TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[tearknee]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorstNewsJudgmentEver

[Lugal]

20 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Someone gets a call/text saying "turn on the TV!"  and they turn it on and see something they can relate to.

Me:  there's 700 channels, can you be more specific?

When it's the situation of "Giant squid-monster eats the Empire State Building" you can pretty much bet that nearly every channel is going to cover it.

But in that situation, rather than telling them to turn on the TV, it's just as easy to tell them, "Holy @#%& shit!  There's giant squid-monster eating the Empire State Building!!"

[proserpina65]

On 11/1/2024 at 2:06 PM, Affogato said:

Yup, teen sex is not fanfiction bondage or hours of gentle orgasms. Sophistication requires a learning curve. 

I haven't seen a lot of that on tv shows with teens that I've watched, just the clumsy and quick missionary.  Maybe I'm watching the wrong shows?

On 11/1/2024 at 9:15 PM, tearknee said:

If you want to show any awkward teenage sexual fumbling's, you have to cast an adult actor, because doing so with a teen actor constitutes child pornography.

Not entirely.  A lot depends on the age of the teenager, parental consent and the country where the show is filmed.

 

[Affogato]

18 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I haven't seen a lot of that on tv shows with teens that I've watched, just the clumsy and quick missionary.  Maybe I'm watching the wrong shows?

 

 

I believe my contrxt was how it strikes viewers. The tv shows clearly are not porn. Per se, but the fan fiction often is, and ‘evidence’ is shows like Riverdale, wherr it is lampshaded by everyine sleeping with everyone, in groups. 

[tearknee]

19 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I haven't seen a lot of that on tv shows with teens that I've watched, just the clumsy and quick missionary.  Maybe I'm watching the wrong shows?

Not entirely.  A lot depends on the age of the teenager, parental consent and the country where the show is filmed.

 

ISTM that I was clearly referring to Hollywood/SCal?

[Anduin]

One I like is defeating biometric scanners. Like, putting the person's hand on the scanner after they've been killed, or removing someone's eyeball. Macabre, but it always makes me smile. Of course, I've also seen bits of wire jammed into important sockets or making a mask of someone's face. It's all good fun.

[proserpina65]

On 11/14/2024 at 7:53 AM, Affogato said:

I believe my contrxt was how it strikes viewers.

Clearly it doesn't strike all viewers that way.

[Affogato]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Clearly it doesn't strike all viewers that way.

Hell, some don’t watch the shows and it doesn’t strike them at all! However canon and fanon are two different things. I do think the age of the actors, reason doesn’t matter, effectively changes the story. For some it may simply make it less problematical. 

[Gharlane]

On 11/12/2024 at 5:54 PM, Mabinogia said:

All they really had to do was go to their local bar where the TV is always turned to the news and the exact news you need to further your story is being shown just when you need it. 

I like how the reporters on TV wait for the characters watching to stop talking before continuing with their news story. 

[tearknee]

6 hours ago, Gharlane said:

I like how the reporters on TV wait for the characters watching to stop talking before continuing with their news story. 

Uncle Howee in the Haunting Hour is used to parody that

[tearknee]

On 11/13/2024 at 7:46 AM, meep.meep said:

Someone gets a call/text saying "turn on the TV!"  and they turn it on and see something they can relate to.

Me:  there's 700 channels, can you be more specific?

"Hey, what gives? I thought you had a satellite dish". -- "Sure didilly do. Over 230 channels locked out".

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E16HomerLovesFlanders

[Kel Varnsen]

On 11/1/2024 at 7:04 PM, scarynikki12 said:

For teenage roles you just hire adults and then you can film as long as you want.

Also if you hire adults you don't have to worry about them actually doing school work or having tutors or that sort of thing.

[tearknee]

and have the characters do sexual things that would get the whole production team arrested if they were actual teens. At least where Hollywood is.

