TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[Zella]

18 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

More often than not if they are really playing with timeline shenanigans as an overall arc it gets muddled and confusing and yeah, they often don't commit to a real swing for the fences change unless they are trying to get creative about a major character leaving.

Yeah it's not a genre I particularly enjoy. I was intrigued by the premise of For All Mankind--alternative history wherein the Soviets beat the US to the moon--and I did think the first season was fantastic and a really thought-provoking exercise in the genre. But the rest of the seasons had diminishing returns for me. I think as they move farther into the future, they are less sure how to keep the story going, so it really ramps up on the stupid melodrama and leaves aside the more intriguing alternative history elements or even the more technical-based space drama. I might still watch season 4 because I do like a few of the characters still around, but I am not expecting it to be great TV. 

[DoctorAtomic]

There's a fake documentary on that. But they don't tell you. As you're watching, things just change and you have to figure it out. It's good once you catch the hook. 

[Danielg342]

I have a history degree, so I've always been fascinated with the thought of alternative history. I'm also hoping to create an alternate history series of my own.

Delving into "what ifs" can be quite fun and a lot of people have created some very interesting and thought provoking scenarios. There's also a lot of junk, but that's the truth in every genre.

What bothers me most about alternative history- and its cousin, science fiction- are those among the audience who get obsessed with accuracy, as if you can plan out how history would have been different if you factored in the change(s) you made. Some things you could predict with a certain degree of accuracy, but a lot of that will depend on how far out you are planning and what you think will get impacted by the change.

Even then, there's no way to properly know what would happen if a certain event was changed. The classic example is killing off Adolf Hitler (yes, I'm invoking Goodwin's Law here). There are people who would think killing off Hitler means no Nazism, no Holocaust, no WWII, etc., but this wouldn't necessarily be true. To simplify things so I'm not writing a novel, Hitler and Nazism were a product of their own time- so there's no reason to think that, without Hitler, you wouldn't get the same kind of events that he set about.

They may have different names and some people would be different, but the relative history would be unchanged.

That's for a change in the immediate aftermath- extrapolate that into a longer narrative and, guaranteed, you are going to start getting into the world of pure fantasy. There's just no way around it. My own project deals with the Roman Empire lasting to and thriving in the present day. Just getting into all the differences in history that would spur could easily take up volumes, and, at some point, you would do little better than educated guesses.

I mean, the Classical Roman state never had to deal with things like the Cold War or the Reformation or things like that, so there's no way of knowing how such a state would deal with those events. If those events even still happen. Then we get into how places might be named differently, how certain innovations might have evolved differently and...it's a handful.

So, long story short, anyone who tells you "this is an accurate version of alternate history" is lying through their teeth. There is no accurate version and there never will be.

[Zella]

2 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I have a history degree, so I've always been fascinated with the thought of alternative history.

I have a history degree, too, but in general, alternative history has never gripped me as much as history itself. That's part of why it surprised me that I enjoyed the first season of For All Mankind as much as I did. Neither alternative history nor sci fi is in my usual wheelhouse. 

[SVNBob]

On 1/19/2020 at 5:00 AM, Danielg342 said:

Alternate Timelines always being worse than the original one- Again, I know there are exceptions, but more often than not, if you have characters who go back in time, change something there and then try to go back to their original spot in their own time, they'll find the "changed" timeline results in a world and a universe they don't like,

Married With Children had an alternate take on this trope, combining it with a pastiche of "It's a Wonderful Life", with Sam Kinison as Al's Clarence.  The alternate timeline without Al was much better for the rest of the family: Kelly was allowed to be intelligent, Bud was popular, Peg could cook, etc.  (Bonus point: the patriarch of the family, Mr. Gebrundy, was played by future cast member Ted McGinley).

Sam thinks he's failed in his mission, but Al declares he wants to go back...to spite his family.

 

[Danielg342]

6 hours ago, Zella said:

I have a history degree, too, but in general, alternative history has never gripped me as much as history itself. That's part of why it surprised me that I enjoyed the first season of For All Mankind as much as I did. Neither alternative history nor sci fi is in my usual wheelhouse. 

Really? You've never pondered how a certain event might have played out differently or what would happen if a cool little kingdom found some way to survive?

Reading all the cool and interesting stuff that happened in the past always makes me think of "what ifs"- it's too hard for me to resist the urge. Maybe it's my active imagination.

