"On the Next..."

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

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

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

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

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

Contrast The Stinger (which is an extra scene of the current episode after the credits) and "Previously On..." (which shows what was on the previous episode). Compare Precap, "Find Out Next Time!". Sometimes comes with a catchphrase.

As an Ending Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of "On the Next..." include:

Anime

  • Nearly every anime (even episodic ones) does this for every episode (except the last, obviously). Most shows simply have a character narrate something to the effect of "on the next episode, our heroes raid the enemy base," or whatever. Some shows, however, are a little more creative with this.
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. In the show's Japanese run, the trailer consisted of Haruhi and Kyon arguing over the number of the next episode due to the Anachronic Order. The English and Russian dubs released the episodes in chronological order, rather than broadcast order, and so the previews were changed to the typical montage of scenes, but the dialog is nothing more than Yuki saying "Next time, on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, episode N. Watch it." The DVDs included the original trailers as special features.
  • Lucky Star features main characters... talking about... nothing related to the next episode. Or occasionally, guest voice actors, acting like their characters... from other shows.
    • Catch Phrase "Look forward to it!"
    • Actually this phrase was especially common in anime made "back in the day" (i.e., 60s, 70s, and 80s), although not all anime did this.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni does this, but just has words float across the screen so that you don't even get the context of the rest of the one-second snippet. The words describe scenery, such as "The tree blows gently," lines like "You won't transfer, will you Keiichi?" and objects such as "needle" while Frederica Bernkastel recites a sort-of three line poem that refers to the next episode only in the vaguest sense. Then they end with "Can you believe in this?" while giving you one shot of a character against a TV static background (instead of the scenery the character would be accompanied by in the episode). The trope description holds true - the episodes are, for the most part, pretty darn disturbing.
    • Ergo Proxy does this exact thing as well.
    • In the second season, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai (which isn't actually an Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo), the previews actually feature cute chibis of Rika and Hanyuu AKA Oyashiro-sama exchanging banter. In between them is a small screen that shows several things that will happen in the next episode. To some fans, too much.
  • Sailor Moon burnt the last episode of its second season for both a Recap Episode and also a vague preview of the next season.
  • Cowboy Bebop had previews which only vaguely related to the episode's plotline, and were usually a humorous conversation between two or more characters. None of the previews were actually scripted: the actors simply ad-libbed dialog for thirty seconds at the end of each episode.
    • This led to bits such as Ed attempting to hijack the show. One episode ends with every character falling asleep; the preview for the next ep has Ed telling the audience that they weren't asleep, they had all died (except for her) and thus she would be taking over as the main character. All this while footage from the next episode, showing everyone clearly alive, was playing.
    • The Post Episode Trailer for Episode 20, Pierrot Le Fou, in a prime example of the "disturbing episode" style of trailer, simply had the title character's mad laughter playing over the footage from the episode in question.
    • Spike lampshaded the crypticness of these segments once and said something along the lines of, "oh who cares, you can never figure out what's really going to happen from these things anyway."
      • Side note: This occurs after the trailer is read by Ein. The dog. In barks (mostly).
  • The trailers in Azumanga Daioh were less descriptive and more the nonsensical chitchat variety. For example, the trailer at the end of the first episode had the girls wondering, since there's a "Great King Azumanga" (a play on the title of the series), if there's also a "Prince Azumanga", finally concluding that the preview itself is the Prince.
  • Like a lot of other anime tropes, this was parodied on Excel Saga. For example, the last episode featured a "trailer" that was a preview for the series, which was capped by Excel asking "Hey, why are we showing this now?!"
  • Likewise, Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai has a spurious trailer at the end of its last episode (for the first episode, judging by the credits), where Sasshi continues to waste the whole time bemoaning that he doesn't get to do actual preview instead of actually doing them.
