TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[BatmanBeatles]

I hate the trope where married couples hate making love to each other. Either it's considered a huge chore or it's altogether repulsive.

Edited July 21, 2015 by BatmanBeatles

[Proclone]

I've long wanted to watch Witchblade. I avoided it because of the comic being such a joke but then a friend told me the first season was full of radical feminist concepts turned into scifi. Unfortunately it seems to be hard to find since it didn't end in a satisfying way.

 

Any radical feminist concepts probably went a bit over my head when I first watched it, I was in my early to mid teens at the time, but I do remember really enjoying the show (reset notwithstanding) and being disappointed that it didn't continue.  Sara Pezzini was certainly a kick ass female character.

 

I did a little googling prior to using the show as an example (to make sure I wasn't hallucinating about the reset) and apparently its available on Amazon-both as DVDs and instant video (not prime though-you have to pay for each episode or the entire season).  There are also episodes uploaded to youtube but they seemed to be low quality and the couple minutes I watched of one of them seemed to cut off peoples' heads in ways I'm certain didn't happen in the broadcast version.

 

I'm actually really surprised there hasn't been a reboot of the show since from what I gather it's cancellation had less to do with its popularity and more to do with Yancy Butler having a drinking problem.

[AimingforYoko]

 

I'm actually really surprised there hasn't been a reboot of the show since from what I gather it's cancellation had less to do with its popularity and more to do with Yancy Butler having a drinking problem.

Robert Hays in Airplane! had a drinking problem. Yancy Butler is, quite frankly, lucky to be alive.

[ganesh]

Yeah, Witchblade was a solid early foray into cable original genre programming. It's worth the watch. 

[Linderhill]

 

Not to crow about Farscape too much, but they did 4,3,2 as a cliffhanger three parter, and the finale was the wrap up/denouement.

I loved Farscape and it did handle the cliffhanger ending very well for the most part.  Its only in the last few years that it seems to be the "go to" ending for most shows these days.

[ganesh]

No, cliffhangers have been around for ages.

[kassygreene]

Don't remember if this has been mentioned here, but inspired by another thread:  I loathe the trope of family members and/or dating partners getting pissed off at finding out that X works for a classified organization, or already knowing where they work gets pissed off because X keeps secrets...  It's classified, FCS!  Yes, dating partner, you did get background checked before being told!  Yes, family member, a blood relationship does not equal Need To Know!  In fact, someone who tells you that they work at any of the three letter agencies but shhh-it's-a-secret is lying to you!  Think Bill Paxton's character in True Lies (an excellent movie, by the way, and almost plausible - except not really, but it was well done).

 

And then there is the guy who does have security clearance for some things who insists on being told the details of something that isn't part of his portfolio, because Only He Can Make That Judgment!  My most irritating example of that was in JAG, when a friend of Harmon Rabb's was killed on a classified assignment, and his widow and sons were not given any details.  In the end, Rabb bullied his way into getting the information (and that was bad screenwriting), and having reviewed it was able to Make The Judgment Only He Could Make and withhold that information from the widow and sons, reassuring them that their husband and father had died for good reasons, because He, Harmon Rabb, Now Knew This To Be True (trust him).  It's been about fifteen years since that episode aired, and it still angers me.

 

I never had a clearance (well, not that ever wound up getting used; some jobs are shorter then the background check), never worked for the government in a way that needed a clearance, and while I deduce that I do know people who have or have had clearances, they none of them ever told me.  I did have a family member (several decades ago) who was invited to apply to a TLA, apparently via a college job-recruiter thingy.  Trouble was, she apparently told everyone she knew in the area, and her mother told everyone she knew in the country, and apparently the background check discovered the genetic motormouth syndrome....  

[Shannon L.]

 

No, cliffhangers have been around for ages.

"Who shot J.R?"  I was only a kid then, so I don't know if that was the first true summer cliff hanger, but I'll never forget how it was talked about all summer long (there were even t-shirts made).  The only other one that I found as exciting was the end of the first season of The West Wing.  Fade to black with secret service agents over the walkie talkies: "Who's been hit?!  "Who's been hit?!"

