TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[Guest]

Ha!  This is sooo me.  As far as I am concerned wherever I am facing is north.  So to the right of me is east.  Even if I turn 90 degrees I am still facing north. 

 

I pretend I'm driving a car.  Left means you have to cross a lane of traffic.  Right means you merge into the closest lane.  I imagine I'd be screwed in the UK.

[MaryPatShelby]

I could never be a special agent because when the person in my earpiece directs me to "the west side" of the building, I'd have to stop short and stick my arms out in vain hope of orienting myself to where I was.  One hundred compasses couldn't help me.

 

I am also directionally learning disabled.  Don't tell me that a business is "north of the airport" or that I have to "go east".  I can. not. parse it. 

[Bastet]

I have a friend who's like that, and she's the only person I know who is, and she'll owe all you directionally-challenged folk a debt of gratitude -- after reading how much more common this is than I thought, I'll be more understanding when giving her directions.  (Not that I was ever saying, "What are you, an idiot?" or something like that, just frustrated sometimes.)

[Guest]

Two directionally challenged confessions

 

1) If I make a wrong turn the first time I go somewhere I am incapable of committing the correct route to long term memory.  I shit you not, I had to put a crudely drawn map that drew which direction went to the mall inside the car visor when I was in college.  How did I overcome?  I committed this phrase to memory 'What kind of civil engineering moron builds an exit to merge left to the mall when the mall is to the right?  And how the hell did they do that without an overpass?"

 

2) I also can't remember road names but become some kind of idiot savant about the local news when giving direction.  'You take this exit that's a big circle.  There was a fatal crash there when I was a kid.  Its the one right before where the plane landed on the interstate.  No, not that plane, the other one."

[ganesh]

There's no big landmarks where I live now, like I'm used to the Pacific Ocean being *right there*, but I know my house runs north-south, so that helps now. And I just literally drove across Idaho, There's no way you can keep track of direction because the roads are a maze through the mountains, so I got a good compass app for my phone. You're on the north route, but heading south, so it's wild.

 

I'll typically just punch it in the phone even within my city.

Edited August 14, 2015 by ganesh

[andromeda331]

I've always wondered about whether their spies leaving messages or something for another spy,

or criminals leaving clues for cops or regular people who's love ones they've kidnapped through

out the city. What's to prevent someone else from finding their clues or messages and throwing

them away? Or if its a cellphone or something taking it? Or if its a box or case, what is to prevent

someone walking by and seeing it and calling the cops? Cause you know a box or case

unattended....

[Wax Lion]

In Hawaii, people use "mauka" and "makai" as a direction meaning 'towards the mountains" and "towards the ocean" respectively. (The way the islands are there's usually a big mountain in the center.) It's common enough I'm surprised no Hawaii-set show hasn't made use of it. It seemed a natural for Hawaii Five-0 to have a moment where one of the local cops uses those terms, confusing a cop from the mainland. Then again, Alex O'Loughlin shouldn't be asked to say any Hawaiian words.

 

Also, I've known a lot of Hawaii residents that will use landmarks that are no longer there in their directions, like "Turn right where the Cinerama theatre used to be" In general, I'm surprised this hasn't become a trope of fish-out-of-water shows.

[Shannon L.]

 

Two directionally challenged confessions

I have two myself:

 

1. I'm one of those people who, when reading a map, has to turn in to the direction I'm facing.  Thank God for the Waze app because if I had to take a map with me, I'd have to pull over because I'd have to do more than just glance at it.

 

2. I'm ok with telling direction by the location of the sun (except between 11am and 1pm when it's more or less right over head), but I still need to think about it.  I was embarrassed as hell once when I got lost after visiting my friend's new house in a new city (no mountains!).  I called and he said "what direction are you heading?".  I had to look around for the sun (not always easy in a car), look at my watch to see what time it was, then think "ok, if it's at my right, and it's this time, then it's setting, so if I was facing North,it would be to my left, so I must be headed....". I went through all of this while he was waiting for me to figure it out.  ::facepalms:: Maybe it was because I was feeling pressure to hurry.....

[Taylorh2]

Turn right - no, your other right...