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

Really? You've never pondered how a certain event might have played out differently or what would happen if a cool little kingdom found some way to survive?

Reading all the cool and interesting stuff that happened in the past always makes me think of "what ifs"- it's too hard for me to resist the urge. Maybe it's my active imagination.

I never said I have never pondered it. I just said I don't find it particularly interesting in the grand scheme of studying history.  

Edited January 27, 2023 by Zella

[AstridM]

8 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Really? You've never pondered how a certain event might have played out differently or what would happen if a cool little kingdom found some way to survive?

Reading all the cool and interesting stuff that happened in the past always makes me think of "what ifs"- it's too hard for me to resist the urge. Maybe it's my active imagination.

I generally hate sci fi, so no 🤣.

Edited January 27, 2023 by AstridM

[merylinkid]

The Cross Time series by Harry Turtledove deals with alternative history really well.   They are young adult books, but they still pretty good.   It's basically a series in which the future earth had a lot of problems with scarcity -- then Crosstime Traffic discovered how to travel between timelines.   So they travel between timelines living in those alternates as merchants/traders getting things the "Home" timeline needs.   They pay fairly.   In empty worlds, they grow things.  Oil/fur are pretty much gone so they don't need to exploit too many natural resourses in empty worlds.   In the books, they travel to The Roman Empire Never Ended, the Nazis Won World War II, The South Won the Civil War, The Black Death Wiped Out 75% of Europe and the Nuclear War Happened Over Vietnam.   Turtledove has a Ph.D. in Byzantine Studies so he gets the history pretty good.   Then its really about people living in the Rules of Their Time.

[andromeda331]

On 1/27/2023 at 12:13 AM, Danielg342 said:

Really? You've never pondered how a certain event might have played out differently or what would happen if a cool little kingdom found some way to survive?

Reading all the cool and interesting stuff that happened in the past always makes me think of "what ifs"- it's too hard for me to resist the urge. Maybe it's my active imagination.

Me too. There's so many historical moments I wonder what would have happened. Like if the British won the American Revolution or if the Ottomans defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Vienna and taken over all of Europe.

[Danielg342]

1 minute ago, andromeda331 said:

if the Ottomans defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Vienna

Which Battle of Vienna? There were two- in 1529 and 1683- both of which the Ottomans lost.

[andromeda331]

24 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

Which Battle of Vienna? There were two- in 1529 and 1683- both of which the Ottomans lost.

Either one would be interesting. 1529 what would that have done to the Renaissance and Reformation and the colonization of the Americans. Would it even had happened? 1683 would also be interesting. Would the French Revolution had happened? Peter the Great's changes to Russia probably wouldn't have happened or been different if he toured through Ottoman Europe. How different would everything be? From events to religion. The 13 Colonies would still exist but would they change with the change in Europe or gone there own way? There's so much there to explore. 

 

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, andromeda331 said:

Either one would be interesting. 1529 what would that have done to the Renaissance and Reformation and the colonization of the Americans. Would it even had happened? 1683 would also be interesting. Would the French Revolution had happened? Peter the Great's changes to Russia probably wouldn't have happened or been different if he toured through Ottoman Europe. How different would everything be? From events to religion. The 13 Colonies would still exist but would they change with the change in Europe or gone there own way? There's so much there to explore. 

 

In the Ottoman case, I understand there was a historian who tried to gather armies as the Ottomans would have (gather all the troops in Constantinople and then march to the battle site), and he concluded the geographical limits of that approach were Vienna and Tabriz (in western Iran).

In another "what if" (that I wrote a history paper on), the Ottomans would have faced immense difficulties had they tried to march on Rome. Though the Ottoman force that captured Otranto was small, the Neapolitans didn't mess around- they raised a significant force to beat them back. I can only imagine the force that would have greeted a more serious Ottoman invasion of Italy.

Anyway, I don't want to veer too much off topic so I'll stop there, but I could easily write books on this subject.

[Anduin]

The last photo on the victim's phone contains a clue as to who killed them. In my case, I wonder what they'll make of a jar of peanut butter. It actually means I want to remember which is my favourite, so I don't pick up the wrong one by mistake. Hell, my phone is full of those sort of reminders. This is what my router looks when it's all plugged in correctly. All lights are on, etc.

But what does the peanut butter mean?

