History Main / SubcultureOfTheWeek

* {{Castle}} has, so far, largely subverted the "horrifically stereotyped" part. Probably due in part to NathanFillion being a fan of several of the subcultures that have appeared so far. And him having a sizeable chunk of fans who are in one or more of those subcultures.

See QuincyPunk.

An episode of a TV show, especially a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries, focusing on a particular subculture. Accuracy is optional, since the only research that goes into the episode is [[RippedFromTheHeadlines reading the paper]]...especially when [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer even the paper isn't right]]. This is also common on [[MedicalDrama Medical Dramas]] with the subculture having a connection to the PatientOfTheWeek. {{Sitcom}}s occasionally use this trope when one of the characters becomes involved with a strange new crowd or dates someone who is.

An episode of a TV show, especially a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries, focusing on a particular subculture. Accuracy is optional, since the only research that goes into the episode is [[RippedFromTheHeadlines reading the paper]]...especially when [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer the paper wasn't right]]. This is also common on [[MedicalDrama Medical Dramas]] with the subculture having a connection to the PatientOfTheWeek. {{Sitcom}}s occasionally use this trope when one of the characters becomes involved with a strange new crowd or dates someone who is.

* The [[TheSixties late-60's]] revival of ''{{Dragnet}}'' used [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippie counterculture]] as a recurring subculture-of-the-week in a number of poorly researched episodes. The most infamous of these is the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0zgIzqgxFU "Blue Boy" episode]], for its {{Narm}}y take on LSD. Joe Friday references in dialogue the notorious urban myth about teenagers tripping on acid blinding themselves by staring at the Sun.

The subculture in question is most often presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just [[AcceptableTargets average people with non-mainstream interests]]. Rather, they are [[StrawLoser total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their subculture]], which dominates every aspect of their lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]], and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]]. If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

* The Wiccans featured in ''TrueBlood's'' fourth season are presented this way, as if the entirety of the writers' research was browsing an occult shop for twenty minutes.

They are most often presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just [[AcceptableTargets average people with non-mainstream interests]]. Rather, they are [[StrawLoser total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their subculture]], which dominates every aspect of their lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]], and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]]. If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

The are oftentimes presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just [[AcceptableTargets average people with non-mainstream interests]]. Rather, they are [[StrawLoser total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their subculture]], which dominates every aspect of their lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]], and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]]. If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

At other times, though, the subculture can be added in for a bit of anthropological/sociological flavor where they colorfulness of the people in these fandoms is celebrated.

The are oftentimes presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just [[AcceptableTargets average people with non-mainstream interests]]. Rather, they are [[StrawLoser total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their subculture]], which dominates their whole lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]], and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]]. If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

An episode of a TV show, especially a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries, focusing on a particular subculture. Accuracy is optional, since the only research that goes into the episode is [[RippedFromTheHeadlines reading the paper]]...especially when [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer the paper wasn't right]]. This is also common on [[MedicalDrama Medical Dramas]] with the subculture having a connection to the PatientOfTheWeek. {{Sitcom}}s occasionally use this trope when one of the characters gets mixed up in a strange new crowd or dates someone who is.

An episode of a TV show, especially a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries, focusing on a particular subculture. Accuracy is optional, since the only research that goes into the episode is [[RippedFromTheHeadlines reading the paper]]...especially when [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer even the paper wasn't right]]. This is also common on [[MedicalDrama Medical Dramas]] with the subculture having a connection to the PatientOfTheWeek. {{Sitcom}}s occasionally use this trope when one of the characters gets mixed up in a strange new crowd or dates someone who is.

The most important aspect of this trope is how the subcultures are ''always'' presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just [[AcceptableTargets average people with non-mainstream interests]]. Rather, they are [[StrawLoser total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their hobby]], which dominates their whole lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]], and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]]. If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

[[redirect:SickSadSubcultureOfTheWeek]]

Episodes of a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries focusing on a particular subculture. [[DidNotDoTheResearch Accuracy is optional]], as the only research that goes into the episode is [[RippedFromTheHeadlines reading the paper]]...especially when [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer even the paper wasn't right]]. This is also common on [[MedicalDrama Medical Dramas]] with the subculture having a connection to the PatientOfTheWeek.