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

Don't remember if this has been mentioned here, but inspired by another thread: I loathe the trope of family members and/or dating partners getting pissed off at finding out that X works for a classified organization, or already knowing where they work gets pissed off because X keeps secrets... It's classified, FCS! Yes, dating partner, you did get background checked before being told! Yes, family member, a blood relationship does not equal Need To Know! In fact, someone who tells you that they work at any of the three letter agencies but shhh-it's-a-secret is lying to you! Think Bill Paxton's character in True Lies (an excellent movie, by the way, and almost plausible - except not really, but it was well done).

I work for a psych hospital where I'm bound by HIPPA laws. Someone my family knew was once a patient there. I informed my superiors of our connection and was put on a separate unit until said person's discharge. At a family event months later, the family friend recounted the story of having been at my facility, and my mother was genuinely pissed that I hadn't told her. My father gets it even worse from my grandmother, who gets angry when he doesn't tell her that he's seen family members admitted to the hospital where he works as a nurse. So this trope is totally believable to me. Edited July 22, 2015 by ZuluQueenOfDwarves

[Wax Lion]

Along those lines, I hate it when a nagging spouse (usually a wife) who complains about the lead character going off to do their world-saving job. It's annoying to watch but it's more annoying as a trope, it's just lazy writing to tell the audience how heroic  the protagonist is and how awful his marriage is.

[andromeda331]

In couples whether married or just together, if one turns down sex its a sign either the person its a sign there's something wrong in the relationship. The wife can't  simply be tired from work and taking care of the kids nor can the husband. It also comes up when one is busy usually with work when the other comes and tries to seduce them but is turned down. They are shocked. It means they must be losing interest in them or taking them for granted or something. It can't be as because their actually busy at the moment.

[ChromaKelly]

Right? No one can just be like "You want to?" "I'm getting over this cold and just not up for it. Rain check?" "Sure". It's all dun dun dun!! Someone's cheating, no longer in love, blah blah.
So there's the other thing. The asking for sex partner is immediately suspicious and/or hurt about the turn down.

Edited July 28, 2015 by ChromaKelly

[ganesh]

Of course, the other partner won't take the 30 seconds to explain how they feel bad, or had a bad day, or ^are getting over a cold^, etc. They'll do the 'distracted talking' thing where they talk while doing things and don't look at the other person. I loathe that. 

[ChromaKelly]

Of course, the other partner won't take the 30 seconds to explain how they feel bad, or had a bad day, or ^are getting over a cold^, etc. They'll do the 'distracted talking' thing where they talk while doing things and don't look at the other person. I loathe that. 

 

Ugh gods yes, the distracted talking and "no, it's nothing" (glances away from partner). I really don't think my husband and I are excessive talkers, but we message each other off and on during the day, just random stupid crap that happened. This annoying salesman came in and he smelled like onion and feet, OMG my sandwich is awesome, hey want to start a new TV show tonight? But TV couples don't tell each other anything. Especially not stuff like I lost my watch that my grandma gave me and I'm really sad about it because it always made me think of her and that's why I'm kind of off and blue today. So, partner is all what's up with her she must not love me anymore guess I better start that affair. Or, I'm dying of cancer. I haven't been paying the mortgage because my business is doing really shitty.

 

[ganesh]

My friend texted me that her dog needed food, but it turns out that it was for her husband. So I would think they do the same thing. 

 

You could also just not feel like having sex for no reason too. 

[ChromaKelly]

No! There must be a reason!

[Qoass]

Back to the wedding topic, I'm surprised to see so many posts about big, elaborate weddings.  I do see those on "reality" shows but on fictional programs, I more often see people get engaged and the wedding is like a week later.  It's attended by people we've never seen before and apparently nobody has parents or siblings involved.  At least on Grey's Anatomy, they admitted that being chosen a bridesmaid was a matter of convenience rather than friendship.  On Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek, the wedding party was made up of the bride and groom's children's friends!  Because when you're forty, you want to be represented by 17 year-olds you barely know.

