TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[SmithW6079]

I hate the trope of shrew wife and emasculated husband, which is basically every sitcom couple.

[ToxicUnicorn]

Oh, or the time another character, the president of GE, fell into a diabetic coma and Spaceman called 911 asking for, "...Diabetes repair, I guess?"

 

This had me in stitches the first time I saw it.  I think that was the episode that spoofed Amadeus.  So funny!  Spaceman and the son-in-law (Will Arnett, I can't remember his character's name) were my favorite characters on 30 Rock by far.

 

 

You don't have to retain a lawyer to get advice and create a lawyer-client relationshp that is protected by confidentiality.

 

Really???  I guess I've watched too much tv and haven't had enough lawyer friends.  This blows my tiny little mind. 

[Bastet]

Oh yeah, one of the first things your learn in your Professional Responsibility course in law school is how not to unintentionally form an attorney-client relationship at cocktail parties.

[Yeldarbe]

Wow! Those of you saying that sex with coworkers and bosses never happens must never have worked in retail. I've been dying a slow death in retail for almost a decade and I have lost count of the sexual shenanigans that have gone on between all levels of store employees. Yes, in some cases people are fired but it's a small percentage. It's not only sex. It's basically exactly like high school Only worse because the age range is 18 to 80. Drama, gossip, scandals. The meetings that are held between the managers and supervisors who are the leaders of the place, are even rife with childish jokes and potty humor. Ever watch the show Hells Kitchen? The catty drama and petty bullshit arguments. The complete idiots who us competent folk who actually give a crap about doing our jobs well instead of just doing as little as possible in order to keep collecting a paycheck Have to hold on our backs....yeah I'm a little bitter. Pardon my tangent.

[Bastet]

You could have passed me this memo 20 years ago when I was working in retail as a horny college student; I didn't know I was allowed to get it on in the storeroom.  Alas, I never had sex in the university library, either.  I would not make a good TV character.

[FormerMod-a1]

I worked retail for many years in the 90s and never saw anyone having sex at work.  Or heard it or heard about it, and we were really gossipy.

[Wiendish Fitch]

You could have passed me this memo 20 years ago when I was working in retail as a horny college student; I didn't know I was allowed to get it on in the storeroom.  Alas, I never had sex in the university library, either.  I would not make a good TV character.

 

I worked at my college library back in the day, and I was told two students were caught having sex in one of the study rooms. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure they were either escorted out by campus police, banned from the library, or both. I guess when they were told to "get a room", they took it completely the wrong way.

[legaleagle53]

I don't know if its considered Creator's pet or not but your watching a show that starts out being all about the whole cast and then starts becoming about one person. You realize either this has become the Creator's pet or the writers have fallen in love with an character and/or actor or actress that plays them. Its not because the audience loves a character and their playing on that to get more viewers. But you start getting nearly every other character singing their praises all the time even ones who were once victimized or had reasons to hate the character. Everyone suddenly idolizes them and stories are suddenly being ignored or re-written to make the character look really good. Other characters suddenly become lobotomized  so the audience can see how much more awesome the character they love is. 

 

That's what's called "the Lana Lang/Regina Mills effect."

[LydiaMoon1]

andromeda331, on 26 Mar 2015 - 1:40 PM, said:  

 

I don't know if its considered Creator's pet or not but your watching a show that starts out being all about the whole cast and then starts becoming about one person. You realize either this has become the Creator's pet or the writers have fallen in love with an character and/or actor or actress that plays them. Its not because the audience loves a character and their playing on that to get more viewers. But you start getting nearly every other character singing their praises all the time even ones who were once victimized or had reasons to hate the character. Everyone suddenly idolizes them and stories are suddenly being ignored or re-written to make the character look really good. Other characters suddenly become lobotomized  so the audience can see how much more awesome the character they love is.

 

That's what's called "the Lana Lang/Regina Mills effect."

 

 .....or the Rachel Berry effect on Glee. 

 

Soap Operas were/are notorious for doing this.  Lily Snyder on As the World Turns, Belle Brady on DOOL, and Babe Carey Chandler on All My Children immediately come to mind.  AMC got so carried away with Babe, the viewers started referring to her as "Babe is Love". <snort>

[Rick Kitchen]

Hey, don't knock Lily Snyder.  So long as it's Martha Byrne.  Noelle Beck can diaf.