Hahahaaha. My dh always says that to me.  I have a terrible sense of directions. My son says that I can get lost going across the street. lol

I never try and tell anyone how to get anywhere (not even to my house). I always say 'maoquest it'

[ChromaKelly]

Have any of you ever been to Columbia, MD or other similar planned-communities? I used to work at a car dealership there and part of my job was picking up and driving customers home. This was 20ish years ago before GPS. I kept getting lost because everything looks the same and the way the town was planned, it has no big signs and things like gas stations and fast food places and shopping centers are hidden behind berms. So I couldn't be like, oh I passed a McDonald's on the way here, so let me keep an eye out for it. The street signs are all tasteful and unobtrusive so it was hard even following a map and trying to figure out what street I was on. I took to driving around on my off time to figure it out.

[DittyDotDot]

I have a fairly decent sense of direction and am pretty good at finding my way around if I've seen a map or been in the area before. However, my sister used to live in a planned neighborhood, of sorts, in Phoenix.  It's bad enough that Phoenix itself is rather easy to get lost in due to how much every thing looks alike, but that neighborhood was so creepily the same. When I went to visit her I would get lost all the time. My nephew would be saying, "Where are you going, we should've turned back there." And I'd be thinking, "How the hell do you know that?" I rarely volunteered to make a run to the grocery store as I was sure I would end up in Tuscon instead some day.
 

[selkie]

Also, I've known a lot of Hawaii residents that will use landmarks that are no longer there in their directions, like "Turn right where the Cinerama theatre used to be" In general, I'm surprised this hasn't become a trope of fish-out-of-water shows.

 

They do that in Florida too, even though it's got the second lowest percentage of 'natives' of any state. (Nevada is a slight #1 in that regard.) And yes, I'm guilty of giving directions along the lines of 'where the Holiday Inn used to be before it got taken out by Hurricane Ivan in 2004' myself.

 

Not quite a trope, but I hate the sloppy writing of assuming that since, hey, both places have palm trees, California and Florida really aren't different. Never mind that they're often very different species of palm trees and different vegetation in general. (Dexter used to drive me nuts because they'd so often do exterior shots that just didn't look like residential inland Miami) Or that our Hispanic population is essentially Caribbean + Venezuelan rather than Mexican/Central American and, hey, significant differences among populations and all.

 

Florida-adjacent annoyance yesterday- a restaurant scene in Rectify (set in Georgia) where the waiter talked about how snapper was an unpopular fish that no one ever ordered when it's really the crown jewel of recreational and commercial warm water fishing in these parts. Do your food research already.

[Guest]

Also, I've known a lot of Hawaii residents that will use landmarks that are no longer there in their directions, like "Turn right where the Cinerama theatre used to be" In general, I'm surprised this hasn't become a trope of fish-out-of-water shows.

 

Ah yes.  We navigate based on the relative position to the Big Chicken.

[merylinkid]

 

 

Have any of you ever been to Columbia, MD or other similar planned-communities?

Columbia -- the world's weirdest sprawling mall.    I kid you not, I can never get from DSW to Jo-Ann's there without getting lost.   Heck even going to Jo-ann's then leaving confuses me.

 

Based on this conversation, people do not get lost nearly enough on tv.   So my tv trope is that people always know where they are going.   Kinda like they need to call someone and just dial the number.   This was in the days before cell phones.   They'd just pick up the phone and start dialing the school, their long lost cousin, co-worker, etc.   People they did not call the time, but somehow magically knew the number.

[mansonlamps]

I know we are way off topic here, but have to chime in with the fact that my aunt actually got lost in my townhouse trying to find the bathroom. And, believe me, my townhouse isn't that big.

[Guest]

I know we are way off topic here, but have to chime in with the fact that my aunt actually got lost in my townhouse trying to find the bathroom. And, believe me, my townhouse isn't that big.

 

Does that somehow bring us back on topic to the 'Exit is that way' trop'.  You know the one where you are on the West Wing and the Prez has to direct his daughter to the right door or Ainsley Hayes going to the bathroom (oops its the closet). 

[kassygreene]

They do that in Florida too, even though it's got the second lowest percentage of 'natives' of any state. (Nevada is a slight #1 in that regard.) And yes, I'm guilty of giving directions along the lines of 'where the Holiday Inn used to be before it got taken out by Hurricane Ivan in 2004' myself.

 

Not quite a trope, but I hate the sloppy writing of assuming that since, hey, both places have palm trees, California and Florida really aren't different. Never mind that they're often very different species of palm trees and different vegetation in general. (Dexter used to drive me nuts because they'd so often do exterior shots that just didn't look like residential inland Miami) Or that our Hispanic population is essentially Caribbean + Venezuelan rather than Mexican/Central American and, hey, significant differences among populations and all.

