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** The premiere of ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' has ''Enterprise'' making FirstContact with a pre-warp species that learned about Federation technology and reverse-engineered it into a super-bomb that, if deployed in their civil war, could annihilate them even worse than humanity did to itself in World War III. Captain Pike remedies the situation by beaming down ("Screw General Order One") and making a speech to the effect that they can either destroy themselves or learn to work together and eventually join TheFederation. And it seems to work. With the franchise taking an overall DarkerAndEdgier turn, this installment is LighterAndSofter, with an idealism that harkens back to ''The Original Series''.
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** ''Series/BakuageSentaiBoonboomger'': In the first few minutes of the series, we see the leader, Taiya stopping in front of the church and barging into a wedding where he snatches the bride, Mira away from his groom and what is assumed to be the {{Yakuza}} before driving off in his CoolCar. And that's only before the title appears!
to:
** ''Series/BakuageSentaiBoonboomger'': In the first few minutes of the series, we see the leader, Taiya stopping in front of the church and barging into a wedding where he snatches the bride, Mira away from his her groom and what is assumed to be the {{Yakuza}} before driving off in his CoolCar. And that's only before the title appears!
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** ''Series/BakuageSentaiBoonboomger'': In the first few minutes of the series, we see the leader, Taiya stopping in front of the church and barging into a wedding where he snatches the bride, Mira away from his groom and what is assumed to be the {{Yakuza}} before driving off. And that's only before the title appears!
to:
** ''Series/BakuageSentaiBoonboomger'': In the first few minutes of the series, we see the leader, Taiya stopping in front of the church and barging into a wedding where he snatches the bride, Mira away from his groom and what is assumed to be the {{Yakuza}} before driving off.off in his CoolCar. And that's only before the title appears!
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** ''Series/BakuageSentaiBoonboomger'': In the first few minutes of the series, we see the leader, Taiya stopping in front of the church and barging into a wedding where he snatches the bride, Mira away from his groom and what is assumed to be the {{Yakuza}} before driving off. And that's only before the title appears!
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* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': The first episode has Miguel Alvarez being shanked within the first three minutes, before he even goes into Em City itself. It's followed up by [[NaiveNewcomer Beecher]] being sexually harassed by [[ScaryBlackMan Adebisi]], seemingly saved by Vern Schillinger, only to become [[PrisonRape Schillinger's bitch]] after learning he's a Neo-Nazi. [[MalcolmXerox Kareem Said]] then enters Em City, and promises to shake it to its foundations while being one of the few inmates in ''Oz'' with an actual moral compass. Finally, DecoyProtagonist Dino Ortolani is shown to be on a self-destructive streak throughout the entire episode, before [[CruelAndUnusualDeath being burned alive at the end of it]]. All of this serves to establish ''Oz'' as [[DarkerAndEdgier a complete 180º from what was regularly shown on TV]] in the [=90s=], with graphic depictions of violence and sex, social commentary on the prison system, and the standard that AnyoneCanDie.
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* ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'': The first recorded task of the series encapsulates the nature of the show, demonstrating both how a simple task ("Eat as much watermelon as you can in sixty seconds") can go off the rails (Roisin didn't realize that the watermelon would be ''whole'', and spends about 54 of her 60 seconds searching for utensils), and how the various contestants can have ''very'' different approaches (Josh cuts it in half, Frank cracks it open on the side of the table, Tim smashes it, and Romesh ''spikes the melon onto the floor'' and spends the whole minute on his hands and knees eating so quickly he gets sick).
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* ''Series/CobraKai'' begins with a montage of the climatic All Valley Karate Tournament fight between Daniel and Johnny in ''Film/TheKarateKid''. However, when Daniel delivers the crane kick to Johnny's face, the camera POV and triumphant music changes to show Johnny face down on the mat in pain as the announcer declares Daniel the winner in an echo over more somber music. The scene then dissolves to the modern day as we see a middle aged Johnny waking up in his rundown apartment, showing the focus of the story is now on him.
to:
* ''Series/CobraKai'' ''Series/CobraKai'':
** The series begins with a montage of theclimatic climactic All Valley Karate Tournament fight between Daniel and Johnny in ''Film/TheKarateKid''. However, when Daniel delivers the crane kick to Johnny's face, the camera POV and triumphant music changes to show Johnny face down on the mat in pain as the announcer declares Daniel the winner in an echo over more somber music. The scene then dissolves to the modern day as we see a middle aged Johnny waking up in his rundown apartment, showing the focus of the story is now on him.
** The series begins with a montage of the
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* The first episode of ''Series/TheAfterparty'' plays like a typical murder mystery at first, until we get Indigo's LeFilmArtistique-style testimony. This gives us our first taste of the show's main gimmick: every testimony will be given in the style of [[GenreShift a different movie genre]].
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* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' opens with a scene of a loutish husband, his long-suffering wife, and his wacky friends, all shot in the brightly lit multi-cam style that typifies sitcoms. Then the wife leaves the room and the aesthetic immediately switches to a dimly lit single-cam style more reminiscent of a drama, indicating that she finds the relationship thoroughly miserable.
to:
* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' opens with a scene of a loutish husband, his long-suffering wife, and his wacky friends, all shot in the brightly lit multi-cam style that typifies sitcoms. Then the wife leaves the room and the aesthetic immediately switches to a dimly lit single-cam style more reminiscent of a drama, indicating that she finds the relationship is thoroughly miserable. miserable in the relationship.
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* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' opens with a typical sitcom setup with a loutish husband, his long-suffering wife, and his wacky friends, all shot in the brightly lit multi-cam style that typifies sitcoms. Then the wife leaves the room and the aesthetic immediately switches to a dimly lit single-cam style more reminiscent of a drama, indicating that she finds the relationship thoroughly miserable.
to:
* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' opens with a typical sitcom setup with scene of a loutish husband, his long-suffering wife, and his wacky friends, all shot in the brightly lit multi-cam style that typifies sitcoms. Then the wife leaves the room and the aesthetic immediately switches to a dimly lit single-cam style more reminiscent of a drama, indicating that she finds the relationship thoroughly miserable.
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* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' opens with a typical sitcom setup with a loutish husband, his long-suffering wife, and his wacky friends, all shot in the brightly lit multi-cam style that typifies sitcoms. Then the wife leaves the room and the aesthetic immediately switches to a dimly lit single-cam style more reminiscent of a drama, indicating that she finds the relationship thoroughly miserable.
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* After the ColdOpen, ''Series/OddSquad'' gets things started with Olive and Otto walking into Headquarters, with the latter inviting the former to his tenth birthday party. Once they reach the bullpen, however, Olive remarks how it's a "quiet day at the Squad", and from there, we're treated to an OrbitalShot of a wide array of oddities -- a dinosaur being guided across the back area, flying goldfish dodging the grasp of an agent with a large net, and an agent holding a bucket full of light with a rainbow arching out of it being just a few. This establishes the show as having a lot more than agents solving just simple crime, and also establishes the organization as something ''vastly'' different than what one would expect from a WorkCom.
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* ''Series/TheXFiles'' does this in [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01Pilot the pilot]] with the first cold open and opening scene. The cold open involves a young woman stumbling through the woods, and being overcome after witnessing a shadowy figure in a beam of light apparently coming from a UFO... and her dead body being investigated the next day, with one investigator accusing the local chief of police that "it's happening again" after it's revealed she was part of a particular high school graduating class. The next scene involves Agent Dana Scully meeting her superiors at the FBI and being assigned to the "X Files", being given a background on the eccentricities of it's lead investigator... and quickly determining that underneath the veiled professionalism, they're assigning her there to find a reason to shut it down. Immediately this series establishes both that the series is going to revolve around bizarre and macabre events, often involving the supernatural or UFO culture, that the main characters will be investigating, and that in this world authority figures should not be regarded as entirely trustworthy.
to:
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' does this in [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01Pilot [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01 the pilot]] with the first cold open and opening scene. The cold open involves a young woman stumbling through the woods, and being overcome after witnessing a shadowy figure in a beam of light apparently coming from a UFO... and her dead body being investigated the next day, with one investigator accusing the local chief of police that "it's happening again" after it's revealed she was part of a particular high school graduating class. The next scene involves Agent Dana Scully meeting her superiors at the FBI and being assigned to the "X Files", being given a background on the eccentricities of it's its lead investigator... and quickly determining that underneath the veiled professionalism, they're assigning her there to find a reason to shut it down. Immediately this series establishes both that the series is going to revolve around bizarre and macabre events, often involving the supernatural or UFO culture, that the main characters will be investigating, and that in this world authority figures should not be regarded as entirely trustworthy.
