History Series / RulesOfEngagement

* ArtifactTitle: It made sense back when Adam and Jennifer were the main characters... in the first season.

* BreakoutCharacter: Originally the show focused mainly on Adam and Jennifer, with Jeff and Audrey as supporting characters. However, Jeff and Audrey were so popular with fans that by the third season the roles had been revered: Jeff and Audrey became the show's focus, with Adam and Jennifer as supporting characters.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Adam. Lampshaded in "Mannequin Head Ball":

* BreakoutCharacter: Originally the show focused mainly on Adam and Jennifer, with Jeff and Audrey as supporting characters. However, Jeff and Audrey were so popular with fans of the show that by the third season the roles had been revered: Jeff and Audrey became the focus of the show, with Adam and Jennifer as supporting characters.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Adam. Lampshaded in "Mannequin Head Ball":

-->-- Series Theme Song

!!This show contains examples of:

With you by my side/There is no denying\\

* BrokeEpisode: Russell's mom cuts off his trust fund, which only affects him in a couple episodes in that he temporarily moves in with Timmy and has trouble getting women to sleep with him. But his financial problems only last for about two episodes.

* HeroicComedicSociopath: Russell. According to his psychological evaluation (done by sending Timmy to impersonate him with a list of details), he has classic tell-tale signs of narcissistic personality disorder, minor sociopathic tendencies and really should never be left unsupervised at ''any'' time.

* ImprobableFoodBudget: They eat at the diner a lot. It doesn't appear to be an especially expensive diner though, and they are all professionals, they can probably afford to eat lunch and breakfast there.

*** Somehow, he manages to be "paired" up with Timmy. In one episode, Timmy falls for a woman who is attracted to musicians, so Russell teaches him a song on guitar so Timmy can serenade her (in reality, Russell is setting Timmy up to humiliate himself). When Timmy starts performing the song and doing horrible, Russell feels bad and joins him on stage to try and salvage the performance. This gesture does not win over the woman Timmy likes; it just causes her to think that Timmy and Russell are a gay couple.

-->30 year old man seeking young ethnic boys: We hooked up yesterday for some sweet banging and jamming. Let me know if you want do it again.

* NoodleIncident: Not so much an incident as a proposal from Russell to Allison, who Timmy has a crush on ... but it involves watching her 'do this' with a '[[NoodleImplements jar of that]]'.

* SexlessMarriage: Jeff claims that he and Audrey have "wrapped up the sex portion of the marriage" in the first episode, but it's subverted when the rest of the series proves that isn't the case. They seem to have sex fairly regularly, in one episode all Jeff had to do was ask.

* StagingAnIntervention: Parodied when Adam is trying to hide the fact that he and Jennifer are going to elope he lies to Timmy and Russel that they are having an intervention for Jeff's drinking. HilarityEnsues.
* StereotypeReactionGag: Jeff asks Timmy if he knows someone who can get him a quality rug at well below quality prices. He points out the offensiveness of the Indian stereotype but when Jeff asks again he admits that he does.

* WomenAreWiser Played straight with Adam and Jennifer. With Jeff and Audrey, however, it's not as clear cut. Although Jeff is less cultured and refined than Audrey (due to him being uninterested in things like theater and art), he's no dummy and it's been shown from time to time that he's pretty evenly-matched with Audrey when it comes to being clever and manipulative. This is probably best seen in the episode "Atlantic City" where Jeff and Audrey spend the entire episode trying to expose each others' lies. In the end, it comes to a draw.
* WrongGenreSavvy: After Russell admits to the woman he's smitten by, that he's been riding the elevator all week in the hopes of meeting her again... he's promptly maced as the woman thinks he's stalking her.

* ThreeAmigos: Russell, Jeff and Adam.

* OddFriendship: [[RatedMForManly Jeff]] and [[{{Tomboy}} Jen]] eventually bond over their love of [[CoolCar Camaros]], eating junk food the same way and their reluctance to [[TheStoic express their emotions]] in front of other people.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Timmy.

