!"
• Succession:
  • In “Chiantishire” (3x08), everything Shiv says to Tom during their wicked form of foreplay was tinged with disguised honesty, and Shiv was brutal with it. But one shocking line stood out as particularly cruel and hurtful.
    Shiv: ...Even though I don’t love you...
  • In “All the Bells Say” (3x09), Kendall breaks down in front of Shiv and Roman as the guilt and hopelessness he’s been feeling overwhelms him, and he suddenly tells his siblings the truth about the tragic accident that took place at Shiv’s wedding.
    Kendall: I killed a kid.
  • "Connor's Wedding" (4x03) appears at first to be one of the show's most lighthearted episodes. Then Roman receives a call from Tom:
    Tom: Your dad is sick. He's very, very sick.
• Supernatural:
  • "You're going to have to... sweeten the pot." YED to John, before John makes the deal to save Dean's life.
  • Castiel's introduction in 4x01, when up to this point the Winchesters thought God and angels were just myths.
    "I'm an angel of the Lord."
  • In 4x02, Castiel reveals why the warriors of Heaven have returned to fight the demons themselves.
    [If the 66 seals are broken] ...Lucifer walks free.
  • The Trickster reveals his true identity in Changing Channels.
    "Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel."
  • "For thirty years." And now we know why Dean wouldn't talk about hell.
  • "You!" Mary Winchester to the Yellow-Eyed Demon, revealing she knew him.
  • And, of course, in Season 4 finale, the line that took Poor Communication Kills up a notch: "You don't understand! Lilith is the final seal!"
  • From the Season 6 finale, "I'm not an angel anymore. I'm your new God. A better one. So you will bow down and profess your love unto me, your Lord... or I shall destroy you." -Castiel to Sam, Dean, and Bobby after he absorbs all the souls in purgatory.
    • And in the following season premiere, "Cas... is gone. He's dead." -the Leviathans, after taking over Castiel's body.
  • A big one from Crowley: "I'm killing everyone you ever saved.
  • Season 8 finale: "She told you I lied, didn't she? You should have listened to the bitch." - Metatron after Castiel learns he's been played the whole time.
  • Crowley's reaction to meeting Rowena: "Mother?"
  • "The Devil in the Details" drops a major one:
    Crowley: Castiel?
    Castiel (revealing he's really Lucifer): Guess again.
  • A minor one in "Scoobynatural" which turns what was originally a silly crossover with Scooby-Doo into something more sinister.
    Dean: Wait, wait, wait... no... the dummy bodies don't happen until later...
    Sam: Dean... this isn't a dummy. This is blood!
    Daphne: Gasp!
    Sam: He's-he's dead! Like-like really actually dead!
  • Moriah, Season 14 finale, revealing God's true motives.
    God (after Dean spares Jack): No, NO! This isn't how the story was supposed to end!
• Superman & Lois
  • From the season one episode, "Man of Steel", we learn the true identity of the mysterious "Captain Luthor"
    Rosetti: Thing is, the prints you had us pull are from a guy who died six years ago. And his name's not Luthor, it's John Henry Irons.
• Taxi: "Could I say just one word? SELTZER!" (From the episode "Jim's Mario's")
• Teen Wolf:
  • The season 2 episode "Frenemy":
    Allison: Are you sure? Ms. Morell said that word means friend; "the kanima seeks a friend."
    Lydia: She was wrong. It means master.
  • Then in episode 3x11 "Alpha Pact"
    Stiles: (to Scott) By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something. Your dad's in town.
  • Episode 3x18 "Riddled"
    Scott: Stiles... why are you whispering?
    Stiles: Because I think there's someone in here with me.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:
  • "Know a lot of people, kid. Don't know you. Anyone ever heard of John Connor?"
  • Also from the finale: "You're building Skynet". "No. I was building something to fight it."
  • "Will you join us?"
• Terriers: the last line of "Change Partners" forces us to re-evaluate everything we know about Hank so far.
  Hank: I needed the loan, Miriam.
• The Thriller episode "A Coffin For the Bride" has Mark, who specializes in marrying rich women and murdering them for the insurance, falling for Stella (Helen Mirren) but still romancing frumpy rich Angela. When Angela vanishes, Mark is arrested for her murder. Stella drops by the prison to reveal she's the sister of one of Mark's past victims and this is all been her plan of revenge. Mark snaps Stella is no better than him for murdering an innocent woman for this plan.
