TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[andromeda331]

50 minutes ago, Camille said:

I should have named it in my last post.

It's such a pathetically obvious way for a show's writers to avoid the controversy of having a woman decide to have an abortion but still find a way to get rid of the kid anyway.

As I wrote above, the Jessica Buchanan example had to be the most ridiculous example of this trope--she gets hit by a car at nine months pregnant and beginning labor.

It really is.

[Llywela]

British soap opera Coronation Street offered a refreshing take on the above discussion earlier this year, when one of its teen characters got pregnant and found herself under pressure from all sides to keep the baby, but after taking advice from a variety of people - including another girl who'd had a baby in her teens and gave it up for adoption - ultimately decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and went through with an abortion, quietly and without any fuss.

[GHScorpiosRule]

This is going back years and years, but Dallas had Lucy get an abortion because she didn't want her rapist's baby. It was done so well. And then, Sue Ellen got pregnant in either season six or seven, was hit by a car and lost it, there was a scene with her and Peter, the kid from the Blue Lagoon, who she was having an affair with. He seemed to think the baby was his, while good ole J.R. thought it was his. But Sue Ellen/Linda Gray did an amazing job when she told Peter, that had she known she was pregnant (she was unaware when hit by the car, and learned she had been pregnant in the hospital), she would have aborted it. And she wasn't gentle or kind when she said it. She was just so frustrated that he couldn't understand their relationship was over. And he cried like the little boy he was. And this was in the mid 80s.

[BaggythePanther]

The Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation has done many variations on the pregnancy storyline. They did an abortion storyline- Manny was 14 or 15 years old and got pregnant. Her mother took her to get the abortion. A few seasons later Liberty got pregnant and she gave the baby up for adoption. A few seasons after that, Mia, a teenage mother came onto the show.

I remember there the US network was very hesitant to show the abortion episode, so it only aired once, after 11PM. But everyone knew about it. 

[Archery]

At the end of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's run, I was totally expecting Paula, a paralegal who had spent the run of the show getting into and through law school (while working full time and raising a family) to give up her big law firm job (and salary) and go back to practicing zoning law at the Whitefeather law firm with her quirky work-family.  Instead, she convinces the law partner to start a pro bono program so she can keep representing incarcerated women on the side.  She clearly is a superstar associate, really good at what she does and loving it.  Any other show, particularly a close knit comedy, would have her returning to her original little world.  So refreshing to see that trope kicked to the curb!

[Wiendish Fitch]

17 minutes ago, Archery said:

At the end of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's run, I was totally expecting Paula, a paralegal who had spent the run of the show getting into and through law school (while working full time and raising a family) to give up her big law firm job (and salary) and go back to practicing zoning law at the Whitefeather law firm with her quirky work-family.  Instead, she convinces the law partner to start a pro bono program so she can keep representing incarcerated women on the side.  She clearly is a superstar associate, really good at what she does and loving it.  Any other show, particularly a close knit comedy, would have her returning to her original little world.  So refreshing to see that trope kicked to the curb!

Yeah, I don't always like the "Status Quo is God" trope, either. It irks me to no end when positive and/or interesting character development is randomly thrown to the wayside, or when the show is spinning its wheels.

[Spartan Girl]

Speaking of Crazy Ex Girlfriend a trope I hate is the friends(s) who are way too invested in the main character's love life, whether they're trying to live vicariously through them, or worse the friends who feel entitled to hypocritically butt into their relationship problems when they can't even handle their own romantic dramas -- once again, what's good, Xander Harris?!

[Wiendish Fitch]

17 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Speaking of Crazy Ex Girlfriend a trope I hate is the friends(s) who are way too invested in the main character's love life, whether they're trying to live vicariously through them, or worse the friends who feel entitled to hypocritically butt into their relationship problems when they can't even handle their own romantic dramas -- once again, what's good, Xander Harris?!

Right?! Look, it's good to be happy when the friend in question is happy, it's good to empathize if he/she has relationship troubles... and that's as far as it should go! TV characters really, really, really need to stop doing the following:

-Giddily asking/hinting when the friend and his/her significant other will have sex (seriously, just don't). 