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* ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'': The host running in screaming like a madman and [[TrashTheSet razing his set]] as ''the opening'' is enough to sum up the show's madcap comedy in a nutshell.
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Improving the kamen rider tropes.
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** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
to:
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
‘Revival’.
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamenrider wizardRider Wizard.
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen
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* The first episode of ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' began with a disclaimer warning audiences that they were going to witness prejudice and crude language to demonstrate the stupidities and ridiculous logic of bigotry. Immediately after the disclaimer showed, a loud toilet flush was heard, and Archie Bunker descended the stairs buttoning his pants and carrying a newspaper. Television would never be the same.
* The pilot of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' featured a mostly-typical sitcom plot: Cliff and Clair are frazzled taking care of their kids, and Theo gets nothing but "D"s on his report card. At the end of the episode, Theo delivers a heartfelt speech about how he loves his parents not because they're successful in their fields, but because they're his mom and dad, and asks Cliff if he could extend that same compassion to him even if he doesn't get good grades. The audience applauds the speech, Cliff slowly rises...and loudly declares "That's the DUMBEST thing I've EVER heard in my LIFE!" He then proceeds to lay down the law: "You are ''going'' to try as hard as you can, and you're gonna do it because ''I said so.'' I am your FATHER. I brought you in this world--and ''I'll take you out.''" And finally, he assures Theo that he does truly love him, but he still expects him to do the best he can. In that single minute, audiences immediately knew that this wasn't going to be the touchy-feely show where the parents [[EasilyForgiven immediately forgave]] their children because "they loved them." Bill Cosby himself later admitted to [[InvokedTrope invoking]] the trope by setting up the scene as a deliberate subversion of old sitcom tropes: he knew that if the audience responded positively to the "dumbest thing" line, then the show was going to succeed. He was right.
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** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]", we're introduced to Captain Picard who's seen touring the ''Enterprise'', taking account of his ship, and we find out that the main crew isn't fully assembled yet as they're traveling to Farpoint Station to pick up their remaining officers, most notably Commander Riker.
to:
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]", we're introduced to Captain Picard who's seen touring the ''Enterprise'', taking account of his ship, and we find out that the main crew isn't fully assembled yet as they're traveling to Farpoint Station to pick up their remaining officers, most notably Commander Riker. Similarly, there's the fact that Worf--a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Klingon]] and thus the sworn enemy of the Federation throughout the entire original series--is not just a crew member of the ''Enterprise'', but a high-ranking and respected officer, proving that the conflicts of the old show were long settled. This wasn't your father's ''Star Trek''!
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* On the hunt for a serial killer on the first episode of ''Series/ProdigalSon'', Malcolm finds a suspect tied to a bomb. While Dani and JT are trying to solve the bomb threat logically, Malcolm finds no other way than to chop the victim's hand off. Cue Dani, JT and Gil having a major wtf moment about Malcolm's way of doing things. This shows that although the show can be very dark, it is thoroughly steeped in BlackComedy dramedy goodness.
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* Near the end of the first episode of ''Series/SquidGame'', Gi-hun and 455 people who are deep in debt or desperately need money, take part in a game of "Red Light, Green Light," only it turns out that anyone who moves at the wrong time is shot dead. The first person to suffer that fate results in a mass panic and many more people sharing his fate, and by the end of that round, over half the player are dead. This establishes that the protagonists are playing a DeadlyGame, and that AnyoneCanDie.
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* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has a lot of these:
** ''Series/KamenRider'': The series and the franchise began when an ordinary biker was injured and captured by his mysterious captors and was then converted into a cyborg before he escapes and begins to fight against his captors setting up the iconic series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'': Begins in the Amazon jungle where the Inca chief in his last breath proceeds a mystical operation of a feral man and tells him to go to Japan, The rest of the opening credits has the feral man escaping from the monstrous enemy and then swam to Japan where he transforms into Kamen Rider Amazon and violently attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek giving the viewers an expression that this series is more violent then the other Showa Rider series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': The series starts off like a horror film where Kotaro Minami is trying to escape from a group of hooded like figures until he is caught but then strangely transforms into Kamen Rider Black and fights them back setting off the series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
** ''Series/KamenRider'': The series and the franchise began when an ordinary biker was injured and captured by his mysterious captors and was then converted into a cyborg before he escapes and begins to fight against his captors setting up the iconic series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'': Begins in the Amazon jungle where the Inca chief in his last breath proceeds a mystical operation of a feral man and tells him to go to Japan, The rest of the opening credits has the feral man escaping from the monstrous enemy and then swam to Japan where he transforms into Kamen Rider Amazon and violently attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek giving the viewers an expression that this series is more violent then the other Showa Rider series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': The series starts off like a horror film where Kotaro Minami is trying to escape from a group of hooded like figures until he is caught but then strangely transforms into Kamen Rider Black and fights them back setting off the series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' had some examples:
%%** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': We see the appearance of Shikenred fighting against a group of Gedoshu grunts.
** ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'': The series starts off in a casino where shady people gamble until the Lupinrangers reveal themselves, then the Patrangers appear who are trying to arrest the so called ‘phantom thieves’, they will also transform in the later part of the episode.
%%** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': We see the appearance of Shikenred fighting against a group of Gedoshu grunts.
** ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'': The series starts off in a casino where shady people gamble until the Lupinrangers reveal themselves, then the Patrangers appear who are trying to arrest the so called ‘phantom thieves’, they will also transform in the later part of the episode.
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' has some examples:
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': The series starts off when a member of a space police investigate an unusual event until he was injured in a conflict but is then revived by Ultraman and merges with him.
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' opens with the mysterious vanishing of a driver during a traffic stop, briefly describes the Ultra Garrison and their underground base, then the TPC brass briefs Captain Kiriyama, the narrator introduces each of the remaining members, who in turn get briefed, with Furuhashi and Soga driving to the site of one of the disappearances. Then, Dan Moroboshi stops the two men from going any further just in time for a policeman to vanish into thin air. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Then, Dan looks up, his eyes sparkle, and an alien vessel appears]]...
** ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' begins with one man saving two kids, one (his friend Jiro) [[LeeroyJenkins who tries to fight two rampaging monsters by himself]], another who was trapped in a building with a dog. The man dies, but at the same time one of the monsters is defeated by the other, and a blinding flash of light scared off the other one. Then the dead man comes back to life in his hospital bed after an Ultraman (who had scared off the monster earlier) merges with him. Later, the man hears something from a great distance, drives over there, and finds people evacuating from a village. Despite not having the strength, he does what he can to help. Then, at the darkest moment, with another monster threatening the village, a light comes from above, enveloping him and transforming him into the same Ultraman who merged with him earlier.
** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' began with Ultraseven battling two kaijuu and an alien by himself, only for the monsters to break his leg, nearly killing him if not for the titular Ultraman. Then in Episode 40, in another shocking moment, living UFO Silver Bloom appears, [[spoiler:killing the kaijuu-fighting team and nearly all of Leo's Earthling friends]].
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The series is set in the original continuity, like the usual Ultra series, one which focuses on Ultraman Mebius; but after his first battle a member of the space force complained to him in anger that he saved no one. This sets off the premise of the series about an Ultraman who (much like the rest of us) is not perfect but flawed.
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': The series starts off when a member of a space police investigate an unusual event until he was injured in a conflict but is then revived by Ultraman and merges with him.
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' opens with the mysterious vanishing of a driver during a traffic stop, briefly describes the Ultra Garrison and their underground base, then the TPC brass briefs Captain Kiriyama, the narrator introduces each of the remaining members, who in turn get briefed, with Furuhashi and Soga driving to the site of one of the disappearances. Then, Dan Moroboshi stops the two men from going any further just in time for a policeman to vanish into thin air. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Then, Dan looks up, his eyes sparkle, and an alien vessel appears]]...
** ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' begins with one man saving two kids, one (his friend Jiro) [[LeeroyJenkins who tries to fight two rampaging monsters by himself]], another who was trapped in a building with a dog. The man dies, but at the same time one of the monsters is defeated by the other, and a blinding flash of light scared off the other one. Then the dead man comes back to life in his hospital bed after an Ultraman (who had scared off the monster earlier) merges with him. Later, the man hears something from a great distance, drives over there, and finds people evacuating from a village. Despite not having the strength, he does what he can to help. Then, at the darkest moment, with another monster threatening the village, a light comes from above, enveloping him and transforming him into the same Ultraman who merged with him earlier.
** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' began with Ultraseven battling two kaijuu and an alien by himself, only for the monsters to break his leg, nearly killing him if not for the titular Ultraman. Then in Episode 40, in another shocking moment, living UFO Silver Bloom appears, [[spoiler:killing the kaijuu-fighting team and nearly all of Leo's Earthling friends]].
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The series is set in the original continuity, like the usual Ultra series, one which focuses on Ultraman Mebius; but after his first battle a member of the space force complained to him in anger that he saved no one. This sets off the premise of the series about an Ultraman who (much like the rest of us) is not perfect but flawed.
Deleted line(s) 64,78 (click to see context) :
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' had some examples:
%%** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': We see the appearance of Shikenred fighting against a group of Gedoshu grunts.
** ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'': The series starts off in a casino where shady people gamble until the Lupinrangers reveal themselves, then the Patrangers appear who are trying to arrest the so called ‘phantom thieves’, they will also transform in the later part of the episode.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has a lot of these:
** ''Series/KamenRider'': The series and the franchise began when an ordinary biker was injured and captured by his mysterious captors and was then converted into a cyborg before he escapes and begins to fight against his captors setting up the iconic series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'': Begins in the Amazon jungle where the Inca chief in his last breath proceeds a mystical operation of a feral man and tells him to go to Japan, The rest of the opening credits has the feral man escaping from the monstrous enemy and then swam to Japan where he transforms into Kamen Rider Amazon and violently attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek giving the viewers an expression that this series is more violent then the other Showa Rider series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': The series starts off like a horror film where Kotaro Minami is trying to escape from a group of hooded like figures until he is caught but then strangely transforms into Kamen Rider Black and fights them back setting off the series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' has some examples:
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': The series starts off when a member of a space police investigate an unusual event until he was injured in a conflict but is then revived by Ultraman and merges with him.
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' opens with the mysterious vanishing of a driver during a traffic stop, briefly describes the Ultra Garrison and their underground base, then the TPC brass briefs Captain Kiriyama, the narrator introduces each of the remaining members, who in turn get briefed, with Furuhashi and Soga driving to the site of one of the disappearances. Then, Dan Moroboshi stops the two men from going any further just in time for a policeman to vanish into thin air. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Then, Dan looks up, his eyes sparkle, and an alien vessel appears]]...
** ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' begins with one man saving two kids, one (his friend Jiro) [[LeeroyJenkins who tries to fight two rampaging monsters by himself]], another who was trapped in a building with a dog. The man dies, but at the same time one of the monsters is defeated by the other, and a blinding flash of light scared off the other one. Then the dead man comes back to life in his hospital bed after an Ultraman (who had scared off the monster earlier) merges with him. Later, the man hears something from a great distance, drives over there, and finds people evacuating from a village. Despite not having the strength, he does what he can to help. Then, at the darkest moment, with another monster threatening the village, a light comes from above, enveloping him and transforming him into the same Ultraman who merged with him earlier.
** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' began with Ultraseven battling two kaijuu and an alien by himself, only for the monsters to break his leg, nearly killing him if not for the titular Ultraman. Then in Episode 40, in another shocking moment, living UFO Silver Bloom appears, [[spoiler:killing the kaijuu-fighting team and nearly all of Leo's Earthling friends]].
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The series is set in the original continuity, like the usual Ultra series, one which focuses on Ultraman Mebius; but after his first battle a member of the space force complained to him in anger that he saved no one. This sets off the premise of the series about an Ultraman who (much like the rest of us) is not perfect but flawed.
%%** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': We see the appearance of Shikenred fighting against a group of Gedoshu grunts.
** ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'': The series starts off in a casino where shady people gamble until the Lupinrangers reveal themselves, then the Patrangers appear who are trying to arrest the so called ‘phantom thieves’, they will also transform in the later part of the episode.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has a lot of these:
** ''Series/KamenRider'': The series and the franchise began when an ordinary biker was injured and captured by his mysterious captors and was then converted into a cyborg before he escapes and begins to fight against his captors setting up the iconic series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'': Begins in the Amazon jungle where the Inca chief in his last breath proceeds a mystical operation of a feral man and tells him to go to Japan, The rest of the opening credits has the feral man escaping from the monstrous enemy and then swam to Japan where he transforms into Kamen Rider Amazon and violently attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek giving the viewers an expression that this series is more violent then the other Showa Rider series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': The series starts off like a horror film where Kotaro Minami is trying to escape from a group of hooded like figures until he is caught but then strangely transforms into Kamen Rider Black and fights them back setting off the series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' has some examples:
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': The series starts off when a member of a space police investigate an unusual event until he was injured in a conflict but is then revived by Ultraman and merges with him.
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' opens with the mysterious vanishing of a driver during a traffic stop, briefly describes the Ultra Garrison and their underground base, then the TPC brass briefs Captain Kiriyama, the narrator introduces each of the remaining members, who in turn get briefed, with Furuhashi and Soga driving to the site of one of the disappearances. Then, Dan Moroboshi stops the two men from going any further just in time for a policeman to vanish into thin air. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Then, Dan looks up, his eyes sparkle, and an alien vessel appears]]...
** ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' begins with one man saving two kids, one (his friend Jiro) [[LeeroyJenkins who tries to fight two rampaging monsters by himself]], another who was trapped in a building with a dog. The man dies, but at the same time one of the monsters is defeated by the other, and a blinding flash of light scared off the other one. Then the dead man comes back to life in his hospital bed after an Ultraman (who had scared off the monster earlier) merges with him. Later, the man hears something from a great distance, drives over there, and finds people evacuating from a village. Despite not having the strength, he does what he can to help. Then, at the darkest moment, with another monster threatening the village, a light comes from above, enveloping him and transforming him into the same Ultraman who merged with him earlier.
** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' began with Ultraseven battling two kaijuu and an alien by himself, only for the monsters to break his leg, nearly killing him if not for the titular Ultraman. Then in Episode 40, in another shocking moment, living UFO Silver Bloom appears, [[spoiler:killing the kaijuu-fighting team and nearly all of Leo's Earthling friends]].
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The series is set in the original continuity, like the usual Ultra series, one which focuses on Ultraman Mebius; but after his first battle a member of the space force complained to him in anger that he saved no one. This sets off the premise of the series about an Ultraman who (much like the rest of us) is not perfect but flawed.
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* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': The series began after the opening credits when a radio personality interviews two people who claim they saw aliens, one saying that she was abducted many times and they want her eggs to start their own alien race, the other that he saw four aliens in a Rambler. Cut to Dick and his unit in a Rambler after they landed on Earth.
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* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': The series began after the opening credits when a radio personality interviews two people who claim they saw aliens, one saying that she was abducted many times and they want her eggs to start their own alien race, the other said that he saw four aliens in a Rambler. Cut to Dick and his unit in a Rambler after they landed on Earth.
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** Three episodes later we get a flashback story that begins with a familiar scene. Literature/{{Cinderella}} is in her garden, sad because her WickedStepmother and sisters went to the ball without her. Then the Fairy God Mother appears to her and tells her she can go to the ball, and gets out her magic wand ready to turn her rags into a beautiful dress... [[BlackComedyBurst and then she explodes.]] At which point [[GreaterScopeVillain Rumpelstiltskin]] appears [[HostileShowTakeover and grabs her wand.]] This establishes the shows love for ArcWelding and NotHisSled as well as removal of the BlackAndWhiteMorality the original fairy tales were known for.
