History ContrivedCoincidence / LiveActionTV

** In "The Dark Side of the Door", a writer who based a novel on a real life kidnapping case, based on testimony from the kidnapper, ''just happens'' to sell it to the publisher where the victim is now employed. And when the kidnapper is murdered, the senior officer on the case just happened to be the same one who investigated the kidnapping, meaning she's in his office explaining about the manuscript when the photos can come in, and identifies the kidnapper. The officer is ''also'' one of Jessica's friends, meaning that Jess (who is published by the same company and has Erin as an editor) can persuade him to take Erin seriously. (Although maybe an NYPD homicide cop having past history with Jessica isn't ''that'' much of a coincidence...)

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen "Rise of the Cybermen"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]]: Even though John Lumic lives in an AlternateUniverse and knows nothing of the existence of the show's main universe and its Cybermen, the version he creates looks almost identical to them.

** In "The Dark Side of the Door", a writer who based a novel on a real life kidnapping case, based on testimony from the kidnapper, ''just happens'' to sell it to the publisher where the victim is now employed. And when the kidnapper is murdered, the senior officer on the case just happened to be the same one who investigated the kidnapping, meaning she's in his office explaining about the manuscript when the photos can come in, and identifies the kidnapper. The officer is ''also'' one of Jessica's friends, meaning that Jess (who is published by the same company and has Eris as an editor) can persuade him to take Erin seriously. (Although maybe an NYPD homicide cop having past history with Jessica isn't ''that'' much of a coincidence...)

* The ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "The Murder Channel" hinges on Jessica's apartment building's handyman pirating cable for his girlfriend at the same time as a criminal is using the feeds to bug an apartment where a crime is being planned, and him just happening to connect to that feed. Not only that, but Jessica knows two of the conspirators -- for entirely seperate reasons -- but just happens to miss seeing them on screen, because otherwise she'd figure things out too quickly. The murderer manages to stay off-screen when comitting the murder despite not knowing about the camera. And when Jessica realises she recognises the logo on the building map the criminals had, she even calls it "a crazy coincidence".

*** They can detect humanoid life with their sensors, so probably just picked the spot near the largest concentration.

* ''Series/LetTheRightOneIn'': Mark just happens to have an apartment beside the ex-wife of the man he just killed, who's a police detective investigating murders he's linked with as well.

** [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]]: When Clara has to describe her problem [[HouseRules with]] [[ArbitraryMaximumRange one]] [[HouseRules word]], she says [[spoiler:"Pond", which is only peripherally related to her actual problem, but conveniently happens to be the last name of the companion the Doctor is mourning. She ''probably'' has some awareness of the Ponds from her other echoed selves, but it's not explicit.]]

** The episode "Ending Happy" shows that no less than ''three'' different people tried to kill the same guy on the same night by various means with no idea someone else was after him.