[proserpina65]

I worked retail for many years in the 90s and never saw anyone having sex at work.  Or heard it or heard about it, and we were really gossipy.

At my last retail job, about 10 years ago, the company fired two assistant managers for having sex at work.  On the general manager's desk.  And they weren't the only ones doing it, just the only ones stupid enough to do it where there was a security camera.  Workplace sex was against company policy, but if you didn't get caught . . . It happens at some places, and not at others, just like in any other line of work.  Personally I think it's very unprofessional, and it does bug me when some shows have practically the entire cast having sex all over their workplace.  (Yes, I'm looking at you Grey's Anatomy!)

[LydiaMoon1]

Hey, don't knock Lily Snyder.  So long as it's Martha Byrne.  Noelle Beck can diaf.

 

Sorry, dude.  It was Martha Byrne's Lily that made me give up on ATWT.  When they practically turned Lily's birthday into a national holiday, I had to bail. I never saw Noelle Beck.  I was long gone by then.

 

Of course, the absolute worst offender was GH and their thug love.  Their Sonny Corinthos/Jason Morgan worship turned my stomach.   I can't watch that show to this day.

Edited April 8, 2015 by LydiaMoon1

[Rick Kitchen]

GH is all thugs, all the time.  The character of Alexis Davis has three daughters.  By three different mobsters.  There are hardly any doctors or nurses left on the show, but boy, are there mobsters.

[DkNNy79]

Of course, the absolute worst offender was GH and their thug love.  Their Sonny Corinthos/Jason Morgan worship turned my stomach.   I can't watch that show to this day.

Yep....Oh how I loved this show in the 90s.

[ToxicUnicorn]

The character of Alexis Davis has three daughters.  By three different mobsters.

This is distressing news.  Who is the third daughter and her sire?

 

I was still keeping up with GH when Alexis was introduced.  She was supposed to be the smart one: high powered lawyer, and all that.  Of course, there is the soap trope that all smart women are really insecure on the inside, which sort of explained the first two daughters.

 

About a week ago, GH appeared on my hulu as a popular clip.  After I got over being surprised it was still airing, I clicked it.  To my surprise, all these old characters were on ... from its heyday: Luke, Bobbie, Tracy, Anna, Duke, Alexis ... and you know what?  Every single one of them looked as though they had had work done, in order to sort of resemble the way they used to look.  It was a bit nightmarish to see.  I would have preferred it if they had all aged gracefully.  Only Jane Elliot (Tracy, who I have always loved) looked legitimately timeless.

 

So there's a trope I'm not fond of: people who feel they can't look their age.  (ETA: Now that I've posted, I'm thinking that maybe I've misused the term "trope", but I'll let the last sentence stand, in a "I still don't like it" kind of way.)

Edited April 9, 2015 by ToxicUnicorn

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This is distressing news.  Who is the third daughter and her sire?

 

Alexis' youngest daughter is Molly Lansing-Davis, the daughter of Ric Lansing, the half-brother of Alexis' other baby-daddy, Sonny Corinthos, who fathered her middle child Kristina. And technically Ric is not a mobster, he's a lawyer. And occasionally an obsessive stalker who locked Sonny's wife Carly in a panic room so he could steal her baby.

 

Does your brain hurt yet?

[whyjen8]

Confessing to babies. Like Dexter confessing to baby Harry he was a serial killer.  Gemma from SOA confessing to her baby grandson what she did.  Walt showed baby Holly the money on Breaking Bad.  The baby confession is closely related to the declaration of love, you know the one....someone tells the baby how they truly feel about the person in another room, and they hear everything on the baby monitor.  

Edited April 16, 2015 by whyjen8

[backformore]

Wait, people *don't* have sex at work? No wonder I keep getting fired.

I'm getting used to new bifocals and read this as "no wonder I keep getting TIRED".

But yeah, hooking up in a supply room, especially in a hospital, is disgusting. I'm always waiting for someone in the throws of passion to be jammed into a sharp instrument and need to explain how they got injured.