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* ''Series/TheXFiles'' does this in [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01Pilot the pilot]] with the first cold open and opening scene. The cold open involves a young woman stumbling through the woods, and being overcome after witnessing a shadowy figure in a beam of light apparently coming from a UFO... and her dead body being investigated the next day, with one investigator accusing the local chief of police that "it's happening again" after it's revealed she was part of a particular high school graduating class. The next scene involves Agent Dana Scully meeting her superiors at the FBI and being assigned to the "X Files", being given a background on the eccentricities of it's lead investigator... and quickly determining that underneath the veiled professionalism, they're assigning her there to find a reason to shut it down. Immediately this series establishes both that the series is going to revolve around bizarre and macabre events, often involving the supernatural or UFO culture, that the main characters will be investigating, and that in this world authority figures should not be regarded as entirely trustworthy.
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* ''Series/TheXFiles'' does this in [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01Pilot the pilot]] with the first cold open and opening scene. The cold open involves a young woman stumbling through the woods, and being overcome after witnessing a shadowy figure in a beam of light apparently coming from a UFO... and her dead body being investigated the next day, with one investigator accusing the local chief of police that "it's happening again" after it's revealed she was part of a particular high school graduating class. The next scene involves Agent Dana Scully meeting her superiors at the FBI and being assigned to the "X Files", being given a background on the eccentricities of it's lead investigator... and quickly determining that underneath the veiled professionalism, they're assigning her there to find a reason to shut it down. Immediately this series establishes both that the series is going to revolve around bizarre and macabre events, often involving the supernatural or UFO culture, that the main characters will be investigating, and that in this world authority figures should not be regarded as entirely trustworthy.trustworthy.
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* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': The series began after the opening credits when a radio personality interviews two people who claim they saw aliens, one saying that she was abducted many times and they want her eggs to start their own alien race, the other that he saw four aliens in a Rambler. Cut to Dick and his unit in a Rambler after they landed on Earth.
* In the pilot of ''Series/TwentyFour'', the same slutty ditzy chick who banged a photographer on a cross-country flight suddenly puts on a pressure suit with a parachute, sets a bomb, and blows a hole into the plane before jumping out. Seconds later the bomb destroys the plane completely. That scene sums up the thriller, AnyoneCanDie, PlotTwist nature of the show that will be ''24''.
** If that didn't do it, the last two acts of the fifth episode did. A DamselScrappy gets [[AlasPoorScrappy murdered in cold blood]], the main character is told "[[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Daughter]]" by the (apparent) BigBad and that they will soon have his wife, and a supporting character is revealed to be TheMole... ''[[OhCrap to said wife]]'', whom he is attempting to kidnap.
* ''Series/The100'': The end of the first episode. The group of teenagers has escaped the hard life of the Ark and is goofing off and enjoying the beauties of Earth... until a spear suddenly goes soaring through the air and pins Jasper to a tree.
* The first episode of ''Series/AndiMack'' initially seems that it's another generic Creator/DisneyChannel KidCom. That is, until the reveal that Andi's [[CoolBigSis big sister]] Beck is [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo actually her mother]], establishing that the series is going go into more mature topics than usually found on Creator/DisneyChannel.
* Early on in the pilot of ''Series/TheBlackDonnellys'', the oldest Donnelly, Jimmy, is about to get in a bar fight. His younger brother Tommy tries to calm him down, but Jimmy just leaps over the bar and bashes a guy with a glass. Immediately Tommy jumps in to help Jimmy out, and their other two brothers disengage from what they were doing — hitting on girls and playing pool — to help their older brothers out. It's a minute-long scene that establishes that this show is about how family comes first and to hell with anything else.
* ''Series/BlackMirror'' comes across as a fairly standard, if very cynical, techno-thriller anthology series once the Princess of the United Kingdom is kidnapped, until we get word from the kidnapper - who, as part of his demands, insists that the Prime Minister must ''[[{{Squick}} have sex with a pig]]'' on live TV. It only gets more shockingly unexpected and narratively ruthless from there.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** The very first scene of [[Recap/BreakingBadS1E1Pilot the pilot episode]] has a mostly-naked Walter White careening through the desert in a beat-up RV, which he eventually crashes, just before attempting to commit suicide. If there's a more perfect metaphor for Walter's entire character arc, we don't know what it might be.
** There's also Walter lecturing his students on the nature of chemistry, how it is about growth, decay and transformation. [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain An utterly perfect beginning metaphor for the series and especially Walter White]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E1WelcomeToTheHellmouth Welcome to the Hellmouth]]" defines itself as a subversion of horror early on when we are shown two kids (a girl in a Catholic school uniform, and a biker boy) and are led to expect the girl to be the MonsterOfTheWeek's first victim. Then ''she'' turns into a vampire and kills the boy. Note that at the time, this was one of the first instances of this trick.
** ''Series/{{Angel}}'': "[[Recap/AngelS01E01CityOf City Of]]"'s moment was when he fails to chat up a girl who may be in trouble showing his "brooding, mysterious protector" schtick isn't gonna work. New show, new strategy.
* ''Series/CobraKai'' begins with a montage of the climatic All Valley Karate Tournament fight between Daniel and Johnny in ''Film/TheKarateKid''. However, when Daniel delivers the crane kick to Johnny's face, the camera POV and triumphant music changes to show Johnny face down on the mat in pain as the announcer declares Daniel the winner in an echo over more somber music. The scene then dissolves to the modern day as we see a middle aged Johnny waking up in his rundown apartment, showing the focus of the story is now on him.
** A later scene of the first episode has Johnny beat up Miguel’s bullies after telling them to leave him alone and being provoked, but while it’s certainly in Johnny’s favor, he still takes hits through the struggle and it ends with him being arrested for assaulting minors. Thus establishing that while the show takes place in a far more realistic setting than the films, it’s still undoubtedly the same franchise with all its mastery of karate and strength.
* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' has its first fight scene, which is far more brutal than we're used to from the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, giving people a taste of [[DarkerAndEdgier just what they're in for with this one]]. For anyone who still didn't get it, the ColdBloodedTorture scene and exhausting [[TheOner one-take]] fight scene in the next episode hammered it home. The first season as a whole essentially served as one to Marvel's Netflix line-up, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids emphasizing that these were much more adult in nature than their movies or network shows]].
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' starts with the title character kidnapping a choir master, who's also a child rapist and murderer, and showing him the dead bodies of his victims shortly before killing him. It shows the internal monster in Dexter that loves to kill, while also showing a human side that refuses to kill children [[SerialKillerKiller and only lets him kill worse murderers]], setting the base for the CharacterDevelopment that is the main point of the show.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The very first opening title sequence counts as one. No-one had ever seen anything like it before; no-one had ever heard anything like it before. As soon as it starts, you know you're about to fall out of the real world and into Wonderland.
** The first fifteen-odd minutes of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]" could have been a fairly straight-forward drama about a couple of teachers trying to help a troubled, slightly unusual student who apparently lives under the thumb of her sinister, hostile grandfather. Then those teachers, trying to find that student in a darkened junkyard over the objections of her grandfather, suddenly stumble into a police telephone box — only to discover that it's bigger on the inside than the outside and can travel through time...
** The first story of Season 6, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E1TheDominators The Dominators]]", begins with a little PlotParallel that does some {{Foreshadowing}} for the eventual direction of the season. Instead of the Doctor, we follow an anarchic adventurer and traveller named Cully (a RebelliousSpirit at odds with his repressive but highly advanced CrystalSpiresAndTogas society — something that hadn't been revealed about the Doctor at this point) is piloting his craft to a holiday destination that he hopes will yield things to explore and terrifying scientific thrills. His gaggle of adorable, bantering teen companions test the radiation levels, tease him about his bad driving, step out onto the beach to find out where they are and are ''suddenly shot dead''. Season 6 concludes with a BolivianArmyEnding.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose The revival]] had Rose stumbling upon the Autons and then brought in the Doctor to rescue Rose while defining the show in one word: "Run!" And then he blows up the store Rose works at to get rid of the Autons.
* ''Series/TheEvent'' pilot was building its mysteries (Where's Leila? Who attacked the Buchanan family? etc., etc.) but there was no reason to believe that this wasn't a realistic show about a conspiracy. Cue the disappearing plane...
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'':
** The first five minutes of "[[Recap/FireflyE01Serenity Serenity]]" are an EstablishingCharacterMoment for Mal. The next five minutes serve as an Establishing Series Moment, showing the humour, excitement, and focus on character interaction the series has.