[Mrsmaul2021]

The trope where creators play up  underlying chemistry between two characters is not okay to do when one of the characters kidnapped the other when they were just a child

 

My greatest pet peeve with the show  Found on NBC

Edited December 24, 2024 by Mrsmaul2021

[tearknee]

I tend to find in the Kids Incorporated sorts of shows [or a movie like Lizzie McGuire] that the "foreign twin of the girl main character [this plot is rarely used with a boy]" in 90% of cases mysteriously lose their accent whenever they have to sing.

Unfortunately, when the actor tries to avert this, the overdone fake accent when she was only talking becomes even more overdone - and more irritating!

Yes, Miss Sands, I'm looking at **you**:

 

[Raja]

The evil guy is a sniper but when he goes after the hero protagonist he has to get within hand to hand fighting range so he can be defeated 

[Gharlane]

On 11/1/2024 at 7:04 PM, scarynikki12 said:

For teenage roles you just hire adults and then you can film as long as you want.

They managed just fine with "Oh That Rusty!".

 

[tearknee]

 

[Blergh]

Here's a trope I don't recall being detailed but seems to happen on TV (though I sure hope not too often in RL), one protagonist spouse is nice to family friends while the other is openly rude and hostile to them which often compels them to make a hasty or angry exit- yet rarely if ever will the nicer spouse will consider visiting the family friends at their place to minimize the friends' exposure to the rude spouse. Examples are plenty but few epitomized this more than The Jeffersons (1975-1986) which had George  Jefferson constantly trash Tom Willis's ethnicity and Helen's having opted to have wed Tom (and even would insult their daughter Jenny for being biracial despite otherwise liking her as his son Lionel's fiancee then wife). Tom  and Jenny were FAR more patient with George than he deserved while Helen was more openly combative to George's insults to her family dynamic.

However, in hindsight, it's puzzling that it seemed to never occur to any of the Willises  to quit visiting the Jefferson's apartment so frequently when they knew George would dis them upon sight but instead invite Louise (and Lionel) solo sans George up to their apartment (in the very same building one floor up!) - and oddly enough, Louise never seemed to spend much time there visiting them despite her being welcomed there (to say nothing of getting some respite of her own from George). Yes, Louise and Helen seemed to spend a good part of their time together volunteering in the charitable Help Center but they'd usually interact away from there in the Jeffersons' instead of the Willises' apartment.

Of course, before too long, Florence would spar with George and deflect a good amount of George's barbs away from her employers' neighbors (and seemed to get along fine with all members of their family). Also, interestingly enough, Mother Jefferson seemed to be fond of all members of the Willis family despite her son's hostility- and they all seemed to like her despite her son's 'tude and her frequently putting down their friend Louise.

 Thankfully, at Sherman Helmsley's instance, George's hostility became much less overt in the latter part of the show.

Still, it's a bit off that they (and Louise) would want them to have kept returning to Jefferson's apartment knowing that George would show up and insult them instead of Louise visiting them in their own apartment.

[Anduin]

So I was in a car, driving along the road with a truck in the next lane. The truck didn't lean and try to squeeze the car against another truck or a stretch of wall. Turns out, life isn't like action movies. Who knew?!

[Mrsmaul2021]

Another trope I hate. Hey lets dumb all the characters down so one or two characters can  look brilliant. Hey we can't have the two female co stars look too attractive, so lets give them ratty hair and mu mu clothing so the star can stand out in her overly beat face, tight clothing and 30 inch heels.  This is all in NBC's Found

Edited February 3 by Mrsmaul2021

[kathyk2]

Why don't tv characters have extended families anymore? Nobody has grandparents or aunts and uncles even if the characters are young adults. For example Gregory and Janine on Abbott Elementary or Sam on Ghosts only have one parent and no other relatives. 

[Raja]

56 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

Why don't tv characters have extended families anymore? Nobody has grandparents or aunts and uncles even if the characters are young adults. For example Gregory and Janine on Abbott Elementary or Sam on Ghosts only have one parent and no other relatives. 

I think it is a long time TV trope. From the single fathers of the 60s to The Brady Bunch where nobody from the boys dead mother or the girls dead father showed up that I can remember.

