TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[Raja]

18 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Along those lines, locals who needless repeat the entire name of their locale to other locals.

Case in point: in the Wonder Woman Pilot, it seemed Princess Diana and the other Amazons constantly kept repeating that they were on 'Paradise Island' instead of just 'the Island'. I mean, these immortal Amazons had been living on this one island for two-thousand years and never BEEN to any other island the whole time  so  why the need to repeat the full name to each other each and every time?

Well if the society keeps repeating that we are in paradise it is less likely someone will leave if they meet a pretty pilot 

18 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Along those lines, locals who needless repeat the entire name of their locale to other locals.

Case in point: in the Wonder Woman Pilot, it seemed Princess Diana and the other Amazons constantly kept repeating that they were on 'Paradise Island' instead of just 'the Island'. I mean, these immortal Amazons had been living on this one island for two-thousand years and never BEEN to any other island the whole time  so  why the need to repeat the full name to each other each and every time?

Well if the society keeps repeating that we are in paradise it is less likely someone will leave if they meet a pretty pilot 

[Mabinogia]

13 minutes ago, Raja said:

Well if the society keeps repeating that we are in paradise it is less likely someone will leave if they meet a pretty pilot 

Oh, maybe I should try that with the office. I am going to Paradise Tower tomorrow not the horrible concrete and glass slab they call an office building. Yeah, that's it. I'm off to Paradise Tower tomorrow. Yay me! 

*looks around for my pretty pilot* 

[Anduin]

2 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Oh, maybe I should try that with the office. I am going to Paradise Tower tomorrow not the horrible concrete and glass slab they call an office building. Yeah, that's it. I'm off to Paradise Tower tomorrow. Yay me! 

*looks around for my pretty pilot* 

Watch out for the killer robot in the pool, the little old lady cannibals, the roving girl gangs, and whatever else I've forgotten!

[proserpina65]

On 6/19/2023 at 3:43 PM, MaryMitch said:

Just saw this one - Someone has one of those big 3-5 gallon water bottles that you have to turn upside down to load on the dispenser. I've never done it myself, but I assume there is a way to do it without spilling half of it on the floor! (Yeah, it's funny, but I think about the poor guy who has to mop it up.)

The kind we have at work, the bottle has a seal which is only broken by a spike-like piece on the dispenser after you load the bottle onto it.  No way to spill water during the turning upside down process unless you've removed the entire seal beforehand.

[Fool to cry]

 "You missed!" "Did I?" Supercut.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Fool to cry

[Spartan Girl]

Not sure it’s technically a trope but every time a character apologizes for something using the phrase “I’m sorry that it happened” it makes my teeth crack. CRACK.

That phrase needs to be outlawed because guess what? That’s not a real apology. 

Weather just “happens.” Illnesses just “happen.” But cheating on people, hurting people, killing people?! Those things only happen because people MAKE them happen! So that kind of piss-poor apology that takes zero accountability by saying it just “happened” does not and SHOULD not cut it!

[DoctorAtomic]

That's on par with "I'm sorry you feel that way." We're coached on not saying that when you're trying to engage the public on hot button issues. 

[Mabinogia]

21 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

That's on par with "I'm sorry you feel that way." We're coached on not saying that when you're trying to engage the public on hot button issues. 

Yeah, that's basically saying "I'm sorry you're so fucking sensitive!"

 

21 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Not sure it’s technically a trope but every time a character apologizes for something using the phrase “I’m sorry that it happened” it makes my teeth crack. CRACK.

That phrase needs to be outlawed because guess what? That’s not a real apology. 

This one is just misstated. What they're really saying is "I am sorry you happened to catch me doing this terrible thing." 