[andromeda331]

At least on Grey's Anatomy, they admitted that being chosen a bridesmaid was a matter of convenience rather than friendship.

 

Yeah, I only ever once seen on Castle that the best man wasn't the buddy, when Ryan was

getting married Javier assumed he was the best man until Ryan told him he had to ask

Jenny (his fiancee) half-brother to be his best man. Javier couldn't believe it or that Ryan

had no choice. Even Castle pointed out sometimes you don't. You expected by the end for

Ryan to change his mind but he didn't. I don't think I've ever seen that before in tv wedding

but it was kind of realistic. Sometimes you have to ask them to be in the wedding.

Later when Castle and Kate are trying to narrow down their guest  list they ask Ryan how

he kept his wedding so small Ryan admitted it was all they could afford, and that lots of

people now hate him. Again that sounded more like the weddings I've been to.

[ChromaKelly]

Back when I used to watch soaps (Y&R and B&B), I used to feel bad for the couple getting married. No one has any friends. Then there's the characters who seem to have sprang from the earth fully grown and have no family to speak of. They can't even invent family for the wedding with some day players. The wedding must consist of current characters only, so all those killed off/written out people are not even spoke of either. So, weddings would end up with the sister-in-law the bride hates as a bridesmaid, and the groom's boss as a best man. With whatever kid happens to be on the show in the wedding for the cute.

[andromeda331]

It's attended by people we've never seen before 

 

I never know whether to find it hilarious or sad that the wedding guests have never

been seen before. Are they suppose to be family and friends? Or just random people

who decided to go to a wedding today. Were they driving by and got hungry? Maybe

their the same guests just going from weddings to weddings. Do they talk to each other

'yes the food was better at Monica and Chandlor's wedding but I liked the dress better

at the Nanny's wedding, Sookie's wedding (from Gilmore Girls) and Charlotte's second

wedding (from Sex and the City) Phoebe's wedding in Charmed was more exciting what

with the demon attack, but it can't beat out the Dynasty wedding where we all got shot.

Edited July 30, 2015 by andromeda331

[magicdog]

It's attended by people we've never seen before

 

Same with funerals.  On Charmed, Prue's funeral could have been attended by some familiar faces.  There were plenty of innocents they helped or saved in the first three seasons but we got a sea of unknown extras - while Piper, Phoebe, their father and their significant others sat in the front row. 

Edited July 30, 2015 by magicdog

[lucindabelle]

I've said it before but wrt funerals, on TV they are always graveside. I don't mean the heap dirt on. I mean the actual funeral. Chairs are set up. And said graveyard is always right next to the church or synagogue, not miles down the highway. Also, gravestones are always upright, never laid in grass as is the norm in loads of cemetaries (and families don't get to choose).

 

Nobody on TV is ever single just because. Like, they were busy with life or whateer. No. There's always a Lost Love or whatever in background or they are secretly gay. In reality I know plenty of people in 40s and even 50s who are single Just Because. I know people who got married for the first time in mid-50s without it being a Finally! or whatever. But that never happens on TV, I mean never that I've seen.

 

Also, living with parents is code for "loser" even if one loves said parent(s).  Or if parnet lives with (always married) child, parent is an irritant and bossy. Mothers and adult daughters never get along. (in reality, of course, they often do.)

 

Oh! and while I'm at it. Struggling artists. Are either losers who should give up or Just Around the Corner from Big Break. The whole middle ground, talented, semi-professional thing doesn't exist. Boy is THAT ever not true. In fact people can have published books and have hit songs and still need day jobs. Not to mention the terrific writers who were rejected again and again and again before getting a break...  such as Hemingway who almost gave up.I sus

 

pect this is because television writers are so well paid they have forgotten about the whole other artsy world out there. But maybe I'm wrong.

[ganesh]

I can't stand on tv that single = something is wrong, you haven't met the right one, zomg ARE YOU GHEY?! It's terribly insulting. It's got nothing to do with maybe their career or anything. 