** The climax of "[[Recap/FireflyE02TheTrainJob The Train Job]]" (which was the first one aired) featured Mal and his crew being ambushed by mob enforcers for refusing to complete a job. They win, have the thugs tied up and offer them a truce. The chief mook spits on their terms and promises that [[WeWillMeetAgain they'll fight again]]. So Mal simply kicks the guy into a [[TurbineBlender jet intake]] and moves on to the next guy. At that moment, audiences knew we were dealing with a different kind of show.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The opening and closing scenes of the first episode are both examples. In the prologue, the three characters we're initially following are brutally attacked, showcasing the AnyoneCanDie nature of the show. The closing scene has Bran, the precocious child of the protagonist, witnessing the Queen having an incestuous affair and promptly getting thrown out of a tower for it, reinforcing the show's darker aspects and the fact that no one is safe.
** Also, Waymar Royce's death shows the differing tone of the adaptation: in the books, it's the DyingMomentOfAwesome of a hitherto unlikeable character. In the series, it's a JumpScare.
* Of the ShockingMoments variety, the pilot of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', particularly the scene wherein Claire is seen being videotaped throwing herself off a crane and hitting the ground with a splat. She gets up and promptly pops all her broken bones back into place. She then looks directly into the camera and says evenly, "My name is Claire Bennett, and that was attempt number 6." In fact the scene was so iconic, that when her friend who was videotaping gets {{Mindwipe}}d, it's used as a callback. It's also [[BookEnds repeated in the last scene of the series.]]
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'''s moment is either the first ten seconds, which establishes that the show is a story Ted is telling his children in the future, or the last ten seconds, which reveals that Ted and Robin's relationship is destined to fall apart, instead of being another [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross/Rachel]] [[WillTheyOrWontThey mess]].
* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' has a pretty obvious one in the first episode. It starts as as a normal police procedural, until one of the officers is captured by the supposed killer. When her DCI boyfriend is mourning her in the middle of the road, he gets out of the car, is run over, and well... [[OpeningNarration wakes up in 1973, not knowing if he's mad, in a coma, or back in time.]]
** ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' starts off with Alex Drake going to work, getting shot in the face and waking up in 1981. She's also aware that she's in a coma (in the future/present) and getting stalked by the clown from Bowie's music video ''Ashes To Ashes'' from his album ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' started with the main characters stranded on a deserted island, and seemed to be about the survival of these people. Then we hear a mechanical roar at night. And later a ''fucking polar bear'' shows up. Perfectly summed up by Charlie's iconic line:
-->'''Charlie:''' Guys... where ''are'' we?
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' starts off with Malcolm explaining his family situation to the camera and finishes by saying "You want to know the best thing about childhood? At some point, it stops." perfectly encapsulating the cynical tone of the show.
* The opening scenes of the pilot episode of ''Series/MiamiVice'' feature the lead characters "in their native environment" so to speak. In New York, Tubbs heads into a nightclub with the intent to assassinate a Colombian guy, but is nearly killed in the process. After the credits roll, we see Crockett his partner making small talk about home life before they head off to a meet a drug dealer. All this happens before the two guys meet and before even the audience knows that both men are in fact police detectives. The good guys being bad guys to catch the bad guys nature of the show, along with it's use of MusicVideo techniques is firmly established. Also counts as EstablishingCharacterMoment.
** And then Crockett's partner is unceremoniously blown up by a car bomb planted by drug dealers, showcasing that 1) AnyoneCanDie and the PyrrhicVictory will be common things and 2) drug dealers will be unrelentingly evil people, making "The War With Drugs" more than a buzzword for the heroes.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': The first episode ends with 7 bodies (only 4 of which are murders, though), starting the series' trend of NeverOneMurder.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': They steal ''UsefulNotes/AirForceOne'' in the pilot, establishing that Gibbs and his agents play by their own rules and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' begins with [[AlternateContinuity Alex getting arrested]]. Nikita has a dream where she's at a [[HotterAndSexier pool party]]. It is a CW show, after all.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' begins with the iconic image of Prince Charming waking Snow White from her coma with TrueLovesKiss, then cuts to their royal wedding... which is promptly crashed by the Evil Queen, who threatens to doom the whole kingdom and gets a sword pointed at her by Snow White, then has that same one thrown at her by the prince for her trouble. Goodbye traditional fairy-tales, hello DarkerAndEdgier ones.
* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' starts off with a prologue of a robotic apocalypse, followed by someone who is wandering the lands. He soon gets hold up by what appears to be a mugger. The mugger seems to be in control... Then the wanderer interrupts him with a LittleNo. Cue the mugger losing all composure and leading into a comedic moment, showing that RPM mixes the dark story of a Robot Apocalypse with the comedy of a show with heavy LampshadeHanging.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' eschewed the then-standard VarietyShow format by beginning with a ColdOpen sketch where an immigrant (Creator/JohnBelushi) arrives for his English lesson with an instructor who teaches him bizarre phrases such as "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines." The sketch ends with the instructor collapsing from a heart attack (followed by the immigrant copying him), at which point Creator/ChevyChase steps in front of the camera and announces "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", showing that this was a show that was going to break the rules and standards of TV comedy.
* The first episode of ''Series/TheShield'' ends with Vic Mackey using the cover of a botched drug raid to murder one of his own men, established earlier in the episode as a plant from Internal Affairs, establishing Vic solidly as a VillainProtagonist.
* The various ''Franchise/StarTrek''s pretty much lay it all out in the "Space, the final frontier" opening monologue.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]", we're introduced to Captain Picard who's seen touring the ''Enterprise'', taking account of his ship, and we find out that the main crew isn't fully assembled yet as they're traveling to Farpoint Station to pick up their remaining officers, most notably Commander Riker.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E01E02Emissary Emissary]]" has a quick succession of these:
*** The very first scene of the series is a flashback sequence where we see a previous space battle from ''Next Generation'' from the perspective of the new protagonist...whose wife is killed by falling debris. It's a new, DarkerAndEdgier show: AnyoneCanDie.
*** The obligatory "Meeting the Crew" sequence...which takes place in a dilapidated space station, with a dysfunctional crew who would rather be anywhere else (including one major crew member who openly hates the Federation). It's a new show: TeethClenchedTeamwork is the norm, and [[UsedFuture working in space isn't always glamorous]].
*** An emotionally tense meeting between the previous protagonist and the new one...which is made a bit awkward by the fact that the former technically murdered the latter's wife. It's a new show: everything has long-lasting consequences, and [[BlackAndGreyMorality the battle between good and evil is anything but simple]]. One exchange between the two characters says it all:
---->'''Sisko''': I have a son that I'm raising alone, Captain. [[CrapsackWorld This is not the ideal environment]].\\
'''Picard''': [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Unfortunately, Starfleet officers do not always have the luxury to serve in an ideal environment]].
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E1Caretaker Caretaker]]" gave us three: The two ships being flung into the Delta Quadrant some 70 years at maximum warp from Earth, the fact that half the main characters hate the other half for ideological reasons, and the destruction of the Array that brought them there (and could send them back).
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E01E02BrokenBow Broken Bow]]" opened with a [[ProudWarriorRace Klingon]] crashing landing on Earth in a rural farm with the farmer coming out with something that looks like a cross between a laser rifle and a lever action shotgun, establishing the {{prequel}} nature and TwentyMinutesInTheFuture setting compared to the other series.
** The very first scene of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' is the Klingon warlord T'Kuvma speechifying to the effect that TheFederation is evil and wants to destroy the Klingon Empire, and they need to fight back. Right away, the storm clouds are gathering; the next episode, all hell breaks loose.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E1EverythingChanges Everything Changes]]" appears to be a normal British police drama, until Captain Jack appears and starts using alien technology to interview dead people. A few minutes later, Torchwood member Owen is seen using an alien date rape drug to seduce a woman and her boyfriend against their will, very definitely setting the show apart from ''Doctor Who''.
* ''Series/TrueBlood'': The very first scene of the very first episode of this series uses this trope. A goth gas station attendant tricks some tourists into thinking he's a vampire. After they leave a red-neck vampire tells him that if the goth ever impersonates a vampire again he'll kill him.
* ''Series/UpAllNight'' had the scene where Reagan says a bleeped swear word while watching a birthing video.
