TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[Gharlane]

11 hours ago, paulvdb said:

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.

Or they haven't told their visiting parents, who think they're still happily married. 

[Lugal]

On 2/20/2025 at 6:47 AM, ABay said:

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

Plus there's a chance that you'll end up time traveling back and have to fight in the actual battle!

[DrSpaceman73]

On 2/20/2025 at 1:24 PM, proserpina65 said:

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

 

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.

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.

Community that was the same premise.  Lawyer is caught without an undergrad  degree has to go back to college.  Though I guess I wasn't clear on if he had a paw degree. Seemed to be just his undergrad. 

[tearknee]

6 hours ago, Lugal said:

Plus there's a chance that you'll end up time traveling back and have to fight in the actual battle!

 

[tearknee]

6 hours ago, Lugal said:

Plus, there's a chance that you'll end up time traveling back and have to fight in the actual battle!

I prefer that in "Read All About It!" because A) it was Canadian and B) it used the War of 1812 instead of Gettysburg!

Edited February 21 by tearknee

[andromeda331]

Everyone loves one character or no one could hate that character. On NCIS someone is out to get Abby and everyone is shocked. Who could hate Abby? Ah, lots of people could. Since the episode aired in season three I already hated Abby. Gilmore Girls it's Rory, who no one could hate. Ah, yes they can. Not only is annoying it's also unrealistic. There's very few people in the world or characters that everyone loves or everyone hates.

[Zella]

10 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Everyone loves one character or no one could hate that character. On NCIS someone is out to get Abby and everyone is shocked. Who could hate Abby? Ah, lots of people could. Since the episode aired in season three I already hated Abby. Gilmore Girls it's Rory, who no one could hate. Ah, yes they can. Not only is annoying it's also unrealistic. There's very few people in the world or characters that everyone loves or everyone hates.

Come sit by me. I also couldn't stand Abby. LOL

[andromeda331]

10 hours ago, Zella said:

Come sit by me. I also couldn't stand Abby. LOL

I liked her in the first season. She was cool and fun. She somehow went downhill from there.

[Zella]

7 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

I liked her in the first season. She was cool and fun. She somehow went downhill from there.

I don't know that I watched the first season--it all just became a blur as I watched it with my grandparents--but I can definitely see how the character would start out okay and then become highly Flanderized. 

[Trini]

A good description of the "Science Person" procedural trope form this article:

https://www.avclub.com/silly-pop-culture-jobs-the-accountant-veep-severance

Quote

All-purpose science person

Take it from someone who crapped out of grad school after two years in a neuroscience lab: Scientists are smart folk—when they’re operating in their fields of expertise. Outside those narrow lanes of specialization, though, things can get a little dicier, which is part of why I can’t help but laugh any time I’m watching TV and an all-purpose “science person” is there to handle any problems that might conceivably involve wearing a lab coat. Although you can trace this “job” back to Mr. Spock on Star Trek and The Professor on Gilligan’s Island (and beyond), it truly came to flower in the era of the TV procedural. After all, it’s way easier (and more cost-effective) to have one cast member who can handle all your lab-based exposition, rather than bring in a series of experts (and their day rates) to deliver lines about individual disciplines. Much simpler to just create a character like NCIS‘s Abby Sciuto (Pauley Paurrette), who’s essentially a one-woman forensics van, handling any and all DNA analysis, blood spatter, ballistics, hacking tasks, etc.—you know, smart people stuff!

 

Similar to doctors on medical show who practice ALL the medicine; and lawyers who handle ANY case involving ANY law.

[andromeda331]

On 3/31/2025 at 7:00 PM, Trini said:

A good description of the "Science Person" procedural trope form this article:

https://www.avclub.com/silly-pop-culture-jobs-the-accountant-veep-severance

 

Similar to doctors on medical show who practice ALL the medicine;

Including animals and being able to tell people diagnose people by just looking at them. 

[Gharlane]

On 2/21/2025 at 12:05 PM, Lugal said:

Plus there's a chance that you'll end up time traveling back and have to fight in the actual battle!

I remember a time-travel show TV show (Time Travel Hot Tub?) that subverted the trope somewhat by making the past more realistic (ie., shitty). For example, they went to Salem and the sister was immediately accused of being a witch; they met cavemen, who did nothing but eat and fuck all day; they tried to rescue Michael Jackson from his abusive parents and inadvertently gave him some bad ideas.

 

On 2/21/2025 at 1:29 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

Community that was the same premise.  Lawyer is caught without an undergrad  degree has to go back to college.  Though I guess I wasn't clear on if he had a paw degree. 

Did he specialize in dog law?

[tearknee]

Scooby-Dooby Doo!

[DrSpaceman73]

On 4/3/2025 at 8:49 AM, Gharlane said:

I remember a time-travel show TV show (Time Travel Hot Tub?) that subverted the trope somewhat by making the past more realistic (ie., shitty). For example, they went to Salem and the sister was immediately accused of being a witch; they met cavemen, who did nothing but eat and fuck all day; they tried to rescue Michael Jackson from his abusive parents and inadvertently gave him some bad ideas.

 

Did he specialize in dog law?

That would be amazing!  I'd love dog lawyers.  

[Milburn Stone]

The Preternaturally Gifted Detective. An old trope, but there's a new entry. Whether the detective is more gifted than "normals" because of OCD, autism, or a freakishly high IQ, somehow the condition is central to their ability to solve crimes that normals can't solve. The new entry is Ludwig. It actually combines two previous shows, coming off as a cross between Astrid & Raphaëlle (autism) and High Potential (freakishly high IQ). This time the detective (played charmingly by David Mitchell) is a professional crossword/cryptogram deviser, whose ability to devise crosswords and cryptograms somehow enables him to also solve crimes! But the show is executed nicely, and also has the wonderful Anna Maxwell Martin. We'll keep watching.

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

The Preternaturally Gifted Detective. An old trope, but there's a new entry. Whether the detective is more gifted than "normals" because of OCD, autism, or a freakishly high IQ, somehow the condition is central to their ability to solve crimes that normals can't solve. The new entry is Ludwig. It actually combines two previous shows, coming off as a cross between Astrid & Raphaëlle (autism) and High Potential (freakishly high IQ). This time the detective (played charmingly by David Mitchell) is a professional crossword/cryptogram deviser, whose ability to devise crosswords and cryptograms somehow enables him to also solve crimes! But the show is executed nicely, and also has the wonderful Anna Maxwell Martin. We'll keep watching.

The CumberbachvSherlock was autistic high IQ. House was APD/high IQ.