History Main / TheIntern

Darker works will often have the employers treat the intern as a [[DisposableIntern disposable]] RedShirt.

Variant form of NaiveNewcomer. The young guy (often the PluckyComicRelief) who is still new to the whole place. He's often brilliant, almost always irreverent, and almost always "not ready for prime time" (i.e. [[VomitingCop throwing up]] the first time he sees a serious accident, etc). Commonly treated as a ButtMonkey.

Darker works will often have the employers treat the intern as a [[DisposableIntern disposable]] red shirt.

See also EnsignNewbie, which is much he same trope but referring strictly to the military.

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* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' has several interns during the course of the show. All of them--with the possible exception of [[MauveShirt Dana]]--are either [[RedShirt killed or otherwise never heard from again]], usually within a single episode.

* John Carter (Noah Wyle) on ''Series/{{ER}}''. It lead to a really cool CharacterDevelopment of John Carter from The Intern to The VeteranInstructor, followed by him handing off his title to the next in line, much as Dr. Green had done to him, when he left the show. Of course, it took ''ten years''...

* Major Monogram's assistant Carl, from ''PhineasAndFerb''.
* [[FanNickname Billy]] from ''TotalDramaIsland'', among several others, most of whom fall victim to the challenges in Seasons 1 and 3.
* [[SixthRanger Thomas]] from ''RegularShow''. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that he's actually a Russian spy sent to learn the secrets of American parks, and applied for an internship due to the fact that [[BeneathNotice nobody cares about the interns]].]]

* [=McGee=] was like this during his first season on ''{{NCIS}}'', and Tony still taunts him for being this trope.

* In the first season of ''TheMuppetShow'', Scooter is cast as an inexperienced newbie whom Kermit was forced to hire as a gofer because his uncle owned the theater. Several early episodes feature Scooter coming to Kermit with ridiculous "fresh new ideas" for the show that Kermit puts into action against his will for fear of losing his lease. As the show went on, Scooter's antagonistic side was dropped and his uncle was barely ever mentioned.

* [[SixthRanger Thomas]] from ''RegularShow''.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]
* ''TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou'' had a group of college interns whom the titular character (and to some extent the rest of the crew) treats like crap: Steve refers to each as "intern!" rather than by name, forces them to loot an underwater research station owned by his rival and when they quit after the ship was briefly taken over by pirates, he sends them all home with "Incomplete" in their evaluations (his reason being that he didn't want to fail them, but he didn't want them to pass either). One of them, however, decided to stick around. Zissou immediately promised him an "A".

** Todd the Intern, who as of 2014 is ''still'' in the intern program, having started in 2009.

* Greg [[TheLabRat the Lab Rat]] on ''{{CSI}}''.

** Todd the Intern, who as of 2014 is ''still'' in the intern program, having started in 2005.

Often, it's clear that TheIntern was a former TeenGenius, but is now learning that life is much tougher in the field.

* ''TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou'' had a group of college interns whom the titular character (and to some extent the rest of the crew) treats like crap: Steve refers to each as "intern!" rather than by name, forces them to loot an underwater research station owned by his rival and when they quit after the ship was briefly taken over by pirates, he sends them all home with "Incomplete" in their evaluations (his reason being that he didn't want to fail them, but he didn't want them to pass either).
** One of them, however, decided to stick around. Zissou immediately promised him an "A".

* John Carter (Noah Wyle) on ''{{ER}}''
** Which lead to the really cool CharacterDevelopment of John Carter from TheIntern to The VeteranInstructor, followed by him handing off his title to the next in line, much as Dr. Green had done to him, when he left the show. Of course, it took ''ten years''...
* Greg [[TheLabRat the Lab Rat]] on ''{{CSI}}''
* Dr. Bashir in the first few seasons of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
* The entire premise, especially in the first season, of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''.
** Which comes full circle as JD, Turk, and Elliot, who were the first batch of interns in season 1, become residents and then attendings, acquire their own interns, and eventually wind up as senior staff by season 8 and are now in the role of mentors.

* Meredith, Christina, Alex, Izzy and George were all this character [[WebcomicTime for the first three seasons]] of ''Series/GreysAnatomy''.

* Comic strip example: Asok of ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''.

* [[FanNickname Billy]] from ''TotalDramaIsland''.

* Meredith, Christina, Alex, Issy and George were all this character for the first three seasons of ''GreysAnatomy''.

* Yuki in {{Casualty}}, and to a lesser extent, Lenny. A few seasons earlier, Toby fit the role pretty well.
* Zach on ''{{Bones}}'', at first. When his internship ends, the team keeps him on. After he leaves the show, he's replaced by a rotating roster of interns.

* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' has several interns during the course of the show. All of them--with the possible exception of [[MauveShirt Dana]]--are either [[RedShirt killed or otherwise never heard from again]].

Variant form of NaiveNewcomer. The young guy (often the PluckyComicRelief) who is still new to the whole place. He's often brilliant, almost always irreverent, and almost always "not ready for prime time" (i.e. [[VomitingCop throwing up]] the first time he sees a serious accident, etc).

** Which lead to the really cool CharacterDevelopment of John Carter from TheIntern to The Veteran, followed by him handing off his title to the next in line, much as Dr. Green had done to him, when he left the show. Of course, it took ''ten years''...