  • My-HiME sometimes has the characters talking about the episode that just finished, or just random, silly gags. Its sequel series Mai-Otome does this every episode. When a much-hinted at character appears near the end of the series, every idea she comes up with to talk about have already been talked about by other characters in earlier episodes.
  • Pani Poni Dash! not only goes with nonsensical chitchat, but features crudely-drawn gag Yonkoma, with no preview of the next episode, yet it is still labelled as a preview for the next episode.
    • The "preview manga" (also called Hekiru Hikawa Theater) is drawn by Hekiru Hikawa (The creator of the series). The previews also went with their own plot, from Himeko fighting Ichijo, after she turn into a giant, to Akira Miyata doing something (then being killed, in each one), then Black Miyamoto challenges Rebecca to a fight, however, whereas Rebecca's a genius, her twin... not so much.
    • The show also featured a preview in the last episode, told by Ichijo the Class Rep. It wasn't for the next episode however, but instead was for "Super Wolf Ichijo: The Great Turn The Tables Operation".
Will they be airing it?
—This is Ichijo, we're talking about here.
    • Then they did it again in the OVA. Though it became a discussion of how great it would be it there actually were a next episode.
  • Chou Kuse ni Narisou ("I Could Totally Get Used To This") featured the Unknown Rival breaking the fourth wall in the Post Episode Trailer by butting in to make self-serving comments.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion made a Running Gag out of boasting about all the Fan Service and all the exciting action that would be in each upcoming episode.
  • Mariasama ga Miteru plays with its Post Episode Trailer quite a bit, with Yumi and Sachiko adopting a myriad of different styles, random jokes, and so forth. See this one for a particularly epic example.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist gives one or two-sentence statements hinting at the content of the next episode... except for the trailer for the last episode, where it simply had Alphonse screaming.
    • The Japanese version focused more on funny, with the characters doing such strange things from talking about how people mispronounce their names to accidentally killing the director, all with the footage of next episode's preview running.
      • And in one case, where the episodes were intended to be shown back-to-back, Edward claims he's just transmuted your TV so it will explode if you change the channel.
      • Which would be in line with the manga philosophy...
    • The second series however, just features melancholic Fauxlosophic Narration by Father/the Narrator.
  • Bleach plays around with its Post Episode Trailer: characters that haven't even shown up yet will introduce themselves, certain characters can't bring themselves to describe the episode, and so on. Every time, Ichigo complains that they're wasting what little time they have.
    • Most recently, they've even had characters that died during the episode say things. Which prompt some amusing comments from others doing the comments, as well.
      • One even had Nel apologizing to the audience for the upcoming filler arc, saying that the studio executives made them do it.
    • The space will occasionally be filled with a character reciting one of the poems Kubo adds at the beginning of volumes. In most cases, the poem is dedicated to a character who is going to die/be defeated in the following episode, and is recited by that same character. Example, in the preview of episode 372, the one where Ulquiorra dies, Daisuke Namikawa reads the poem from volume 40 (yes, the infamous "I lust for everything about you" one).
  • Super Robot Wars Original Generation: Divine Wars is in love with the goofy variation. While their chattering usually has something to do with the next episode, its usually them commenting on the trailer itself, as if this is the first time they saw it too.
  • The new Kujibiki Unbalance TV series featured the characters from Genshiken (the show it is a Spin-Off from) discussing the show over its next episode preview.
  • Every episode of Fate/stay night has Kotomine saying the series' title at the beginning of the preview and the next episode's title at the end of it, with no dialogue in between.
  • The Angelic Layer previews have Icchan bringing up a cryptic hint about the next episode's content with Misaki. Due to her Pollyanna nature, she always takes it the wrong way, like ignoring hints that she'll have to battle her friends and instead heaping praise on them and halting the conversation.
  • The Hellsing trailers are of the ridiculous variety, done in a style very different from the show itself and bearing little to no relation to the events of the next episode - or any episode of any show, for that matter.
    • They're actually drawn in the style that the manga's author uses for an Imagine Spot. The flying fat man? That's Seres's gun, Harkonnen.
  • Negima!? had strange little skits showing the character the next episode would "star".
  • sola had characters humourously conversing while the screen just showed clouds. Something of a Mood Whiplash, considering how dark the series could be.