[Chaos Theory]

That's what's called "the Lana Lang/Regina Mills effect."

For the record Regina Mills has a large fan base, me included. Just check out AfterEllen and TV.com. Sorry it's a pet peeve of mine. There are plenty of characters I dislike but I don't assume everyone else does.

But I do get the point. However on a lot of shows I think the characterization is misplaced. People have favorite characters and when their favorite character is not on the screen we tend to blame the character who is. As for Glee, Rachel Berry was always the star; and Regina Mills is probably the most interesting character on OUAT at least in my opinion.

Other shows I really can't say. I got tired of GH for a lot of reasons. But soaps always did have tunnel vision when it came to characters and stories. Sometimes it got out of hand.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Cobalt Stargazer]

For the record Regina Mills has a large fan base, me included. Just check out AfterEllen and TV.com. Sorry it's a pet peeve of mine. There are plenty of characters I dislike but I don't assume everyone else does.

 

Regina may have a large fanbase, but I don't think it can be disputed that its yet another case of an once-evil character hanging around after trying to kill the good guys however many times while the good characters get criticized for fighting back using Regina's own tactics against her.

[magicdog]

Hated trope #12899:

 

People eating Chinese food with chopsticks.  Every. Single. Time.   I'm not against trying it when the opportunity arises, although it can be quite tricky for those not used to them.  Everyone I know (including myself) just use a fork - especially when it comes to eating rice!  I honestly believe it to be a superior eating utensil.

 

 

Hated Trope#12900:

 

When the good guy is battling a villain, and the good guy is in a position to use a weapon to destroy said villain.  Despite encouragement from everyone else viewing the battle, the good guy announces s/he won't do it, because "That would make me no better than you, [Villain]!".  Give me a break!  Considering the villain WOULD use the same weapon against you if the situation were reversed, there's nothing wrong in killing your deadly enemy in self defense.  I know in many ways this trope was to promote good behavior in young viewers and it allows the villain (say, The Joker) to return to fight another day.  An internet commentator once brought the subject up and mentioned heroes like Batman never killed their villains despite the horrible things they did.  His job was to capture them and minimize the damage.  It was the justice system that was supposed to punish them.  Of course when you think of all the times The Joker (or others) came back over and over again, it makes you think the system is pretty screwed up since they keep letting them go or just put them in sanitariums rather than the electric chair.

[legaleagle53]

Hated trope #12899:

 

People eating Chinese food with chopsticks.  Every. Single. Time.   I'm not against trying it when the opportunity arises, although it can be quite tricky for those not used to them.  Everyone I know (including myself) just use a fork - especially when it comes to eating rice!  I honestly believe it to be a superior eating utensil.

 

 

Hated Trope#12900:

 

When the good guy is battling a villain, and the good guy is in a position to use a weapon to destroy said villain.  Despite encouragement from everyone else viewing the battle, the good guy announces s/he won't do it, because "That would make me no better than you, [Villain]!".  Give me a break!  Considering the villain WOULD use the same weapon against you if the situation were reversed, there's nothing wrong in killing your deadly enemy in self defense.  I know in many ways this trope was to promote good behavior in young viewers and it allows the villain (say, The Joker) to return to fight another day.  An internet commentator once brought the subject up and mentioned heroes like Batman never killed their villains despite the horrible things they did.  His job was to capture them and minimize the damage.  It was the justice system that was supposed to punish them.  Of course when you think of all the times The Joker (or others) came back over and over again, it makes you think the system is pretty screwed up since they keep letting them go or just put them in sanitariums rather than the electric chair.

 

And THIS is known as the "Snow White Effect" on Once upon a Time.

[Spartan Girl]

I hate the long-suffering housewife TV trope. It's bad enough when the female character is a spineless ninny, but her constantly bemoaning her lot when she at least has it better than most women in third-world counties is even more annoying.

Let's call this one the Marge Simpson Effect.

[ganesh]

I use chopsticks all the time. I make a lot of sauteed vegetables in rice as a side and it's very easy to eat that way. 

[Irlandesa]

Wow! Those of you saying that sex with coworkers and bosses never happens must never have worked in retail.

