TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[Bruinsfan]

I was thinking specifically of the woman telling her disapproving parents they were right about her doomed marriage all along and moving back home with the grandchildren in tow.

[Aquarius]

I was thinking specifically of the woman telling her disapproving parents they were right about her doomed marriage all along and moving back home with the grandchildren in tow.

 

She was widowed, with huge bills to pay and no marketable skills, and that's why she returned home.  She never saw her marriage as doomed or wrong; she just told her parents what they wanted to hear for access to their home and money.

[braziliangirl]

I hate the trope "Let's make almost everyone awful, even when it's out of character, so that we can pimp our OTP ( that probably was ruined by TPTB and now the show has this contrived storylines to make them acceptable again)".

[ganesh]

In general, that sort of falls under, make characters stupid to move the plot along. 

[legaleagle53]

Another trope I'm tired of:

 

The TV movie (or series) in which an adult child (usually the daughter) and parent(s) are estranged due to the choice of the adult child's spouse (usually a husband the family didn't approve of).    I'm especially tired of the variant in which the parent(s) howl that their child could have had their pick of better spouses and a better lives while adult child insists they loved the person they married and didn't regret it.  Of course, by the end, the spouse comes though and the parent (s) have to admit they were wrong about him/her.

 

For once I want to hear:

 

"I'm sorry Mom & Dad.  You were right about [John] .  The more you warned me against seeing him, the more I wanted to rebel and stay with him.   I thought he was a romantic bad boy and that we were soul mates.  After we got married I thought he'd settle down.  In the end he cheated on me, gambled our money away and was just a jerk.  I apologize for being such a self centered brat.  My life could have been much better and had a lot less heartache.  Please take me and the grandchildren back home with you."

 

That actually was the plot of a classic Twilight Zone episode.  A young woman is haunted by the frequent visions of an older woman who appears to be stalking her as she is faced with the choice of marrying either the stable but boring guy her father wants her to marry or the bad boy she is in love with.  She ended up defying her father and running off with the bad boy.   Fast forward 25 years, and we learn that Father really did know best; the bad boy turned out to be an abusive, cheating asshole who dumped his wife after bleeding her dry.  The now older, sadder, and wiser woman then finds a way to go back in time in an attempt to warn her younger self not to marry the wrong man.

Edited November 26, 2014 by legaleagle53

[Popples]

I don't know if there's a specific name for this, but I can't stand when there's a party going on and there's loud music and other people talking, but the main focus will be on two people and the music and everyone else's conversation stops at the exact moment when one of them says something that's completely embarrassing (and usually taken out of context) really loudly because the other person can't hear them over the din.

[Guest Accused Dingo]

Everything seems to be a trope to someone. I tend to let most of them pass if the story is a good one. The only trope that I cannot stand and will actually ruin a show for me is the baby switch trope that used to be a favorite on soaps. Thank god I haven't seen it lately; or maybe I am just picking classier shows. We will go with that.

[ganesh]

Tropes can be done well if there's effort put into the writing. I think the main problem is when TPTBs just fall back on the trope at the expense of writing a good story or developing interesting characters. 

[bmoore4026]

Christmas episodes based on A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life.

 

Oh, good!  I'm not the only one who thinks this!

[GreekGeek]

I don't see this one as much anymore, but it used to make me crazy when sitcoms would do a special 'Let's put on a talent show!/Christmas show!/whatever show!'  and all the regulars would suddenly become these hugely talented amateurs showcasing their singing and dancing chops for the entire half hour.  It seemed so 'Look at me! I can sing! I can dance! I'm not just a sitcom person!' There are only two times it didn't bug me and that was I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke. I think it was because both of those shows were about show business families so it kind of made some kind of sense within the context of the show itself. Other shows, not so much.  I do not include the Buffy musical episode in this because that was an entirely new and different kind of thing and not a 'talent show' type of situation.