-Insinuating that any relationship trouble (and I do mean any relationship trouble) is based on lack of sex. 

-Basing their entire happiness and well-being on how well the friend's relationship is going. That is codependent behavior and creepy as hell. 

-Dredging up past failed relationships, regardless of how insensitive and crappy that is.

-Asking when he'll pop the question already and "put a ring on it".

-Taking sides based on completely scant evidence.

[Dr.OO7]

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Yeah, I don't always like the "Status Quo is God" trope, either. It irks me to no end when positive and/or interesting character development is randomly thrown to the wayside, or when the show is spinning its wheels.

I can't stand it either. There's no suspense as to whether a character will quit/be fired/die, etc., if you know the actor isn't leaving the show.

[BaggythePanther]

For me the best TV death in recent memory was when Will died on The Good Wife. TGW isn’t one of those shows where “anyone can die”, there hadn’t been any news about the actor leaving the show so I was completely surprised when he was randomly shot and then later died.

The producers/actors made an effort to keep Will’s death under raps so the viewers would be just as shocked as the characters. You don’t see this much anymore. Big deaths are always promoted and even if they aren’t, the audience usually knows that the actor is leaving the show.

[Jacqs]

Something that needs to die:

"Missing/murdered white girls are always obsessed with by the media!"

Ever heard of Seana Lee Tapp?

[biakbiak]

22 minutes ago, Jacqs said:

Something that needs to die:

"Missing/murdered white girls are always obsessed with by the media!"

Ever heard of Seana Lee Tapp?

Yes but no one is suggesting that all missing white girls are the focus of the media but that they are much more likely to get media attention than woman of color.

[methodwriter85]

On 6/4/2019 at 11:51 PM, Camille said:

It's such a pathetically obvious way for a show's writers to avoid the controversy of having a woman decide to have an abortion but still find a way to get rid of the kid anyway.

It still pisses me off that Fox forced this on Party of 5. It marred what was otherwise a really good episode, including the part where Sarah tells Julia she can't support her as someone who was adopted.

They also forced Brenda on 90210 to have a pregnancy scare to "punish" her for daring to have a positive first time with her boyfriend. I'm so fucking glad that at least on this front, things have changed. The virginal good girl vs. evil bad slut thing definitely has receded. Treating girls like fragile flowers who's virginity must be protected at all costs while at the same time patting a teenaged guy on on the back for being a "stud" is so incredibly sexist and wrong. The classic movie "Splendor in the Grass" really outlined this to me.

Now that I'm thinking about it...damn, the Buffy/Angel season 2 arc really was just punishment for Buffy losing her virginity. Damn it.

Edited June 6, 2019 by methodwriter85

[Archery]

On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 5:02 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Speaking of Crazy Ex Girlfriend a trope I hate is the friends(s) who are way too invested in the main character's love life, whether they're trying to live vicariously through them, or worse the friends who feel entitled to hypocritically butt into their relationship problems when they can't even handle their own romantic dramas -- once again, what's good, Xander Harris?!

But again, CXG subverted this trope.  Season 1 Paula is all up in Rebecca's obsession, the very definition of an enabler.  She eventually completely realizes what she's doing and how unhealthy and unnecessary her actions have been (as Rebecca spirals out of control).  This is the theme of the great Gypsy-esque production number, After Everything I've Done For You (That You Never Asked Me For).   I mean, the episode itself is titled, "Paula Needs To Get Over Josh."

[Spartan Girl]

4 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Now that I'm thinking about it...damn, the Buffy/Angel season 2 arc really was just punishment for Buffy losing her virginity. Damn it.

Yup. And while Buffy got punished for having premarital sex with her boyfriend by having him lose his soul and turn into a killer, Xander was free to screw Anya -- even though she too was a demon with a high body count -- as many times as he wanted without similar consequences. "Oh, but it was toooooootally different because Anya is a silly woman and hot and didn't have a ticking time bomb when it came to sex, hahahahaha...."

Fuck you and your double standards, Joss.