The most important aspect of this trope is how the subcultures are ''always'' presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just average people with non-mainstream interests. Rather, they are total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their hobby, which dominates their whole lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]], and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]]. If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

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!!Examples:

* ''TheBill'' featured a guy playing an "Assassins" style game using a realistic looking paint gun in public. People who play these sort of games do not use realistic weapons. One guy from the Oxford University Assassin's Guild did that and encountered some armed police.
** The 'armed police' problem also happened with Sheffield University's Assassin's Guild.
** Humans vs Zombies players have had basically the same problem.
** All this has led to something called Deathgame, practised in Sweden, where you "kill" your opponent(s) with fruits and vegetables.
* The ''CSINewYork'' episode dealing with Water Wars. Again, someone uses a realistic looking water pistol.
** They also dealt with LeParkour.
** There was also the 'Down the Rabbit Hole' episode which dealt with SecondLife. This spanned over two episodes rather than the usual one.
** And one about "vampire cults" who drink each others' blood. [[spoiler: Surprisingly, no vampires committed the crimes. The episode treated vampirism like an unpopular but venerable religion.]]
** Yet another episode involved the owners of adult dolls (although it turned out that the doll ownership was irrelevant to the murder). Basically, ''CSINewYork'', like all of the ''{{CSI}}'' shows, is pretty much in love with this trope.
* The famous ''{{CSI}}'' Episode "Fur and Loathing", set at a furry convention began it all. The portrayal of furries caused considerable controversy in that fandom. The episode was even a {{Jump The Shark}} moment for some, who saw it as the start of a freak-a-week format. Many other cases in ''{{CSI}}'' have dealt with some sexual fetish, subculture, sexual fetish, hobby, sexual fetish or sexual fetish. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment And they're pretty hung up on kinks too.]] Specific examples of the latter include:-
** An episode where the victim, a powerful casino owner, was an adult baby in his spare time.
** Almost as well-known as "Fur and Loathing", "Slaves of Las Vegas", which introduced viewers to Lady Heather and her BDSM club. Lady Heather actually became a well developed (if only sporadically recurring) character.
** More recently, they pulled off a murder-at-the-''Star''-''Trek''-convention storyline, albeit with the [[CaptainErsatz serial numbers filed off]]. Trekkies, Trekkies everywhere...
* The ''{{CSIMiami}}'' episode dealing with videogames, in which the characters had to actually play the game in question to find out its plot, which was necessary for them to solve the cause. Why they don't just look up its plot online is anyone's guess. There's also a notable level of NewMediaAreEvil in the episode. Basically, a video games company decides that a good advertising tactic for their GTA clone (which somehow [[PacmanFever still had "levels" and "points"]]) is to [[WhatAnIdiot give teenagers submachine guns and have them rob a bank]], with bonus points if there's a police officer inside and for rape. Feel free to facepalm.
* ''{{Bones}}'' does this quite often. There has been episodes about comic book, role-playing teens, pony play fetishists, and karaoke singers (with actual former American Idol contestants).
** Mostly averted in the episode dealing with black metal, though. Some of the stranger excesses of the subculture are brought to the fore, but Bones's psychiatrist is revealed to have a history in the scene and Booth compares the distaste over it to his dad's distaste for punk. The most significant error they make is that, while virtually everything regarding extreme black metal is true to a degree, the death metal subculture really isn't as violent or cult-like as the Norwegian black metal scene that clearly inspired the events of the episode. Furthermore, few death metal bands wear corpse paint, or use fake names, and only a handful are satanic.
** This tendency reached its nadir when they applied the same zero-research attitude to Wicca, an [[AcceptableTargets actual religion]].
** This also gets annoying when Sweets (the psychiatrist) "analyzes" the subculture in question, and ends up pretty much generalizing the entire subculture and assuming everyone who's a part of it thinks and acts exactly the same.
* This trope would be incomplete without mentioning "Next Stop, Nowhere," a.k.a, "the punk rock episode of ''{{Quincy}}''." In the 80's hardcore punk subculture, the episode spawned the slur "[[TheQuincyPunk Quincy Punk]]," applied to scene members and bands who personified the sloppy, antisocial, mohawked stereotype. This was at a time when hardcore was about dressing normal, playing tight, and maintaining a positive or at least thoughtful attitude.