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 minutes ago, Raja said:

I think it is a long time TV trope. From the single fathers of the 60s to The Brady Bunch where nobody from the boys dead mother or the girls dead father showed up that I can remember.

But Carol’s maternal grandma and Mike’s paternal grandpa did show up-played by Robert Reed and Florence Henderson in a one off, where the kids played Cupid.

[tearknee]

fewer children in later decades also equal fewer aunts and uncles.

[DrSpaceman73]

On ghosts hetty is her extended family. 

[Annber03]

35 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

On ghosts hetty is her extended family. 

Yeah, this one's been kinda addressed on "Ghosts" - Sam's family ancestry has been kind of messy and full of awful people doing awful things and whatnot, and then Sam's parents were also divorced, so in her case, it makes sense she's not as familiar with her extended family as a result. 

Heck, even in my case, I haven't seen most of my extended family on my mom's side for years, and on my dad's side, there's family members I still haven't met at all or don't know anything about. 

[DrSpaceman73]

Another trope i thought of running across an old golden girls clip.  

 

A character finds out or reveals they never graduated hugh school

Bonus trope points if it's at the high school reunion. 

[kathyk2]

8 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Yeah, this one's been kinda addressed on "Ghosts" - Sam's family ancestry has been kind of messy and full of awful people doing awful things and whatnot, and then Sam's parents were also divorced, so in her case, it makes sense she's not as familiar with her extended family as a result. 

Heck, even in my case, I haven't seen most of my extended family on my mom's side for years, and on my dad's side, there's family members I still haven't met at all or don't know anything about. 

I'm the opposite. I grew up as part of a large extended family so it's weird to see so many only children of only children.

[tearknee]

39 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Another trope i thought of running across an old golden girls clip.  

 

A character finds out or reveals they never graduated hugh school

Bonus trope points if it's at the high school reunion. 

 

 

SHS's former class clown: "I am not a crook!"

 

Homer: "Richard Nixon!"

 

Marge: "I know!"

 

 

[Blergh]

On 2/2/2025 at 5:53 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

But Carol’s maternal grandma and Mike’s paternal grandpa did show up-played by Robert Reed and Florence Henderson in a one off, where the kids played Cupid.

True but  these were relatives of the living/present parental Bradys. The point @Raja made was that no one from the deceased/absent 1st spouse's side on many of the sitcoms ever showed up to even check up on their late kids' offspring. Also, no one from  the late Mr. Partridge's side nor Opie's late Ma's side ever showed up to see how those kids were faring. 

Oddly enough, My Three Sons somewhat bucked the trend with having Barbara's late 1st husband's [presumably widowed] father Professor Harper hang around their neighborhood for two whole days before finally knocking on the door to ensure that both his son's widow as well as his granddaughter Dodie were being taken care of by Barbara's 2nd husband Steve Douglas. Despite that odd reunion, the very next episode had Dodie get officially adopted by Steve (with her surname being changed to Douglas).

[meep.meep]

On 2/3/2025 at 2:17 PM, kathyk2 said:

I'm the opposite. I grew up as part of a large extended family so it's weird to see so many only children of only children.

I know!  There's an HGTV home remodeling show set in Hawaii that I like mostly because the guy is Hawaiian and says in the intro "I have 87 first cousins!"  I've got 50.

[kathyk2]

2 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

I know!  There's an HGTV home remodeling show set in Hawaii that I like mostly because the guy is Hawaiian and says in the intro "I have 87 first cousins!"  I've got 50.

I have twenty five first cousins so large extended families are normal to me.

[andromeda331]

5 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I have twenty five first cousins so large extended families are normal to me.

That's how it was for my dad. Both his parents' had ten siblings. Lots and lots of cousins. It's a little weird how some cousins fought in WWII, others in Korean and my dad and the younger cousins in Vietnam. Well, weird to me but normal for them.

[Madding crowd]

In the same vein when people on TV are hospitalized, only their coworkers or roommates come to the hospital. It’s especially annoying when the patient is a teen and only their girlfriend/boyfriend or school friends are at the hospital and never the parents.