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yup. And while Buffy got punished for having premarital sex with her boyfriend by having him lose his soul and turn into a killer, Xander was free to screw Anya -- even though she too was a demon with a high body count -- as many times as he wanted without similar consequences. "Oh, but it was toooooootally different because Anya is a silly woman and hot and didn't have a ticking time bomb when it came to sex, hahahahaha...."

Fuck you and your double standards, Joss.

Preach. Joss Whedon is a feminist the way Olivia Jade Giannulli is a rowing champ.

[Homily]

Reminds me of shows like Two and half Men where the guys spend most of their time chasing and bedding woman after woman but have no problem making judgmental comments about women who are the female version of them "Mom's been on more hotel pillows than a chocolate mint".  Really, Charlie?  You've got the moral high ground here?

[Jacqs]

7 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Yes but no one is suggesting that all missing white girls are the focus of the media but that they are much more likely to get media attention than woman of color.

You're right. Seana Tapp is an example of a beautiful young white child who never got the media attention some other missing white children get, even in Australia. She and her Mum (also murdered) only got five small stories that wouldn't have amounted to a scrap of newsprint in that first year. The story was only revived over thirty years later. 

[andromeda331]

7 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

It still pisses me off that Fox forced this on Party of 5. It marred what was otherwise a really good episode, including the part where Sarah tells Julia she can't support her as someone who was adopted.

They also forced Brenda on 90210 to have a pregnancy scare to "punish" her for daring to have a positive first time with her boyfriend. I'm so fucking glad that at least on this front, things have changed. The virginal good girl vs. evil bad slut thing definitely has receded. Treating girls like fragile flowers who's virginity must be protected at all costs while at the same time patting a teenaged guy on on the back for being a "stud" is so incredibly sexist and wrong. The classic movie "Splendor in the Grass" really outlined this to me.

Now that I'm thinking about it...damn, the Buffy/Angel season 2 arc really was just punishment for Buffy losing her virginity. Damn it.

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yup. And while Buffy got punished for having premarital sex with her boyfriend by having him lose his soul and turn into a killer, Xander was free to screw Anya -- even though she too was a demon with a high body count -- as many times as he wanted without similar consequences. "Oh, but it was toooooootally different because Anya is a silly woman and hot and didn't have a ticking time bomb when it came to sex, hahahahaha...."

Fuck you and your double standards, Joss.

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Preach. Joss Whedon is a feminist the way Olivia Jade Giannulli is a rowing champ.

1 hour ago, Homily said:

Reminds me of shows like Two and half Men where the guys spend most of their time chasing and bedding woman after woman but have no problem making judgmental comments about women who are the female version of them "Mom's been on more hotel pillows than a chocolate mint".  Really, Charlie?  You've got the moral high ground here?

I really, really hate that trope. A teenage girl has sex she's a slut. Oh no she can't possibly have sex. Or if she does there will be horrible consequences to punish her. She'll get pregnant and have to decide to have an abortion or miscarry. Or if its Secret Life of the American Teenager you'll get pregnant even if you use two forms of birth control or your father will die.  But its always on the girl of course. Teenage boys and men of course never have any horrible consequences for having premarital sex or losing their virginity. Nope, their high-fived, cheered and praised. Its been sixty years since women realized they can have sex when ever the hell they want and its a trope that still won't die.

It even popped up on Gilmore Girls when Lorelai over hears Paris talking to Rory about having sex with Jamie. Rory admits she's never slept with her current boyfriend or previous one. Its a real nice scene where two teenage girls decided differently. Rory isn't ready, and it hasn't been right for her but tells Paris that maybe it was right for Paris and she was ready. Which is great and really what teens need to be told. Maybe your ready and your friend isn't but neither are a bad thing. But Gilmore Girls ruins it by having Lorelai whispering that she got the good kid. I heard Lauren Graham was against her saying it. And it really goes against Lorelai's character and her talks with Rory. She knows teens have sex she was a teen who did and got pregnant. She doesn't want Rory to feel like she has to hid it if she does and realizes she probably will. That sentence destroys a good scene. Why is Paris not the good kid? Because she had sex with her boyfriend who she's been seeing for months by that point. What is wrong with that? Nothing. As if that wasn't bad enough they make it seem like Paris didn't get into Harvard because she had sex. Rory gets accepted into Harvard, Princeton and Yale because she's still a virgin. Lorelai even makes a remark about her being the biggest virgin in the world. I mean what the hell? 

