Trope Telegraphing

Someone looking around a dark room + open trunk also in frame = upcoming Jump Scare.

"It's rare for Game of Thrones to have such a heartwarming, uplifting scene. That girl is so fucked."

— Dave The Direman on Game of Thrones

This is when Chekhov's Gun has been fired enough to make it predictable to long-time viewers. Basically something will happen in a show, and a viewer knows what is going to happen next.

Let's say some woman buys a new dress. If it's fancy enough, and she gushes over it, that dress is getting wrecked. Or say a guy has a fear of flying even if that is never shown before. Odds are he is going to get over it by the end (except when you're being ironic in the Alanis Morissette sense).

This is common in Strictly Formula fiction, but it doesn't necessarily hurt the story.

Note this is strictly when the clue is In-Universe. If the clue is meta to the story, it's another trope.

• Let's say Sgt. Bilko in The Phil Silvers Show has a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme. Even if we know it's not going to work, it doesn't count because it's what always happens on the show. Now if he had a certain part of his plan that made it clear exactly how the plan would fail, that would be this trope.
• Or let's say Dr. House thinks he's solved the latest disease mystery. If the only clue that he hasn't solved it yet is the fact that the episode is only half over (or he hasn't ruled out lupus by then), that is not this trope. That is Spoiled by the Format.
• Or if you're watching anything from Joss Whedon and you just know that the characters will be throwing Buffy Speak left and right, the Happily Married couple will implode or that the most likable Mauve Shirt in the bunch will be Killed Off for Real in a horrible fashion. Or playing a BioWare game and can spot your future party member three levels before they actually join, or things are going so well at Act 2 that you're just waiting on The Reveal to throw everything straight to hell? Nope, that's Signature Style.
• Should you sit through enough stories of Doctor Who and notice that the Doctor or someone else defeats the Daleks seemingly for good, but you know from experience that it won't be long before they come back just as though nothing happened, bigger and badder than ever. You're really dealing with Joker Immunity. Again, that trope is just a relative of this one.

Ways this trope 'can count'' include if the characters are aware of what is going to happen, that is Lampshade Hanging due to Genre Savvy.

You can also know when a proper example of a Subverted Trope happens, when something is telegraphed, but doesn't happen.

A Super-Trope to Tempting Fate (characters saying something that dares the universe into making things miserable for them, with the universe happily complying), Too Happy to Live (the extreme happiness makes it clear that tragedy is about to strike).

Finally, examples shouldn't be specific, so much as be just about the clue, and what is going to happen next.

See also Foreshadowing. Compare Suspicious Video-Game Generosity and similar video game tropes that give away tough sections through their level design.

---

Examples:

General

• The hero encounters a villain and/or a conflict. No matter how daunting the villain or conflict seems, the hero will win, because The Good Guys Always Win (mostly).
• A sporting event is coming up on a teen sitcom. The good guys will win at the last minute, usually with help from the last person anyone expects, leading to An Aesop about friendship and teamwork and so on.
  • Unless it's the one-off about being a good loser or something. If that's the case, then the episode will usually begin with the loss rather than having it at the end.
• A character has two similar-looking items, but mixing them up would lead to a major Fee Fi Faux Pas or worse. He WILL get them mixed up.
• In a similar vein, two characters have identical-looking bags/briefcases/whatever holding radically different cargo. They will get switched, and bizarre shenanigans will ensue while the characters try to get things sorted out.
• A good guy and a bad guy are synchronized. There will be a Heroic Sacrifice before the end.
• Swords over a fireplace, where any characters have any sword experience whatsoever, or even if they don't, as in How I Met Your Mother. There will be a sword fight, almost certainly with lots and lots of Flynning
• Although it is Just for Fun, the page on How to Survive a War Movie has a good number of examples as well.
• Hot chicks are swarming the music star. At least one will be underage and lying about it and/or will sue for paternity within the next nine months.
• The guy being interviewed in the heart-wrenching human interest piece about drugs will overdose.
  • In the same vein (bad pun), the guy who says AIDS is a myth always has AIDS and will die from AIDS-related complications.
• It's early in the show and a potential disaster looms. It's going to happen.
• Two people are having sex. They are unmarried and really enjoying it. One or both will die. If it's one, the survivor will be accused of the other's death.
• If a Wild Teen Party is being thrown at a house with a pool, someone is going to be involuntarily thrown in with their clothes on before the end of the night. 50/50 chance between the lead and the Alpha Bitch.
  • Depending on the show, someone's going to be really wasted, fall in and drown.
• If a wedding ring appears at any time before the wedding itself happens, that sucker is going on an adventure.
• A pure girl is ill. Her illness is constantly brought up. And she isn't an action heroine or anything. Surprise surprise, she's going to die.
• You know something's up when a Monster of the Week is defeated early into an episode.
• An all-powerful villain is introduced and has the heroes on the ropes. Nine times out of ten, he's Too Powerful to Live.
• As mentioned on the page, devoting time to showing someone starting up their car is a good sign that it's about to explode. Another red flag is if the scene suddenly cuts to or lingers on a distant exterior shot of a vehicle that we just saw a character get into.
• The Dragon already feels like the Final Boss. The Big Bad is a Post-Final Boss.