[Notabug]

38 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

In the same vein when people on TV are hospitalized, only their coworkers or roommates come to the hospital. It’s especially annoying when the patient is a teen and only their girlfriend/boyfriend or school friends are at the hospital and never the parents.

It is particularly odd when the patient is a woman giving birth.  On Friends, Rachel's parents both lived in the area and were involved in her life.  But, when she is in labor, about to give birth to their grandchild, where are they?  Nowhere to be found.  Instead, it's her room mate and the guys across the hall waiting for the big moment.  When Ross' first wife was delivering their very first grandchild, where were his parents?  I get that Carol was having problems with her parents and wouldn't want them there, but why were the people hanging around waiting for her to give birth a bunch of people Carol barely knew?

[andromeda331]

2 hours ago, Notabug said:

It is particularly odd when the patient is a woman giving birth.  On Friends, Rachel's parents both lived in the area and were involved in her life.  But, when she is in labor, about to give birth to their grandchild, where are they?  Nowhere to be found.  Instead, it's her room mate and the guys across the hall waiting for the big moment.  When Ross' first wife was delivering their very first grandchild, where were his parents?  I get that Carol was having problems with her parents and wouldn't want them there, but why were the people hanging around waiting for her to give birth a bunch of people Carol barely knew?

Given how much Ross's parents' liked him you'd think they'd want to be there when their first grandchild was born.

[DrSpaceman73]

My newest specific one with music. A tv show takes a song, often from the 80s,  and remakes it into a slow melancholy version of the song played over an ending episode montage

 

See paradise episode two built this on rock and roll. The song is bad enough they manage to make it worse. 

But many others.  

[Blergh]

Yeah, in too many sitcoms, characters have parents, sibs and other relatives visiting for one-shot episodes- yet somehow NONE of these folks bother to attend the said characters' weddings. .but natch all the shows' regulars do!

[Trini]

Just saw this play out: A meetup in a parking garage goes wrong.

Does a meetup (or ANY scene) in a parking garage ever go right?? Even if it's not *murder* (which is at least half the time), it usually involves getting bad news.

[tearknee]

Quote

 

On 2/7/2025 at 12:35 PM, Blergh said:

Yeah, in too many sitcoms, characters have parents, sibs and other relatives visiting for one-shot episodes- yet somehow NONE of these folks bother to attend the said characters' weddings. .but natch all the shows' regulars do!

 

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EstrangedSoapFamily

[Browncoat]

6 hours ago, Trini said:

Just saw this play out: A meetup in a parking garage goes wrong.

Does a meetup (or ANY scene) in a parking garage ever go right?? Even if it's not *murder* (which is at least half the time), it usually involves getting bad news.

The parking garage meetup in Trading Places went well for Louis and Billy Ray.  Not so well for the Dukes, though.

[Gharlane]

On 2/3/2025 at 5:02 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

A character finds out or reveals they never graduated high school

Or

a married couple discovered they're not really married.

[tearknee]

1 minute ago, Gharlane said:

Or

a married couple discovered they're not really married.

Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland?

[paulvdb]

19 hours ago, Gharlane said:

Or

a married couple discovered they're not really married.

Or a divorced couple find out that they're not really divorced and have to quickly get the divorce papers signed because one of them is getting married to someone else.

[ABay]

Never participate or watch a battle re-enactment. Someone is going to die. It's inevitable.

[tearknee]

i watch too many tv or films where you realize - well, "Where's the cancer cure, Lex [Luthor]?"

 

 

[proserpina65]

On 1/11/2025 at 3:42 AM, Blergh said:

Here's a trope I don't recall being detailed but seems to happen on TV (though I sure hope not too often in RL), one protagonist spouse is nice to family friends while the other is openly rude and hostile to them which often compels them to make a hasty or angry exit- yet rarely if ever will the nicer spouse will consider visiting the family friends at their place to minimize the friends' exposure to the rude spouse. Examples are plenty but few epitomized this more than The Jeffersons (1975-1986) which had George  Jefferson constantly trash Tom Willis's ethnicity and Helen's having opted to have wed Tom (and even would insult their daughter Jenny for being biracial despite otherwise liking her as his son Lionel's fiancee then wife). Tom  and Jenny were FAR more patient with George than he deserved while Helen was more openly combative to George's insults to her family dynamic.

