TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[selkie]

On 7/29/2019 at 8:38 PM, kiddo82 said:

Jack Bauer.

But word on Doug Ross.  I got back into ER a few years ago thanks to Pop and I forgot how insufferable he could be,  

We've been doing an ER rewatch ourselves, and I'm finding myself really strongly on Team Kerry Weaver during the clashes between those two doctors. Yeah Kerry was an ambitious weasel many a time but she also was generally pretty solid on patient and hospital ethics concerns. 

[catlover79]

On 7/31/2019 at 9:16 PM, janie jones said:

I had been afraid of sports balls flying at my face ever since I got hit in the face by a softball in PE in 8th grade (I had threadmarks on my face the rest of the day).  So in 10th grade in PE, when I caught a football , I was so pleased with myself that I got tagged because I didn't run anywhere.  Which is probably something  you'd see on TV.

I got hit in the face with a basketball once, also in P.E. (I was in 6th grade then.) The ball bounced off the rim of the hoop and landed squarely in my face, breaking my glasses. To this day, I'm not big on basketball (though I was absolutely thrilled when my hometown Cavs won it all in 2016!).

Edited August 2, 2019 by catlover79

[Writing Wrongs]

I hate in shows when someone wants to make it look like someone has been drinking and all they do is splash some booze all over them. Um, that's not how that works. There's like tox screens and stuff.

[kiddo82]

The reverse of that is when someone has been drinking and all it takes to sober them up is a splash of water and a cup of coffee.  Or the magic cure for even the highest levels of drunkneness...bad news.

[Writing Wrongs]

Speaking of coffee, how about when they show people pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to someone who then immediately drinks it? No blowing on it or anything, just straight down. I guess their mouths are scald proof.

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Speaking of coffee, how about when they show people pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to someone who then immediately drinks it? No blowing on it or anything, just straight down. I guess their mouths are scald proof.

I have never in my life blown on a cup of coffee and have no first degree burns in my mouth.

[Annber03]

9 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Speaking of coffee, how about when they show people pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to someone who then immediately drinks it? No blowing on it or anything, just straight down. I guess their mouths are scald proof.

My mom says similar things whenever people take a tray full of freshly baked cookies or some other food of that sort out of the oven...all while not wearing oven mitts. 

[Writing Wrongs]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

I have never in my life blown on a cup of coffee and have no first degree burns in my mouth.

Do you let it cool off before you drink it?

[Nordly Beaumont]

2 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Speaking of coffee, how about when they show people pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to someone who then immediately drinks it? No blowing on it or anything, just straight down. I guess their mouths are scald proof.

I can do that if the cup of coffee came from my junkie coffee maker - but I'd never just immediately drink a cup from say, Starbucks, or a friend's coffee maker. When I get Starbucks I even take the lid off to test it with my finger to gauge how long I should wait before drinking.

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Do you let it cool off before you drink it?

No. Basically if I can hold a coffee cup with the hot liquid in it it’s fine for me to drink. 

[SVNBob]

7 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

The reverse of that is when someone has been drinking and all it takes to sober them up is a splash of water and a cup of coffee.  Or the magic cure for even the highest levels of drunkneness...bad news.

Although the Mythbusters did find out there was one tropey method to help with sobering people up that did work to some extent:

The classic slap in the face.  Also apparently worked for tiredness and stress.  So the other old trope of slapping a hysterical person to get them to calm down had some basis in truth.

[Browncoat]

“I’m in pain! And I’m wet! And I’m still hysterical!” [/The Producers]

[DoctorAtomic]

5 hours ago, SVNBob said:

So the other old trope of slapping a hysterical person to get them to calm down had some basis in truth.

Also it was hilarious on Airplane. 

Wife makes husband sleep on the couch if she's mad. Uh no. You that mad, you go. 

[jenniferhartwell]

27 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Wife makes husband sleep on the couch if she's mad. Uh no. You that mad, you go. 

Maybe its empowerment if she kicks the man out?

