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Tv Tropes that Make You Immediately Stop Watching

For me it's the nasty rancid asshole who is also a genius therefore tolerated (House). In real life, the mouthy bitches are usually not that bright.

by Anonymousreply 148March 14, 2021 8:46 AM

The "(Insert name), IT DOESN'T ADD UP!" frustrated outburst.

by Anonymousreply 1March 1, 2021 3:18 AM

Laugh tracks

by Anonymousreply 2March 1, 2021 3:25 AM

Fat dude, hot wife.

by Anonymousreply 3March 1, 2021 4:17 AM

"Yes, I know you're retired/about to retire, but we need you for one last job. Goddammit, you're the best [insert job title here] we ever had!"

by Anonymousreply 4March 5, 2021 4:53 PM

Anyone who is "sassy".

by Anonymousreply 5March 5, 2021 4:54 PM

The dumb guy who gains more screen time the longer the show goes on as the writers become lazier, see Friends, The Office and Parks and Rec.

by Anonymousreply 6March 5, 2021 5:19 PM

Yeah, how stupid and unbelievable.

by Anonymousreply 7March 5, 2021 5:21 PM

Police procedurals where the lead investigator's home life becomes the focus, rather than the crime.

by Anonymousreply 8March 5, 2021 5:24 PM

Alex Rodriguez. As soon as I see his smug face at the start of Shark Tank I turn off my tv.

by Anonymousreply 9March 5, 2021 5:27 PM

Mariska Hargitay. She's turned into a fat trope.

by Anonymousreply 10March 5, 2021 5:28 PM

Lighting in modern sitcoms, the mix of LED lighting and digital photography makes them look really cheap compared to sitcoms from the 90s and 2000s.

by Anonymousreply 11March 5, 2021 5:30 PM

Ugly leads, unless that's a part of the storyline. Sorry, I'm used to beautiful people being presented on my American TV screen. If I wanted to see busted folks I'd head to my local grocery store or look in the mirror.

Also drawn out plot lines like that bullshit from the TV series of "Love, Simon". Uh. that child was annoy and I could hardly make it through half of the season.

by Anonymousreply 12March 5, 2021 5:39 PM

Procedural crime dramas where co-workers who investigate serial killers/murders/rapes, etc. are all good buddies and go out for margaritas after work.

by Anonymousreply 13March 5, 2021 5:42 PM

I love the genius curmudgeon trope.

I hate when a woman in a stable relationship with a good guy throws it away because she thinks the leading man might give her a tumble.

by Anonymousreply 14March 5, 2021 5:46 PM

Cutesy kids.

by Anonymousreply 15March 5, 2021 5:51 PM

When the lead characters start having kids, you know the writers have run out of ideas when this happens.

by Anonymousreply 16March 5, 2021 5:55 PM

[Mariska Hargitay. She's turned into a fat trope.]

Now when she calls for a "bus" it's because she needs transportation.

by Anonymousreply 17March 5, 2021 5:57 PM

The narcissistic and mentally deranged female protagonist that people are supposed to find quirky, delightful, and charming instead of a walking cautionary tale. See: Sex and the City once SJP took over as producer.

by Anonymousreply 18March 5, 2021 5:59 PM

The obvious pandering to social media freaks, normally happens around season 2 of a show.

by Anonymousreply 19March 5, 2021 6:03 PM

Forced diversity.

by Anonymousreply 20March 5, 2021 6:04 PM

Every woman in the room wanting to fuck or has been fucked by the male protagonist.

by Anonymousreply 21March 5, 2021 6:06 PM

Gravity Defying Perky Tits on students, beginning career women, cops, or firefighters

by Anonymousreply 22March 5, 2021 6:07 PM

R20 who rants about "forced diversity" probably doesn't mind all those shows set in NYC, Chicago, LA, or San Francisco where everyone is white.

by Anonymousreply 23March 5, 2021 6:12 PM

r23 I mean I live in Chicago and there are tons of friends group segregated by race. It typically has more to do with social class than overt racism but you see it all of the time. Peep an Instagram story of your gay and straight friends or their vacation posts. Many will have people that all look like them if they are white. Some people of color will branch out and have a better mix or will be the token minority. It happens.

by Anonymousreply 24March 5, 2021 6:33 PM

smart ass kids, that are smarter than their parents.. with sassy quips..

by Anonymousreply 25March 5, 2021 6:40 PM

[quote]The narcissistic and mentally deranged female protagonist that people are supposed to find quirky, delightful, and charming instead of a walking cautionary tale. See: Sex and the City once SJP took over as producer.