 

Sex between co-workers happens, sure, but did this sex happen at your place of business?  This is not a case of going home together.  This is a case of sneaking off into the storage room and getting it on during a fifteen minute break*

 

*Or, from the Ask A Manager column this week, in the copy room.

 

 

 

This is distressing news.  Who is the third daughter and her sire?

It took me a while to remember as I haven't watched GH in ages but I always forget that Sam is also her daughter.

[Yeldarbe]

Sex between co-workers happens, sure, but did this sex happen at your place of business? This is not a case of going home together. This is a case of sneaking off into the storage room and getting it on during a fifteen minute break

I can think of more than one example of this happening where I work.

[ToxicUnicorn]

Re: GH
 

Alexis' youngest daughter is Molly Lansing-Davis, the daughter of Ric Lansing, the half-brother of Alexis' other baby-daddy, Sonny Corinthos, who fathered her middle child Kristina. And technically Ric is not a mobster, he's a lawyer. And occasionally an obsessive stalker who locked Sonny's wife Carly in a panic room so he could steal her baby.

 

Thanks to everyone who posted the answer to Alexis' youngest.  

 

Soap relationships are hysterically funny.  I love it when an established female character has a child show up who they essentially never knew existed.  Does anyone remember when Monica Quartermaine's daughter Dawn showed up?  Unfortunately, they forgot to introduce include a personality along with her magical appearance.

 

Everyone I know (including myself) just use a fork - especially when it comes to eating rice!  I honestly believe it to be a superior eating utensil.

This. 

[backformore]

People eating Chinese food with chopsticks.  Every. Single. Time.   I'm not against trying it when the opportunity arises, although it can be quite tricky for those not used to them.  Everyone I know (including myself) just use a fork - especially when it comes to eating rice!  I honestly believe it to be a superior eating utensil.

 

Related to this is a group of people ordering a bunch of cardboard boxes of Chinese food, and each sticking their chopsticks in the box, eating out of the box, then passing the box to someone else.   So everyone, whether family, friends, or co-workers, is eating food that others have put their germy utensils  in.   

Similar is the group of women sharing ice cream out of the cartons.  sometimes even using the same spoons.  You're in your apartment -  you have dishes! 

[andromeda331]

I love it when an established female character has a child show up who they essentially never knew existed.  Does anyone remember when Monica Quartermaine's daughter Dawn showed up?  Unfortunately, they forgot to introduce include a personality along with her magical appearance.

 

 

That cracks me up every time. What woman doesn't forget labor and childbirth. And wasn't it Viki's or someone's who hypnotized to forget?

[ChromaKelly]

Related to this is a group of people ordering a bunch of cardboard boxes of Chinese food, and each sticking their chopsticks in the box, eating out of the box, then passing the box to someone else.   So everyone, whether family, friends, or co-workers, is eating food that others have put their germy utensils  in.   

Similar is the group of women sharing ice cream out of the cartons.  sometimes even using the same spoons.  You're in your apartment -  you have dishes! 

Yes, and they eat out of the carton on the couch. I guess they haven't experienced the fun of a paper carton of Chinese food leaking all over the place? I put the food on a plate, especially since the rice comes separately and I need to combine my main dish and rice. And I use a fork.

[ganesh]

You'd all freak on me then. I share my yogurt with my dog and I use the same spoon. 

[Bastet]

Don't worry - I wouldn't bat an eye, since I let my cat drink out of my glass, lick ice cream off my spoon, etc.  And I have a close friend with whom I regularly get together for nights spent on the couch eating, drinking, chatting, and watching movies; when we have ice cream, we each grab a spoon and dive in.  I’m just not one to get excited about germs, especially when it comes to family and friends.  

 

With that said, I do agree the shared carton of ice cream is more common on TV than in real life.  As is eating Chinese food out of the carton, with chopsticks.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Bastet

[ToxicUnicorn]

ganesh and Bastet, you two are funny.  I'm with Andyourlittledog2.  I make a lot of dishes all by myself.  I switched exclusively to seltzer water mainly because my cat wouldn't drink it when I wasn't looking.

 

That cracks me up every time. What woman doesn't forget labor and childbirth. And wasn't it Viki's or someone's who hypnotized to forget?