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Wife makes husband sleep on the couch if she's mad.

Apparently no one on television has a guest room.  It's always a couch.

[Homily]

3 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Wife makes husband sleep on the couch if she's mad. Uh no. You that mad, you go. 

What I see, especially on sitcoms, is how often the person who's mad grabs a pillow and blanket and marches out of the bedroom as if that's the answer when a couple has a fight.  I, of course, am not privy to how every married couple deals with anger, but I really doubt most of the time it's to go sleep on the couch (or in a spare room).  I guess they love the visual of someone leaving the room clutching a pillow but somehow I just don't think this happens as much as tv shows make it seem!

[Melina22]

5 minutes ago, Homily said:

person who's mad grabs a pillow and blanket and marches out of the bedroom as if that's the answer when a couple has a fight.  

More people need to buy king size beds. Trust me, it's almost like sleeping alone! 😁 (When you want it to be.)

[DoctorAtomic]

Or just have your own bedrooms.

[Blergh]

I recall one early Bewitched episode in which both Darren and Larry Tate had had arguments with their wives- and they wound up checking into their nearby country club together as a means to civilly cool off from the marital spats. Funny how neither of them considered that they were the ones who owned their houses- and Louise Tate was NOT a witch! LOL

 Then, there was a time when the Howells split and Thurston insisting on moving in with the Skipper and Gilligan despite the fact that the Professor had a much larger and more private living space (the supply tent). I guess in that case, the writers couldn't have imagined as many laughs from the Professor reacting to Thurston as with the Minnow crew! 

 Still, I think the idea of a husband (especially) leaving the family home to cool off was put out there as a comical trope since few if any viewers at home could have imagined that they or anyone they knew would have done the same way. 

[Bastet]

10 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

More people need to buy king size beds. Trust me, it's almost like sleeping alone! 😁 (When you want it to be.)

I've never thought about it before, but there aren't a lot of king size beds on TV, are there?  Almost every couple I know with a bedroom large enough to fit one - as most bedrooms on TV are - has a king size bed.  But it's mostly queen size on TV.  I guess so wacky hijinks can ensue when they need more room but don't have any.

[topanga]

12 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I've never thought about it before, but there aren't a lot of king size beds on TV, are there?  Almost every couple I know with a bedroom large enough to fit one - as most bedrooms on TV are - has a king size bed.  But it's mostly queen size on TV.  I guess so wacky hijinks can ensue when they need more room but don't have any.

Except on house hunting shows. Then everyone has a king-sized bed. 

[Homily]

I'm not sure if this is a trope or not but what bugs me on TV a lot is that when a character is allowed to be overweight they can't just "need to lose a few pounds" like most of us - there is no in between on TV,  if you aren't Hollywood thin then you are extremely overweight.  I know most people on TV (and in the movies) don't look like the rest of us but it really annoys me that no one seems to be allowed to carry a few extra pounds and that's ok.  You're thin or you're FAT.

[Bastet]

55 minutes ago, topanga said:

Except on house hunting shows. Then everyone has a king-sized bed. 

Either that or a giant dining room table, and whichever one they have they're on a quest to find a house in which it will fit - even though their budget consists of the real estate equivalent of spare change retrieved from the sofa and washing machine and/or they're in a market in which rooms simply aren't that large at most prices.

But it does further speak to how much more common the beds are in real life than on scripted TV.  Now I'm going to have to be on the look-out. 

[selkie]

5 hours ago, Homily said:

I'm not sure if this is a trope or not but what bugs me on TV a lot is that when a character is allowed to be overweight they can't just "need to lose a few pounds" like most of us - there is no in between on TV,  if you aren't Hollywood thin then you are extremely overweight.  I know most people on TV (and in the movies) don't look like the rest of us but it really annoys me that no one seems to be allowed to carry a few extra pounds and that's ok.  You're thin or you're FAT.