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': The main character, Rick, [[BoomHeadshot putting a bullet between the eyes of an undead child]]. Nobody at all is safe, and the world has turned brutal, savage, and lifeless.
* The climax of the pilot episode of ''Series/TheWestWing'', where the episode's plot is abruptly resolved by [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President Josiah Bartlet]] promptly (and awesomely) [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech putting some snide Christian fundamentalists in their place]], tells you all that you need to know about the spirit of political idealism that made the show famous. The fact that it's also [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Bartlet's first on-screen appearance]] makes it even sweeter.
-->'''Bartlet''': You’ll denounce these people, Al. You’ll do it publicly. And until you do, [[SophisticatedAsHell you can all get your fat asses out of my White House]]. C.J.? [[GetOut Show these people out.]]
* ''Series/TheWire'': "[[Recap/TheWireS01E01TheTarget The Target]]" starts with Officer [=McNulty=] talking with a witness and investigating a murder. The subject of the conversation (not about what happened, but about who the victim was) establishes that the series has a rather different outlook than your usual PoliceProcedural, and the tone of the conversation demonstrates where the show stands on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' using some serious WireFu on the bad guys showed just how awesome her show was gonna be compared to ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' had some examples:
%%** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': We see the appearance of Shikenred fighting against a group of Gedoshu grunts.
** ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'': The series starts off in a casino where shady people gamble until the Lupinrangers reveal themselves, then the Patrangers appear who are trying to arrest the so called ‘phantom thieves’, they will also transform in the later part of the episode.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has a lot of these:
** ''Series/KamenRider'': The series and the franchise began when an ordinary biker was injured and captured by his mysterious captors and was then converted into a cyborg before he escapes and begins to fight against his captors setting up the iconic series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'': Begins in the Amazon jungle where the Inca chief in his last breath proceeds a mystical operation of a feral man and tells him to go to Japan, The rest of the opening credits has the feral man escaping from the monstrous enemy and then swam to Japan where he transforms into Kamen Rider Amazon and violently attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek giving the viewers an expression that this series is more violent then the other Showa Rider series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': The series starts off like a horror film where Kotaro Minami is trying to escape from a group of hooded like figures until he is caught but then strangely transforms into Kamen Rider Black and fights them back setting off the series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' has some examples:
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': The series starts off when a member of a space police investigate an unusual event until he was injured in a conflict but is then revived by Ultraman and merges with him.
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' opens with the mysterious vanishing of a driver during a traffic stop, briefly describes the Ultra Garrison and their underground base, then the TPC brass briefs Captain Kiriyama, the narrator introduces each of the remaining members, who in turn get briefed, with Furuhashi and Soga driving to the site of one of the disappearances. Then, Dan Moroboshi stops the two men from going any further just in time for a policeman to vanish into thin air. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Then, Dan looks up, his eyes sparkle, and an alien vessel appears]]...
** ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' begins with one man saving two kids, one (his friend Jiro) [[LeeroyJenkins who tries to fight two rampaging monsters by himself]], another who was trapped in a building with a dog. The man dies, but at the same time one of the monsters is defeated by the other, and a blinding flash of light scared off the other one. Then the dead man comes back to life in his hospital bed after an Ultraman (who had scared off the monster earlier) merges with him. Later, the man hears something from a great distance, drives over there, and finds people evacuating from a village. Despite not having the strength, he does what he can to help. Then, at the darkest moment, with another monster threatening the village, a light comes from above, enveloping him and transforming him into the same Ultraman who merged with him earlier.
** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' began with Ultraseven battling two kaijuu and an alien by himself, only for the monsters to break his leg, nearly killing him if not for the titular Ultraman. Then in Episode 40, in another shocking moment, living UFO Silver Bloom appears, [[spoiler:killing the kaijuu-fighting team and nearly all of Leo's Earthling friends]].
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The series is set in the original continuity, like the usual Ultra series, one which focuses on Ultraman Mebius; but after his first battle a member of the space force complained to him in anger that he saved no one. This sets off the premise of the series about an Ultraman who (much like the rest of us) is not perfect but flawed.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' does this in [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01Pilot the pilot]] with the first cold open and opening scene. The cold open involves a young woman stumbling through the woods, and being overcome after witnessing a shadowy figure in a beam of light apparently coming from a UFO... and her dead body being investigated the next day, with one investigator accusing the local chief of police that "it's happening again" after it's revealed she was part of a particular high school graduating class. The next scene involves Agent Dana Scully meeting her superiors at the FBI and being assigned to the "X Files", being given a background on the eccentricities of it's lead investigator... and quickly determining that underneath the veiled professionalism, they're assigning her there to find a reason to shut it down. Immediately this series establishes both that the series is going to revolve around bizarre and macabre events, often involving the supernatural or UFO culture, that the main characters will be investigating, and that in this world authority figures should not be regarded as entirely trustworthy.
* In the pilot of ''Series/TwentyFour'', the same slutty ditzy chick who banged a photographer on a cross-country flight suddenly puts on a pressure suit with a parachute, sets a bomb, and blows a hole into the plane before jumping out. Seconds later the bomb destroys the plane completely. That scene sums up the thriller, AnyoneCanDie, PlotTwist nature of the show that will be ''24''.
** If that didn't do it, the last two acts of the fifth episode did. A DamselScrappy gets [[AlasPoorScrappy murdered in cold blood]], the main character is told "[[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Daughter]]" by the (apparent) BigBad and that they will soon have his wife, and a supporting character is revealed to be TheMole... ''[[OhCrap to said wife]]'', whom he is attempting to kidnap.
* ''Series/The100'': The end of the first episode. The group of teenagers has escaped the hard life of the Ark and is goofing off and enjoying the beauties of Earth... until a spear suddenly goes soaring through the air and pins Jasper to a tree.
* The first episode of ''Series/AndiMack'' initially seems that it's another generic Creator/DisneyChannel KidCom. That is, until the reveal that Andi's [[CoolBigSis big sister]] Beck is [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo actually her mother]], establishing that the series is going go into more mature topics than usually found on Creator/DisneyChannel.
* Early on in the pilot of ''Series/TheBlackDonnellys'', the oldest Donnelly, Jimmy, is about to get in a bar fight. His younger brother Tommy tries to calm him down, but Jimmy just leaps over the bar and bashes a guy with a glass. Immediately Tommy jumps in to help Jimmy out, and their other two brothers disengage from what they were doing — hitting on girls and playing pool — to help their older brothers out. It's a minute-long scene that establishes that this show is about how family comes first and to hell with anything else.
* ''Series/BlackMirror'' comes across as a fairly standard, if very cynical, techno-thriller anthology series once the Princess of the United Kingdom is kidnapped, until we get word from the kidnapper - who, as part of his demands, insists that the Prime Minister must ''[[{{Squick}} have sex with a pig]]'' on live TV. It only gets more shockingly unexpected and narratively ruthless from there.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** The very first scene of [[Recap/BreakingBadS1E1Pilot the pilot episode]] has a mostly-naked Walter White careening through the desert in a beat-up RV, which he eventually crashes, just before attempting to commit suicide. If there's a more perfect metaphor for Walter's entire character arc, we don't know what it might be.
** There's also Walter lecturing his students on the nature of chemistry, how it is about growth, decay and transformation. [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain An utterly perfect beginning metaphor for the series and especially Walter White]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E1WelcomeToTheHellmouth Welcome to the Hellmouth]]" defines itself as a subversion of horror early on when we are shown two kids (a girl in a Catholic school uniform, and a biker boy) and are led to expect the girl to be the MonsterOfTheWeek's first victim. Then ''she'' turns into a vampire and kills the boy. Note that at the time, this was one of the first instances of this trick.
** ''Series/{{Angel}}'': "[[Recap/AngelS01E01CityOf City Of]]"'s moment was when he fails to chat up a girl who may be in trouble showing his "brooding, mysterious protector" schtick isn't gonna work. New show, new strategy.
* ''Series/CobraKai'' begins with a montage of the climatic All Valley Karate Tournament fight between Daniel and Johnny in ''Film/TheKarateKid''. However, when Daniel delivers the crane kick to Johnny's face, the camera POV and triumphant music changes to show Johnny face down on the mat in pain as the announcer declares Daniel the winner in an echo over more somber music. The scene then dissolves to the modern day as we see a middle aged Johnny waking up in his rundown apartment, showing the focus of the story is now on him.