  • Bamboo Blade's feature Chibi versions of the characters in different settings talking about something related to the episode, or just time-filling fun. In one instance, Dojikko Satori ends up giving the title to the episode that had just aired.
  • Now and Then, Here and There' - the first such trailer reveals just what sort of show this is. Each one features a rant by the insane dictator Hamdo that is loosely related to the events of the next episode and extremely creepy.
  • Junjou Romantica doesn't even bother pretending to trail the next episode: the post-episode clips have a caption with the next episode's title, but are in themselves just little domestic moments between Misaki and Usami.
  • Ah! My Goddess usually has Keiichi and Belldandy discussing events to come. It usually ends with Belldandy giving the title and Keiichi giving some kind of freaked-out comment.
  • Shugo Chara has the post episode trailers for none other purpose than to hang a lampshade precisely from the very explanatory episode titles...
  • Naruto.
    • Naruto Shippuden seems to be experimenting with different styles of Post Episode Trailers. A few of them early on in the series were characters talking about the scenes that were being shown as though they were actually something else (for example, talking about surfing on Kisame's wave attack). More recently, they tend to be either characters talking about the situation at hand (usually paraphrased from actual dialogue), or Naruto taking on an omniscient narrator role, even referring to himself in the third person.
  • Rockman.EXE
  • Eureka Seven's post-episode sequences follow a common, distinctive formula; Renton's voice goes, "To Be Continued!", and a montage of scenes from the next episode is shown, with an extremely mellow Kate Higgins (Talho's VA) offering a very cryptic description of the events to come, followed by "Next episode: [title]".
  • Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu's Post Episode Trailer starts out kind of normally. But by the end of the trailer, it always ends with another show's "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase, including "And we promise more fanservice!", "Final Fusion approved!", "Everyone, watch it!", Inazuma Kiiick!
    • Purezza had Nogizaka Vocabulary Essentials, a segment where chibified versions of characters would explain certain words used in the show.
  • Dai-Guard's PETs are usually done by Akagi, except for once when another character cuts him off, reminds him that he's still unconscious as of the end of the just-finished episode, and then gives the preview in his place.
  • Code Geass post-ep trailers are very predictable on Lelouch saying something. Only twice is this broken: The final eps of S1, in which the episodes are back-to-back, and right after episode 18 of R2, the Wham! Episode of R2: The trailer had no dialogue whatsoever, and the episode title is aptly named The Betrayal: The Order of The Black Knights betrayed him, Nunnally (supposedly) died, and finally, Rolo gives his own life in a Tear Jerker Alas, Poor Scrappy moment.
  • The Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! would end with a Post Episode Trailer narrated by Anzu, which she'd always end with "Duel standby". From episode 200 onwards, she would say "Otanoshimini" ("Have fun", or "Enjoy it"). Probably because the arc had almost no duels, so "Duel standby" wouldn't make much sense. This changes again at episode 223, the penultimate episode, where she ends the preview with "Duel no naku ga oeru." (The duel of tears will be finished).
  • Kaiji's previews have no voiceovers, just scenes from the next episode with ominous music playing in the background until the end, where the announcer simply says "Next time" followed by the name of the episode.
  • Rideback's post-ep trailers features images from the next episode, put as a backdrop of the show's side characters in Chibi form performing comedy gags... Up until Suzuri is killed by police brutality in episode 10 and the episode's segment is turned into a Really Dead Montage.
  • Hakugei Densetsu (Known as Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick in the USA) did this on every DVD disk, rather than every episode. They even used the phrase "On the Next...": "On the next Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick: ..."
  • School Rumble parodies this trope. In the final episode of the first season, Tenma begins the post-episode trailer like normal until she is interrupted by Karasuma, who reminds her that the show is over—there isn't a next episode. Further played with in the following OVA—Tenma begins the same preview verbatim before stopping herself when she realizes how familiar it sounds. The characters then reveal that the trailer is a teaser for the next season of the show.
  • In Axis Powers Hetalia, this would sometimes happen, but sometimes not. Sometimes the preview would be brief, and other times it would take up a significant part of the five minute episodes. Still other times, the episode being previewed won't even be the next episodes, but many weeks later.
  • Paranoia Agent: "To begin...a haiku-like Mind Screw consisting of Fauxlosophic Narration that will somehow all make sense once you've actually seen the next episode. And then... *WHAM*"