I remember watching Dharma and Greg which could be charming when it first started, but it ended up being how Dharma was always right about things no matter how self-centered, childish, unreasonable, self-righteous she behaved during the episode. At the end of the episode, Greg was always apologizing and telling her that she was right. It did not help that the in-laws were better comedic actors than she was.

by Anonymousreply 26March 5, 2021 6:48 PM

Locked-room mysteries where the first person on the scene is the killer (often a police officer.)

Mysteries that recycle the same tired script about decades-old, dirty doings at an orphanage and the coverup by current, high ranking politicians and members of the police force, who are all Masons as well. (I hope the person who wrote the original script is getting royalties every time it is recycled.)

Murder mysteries where some obscure relative of the lead is introduced. Invariable, that person is the killer.

Murder mysteries where the killer is some random person who has not figured in the program until the last 5 minutes.

Murder mysteries that callously use a disability as a plot point.

by Anonymousreply 27March 5, 2021 6:49 PM

Elderly characters acting all hip and sassy.

by Anonymousreply 28March 5, 2021 6:52 PM

The bad boy married to the beautiful sainted woman; bad boy promises to change once saint agrees to marry him (after multiple episodes/seasons of back & forth), but then immediately goes back to his old ways and/or sainted woman dies (see Sons of Anarchy, Peaky Blinders, etc). In reality, people marry other people very much like themselves.

by Anonymousreply 29March 5, 2021 6:53 PM

When the lead actor or actress becomes a Mary Sue. They're all knowing and all seeing and have to be the bravest /smartest/sexiest even if they have twenty years on the other actors. It's obvious that the lead is then controlling the writing , and it gets tiresome pretty quickly.

by Anonymousreply 30March 5, 2021 6:55 PM

When the wife of a protagonist says shit like "but honey what about me and our marriage??!!!!" when the husband has to go stop a bomb from detonating and killing a bus full of children or something. I think in reality wives of CIA and FBI agents know what they're getting into.

by Anonymousreply 31March 5, 2021 6:56 PM

Don't get me started on how the characters back stories are constantly changing too. The lead will go from coming from a relativley normal family to being horribly abused with a constantly unfolding dark past with unending secrets. That's why I loved the Sherlock serious, his and Mycroft's parents were this perfectly average upper middle class couple talking about buying lottery tickets.

by Anonymousreply 32March 5, 2021 7:00 PM

Anorexic actresses cast as ass-kicking super heroes, even if they look like they couldn't beat up a fourth grader

On crime shows serial killers are always evil geniuses who enjoy taunting the cops with cat and mouse games....in real life most of them are losers with average or below average IQs

by Anonymousreply 33March 5, 2021 7:01 PM

When the police actually investigate crimes and even solve them, and don't make up shit and abuse the public (aka black people) daily. That level of fiction is too far fetched for me.

by Anonymousreply 34March 5, 2021 7:02 PM

Nerd gets disfigured in lab accident, becomes superhero(ine)'s nemesis, like that!

by Anonymousreply 35March 5, 2021 7:05 PM

^ Armchair detectives who think they'd solve EVERY case if they were cops

by Anonymousreply 36March 5, 2021 7:07 PM

oh, here's another one; when someone is murdered - particularly a poor or homeless person - medical examiners and lab technicians in high tech facilities carefully examine the body and meticulously conduct tests to determine what happened. Theories are discussed with interested detectives. The recent rape kit scandal demonstrates that labs often don't even *do* anything with the evidence they receive, much less work to solve crimes and cops don't bother to follow up (unless the crime is high profile)

by Anonymousreply 37March 5, 2021 7:41 PM

In a dystopian future where the population has...

In a world where emotions are illegal...

The five last human beings on earth live in a bunker while...

After a husband and wife lose their daughter they move to a strange house where...

After a husband and wife lose their son they move to a strange house where...

If all the above didn’t exist, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc would lose 35% of their content.

by Anonymousreply 38March 5, 2021 7:48 PM

The ones where the husband is goofy, inept, clumsy and loveable but somehow always wrong, but the wife is always the responsible one and always right and the ending is the husband learning some important life lesson. Boring!

by Anonymousreply 39March 5, 2021 7:50 PM

R39 must be an MRA and probably doesn't know that most TV writers are men

by Anonymousreply 40March 5, 2021 7:55 PM

R40, nope. Just find it cliched and overdone and unoriginal. That's all. Don't read too much into it.

by Anonymousreply 41March 5, 2021 7:57 PM

Black-ish the husband in particular is ALWAYS preaching to white people and the kids are RENTLESSLY perky.

