TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[merylinkid]

On 10/4/2024 at 8:28 PM, Annber03 said:

Exactly. Either that, or htey knwo that people scrutinize things like that, so they go SO over the top with their "emotional" reaction, to where it becomes obvious that they are overacting and faking it. 

See Alex Murdaugh.   Watching his police interview the night of the murders is creepy.   One minute he is smooth Alex, everyone's best friend, then its like he remembers "oh yeah I'm supposed to be upset" and start all Paul-Paul all over the place and fake crying.

[Mrsmaul2021]

I watched a Christmas episode of Family Matters and they really over do it with the decorations. Even had Christmas curtains throughout the home. Who has that kind of time?

[Palimelon]

Aren't most sitcom homes overly and perfectly decorated for Christmas though? Granted, maybe not the curtains, but Christmas Showcase Exquisite seems to be a good term for those homes.

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, Mrsmaul2021 said:

I watched a Christmas episode of Family Matters and they really over do it with the decorations. Even had Christmas curtains throughout the home. Who has that kind of time?

There is a certain type of Boomer Midwestern Mom who would find the time like my mom. My mom has seasonal decorations for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, random summer themed shit, 4th of July, general fall including football, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. She's got throw pillows, kitchen towels, towels for multiple bathrooms, themed shower curtains, and bedding. I'm honestly surprised she's never purchased holiday themed window curtains. 

[Notabug]

1 hour ago, Mrsmaul2021 said:

I watched a Christmas episode of Family Matters and they really over do it with the decorations. Even had Christmas curtains throughout the home. Who has that kind of time?

Watch a Hallmark Christmas movie sometime.  It's like Santa's elves vomited in every room in the house and then went into the yard and did the same. Even the bathrooms are filled with wreaths and twinkling lights.  Often, one of the characters goes to stay with a relative for the holiday.  They are staying in the guest bedroom and there will be a tree, fully lit and decorated in the room along with wreaths and candles and Christmas lights strung around the headboard.

[merylinkid]

On 10/24/2024 at 8:15 AM, Mrsmaul2021 said:

I watched a Christmas episode of Family Matters and they really over do it with the decorations. Even had Christmas curtains throughout the home. Who has that kind of time?

It's easy when you have set decorators doing the work for you.  

This every holiday on tv.   Halloween, perfectly carved pumpkins going down the steps or along both sides of the driveway, etc.  

[DrSpaceman73]

46 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

It's easy when you have set decorators doing the work for you.  

This every holiday on tv.   Halloween, perfectly carved pumpkins going down the steps or along both sides of the driveway, etc.  

This is why I liked both Roseanne and the middle. There homes were very realistic and never like that. 

[Dimity]

On 10/24/2024 at 9:45 AM, Notabug said:

They are staying in the guest bedroom and there will be a tree, fully lit and decorated in the room along with wreaths and candles and Christmas lights strung around the headboard.

There was one last year set in Nova Scotia the heroine was an unexpected guest yet the guest room was, as you say, fully decorated and even had lights coating the curtains.  I cannot even imagine going to that effort in my living room let alone a guest room which, presumably, would be rarely used or seen.

[Palimelon]

Quote

This is why I liked both Roseanne and the middle. There homes were very realistic and never like that. 

Super realistic.

 

[Browncoat]

They always had the most amazing carved pumpkins on Roseanne, too.

[tearknee]

[moving to movies]

Edited October 26 by tearknee

[andromeda331]

14 hours ago, merylinkid said:

It's easy when you have set decorators doing the work for you.  

This every holiday on tv.   Halloween, perfectly carved pumpkins going down the steps or along both sides of the driveway, etc.  

Christmas trees full of perfectly beautiful ornaments. Their beautiful but give me decorations and ornaments that have been around for years. We still have ornaments my brother and I made in elementary school years ago. Now have hand made ones by my nephew. They also don't have any personalty. My mom's ornaments were her favorite football team, mine was Star Wars, cars for my dad, and for my brother. They were both obsessed with cars. Our baby ornaments and ones for our dogs. TV Christmas trees don't have that. Or they might have one special decoration if it's Hallmark movie definitely because it'll be the plot of the movie. 