* In one episode, only one cop on ''Series/LawAndOrder'' had heard of foot fetishes.
* One ''PushingDaisies'' episode focuses on a murder at a rent-a-friend agency. The actual customers are portrayed sympathetically, but Ned eventually decries the whole enterprise as useless, because while the patrons may enjoy it for a time, "deep down they never stop thinking of themselves as weirdos who need to be fixed".
* Most crime shows can attest to having had a vampire-related episode at some point of time. ''CriminalMinds'' even did some namedropping by referencing ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''.
** ''Criminal Minds'' at least didn't portray the subculture as the ''cause'' of the culprit's murderous ways; it was made very clear that the killer was suffering from a rare mental illness that provoked obsession with blood-drinking, and had likely had it since childhood.
** Hilariously, an episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' did this with a vampire wannabe cult (mind you, in a show where vampires were very real). At one point, Angel (the resident good guy vampire) is complaining about how these kids know nothing about vampires, don't know how they dress... and pauses as a guy walks by [[CrowningMomentOfFunny dressed exactly the same as him.]] At the end of the episode, Buffy has to save the vampire wannabes from the real vampires, who mostly just want to kill them and feed off them.
** ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' also did an episode about vampire wannabes. It starts off as a funny TakeThat against ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', but, this being Supernatural, suddenly gets a lot darker, [[spoiler: when Dean discovers the vampire themselves are pushing the recent vampire obsession, to get more willing victims for a vampire army]]...
* An episode of ''TheMentalist'' featured a young Wiccan (a new-age form of witchcraft) who naturally came under suspicion when one of her peers was killed in a ritualistic fashion. An especially aggravating case as half the facts spouted about Wicca [[DidNotDoTheResearch were blatantly wrong]]. Neopagan religions often appear in shows like this, and rarely do the writing staff seem to feel any compulsion to actually research them first.
* A sixth-season episode of Series/{{House}} used ''bloggers'' as the FreaksOfTheWeek. Seeing as everyone and their grandmother has a blog these days, seeing it portrayed as a crazy new subculture was... [[{{Narm}} odd.]]
* The [[TheSixties late-60's]] revival of ''{{Dragnet}}'' used the hippie counterculture as recurring freaks-of-the-week in a number of poorly researched episodes. The most infamous of these is the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0zgIzqgxFU "Blue Boy" episode]], for its [[SoBadItsGood spectacularly]] [[{{Narm}} narm-y]] take on LSD. Joe Friday references in dialogue the notorious urban myth about teenagers tripping on acid blinding themselves by staring at the Sun.
* One episode of LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit had the detectives practically declare an adult HAD to be a pedophile... because he collected Transformers.
* Special Victim's Unit seems to have a particularly strange deficiency in this area. As well as the example above, the cops who are supposed experts in this field often seem ludicriously ill informed about even the most general sexual behaviour and cultures. In one episode, several of them express incredulity over the theory cited by a colleague that a man might be gay even though he has a wife. And in another episode the idea that someone could be bi-sexual rather than straight out gay seems to be bizarrely unheard of, sparking more astonishment from the characters.
* In [[NipTuck Nip/Tuck]] the client/patient of the week was often part of some strange subculture.
* Arguably the whole point of the {{MTV}} reality show ''Series/TrueLife'' is to subvert this, they visit the lives of people involved in various subcultures regularly.
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<<|CrimeAndPunishmentTropes|>>

* A sixth-season episode of {{House}} used ''bloggers'' as the FreaksOfTheWeek. Seeing as everyone and their grandmother has a blog these days, seeing it portrayed as a crazy new subculture was... [[{{Narm}} odd.]]