  Stella: You still don't understand, do you? I never murdered Angela Ludlow (voice shifts to Angela's cackling accent) I created her!
• Timeless: Lucy saying goodbye to her mother with plans to take the time machine and bring her sister back, which would also put her mother back into a coma.
  Carol Preston: Oh, sweetheart. Lucy, you won't lose me. I promise. Rittenhouse would never allow it.
• Top Gear: The 2010 Christmas special has one in the first 5 minutes:
  Clarkson: [Reading the challenge] Oh, god. "You have landed in Iraq".
• Torchwood: Children of Earth:
  • When the 456 reveal their interest in human children: "They release a chemical, it feels... good."
  • Also Day Four, because all of the buildup makes you think that this is going to be a Big Damn Heroes moment for the Torchwood team to save the day. It's not.
    The 456: The human infant mortality rate is 29,158 deaths per day. Every three seconds, a child dies. The human response is to accept, and adapt.
    Jack: We're adapting right now, and we're making this a war.
    The 456: Then the fight begins.
    Jack: We're waiting for your reply.
    The 456: Action has been taken.
    Alarms begin to sound.
    The 456: You wanted a demonstration of war. A virus has been released. It will kill everyone in the building.
  • Heck, they manage to condense the WHAM into a word at the end of Day One.
    Children of Earth: We Are Coming. We Are Coming. We Are Coming...Back.
• True Blood:
  • Season 1:
    The Magister: However, I'm feeling a bit creative. [mooks bring out Jessica] Meet your maker.
    Sam: I'm not the killer, I swear.. I'm a shapeshifter.
    Sookie: [to Rene] How come your thoughts don't have an accent?
  • Season 2:
    Daphne: [about Maryann] She's a god.
    Eric: Godric is my Maker.
    [Tara: We ain't got nothing to do with it.] Maryann: Nothing to do with it? You summoned me.
    Maryann: [to Sookie] If you were human.. [Beat] I would have taken you over by now.
  • Season 3:
    Sookie: I'm a fairy? How fucking lame.
    Claudine: Do not fear the water. It wasn't the water that killed them.
    Eric: Russell took my family. Now I take his.
    Eric: [to Bill] Did you tell her you were originally sent by the Queen of Louisiana to procure her because of what she might be?
    Eric: What about you letting two psychos beat her within an inch of her life so you could feed her your blood - the night you met, did she forgive you for that?
  • Season 4:
    Jason: Sookie...you've been gone for twelve months and two weeks.
  • Season 5:
    Salome: I dug Russell up.
    Hadley: [to Jason, about vampires and Sookie] They'll kill her just like they killed your parents!
    Lilith: I choose you.
    Bill: I told you the first night we met. Vampires often turn on those they love the most.
• True Detective:
  • Season 1 has an unusual one, in that it's only a wham line for some of the audience, a clue that it takes place inside a larger story:
    I closed my eyes and saw the King in Yellow moving through the forest.
  • From "Part 6": "Who knows who killed Annie Kowtok?"
• The Tudors. Henry is confronted by the ghost of his wife Jane about their son Edward.
  Henry: "He will be the greatest king England ever had!"
  Jane: "He will die, Henry, because of you."
• The Twilight Zone (1959):
  • "Mr. Chambers, don't get on that ship. The rest of the book...'To Serve Man'...It's a cookbook!"
  • As well as: "Whatever gave you the idea you were in Heaven, Mr. Valentine? This is the other place!"
  • "You see, Mr. Ross. My name isn't Haley. And I do agree with you that this is an extraordinary place to colonize. We folks on Venus got the same idea."
• Twin Peaks: In Season 3:
  Cooper: "What year is this?"
• Ugly Betty: "I see that ski accident has been pretty kind to you, Alexander Meade." "My name is Alexis."
• Under the Dome:
  • Upon standing where the small dome was and getting her memories back:
  Melanie: I am Melanie Cross... and I think this is where I died.
• V (2009):
  • We have: "John May is dead."
  • Also, "I believe you've just experienced your first human emotion." To cap off an already intense Wham Episode.