Anime and Manga

• The Power Trio of Childhood Friends have made The Promise. And they will follow through on that promise, no matter what happens. Every time it seems like any chance of The Promise being fulfilled is gone, The Hero will get his Second Wind to make sure it is.

Comic Books

• The Disney Ducks Comic Universe practically has its own private set of Undead Horse Tropes, elements that have been used to death and back again during the trillions of stories so far. For example:
  Donald Duck: "Hey, I have this problem."
  Gyro Gearloose: "You're in luck, I just invented something that will help you with that."
  "That's cool, can I borrow this?"
  "Sure. Just make sure not to do X or it will all Go Horribly Wrong."
  "Yeah, sure, whatever."
• Mortadelo y Filemón: Whenever the Instant Bandages on a character last for more than a single panel, it's guaranteed that the bandaged body part will suffer at least one more Amusing Injury.

Film

• Lampshaded in Last Action Hero, where in-universe action movie plot is Strictly Formula to its Genre Savvy young viewer. This continues to be brought up during his visit within the movie's universe.
• In Urban Legend, familiarity with the urban legends involved can spoil the experience. The "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Light?" sequence is particularly foreshadowed.

Live-Action TV

• Frasier: Oh look, the Cranes are throwing a party. Cue A Simple Plan, with the occasional "Fawlty Towers" Plot.
• For at least the first few seasons, if an attractive woman showed up on Two and a Half Men for one or two episodes, if Charlie wasn't sleeping with her, Alan would be.
• Law & Order:
  • A big-name guest star is on "The Mothership" or SVU: If this star isn't the victim or the defense lawyer, (s)he's the perp.
    • Criminal Intent likes to defy the trope by offering up multiple guest stars in an episode.
  • If there's a courthouse Perp Walk, there's a 50/50 chance of a Vigilante Execution. If said walk occurs at the halfway point of the episode or 55-minute mark, the question becomes who's going to pull the trigger.
• If, on nearly any episode of Monk, something is given somewhat significant notice, it will be used to solve the crime.
• Oh, look, the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are showing interest in a topic or issue that they usually don't. I wonder if the Big Bad in the moon will find some way to turn it into or summon an appropriate monster, inadvertently teaching them a valuable life lesson on the issue in the process.
• One of the girls on Sister, Sister just got two hot dates. Everyone knows there'll be a Twin Switch coming.
• The First 48: The police have a suspect in interrogation. Is his face blurred? If the answer is "yes", he's not getting arrested.
• Dr. House has a new patient with a mysterious ailment. Said patient has a minor symptom that is mentioned, dismissed as irrelevant, and not mentioned for the next 30-40 minutes. Bet you ten bucks House's brilliant final diagnosis is based mostly on that one symptom.
• Spoofed in That Mitchell and Webb Look's "Get Me Hennimore!" sketches, parodying old A Simple Plan sitcoms. Bumbling assistant is given two incredibly easy-to-confuse tasks by his oblivious boss, who has to leave the office for some contrived reason - Gilligan Cut to the inevitable chaos that the boss comes back to.
• Exploited by Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger. The protagonist's vast knowledge of Super Sentai tropes allows him to notice when something happens during a battle that leads to the heroes winning, cuing the team to start turning the tables.
  • Subverted in season 2's episode 11: Malshina has performed a Hostile Show Takeover on the Super Sentai series and altered the real world to one in which evil wins and all these "flags" are reversed, resulting in Delu-Knight winning a battle after doing a bunch of things that would make him lose. Later, Nobuo exploits this fact by doing the same thing.
• On Perry Mason, in the period at the beginning of the episode where the murder hasn't happened yet, if someone says anything along the lines of "I'll kill you" to another person, the second person will end up dead pretty soon and the first person will be the prime suspect (and hence Perry's client). In court, if Perry asks to reserve the right to recall a witness, it's likely that said witness is the killer.
• The Polish drama show Trudne Sprawy (and its almost-identical twin, Dlaczego Ja). Is one of the characters alone in their house, with nothing threatening going on right now, and suddenly there's a knock on the door (helpfully pointed out by the narrator)? With 99% probability it's a policeman (or two), arriving to relay the news that one of the protagonists' family members has been accused of a crime.
• Game of Thrones: Two characters share a scene of open and genuine heartfelt emotion - be it romantic, familial or True Companions-type? One or both of them will end up dead or maimed by the end of the season. It's even odds they don't make it through that episode. Season Six may have disrupted the pattern with the reunion of Sansa and Jon. But since Jon had already been murdered and resurrected and Sansa had been put through the ringer by Ramsey Bolton, that might still count.
• Star Trek:
  • Every Sugar Bowl planet that our heroes visit will turn out to be a Crapsaccharine World.
  • In the episode Timescape, in an early scene on the time-frozen Enterprise you can see a Romulan in the background moving slightly. On initial watching it's easy to dismiss it as the actor not standing still properly. But ten minutes later it turns out to be one of the non-time-frozen aliens, so it's the *character* not standing still properly.
• Doctor Who. Any exciting new technology, whether in the Present Day or The Future, is either going to Go Horribly Wrong and create monsters, or was always secretly meant to create monsters. A Sugar Bowl planet created thanks to an exciting new technology? Yep, it's both.
• Dateline: If a homicide victim's close family member, particularly a spouse, is not interviewed in the first half of the episode, there's about a 90% chance that person will be found guilty of their murder before it's over.
• The Incredible Hulk (1977): Not so often as Once an Episode, but if there's any water around whenever Banner hulks out, the baddie is gonna get wet.