[andromeda331]

It also doesn't mean your unhappy or have been unhappy all these years

because your single. You can be single and happy. It also doesn't mean

their lonely. Going home night after night with no one to share their house

with. It must be lonely. No, most single people aren't lonely.  You also get

the if your single and going out to clubs or bars all the time its a sign that

their unhappy, lonely or something instead of know a person who likes

going out to clubs and bars. 

Edited August 1, 2015 by andromeda331

[lucindabelle]

Hah! and while we're at it, women who love cats are losers.Never mind that lots of wo

men started loving cats a slittle girls and it was NOT code for spinster. Nor the many guys that love cats....

[ganesh]

I go home to my new house and my dog is waiting for me. I'm not single and lonely. And I don't damn well feel like sharing my new house with anyone else. 

[Janet Snakehole]

Hah! and while we're at it, women who love cats are losers.Never mind that lots of wo

men started loving cats a slittle girls and it was NOT code for spinster. Nor the many guys that love cats....

I hate the trope/stereotype that guys who like cats are losers or creepy or not masculine.

Actually, I always thought it was weird how few tv characters have cats compared to how many people have them in real life. Obviously, a set is not the greatest place for a cat, but a pet cat could easily be referenced and not shown.

[magicdog]

 

Actually, I always thought it was weird how few tv characters have cats compared to how many people have them in real life. Obviously, a set is not the greatest place for a cat, but a pet cat could easily be referenced and not shown.

 

I think it's because cats are harder to train than dogs and are more likely to do their own thing on a set.  Most times cats are seen on camera they're in someone's arms or in a carrier.

[merylinkid]

Which is why people who own cats would totally get why the cat is never seen.   "oh fluffy is off killing birds again."   "princess all hides when you come over, she hates that you site in her favorite chair."   Real cat behavior.

[ganesh]

So Tino on My So Called Life was a cat.

[mansonlamps]

I love Larry the cat on Modern Family.

[ganesh]

Thank you for getting the joke.

[FortKnox]

The whole fake baby, bag of flower/sugar, egg thing in high school. You know it suppose to teach you how to take care of a baby but, even as a kid I knew it was a bunch of crap. It seems to be a popular trope in high school shows but, I’ve never met anyone who’s done it.

Personally if I had to do it in school I would have failed cause I’m not treating a doll like a real baby.

[Moose135]

The whole fake baby, bag of flower/sugar, egg thing in high school.

 

But Frasier did it so well!  "That dingo's got your baby."

[ganesh]

I never did the egg thing in HS. 

[andromeda331]

It seems to be a popular trope in high school shows but, I’ve never met anyone who’s done it.

 

 

I had to do that in middle school it was my school's attempt to curb teen pregnancy,

no one took it seriously cause you know we were middle school ages and it failed. I​

always thought making them listen to a baby cry for an entire hour would be more

effective.

 

[Danny Franks]

I enjoyed South Park's version of the egg baby storyline. With Stan and Kyle pairing up to look after one, and Mr Garrison doing everything in his power to make sure they fail, to prove a rather tenuous point about how gay marriage should be illegal. He even supplies Cartman (who has a girl partner) with a replacement egg after Cartman breaks his, because he wants to prove man/woman is the form of marriage that should be allowed.

[andromeda331]

But Frasier did it so well!  "That dingo's got your baby."

 

 

I loved that one. Especially the part where Niles realizes he wants a baby but

he doesn't want it enough. Its really rare for a character to say that. TV is

always so pro-babies. Not everyone wants kids. Its rare to hear one

say  they don't want kids. Or in Niles case, just don't want it enough.

[Chaos Theory]

I am not sure if this is a trope but it is one of the reasons I can't stand SYFY's Killjoys . It's the hey bro don't do this one thing. And of course he does that one thing and didn't understand when his brother gets pissed at him for it especially after it blows up.