** A later scene of the first episode has Johnny beat up Miguel’s bullies after telling them to leave him alone and being provoked, but while it’s certainly in Johnny’s favor, he still takes hits through the struggle and it ends with him being arrested for assaulting minors. Thus establishing that while the show takes place in a far more realistic setting than the films, it’s still undoubtedly the same franchise with all its mastery of karate and strength.
* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' has its first fight scene, which is far more brutal than we're used to from the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, giving people a taste of [[DarkerAndEdgier just what they're in for with this one]]. For anyone who still didn't get it, the ColdBloodedTorture scene and exhausting [[TheOner one-take]] fight scene in the next episode hammered it home. The first season as a whole essentially served as one to Marvel's Netflix line-up, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids emphasizing that these were much more adult in nature than their movies or network shows]].
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' starts with the title character kidnapping a choir master, who's also a child rapist and murderer, and showing him the dead bodies of his victims shortly before killing him. It shows the internal monster in Dexter that loves to kill, while also showing a human side that refuses to kill children [[SerialKillerKiller and only lets him kill worse murderers]], setting the base for the CharacterDevelopment that is the main point of the show.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The very first opening title sequence counts as one. No-one had ever seen anything like it before; no-one had ever heard anything like it before. As soon as it starts, you know you're about to fall out of the real world and into Wonderland.
** The first fifteen-odd minutes of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]" could have been a fairly straight-forward drama about a couple of teachers trying to help a troubled, slightly unusual student who apparently lives under the thumb of her sinister, hostile grandfather. Then those teachers, trying to find that student in a darkened junkyard over the objections of her grandfather, suddenly stumble into a police telephone box — only to discover that it's bigger on the inside than the outside and can travel through time...
** The first story of Season 6, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E1TheDominators The Dominators]]", begins with a little PlotParallel that does some {{Foreshadowing}} for the eventual direction of the season. Instead of the Doctor, we follow an anarchic adventurer and traveller named Cully (a RebelliousSpirit at odds with his repressive but highly advanced CrystalSpiresAndTogas society — something that hadn't been revealed about the Doctor at this point) is piloting his craft to a holiday destination that he hopes will yield things to explore and terrifying scientific thrills. His gaggle of adorable, bantering teen companions test the radiation levels, tease him about his bad driving, step out onto the beach to find out where they are and are ''suddenly shot dead''. Season 6 concludes with a BolivianArmyEnding.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose The revival]] had Rose stumbling upon the Autons and then brought in the Doctor to rescue Rose while defining the show in one word: "Run!" And then he blows up the store Rose works at to get rid of the Autons.
* ''Series/TheEvent'' pilot was building its mysteries (Where's Leila? Who attacked the Buchanan family? etc., etc.) but there was no reason to believe that this wasn't a realistic show about a conspiracy. Cue the disappearing plane...
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'':
** The first five minutes of "[[Recap/FireflyE01Serenity Serenity]]" are an EstablishingCharacterMoment for Mal. The next five minutes serve as an Establishing Series Moment, showing the humour, excitement, and focus on character interaction the series has.
** The climax of "[[Recap/FireflyE02TheTrainJob The Train Job]]" (which was the first one aired) featured Mal and his crew being ambushed by mob enforcers for refusing to complete a job. They win, have the thugs tied up and offer them a truce. The chief mook spits on their terms and promises that [[WeWillMeetAgain they'll fight again]]. So Mal simply kicks the guy into a [[TurbineBlender jet intake]] and moves on to the next guy. At that moment, audiences knew we were dealing with a different kind of show.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The opening and closing scenes of the first episode are both examples. In the prologue, the three characters we're initially following are brutally attacked, showcasing the AnyoneCanDie nature of the show. The closing scene has Bran, the precocious child of the protagonist, witnessing the Queen having an incestuous affair and promptly getting thrown out of a tower for it, reinforcing the show's darker aspects and the fact that no one is safe.
** Also, Waymar Royce's death shows the differing tone of the adaptation: in the books, it's the DyingMomentOfAwesome of a hitherto unlikeable character. In the series, it's a JumpScare.
* Of the ShockingMoments variety, the pilot of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', particularly the scene wherein Claire is seen being videotaped throwing herself off a crane and hitting the ground with a splat. She gets up and promptly pops all her broken bones back into place. She then looks directly into the camera and says evenly, "My name is Claire Bennett, and that was attempt number 6." In fact the scene was so iconic, that when her friend who was videotaping gets {{Mindwipe}}d, it's used as a callback. It's also [[BookEnds repeated in the last scene of the series.]]
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'''s moment is either the first ten seconds, which establishes that the show is a story Ted is telling his children in the future, or the last ten seconds, which reveals that Ted and Robin's relationship is destined to fall apart, instead of being another [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross/Rachel]] [[WillTheyOrWontThey mess]].
* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' has a pretty obvious one in the first episode. It starts as as a normal police procedural, until one of the officers is captured by the supposed killer. When her DCI boyfriend is mourning her in the middle of the road, he gets out of the car, is run over, and well... [[OpeningNarration wakes up in 1973, not knowing if he's mad, in a coma, or back in time.]]
** ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' starts off with Alex Drake going to work, getting shot in the face and waking up in 1981. She's also aware that she's in a coma (in the future/present) and getting stalked by the clown from Bowie's music video ''Ashes To Ashes'' from his album ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' started with the main characters stranded on a deserted island, and seemed to be about the survival of these people. Then we hear a mechanical roar at night. And later a ''fucking polar bear'' shows up. Perfectly summed up by Charlie's iconic line:
-->'''Charlie:''' Guys... where ''are'' we?
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' starts off with Malcolm explaining his family situation to the camera and finishes by saying "You want to know the best thing about childhood? At some point, it stops." perfectly encapsulating the cynical tone of the show.
* The opening scenes of the pilot episode of ''Series/MiamiVice'' feature the lead characters "in their native environment" so to speak. In New York, Tubbs heads into a nightclub with the intent to assassinate a Colombian guy, but is nearly killed in the process. After the credits roll, we see Crockett his partner making small talk about home life before they head off to a meet a drug dealer. All this happens before the two guys meet and before even the audience knows that both men are in fact police detectives. The good guys being bad guys to catch the bad guys nature of the show, along with it's use of MusicVideo techniques is firmly established. Also counts as EstablishingCharacterMoment.
** And then Crockett's partner is unceremoniously blown up by a car bomb planted by drug dealers, showcasing that 1) AnyoneCanDie and the PyrrhicVictory will be common things and 2) drug dealers will be unrelentingly evil people, making "The War With Drugs" more than a buzzword for the heroes.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': The first episode ends with 7 bodies (only 4 of which are murders, though), starting the series' trend of NeverOneMurder.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': They steal ''UsefulNotes/AirForceOne'' in the pilot, establishing that Gibbs and his agents play by their own rules and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' begins with [[AlternateContinuity Alex getting arrested]]. Nikita has a dream where she's at a [[HotterAndSexier pool party]]. It is a CW show, after all.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' begins with the iconic image of Prince Charming waking Snow White from her coma with TrueLovesKiss, then cuts to their royal wedding... which is promptly crashed by the Evil Queen, who threatens to doom the whole kingdom and gets a sword pointed at her by Snow White, then has that same one thrown at her by the prince for her trouble. Goodbye traditional fairy-tales, hello DarkerAndEdgier ones.
* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' starts off with a prologue of a robotic apocalypse, followed by someone who is wandering the lands. He soon gets hold up by what appears to be a mugger. The mugger seems to be in control... Then the wanderer interrupts him with a LittleNo. Cue the mugger losing all composure and leading into a comedic moment, showing that RPM mixes the dark story of a Robot Apocalypse with the comedy of a show with heavy LampshadeHanging.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' eschewed the then-standard VarietyShow format by beginning with a ColdOpen sketch where an immigrant (Creator/JohnBelushi) arrives for his English lesson with an instructor who teaches him bizarre phrases such as "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines." The sketch ends with the instructor collapsing from a heart attack (followed by the immigrant copying him), at which point Creator/ChevyChase steps in front of the camera and announces "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", showing that this was a show that was going to break the rules and standards of TV comedy.