The rare exceptions to this include Merrit Wever as Zoe on Nurse Jackie, and Lena Dunham as Hannah on Girls, and in Dunham's case she was also producing the show and casting herself as a lead. 

[Trini]

Another recent exception was Rachel Bloom as Rebecca on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (on CW of all places!). That show was so refreshing with NOT doing the usual tropes.

[Bort]

23 hours ago, Blergh said:

I recall one early Bewitched episode in which both Darren and Larry Tate had had arguments with their wives- and they wound up checking into their nearby country club together as a means to civilly cool off from the marital spats. Funny how neither of them considered that they were the ones who owned their houses-

Darren and Larry were also the ones who controlled all the money. Samantha and Louise would have to go street walking for hotel money if they left -- well, Louise. Sam could just nose-wiggle herself into the Waldorf Astoria.

[Blergh]

23 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Darren and Larry were also the ones who controlled all the money. Samantha and Louise would have to go street walking for hotel money if they left -- well, Louise. Sam could just nose-wiggle herself into the Waldorf Astoria.

But that's exactly the point I'm making, it was amusing to see the menfolk being gallant and taking leave of their family abodes despite the fact that they held the mortgages and pursestrings (although I can't imagine that Louise wouldn't have had at least enough of a cushion from allowances and charge cards to at least go 'visit with family/old friends' for a little while on her own to cool off! Anyway, it's an ironically funny trope!  

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Darren and Larry were also the ones who controlled all the money. Samantha and Louise would have to go street walking for hotel money if they left -- well, Louise. Sam could just nose-wiggle herself into the Waldorf Astoria.

I realize it wouldn't fit the show but too bad Samantha and Louise never realized they both could do so much better. Louise may not be a witch but she'd easily be snatched up by someone better. Why either of them put up with their husbands I'll never know. 

[LilWharveyGal]

On 8/6/2019 at 11:52 AM, Bastet said:

Either that or a giant dining room table...

Yes!  It's a must because they cook and entertain all. the. time.  

Where are all these people IRL and why aren't they inviting me over to dinner parties?

[magicdog]

On 8/7/2019 at 1:31 PM, andromeda331 said:

Louise may not be a witch but she'd easily be snatched up by someone better.

By standards of the time, Louise did pretty well - marrying a guy who was a partner in a major NYC ad agency.  She had a bigger home than most upper middle class wives would have had at the time, dressed well, and I think they even had a house keeper.  

Of course, Larry was a bit of a weasel when it came to kissing up to potential clients, but at least he never treated Louise badly that I can recall.  IRL, had they gone to divorce court, she would likely have cleaned Larry out and took Jonathan (their son) with her!  She may not have had Sam's magical powers, but she had her own clout!!

[jenniferhartwell]

At least the show's Jonathan was spared the fate of his real life counterpart who died in the Lockerbie bombing.

[Shannon L.]

This isn't exactly a trope, but it happens a lot and bugs the hell out of me:

Three people are working together on a problem.  Person 3 may or may not be as smart as the other two, but is valuable in his or her own way.  Something isn't quite working, so they begin the brainstorm solutions. 

Person 1 will say something like "I got it!  What if [insert something very general]". 

Person 2 will has an "ah-ha!" moment, and starts to discuss it with person 1 as they move themselves away from person 3.

This leaves person 3 saying "What?  What is it? What's going on?", only to have the other two say "You stay here/go back, we've got this" and leave to continue their own plan. 

Way to disrespect person 3 after you obviously needed him or her in the beginning!    

[andromeda331]

I know I've complained about this one before but I hate how on any show with magic, shapeshifting, supernatural, that has many different ways to turn into someone else magic, possession, shapeshifting, potion, etc. and yet their sister, mom, wife, brother, husband, friend etc. suddenly starts acting very weird and unlike themselves but it will never occur to them that has happened. They will be shocked when its later revealed that its someone else or may realize it later after their relative/friend has already done tons of crazy, weird behavior and/or didn't know basic information about themselves and/or family. Nor do they ever come up with a code word or something as a test to prepare for it. No matter how many times it happens. 