The trope needs to die.

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, Archery said:

But again, CXG subverted this trope.  Season 1 Paula is all up in Rebecca's obsession, the very definition of an enabler.  She eventually completely realizes what she's doing and how unhealthy and unnecessary her actions have been (as Rebecca spirals out of control).

Another trope Paula subverted was keeping the later-in-life pregnancy.  Paula was happy in her marriage but accidentally got pregnant. Usually, this would mean she'd struggle with how the pregnancy might affect her career plans but she'd ultimately keep it and have everything work out.  And she did consider doing that until she realized that she didn't need to have the baby just because she was in a place in her life where she could support it.  Her whole damn family ended up supporting that abortion and she continued on her path to becoming a lawyer. (The more I think about it, Paula could be annoying but they did some really awesome things with her growth.) I think the last time I remember a happily married women getting an abortion was Maude.

[methodwriter85]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

The trope needs to die. 

I remember being shocked at the teen daughter on Kyle XY having sex with a guy on the show in the pilot episode and it's...no big deal. No drama. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't traumatic.

Riverdale has been pretty much having all of their teen girl characters having sexual relationships with their partners and it's also no big deal- it just is.

Although on Sabrina, I feel like the show is leading up to something with Sabrina losing her virginity and I'm not sure I'm okay with that. (She's not pure as a driven snow though- they make it clear she does other things with her love interests.)

But yeah, there's this undercurrent of, "The girl is so much more appealing if she's innocent yet sexy but unaware of how sexy she is or even act like a sexy being." It's like you're set up as an "unspoiled" sex object because innocence is sexier than you think or some shit like that.

Edited June 7, 2019 by methodwriter85

[GHScorpiosRule]

17 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

They also forced Brenda on 90210 to have a pregnancy scare to "punish" her for daring to have a positive first time with her boyfriend. I'm so fucking glad that at least on this front, things have changed.

I didn't know this until recently, because that story line fucking pissed me off because of the nonsensical reasons they broke up Brenda and Dylan for a while. And that was, that supposedly, a lot of viewers (and this was before the craziness of social media that has infected the world) complained about the "message" the show was sending by showing teenager having *GASP!*SEX!*GASP!* Never mind that it didn't actually SHOW them having actual sex, but we knew that it was her first time, and it was lovely.

[ganesh]

I can't stand when adults on tv squat down to talk to children. It's condescending to me. I get that they need to get them both in the shot but it still bothers. 

[auntlada]

All the parenting advisers out there insist that you must get down on the child's level when you are talking. None of them tell you how you are supposed to get back up again.

[Anduin]

12 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I can't stand when adults on tv squat down to talk to children. It's condescending to me. I get that they need to get them both in the shot but it still bothers. 

I do that. I see it as polite to get on their level, instead of looming over them or making them look up.

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

I do that. I see it as polite to get on their level, instead of looming over them or making them look up.

Plus, I don't want them looking up my nose.

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I didn't know this until recently, because that story line fucking pissed me off because of the nonsensical reasons they broke up Brenda and Dylan for a while. And that was, that supposedly, a lot of viewers (and this was before the craziness of social media that has infected the world) complained about the "message" the show was sending by showing teenager having *GASP!*SEX!*GASP!* Never mind that it didn't actually SHOW them having actual sex, but we knew that it was her first time, and it was lovely.

I think I read somewhere that Judy Blume wrote Forever because her daughter wanted about a book about "a boy and a girl having sex and nothing bad happens".

[methodwriter85]

They had a tv movie adaption of it starring Stephanie Zimbalist that came out in the late 70's. I didn't see it but I think they stayed relatively accurate. You all know if it had come out in the Reagan era her character sure as shit would have been punished. The 1980's were REALLY on this crap.