[ChromaKelly]

I had to do that in middle school it was my school's attempt to curb teen pregnancy,

no one took it seriously cause you know we were middle school ages and it failed. I​

always thought making them listen to a baby cry for an entire hour would be more

effective.

Spend an hour with a kid of each major stage doing the most annoying thing of that stage. infant - inconsolable crying, older baby - wake at 3am to "play", toddler - tantrum over random thing (gave kid the wrong color cup, broken granola bar, etc), 9 year old watching Minecraft videos all day who pretends she can't hear you...

[backformore]

A TV trope that has bugged me forever, that I just saw on a Law & Order rerun -

Someone (murderer, kidnapper)  leaves  clue or makes an obscure reference like "John 15"  or "Matthew 12-9"  and the detective on the case IMMEDIATELY quotes the obscure Bible verse.  Because religious people all have the entire bible memorized.

 

Make me wonder if atheists are useless as detectives, since we don't speak that language. 

[ganesh]

No, but we can look up the bible verse in about 2 seconds on google.

[mansonlamps]

A TV trope that has bugged me forever, that I just saw on a Law & Order rerun -

Someone (murderer, kidnapper) leaves clue or makes an obscure reference like "John 15" or "Matthew 12-9" and the detective on the case IMMEDIATELY quotes the obscure Bible verse. Because religious people all have the entire bible memorized.

Make me wonder if atheists are useless as detectives, since we don't speak that language.

This is almost as bad as the trope of the (usually female) detective instantly knowing that the victim couldn't possibly be a down and out hooker because "she's wearing $1000 Stuart Weitzman pumps" or usually even a more obscure designer that of course a civil servant wearing shoes from Payless recognizes immediately.

But Frasier did it so well! "That dingo's got your baby."

Different strokes and all that but I hated that line reading from Daphne and I thought the whole (over) use of that particular quote was much better used on Seinfeld when Elaine says it completely out of the blue at a party to get out of chatting with a stranger. Edited August 8, 2015 by mansonlamps

[backformore]

Yes, when I am murdered, I'm hoping some detective says "she was obviously an intelligent woman, she's wearing flats from Clark's, with arch support!"

[mansonlamps]

Or "well she probably deserved to be shot, she's wearing Crocs."

[andromeda331]

That's like when the dead body is wearing expensive clothes and their wondering

how they could possibly afford them on their salary. She must be doing

something illegal. Sure because no one ever uses a credit card to buy

expensive clothes.   

[magicdog]

A TV trope that has bugged me forever, that I just saw on a Law & Order rerun -

Someone (murderer, kidnapper) leaves clue or makes an obscure reference like "John 15" or "Matthew 12-9" and the detective on the case IMMEDIATELY quotes the obscure Bible verse.

 

 

I hate the cousin to this trope - the one in which Christians/Catholics are evil serial killers.  Or deviants.  Last I checked, devout Christians are not causing all the crimes in NYC.  It's on of the reasons I can't watch L&O reruns from 2000 or so, some of the storylines were just ridiculous (like the one about a Christian summer camp in which kids are inspired to throw rocks at sinners - leading one of them to stone his mother to death for adultery!)  .  L&O certainly isn't the only show in the past 20 years to use this (they pretty much exhausted it! )  but they really should have tried other avenues.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Or "well she probably deserved to be shot, she's wearing Crocs."

 

I shouldn't think this is funny... but screw it, I'm gonna laugh anyway.

[BabyVegas]

More wedding tropes: If you're going to fake an engagement, for God's sake, figure out your "how it happened" story beforehand. No one ever does and it drives me batty. At least on TV, everyone wants to know and at least one person is probably going to ask. Also, if my FB feed is any indication, pics or it didn't happen, so I always find it a little curious that the parents never ask if anyone filmed it/took pictures. 

[DittyDotDot]

Maybe everyone on TV is a troglodyte, like me, and doesn't have a facebook page?

 

Oh, that's a lie. I have one--due to the annoying insistence of my mother--but have never once posted anything on it and never look at it. That's what happens when your mother badgers you to do something. ;)

Edited August 10, 2015 by DittyDotDot