    • There was even an "On the Next..." teaser for the last episode, narrated by a less-than-sane Maniwa.
  • The episode previews of Baccano!! feature Isaac and Miria misinterpreting the otherwise straightforward episode titles.
    • The extra episodes replace this with Wrench Crazy Graham Specter ranting and raving incoherently about the next episode title.
  • The Shaman King anime starts out with fairly normal previews, featuring Manta overreacting to the clips from the next episode. However, as the series progresses they turn utterly bizarre, as if voice actress Inuyama Inuko was just asked to stand behind the microphone and do whatever came to mind, from short skits to surprisingly good imitations of her fellow actresses, over completely unrelated bits of the next episode. The segments go back to normal for the show's climax, something that doesn't go unnoticed ("Lately the previews have become rather serious...").
  • Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou has the next episode previews narrated by one of the Hachiyou - often, but not always, the one who gets a prominent role in that episode; and the one for the last episode is narrated by the main character. Sometimes, but again, not always, the previews give away the exchange of the regular Ending Theme for the character's Image Song in the episode in question, replacing the Anime Theme Song BGM with that Image Song.
    • There are also omake previews on DVDs, narrated by the Big Bad. These are recut to focus more on the Oni clan, and consist mostly of said Big Bad trying to get the main heroine to The Dark Side. The preview for the last episode has him losing his Large Ham tendencies somewhat, seeing as he's clearly not going to win.
  • As much of a Gag Dub as Samurai Pizza Cats is, the show is a rare example of an anime with a clearly "localized" dub doing it (Speedy: On the next..../General Catton: PIZZA CATS!!!!).
  • Soul Eater follows a similar pattern to Bleach as mentioned above, although putting one both before and after the credits. Each preview usually ends with Maka saying "I'll take your soul" or some variation.
  • Happens in the Japanese version of Pokémon. Oak has a habit of having poetry sections after (or is it before?) these too.
  • Ladies versus Butlers!! has the preview delivered by any two characters. At the same time. The viewer must keep up with overlapping dialogue that may or may not be related to what the actual preview is showing.
  • Planetes makes its trailers deliberately misleading.
  • So Ra No Wo To previews weren't part of the show, you had to go the official website to watch them. The one for Episode 7 was incredibly misleading, source of the meme "The preview lied, people died"
  • One Piece episode previews feature Luffy, narrating what will happen next (or just messing around), usually with other characters chiming in, as the first opening instrumental We Are plays in the background. Then, Luffy says "On the next... One Piece!" and gives the next episode's title. At the very end, Luffy yells, "I'm gonna be king of the pirates!"
  • Highschool of the Dead has a clips package with dialogue snippets from the episode playing over it, very often overlapping, and without context. Hope you're paying attention.
    • Any subbed version of those stingers is insane, you try reading three lines of text at once when each only stays on screen for a second, with no knowlege of Japanese whatsoever.
  • Angel Beats!! is similar to the above, except it doesn't even bother with the clips package. All the dialogue is spelled out according to its line in the script. It's easier to discern (somewhat), but again, hope you're paying attention.
  • Macross Frontier: "See you next deculture!"
  • Gun X Sword had fairly standard trailers always narrated by Wendy. Occasionally she revealed information about her changing state of mind or emotions, including her developing feelings for Van. The trailers take on significance in the Distant Finale, when you learn that the narration is actually Wendy talking to a reporter about her adventures years after they happened.
  • Parodied in the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 season 2 "preview", where Lockon Stratos (fails to) come back to life, Tieria is revealed to be a robot, and space aliens invade. Strangely enough, there is a grain of truth to it all...
  • Every series of Digimon did this until Digimon Xros Wars came along; in the dub it was omitted until Digimon Savers. The narrator varied depending on the series: a Timeskipped Takeru for Adventure and 02, Masako Nozawa for Tamers (not doing her Guilmon voice), and Masaru and Agumon for Savers.
  • Oddly, halfway through Nadesico's run, the promos switch from a Lemony Narrator to the "character chitchat" version mentioned above.
  • Dragonball Z Kai ends with these, usually starting with Goku introducing himself, and the others joining in after he explains the premise. Occasionally another character takes over, depending on the content of the episode.
    • The original Dragonball Z was notable for this, in the English Dub at least. It even featured a hammy announcer.
      • Lampshaded by the actual announcer at a con once.