 

At least Viki had the excuse of multiple personalities.  I couldn't think of another example off the top of my head - hence, I discovered

 

http://general-hospital.wikia.com/wiki/General_Hospital_Wikia

 

Fun reading, that.  My head is spinning and I've known about GH for decades!

[selkie]

I remember reading an interview with some random soap opera actress many years ago where she said that whenever you saw a bowl of ice cream on a tv or movie set, it as actually a bowl of Crisco shortening because it wouldn't melt on the set like normal ice cream would. And yes, part of acting was pretending to be loving their bowl of Crisco as they talked with their female friends even though all the actresses thought it was disgusting for those scenes.

 

So I wouldn't be surprised if the eating from the ice cream carton largely came down to making it slightly easier for the set dressers to make it look real compared to trying to sculpt their shortening and hot fudge sundae all pretty in a glass bowl.

[Bastet]

It's usually either mashed potatoes or shortening.

[galax-arena]

Related to this is a group of people ordering a bunch of cardboard boxes of Chinese food, and each sticking their chopsticks in the box, eating out of the box, then passing the box to someone else.   So everyone, whether family, friends, or co-workers, is eating food that others have put their germy utensils  in.  

Oh man, y'all must hate eating Korean food with its little communal banchan dishes, then. :D Even a lot of the main dishes are communal. You put a giant pot of stew in the center and everyone repeatedly dips their spoon into it. 

Edited April 27, 2015 by galax-arena

[Wiendish Fitch]

Am I the only one who doesn't find the overprotective father/brother character type endearing? I find it irritating and creepy as all get out. And have you ever notice it's never the overprotective mother/sister? It's because we silly, fragile females need big, strong men monitoring our love lives, because we will inevitably choose some jerk/cheater/possible rapist. Gah, it makes me ill.

[ChromaKelly]

You do get the batshit crazy mother who's all nobody's good enough for my sonny. Criticizes the wife's cooking, housekeeping, child rearing, and thinking her son can do no wrong.

[ByTor]

Also related? The wife of the cop/doctor/FBI agent who constantly complains about her spouses long hours at work. Like he's just hanging around the office, and not saving lives. And this is a huge shock to her, even though she knew she married a cop/doctor/FBI agent.

Related to this (happens LOTS on soaps)...spouse/partner of cop/doctor/FBI agent gets pissy about being LIED TO when cop/doctor/FBI agent won't give details about what he/she is working on.  It's called confidentiality, dumb ass!

[Chaos Theory]

Am I the only one who doesn't find the overprotective father/brother character type endearing? I find it irritating and creepy as all get out. And have you ever notice it's never the overprotective mother/sister? It's because we silly, fragile females need big, strong men monitoring our love lives, because we will inevitably choose some jerk/cheater/possible rapist. Gah, it makes me ill.

You have got to watch Sons of Anarchy. Gemma's over protectiveness of her son Jax borders on Oedipal.....Also Bates Motel. Mothers protective of sons. A trope I like..

 

 

<---Edited

Edited May 8, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Qoass]

A couple is having trouble.  The scene takes place in a darkened bedroom.  She is lying facing the camera with eyes closed.  He tiptoes into the room and slips quietly into the bed.  Or whispers a deeply personal confession to her reclining form.  But lo!  She isn't really asleep!  She opens her eyes and stares intently into the camera, a troubled look clouding her perfectly made up face...  But he'll never know she heard him.

 

Gee, didn't see that coming.

[MaryMitch]

I saw this one last night. Someone that normally wears glasses took them off and promptly walked into a wall.  I have known legally blind people and never saw any of them walk into walls - with or without their glasses.  Who can't see a WALL?

[bmoore4026]

Hated Trope#12900:

 

When the good guy is battling a villain, and the good guy is in a position to use a weapon to destroy said villain.  Despite encouragement from everyone else viewing the battle, the good guy announces s/he won't do it, because "That would make me no better than you, [Villain]!".  Give me a break!  Considering the villain WOULD use the same weapon against you if the situation were reversed, there's nothing wrong in killing your deadly enemy in self defense.  I know in many ways this trope was to promote good behavior in young viewers and it allows the villain (say, The Joker) to return to fight another day.  An internet commentator once brought the subject up and mentioned heroes like Batman never killed their villains despite the horrible things they did.  His job was to capture them and minimize the damage.  It was the justice system that was supposed to punish them.  Of course when you think of all the times The Joker (or others) came back over and over again, it makes you think the system is pretty screwed up since they keep letting them go or just put them in sanitariums rather than the electric chair.