I couldn't watch more than one episode.

I call it Annoying-ish.

by Anonymousreply 42March 5, 2021 8:03 PM

Men, boys, fathers, husbands, and sons are treated as useless lumps of flesh.

by Anonymousreply 43March 5, 2021 8:06 PM

R43 is definitely an MRA. Most lead characters are men, not women. Most TV writers are men. Most execs are male. Women on TV usually are just there to be "hot"

by Anonymousreply 44March 5, 2021 8:09 PM

R18 ah yes, the cousin to the equally annoying Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

No idea how anyone could stomach NEW GIRL, which was predicated on that.

by Anonymousreply 45March 5, 2021 8:12 PM

R11 what show is the worst offender when it comes to shit lighting?

by Anonymousreply 46March 5, 2021 8:13 PM

I have Asperger’s, and searing LED lighting whether onscreen or IRL drives me insane.

by Anonymousreply 47March 5, 2021 8:15 PM

'The other" (gay, lesbian, disabled, race minority) enters the white family's home life, gets mistreated, teaches them 'a lesson,' then vanishes from the show forever.

by Anonymousreply 48March 5, 2021 8:18 PM

Most of the Norman Lear shows used enough harsh lighting to shoot them in Technicolor despite them being shot on video tape. But they sure as hell didn’t look like Technicolor despite all the people of color given prominent roles.

by Anonymousreply 49March 5, 2021 8:18 PM

Gay rights are men’s rights, R40.

by Anonymousreply 50March 5, 2021 8:27 PM

Sorry, I agree with R23. Complaining about “forced diversity” after being subjected to all-white shows set in diverse metropolises, each one stupider and more condescending than the last, is basically lamp shading the same racism that enabled these stupid shows to become popular in the first place. Do actors of color even want to be on shows that are this bad?

by Anonymousreply 51March 5, 2021 9:01 PM

R50 isn't aware that men's rights activists are right-wingers who hate gays.

by Anonymousreply 52March 5, 2021 9:19 PM

R48 to expound on that, gay characters who don't have a personality beyond "gay" but just act as a soundboard to the straight(normal) characters. Many DLers seem to live this trope.

by Anonymousreply 53March 5, 2021 9:21 PM

[quote]On crime shows serial killers are always evil geniuses who enjoy taunting the cops with cat and mouse games....in real life most of them are losers with average or below average IQs

I was thinking about this the other day. Most criminals are not Keyser Söze and couldn't figure their way out of a liquor store hold up so much as run a massive criminal organization in a small city.

by Anonymousreply 54March 5, 2021 10:33 PM

The child that invariably does something so retarded it had to be on purpose even though we have to pretend that people are naturally that dumb or clumsy that:

a) fucks something up for everyone else and creates some kind of problem that has to then be overcome

b) destroys whatever was required to solve a problem.

by Anonymousreply 55March 6, 2021 1:22 AM

This is kind of specific but I hate it when someone is getting interrogated by the police and one of the cops makes a lame threat/joke about prison rape. Detective Stabler did this constantly on SVU, the lead cop in True Detective S3 does it not once but twice over the course of 8 episodes. It's really unoriginal and ugly.

by Anonymousreply 56March 6, 2021 1:43 AM

R28- Like Mother Jefferson on The Jefferson- although she was the ONLY reason to watch the show.

by Anonymousreply 57March 6, 2021 1:45 AM

Sci-fi shows set in the future where a character enjoys music from the 1960s.

by Anonymousreply 58March 6, 2021 1:55 AM

R58- Tom Paris from Voyager was WAY too contemporary for my tastes.

by Anonymousreply 59March 6, 2021 2:04 AM

The popular man-whore character in comedies. Like Neil Patrick Harris's Barney character in HIMYM. It's not funny, it's just fucking dated and obnoxious.

The flamboyant gay and his fag hags.

Stock minority characters, portrayed either as the always perfect voice-of-reason or a hardened, evil criminal.

by Anonymousreply 60March 6, 2021 2:09 AM

[quote] I mean I live in Chicago and there are tons of friends group segregated by race.