Announcer: Next time, on Dragon Ball Z, nine minutes of Vegeta screaming! Eleven minutes of Goku fretting! Plus, someone throws a punch! Find out who it is, next time, on DRAGON BALL Z!!!

  • Wandering Son incorporated the preview into the ending. So every episode part of the ending near the end would show clips of the next episode. They never really said anything though, all we saw were parts of scenes set to the music.
  • Yumeiro Patissiere had normal previews for most of the episodes. Except episode 39, who ends with team Ichigo going to Paris. The preview is indicating a Filler episode with the spirits, but when they are about to announce the name of the next episode, Ichigo says "This is wrong!", three scenes from the human part of the episode are shown and she says the name of the next episode.
  • The final episode of Robotech features a preview for the first episode with the narrator tellng the audience the show is replaying the entire series from the begining.

Comics

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

Film

Literature

  • The Disgaea Novels pull this the same way as they do in the game section below, complete with a picture to further demonstrate the insanity.

Live-Action TV

  • In the 2005-06 season, shows on the WB abused "On the Next..." egregiously. For example, on Gilmore Girls, all of the clips in the "On the Next..." they show tonight will take place in the last three minutes of the next episode, which we will see next week. And so on.
  • The new Doctor Who series uses this almost universally, although it's cut out of the Sci-Fi Channel airings.
    • The original Doctor Who used a multi-part story format with cliffhangers at the end of each episode bar the last. The lack of cliffhangers in the new single-episode format meant that the first two-parter was eagerly awaited by fans hungry for their first cliffhanger in sixteen years ... the resolution to which was promptly spoiled in the "On the Next..." trailer, which ran straight after the end of the episode. After this, the "On the Next..." for the first part of two-parters was moved to run after the credits for most episodes.
      • In the original series, the final shot or scene from the previous episode would always be the opening shot or scene of the next episode. In some cases where they needed to pad out the story, this reprise could run as long as several minutes.
      • Fans of the original series have created similar trailers for the classic episodes on YouTube.
    • The US "On the Next..." trailers employ the standard overdramatic, spoilery voiceover all trailers seemingly share. The trailer for Utopia said, basically, "The Doctor's greatest enemy returns!" right before showing said enemy and showing him yell his name. The US, unfortunately, did have an trailer for Journey's End, which was basically this:
      • Narrator: The Doctor faces his greatest enemy-the Daleks-with the help of a lot of friends-such as Jackie and Mickey who save Sarah Jane and K9-and there's an shocking secret to saving the Earth...the Doctor-Donna! They actually said in the trailer that the shocking secret was the Doctor-Donna and showed several clips to that effect. About the only thing they didn't spoil was what happened to Donna.
      • The US "On the Next..." trailers have dropped the spoilery narrator in recent series.
  • All three Stargate television series have rather unremarkable "On the Next..." sequences at the end of episodes.
    • Stargate SG 1 is currently being re-run in chronological order on TH!S, a local channel broadcast out of Talladega, Alabama. Even though the episodes are up to a decade old, they made their own trailers for upcoming episodes, which consist of a non-character omniscient narrator describing what problem SG-1 would face in the next episode.
    • The Sci-Fi channel promos for Stargate SG 1 had the disappointing habit of giving away major plotlines for the episode. An example revealing that the SG-1 team were in fact robot duplicates - when that surprise wasn't revealed in the actual episode until halfway through.
  • Parodied in Two Guys, a Girl And A Pizza Place. At the end of the Halloween episode, all of the leads are killed off. Thus follows an 'On The Next' consisting entirely of shots of the abandoned Pizza Place. (The show continued next week as though nothing had happened).
  • In Saban's Masked Rider, during the credits, a sequence was run that was more a parody of "On The Next" promos, spoofing something that happened during the current episode and saying nothing about the next one. (For example, a scene of Dex using a water-based power-up was shown, and the announcer said "Will Dex learn to take his clothes off before taking a shower?" After two or three such instances, the announcer would say "All this and more on the next exciting adventure of... Masked Rider!")
  • Subverted in Arrested Development and Clerks the Animated Series, as the scenes shown in the "On The Next" sequence are never actually shown in subsequent episodes, though in Arrested Development's case, the "previews" resolve or expand on plot threads from the current episode.
    • Arrested Development actually takes this one step further - because you are so used to seeing scenes that will never show up, they occasionally threw a genuine important plot point from the next episode in as well. Of course, viewers would think this was just another gag - until the next episode.
  • In the first series spoof educational show Look Around You, each episode would end with a reference to what the next show would be about, although these were never used. Topics included hitchhiking, Italians and reggae.
  • Straight after the final episode of Lost season 1 in the UK, Channel 4 was so far behind America they showed a season 2 trailer showing many notable moments from the second series, including Hurley's dream of Jin speaking English and the chicken suit. This was intended to blow the viewer away rather than any sort of cliffhanger.
  • Supernatural always does this, which gives its fanbase time to speculate about the possibilities of next week's episode. The short trailers are usually quite vague and broad and include clips from all over the episode, which gives the fanbase a lot to anticipate and guess about.
  • The Star Trek shows since The Next Generation have come with next-episode previews. Voyager had the misfortune to be stuck with UPN's publicity department, which made notoriously bad previews; fans were left wincing at the corny narration, the deceptive editing that bordered on outright lies, and on one memorable occasion, the description of Seven of Nine as "Voyager's Battlestar Babe."
    • The original series, of course, had its famous "Star Trek - Next Voyage" teasers, which have become a permanent feature of DVD releases. The "Next Voyage" previews had a definite tendency to highlight Super Dickery and Fan Service. They frequently ended with Kirk in apparently inescapable doom or even with Kirk apparently dead.
  • Merlin, on the BBC, does this. The balance between misleading and spoilery can vary.
  • Being Human (UK), also on the BBC, does it too, erring on the misleading side.
  • Bravo went through a long period of commissioning Magazine Shows, such as Game-Pad, with an eye to repeating them a few times concurrently, with a "On the Next..." at the end. Savvy producers would end the last show in the series with a preview of the first episode.
  • The Amazing Race has them, but they're only misleading to people who aren't familiar with them. Anyone who's watched more than a few episodes will realize than anyone shown to be in danger in the preview will survive the next leg 95% of the time.
  • Tune in next week! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
  • Survivor.
  • Life On Mars did this for all non-finale episodes except the second-to-last episode of Series 2, which ended on a plot twist. Ashes to Ashes usually uses them as well.
  • Spoofed in the Veterinarian's Hospital sketches on The Muppet Show which always ended with the announcer saying "Tune in next week to hear Dr Bob/Nurse Piggy/Nurse Janice say..."
  • Power Rangers in Space
  • The live-action syndicated series The Adventures of Superboy ended every episode with a preview of the next. These often ended with the narrator exclaiming "...on the next Superboy!"
  • The Mentalist uses this at the end of every episode, said by Simon Baker, no less. And in a rather distinctive Australian accent.
  • Mad Men uses the interesting tactic of picking entirely random clips from the next episode, so the viewer has to watch the next episode to figure out how they all fit together. Sometimes an important plot development is hinted at, but rarely in a way that you can guess what they episode will be about.