13 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

This is why I liked both Roseanne and the middle. There homes were very realistic and never like that. 

So do I. In early seasons of the Middle they always got a real tree that would stay up until Mike would take it down usually in February. He always forgot until then and no one else would. One year they get a fake tree because it turns out Sue's allegric to Christmas trees (which my mom was too so we always had a fake Christmas tree. Which is a crime in TV and Hallmark movies you'll be harassed about that until you buy a real tree.) Mike gets one but the top part is bright pink which isn't what he bought. He spends a whole episode trying to return the tree for the right one even driving a few hours to another store that promised to save it. They didn't. He finally gives up and keeps the tree with the top part pink and they use it every season after that.

[tearknee]

Remembering one of my "favorite" tropes, now:

 

How long will it be before Isabelle Fuhrmann is cast as the mother of a Bailee Madison character?

[Wiendish Fitch]

2 minutes ago, tearknee said:

Remembering one of my "favorite" tropes, now:

 

How long will it be before Isabelle Fuhrmann is cast as the mother of a Bailee Madison character?

Well, Angela Lansbury played Laurence Harvey's mom in The Manchurian Candidate despite being just 3 years older, so you never know...

[tearknee]

Yeah. Fuhrman is only about two and a half years older than Bailee Madison so... one precocious toddler! ;)

[Dimity]

16 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Well, Angela Lansbury played Laurence Harvey's mom in The Manchurian Candidate despite being just 3 years older, so you never know...

Jessie Royce Landis played Cary Grant's mother in North by Northwest and she was only 7 years older than him.  I am guessing she was glad to get the role so wasn't going to quibble!  I admit this stuff bothers me less than the more typical scenario of 55 yr old leading men and their 20 yr old love interest!

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, Dimity said:

Jessie Royce Landis played Cary Grant's mother in North by Northwest and she was only 7 years older than him.  I am guessing she was glad to get the role so wasn't going to quibble!  I admit this stuff bothers me less than the more typical scenario of 55 yr old leading men and their 20 yr old love interest!

Yeah, while it is annoying that once a woman reaches a certain age she is suddenly too old to play the love interest is very annoying. I don't care about the small age gap between a mother character and grown child character so long as they look close to the ages they are meant to be. 

It bothers me more when it's a high school show and it's really hard to tell which are the teachers and which the students because they all look the same age. 

[Affogato]

14 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Yeah, while it is annoying that once a woman reaches a certain age she is suddenly too old to play the love interest is very annoying. I don't care about the small age gap between a mother character and grown child character so long as they look close to the ages they are meant to be. 

It bothers me more when it's a high school show and it's really hard to tell which are the teachers and which the students because they all look the same age. 

It annoys me that the ‘highschoolers’ end up doing things that would be gross or horrifying if they were actually their characters ages and look okay for people in mid to late 20s. Including drinking and drugs, fairly sophisticated sex and stilettos. 

[Raja]

14 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

It bothers me more when it's a high school show and it's really hard to tell which are the teachers and which the students because they all look the same age. 

 

[tearknee]

5 hours ago, Affogato said:

It annoys me that the ‘highschoolers’ end up doing things that would be gross or horrifying if they were actually their characters ages and look okay for people in mid to late 20s. Including drinking and drugs, fairly sophisticated sex and stilettos. 

Agreed but

Well, you can't show awkward teenage sexual fumbling with actual teen actors,

Real teens under 16 (or 18) have sex but TV and movies have to obey the law.

[Affogato]

I had a highschool teacher who looked like a student. She dressed in high heels and suits and tried to look as old as possible. She still had issues. 

[Browncoat]

I had a teacher who was barely older than we were -- she'd just graduated from college.  She had a real problem maintaining authority, and mostly wanted to be pals with us.  She and the seniors looked pretty much the same age, too.

[Affogato]

19 hours ago, tearknee said:

Agreed but

Well, you can't show awkward teenage sexual fumbling with actual teen actors,

Real teens under 16 (or 18) have sex but TV and movies have to obey the law.