 

This is why I like Sailor Moon so much.  All of her enemies want her magic Silver Crystal because of its unlimited power, yet Sailor Moon will use the power of said crystal to eliminate them even when her friends tell her not to, not because of the "if you do that, you'll be no better" crap, but because the power backlash might kill her.

[Wax Lion]

 

Of course, the absolute worst offender was GH and their thug love.  Their Sonny Corinthos/Jason Morgan worship turned my stomach.   I can't watch that show to this day.

 

Sadly, GH has joined the soaps that jumped the shark during the run of Jill Faren Phelps, which has become a trope for the genre. Every show she's worked on took a disastrous turn that it never recovered from... even GL, which survived several years after her departure, never had a long-term creative recovery. And GH was somehow stuck with her for a very long run.

 

 

About a week ago, GH appeared on my hulu as a popular clip.  After I got over being surprised it was still airing, I clicked it.  To my surprise, all these old characters were on ... from its heyday: Luke, Bobbie, Tracy, Anna, Duke, Alexis ... and you know what?  Every single one of them looked as though they had had work done, in order to sort of resemble the way they used to look.  It was a bit nightmarish to see.  I would have preferred it if they had all aged gracefully.  Only Jane Elliot (Tracy, who I have always loved) looked legitimately timeless.

 

I remember checking out Y&R in the 2000s. Suddenly, every long-term character looked the way they did when I first watched it in the 80s... which was disturbing because in the 90s they did look ten years older.

 

 

The wife of the cop/doctor/FBI agent who constantly complains about her spouses long hours at work. Like he's just hanging around the office, and not saving lives. And this is a huge shock to her, even though she knew she married a cop/doctor/FBI agent.

 

That trope drives me crazy. Unless there's a set-up where the cop/doctor/agent changed jobs from a desk job, the spouse should have known what they signed up for.

 

On a related note, I hate it when this trope is used to justify asinine behavior. The main guy from The Strain is an entitled jerk, especially around his family, but his ex-wife complains when he runs off to deal with CDC emergencies. When he tries to warn her about the vampire epidemic she insists he must be making it up to be manipulative. Just because she's worse, it doesn't make his behavior any less annoying.

[Danny Franks]

Writer #1: 'Okay, so let's see.... We've got this female character who is going through a tough time. She's kind of losing it a little and struggling with her life. You could describe it as 'spiralling'. So how do we present that in the show? What narrative device would work best?'

Writer #2:'Hmm... Oh, I know! She starts getting drunk and fucking lots of different, random guys!'

Writer #1:'Genius!'

 

Yeah, I hate that. I hate that the way so many writers depict loss of control and emotional turmoil in a woman is to make them suddenly promiscuous, as if them having control over when their knickers come off is indicative of a how competently they're able to live their life on a day to day basis.

 

It never works the other way around. A guy having sex with lots of random women is almost never used as shorthand to say, 'this dude is falling apart'. No, instead, that dude gets drunk and gets into fights.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Danny Franks

[ganesh]

And then there's the one fight where he finally gets a beat down and "hits bottom." He's typically thrown out of the bar into the alley. And it's raining. 

[DittyDotDot]

Ugh. The rain. A sure sign someone in down.

[Shannon L.]

 

Ugh. The rain. A sure sign someone in down.

Another sure sign that a woman is down is when she's wearing sweats and a t-shirt and her hair is in a ponytail. Because we never dress that way any other time.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Shannon L.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Whenever a show puts 'ice' in. Meaning there's a really happy, happy moment, only to be followed by:

 

A: a character death

B: characters breaking up

 

etc.

 

*ugh* -_-

[merylinkid]

Oh no, when a woman is really down, she takes a bubble bath and has a glass of wine with her.    Because getting drunk while surrounded by water is a brilliant idea.