[Mabinogia]

37 minutes ago, Anduin said:

The last photo on the victim's phone contains a clue as to who killed them.

Haha, if that's true then Hugh Jackman is my killer! He could kill me anytime. :)

Honestly though, if I ever do get murdered all my phone is going to tell anyone is that I never delete anything. There are over 3000 photos in there right now. Good luck figuring out who killed me that way!

[Anduin]

7 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Haha, if that's true then Hugh Jackman is my killer! He could kill me anytime. :)

Too obvious. Let's see. HJ. The fast food chain Hungry Jacks is known as Burger King in America. It was the manager of your nearest branch. That's how these things work.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Anduin

[DoctorAtomic]

All my phone is dogs. 

[Bastet]

I have a flip phone -- there are no photos, I text maybe five times a year, and use it for calls maybe a dozen.  I guess the cops would just give up.

[Zella]

My phone photos are pretty much thousands of pics of my dog, plus a fair number of Far Side comics I've saved, things I've cooked and sent to my brother who also likes to cook, weird unhinged random things I've screenshotted from discussion websites and social media before they get deleted, and wound pictures I've documented for a relative who's recovering from a surgery and we needed an objective comparison basis to judge whether it's improving. Make of that what you will sleuths! LOL 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Zella

[Bethany]

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

I have a flip phone -- there are no photos, I text maybe five times a year, and use it for calls maybe a dozen.  I guess the cops would just give up.

Yep my death would go unavenged if the police were to rely on my phone. I have a newer phone  but I only use it for phoning an texting.  No data.  My kids can't understand this.  They live their lives on their phones.  

[janie jones]

14 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

All my phone is dogs. 

Dogs that will be hauled in for questioning in the event of your untimely death.

Edited February 3, 2023 by janie jones

[Fool to cry]

Watching the 1993 miniseries Gettysburg and this part:

(General Robert E Lee looks at map) "Our armies will meet near this town. I don't have my spectacles on. What's the name of it?"

"Gettysburg sir." (Close shot of name on map)

Also love in historical movies when someone asks some person standing in the backgeound there name and it's like "Hitler. Adolf Hitler." or "Judas Iscariot."

 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

18 hours ago, Anduin said:

The last photo on the victim's phone contains a clue as to who killed them. In my case, I wonder what they'll make of a jar of peanut butter. It actually means I want to remember which is my favourite, so I don't pick up the wrong one by mistake. Hell, my phone is full of those sort of reminders. This is what my router looks when it's all plugged in correctly. All lights are on, etc.

But what does the peanut butter mean?

Anduin was allergic to peanut butter.  Sure, it looks like they were strangled but really they were fed peanut butter and died from anaphylaxis. 

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

Dogs that will be hauled in for questioning in the event of your untimely death.

All right, Mr. Fluffernutters , spill the beans.  Where were you at midnight and where did you get the gun?   

[merylinkid]

They only look at your pictures because you left a mysterious clue on your computer like - "check photos from event, who shouldn't have been there?"

Or you called your best friend and said "I figured it out.   I need to meet with you to show what I found."  Then, of course, you are killed before the meeting.  Because of course you didn't text/email the information to your friend or YOU KNOW THE POLICE.   

[Mabinogia]

2 hours ago, merylinkid said:

They only look at your pictures because you left a mysterious clue on your computer like - "check photos from event, who shouldn't have been there?"

Or you called your best friend and said "I figured it out.   I need to meet with you to show what I found."  Then, of course, you are killed before the meeting.  Because of course you didn't text/email the information to your friend or YOU KNOW THE POLICE.   

Maybe you just installed an app that conveniently disconnects your phone the moment you are about to say who you suspect of doing the illegal thing. 

For the record, I want to state here that I just witnessed a horrible murder. The killer was...

*I'm sorry, this computer has been disconnected and is no longer in use. Please refer to users cell phone photo gallery for further information*

[andromeda331]

On 2/2/2023 at 6:35 PM, Anduin said:

The last photo on the victim's phone contains a clue as to who killed them. In my case, I wonder what they'll make of a jar of peanut butter. It actually means I want to remember which is my favourite, so I don't pick up the wrong one by mistake. Hell, my phone is full of those sort of reminders. This is what my router looks when it's all plugged in correctly. All lights are on, etc.

But what does the peanut butter mean?

I hope not. All I have on my phone is pictures of my cat.  