Yes, from Chicago here too, can confirm that Chicago is extremely segregated by race. But I do see a lot more white, black, Latino, Asian, etc. people hanging out together, especially if they are under 40.

by Anonymousreply 61March 6, 2021 2:11 AM

R60-,A PERFECT example of this is Elijah on GIRLS.

by Anonymousreply 62March 6, 2021 2:14 AM

R62, I was actually thinking of those terrible queeny gays that were on Sex and the City when I typed that. Those are the worst. And it seems like at least (half) of straight women think gays are all like that and they all have a goal to get "a gay" themselves.

by Anonymousreply 63March 6, 2021 2:16 AM

The genius technician, investigator, etc who is odd in some way. They're anti-social or acerbic to everyone including superiors or goth or a loner. Never just an ordinary laboratory schmoe doing their job.

by Anonymousreply 64March 6, 2021 2:31 AM

special friends

long earrings

floral caftans

by Anonymousreply 65March 6, 2021 2:35 AM

Serial killers who kill people in bizarre, elaborate ways or kill people for some esoteric reason (These 4 people all bullied me 40 years ago....so I decided to hunt them down one by one all these years later!). Real serial killers kill people because they feel like it.

by Anonymousreply 66March 6, 2021 2:36 AM

[quote] Gay rights are men’s rights, [R40].

Straight men's rights aren't in any danger, r50. I think they'll get along just fine w/o you to defend them. That said, the "dumb husband/genius wife" trope that r39 identified is real and annoying, even when it's primarily men who write the show.

by Anonymousreply 67March 6, 2021 2:42 AM

Programs with interesting-enough plots that then get bogged down by adding other space/time dimensions, like Man in the High Castle.

by Anonymousreply 68March 6, 2021 3:07 AM

Romantic subplots. EVERY leading character MUST have one inserted, no matter how asexual and no matter how far it is from the purpose of the show. I want shows and films with zero romance. Is that too much to ask?

by Anonymousreply 69March 6, 2021 4:36 AM

Too true, R69. Particularly when previously smart/clever characters become dumb as shit for the sake of the romantic plot.

by Anonymousreply 70March 6, 2021 5:36 AM

[quote]Straight men's rights aren't in any danger, [R50]. I think they'll get along just fine w/o you to defend them. That said, the "dumb husband/genius wife" trope that [R39] identified is real and annoying, even when it's primarily men who write the show.

It's not even remotely feminist. It's every bit as much a male fantasy as pornography.

by Anonymousreply 71March 6, 2021 6:09 AM

The ones where the white person, usually male, is goofy, inept, clumsy and lovable but somehow always wrong, but the POC, usually female and often sassy, is always the responsible one and always right and the ending is the white person learning some important life lesson. Irritating!

by Anonymousreply 72March 6, 2021 6:09 AM

The ones with a messy lead female, who sleeps around, drinks and possibly does drugs if the show is desperate to be edgy, can't hold down a job, has poor hygiene, is a bitch to everyone and her family, who are hard working and have their shit together, are viewed as the bad guys. The female lead is viewed as an original (despite being done a million times already) and empowering character by the press.

by Anonymousreply 73March 6, 2021 8:25 AM

Anything featuring a mouthy obese woman.

by Anonymousreply 74March 6, 2021 8:31 AM

[quote]The ones with a messy lead female, who sleeps around, drinks and possibly does drugs if the show is desperate to be edgy, can't hold down a job, has poor hygiene, is a bitch to everyone and her family, who are hard working and have their shit together, are viewed as the bad guys. The female lead is viewed as an original (despite being done a million times already) and empowering character by the press.

What is everybody looking at me for?

by Anonymousreply 75March 6, 2021 8:48 AM
by Anonymousreply 76March 6, 2021 9:17 AM

The wise, all-knowing, noble, older black woman

The goofy but "loveable" (barf) male lead who behaves like a teenager

The generic, basic white chick female lead. Any character played by the talentless, unfunny cunt Kaley Cuoco

by Anonymousreply 77March 6, 2021 9:22 AM

No one but old geezers watches television any more.

by Anonymousreply 78March 6, 2021 9:32 AM

When two male characters are written as ‘best friends’ and ‘closer than brothers’, and they spend every waking hour together, and they constantly go out of their way for each other, and they have noticeable physical intimacy and flirtatious chemistry...but they couldn’t possibly become romantic or sexual, no way man!

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 79March 6, 2021 9:43 AM

[Quote] Any character played by the talentless, unfunny cunt Kaley Cuoco

Kaley was pretty good in The Flight Attendant.

by Anonymousreply 80March 6, 2021 12:06 PM

TV shows that are trying to be HIP but failing. The Office- a dull show with dull characters. A show about office drones - YAWN.

by Anonymousreply 81March 6, 2021 12:16 PM

Kaley Cuoco was vastly underrated on BBT. By the time it premiered, network sit-coms were considered passé. Cable allowed for edgier more inventive formats that became critics darlings. When Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the VEEP on HBO, the character of Penny looks pretty regressive on the surface.