 

I don't know about the Buffy musical episode, but some of my favorite TV moments have been fantasy musical sequences:

 

"Elaine's Fantasy" on Taxi, turning the cabbies into singers and dancers straight out of a Busby Berkeley number.

 

"Life Has Been Good to Me" performed by French Stewart and Randy Newman on Third Rock from the Sun.

 

Adam Arkin performing "Luck Be a Lady" while his character undergoes brain surgery on Chicago Hope.

 

Robert Morse singing and dancing to "The Best Things in Life Are Free" as Bert Cooper's farewell on Mad Men.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On another topic, I hate how TV shows started using the 'woman kicks ass' trope after Buffy did it first.  Not because I disagree with the premise, but because Buffy was a superstrong, superfast supernatural girl and the shows that followed were just regular women they kept writing to do the same kinds of things. Sure. I totally believe that Jane Doe, regular woman, is a kickass kickboxer and can take down six 220 lb guys singlehandedly because she is so bad ass.  I especially hate JJ on Criminal Minds. I went from liking her as the communications./spokeswoman for the unit to hating her as the suddenly supergirl powered kickass agent in the field. It makes no sense and never will. She makes me stabby. 

 

With the exception of Sydney Bristow, I agree with this. Sydney was only pretending to be a Jane Doe, and I like to think that Irina and Jack's awesomeness was passed on genetically.

[Kel Varnsen]

On another topic, I hate how TV shows started using the 'woman kicks ass' trope after Buffy did it first.  Not because I disagree with the premise, but because Buffy was a superstrong, superfast supernatural girl and the shows that followed were just regular women they kept writing to do the same kinds of things. Sure. I totally believe that Jane Doe, regular woman, is a kickass kickboxer and can take down six 220 lb guys singlehandedly because she is so bad ass.  I especially hate JJ on Criminal Minds. I went from liking her as the communications./spokeswoman for the unit to hating her as the suddenly supergirl powered kickass agent in the field. It makes no sense and never will. She makes me stabby. 

I am pretty sure Xena had Buffy beat by at least a year or two. I kind of hate that trope too but I would include buffy in it. Mostly because every time Sarah Michelle Gellar threw a punch she looked tiny and frail. You would think over 7 seasons she might learn how to throw a punch or at least go to the gym or something.Cobalt Stargazer brought up Alias, and I kind of prefer Sydney Bristow in this situation, mostly because Jennifer Garner had a bit of muscle mass and looked like she could actually hit someone.

[ABay]

Xena was first (1995, Buffy 1997), but I think what saves her from the trope is that Lucy Lawless looks like she can land a solid punch.

Edited December 8, 2014 by ABay

[merylinkid]

Oh yes, Let's Put on a Show in the Barn.   Complete with perfect choreography, professional costuming and great sets.    Because everyone can throw together a Busby Berkley musical in nothing flat.  Don't you keep complete stage sets in your basement just in case this comes up?

[kiddo82]

Oh yes, Let's Put on a Show in the Barn.   Complete with perfect choreography, professional costuming and great sets.    Because everyone can throw together a Busby Berkley musical in nothing flat.  Don't you keep complete stage sets in your basement just in case this comes up?

In a similar context, that's also like when everyone in town crafts their very own, homemade, professional grade Halloween costumes complete with perfect hair/wig and makeup. No one's costume actually looks like it was made by an amateur or thrown together with bits from the costume store other than in cases when it's supposed to be comically bad.

[MaryPatShelby]

In a similar context, that's also like when everyone in town crafts their very own, homemade, professional grade Halloween costumes complete with perfect hair/wig and makeup. No one's costume actually looks like it was made by an amateur or thrown together with bits from the costume store other than in cases when it's supposed to be comically bad.

Except on The Middle, on which it's a combination of comically bad and regular-person amateur costume.