** By the end, Adam. Jeff tries to avoid him as much as possible, Russell just keeps him around to make fun of him, Timmy often snarks him when he isn't snarking Russell, and even Audrey doesn't stop Jeff's attempts to avoid Adam. The poor guy doesn't deserve it either.

-->''"How many ways to say I love you''
-->''How many ways to say that I'm not scared''
-->''With you by my side/There is no denying''
-->''I can't wait for me and you..."''
--->'''-Series Theme Song'''

* BetaCouple:
** Adam and Jennifer.
** Jeff and Audrey initially had this role, then the show's focus shifted.

* BuxomIsBetter: In one episode, a 10 year old boy tries to blackmail Audrey into showing him her boobs. He passes on blackmailing Jennifer, however, stating that she's "kind of flat."

* CalvinBall: Mannequin Head Ball.
* CampGay: Brad's husband, Jack.

* TheCasanova: Russell is a lecherous example.

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Audrey believes herself to have a fair grasp of the Spanish language. She doesn't; in the episode "A Big Bust" she ends up soliciting donations for what she thinks is surgery to fix the bad knee of her Hispanic housekeeper. In reality it's breast augmentation surgery that results in the housekeeper having ''very'' large boobs ([[BuxomIsBetter much to Jeff's delight]]).

The show featured writers from the Emmy Award-winning ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond''. [[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] a 2000 film of the same name starring Creator/TommyLeeJones and Creator/SamuelLJackson.

* {{Flanderization}}: Adam has become increasingly stupid as the seasons progressed. This has been noted by the actor himself, who doesn't seem to mind it much.

* FriendsRentControl: Averted for Jeff and Audrey, who have one huge living space/lounge room area, a small kitchen, a bedroom, a guest bedroom and a medium size bathroom. They also own it, and Jeff is a highly paid financial consultant. The apartment Adam and Jennifer live in was lived in by just one of them before the other moved in, and is somewhat smaller, but Adam is a high placed executive at Russell's father's firm. Russell's place is amazing and huge, but he's a trust fund baby, as well as having a high paying job at his father's property development firm.

** Originally Jeff and Audrey had this role, but the focus shifted.

** By the series end, Adam has [[{{Flanderization}} somehow]] fallen so far down the social chain, even ''Russell'' and ''Timmy'' are a couple of notches above him. See TheFriendNobodyLikes.
* CallBack: (Maybe) Jeff seems to have picked up some Spanish after the events of Jeff Day by the time A Big Bust happens.

* CatchPhrase: Russell saying "Nurtz!"
** "I kinda did!"

* CharacterDevelopment: Russell has been the subject of multiple episodes where he gains development and backstory, such as enjoying theatre/musicals because as a child, his nanny would sneak him out and it was one of the only places that he felt alive in.

* CoolCar: In one episode, Jeff buys a 1969 Chevy Camaro on impulse.

* DropInCharacter: Russell's apartment was unseen until season 2.

* AmbiguousSyntax: Adam says he has a "spare bowling ball" and when Jeff tries to borrow it he specifies that the ball is for spares, while the first ball is for strikes.
* ArtifactTitle: It made sense back when Adam and Jennifer were the main characters...back in the first season.
* BadBoss: Russell is this to Timmy, although it becomes less severe in the later seasons.

** Originally Jeff and Audrey had this role, but then the show's focus shifted.

** Taken UpToEleven in the GrandFinale when they get [[CitizenshipMarriage married.]]

* PantyShot: Happens when Audrey's dress gets caught in the elevator at her office. As she frantically struggles to remove it, she flashes her panties to the entire office (including a disgruntled employee who had filed a sexual harassment claim against her).

* AmbiguouslyGay:
** One episode had a friend of Jeff appear, and both women concluded he was gay, whilst both guys did not.
** The husband of Jeff's gay friend appears in other episodes, and he's very much CampGay.

* RealityEnsues: After Russell admits to the woman he's smitten by, that he's been riding the elevator all week in the hopes of meeting her again... he's promptly maced as the woman thinks he's stalking her.