If you watch 3 or 4 episodes back to back though, the character of Penny is actually the glue for the whole show. She anchors all the offbeat characters the way Mary Richards did on MTM. And I would argue that she actually had a lot of funny writing that made her less of a straight man than Mary.

But for some reason she was never given her due. Perhaps she was written off as the outdated Dumb Blonde, but there was actually a lot more going on with her character and her acting. Well, she rectified that with The Flight Attendant.

by Anonymousreply 82March 6, 2021 1:39 PM

Americans cut corners but know better than you and get the job done.

by Anonymousreply 83March 6, 2021 1:40 PM

Smart-ass disrespectful children who put adults in their place, and the adults don't issue a swift reprimand.

by Anonymousreply 84March 7, 2021 7:05 AM

[quote]Yes, from Chicago here too, can confirm that Chicago is extremely segregated by race.

You mean the same Chicago that was the setting for [italic]Good Times[/italic], [italic]Webster[/italic], and [italic]Punky Brewster[/italic]?

by Anonymousreply 85March 7, 2021 7:40 AM

The ride or die wife/girlfriend. Truth is, the typical American woman is a product of capitalism, always itching for something better and incapable of staying faithful if it comes along.

by Anonymousreply 86March 7, 2021 7:50 AM

[Quote] The ride or die wife/girlfriend. Truth is, the typical American woman is a product of capitalism, always itching for something better and incapable of staying faithful if it comes along.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 87March 7, 2021 11:04 AM

Women are incapable of staying faithful? That must be why Ashley Madison was 99% men

by Anonymousreply 88March 7, 2021 3:29 PM

When someone beats the shit out of someone else to "defend some woman's honour" and doesn't get arrested like they should be.

by Anonymousreply 89March 7, 2021 4:47 PM

The jaded crime investigator (especially if it's a woman) who cracks a sarcastic joke when looking at the most disgusting dismembered corpse.

by Anonymousreply 90March 7, 2021 5:07 PM

Bitchy woman living in New York in huge apartments and spending a fortune on FABULOUS handbags and shoes so they can go to gallery openings and pick up flawed guys for a quick fuck- to wake up wondering why their lives are so shallow.

The entire story arc for Sex in the City.

by Anonymousreply 91March 7, 2021 5:16 PM

Whenever someone is waiting for someone in a park, or a field, and they can see many hundreds of yards in the distance, somehow the person they're waiting for always surprises them at the last minute, even though if they had looked, they would have seen the person coming for a long time.

Drives me crazy.

by Anonymousreply 92March 7, 2021 5:20 PM

That moment in a long running sit-com when the originally adorable and natural little kid becomes an awkward adolescent with zero acting skills. It’s been going on forever, and there are so many examples it could be thread on its own.

by Anonymousreply 93March 7, 2021 5:27 PM

When a show goes on to long and the writers do a mini-reboot to try and bring back the "feel" of the earlier seasons and pray for new viewers to tune in, this normally means forced humor and regressing some of the characters. It normally falls apart by around midway point of the mini-reboot season and the writers just move on, the fans are pissed off that their favorites have gone backwards and it never attracts new viewers.

by Anonymousreply 94March 7, 2021 7:44 PM

The jaded mortuary worker, wearing a tie-dye or rock t-shirt, cracking jokes and eating a sandwich while leaning over a body.

by Anonymousreply 95March 10, 2021 10:54 PM

Where the main premise of the series could be quite interesting but gets derailed with the lead character's family life. I'm watching a show about hunting a serial killer goddammit, I don't want the fucking wife and kids and domestic problems of the lead detective to take over!

by Anonymousreply 96March 10, 2021 11:18 PM

In a dystopian world ravaged by a virus/war/zombies, every group of survivors are diversity-by-committee Every group is just the right mix of multicultural, no matter where they are. Even in Bumfucke Oklahoma out on the plains or East Pissflap, Missouri it's 25% white, 25% black, 25% Latinx and 25% mixed-race/racially ambiguous.

by Anonymousreply 97March 10, 2021 11:24 PM

Leads get married to each other.

by Anonymousreply 98March 10, 2021 11:30 PM

R27, And you immediately stop watching after you encounter your examples, as per the OP?