[Wiendish Fitch]

20 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

They had a tv movie adaption of it starring Stephanie Zimbalist that came out in the late 70's. I didn't see it but I think they stayed relatively accurate. You all know if it had come out in the Reagan era her character sure as shit would have been punished. The 1980's were REALLY on this crap.

Well, at least Natalie on The Facts of Life slept with her boyfriend with no real consequences. She stressed over whether or not she should have, but that was the extent of it.

[Jacqs]

Didn't Natalie only get that storyline because Blair's actress was full-on God Squad?

[Wiendish Fitch]

4 minutes ago, Jacqs said:

Didn't Natalie only get that storyline because Blair's actress was full-on God Squad?

Shoot, that might have been the case. Oh, well, at least Natalie was no worse off for her experience. 

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Riverdale has been pretty much having all of their teen girl characters having sexual relationships with their partners and it's also no big deal- it just is.

Roseanne was very good about that with both Becky and Darlene. 

Same with Sharon on My So-Called Life (but one of the planned storylines for the second season that never happened was for her to get pregnant <sigh>).

It is very sad that so few examples come to mind, especially from the era in which I watched the most TV ('80s and '90s).

43 minutes ago, Jacqs said:

Didn't Natalie only get that storyline because Blair's actress was full-on God Squad?

Yep.  But I think it ultimately worked better as a storyline for Natalie than Blair (and it's telling that when they decided to write one of the characters as having sex with her boyfriend, their go-to was the thin blonde one).

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Jacqs said:

Didn't Natalie only get that storyline because Blair's actress was full-on God Squad?

Lisa Whelchel refused to appear on the episode for her world view.

[Jacqs]

2 minutes ago, Raja said:

Lisa Whelchel refused to appear on the episode for her world view.

Lisa was God Squad like Kirk Cameron in later Growing Pains. 

[Melina22]

I just finished watching Season 1 of Trapped, a great show on Netflix made in Iceland. There's a bit of English in it, but mostly subtitles, which usually put me off, but since the dialogue is sparse, it didn't bother me. 

One trope it avoided, which I didn't realize bothered me so much, was Fake Snow. I've spent my life watching fake winter scenes, mostly shot in California. What a giant relief, speaking as a Canadian intimately aware of the various permutations of snow, to see scenes shot outside in genuine snowstorms. What a thrill to see snow land on the actors faces and melt, because it isn't shredded paper! 

But the show did have 2 tropes that I hate. First, multiple scenes where someone is asked a simple question, and instead of answering, they just change the subject, or just stare into space. Who does this? 

Second, from the start of season 2, the scene where someone is the victim of attempted murder. As they're carried away on a stretcher, a policeman attempts to ask vital questions pertinent to the crime, only to be stopped by the paramedic and told, "Now is not the time for that." If I had a dollar for every time on a show the police are about to interrogate a victim in hospital, only to be told by a stern nurse, "You have 5 minutes. No more!" then get pushed out of the room before they get to find out anything vital to the plot. Like answering one or two questions would kill the patient. Gah. 

[kiddo82]

12 hours ago, Anduin said:

I do that. I see it as polite to get on their level, instead of looming over them or making them look up.

Same thing in the medical field.  If the patient is in bed or a chair it's more polite to sit down and converse than stand over them. Preached, but not always practiced.

[Mabinogia]

16 hours ago, Melina22 said:

First, multiple scenes where someone is asked a simple question, and instead of answering, they just change the subject, or just stare into space. Who does this? 

Now I want to try this. Next time my boss asks me what I'm working on I'm going to look off to the side and stare at nothing until he walks away... or fires me. Yeah, maybe I won't try it after all. Becuase NO ONE in the real world does this TV! NO ONE!

[CoderLady]

A team of good guys has to sneak into the bad guy's lair to look for something or plant something on a computer. GoodGuy1 has to distract and keep the bad guy out while GoodGuy2 does the sneaking. It's a timed operation so GoodGuy2 has to hustle to finish before the bad guy gets away from GoodGuy1 to return to his/her lair.