In Veronica Mars Lily and Veronica ended up being 16 so the rapes are, I  guess,  less distasteful? Logan still must have been driving drunk to Mexico and back for hookers at 14. At least they wore somewhat appropriate clothing.  But the actors are older, which takes the edge off  

[tearknee]

"But the actors are older, which takes the edge off" 

Same with 1976 Carrie versus the 2013 remake. Because Spacek was nearly 30 and Moretz was actually a kid, it had more impact for the viewer. I.e. Moretz makes more impact because she's not near early middle age.

 

 

 

Edited October 30 by tearknee

[Haleth]

This is just one reason why I cannot watch Grease.  Everyone looks 30.

[DrSpaceman73]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

This is just one reason why I cannot watch Grease.  Everyone looks 30.

I believe they were all about 30

[Wiendish Fitch]

4 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I believe they were all about 30

I was a dumb, backward, gullible eighth grader who all but devoured the friggin' Redwall books when I first watched Grease, and even back then I thought, "Yeah... no, these are not teenagers. Most of these people can rent cars. I don't know who Rizzo and Jan think they're fooling, but it ain't me."

[proserpina65]

On 10/24/2024 at 8:15 AM, Mrsmaul2021 said:

I watched a Christmas episode of Family Matters and they really over do it with the decorations. Even had Christmas curtains throughout the home. Who has that kind of time?

My mother always decorated like that.  She's a boomer, although not Midwestern, and didn't decorate for other holidays, but she went all out for Christmas until just a couple of years ago when her health stopped allowing all that effort.

On 10/29/2024 at 8:17 AM, Affogato said:

It annoys me that the ‘highschoolers’ end up doing things that would be gross or horrifying if they were actually their characters ages and look okay for people in mid to late 20s. Including drinking and drugs, fairly sophisticated sex and stilettos. 

Plenty of actual highschoolers do those things.  Maybe not sophisticated sex (not really sure what you mean by that) but otherwise . . .

On 10/30/2024 at 3:20 PM, tearknee said:

"But the actors are older, which takes the edge off" 

Same with 1976 Carrie versus the 2013 remake. Because Spacek was nearly 30 and Moretz was actually a kid, it had more impact for the viewer. I.e. Moretz makes more impact because she's not near early middle age.

 

 

 

Eh, I found Moretz's performance to be so lackluster that it had very little impact on me.  Spacek actually sold the character as an extremely sheltered high school girl much better, imo.

 

[Dimity]

3 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I believe they were all about 30

John Travolta was 23 and at least one of the Pink Ladies was younger than him.  But yeah, most of the major cast members were far removed from high school age. 

[Palimelon]

Quote

Maybe not sophisticated sex (not really sure what you mean by that)

2 minutes of clumsy missionary?

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

John Travolta was 23 and at least one of the Pink Ladies was younger than him.  But yeah, most of the major cast members were far removed from high school age. 

Yeah but Grease was a musical and a stage type performance. I didn’t find the ages jarring. 

14 minutes ago, Palimelon said:

2 minutes of clumsy missionary?

Yup, teen sex is not fanfiction bondage or hours of gentle orgasms. Sophistication requires a learning curve. 

[Dimity]

3 minutes ago, Affogato said:

Yeah but Grease was a musical and a stage type performance. I didn’t find the ages jarring. 

Same!  I had a few issues with Grease but overall it's a favourite of mine and if Stockard Channing was 33 when she played Rizzo, well I just don't care.  I can't imagine anyone else in the role!

[Affogato]

This is tropes, right? So having older actors play teens is a trope. It was probably created on tv shows because it makes things easier. But it also attracts other tropes. Maybe if upn/cw/wb had people in their shows that looked like the children they were supposed to be, well, the vibe would be a whole lot different. 

[Palimelon]

Quote

So having older actors play teens is a trope. It was probably created on tv shows because it makes things easier.

I think it also had to do with child labor laws.

[scarynikki12]

2 hours ago, Palimelon said:

I think it also had to do with child labor laws.