Or did you wish merely to list them?

by Anonymousreply 99March 10, 2021 11:36 PM

Crime drama where the women cops are stunningly beautiful. Most female cops look like tough dykes.

by Anonymousreply 100March 10, 2021 11:37 PM

^^Seriously. Everybody who watches Dateline knows this.

by Anonymousreply 101March 10, 2021 11:38 PM

The chubby goth girl who sits at a row of computers slapping keys and moving the mouse.

The geeky Aspie who looks at a tree and knows who the murder is.

You know -- a CBS procedural.

by Anonymousreply 102March 10, 2021 11:40 PM

I don't stop watching, but I do get annoyed when two characters are conversing, and in the next scene, though we can see they have "traveled" at least 100 yards, they continue speaking at the point where we last saw them.

by Anonymousreply 103March 10, 2021 11:41 PM

When the characters have worked together for years, but still refer to each other by last name.

by Anonymousreply 104March 11, 2021 2:46 AM

Hospital dramas where none of the characters has friends, dates, relatives, partners, lovers, or spouses that work some place other than at the same hospital.

Crime dramas where none of the characters has friends, dates, relatives, partners, lovers, or spouses that work some place other than at the same police station.

by Anonymousreply 105March 11, 2021 2:51 AM

[quote] Procedural crime dramas where co-workers who investigate serial killers/murders/rapes, etc. are all good buddies and go out for margaritas after work.

Cop shows where the coworkers are all in shape, nobody's stupid, nobody's lazy, and nobody's corrupt.

by Anonymousreply 106March 11, 2021 3:11 AM

[quote]Elderly characters acting all hip and sassy.

I used to like this trope. But, over time it became tiring.

by Anonymousreply 107March 11, 2021 3:17 AM

Agree with OP. These genius-types with no charm, all arrogance and supposedly irresistable. These and Breaking Bad and the Sopranos and cop shows are what make this society tolerate sociopaths as if they are "winners" and "really nice inside." If you had to deal with these people in real life it wouldn't be entertaining. It would be hell.

by Anonymousreply 108March 11, 2021 3:40 AM

Clip show episodes. When a main character experiences a life-changing event, and all their friends and family gather around the table and reminisce about the past with this person, followed by a succession of clips from past episodes. These are filler episodes done because the writers either got lazy and ran put of ideas or they went on strike, or production couldn't wrap up an original new episode in time.

by Anonymousreply 109March 11, 2021 3:44 AM

Meredith Baxter Bushwhacker said she loved doing the Family Ties clip episodes because she could just sit there and sip her wine in a plastic cup for the whole episode.

by Anonymousreply 110March 11, 2021 3:48 AM

Sassy kids, bitchy frau mom, henpecked dad

Any Lifetime Channel-type abused frau victim movies..

by Anonymousreply 111March 11, 2021 4:00 AM

Very special episodes involving disabled characters.

by Anonymousreply 112March 11, 2021 4:02 AM

Emotionally manipulative series that don’t let up like This Is Us.

by Anonymousreply 113March 11, 2021 4:02 AM

If anyone farts for comic effect, I am GONE.

by Anonymousreply 114March 11, 2021 4:06 AM

Bitchy know it all, disaffected teen girl characters where the cunty 15 year old is somehow infinitely wiser than every adult in her life and acts like everyone is profoundly stupid. Non-stop eye rolls. Turn it off immediately.

by Anonymousreply 115March 11, 2021 4:06 AM

Not a trope per se but movies or films that include the characters on the toilet, farting or shitting.

by Anonymousreply 116March 11, 2021 4:09 AM

When a show goes on for to long and the characters go from being co-workers or keeping each other at a distance to becoming like a family and protecting each, it loses the edge it had in the earlier seasons. This happened to the Office, it started off with the characters practically running out of the office at 5 on the dot to them focusing all their time and energy on each other and being very lovey with each other.

by Anonymousreply 117March 11, 2021 9:00 PM

Making unbelievably stupid choices, just because the events get heated.

The handsome guy chooses the least attractive girl/gay to chase and the latter is shy and hesitant to respond.

The girl tries different dresses before going out on her first date.

The wise child who gets angry and say "I hate you". Eventually he teaches the dults a lesson.