 

[Fool to cry]

If you're a big city police detective and you travel across country to visit an old friend from childhood/college/military, that person will end up arrested for a murder they did not commit and you will have to prove their innocence. However if an old friend visits you they most likely will turn out to be guilty of a major crime and you will end up having to either arrest them or kill them in self defense or save someone else.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Fool to cry

[CoderLady]

And in both cases the old friend will do a bunch of inexplicably stupid things that all point to them being guilty. They will initially refuse to clarify the situation even to you, who is trying to help them. Eventually and without much significant help from the friend, you figure it out and someone will get killed or arrested though it won't be the obvious person. 

[Fool to cry]

Third scenario is detective gets a call in the middle of the night from friend's frantic wife who calls you by your first name which you rarely go by at work. You immediately recognize her voice despite having just woken up and not seen her in years and ask her what's wrong. She tells you her husband has either been arrested or missing or in a coma and she didn't know what else to do. You fly out there immediately to investigate, taking some vacation days early. Maybe your partner tags along.

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

Third scenario is detective gets a call in the middle of the night from friend's frantic wife who calls you by your first name which you rarely go by at work. You immediately recognize her voice despite having just woken up and not seen her in years and ask her what's wrong. She tells you her husband has either been arrested or missing or in a coma and she didn't know what else to do. You fly out there immediately to investigate, taking some vacation days early. Maybe your partner tags along.

This somewhat harkens back to the classic Perry Mason who seemed to always be vacationing or on the verge of going on a vacation to Lake Tahoe when someone would reach him and beg his help! I sometimes wondered why Della didn't urge him to try going anywhere besides Tahoe to keep others from reaching him! 

[andromeda331]

9 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

Third scenario is detective gets a call in the middle of the night from friend's frantic wife who calls you by your first name which you rarely go by at work. You immediately recognize her voice despite having just woken up and not seen her in years and ask her what's wrong. She tells you her husband has either been arrested or missing or in a coma and she didn't know what else to do. You fly out there immediately to investigate, taking some vacation days early. Maybe your partner tags along.

And keep ignoring the cops who actually live there and tell you to stop investigating because you have no jurisdiction (no jurisdiction what does that even mean?) and come off as jerks. They'll catch the killer but not after committing a few crimes of their own. Breaking and entering, taking evidence, etc. But none of that will matter because you caught the killer. 

[Raja]

11 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

(no jurisdiction what does that even mean?)

It often means the cop has no license to go around armed or detain people in another state without the okay from the  Sheriff or his functional deputies in the local police. So would be a felon himself.

[Zella]

13 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

(no jurisdiction what does that even mean?)

Raja explains it pretty well, but you legally only have jurisdiction where you are sworn in. So, where I am, I live outside city limits. The sheriff is who has jurisdiction here. A cop from the local town's police department has no jurisdiction here. They can't come to my house and execute a search warrant on their own because it isn't their territory. In the same way that I work at a library, but I can't waltz into any other library and just take over their circulation desk. I have no jurisdiction there. At my library, I am on staff, but at any other library, I am just some random. 

[Raja]

6 hours ago, Zella said:

Raja explains it pretty well, but you legally only have jurisdiction where you are sworn in. So, where I am, I live outside city limits. The sheriff is who has jurisdiction here. A cop from the local town's police department has no jurisdiction here. They can't come to my house and execute a search warrant on their own because it isn't their territory. In the same way that I work at a library, but I can't waltz into any other library and just take over their circulation desk. I have no jurisdiction there. At my library, I am on staff, but at any other library, I am just some random. 

In some states, all POST graduates, officers and Sheriff's deputies in California have statewide jurisdiction. So a local school district police officer can go to the other side of the state to the largest city with legal jurisdiction 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Raja

[Zella]

Just now, Raja said:

In some states, all POST graduates officers and Sheriff's deputies in California have statewide jurisdiction. So a local school district police officer can go to the other side of the to the largest city with legal jurisdiction 

That's interesting and makes sense! I don't believe that's the case where I am. 

[Fool to cry]

Joss Whedon said he wanted to have Iron Man and Thor fight in the first Avengers without it being the typical comic book thing of a misunderstanding where they each think the other is a villain so he wrote it like cops fighting over jurisdiction on who gets to arrest Loki.