However, in hindsight, it's puzzling that it seemed to never occur to any of the Willises  to quit visiting the Jefferson's apartment so frequently when they knew George would dis them upon sight but instead invite Louise (and Lionel) solo sans George up to their apartment (in the very same building one floor up!) - and oddly enough, Louise never seemed to spend much time there visiting them despite her being welcomed there (to say nothing of getting some respite of her own from George). Yes, Louise and Helen seemed to spend a good part of their time together volunteering in the charitable Help Center but they'd usually interact away from there in the Jeffersons' instead of the Willises' apartment.

Of course, before too long, Florence would spar with George and deflect a good amount of George's barbs away from her employers' neighbors (and seemed to get along fine with all members of their family). Also, interestingly enough, Mother Jefferson seemed to be fond of all members of the Willis family despite her son's hostility- and they all seemed to like her despite her son's 'tude and her frequently putting down their friend Louise.

 Thankfully, at Sherman Helmsley's instance, George's hostility became much less overt in the latter part of the show.

Still, it's a bit off that they (and Louise) would want them to have kept returning to Jefferson's apartment knowing that George would show up and insult them instead of Louise visiting them in their own apartment.

Well, in the case of The Jeffersons, it was generally done that way to limit the number of sets they had to create.  Yeah, in real life, people would stop visiting the Jefferson's apartment and Louise would just to to other people's apartments instead, but tv isn't reality.  Not even when it claims it is. 😉

On 2/4/2025 at 10:23 PM, Blergh said:

True but  these were relatives of the living/present parental Bradys. The point @Raja made was that no one from the deceased/absent 1st spouse's side on many of the sitcoms ever showed up to even check up on their late kids' offspring.

There was Aunt Jenny, played by Imogen Coca, the one who looked like Jan when she was young, but I don't remember who's aunt she was.  Could've been Carol's or could've been Carol's first husband's.  (Okay, just googled and she was Carol's aunt.)

[proserpina65]

On 2/6/2025 at 11:20 AM, Notabug said:

It is particularly odd when the patient is a woman giving birth.  On Friends, Rachel's parents both lived in the area and were involved in her life.  But, when she is in labor, about to give birth to their grandchild, where are they?  Nowhere to be found.  Instead, it's her room mate and the guys across the hall waiting for the big moment. 

Especially since Ross' parents WERE there.  But not when Carol gave birth to Ross' first child.  Weird as hell.

 

On 2/6/2025 at 3:49 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

My newest specific one with music. A tv show takes a song, often from the 80s,  and remakes it into a slow melancholy version of the song played over an ending episode montage

 

See paradise episode two built this on rock and roll. The song is bad enough they manage to make it worse. 

But many others.  

Grey's Anatomy did a whole season like this.  The only episode where it worked was the one in which Christina went to Switzerland and re-encountered Burke.  The slowed down version of Like a Virgin fit the scene.  The rest of the season?  Not at all.

On 2/3/2025 at 5:02 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

Another trope i thought of running across an old golden girls clip.  

 

A character finds out or reveals they never graduated hugh school

Bonus trope points if it's at the high school reunion. 

Suits built an entire series around a main character hiding that they never attended law school despite acting as an attorney.  It was stupid then and it's still stupid.  It annoyed the hell out of me because it would've called into legal question every single case on which that character work and would've possibly involved disbarment for any attorney at the firm who knew the truth.

Edited Thursday at 06:31 PM by proserpina65

[tearknee]

Like i wrote, Ted, Mary, Lou, Murray and co. will be shitting bricks as soon as Mary closes that door at the end of the last show as fast as they can say: "non-compete clauses".