The most important aspect of this trope is how the subcultures are ''always'' presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just average people with non-mainstream interests. Rather, they are total creeps with no social skills unrelated to their hobby, which dominates their whole lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, and possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]] (and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]] to boot). If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

* Arguably the whole point of the {{MTV}} reality show ''TrueLife'' is to subvert this, they visit the lives of people involved in various subcultures regularly.

* The ''{{CSIMiami}}'' episode dealing with videogames, in which the characters had to actually play the game in question to find out its plot, which was necessary for them to solve the cause. Why they don't just contact the developer or look up its plot online is anyone's guess. There's also a notable level of NewMediaAreEvil in the episode (A video games company decides that a good advertising tactic for their GTA clone (which somehow [[PacmanFever still had "levels" and "points"]]) is to [[spoiler: [[WhatAnIdiot give teenagers submachine guns and have them rob a bank, with bonus points if there's a police officer inside and for rape]]]]).

* The ''{{CSIMiami}}'' episode dealing with videogames, in which the characters had to actually play the game in question to find out its plot, which was necessary for them to solve the cause. Apparently, Gamefaqs does not exist. Not to mention Wikipedia, Youtube or, indeed, TvTropes. There's also a notable level of NewMediaAreEvil in the episode (A video games company decides that a good advertising tactic for their GTA clone (which somehow [[PacmanFever still had "levels" and "points"]]) is to [[spoiler: [[WhatAnIdiot give teenagers submachine guns and have them rob a bank, with bonus points if there's a police officer inside and for rape]]]]).

The most important aspect of this trope is how the subcultures are ''always'' presented in a horrifically stereotyped manner. They aren't just average people with non-mainstream interests. Rather, they are total creeps with no social skills outside their hobby, which dominates their whole lives. For example, if it's a sexual subculture, they'll wear fetish gear to the supermarket and make inappropriate come-ons to the main character. If it's gamers ({{video|Games}} or {{tabletop|Games}}), they'll play to the point of addiction, [[BasementDweller live with their parents]] well into their 30's, and possibly [[MurderSimulators imitate the violence they commit in the game]] (and are probably [[NerdsAreVirgins virgins]] to boot). If it's UsefulNotes/{{Neo-Pagan|ism}}s, they'll wear ridiculous Goth or New Age clothing and talk about casting spells and "cursing" people they don't like. To ''real'' people within these subcultures, the misconceptions and poor research on these shows can be either a source of SnarkBait or a BerserkButton.

Not to be confused with the ''{{Smallville}}''-specific term "Freak of the Week", which is that show's fandom's name for MonsterOfTheWeek.

** This one isn't as bad as some others on this page, the blogger in question was obsessive, blogging every little thing that happened. And at the end, the character's partner learned to live with the blogging.

* ''TheBill'' featured a guy playing an "Assassins" style game using a realistic looking paint gun in public. People who play these sort of games do not use realistic weapons. One guy from the Oxford University Assassin's Guild did that and encountered some armed police...

*** All this has led to something called Deathgame, practised in Sweden, where you "kill" your opponent(s) with fruits and vegetables.

*** ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' also did an episode about vampire wannabes. It starts off as a funny TakeThat against ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', but, this being Supernatural, suddenly gets a lot darker, [[spoiler: when Dean discovers the vampire themselves are pushing the recent vampire obsession, to get more willing victims for a vampire army]]...

*** ''{{Supernatural}}'' also did an episode about vampire wannabes. It starts off as a funny TakeThat against ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', but, this being Supernatural, suddenly gets a lot darker, [[spoiler: when Dean discovers the vampire themselves are pushing the recent vampire obsession, to get more willing victims for a vampire army]]...