On 2/3/2023 at 11:29 AM, Fool to cry said:

Watching the 1993 miniseries Gettysburg and this part:

(General Robert E Lee looks at map) "Our armies will meet near this town. I don't have my spectacles on. What's the name of it?"

"Gettysburg sir." (Close shot of name on map)

Also love in historical movies when someone asks some person standing in the backgeound there name and it's like "Hitler. Adolf Hitler." or "Judas Iscariot."

 

I love when the characters tell each other names that they should already know. Like on Apollo 13 after the accident Mission Control the President wants know the odds and Ed Harris/Kranz doesn't seem to know who the president is "Who?" "The president." "Nixon." Shouldn't he know who the president is? Or A Knight's Tale when the one guy goes onto a long spill about who Prince Edward is until one of the other guys' points out their English they know who he is. 

My other favorite is when they have the wrong reaction to something like in Band of Brothers' Easy Company is told that President Roosvelt is dead. Their reaction was the same as if you told anyone today that President Roosevelt was dead. They should have had some reaction to learning the current president who had been president for the past decade and their Commander in Chief was dead.  

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I hope not. All I have on my phone is pictures of my cat.  

I love when the characters tell each other names that they should already know. Like on Apollo 13 after the accident Mission Control the President wants know the odds and Ed Harris/Kranz doesn't seem to know who the president is "Who?" "The president." "Nixon." Shouldn't he know who the president is? Or A Knight's Tale when the one guy goes onto a long spill about who Prince Edward is until one of the other guys' points out their English they know who he is. 

My other favorite is when they have the wrong reaction to something like in Band of Brothers' Easy Company is told that President Roosvelt is dead. Their reaction was the same as if you told anyone today that President Roosevelt was dead. They should have had some reaction to learning the current president who had been president for the past decade and their Commander in Chief was dead.  

On the flip side in Atlantic Crossing when the vital RL character President Franklin Roosevelt unexpectedly died, NONE of the other character  mentioned that, as a resul,t his then-virtually unknown and obscure VP Harry S Truman succeeded him. .or even that someone else  HAD succeeded FDR when the Allies were on the cusp of winning WWII.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Blergh

[ABay]

There was a running joke on Dr. Who about the character Harriet Jones who was played by Penelope Wilton. Every time she was introduced she'd announce herself as whatever government office she held, holding up her ID. And everyone would respond "I know who you are." The last one was:

Holding up her ID: "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister"

Daleks: "We know who you are."

[Zella]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

My other favorite is when they have the wrong reaction to something like in Band of Brothers' Easy Company is told that President Roosvelt is dead. Their reaction was the same as if you told anyone today that President Roosevelt was dead. They should have had some reaction to learning the current president who had been president for the past decade and their Commander in Chief was dead.  

My impression of that scene was always that their indifference was intentional and was a comment on all of their mental health state at the time. It's in the "Why We Fight" episode where a lot of characters are questioning why they're there and what they fought for and if it was worth it and dealing with various degrees of bad and unwelcome news. So, by that point, the president dying was just one more seemingly absurd event that should have meant more than it did in a world of seemingly important but irrelevant shitstorms they couldn't be bothered to care about anymore. None of them are really fully jolted out of that indifference until the end of the episode,

Spoiler

when they stumble across the concentration camp and are subjected to its full horrors. 

I also don't know that's historically inaccurate for them not to care. I've read quite a few of the Easy company memoirs, and I'm not sure FDR's death ranks much of a mention in any of them. By that point, they'd seen a lot of combat and lost a lot of friends. Which president you're dying for was sort of an abstraction by then. That's certainly the vibe I've also gotten from a lot of relatives who've served overseas in combat in various wars. Current events on the home front that seem really important lose a lot of their sense of urgency when that's no longer your reality. 

[andromeda331]

13 hours ago, Blergh said:

On the flip side in Atlantic Crossing when the vital RL character President Franklin Roosevelt unexpectedly died, NONE of the other character  mentioned that, as a resul,t his then-virtually unknown and obscure VP Harry S Truman succeeded him. .or even that someone else  HAD succeeded FDR when the Allies were on the cusp of winning WWII.

That's true. No one knew who Truman was. Ironically, the only one who was happy was Hitler. He took FDR's death as a good thing for Germany. Thinking there would be a break among the allies or the new president would pull out the troops. Of course none of that happened. 