Video Games

  • Disgaea: Hour of Darkness parodied this trope by using post-chapter trailers that were outlandish lies by secondary character Etna. Then it subverted itself by having one of these trailers, the most outlandish yet, actually be the next chapter.
    • There was also the time Jennifer and Etna tried selling Thursday to raise money only for him to comment that they didn't do a preview. Flonne tries to steal and gets shot for it, and the final one is entirely serious and not at all out landish, only for the cast to exclaim things MUST be getting serious if Etna's telling the truth.
    • The anime also used Etna for equally nonsensical trailers.
      • And of course, it subverts it for the last one, just like with the games.
    • Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories plays with the concept by having its post-chapter trailers be summary news stories of the previous chapter and its impact, rather than previews of the next.
    • The third game returned to the old system, this time with a different character narrating each "on the next"-segment, most of them parodies of different animes, every episode is also referred to as the final one.
      • Also the preview for the post-game chapter is narrated by Etna, who has had no role until this point. The cast of course makes a point to be in aw of her experience in previews.
    • The 4th game continues the tradtion, however this time they mostly devolve into conversations about Sardines and the japanese language that deals with fish, followed by a sardine themed title. Once again, the other characters manage to keep Valvatorez from derailing the final episode preview with his obsession with sardines... only for him to pop in at the end with one last obscure sardine fact.

Fenrich: Your commitment and devotion to sardines... is quite admirable...