• The Vampire Diaries:
  • In the Season 3 finale after Elena has just apparently died in a car crash, Meredith lays this bombshell:
    Meredith: Damon, there's something you need to know. Elena's injuries were worse than I let on... she had a cerebral hemorrhage, bleeding from the brain.
    Damon: What are you saying?.
    Meredith: I helped her.
  • Elijah saying he wants to keep Elena safe.
  • Toward the end of season two; Elijah delivers this in a very calm, matter-of-fact way, sounding rather like a professor clarifying a minor point of history. In contrast, Elena (understandably) looks completely poleaxed.:
    Elijah: The curse of the sun and moon is fake.
  • Season Three:
    Rebekah: Because my mother was also a witch. The witch of the original family. The original witch.
  • From "Graduation":
    Silas: (to Stefan) Hello my shadow self
• Veep:
  • Omaha:
    Selena: "I'm going to go to Omaha because... Omaha is a 20-minute drive right across the border... to Council Bluffs, Iowa^note In American politics, Iowa is the traditional first campaign stop for presidential candidates.
• Victorious: In the episode "Wok Star":
  Cat:: Jade's dad is only coming to the play on the first night, right?
  Tori: Yeah.
  Cat: So then why don't we just do it the way Jade wrote it for that one night?
  Tori: 'Cause, Mrs. Li is gonna be there and she wants it done her way.
  Cat: But what if she's not there?
  Andre: I think Cat just said something pretty smart.
• The Walking Dead (2010):
  • From "Better Angels":
    Rick: So is this where you're planning to do it?
  • From "Beside the Dying Fire":
    • Rick reveals that everyone will become a walker when they die.
      Rick: We're all infected!
  • "Made To Suffer" has two in succession:
    The Governor: There's a traitor among us! Merle, a man I trusted!
    The Governor: We also captured one of those terrorists! Merle's own brother!
  • "Isolation":
    • Carol reveals she killed Karen and David in an attempt to contain a flu pandemic at the prison
      Rick: Did you kill Karen and David?
      Carol: Yes.
  • "Too Far Gone":
    • Rick pleads for The Governor to back down and not attack the prison. The Governor seems to be moved by Rick's words. Unfortunately, the Governor decides to kill Hershel.
      The Governor: Liar!
  • "Conquer":
    • After Deanna's husband Reg was killed by Pete, she gives in and allows Rick to execute Pete
      Deanna: Rick. Do it.
• Warehouse 13:
  • The 40th Floor:
    Pete: Mom!
  • "What Hurts The Most" ends on a fairly high note (aside from the reveal of a mole now in their midsts)... then cuts to Myka at their medical exam:
    Doctor: I think we might be looking at ovarian cancer.
• In Wednesday after Tyler has been saved from Wednesday's rash attempt to kidnap and torture him into revealing he's the Hyde he asks to speak with her. The scene is set up like he's going to call her out for yet again wrongly leaping to the worst conclusion about someone.
  Tyler: Tell me, how does it feel?
  Wednesday: How does what feel?
  Tyler: To lose.
• The West Wing:
  • The MS reveal.
    Abbey: He has multiple sclerosis, Leo.
  • Practically every line in the Rosslyn Arc.
  • Following that, practically every line in Noël.
    • Stanley: How did you cut your hand? / You're not talking to the paperboy either, Josh.
    • Stanley: Can you honestly tell me that when the pilot committed suicide - can you honestly tell me that you didn't wonder if you were suicidal, too?
    • Josh: I can hear the damn sirens all over the building!
    • Josh: You need to listen to me. You have to listen to me. I can't help you, unless you listen to me! You can't send Christmas cards to everyone, you can't do it! [yelling] Forget the SPR, let's get the IMF loans like we said we were going to, listen to what I have to say about Didion, and please, listen to me!
    • And of course this:
      Josh: If this is because of what I just said in there, I wasn't at my best when-
      Leo: Josh, I'm not sure you were fully conscious while you were saying it.
  • And this:

    Josh: You diagnosed me in eight hours?
    Stanley: Josh, I diagnosed you in five minutes.

  • "I have a dead agent on the scene."
  • And let's not forget:
    Charlie: There was an accident at 18th and Potomac. Mrs. Landingham was driving her car back here and was hit by a drunk driver.