[Gharlane]

On 7/15/2020 at 12:36 PM, Zella said:

I always roll my eyes so hard in a crime/mystery story where they do this confrontation (always late at night and alone), and the person asks if they've told anyone else. The answer is always "No--I'm the only one who knows," and then of course they die because they were too fucking stupid to realize that is an automatic death sentence in Murderville. 

Yeah, record your secret so it can be found if something goes awry, or for gawds sake, tell someone who you are meetying!

 

On 7/27/2020 at 2:49 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who loved Hitler on Preacher. 

"I love Hitler! And Hitler loves me!".

 

[proserpina65]

On 2/2/2023 at 8:35 PM, Anduin said:

The last photo on the victim's phone contains a clue as to who killed them.

So start looking for men with eye patches and long blond hair in case I get murdered.  Or cats, they're probably in on it.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Or cats, they're probably in on it.

Cats are always in on it. 

[DrSpaceman73]

One thing I thought about today. :  there are a lot of big town meetings on tv shows. and everyone shows up.  

I don't think I've ever been to a town meeting. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

24 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

One thing I thought about today. :  there are a lot of big town meetings on tv shows. and everyone shows up.  

I don't think I've ever been to a town meeting. 

I wouldn't go to a town meeting to save my life. Death would be infinitely preferable. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Town Meeting has the makings of a great sitcom though. 

[Zella]

I love the town meeting in Justified season 2 that gets turned over on its head when Mags Bennett takes over and twists it for her own sinister purposes. 😂😂😂

Edited February 7, 2023 by Zella

[Fool to cry]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:12 PM, andromeda331 said:

That's true. No one knew who Truman was. Ironically, the only one who was happy was Hitler. He took FDR's death as a good thing for Germany. Thinking there would be a break among the allies or the new president would pull out the troops. Of course none of that happened. 

I read Stalin(paranoid as he was) thought FDR might have been assassinated by his own government so he couldn't make a deal with him when the war ended.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

One thing I thought about today. :  there are a lot of big town meetings on tv shows. and everyone shows up.  

I don't think I've ever been to a town meeting. 

I went to a meeting of my HOA once because I had a question.  There were maybe a dozen or so people there.  Still took forever to get my question addressed.  Never again.

[DrSpaceman73]

26 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I went to a meeting of my HOA once because I had a question.  There were maybe a dozen or so people there.  Still took forever to get my question addressed.  Never again.

People who run and regularly attend hoa meetings should be crucified by their testicles and/ or nipples and sent straight to the most fiery pit of hell in existence. 

[proserpina65]

24 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

People who run and regularly attend hoa meetings should be crucified by their testicles and/ or nipples and sent straight to the most fiery pit of hell in existence. 

Actually the people who were running the meeting were fine.  It was some of the attendees who kept coming back to the same thing over and over when it was past time to move on who made it interminable.

[Zella]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Actually the people who were running the meeting were fine.  It was some of the attendees who kept coming back to the same thing over and over when it was past time to move on who made it interminable.

This is giving me flashbacks of a community session I attended concerning the library where I work. It was a focus group about eventually building a new facility. One woman dominated the entire conversation, largely to talk about her childhood and name-drop her grandparents, who were big deals once upon a time in this little town. I could tell the organizers were getting frustrated with her. As for the other community attendees, I ended up making eye contact with a little old lady I know and a snarky retired local journalist during her monologue, and both of them were so over her. If eye rolls could kill, she never would have walked out of the room alive. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 It's just dawned on me that this is a cozy mystery scene waiting to happen.

[Ohiopirate02]

26 minutes ago, Zella said:

This is giving me flashbacks of a community session I attended concerning the library where I work. It was a focus group about eventually building a new facility. One woman dominated the entire conversation, largely to talk about her childhood and name-drop her grandparents, who were big deals once upon a time in this little town. I could tell the organizers were getting frustrated with her. As for the other community attendees, I ended up making eye contact with a little old lady I know and a snarky retired local journalist during her monologue, and both of them were so over her. If eye rolls could kill, she never would have walked out of the room alive. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 It's just dawned on me that this is a cozy mystery scene waiting to happen.

If only your journalist friend had pulled a Rose Nylund--

 

[DoctorAtomic]

That's more not running the meeting properly than the people at the meeting. Also why I get in trouble in meetings. 