Quirky leads that everyone love.

by Anonymousreply 118March 11, 2021 10:26 PM

R117 They did this with the character of Ron Swanson in Parks&Rec. He went from a fiercely-independent guy who had no time for nonsense to everyone's dad. In general Parks&Rec devolved into an Offce-style lovefest.

by Anonymousreply 119March 11, 2021 10:40 PM

I think Parks and Rec was worse. Seasons 2 to 4 balanced the feel good, positive vibes of Lesley with the more cynical side of politics pretty well, Lesleys rise to council member is one of the strongest and most consistent arcs I've seen in television, that gave everyone a moment to shine, but once season 5 hit the show started spinning it's wheels a little. The show started softening the characters of Ron, April and Donna around this time as well and they gave the show its teeth, it became to positive and cheesy and Lesley became more obnoxious without the old Ron being there to knock her down a peg and keep her grounded.

The office at least maintained Angela being a bitch, Ryan being a complete mess and Kelly's shallowness.

by Anonymousreply 120March 12, 2021 12:45 AM

The repeated lazy low-level gag when neighbors / friends / relatives / inlaws / dates / colleagues just walk in to the main characters' bathrooms without knocking. Neighbors / friends / relatives / inlaws / dates / colleagues can't wait three minutes to discuss something, they barge into bathrooms.

by Anonymousreply 121March 12, 2021 12:15 PM

Forced diversity for me (this includes commercials—I don’t buy their product. Example State Farm Insurance. They fired the original Jake because he was white.

“Gay Muslim” (I’ve never met a gay Muslim and I live in the middle of the Muslim world).

by Anonymousreply 122March 12, 2021 12:33 PM

R99, yes. I have actually switched off episodes of New Tricks and Death in Paradise for the reasons in R27 in the last week.

by Anonymousreply 123March 12, 2021 12:42 PM

R79, you make a good point. I agree. There is the overplayed trope about 'best friends' being like brothers and caring for / supporting each other. I've seen that trope multiple times on sitcoms, where one morning after a late night, someone walks in on the two 'best friends' sleeping on a couch together or lying in a bed together with the arms of one of them wrapped around the other. When they wake up, the two guys are horrified and embarrassed. So they jump up and start talking about women and sports so we can be assured they're heterosexual. Tired.

by Anonymousreply 124March 12, 2021 1:02 PM

So there's been a major catastrophe, a car collision, a heart attack, a fire, a mugging or a shooting. It's amazing how EMTs, police, firefighters and detectives show up really quickly. Often in a matter of seconds. Sometimes you don't even have to call 911! If it only worked like that in real life.

Too trite, too contrived for me when this happens on tv series, so I change the channel.

by Anonymousreply 125March 12, 2021 1:12 PM

The “Five-Token Band” trope (link is to TV Tropes article about it).

Basically every network TV show (especially sitcoms) is like this now. It’s such a forced meme and pulls me out of the scenario and more into the writers’ heads to make this scenario happen.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 126March 12, 2021 1:14 PM

Pretty white girl with a wine glass in her hand always

by Anonymousreply 127March 12, 2021 1:55 PM

NYPD officers who aren’t shaped like giant thumbs. Doesn’t matter the race or gender, NYPD is full of fat ugly, stupid-looking fucks wearing too much shit.

by Anonymousreply 128March 12, 2021 7:02 PM

[quote] On crime shows serial killers are always evil geniuses who enjoy taunting the cops with cat and mouse games....in real life most of them are losers with average or below average IQs

Cops don’t even know most serial killers exist. You know how the Gilgo Beach murders were discovered? No, the police were not looking for Shannon Whatsherface. A cop was doing training with a police dog in that area because it’s a known smelly area, especially after high tides. Bracken water, seaweed, dead marine life, flooded bird nests - swampy beach areas are good areas to plant drugs or explosives or other things you want dogs to be able to stiff out. You place them in a smelly area and see how long it takes the dog to find it in an area with lots of different odors.

It was a complete fluke they found a body in the area. Later on the cops were all “Uh yeah, we were...uhh..checking up on a.....a...missing person case....that’s what we were doing there. Totally looking for someone.”

And the skull found in Manorville which turned out to belong to one of the Gilgo victims was found by a former school pal of my nephew — the guy was a crazy stoner who found the skull, went home, called police, got a camera & went back & took a photo of it & then contacted Newsday asking if they wanted to buy the photo. Newsday was like “Dude? We don’t put photos of human skulls in our newspapers.”

