The Supergirl pilot episode leaked late last week, in full and in high quality - genuine error or a publicity stunt?
Some believed that the comic book adaptation hitting the web - 6 months before its intended November launch on CBS - was a simple (if rather large) mistake, while conspiracy theorists argued that the pilot had been intentionally leaked to counter negative buzz following a lukewarm reception to the first series trailer.
Whatever the truth, the leak is far from the first incident of its kind. Episodes of popular TV shows have been popping up online ahead of broadcast for a while now - sometimes it's a matter of days, but sometimes it's months...
11. FlashForward
Leaked 1 week early
How's this for irony? Viewers got a FlashForward of their own when the pilot episode of the ABC sci-fi series - then eyed as the next Lost - appeared on file-sharing sites seven days before its network premiere on September 24, 2009.
10. Mad Men
What to Read Next
Leaked 1 week early
The plan was for the third season of Mad Men to launch August 16, 2009 on AMC, with the premiere then being uploaded to iTunes. Except the first two episodes were accidentally made available, meaning fans got a sneak peek at 'Love Among the Ruins' a week earlier than intended.
9. 24
Leaked 10 days early
Whoever leaked these 24 episodes online back in 2007 is lucky that there's not a real Jack Bauer out there, dispensing swift and brutal justice to 'moles'. The first four hours of Day 6 were made freely available to torrenters, meaning that '9:00am-10:00am' (scheduled to air January 15 on Fox) was out in the public domain a week and a half earlier than intended.
8. House of Cards
Leaked 2 weeks early
"It's Washington - there's always a leak," was Netflix's smart and funny retort when the third season of its award-winning political drama House of Cards was briefly released 2 weeks early. That's all 13 episodes, in full - though the streaming service corrected their mistake before anyone was able to binge-watch the whole lot.
7. Game of Thrones
Leaked 3 weeks early
HBO's fantasy epic was the victim of piracy last month. The first four episodes of its fifth season were leaked on April 11 - just one day ahead of the season premiere's planned launch, but three whole weeks before 'Sons of the Harpy' was supposed to air in the US. In total, the four episodes were downloaded 32 million times across 18 million IP addresses.
6. Homeland
Leaked 1 month early
The (fictional) CIA was seriously compromised back in September 2013 when an unfinished version of Homeland's third season premiere, 'Tin Man Is Down' - missing opening credits and some visual effects - was leaked. Showtime later made an even bigger mistake when they aired an entire season that was mostly missing Damian Lewis.
5. Doctor Who
Leaked 7 weeks early
2.5 weeks before it aired on BBC One, Doctor Who's big comeback episode 'Rose' was leaked to the internet - an even more traumatic brush with piracy than 1969's 'The Space Pirates'.
9 years later and our Time Lord hero fell victim again, with scripts and - worse - unfinished rough cuts of the first five episodes of series 8 being leaked from BBC Worldwide's Latin America headquarters, almost 7 weeks before Peter Capaldi made his debut proper with the BBC One broadcast of 'Deep Breath'.
4. Dexter
Leaked 2 months early
Dexter Morgan's most persistent foe? Not the Ice Truck Killer. Not the Trinity Killer. Internet pirates! The first two episodes of Dexter's second season appeared online in July 2007 - over 2 months before their intended transmission - and, later that year, the season's final two episodes were also leaked.
'Living the Dream' - the show's fourth season premiere - also debuted online a month before its premiere date. Online piracy is a crime, guys - and that puts you on Dexter's list.
3. The Flash
Leaked 3 months early
Barry Allen's first solo adventure emerged faster - ho ho - than The CW had intended. The pilot episode of The Flash lleaked in late June last year - way ahead of its planned October 7 launch - and If there's one thing that the superhero spectacular's first season taught us, it's that nothing good can come from meddling with time.
2. Constantine
Leaked 4 months early
The late, lamented Constantine had a bit of a rough time, all things considered. NBC refused to grant the show a 'back-nine' pick-up - meaning its first season ran just 13 episodes - and later axed the show completely. But Constantine seemed cursed from the off, with its pilot - like that of The Flash - appearing online in late June 2014.
1. Supergirl
Leaked 6 months early
Yep, back where we started - Supergirl is quite possibly the earliest leak ever, with half a year to go until the pilot gets an official airing on CBS. The silver lining? Buzz for the show has improved now that an entire episode is out there - not that we're getting on board with the conspiracy theorists, of course...