  • The NES version of Strider plays this straight whenever the game is quit.
  • Viewtiful Joe, which just adds to the feel of the game series.
  • Phantasy Star Universe thinks it's an anime, apparently. Therefore, it has a prologue, an intro sequence, a credits sequence, and a Next Time sequence for every 'episode' in the plot. The narrator actually says 'Next time on Phantasy Star Universe'. And more than this, the game appears to be taking itself seriously.
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn does the same thing for the different "parts" of the game. In the English release anyways, it wasn't there is the JP version.
  • Sakura Taisen does this as well, with every game in the series split up into several episodes, with the opening sequence playing at the start of each episode, and a Next Time sequence at the end of each episode.
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time does this at the save points. Considering that some of the shown futures include the Prince dying, they might be interpreted as the Prince getting a glimpse at the games in which you reverted to the save point...
  • Sonic Adventure 2 did this as well, when one story mode was completed, it would have a preview of the other one, and once both had been beaten, finishing either would set up a preview of the "last episode" (aka the Last story).
    • This also had the side effect of making it so that if you want to see both trailers, you have to go through the game on two separate files—once beating Hero first to see the Dark trailer and once beating Dark first to see the Hero trailer.
    • And there is something very interesting that happens with these trailers. In the original Dreamcast version, whichever story you beat first would still play the opposing trailer upon beating the story a second time. In the Gamecube version, once both stories have been beaten, the Last Story trailer will play for both of them.
  • Super Robot Wars: Original Generations has the bonus section called OG 2.5 which is pretty much a post-game trailer for Original Generation Gaiden.
  • Before the credits of Shadows of the Empire, there's a message to the effect of "Did Dash really die? Replay on Hard to find out!"
  • At the end of every section of races on Split Second there's a trailer showing some of the things that occur in the next section. Some of these are the best way to see the powerplays in action, as you don't usually get a good view in game. It's done to help enhance the idea that the game is actually a TV show, and every chapter also starts with a "coming up on the next Split Second", which features much the same footage; annoying if you're not taking a break at the end of a chapter.

Web Comics

  • The two current[when?] printed volumes of El Goonish Shive feature nonsensical "previews", courtesy of Justin.
  • Dub This has a character (Bandai Guy) who parodies the worst of this breed...
  • City of Reality used to show individual panels from the next chapter, as well as a character giving a very vague idea as to what the next chapter was about. It is uncertain whether they will keep this up under the new format.

Web Original

Western Animation

  • One of The Simpsons Halloween episodes plays with this as well, lampshading the fact that the Halloween eps are outside of the show's (already very loose) continuity. A Frankenstein parody ends with Mr. Burn's head sewed to Homer's body. The scene fades to black, and we're treated to a preview of "next week, on The Simpsons," where Homer and Burns' head have an argument over where to go for dinner: Homer wants to go to a spaghetti restaurant, while Burns insists on attending a reception for the Queen of Holland. Homer moans that he hates having two heads. Of course, in the REAL next episode everything is back to normal.
    • This sequence is made all the more funny by the fact that The Simpsons never actually does On The Nexts.
  • On Frisky Dingo, one episode ended with reporter Grace Ryan hanging for her life from a 30+ story building. The episode's "On the Next..."? "Oh, my God, she fell."
  • In a two-part episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law ("Deadomutt"), Birdman is facing the death penalty. During the credits, the next episode is previewed: the jury foreman reads the "not guilty" verdict, then a Jump Cut to Birdman being strapped into the electric chair.
  • In an interesting variation, Justice League Unlimited would sometimes feature scenes (usually Fight Scenes) from the next episode playing over the credits.
  • Parodied on the Phineas and Ferb episode "Chronicles of Meap". At the beginning of the episode, it makes it look like the episode is actually an episode of a show called "Chronicles of Meap" (and that the episode is actually called "More Than Meaps the Eye"). At the end of the episode, they do a fake preview for another episode of "Chronicles of Meap" called "Meapless in Seattle" featuring multiple action movie cliches such as Major Monogram firing Agent P.
    • The Credits gag was narrated by Don LaFontaine, who died shortly afterwards. The Credits include a tribute screen to him.
    • It's going to be for real, though; the creators have admitted that they are going to make that episode in Season 3.
  • Clone High did this all the time; one episode even has the narrator 'accidentally' spoil the 'twist' ending of the next Very Special Episode.

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