[Bastet]

Speaking of jurisdiction and TV tropes, when TV cops fight with another division or another law enforcement agency (especially the feds), it's always a "This is my case!" situation, when, in reality, if there's an argument about jurisdiction, it's far more likely to be the two divisions/agencies claiming "No, it's your case", wanting to pawn it off and walk away.

I love one of the Christmas episodes of The Closer, when Brenda (Major Crimes) and Sharon (IA - Force Investigation), who usually follow the "It's my case" trope, do a complete 180 and keep trying to dump the case on each other, because neither wants to work on Christmas Eve/Christmas.  Thank you, realism.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Bastet

[Raja]

16 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Speaking of jurisdiction and TV tropes, when TV cops fight with another division or another law enforcement agency (especially the feds), it's always an "This is my case!" situation, when, in reality, if there's an argument about jurisdiction, it's far more likely to be the two divisions/agencies claiming "No, it's your case", wanting to pawn it off and walk away.

I love one of the Christmas episodes of The Closer, when Brenda (Major Crimes) and Sharon (IA - Force Investigation), who usually follow the "It's my case" trope, do a complete 180 and keep trying to dump the case on each other, because neither wants to work on Christmas Eve/Christmas.  Thank you, realism.

Or more famously when Chief Johnson couldn't close or close with a death penalty so turned cases over to Mexico, Texas and the FBI

[Zella]

52 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I love one of the Christmas episodes of The Closer, when Brenda (Major Crimes) and Sharon (IA - Force Investigation), who usually follow the "It's my case" trope, do a complete 180 and keep trying to dump the case on each other, because neither wants to work on Christmas Eve/Christmas.  Thank you, realism.

There's also that great battle of wills in The Wire between Rawls and McNulty over who investigates the dead bodies in the harbor. Not fighting for the honor but to dump it off on each other, partially because they hate each other but also because of the stats. 

[Raja]

11 minutes ago, Zella said:

There's also that great battle of wills in The Wire between Rawls and McNulty over who investigates the dead bodies in the harbor. Not fighting for the honor but to dump it off on each other, partially because they hate each other but also because of the stats. 

If it wasn't for the first season you wouldn't ever think that was the same Baltimore homicide unit that gave us Frank Pembleton 

[proserpina65]

On 9/16/2023 at 10:04 PM, andromeda331 said:

no jurisdiction what does that even mean?

To me, it means state troopers can pull me over for speeding on any road in the state, but county sheriff deputies can't pull me over outside of their county and local cops can only pull me over within the limits of their particular town.  Bridge cops, though, those bastards think they have jurisdiction everywhere.  They don't, but do not try to tell them that. 😕    (Yeah, I know, the answer is don't speed but that's not gonna happen.)

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Bridge cops, though, those bastards think they have jurisdiction everywhere.  They don't, but do not try to tell them that. 

Bridge cops? Are those like the trolls under a bridge only they are on top of it? Do they have jurisdiction over all bridges but once you make it across the bridge they have to hand you over to the road cops? So many questions. lol

[Raja]

17 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Bridge cops? Are those like the trolls under a bridge only they are on top of it? Do they have jurisdiction over all bridges but once you make it across the bridge they have to hand you over to the road cops? So many questions. lol

I remember a Southland episode set after the Sheriff had absorbed our local transit police where the LAPD cops and Sheriff's deputies were trying to put off on the other department the mission to guard the remains of a train versus man accident. 

On the other hand a The Closer or Major Crimes episode where the plot was what was a Deputy doing where he was.  Meanwhile as a local resident I recognized the area as it was filmed on the actual city limits line where LAPD cops run on one side of the street and LASD  patrol on the other side.