    Leo: Is she all right?
    Charlie: No. She's dead.
• Westworld:
  • From "Trompe L'Oeil":
    Bernard: "Doesn't look like anything to me."
  • From "The Bicameral Mind":
    The Man in Black: "I really oughta thank you, Dolores. You helped me find myself."
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?:
  • Played for Laughs: In the game called (oddly enough) Whose Line, Colin and Ryan are given slips of paper with pre-written lines to incorporate into the scene, and since the writing is usually done before the show starts, the Wham Line aspect of taking the scene in a different direction is unavoidable... but Colin and Ryan don't even miss a beat.
  • An outright Lampshade Hanging occurs in Scenes from a Hat when the suggestion "The worst Soap Opera cliffhanger lines leading into a commercial" is pulled out.
• Wie is de Mol, the Dutch version of what U.S./U.K. viewers might know better as The Mole, traditionally starts its seasons with its contestants scattered across a city and having to all meet at a specific location. Season 18 seemed to start off this way with the ten contestants all being split up into pairs and trying to communicate clues to one another, until Jan asked Olcay and Ruben where they were in Kiev, Ukraine:
  Ruben: Did you say Kiev?
  Jan: Yes.
  Ruben: We are not in Kiev, friend! We are in Almaty, Kazakhstan!
  (A montage plays, showing one by one each contestant pair's shocked reactions to learning that instead of starting in one country like in all past seasons, they're starting in FIVE different countries)
• Will & Grace: After Stanley Walker (Karen's husband) dies, it throws the lives of the characters into turmoil. Will finds himself trying to find a new high-paying client to fill the void. In a season finale a couple of years after Stanley's death, Will finds himself working at a company with a mysterious boss who's never seen and only interacts with him through his right-hand man. After an entire episode of this, Will gets frustrated and demands to meet the boss. The right-hand man obliges and it turns out to be someone unexpected.
  Will: Stanley? You're alive?
• The Wire has a few, but perhaps none is so memorable as the one where Tommy Carcetti learns that all his high-flying plans to rebuild Baltimore, and particularly its police department, are about to go to shit, not least because it came during a budget meeting:
  Carcetti: Finance, of course, doesn't deal with the dirt-under-the-nails tangibles—unless you consider the money itself to be dirty [chuckling softly]—so what's on your agenda today?
  Finance Advisor: School audit.
  Carcetti: [scribbling on a pad with a pencil] Well, how bad could that be?
  Finance Advisor: The system is running a 54-million-dollar deficit.
  Carcetti: [stops scribbling, looks at Finance Advisor] 54 million?
  Finance Advisor: Yes, Mr. Mayor.
  Carcetti: Jesus Christ! Did [former Mayor Clarence] Royce know this?
  Finance Advisor: [shakes his head slightly]
  Carcetti: How the fuck do we deal with that?
  Finance Advisor: Frankly, I'm not sure just yet.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: "As God is my witness...I thought turkeys could fly."
• Woops! The infamous Christmas Episode Say it ain't so, Santa.
  Santa: I killed Mrs. Claus and all the elves!
• Xena: Warrior Princess: From the episode "Chakram":
  Gabrielle - I don't think we can get that fixed from an ordinary blacksmith.
  Xena - Yeah. What is this thing anyway?
• The X-Files:
  • In "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", Scully asks a question to a man who has the ability to foresee how people will die:
    Scully: All right. So how do I die?
    Clyde, smiling: You don't.
  • Still regarding Scully, from "Leonard Betts", said by a mutant who eats cancerous tumors to her:
    Betts: I'm sorry... but you've got something I need.
• Young Sheldon:
  • A line that reflects on its sister program and also reveals that the narrator Sheldon is from 20 Minutes into the Future:
    "In that moment, I had an epiphany. I could draw up a contract for any social relationship. It was a helpful way to remove ambiguity in a world that was often hard to understand... I would go on to draw up such contracts throughout my life... with roommates, with my wife, even with my own children."
  • Sheldon invites his class over to listen to the Nobel Prize winner announcements, only for none of them to show up. He listens to the radio alone... and cut to another young boy listening to the announcements, until his mother tells him from off-camera, "Leonard, dear, you should be in bed."

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