* The first episode of ''Series/TheShield'' ends with Vic Mackey using the cover of a botched drug raid to murder one of his own men, established earlier in the episode as a plant from Internal Affairs, establishing Vic solidly as a VillainProtagonist.
* The various ''Franchise/StarTrek''s pretty much lay it all out in the "Space, the final frontier" opening monologue.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]", we're introduced to Captain Picard who's seen touring the ''Enterprise'', taking account of his ship, and we find out that the main crew isn't fully assembled yet as they're traveling to Farpoint Station to pick up their remaining officers, most notably Commander Riker.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E01E02Emissary Emissary]]" has a quick succession of these:
*** The very first scene of the series is a flashback sequence where we see a previous space battle from ''Next Generation'' from the perspective of the new protagonist...whose wife is killed by falling debris. It's a new, DarkerAndEdgier show: AnyoneCanDie.
*** The obligatory "Meeting the Crew" sequence...which takes place in a dilapidated space station, with a dysfunctional crew who would rather be anywhere else (including one major crew member who openly hates the Federation). It's a new show: TeethClenchedTeamwork is the norm, and [[UsedFuture working in space isn't always glamorous]].
*** An emotionally tense meeting between the previous protagonist and the new one...which is made a bit awkward by the fact that the former technically murdered the latter's wife. It's a new show: everything has long-lasting consequences, and [[BlackAndGreyMorality the battle between good and evil is anything but simple]]. One exchange between the two characters says it all:
---->'''Sisko''': I have a son that I'm raising alone, Captain. [[CrapsackWorld This is not the ideal environment]].\\
'''Picard''': [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Unfortunately, Starfleet officers do not always have the luxury to serve in an ideal environment]].
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E1Caretaker Caretaker]]" gave us three: The two ships being flung into the Delta Quadrant some 70 years at maximum warp from Earth, the fact that half the main characters hate the other half for ideological reasons, and the destruction of the Array that brought them there (and could send them back).
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E01E02BrokenBow Broken Bow]]" opened with a [[ProudWarriorRace Klingon]] crashing landing on Earth in a rural farm with the farmer coming out with something that looks like a cross between a laser rifle and a lever action shotgun, establishing the {{prequel}} nature and TwentyMinutesInTheFuture setting compared to the other series.
** The very first scene of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' is the Klingon warlord T'Kuvma speechifying to the effect that TheFederation is evil and wants to destroy the Klingon Empire, and they need to fight back. Right away, the storm clouds are gathering; the next episode, all hell breaks loose.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E1EverythingChanges Everything Changes]]" appears to be a normal British police drama, until Captain Jack appears and starts using alien technology to interview dead people. A few minutes later, Torchwood member Owen is seen using an alien date rape drug to seduce a woman and her boyfriend against their will, very definitely setting the show apart from ''Doctor Who''.
* ''Series/TrueBlood'': The very first scene of the very first episode of this series uses this trope. A goth gas station attendant tricks some tourists into thinking he's a vampire. After they leave a red-neck vampire tells him that if the goth ever impersonates a vampire again he'll kill him.
* ''Series/UpAllNight'' had the scene where Reagan says a bleeped swear word while watching a birthing video.
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': The main character, Rick, [[BoomHeadshot putting a bullet between the eyes of an undead child]]. Nobody at all is safe, and the world has turned brutal, savage, and lifeless.
* The climax of the pilot episode of ''Series/TheWestWing'', where the episode's plot is abruptly resolved by [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President Josiah Bartlet]] promptly (and awesomely) [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech putting some snide Christian fundamentalists in their place]], tells you all that you need to know about the spirit of political idealism that made the show famous. The fact that it's also [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Bartlet's first on-screen appearance]] makes it even sweeter.
-->'''Bartlet''': You’ll denounce these people, Al. You’ll do it publicly. And until you do, [[SophisticatedAsHell you can all get your fat asses out of my White House]]. C.J.? [[GetOut Show these people out.]]
* ''Series/TheWire'': "[[Recap/TheWireS01E01TheTarget The Target]]" starts with Officer [=McNulty=] talking with a witness and investigating a murder. The subject of the conversation (not about what happened, but about who the victim was) establishes that the series has a rather different outlook than your usual PoliceProcedural, and the tone of the conversation demonstrates where the show stands on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' using some serious WireFu on the bad guys showed just how awesome her show was gonna be compared to ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' had some examples:
%%** ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': We see the appearance of Shikenred fighting against a group of Gedoshu grunts.
** ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'': The series starts off in a casino where shady people gamble until the Lupinrangers reveal themselves, then the Patrangers appear who are trying to arrest the so called ‘phantom thieves’, they will also transform in the later part of the episode.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has a lot of these:
** ''Series/KamenRider'': The series and the franchise began when an ordinary biker was injured and captured by his mysterious captors and was then converted into a cyborg before he escapes and begins to fight against his captors setting up the iconic series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'': Begins in the Amazon jungle where the Inca chief in his last breath proceeds a mystical operation of a feral man and tells him to go to Japan, The rest of the opening credits has the feral man escaping from the monstrous enemy and then swam to Japan where he transforms into Kamen Rider Amazon and violently attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek giving the viewers an expression that this series is more violent then the other Showa Rider series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': The series starts off like a horror film where Kotaro Minami is trying to escape from a group of hooded like figures until he is caught but then strangely transforms into Kamen Rider Black and fights them back setting off the series.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'': The revival of the franchise began with the original Kuuga fighting against the group of Grongi before he seals himself then later in the episode Yusuke transforms into Kuuga after a belt merge with him, Even the title of the first episode says ‘Revival’
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The series begins with the protagonist Haruto senses danger and went out in action as kamen rider wizard
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' has some examples:
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': The series starts off when a member of a space police investigate an unusual event until he was injured in a conflict but is then revived by Ultraman and merges with him.
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' opens with the mysterious vanishing of a driver during a traffic stop, briefly describes the Ultra Garrison and their underground base, then the TPC brass briefs Captain Kiriyama, the narrator introduces each of the remaining members, who in turn get briefed, with Furuhashi and Soga driving to the site of one of the disappearances. Then, Dan Moroboshi stops the two men from going any further just in time for a policeman to vanish into thin air. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Then, Dan looks up, his eyes sparkle, and an alien vessel appears]]...
** ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' begins with one man saving two kids, one (his friend Jiro) [[LeeroyJenkins who tries to fight two rampaging monsters by himself]], another who was trapped in a building with a dog. The man dies, but at the same time one of the monsters is defeated by the other, and a blinding flash of light scared off the other one. Then the dead man comes back to life in his hospital bed after an Ultraman (who had scared off the monster earlier) merges with him. Later, the man hears something from a great distance, drives over there, and finds people evacuating from a village. Despite not having the strength, he does what he can to help. Then, at the darkest moment, with another monster threatening the village, a light comes from above, enveloping him and transforming him into the same Ultraman who merged with him earlier.
** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' began with Ultraseven battling two kaijuu and an alien by himself, only for the monsters to break his leg, nearly killing him if not for the titular Ultraman. Then in Episode 40, in another shocking moment, living UFO Silver Bloom appears, [[spoiler:killing the kaijuu-fighting team and nearly all of Leo's Earthling friends]].
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': The series is set in the original continuity, like the usual Ultra series, one which focuses on Ultraman Mebius; but after his first battle a member of the space force complained to him in anger that he saved no one. This sets off the premise of the series about an Ultraman who (much like the rest of us) is not perfect but flawed.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' does this in [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01Pilot the pilot]] with the first cold open and opening scene. The cold open involves a young woman stumbling through the woods, and being overcome after witnessing a shadowy figure in a beam of light apparently coming from a UFO... and her dead body being investigated the next day, with one investigator accusing the local chief of police that "it's happening again" after it's revealed she was part of a particular high school graduating class. The next scene involves Agent Dana Scully meeting her superiors at the FBI and being assigned to the "X Files", being given a background on the eccentricities of it's lead investigator... and quickly determining that underneath the veiled professionalism, they're assigning her there to find a reason to shut it down. Immediately this series establishes both that the series is going to revolve around bizarre and macabre events, often involving the supernatural or UFO culture, that the main characters will be investigating, and that in this world authority figures should not be regarded as entirely trustworthy.