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Bridge cops? Are those like the trolls under a bridge only they are on top of it? Do they have jurisdiction over all bridges but once you make it across the bridge they have to hand you over to the road cops? So many questions. lol

Where I live, the Maryland Transportation Authority has police who are solely tasked with apprehending speeders and other scofflaws within the jurisdiction that literally stretches from the controlled intersection (with traffic lights) at one end of the local bridge to the controlled intersection at the other end.  The officers in question, however, tend to believe they have the right to pull over cars speeding in other parts of the connected roads.  It's been a bit of a continuing issue over the last decade.  (They do have the responsibility for arresting anyone trying to damage the underneath of the bridge itself but that hasn't happened within my memory, although I guess it was a concern during the period immediately after 9/11.)

But I like your idea much, much better. 😁

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Where I live, the Maryland Transportation Authority has police who are solely tasked with apprehending speeders and other scofflaws within the jurisdiction that literally stretches from the controlled intersection (with traffic lights) at one end of the local bridge to the controlled intersection at the other end.  The officers in question, however, tend to believe they have the right to pull over cars speeding in other parts of the connected roads. 

Either that is a very, very long bridge or those cops have a very, very dull job. Guess that at least save on gas since they can't go far. haha

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

Either that is a very, very long bridge or those cops have a very, very dull job. Guess that at least save on gas since they can't go far. haha

Dull job. At the infamous Rodney King beating a pair of bored Los Angeles Unified School District officers who were supposed to be randomly visiting school campuses at midnight on the small chance that a burglar or vandal would be there when they drove around on that night decided to stop to help the LAPD and Highway Patrol when the LAPD  proceeded to take their batons to beat King

Edited September 19, 2023 by Raja

[andromeda331]

On 9/17/2023 at 7:22 AM, Raja said:

It often means the cop has no license to go around armed or detain people in another state without the okay from the  Sheriff or his functional deputies in the local police. So would be a felon himself.

 

On 9/17/2023 at 9:14 AM, Zella said:

Raja explains it pretty well, but you legally only have jurisdiction where you are sworn in. So, where I am, I live outside city limits. The sheriff is who has jurisdiction here. A cop from the local town's police department has no jurisdiction here. They can't come to my house and execute a search warrant on their own because it isn't their territory. In the same way that I work at a library, but I can't waltz into any other library and just take over their circulation desk. I have no jurisdiction there. At my library, I am on staff, but at any other library, I am just some random. 

 

On 9/18/2023 at 11:02 AM, proserpina65 said:

To me, it means state troopers can pull me over for speeding on any road in the state, but county sheriff deputies can't pull me over outside of their county and local cops can only pull me over within the limits of their particular town.  Bridge cops, though, those bastards think they have jurisdiction everywhere.  They don't, but do not try to tell them that. 😕    (Yeah, I know, the answer is don't speed but that's not gonna happen.)

That was a joke. Since TV and movie cops will investigate crimes regardless whether they have jurisdiction or not. Hoping a flight to investigate a murder or while on vacation. Even if a local cop points that out they'll completely ignore it to investigate and/or think he's an ass. 

[Fool to cry]

See I figured it was a joke because who doesn't know what that means?

The private detective with his own show always seem to know the local cops, either as friends or antagonists who always wrongly suspect them of murder and sees them on a regular basis. The police detective stars of their own show however will rarely encounter a private detective.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Although they do often encounter security guards who used to be cops or wish they could have been cops but got denied for one reason or another. So they get in the way of the investigation, trying to help solve the crime because they think they can do a better job than the actual police. It's always something.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Cobalt Stargazer

[Ohiopirate02]

On 9/20/2023 at 2:24 AM, andromeda331 said:

That was a joke. Since TV and movie cops will investigate crimes regardless whether they have jurisdiction or not. Hoping a flight to investigate a murder or while on vacation. Even if a local cop points that out they'll completely ignore it to investigate and/or think he's an ass. 

Unless its Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.  There you will find the local cops always step aside for St. Olivia and her team no matter where the suspect is hiding.  One episode this past season had Olivia send her detective to Massachusetts to investigate a murder that happened at least a decade before in Texas.  