Video Games

• The love interest girl or Unlucky Childhood Friend or just a childhood friend in an Eastern RPG is a playable character. If she doesn't eventually leave permanently, there will be a two-hour stretch where she isn't playable, either by kidnapping or for some other reason.
• You just got a really cool new party member in an RPG. But what's this? You can't change their equipment or customize their abilities? You've just met a Guest-Star Party Member, and there's about a 90% chance they'll be either Killed Off for Real or do a Face–Heel Turn soon.
• You suddenly find a whole bunch of health and ammo, or a Save Point, at the end of a long corridor. You check your map and notice the next room is large and empty-looking. Surprise! There's a Boss Battle coming!
• You get into a boss fight after a very dramatic build-up, and your attacks only do Scratch Damage. It's a Hopeless Boss Fight, and you have to lose in order to progress the story.
• You've arrived at the end of a really ominous-looking dungeon, the characters give a Rousing Speech about this being the final battle and you're about to enter the apparent Big Bad's lair... but there are still places on the map you haven't explored, and your completion percentage isn't anywhere near 100 despite making an effort to collect everything and do every sidequest so far. Is it no surprise you're up against a Disk-One Final Boss?

Web Original

• The Onion parodies this in "President Faces Down Monster In Action-Packed Schedule" with the White House Press Secretary summing the President's upcoming day like a standard disaster movie. He also reports that in a few years, the President will repeat this schedule but with greater production values and shittier writing.
  • "Memorial Honors Victims Of Imminent Dam Disaster"

Western Animation

• Olaf's Frozen Adventure: Elsa going up into the castle's attic looking for Anna sets up a classic jump scare as Anna is hiding in one of the trunks. Prompting a gasp and a mild "Anna, what are you doing?" from Elsa. As they browse Elsa's trunk of old belongings, it seems set up for a second jump scare. Anna finds it only full of Elsa's old gloves. Elsa lifts out a row of gloves and her childhood stuffed penguin Sir Jorgen Bjorgen. She reaches into her trunk and pulls out a small wooden box with two tiny bells on it. She hands it to Anna and tells her to look inside...and finds old drawings of Olaf that Anna would slip under Elsa's door.
• People familiar with the prevalence of the Gender-Equal Ensemble in children's television could have easily anticipated that the new baby in Daniel tiger's family would be a girl.

---