[Zella]

7 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

If only your journalist friend had pulled a Rose Nylund--

 

😂😂😂😂

The reporter in question once rather infamously sent a letter in his stead to the library book club to bitch about that month's book. It was so hilariously mean that they still talk about it years later and quote from his letter. LOLOL I've never been on the receiving end of one of his harangues, but they're glorious to witness if you're not in the firing line. Oblivious lady at the focus group has no idea what she dodged by him just rolling his eyes at her. 

[JustHereForFood]

On 2/7/2023 at 2:45 AM, DrSpaceman73 said:

One thing I thought about today. :  there are a lot of big town meetings on tv shows. and everyone shows up.  

I don't think I've ever been to a town meeting. 

And by everyone, you mean that we get the feeling that everyone living there is attending, even if there's like hundred people at the most and the town has about 5000 inhabitants. On closer look, it's always a few dozen people who show up everywhere (yes, I am thinking mostly about Stars Hollow, but I think it can be applied to a lot of other fictional small towns). I sometimes wonder, what would other, regular people, think about all of the town "celebrities".

[Grrarrggh]

On 2/8/2023 at 2:04 PM, JustHereForFood said:

And by everyone, you mean that we get the feeling that everyone living there is attending, even if there's like hundred people at the most and the town has about 5000 inhabitants. On closer look, it's always a few dozen people who show up everywhere (yes, I am thinking mostly about Stars Hollow, but I think it can be applied to a lot of other fictional small towns). I sometimes wonder, what would other, regular people, think about all of the town "celebrities".

I remember soooooo wanting someone to do a slightly bitter spin-off about the REST of Stars Hollow. Episodes focusing on how much the rest of the village hates Lorelai and her ilk lol. 

[andromeda331]

Shows with supernatural powers I hate when characters have a power but their parent or grandmother or whoever doesn't tell them they have it. Mayfair Witches Rowen's adoptive mother never tells her she has the power to kill people with her mind even though it's happened several times, in Once Upon a Time Granny never tells Red that she is the wolf that's been killing people until she kills her boyfriend,  and Charm's Piper refuses to bind her baby son's powers even though he brought dragon to life that killed people even though she could bind them until he's old enough to handle his powers. It's stupid, their letting people get killed and their love one unknowingly murder people.

[Mabinogia]

7 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

It's stupid, their letting people get killed and their love one unknowingly murder people.

It's one thing to be so callous that you don't care if other people are hurt, but really, only the worst parent in the world would want to saddle their child with the guilt of having harmed or killed someone. Unless the kid is a psychopath, that kind of guilt is going to haunt them forever. 

If I found out my kid had that kind of power I would do all the research I could to try to teach them to control it, or find someone else with powers who can tutor them, anything other than close my eyes and pretend it's not happening. 

[Gharlane]

On 8/3/2020 at 11:22 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

Do you ladies know that the tux pants have holes in the pockets so you can pull the shirt down? 

I had totally forgotten about that! 😎

 

On 9/6/2020 at 10:25 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

The part of that trope that always makes me laugh (because of how stupid it is) is how easy it is to figure out exactly how much drugs to give someone to knock them out (and usually quickly). No one ever gives too little so that they don't work or too much so that the person OD's.

In a related trope, everyone independently decides to drug someone, so the victim gets about a dozen doses and everyone simultaneously says "What happened? I only gave him one dose!".  

On 10/28/2020 at 4:15 PM, Kromm said:

So is there a difference between being snobby and being a Karen?  It's all ultimately about expressions of power, so it's more than just that.  I also do think Hyacinth is sympathetic however.  Is the dividing line that a Karen crosses that she's surrendered being sympathetic?  Are Karens being mean just as much as snobbish?  

Discuss.

I prefer the original term for "Karen": "Bitch". 

 

On 11/3/2020 at 10:53 AM, VCRTracking said:

A variation is when a show makes reference to an actor's previous role. Like on Third Rock From The Sun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his friends have formed a rock band and are playing in the garage when John Lithgow comes in demanding they stop and goes into an angry rant against rock music and dancing similar to his reverend character in FOOTLOOSE, stamping his hand on an amp like it was a pulpit!

My fav was where William Shatner came on as the Big Giant Head, and he was talking about how awful his flight was, 'cause he kept seeing a monster on the wing of his plane.

Lithgow, as Dick, then goes, "Same thing happened to me!" 

🤣