 

Florida-adjacent annoyance yesterday- a restaurant scene in Rectify (set in Georgia) where the waiter talked about how snapper was an unpopular fish that no one ever ordered when it's really the crown jewel of recreational and commercial warm water fishing in these parts. Do your food research already.

Yes, California is palm trees and ocean front with mountains in the background.  Florida is palm trees and ocean front with no mountains anywhere in the state.  And snapper is such a big deal that the continual reductions in the federal and state seasons (in an effort to bring the numbers up) are a source of major angst, if not agony, here.  But Hollywood is fine with mountains visible from Palm Beach (Silk Stalkings), so why would we care?

[Rick Kitchen]

Does that somehow bring us back on topic to the 'Exit is that way' trop'.  You know the one where you are on the West Wing and the Prez has to direct his daughter to the right door or Ainsley Hayes going to the bathroom (oops its the closet). 

 

American Idol runs a montage of auditioners trying to get out the wrong door every season.

[Gudzilla]

 

But Hollywood is fine with mountains visible from Palm Beach (Silk Stalkings), so why would we care?

My favorite was Dexter taking his boat out with mountains in the background. 

[MaryPatShelby]

I, for one, will be thrilled when the statements "Get 'im out of here!" and "I'll see you in court" are completely eliminated from the police procedural.

[magicdog]

I, for one, will be thrilled when the statements "Get 'im out of here!" and "I'll see you in court" are completely eliminated from the police procedural.

 

 

 

Not to mention, "We're done here."

[SVNBob]

The most recent episode of the Cracked podcast is basically about this thread.  They focus on film tropes, but there's some overlap.

[ByTor]

Woman in labor scenes always go as follows: "PUSH!!!"..."I...CAAAAAN'T!!!!"...."One more, you're doing GREAT!"..."AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"....."WAHHH!!!!!" where the "WAHHHH" is coming from a perfectly clean 6 month old newborn.

[Gudzilla]

Woman in labor scenes always go as follows: "PUSH!!!"..."I...CAAAAAN'T!!!!"...."One more, you're doing GREAT!"..."AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"....."WAHHH!!!!!" where the "WAHHHH" is coming from a perfectly clean 6 month old newborn.

Even Under the Dome which had the greatest child birth scene ever filmed, started  with the PUSH/I CAN'T exchange.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I've just finished watching the Farscape series' end movie, which had the most non-trope-iest pregnancy ever, and a great child-birthing sequence.  Even there, I think, they did the "I can't".

 

Epidurals in space battle, folks.  The final frontier.

[ganesh]

But it was exactly how Farscape would do a birth scene. Shooting makes me feel better.

Farscape also took the trope of rooting for the bad guys, but are they that bad? and turning the main characters into literal planet destroying terrorists. And oh yeah, one was an assassin for a while when they were on break.

The show is probably still ahead of its time.

[Daisy]

Woman in labor scenes always go as follows: "PUSH!!!"..."I...CAAAAAN'T!!!!"...."One more, you're doing GREAT!"..."AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"....."WAHHH!!!!!" where the "WAHHHH" is coming from a perfectly clean 6 month old newborn.

 

 

except for Call the Midwife, where there is only a "Push, come on Mummy" - but the babies are always babie sized. not 6 month newborn sized 

[Gudzilla]

 

turning the main characters into literal planet destroying terrorists

Although this category is owned by Stanley Tweedle. ;)

[andromeda331]

I'm getting really tired of the trope where one parent dies either due to an illness, accident or murder and

the other parent basically gives up parenting.

[SmithW6079]

Shrew wife and idiot husband and father, which is basically every couple on TV.

[pawneerangers]

I hate the trope that if two people fight all the time and always annoy each other they're meant to be together. A lot of TV shows have this idea that people who get along and make each other happy are too boring so the right person is apparently one who always clashes with you and gets angry around you a lot because that's supposed to mean there's passion. It makes me uncomfortable sometimes.  

[Wax Lion]

Back in the 80s, there were a lot of happy soap couples who dealt with their childrens' troubles or supported each other through career challenges. Also, in the Luke/Laura aftermath, they often battled crime together.

 

I miss the idea that couples could be interesting that way.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Wax Lion

[topanga]

I'm getting really tired of the trope where one parent dies either due to an illness, accident or murder and

the other parent basically gives up parenting.

How about every show with a dead mother, which is every other comedy or kids' show, it seems? Even my kids wonder why there are so many shows without mothers. 