[Fool to cry]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:26 AM, Ohiopirate02 said:

Unless its Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.  There you will find the local cops always step aside for St. Olivia and her team no matter where the suspect is hiding.  One episode this past season had Olivia send her detective to Massachusetts to investigate a murder that happened at least a decade before in Texas.  

Maybe she built up a rep and is famous to cops everywhere. 😉 "Chief you have a call from Olivia Benson in New York" "Oh my God, THE Olivia Benson?" 

Seriously though it's crazy that no matter how many rich and famous people a TV cop has arrested he will still be unknown. Columbo should have already been known and feared by every wealthy person in Los Angeles by the third season!

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Fool to cry said:

Columbo should have already been known and feared by every wealthy person in Los Angeles by the third season!

"I'm telling you, Chad, as soon as you kill your wife, if you see the shabby little guy in the raincoat coming for you, you're done. Just surrender before he starts torturing you, shambling back into your house to tell you about his wife and ask you one more thing. It's brutal." 

[As much as I enjoy Columbo irritating rich people, my favorite episode is actually the one with Johnny Cash, wherein he and Columbo actually really hit it off.]

Edited September 23, 2023 by Zella

[Fool to cry]

You'd think a cop who put a famous country singer, as well as famous mystery writer, symphony conductor, movie star, political candidate and even the chief of police(!) behind bars end up notorious himself. What really was the 1990 revival episode with Dierdre Hall playing a missing magazine publisher. The reporters at the press conference were like "Who is this Lt. Columbo and is he any good?" months after he arrested a director basically the equivalent of Steven Spielberg months before! 

Also thinking about how in the later seasons of Quincy M.E. he was always testifying before Congress over a different public health and safety issue. You'd think that would get the media's attention "Oh it's that coroner again!"

[Cobalt Stargazer]

3 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

You'd think a cop who put a famous country singer, as well as famous mystery writer

Columbo arrested Jessica Fletcher?! I thought she never got caught!

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

Also thinking about how in the later seasons of Quincy M.E. he was always testifying before Congress over a different public health and safety issue. You'd think that would get the media's attention "Oh it's that coroner again!"

Especially since the character was supposed to be based on LA County Chief Medical Examiner Dr Thomas Noguchi who was pretty famous.  But then I am pretty sure Quincy name dropped his famous Chief as if he existed above Quincy in the office so Quincy would have been just a deputy only to be listened to in the eyes of the press because the Chief didn't see the press as worth his time

[Fool to cry]

Watched a Kojak rerun last night that of a Fourth "cop visit friend" scenario: the cop but only stays a day and mostly observes as friend handles problem on their own. Friend also has an interesting personal situation like say, raising a child by themselves. Yep it's a back door pilot episode for a potential spinoff!

[Shannon L.]

I was reminded of another trope that I hate while watching The Big Bang Theory:  The incomplete/ridiculous explanation.  Using TBBT as an ex.

What it should have been:

Penny to Stan Lee:  I'm so sorry to bother you, but my friend here was looking forward to meeting you today and due to circumstances beyond his control and that were totally my fault, he couldn't make it.  I feel so bad that I was hoping you could say hello and sign his comic book for him?

What it was (paraphrased):

Penny to Stan Lee: HI. I'm sorry to bother you, but my friend wasn't able to meet you today because he was in jail.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Shannon L. said:

I was reminded of another trope that I hate while watching The Big Bang Theory:  The incomplete/ridiculous explanation.  Using TBBT as an ex.

What it should have been:

Penny to Stan Lee:  I'm so sorry to bother you, but my friend here was looking forward to meeting you today and due to circumstances beyond his control and that were totally my fault, he couldn't make it.  I feel so bad that I was hoping you could say hello and sign his comic book for him?

What it was (paraphrased):

Penny to Stan Lee: HI. I'm sorry to bother you, but my friend wasn't able to meet you today because he was in jail.

You’d think Penny would have at least been astute enough to realize that telling Stan Lee that Sheldon was in jail was maybe NOT the best way to go….