[Bruinsfan]

It's true Xena did it first, although I think of supergirl Buffy first because I was not a Xena person.  But the fact is that Xena was a fantasy character also. The shows where the kickass superwomen I am complaining about are on are reality based and not fantasy or supernatural.  They are just regular human women who apparently have superspeed and strength if you believe the stunts they pull off.

Yeah, Sarah Michelle Gellar may not look like she could punch out a third-grader, but at least there were legitimate plot reasons why a tiny waif of a girl would be beating up big guys three times her size on that show, and they occasionally showed us things like her casually carrying an I-beam girder over her shoulder or making a 20 foot standing high jump in platform heels to remind us she was actually superhuman.

[Apathy]

I'm getting pretty sick of the trope where one character tells another character (usually a newbie) "Try not to die" before going off on a dangerous mission or something. As opposed to what, exactly? Trying to die? I realize that line isn't usually meant to be taken seriously, but it's still a useless thing to say.

[SmithW6079]

Regarding musical numbers on shows that aren't musicals, "Scrubs" also pulled off a successful musical episode, in my opinion. The patient du jour had a brain tumor. Its effect on her was that she heard everyone singing their dialogue. If you watch it closely, you'll see that the characters sing only when she is in the frame and listening to them.

[Actionmage]

Again if it was before Ironsisde that's a long, long time ago. Any women OR men with a disabilit y other than reading glasses? Anybody deaf? In wheelchair? Asthma? Ra?

 

Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye! She was a deaf agent when ion was Pax (circa 1998). Geri Jewell, of Facts of Life and Deadwood, has cerebral palsy. Grandma Walton had a stroke, as her actress Ellen Corby did. There is Becky, from Glee, who has Down's Syndrome. Marlee Matlin, in any work she's done, is deaf. I recently caught a couple of episodes of New Tricks and one of the detectives has a daughter in a wheelchair. The actress, Storme Toolis , has cerebral palsy.

 

I was surprised that there so many I actually remembered. I feel there has to be more than what I found on the TV Tropes page for Disabled Character, Disabled Actor.

 

eta: or what selkie said a couple of pages back. *g*

 

On another topic, I hate how TV shows started using the 'woman kicks ass' trope after Buffy did it first

 

Now, iirc, ::sits down and puts walker to side of rocking chair::, there was Emma Peel, of The Avengers, and Honey West. The actual first "Action Girl" was    Mrs. Peel's predecessor, Kathy Gale, an actual spy, played by Honor Blackmon ( James Bond films' Pussy Galore.) That was back around 1962. Women have been kicking ass for longer than most folks think. It was that there were long stretches where there  weren't.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Actionmage

[Linderhill]

And Marlee Matlin was the lead, a deaf district attorney in Reasonable Doubts with Mark Harmon back in the day.  

 

One of the actors on AHS: Freak Show, Mat Fraser (Paul the illustrated seal) was quoted saying that most of the time true disabled or otherabled actors are rarely cast in movies and television because the fully abled want to use the disabled role to go for an award (Oscar, Emmy).  

[kathyk24]

Chris Burke who has Down Syndrome was featured on Life Goes On. Jim Brynes a paraplegic was a supporting actor on Wiseguy and Highlander. I think television has become less divers as far as disabilities are concerned. How can you cast a sighted actor in Growing Up Fisher when he is supposed to be blind?

[AimingforYoko]

Jim Brynes a paraplegic

Jim Byrnes wasn't a parapalegic, was he? I just thought he lost both his legs in a car accident.

[Bruinsfan]

That was my understanding as well.

[kassygreene]

Yes, he has two prosthetic legs.  I met him briefly about twenty years ago - nice guy.

[Actionmage]

Mr. Byrnes is a paraplegic, as opposed to a quadriplegic. He lost the use of his legs, not the use of his arms and legs.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Actionmage

[Joe]

Not really a trope, but misleading titles. I once saw a show listed. Swords: Life on the Line. Awesome, I thought. Disappointing when I discovered it was about people who catch swordfish, rather than anything to do with actual swords.