* The ''CSI'' franchise:
** Lampshaded in the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' "Two and a Half Deaths" when the killer, a bitter TV actress, sarcastically suggests how the "hypothetical" murderer could have pulled off her crime, which ends up evolving into an increasingly convoluted, soap opera-ish plot. When Brass interrupts to snark about how much of a ContrivedCoincidence one development in her scenario is, her response is, "that's alright, you're allowed to have one per episode."
** The episode "Ending Happy" show that no less than ''three'' different people tried to kill the same guy on the same night by various means with no idea someone else was after him.
** One episode took place that took place at a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry convention]] featured a man getting shot while wearing his full fursuit. At the end of the episode, it's revealed that the murder was a complete accident: the victim just so happened to be suffering from food poisoning and wandering around the deserts of Nevada at night, just so happened to crouch over to vomit in an open field, and just so happened to be in the sights of a local farmer who was afraid that coyotes were after his animals. The coincidences lined up to make the victim look like an ''actual'' coyote on all fours, so the farmer fired.
** One episode focuses on the murders of a pair of identical twins killed hours apart on the same night. Except they were SeparatedAtBirth, and neither one knew that the other even existed. Turns out that the first one killed, Amanda, died entirely due to this trope: the killer was targeting her sister, Jill, and knew that Jill typically picked up her dry-cleaning in the evening of a certain day of the week. Coincidentally, Amanda used the same dry-cleaner, and originally planned to drop some clothes off earlier that morning. However, Jill had a date that night, and therefore picked up her dress early. And Amanda had to take her son to an emergency ear doctor appointment, and therefore ended up going to the dry cleaner's earlier than planned. As a result, Amanda arrived at the cleaner's around the same time her identical twin was supposed to, and the killer mistook her for Jill and murdered her. He then broke into Jill's apartment to steal some incriminating evidence, and was still there when she returned home from the very date that made her change her plans regarding her dry cleaning, only this time the coincidence got her killed.
*** A few other coincidences pop up regarding the twins: they have the same taste in watches, are listening and singing along to the same song shortly before Amanda dies (appropriately titled "Two Of A Kind"), and have similar handwriting. To top it off, Amanda had signed up for a photography class at the local university... and Jill was going to be the teacher. Had they not been murdered, the twins would have finally met through ContrivedCoincidence.
** On ''Series/CSIMiami'', a bank manager and his lover conspire to swap some money for fake bills, figuring it'll be a long time before it's discovered...only to have a pair of robbers pick that exact armored car to rob which exposes the scheme.
** On ''Series/{{CSINY}}'', a woman's plan to frame a man for her husband's murder could have worked...if it wasn't for the fact that when she shot the guy "in self-defense," a team of cops and CSI techs were in a hotel literally across the street investigating a different murder. Lampshaded by Stella commenting that there's no way the woman could have known they'd all be close enough to hear the gunshot.
*** Taken even further when a cell phone video relevant to the hotel case also catches the woman in the background, which helps Stella solve that murder. So, not only did the woman shoot her fall guy while police were right across the street, she also committed the murder of her husband shortly before being caught on camera in a video that would be analyzed by the police on an unrelated case. And that Stella, who was working the woman's case, would walk by the AV lab while her co-workers are analyzing it and realize that the video not only exists, but could be useful for her case.
** Another ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode features a young woman arriving in New York, and being greeted by another. As the two hang out, they accidentally bump into a man wearing a tourist T-shirt. The man's murder minutes later is what shines light on a human trafficking ring that his daughter has fallen victim to. The coincidence is that the first young woman mentioned above is their next target, while her companion is one of the traffickers. This example is somewhat of a subversion, as the man bumping into the women on the street has no impact on the plot, but it's still one heck of a coincidence.
*** Played straight later on in the episode, which leads to them discovering that the second woman is an accomplice, not a victim: Another kidnapping victim's father, who met the woman at least once before, is helping the police with a composite sketch, and finishes up ''just'' as his newly-rescued daughter walks into the police bullpen. She quickly identifies her supposed fellow victim as one of her kidnappers, instead.

* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Shark}}'', Sebastian's entire BatmanGambit to frame serial killer Wayne Collier for the "murder" of a woman who killed herself nearly goes awry when his team (unaware of Shark's plan) finds the woman had a stalker.
-->'''Stark''': The victim's own private stalker? What were the odds?

%%* ''Series/NoelsChristmasPresents'' '''relies on this trope''' and takes it UpToEleven.

* The ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "Murder TV" hinges on Jessica's apartment building's handyman pirating cable for his girlfriend at the same time as a criminal is using the feeds to bug an apartment where a crime is being planned, and him just happening to connect to that feed. Not only that, but Jessica knows two of the conspirators -- for entirely seperate reasons -- but just happens to miss seeing them on screen, because otherwise she'd figure things out too quickly. The murderer manages to stay off-screen when comitting the murder despite not knowing about the camera. And when Jessica realises she recognises the logo on the building map the criminals had, she even calls it "a crazy coincidence".

* This is discussed in the ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' episode "Winston's Lost Night."
--> '''Murdoch:''' He killed one of the officers [[who desecrated the tomb of his leader.]] He escaped through French North Africa, boarded a merchant ship, landed here in Toronto where he took up a job [[spoiler: as a barman.]]
--> '''Brackenreid:''' And a year later another toffy-nosed Redcoat comes waltzing through his door, bragging about how he's turned his Messiah's skull into an inkpot. What are the odds on that?
--> '''Murdoch:''' I suppose remote enough that he considered it a calling from God that his work was unfinished.

** Lampshaded in an episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' when the killer, a bitter TV actress, sarcastically suggests how the "hypothetical" murderer could have pulled off her crime, which ends up evolving into an increasingly convoluted, soap opera-ish plot. When Brass interrupts to snark about how much of a Contrived Coincidence one development in her scenario is, her response is, "that's alright, you're allowed to have one per episode."