And let’s not forget how cops caught Joel Rifkin - pulled him over for a broken tail light. They had no idea there was a serial killer of prostitutes until they lifted the tarp.

by Anonymousreply 129March 12, 2021 7:22 PM

When token gay character resembles Bobby Trendy...

by Anonymousreply 130March 12, 2021 7:26 PM

An overabundance of blended families which is all over the place now, particularly in commercials, Just show an all Asian, all Latino, all White or an all Black family. That's how it is for the majority of Americans.

by Anonymousreply 131March 12, 2021 8:00 PM

[quote] Pretty white girl with a wine glass in her hand always

I don’t necessarily stop watching, but yes, what is up with the wine consumption in chick-oriented shows? It’s gotten really nutty in recent years. A woman can’t enter her home without immediately pouring herself a glass of wine. Whenever two or more women get together, the first thing they do is bust out the wine—even when they’re getting together to make a plan, execute a project, or otherwise do something productive that would seem to call for a clear head. And they always drink so much that any normal person would be passed out on the floor, but this never happens on TV unless the plot centers around someone’s drunken antics.

It’s not just pretty white women, either—it’s youthful, pretty women of every race/ethnicity, none of whom would look so young or so pretty if they really drank that much.

by Anonymousreply 132March 12, 2021 11:12 PM

[quote] Forced diversity for me

Forced diversity can be awkward and cheesy. Still, I have to wonder about someone whose biggest, deal-breaking problem with shows is, “the creators tried not to be racist.”

by Anonymousreply 133March 12, 2021 11:16 PM

Forced diversity is racist.

by Anonymousreply 134March 12, 2021 11:18 PM

Historical dramas where POC are cast for the of sake diversity even though it makes no sense and is completely inaccurate and unrealistic.

Or if there is a party scene and each guest represents a particular racial/ethnic demographic. The Cosby Show was notorious for this.

by Anonymousreply 135March 12, 2021 11:26 PM

When abuse is considered funny when it's female on male, or treated as if it's acceptable when a woman is doing it to a man when everyone would be outraged if the genders were reversed

by Anonymousreply 136March 13, 2021 12:23 AM

Jiggly hand-held camerawork

by Anonymousreply 137March 13, 2021 12:25 AM

I've said this here before - the thing that made Frasier a less than fantastic show was how the male characters made all of the women - Roz, Bebe, and Lilith, Maris, and to a lesser extent, Daphne - the butt of lame jokes over the 9 year run of the series. I'm surprised no one objected.

by Anonymousreply 138March 13, 2021 4:22 AM

[quote]Still, I have to wonder about someone whose biggest, deal-breaking problem with shows is, “the creators tried not to be racist.”

The problem is they tried too hard and still failed.

by Anonymousreply 139March 13, 2021 4:29 AM

[quote][R117] They did this with the character of Ron Swanson in Parks&Rec. He went from a fiercely-independent guy who had no time for nonsense to everyone's dad. In general Parks&Rec devolved into an Offce-style lovefest.

It's the same show set in the public sector without the connection to a UK show.

by Anonymousreply 140March 13, 2021 4:30 AM

God, The Office was fucking dull. None of the characters was at all interesting, and one, Dwight, was vile.

by Anonymousreply 141March 13, 2021 4:36 AM

When people with autism/asberger’s/on the spectrum are characterized as mystical shamans/beings instead of real people.

by Anonymousreply 142March 13, 2021 5:12 AM

I’m starting to get tired of all the focus on trans folks. It’s become a cause celebre and it’s wearing people out. And no I’m not anti trans, I just think it’s a little much sometimes. However, I just finished The Lady and The Dale and really liked it. At the end of the day we are all flawed, complicated individuals, doing the best we can.

by Anonymousreply 143March 13, 2021 5:17 AM

Movies where all POC are gentle enlightened souls and all white people are fiercely bigoted and unkind. It’s never that simple.

by Anonymousreply 144March 13, 2021 5:19 AM

[Quote] When abuse is considered funny when it's female on male, or treated as if it's acceptable when a woman is doing it to a man when everyone would be outraged if the genders were reversed

Reminds me of The OC when Summer would hit Seth and blame it on her rage blackouts. She even gave him a black eye in one episode. I never found it funny.

by Anonymousreply 145March 13, 2021 6:00 AM

When a woman in her late 30s starts asking her "girlfriends" why she can't find a man. All the usual excuses come out ("You're intimidating because you're so successful/amazing!"). No-one ever says "Because you're a bit old now".

by Anonymousreply 146March 14, 2021 7:08 AM

Or "because you're obese" or "because you're hard to get along with"....

by Anonymousreply 147March 14, 2021 7:40 AM

The TV actress who is suddenly 2 sizes smaller the second or at the latest third season.

by Anonymousreply 148March 14, 2021 8:46 AM
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