Invariably, GoodGuy2 finds bonus incriminating stuff or has trouble completing the mission on time. As the tension mounts, GoodGuy1 is urging GoodGuy2 to finish because the bad guy is heading for the lair right now but GoodGuy2 keeps saying "Just one more minute..." and keeps rummaging around. Finally, just as the bad guy walks in, GoodGuy2 makes a dramatic undetected escape with the goods.

I'm almost ashamed to admit I want GoodGuy2 to get caught red-handed when I have to sit through one of these scenes. Maybe I'm old, maybe I just hate seeing a precision operation get bollixed at the last second, but it's just irritating in a way I can't put my finger on. It's an enduring trope though, so I'll just have to keep hoping for the occasional subversion.

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, CoderLady said:

A team of good guys has to sneak into the bad guy's lair to look for something or plant something on a computer. GoodGuy1 has to distract and keep the bad guy out while GoodGuy2 does the sneaking. It's a timed operation so GoodGuy2 has to hustle to finish before the bad guy gets away from GoodGuy1 to return to his/her lair.

Invariably, GoodGuy2 finds bonus incriminating stuff or has trouble completing the mission on time. As the tension mounts, GoodGuy1 is urging GoodGuy2 to finish because the bad guy is heading for the lair right now but GoodGuy2 keeps saying "Just one more minute..." and keeps rummaging around. Finally, just as the bad guy walks in, GoodGuy2 makes a dramatic undetected escape with the goods.

I'm almost ashamed to admit I want GoodGuy2 to get caught red-handed when I have to sit through one of these scenes. Maybe I'm old, maybe I just hate seeing a precision operation get bollixed at the last second, but it's just irritating in a way I can't put my finger on. It's an enduring trope though, so I'll just have to keep hoping for the occasional subversion.

 This sounds close to another trope I loathe: Good Guys are supposed to be excused from committing any & all crimes and considered HEROES merely because they happen to be the show's protagonist with the performer's name is listed first in the credits! Perhaps this should be an UO, but I hated how Magnum:PI was constantly stealing info, breaking into folks' stuff and even killing others on a massive scale- yet NEVER was held accountable via the show while piously going after others who often did lesser crimes! 

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

 This sounds close to another trope I loathe: Good Guys are supposed to be excused from committing any & all crimes and considered HEROES merely because they happen to be the show's protagonist with the performer's name is listed first in the credits! Perhaps this should be an UO, but I hated how Magnum:PI was constantly stealing info, breaking into folks' stuff and even killing others on a massive scale- yet NEVER was held accountable via the show while piously going after others who often did lesser crimes! 

It would probably be a shorter list on what show hasn't done that. Elementary-Sherlock and Watson are always breaking into apartments and businesses to find information and have a hacker friend, NCIS McGee's hacking into different businesses and government agencies is illegal and the team was always breaking laws, and I always love Gibbs getting on his high horse towards a judge for being judge, jury and executioner when he's done the same thing. I remember being annoyed watching the first episode of Bones where Bones breaks into the suspect's home, finds evidence, shoots him but the suspect is the only one going to jail. Ah no not only would he not be going to jail he'd sue the city and walk away with millions while Bones goes to jail.

It is really of too bad one the reasons I love those kinds of shows is to see PIs, Cops, etc. legally figuring out how bring criminals to justice. Or as legal as it will ever be in on TV. Its more fun to watch them investigate, interview people, and figure it out. That's the fun! Watching the bad guy get caught. Miss something, a witness coming forward, video footage, etc. There's so many ways to make it legal and interesting. One of the best episodes I've ever seen was one of the Closer. Where they are investigating the rape and murder of a 13 year old girl, who's mom was a maid for a wealthy LA family. They initially chase a suspected child molester due to info from the couple's son But he kills himself and they find out he really was innocent and had been falsely accused before (which is why he killed himself) they circle back to the family focusing on the father who's been a jerk the whole time but while he's confessing Brenda notices he keeps checking his watch and realize he's buying time so his wife can flee with their son who killed the girl to Mexico and went online to find a sex offender to accuse.  Brenda flies down to Mexico and tries everything she can to convince him to come back to US to face charges. She threatens to lock up his parents for the rest of their lives and freezing their accounts. He still won't do it and it looks like he's going to get away with it. So she tells him he'll let his parents go free and unfreeze the accounts (guess which one the boy's more interested in, yep money) if he tells her what happened. Certain he's beyond the reach of American Justice he tells her mostly what happened. Then Brenda pulls out 13 year old girl's Mexican birth certificate who he just admitted to killing in a Mexican police station's interrogation room. Its an awesome moment. She realized he wouldn't come back to the US but he could be tried and convicted in Mexico for the crime. And he just confessed freely. He was so worried about US laws it never once occurred to him to worry about Mexico's laws.  So he gets to stay in Mexico. In prison. It was a great moment you didn't see coming. The whole scene there are two Federales in the room who say nothing but don't think you anything of it until Brenda reveals the birth certificate.  