[Kel Varnsen]

On 9/18/2023 at 1:02 PM, proserpina65 said:

To me, it means state troopers can pull me over for speeding on any road in the state, but county sheriff deputies can't pull me over outside of their county and local cops can only pull me over within the limits of their particular town.  Bridge cops, though, those bastards think they have jurisdiction everywhere.  They don't, but do not try to tell them that. 😕    (Yeah, I know, the answer is don't speed but that's not gonna happen.)

So is this like a Dukes of Hazzard scenario where if the deputies are chasing you to get you to pull over all you have to do is drive into the next country and they can't touch you?

On 9/23/2023 at 11:14 AM, Fool to cry said:

Seriously though it's crazy that no matter how many rich and famous people a TV cop has arrested he will still be unknown. Columbo should have already been known and feared by every wealthy person in Los Angeles by the third season!

We used to watch Blue Bloods and Tom Selleck's character was the worst for this. He was supposed to be the NYPD commissioner, but he was personally involved in so many cases that easily would have made national or international news that it was crazy. Especially since in many of those cases he saved the day. The fact that he wasn't constantly getting pressurered to run for governor or president (from both parties) was crazy. At the very least he would be on CNN and other news outlets all the time.

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

So is this like a Dukes of Hazzard scenario where if the deputies are chasing you to get you to pull over all you have to do is drive into the next country and they can't touch you?

Outside of Hazzard County, the cops can radio ahead to the law enforcement of the new area to obtain permission to continue the chase.  They will also rope in the highway patrol who have a much larger jurisdiction.  

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

We used to watch Blue Bloods and Tom Selleck's character was the worst for this. He was supposed to be the NYPD commissioner, but he was personally involved in so many cases that easily would have made national or international news that it was crazy. Especially since in many of those cases he saved the day. The fact that he wasn't constantly getting pressurered to run for governor or president (from both parties) was crazy. At the very least he would be on CNN and other news outlets all the time.

I always felt like so many defendants on Blue Bloods would have had legitimate reason to question and challenge why they were being arrested by one brother, investigated by another, and then prosecuted by the sister and any challenges about the policework would be adjudicated by their dear old dad. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Zella

[Quof]

And active cases were discussed around the dinner table, with children.

[Raja]

Moonrunners the movie that The Dukes of Hazard was adapted from used to rotate onto our syndication station. It placed the county on the border of multiple states.

I doubt if there will ever be a chance to see the Duke's pilot again but John Schneider is proud of his work so a show wiki probably exists 

[proserpina65]

21 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

So is this like a Dukes of Hazzard scenario where if the deputies are chasing you to get you to pull over all you have to do is drive into the next country and they can't touch you?

Like Ohiopirate said, local authorities notify the authorities in the next jurisdiction and the state authorities as well.

[Raja]

39 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Like Ohiopirate said, local authorities notify the authorities in the next jurisdiction and the state authorities as well.

But then the Duke boys were often wanted for speed only or violating federal government alcohol laws. Portrayed as something southern Sheriff's wanted nothing to do with as it was just a law tool used by  Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe T. Coltrane to take out his competition 

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

But then the Duke boys were often wanted for speed only or violating federal government alcohol laws. Portrayed as something southern Sheriff's wanted nothing to do with as it was just a law tool used by  Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe T. Coltrane to take out his competition 

Where I live, local cops won't chase you out of their jurisdiction for something like speeding unless you're really flying in a zone with a very low limit, like a school zone.  I'm not claiming it's a perfect correlation.

[Spartan Girl]

The belief that giving your all to shelter and coddle your special needs/terminally ill child while neglecting your other children with the excuse that “they’re tough and smart, they can cope” is somehow acceptable.

Newsflash, bub: That’s TERRIBLE parenting!

Edited November 3, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

The belief that giving your all to shelter and coddle your special needs/terminally ill child while neglecting your other children with the excuse that “they’re tough and smart, they can cope.”

Newsflash, bub: That’s TERRIBLE parenting!

Write this down, JODI PICOULT!

No, I wont' stop picking on her, why should I?