[Jipijapa]

TV tropes!  So easy to hate them... perhaps harder to admit that there are some tropes that we love?

 

Maybe there are some tropes you don't even know that you love, but which become apparent only when you compare notes on your various favorite shows over the years?

 

My favorite TV trope of all time?  Sons and dads who have a love-hate (or at least Mutt and Jeff) relationship.  Or, more generally, platonic friendships between older men and younger men (could be father-son, or just colleagues).  I'm a total sucker for this, and it seems to be a common feature of many of my favorite shows across any genre (e.g. Fringe, Quantum Leap, the Rockford Files).  Also, to a lesser exent, Carter and Benton on E.R.

 

 

[Actionmage]

One of my favorites is Ignorant Minion (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IgnorantMinion).

 

It gave us Pinky ( of ...and The Brain fame), TV's Frank (MST3K) and Andrew (Buffy).  They can be written in a way that the audience likes them despite their working for the Villain. If they rebel against the Villain, the audience tends to cheer them on.

 

Not my most favorite, but one of my favorites.

[kathyk24]

My favorite tropes are Crowning Moment of Awesome and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I'll throw in basically every Taster's Choice holiday commercial made since about the late 70s.  I'm a sucker for those 'beloved son/daughter returns home to surprise parents/siblings" moments.  Extra points if the returnee is in the armed forces.  But arriving home from college, or with a fiance, or with young children, or with a Christmas puppy works also.

 

I also have a soft spot for corny, soundless dad and daughter scenes.  You know the ones.  Dad sitting down to play tea party, or getting into his suit/tux for his daughter's wedding.

 

Aw.  I guess I've always wanted the tv family moments that I didn't have!

[Enigma X]

My favorite TV trope is the unexpected reveal of a long-lost or illegitimate child, especially if it is between two established show characters. Granted, I think this loses it luster if it is done too much or if said reveal turns out to be a lie and child is actually not that person of whom she or he was originally surprisingly revealed to be. (How's that for confusion?)

[bmasters9]

Trope Co. Trope of the Week: usually seen on sports shows when a specific segment of a broadcast is named for a sponsor. One of the first examples I remember is The Prudential College Football Report with Jim Nantz (his first role at CBS, by the way, in what is soon to be a 30-year career there doing college football, college hoops, golf, the NFL-- practically everything).

Edited February 12, 2015 by bmasters9

[galax-arena]

All trope names taken from TV Tropes:

 

Town with a Dark Secret

Stepford Suburbia

Crapsaccharine World

Uncanny Village

 

I think you can see a pattern here...

 

I'm also a fan of mysterious carnivals and circuses. 

[ToxicUnicorn]

Stepford Suburbia ...

Uncanny Village

 

When I was a young adult, I thought it'd be fun to have a job naming paint colors.  Now, I sort of wish I'd known about naming tv tropes.  :)

 

I usually fall right into the trap of liking someone more when it is revealed s/he is a dog lover.  Most recent example: Will Graham on Hannibal (don't love him, love his pack).  I know I'm being manipulated, but I go willingly right along.

 

The only time this hasn't worked for me is for Glenn Close's character on Damages.  Brr.  That woman is cold, man.  I feel so sorry for the dog.

[AshleyN]

Every now and then Hannibal liked to remind me that I've always been fond of the "evil character runs into an even bigger monster" scenario. Watching some of these characters slowly (or suddenly) realize that for the first time in their life they might not be the most evil or dangerous person in the room is always fun.

Edited February 12, 2015 by AshleyN

[Shannon L.]

I love seeing someone kick ass.  Even when it's unbelievable (Ollie on Arrow, Jack Bauer on 24) and even when it's a woman in leather in high heals (although, the clothes on the women usually makes me roll my eyes, but so be it).  I'll also always love the fish out of water stories, as long as they are well written. 