** One ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode focuses on the murders of a pair of identical twins killed hours apart on the same night. Except they were SeparatedAtBirth, and neither one knew that the other even existed. Turns out that the first one killed, Amanda, died entirely due to this trope: the killer was targeting her sister, Jill, and knew that Jill typically picked up her dry-cleaning in the evening of a certain day of the week. Coincidentally, Amanda used the same dry-cleaner, and originally planned to drop some clothes off earlier that morning. However, Jill had a date that night, and therefore picked up her dress early. And Amanda had to take her son to an emergency ear doctor appointment, and therefore ended up going to the dry cleaner's earlier than planned. As a result, Amanda arrived at the cleaner's around the same time her identical twin was supposed to, and the killer mistook her for Jill and murdered her. He then broke into Jill's apartment to steal some incriminating evidence, and was still there when she returned home from the very date that made her change her plans regarding her dry cleaning, only this time the coincidence got her killed.
*** A few other coincidences pop up regarding the twins: they have the same taste in watches, are listening and singing along to the same song shortly before Amanda dies (appropriately titled "Two Of A Kind"), and have similar handwriting. To top it off, Amanda had signed up for a photography class at the local university... and Jill was going to be the teacher. Had they not been murdered, the twins would have finally met through ContrivedCoincidence.

** In "[[Recap/BreakingBadS2E11Mandala Mandala]]", Skyler goes into labor at just about the same time that Walter is told he has one hour to deliver his first shipment to Gus Fring. Walter makes the dropoff, but in doing so, misses the birth of his daughter.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', this specific coincidence shows no significant plot relevance YET, but: What are the chances that the mother forgets her yellow umbrella at a party, and then Ted happens to take that umbrella, only for him in later years to briefly date a girl, who happens to be the mother's roommate, and, coincidentally, the time when Ted goes to that girl's apartment it was raining, and Ted happened to be using the yellow umbrella and conveniently forgetting the umbrella at the apartment, where the mother resides?! SERIOUSLY?!? Out of all of the women he dated and the rainy days, he happens to forget the umbrella at his ex-girlfriend's apartment who happens to be roommates with the original owner of the umbrella.
** Years later, Ted runs into this old girlfriend on a subway, at a time when he needed to find a new band for Robin and Barney's wedding. She happens to know of a great wedding band and the bass player is her former roommate, The Mother.

* In ''Series/YTheLastMan'', a large number of options President Brown's rather ad hoc administration would have concerning the discovery of a healthy cisgender man with a run-of-the-mill sex chromosome set are off the table because a great number would not accept that said president's only son (never mind that Jennifer Brown was a middling prominent Representative when the {{Gendercide}} hit) merely got '''that''' lucky.

* ''Series/ThePractice'': Twice defense attorneys defending accused rapists happen to run into the victim while shopping, while in the second case it was {{lampshaded}}, saying Boston is a small town.

** Sarah Lance returned from Nanda Parbat with a sonic weapon. When Laurel Lance inherited it, she had it modified to look like she was attacking with her scream. Laurel's Earth-2 doppleganger was a meta-human who actually could attack people with her scream. While back on Earth-1, there was a woman with the exact same power as Earth-2 Laurel, who took over Earth-1 Laurel's mantle as the Black Canary, and had the exact same name as Laurel's mother, Dinah Drake.
** Cisco nicknamed Mari "Vixen" not realizing that her grandmother's JSA codename was also Vixen.

*** Taken even further when a cell phone video relevant to the hotel case also catches the woman in the background, which helps Stella solve that murder. So, not only did the woman shoot her fall guy while police were right across the street, she also committed the murder of her husband shortly before being caught on camera in a video that would be analyzed by the police on an unrelated case.

** Played straight later on in the episode, which leads to them discovering that the second woman is an accomplice, not a victim: Another kidnapping victim's father, who met the woman at least once before, is helping the police with a composite sketch, and finishes up ''just'' as his newly-rescued daughter walks into the police bullpen. She quickly identifies her supposed fellow victim as one of her kidnappers, instead.

** One ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode focuses on the murders of a pair of identical twins killed hours apart on the same night. Except they were SeparatedAtBirth, and neither one knew that the other even existed. Turns out that the first one killed, Amanda, died entirely due to this trope: the killer was targeting her sister, Jill, and knew that Jill typically picked up her dry-cleaning in the evening of a certain day of the week. Coincidentally, Amanda used the same dry-cleaner, and originally planned to drop some clothes off earlier that morning. However, Jill had a date that night, and therefore picked up her dress early. And Jill had to take her son to an emergency ear doctor appointment, and therefore ended up going to the dry cleaner's earlier than planned. As a result, Amanda arrived at the cleaner's around the same time her identical twin was supposed to, and the killer mistook her for Jill and murdered her. He then broke into Jill's apartment to steal some incriminating evidence, and was still there when she returned home from the very date that made her change her plans regarding her dry cleaning, only this time the coincidence got her killed.