Edited June 10, 2019 by andromeda331

[vibeology]

On 6/7/2019 at 3:10 AM, methodwriter85 said:

But yeah, there's this undercurrent of, "The girl is so much more appealing if she's innocent yet sexy but unaware of how sexy she is or even act like a sexy being." It's like you're set up as an "unspoiled" sex object because innocence is sexier than you think or some shit like that.

The trope is "Born Sexy Yesterday" and yes, it needs to die.

[Writing Wrongs]

I'm not sure if these are tropes or something else, but I see a lot in shows and hate and have never done in real life are:

Crying in the shower/bathtub

Staring at myself in a mirror while contemplating my life choices and then possibly smashing the mirror with my fist.

[ganesh]

If you cry in the shower you are required to sit and scrunch your knees up. 

[Melina22]

1 hour ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Staring at myself in a mirror while contemplating my life choices and then possibly smashing the mirror with my fist.

I feel like I must have stared in a mirror at some point but in my life, there's been 100% less mirror-smashing than there is on TV. 

[Silver Raven]

On the soap Days of Our Lives, one of my favorite scenes in the "Will Horton is struggling with being gay" story happened when Will, who was hating himself, looked in the mirror and spit on his image.

[catlover79]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I don't feel like going through the entire thread. Every time a sitcom does an episode where they put on a talent show, telethon, or something of that nature, my remote goes CLICK.

[Blergh]

24 minutes ago, catlover79 said:

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I don't feel like going through the entire thread. Every time a sitcom does an episode where they put on a talent show, telethon, or something of that nature, my remote goes CLICK.

Agree, and along those lines, I hate it when the show's characters promise that a Real Life Celeb is going to appear on the proposed show, telethon,etc. based on . . . empty wishes, then they  (total strangers to Real Life Celeb) try to pull every string to get Real Life Celeb to appear but get blown off, Then just as the characters are ABOUT to 'fess having made empty brags to the whole audience BINGO! Real Life Celeb appears outta thin air and all is saved (and the characters don't learn WHY one shouldn't make promises based on empty wishes).  Other shows did this from time to time but  Sister, Sister used to do this too many times to count, and just ONCE I'd like to have seen the twins actually have the egg  STAY on their collective faces and face the music of bragging for nothing instead of being bailed out by their overindulgent parents yet again! 

[ganesh]

Sometimes though you need to go to prom with Davy Jones. 

[Annber03]

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

If you cry in the shower you are required to sit and scrunch your knees up. 

And you need to do the slow slide down the wall, too. 

1 hour ago, catlover79 said:

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I don't feel like going through the entire thread. Every time a sitcom does an episode where they put on a talent show, telethon, or something of that nature, my remote goes CLICK.

"Full House" immediately popped into my head upon reading this post :p. 

[Shannon L.]

I agree for the most part, but that Frasier episode where they did the murder mystery was brilliant, imo.  I laughed a lot during that one.

[Dr.OO7]

4 hours ago, catlover79 said:

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I don't feel like going through the entire thread. Every time a sitcom does an episode where they put on a talent show, telethon, or something of that nature, my remote goes CLICK.

I hate it too. GH's Nurses Ball was cute for two years and sucked every year after