[shang yiet]

I hate the trope that villains can survive being stabbed, bashed, knocked unconscious, electrocuted, fall three stories and still get up and have enough strength left to pursue the victims. Or fall three stories and lie there unconscious but still be able to walk away ten seconds later and disappear (much to the victim's puzzlement) and turn up at another place and time without any evidence of injury.

[Raja]

Every police squad and gangster crew has a member who has a brother Catholic that is a Catholic Priest.

[cpcathy]

And they all call their mother "Ma."

[Haleth]

I hate the trope that villains can survive being stabbed, bashed, knocked unconscious, electrocuted, fall three stories and still get up and have enough strength left to pursue the victims. Or fall three stories and lie there unconscious but still be able to walk away ten seconds later and disappear (much to the victim's puzzlement) and turn up at another place and time without any evidence of injury.

Not only villains.  Jack Bauer did this on a regular basis.

[AimingforYoko]

Yeah, I never understood that trope: Crazy = Invincible.

[kathyk24]

How about every show with a dead mother, which is every other comedy or kids' show, it seems? Even my kids wonder why there are so many shows without mothers. 

Now it's even worse you have shows like Raising Hope and Baby Daddy where the mothers leave their babies with the fathers never to be seen again. Or you have Rusty Beck or Major Crimes who abandoned her son as a teenager. I think being a neglectful mother is worse than a dead one.

My above post should read Sharon Beck who abandoned her son

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Now it's even worse you have shows like Raising Hope and Baby Daddy where the mothers leave their babies with the fathers never to be seen again.

Hope's mother was a serial killer who got the death penalty.

[ChromaKelly]

All single people live in the city and living in the suburbs is a fate worse than death.

[backformore]

 A trope on a new (and I predict soon to be cancelled)  show called "Crowded", but it reminds me of SO many other shows -

 

Two sisters can't just have different personalities.   They have to be OPPOSITE stereotypes.    On "crowded" , it's a bit like the sisters on Modern Family.  You have one sexy/slutty/dumb as a rock sister, and one super-smart/nerdy/virginal/speaks in 5 syllable words sister. 

And only rarely is the smart/nerdy sister going to influence the slutty/dumb one.  Usually it's the slutty one trying to teach the nerdy one how to play dumb to get a guy.

[stillhere1900]

*Crowded*     They aired back to back episodes. I didn't bother to watch the second episode.

 

 sitcom cliches,,,,,,

 

A Black person.

An old person.

teen girl:  sexy/slutty and b-sexual. 

teen girl:  super smart/nerdy

Dad: Hates daughter's boyfriend

Mom:  ?

[TaraS1]

Have you ever in your lifetime been seen/shown or shown yourself out of a place?

 

"Jeeves, please show/see Mr. X out..."

"I can show/see myself out..."

[roseha]

Don't know if this came up before, but I *hate* seeing celebrities playing themselves in sitcoms.  I've recently been watching the Drew Carey show on LAFF and who should show up on the characters' spontaneous trip to New York but...Donald Trump.  Yes, Trump. 

[Bruinsfan]

It can often be cringeworthy, but I do think James Van der Beek playing himself on Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 was a comedic masterstroke.

[cpcathy]

I still enjoy it, especially if they are not just cameo-ing and they are playing a ridiculous version of themselves, like anyone in Extras. I'm also watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on DVD right now, so I had better get used to it.

[GreekGeek]

Don't know if this came up before, but I *hate* seeing celebrities playing themselves in sitcoms.  I've recently been watching the Drew Carey show on LAFF and who should show up on the characters' spontaneous trip to New York but...Donald Trump.  Yes, Trump. 

I think the most clever use of a celebrity playing himself was Danny Thomas on the "It May Look Like a Walnut" episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

 

The variant on this trope that I never liked was the actor playing him or herself and encountering his/her sitcom character. 

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Don't know if this came up before, but I *hate* seeing celebrities playing themselves in sitcoms.  I've recently been watching the Drew Carey show on LAFF and who should show up on the characters' spontaneous trip to New York but...Donald Trump.  Yes, Trump. 

On the other hand, that episode also gave us Carol Channing's road rage.

[ganesh]

I guess it depends how cartoonish the actors are playing themselves. I think MLB is really good on Extras because he's got some self-awareness. CYE is ok because Larry tends to draw everyone into his deal, but the celebs tend to play it meaner by default, when I think they don't have to.