Yep it's labor laws. It's also why producers and directors love twins so much. Children are allowed to work for only so long each day but so many shows and movies film for longer than that time period. If you hire twins you can keep going when the first twin has reached the legal limit for that day of filming. 

For teenage roles you just hire adults and then you can film as long as you want.

[Anduin]

Safe houses never are. Sometimes the enemy has compromised them in advance. Sometimes they track the escaping heroes. Sometimes there's a double agent. They should be renamed unsafe houses.

I've found one in Starfield, conveniently pre-trashed. There's a pounding on the door coming from below, and the type of logs you expect to find. "Finally everything is going well. Except for one tiny thing that has me on edge." Etc. Yeah, I'm betting it isn't a surprise birthday party that caused this.

[tearknee]

2 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Yep it's labor laws. It's also why producers and directors love twins so much. Children are allowed to work for only so long each day but so many shows and movies film for longer than that time period. If you hire twins you can keep going when the first twin has reached the legal limit for that day of filming. 

For teenage roles you just hire adults and then you can film as long as you want.

 

Yes.

Child labor laws restrict how long and what hours a teen actor can work, while an adult actor can be more flexible.

If you want to show any awkward teenage sexual fumbling's, you have to cast an adult actor, because doing so with a teen actor constitutes child pornography.

[tearknee]

Real Twins because of child labor laws... and Playing Your Own Twin (the latter's a trope!).

 

 

 

[Affogato]

So, probably most people knee about the child labor/ pornography laws.  Which made casting adults easier and cheaper. But I was getting at the tropes that stem from this. Female students dress like work inappropriate, expensively paid executive assistants at highly paid tv legal firms. The romance tropes like lead woman is an avatar to take care of male live interest, a sexy man with a wounded inner child. Vampires and werewolves, they are, often in fact, but cuddly puppies. That sort of thing. 

[Trini]

On 11/1/2024 at 7:24 PM, Anduin said:

Safe houses never are. Sometimes the enemy has compromised them in advance. Sometimes they track the escaping heroes. Sometimes there's a double agent. They should be renamed unsafe houses.

 

LOL!  It's at the point that whenever I hear "safehouse" I reflexively roll my eyes.

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, Trini said:

LOL!  It's at the point that whenever I hear "safehouse" I reflexively roll my eyes.

Absolutely!

[Palimelon]

It's like on shows like 24 when someone says to "Cordon off the area!"  or "Lockdown the building!" so X can't escape...guess what, that character is escaping.

[tearknee]

"Sorry but there is no hidden treasure. I have already used this time to escape from your jail"

 

 

[Browncoat]

9 hours ago, Trini said:

LOL!  It's at the point that whenever I hear "safehouse" I reflexively roll my eyes.

When I hear "safe house" I think of this scene from "A Fish Called Wanda"

 

[tearknee]

Revival Series and Role Reprise in one collage:

 

[Fool to cry]

A variation of this line in every mystery plot: "(name) is not a (man/woman) it's a (blank)!"

Example:

"Emily's not a woman, it's the name of a boat!"

Also the reverse:

"(blank) isn't a (blank) it's a name!"

Example:

"'Snotty punk' wasn't an insult it's the name of a race horse!"

Edited November 12 by Fool to cry

[meep.meep]

Someone gets a call/text saying "turn on the TV!"  and they turn it on and see something they can relate to.

Me:  there's 700 channels, can you be more specific?

[DoctorAtomic]

My friend did that when McGwire and Sosa were going for the homerun record. So I knew what he was talking about. 

[Mabinogia]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Someone gets a call/text saying "turn on the TV!"  and they turn it on and see something they can relate to.

Me:  there's 700 channels, can you be more specific?

All they really had to do was go to their local bar where the TV is always turned to the news and the exact news you need to further your story is being shown just when you need it. 

[Domestic Assassin]

5 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Someone gets a call/text saying "turn on the TV!"  and they turn it on and see something they can relate to.

Me:  there's 700 channels, can you be more specific?

And when they turn the tv on, it starts at the beginning of whatever story the person called/texted you to see! Nothing was missed!