[Crisopera]

Shannon L. - are you watching Marvel's Agent Carter?  Peggy Carter is kick-ass supreme!

[Shannon L.]

I had no interest in Agent Carter until I started hearing how good it was (my son was recording it because he wanted to see it).  Now, it's must see tv for me!  I said last night when we finally had time to watch this week's episode that I wish they could find a way to make a regular series out of it--even if it meant a shorter number of episodes per season (shorter than the usual 21 shows, I mean). 

[Jipijapa]

 

I'm a sucker for those 'beloved son/daughter returns home to surprise parents/siblings" moments.  Extra points if the returnee is in the armed forces.

 

OMG.  Triple points if it's the father/mother in the armed forces returning home to surprise the kids and/or their dog.  Instant sappy soppy waterworks for me...

[AshleyN]

OMG.  Triple points if it's the father/mother in the armed forces returning home to surprise the kids and/or their dog.  Instant sappy soppy waterworks for me...

The (sadly short-lived) Enlisted did a whole episode around that scenario. True to form for that show it was both hilarious and heart-warming.

Edited February 18, 2015 by AshleyN

[GreekGeek]

Odd couple police partnerships. My all-time favorite was Hill and Renko on Hill Street Blues.

Fish out of water, especially city folks in the country and country folks in the city.

Anything to do with villains that tries to give them some depth: Mom and/or Dad didn't love them enough, they have a soft spot (for animals or something/someone else), they're not really bad after all. 

Things set in the latter part of the 20th century (50's-90's).

[rubaco]

I love Bottle Episodes, because I'm all about the dialogue.

 

I also usually like It's Only a Dream episodes (the "It May Look Like a Walnut" ep of Dick Van Dyke Show,  and "Mrs. George Devereaux" ep from Golden Girls, for instance). 

[Linderhill]

How's this for a trope:  if the leads on a show are a man and woman, they have fall in love at some point and become a couple.  Why cant they just be friends/co-workers/partners?  What is wrong with that.  Not all shows have to have a romance front and center just like not all men and women become a couple if they spend more than an hour with each other.

[MaryPatShelby]

And Marlee Matlin was the lead, a deaf district attorney in Reasonable Doubts with Mark Harmon back in the day.  

 

Man, I loved that show.  It needs to come out of TV Jail, and soon.

[kelnic86]

I love watching grand romantic gestures on TV, especially if it involves declaring their love in front of a large crowd of people. It's funny to me how even though I love that TV trope, I would be embarrassed if that happened to me in real life. By all means, profess your love to me, get down on one knee and propose, but please refrain from doing it in public.

Edited February 24, 2015 by kelnic86

[cpcathy]

I love TV weddings, as ridiculous as they are. But, then when I was little, I staged huge weddings for my Barbie and Ken dolls.

[Guest]

I'm fond of shows that do What Do You Mean, It Wasn't Made on Drugs? episodes.  Some of my favorite series tend to make a point to do a couple of these a season.  Buffy does a musical.  Corpses randomly bursting into song on Fringe.  Eureka's animated episode.  Alien slow-dancing and B&W movie monsters on Supernatural.  Nearly every episode of Community.

[Jipijapa]

I love it too, though I thought it got old on Community where every episode was like that.

[ganesh]

There's a few sci fi tropes, if done right can be brilliant. But if TPTBs don't have the writing down and the actors don't know the characters well enough, it can be awful. 

 

SG1 did the 'groundhog day' trope and it's widely regarded as a classic. The wise decision was to make only two of the characters in the loop rather than the main team.

 

Maybe less known, Farscape did a 'body swapping' episode, and I think it's far far superior and might be the best example of this trope I've ever seen. The commentary revealed that the actors workshopped the shit of their characters to make sure they got the inflection and beats all right. Similarly, one of the characters wasn't swapped here as well.

Edited February 25, 2015 by ganesh