[Blergh]

22 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

I know I've complained about this one before but I hate how on any show with magic, shapeshifting, supernatural, that has many different ways to turn into someone else magic, possession, shapeshifting, potion, etc. and yet their sister, mom, wife, brother, husband, friend etc. suddenly starts acting very weird and unlike themselves but it will never occur to them that has happened. They will be shocked when its later revealed that its someone else or may realize it later after their relative/friend has already done tons of crazy, weird behavior and/or didn't know basic information about themselves and/or family. Nor do they ever come up with a code word or something as a test to prepare for it. No matter how many times it happens. 

I guess this is somewhat along the lines of staying completely clueless to the other character's transformations- regardless of how many times they've gone through this. A classic example would be that of Bewitched's Larry Tate who seemed surprised EVERY time Darren would go off the wall due to a spell/ covering for Sam. Even though the show's premise was that witches were hiding their spells in plain sight in the world of clueless mortals, one would think after eight years  working together Larry would have started to realize that going off the wall was actually TYPICAL of Darren even if he never picked up why. I mean he saw Darren on a far more frequent basis than did Mrs. Kravitz who DID pick up something different re the Stephenses. 

[kiddo82]

For all the times the Charmed Ones were body swapped or possessed they should have really come up with a code word to identify their true selves to each other.  It wouldn't have been a perfect system (what happens when the thing possessing you knows all your memories?) but it would have been better than the system that they had which was literally nothing.  

Speaking of Charmed, I'm watching a few episodes on TNT this morning and I like that even at the bar, they don't always depict the ladies drinking alcohol.  It's not like I'm looking to head up the new temperance movement or anything, but if I drank with the frequency that some folks on television are shown to do, I'd start to wonder if I had a dependency issue.  With Charmed in particular, Paige was a recovering alcoholic so we never saw her drink (and to defy another trope, Paige never once flirted with relapse or looked longingly at a bottle of vodka.), Phoebe seeeeeldom drank which was a pretty consistent character trait, and Piper and Prue sometimes had a drink and sometimes had a Perrier/Pellegrino.  I like that it wasn't out of place to see them with either/or without comment (usually).  On other shows it seems like there always has to be a concrete reason ("I'm pregnant," "I'm going to say no publicly so I can go home and get blitzed without your judgement because I'm a closet drinker.", etc) for someone to publicly abstain.  No one simply doesn't feel like it or has taken inventory of what he or she has consumed for the past few days and wants to dial it back a notch.  

It's kind of the same thing with food.  Every time I watch the Big Bang Theory all I can think about is all the Cheesecake Factory/takeout that crew eats and no one gains any weight.  On TV the trope is a character is either on a strict diet with no exceptions or he or she eats whatever is desired without consequence.  (some people can get away with this in real life.  Jerks.)  Most characters aren't shown weighing out unhealthy choices with better ones unless, again, there is a specified reason, which typically doesn't last for more than an episode anyway, or it's done for comedic effect.

Edited August 21, 2019 by kiddo82

[catlover79]

On 5/14/2019 at 4:08 PM, Bastet said:

Also, no TV kid ever invited a few friends over for some simple "the 'rents are out of town!" fun and just had those friends show up -- it always turned into an "Oh no!  So-and-So blabbed and now the whole class/school is here!" mess.

This covered the cases where the parents didn't come home in time to catch them -- in the crowd, something always got broken or otherwise ruined, and the kids rushed around the next day trying to fix/hide it, pulling it off just in time for Mom & Dad's arrival.  But just when they thought they were home free with it, the damaged item fell out of its hiding place or the repair job gave way and the item fell apart as the parents walked by.

I agree with you for the most part, but my all-time favorite episode of Family Ties turned that trope on its ear. "There was a kangaroo...in my living room." 😂😂😂😂😂

[jenniferhartwell]

Ah yes, the Mall Santa. Boy Meets World having the MS have a heart attack while young Morgan was on his knee is classic ("On the First Day of Christmas, I Murdered Santa Claus!") https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MallSanta

[Writing Wrongs]

When a character has an unusual experience, be it supernatural or whatever, and no one will believe them and tries to rationalize it away. Or only their ex will believe and help them and that ends up causing them to get back together.

My biggest peeve is when people enter their homes at night and don't turn the lights on. They just wander about in the dark until someone jumps out and kills them. The first things I do when I get home are turn the lights on, lock the door and turn the tv on. 

Edited August 23, 2019 by Writing Wrongs

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Writing Wrongs said:

My biggest peeve is when people enter their homes at night and don't turn the lights on. They just wander about in the dark until someone jumps out and kills them. The first things I do when I get home are turn the lights on, lock the door and turn the tv on. 

Usually when that happens I just say to the TV "You deserved that you moron!" Because yeah, door gets unlocked, light goes on, door gets shut and locked. The only time I don't turn a light on is in the middle of the night when I go from bed to the toilet, a path I know so well I do not need light. 

[biakbiak]

I never turn on the light in my hallway when I come home at night unless I am expecting people to come over and haven’t been murdered!

[Bort]

25 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I never turn on the light in my hallway when I come home at night unless I am expecting people to come over and haven’t been murdered!

You sure? Because all those dead people in The Sixth Sense didn’t know they were dead.

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, kariyaki said:

You sure? Because all those dead people in The Sixth Sense didn’t know they were dead.

Oh dear than the after life is boring! 

[Kel Varnsen]

I was watching the movie Vertigo and Jimmy Stewart's character reminded me of a trop you see all the time on tv, the cop who also has a law degree but doesn't want to be a lawyer. Now I am not sure how common but just off the top of my head on tv there is Carisi on SVU, Daniels on The Wire and the youngest son on Blue Bloods. Now i guess maybe this happens but it seems like  stretch to do all that education and then go be a beat cop somewhere.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

ess maybe this happens but it seems like  stretch to do all that education and then go be a beat cop somewhere.

I don’t watch Blue Bloods but none of the others were beat cops and Carisi was going to law school part time after he was a detective, it’s not that uncommon for people who might want to move up.

[Kel Varnsen]

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I don’t watch Blue Bloods but none of the others were beat cops and Carisi was going to law school part time after he was a detective, it’s not that uncommon for people who might want to move up.

You right about Carisi not being a beat cop. But if any of the others got their law degree before joining the police force they would pretty much have to be a uniformed officer. I mean I don't think you can start out as a detective.

[Haleth]

11 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Now i guess maybe this happens but it seems like  stretch to do all that education and then go be a beat cop somewhere.

Hey, a job's a job and they have to be able to pay back those student loans somehow.

[Raja]

Joining the police with the law degree would just be the first step. Patrolling is just the probationary period as you rise in criminal law.

On The Wire Lieutenant Daniels worked on his degree while a police like Detective Lupo of Law and Order was. In any case he was a Lieutenant who made it all the way to Police Commissioner and didn't spend 30 years as Detective or Patrol Officer ranked. I remember Bunk joking that it was a no name local law school, presumably if a big name you would be in the FBI and not local police.

I guess Blue Bloods is the anomaly with a father and grandfather Police Commissioners and two older brothers as police when one is killed in the line of duty. And the law school graduate is now a Sergeant 

[andromeda331]

9 hours ago, Haleth said:

Hey, a job's a job and they have to be able to pay back those student loans somehow.

TV characters have student loans? 

[Haleth]

3 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

TV characters have student loans? 

You mean they aren’t real people??? 😩

[andromeda331]

14 minutes ago, Haleth said:

You mean they aren’t real people??? 😩

Well, that and majority of the TV characters who went to college or TV teens going to college never get student loans. Oh no they don't have to do that. Either someone pays for it their parents or grandparents, or scholarships. Very rarely does a character get student loans and go to college.