History Series / SwitchedAtBirth

* DisabledLoveInterest: The series has several deaf characters, all of whom are quite attractive--Daphne, Emmett, Emmett's mother--and have relationships with hearing people. However they're all played as ordinary people, with some of the relationships lasting a very long time.

* CoolLoser: Daphne sees herself as a loser after dressing more sultry and failing to get Chef Jeff's attention, even though she's a basketball star and very social.

* SensoryOverload: Both Daphne and Emmett are shown to become distressed whenever they're forced to lip-read groups of people all at the same time, like Daphne at her first breakfast with the Kennishes or Emmett at the car wash with Bay.

* OverprotectiveDad: Subverted with John, who's more concerned about Emmett's driving abilities than his [[JustFriends potential relationship]] with Daphne.

* TheCakeIsALie: Wilke promises to Toby that their band Guitar Face will open for a notable band, but they end up playing the D Stage. And later Wilke takes it UpToEleven by promising ''every visitor of the festival'' that there'll be "Free Beer" at the D stage, in order to lure them to it.

* [[spoiler: RapeAsBackstory]]: After what happens with [[spoiler: Bay, Kathryn]] reveals her best friend's brother once molested her when she was seventeen. Later [[spoiler: Travis]] reveals that a family friend had molested him too.
* [[spoiler:RapeAsDrama]]: A season 4 storyline explores this.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Cassi Thomson's Australian tones poke through from time to time, most notable in "Human/Need/Desire" when Toby and Nikki are in the car and she says "I love it."

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Character Angelo Sorrento is, as his last name would indicate, of Italian descent, his father being from a small village in Italy. Actor Gilles Marini however (though himself of half-Italian heritage, as his last name ''also'' gives away) is actually French, and has a decidedly French, not Italian, accent when speaking English. And a scene in S01E15 he speaks Italian which is supposed a native language of his; this also is heavily accented, not natural/fluent Italian.

* DreamSequence: Daphne has a dream in which the switch never happened. Regina dreams she is at her and Angelo's wedding and Patrick is marrying them. Daphne has a dream in which she is a doctor and dances with Jorge and Campbell.

*** Slightly {{deconstructed}} later in the episode. When Angelo fesses up and says he covered for Bay sneaking out, John calls him on it and tells him that's NOT how a father is supposed to behave.

* AmbiguouslyChristian: The Kennishes are never outright shown to be going to church or reading the Bible, but they sometimes offhandedly mention things like "pray to God", John mentions he believes in an afterlife, and during their first dinner with the Vasquezes, the Kennishes pray before eating, which triggers an awkward moment because Regina and Daphne are atheist and agnostic, respectively.

* TheCakeIsALie: Wilke promises that Guitar Face will open for a notable band, but they end up playing the D Stage.

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: A gender-flipped version. [[spoiler:Ty lies to Bay that he cheated on her, because the alternative--admitting that he's going into a high-risk warzone with a serious chance of getting killed and leaving her heartbroken--is something he can't do.]]

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode is named after a work of art, such as ''[[AmericanGothicCouple American Gothic]]'', or ''Dogs Playing Poker''. This is because Bay and Regina are both painters (although not all episodes are named a paintings specifically).

* BigFancyHouse: The Kennish residence, with a nice guest house in the back.

* ChocolateBaby: Daphne. Unlike both her presumed birth parents, Regina and Angelo, she was pale-skinned, plus red-haired. Naturally, Angelo thought Regina cheated on him and Daphne wasn't his. He was right on the latter, though [[RightForTheWrongReasons wrong about the reasons]], as she was switched for their real daughter while in the hospital. Later it turns out that John had also suspected this of Bay for just the same reasons, getting both their DNA secretly tested. It explains why he's not surprised about the DNA results when Bay later gets them to as well. However, though he thought Kathryn must have cheated on him, he'd already decided that no matter what, Bay and she are still his family.

-->'''Reporter:''' What will you do next? Was anybody hurt in there?

** Daphne operates as this for Emmett when he's around the Kennishes.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/SeanBerdy gets an onscreen credit for "Las Dos Fridas," but Emmett only appears in the PreviouslyOn segment and not in the episode itself. Similarly, Creator/GillesMarini gets PromotedToOpeningTitles in season 2, but Angelo doesn't appear in every episode. [[spoiler: He's credited on a few episodes even ''after'' Angelo is killed off.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Outside of the main characters, we have a ton of other additional recurring characters. Many of them are LoveInterests and the like, and many come and go, but each one plays some kind of role in the plot at some point.

--> '''Emmett:''' [[[SuddenlySpeaking speaking]]] I...just...want...''you''.

-->'''Emmett:''' Who's that?
-->'''Daphne:''' Me, in another life.

*** And this being an Creator/ABCFamily show, it'll only get more complicated from here.

* MyBelovedSmother: Emmett's mom Melody is this, and it's hinted that it's because of her ongoing divorce. [[spoiler:It eventually drives Emmett to move in with his father.]]

-->'''Wilke:''' So if Bay's not really your sister, you could totally take a run at that?
-->'''Toby:''' NO!

--> '''Bay''': If vampires can date humans, I really feel like Deaf people can date hearing. At least neither of us wants to suck the other's blood."

-->John: "You kept my daughter from me...for '''THIRTEEN YEARS!!!'''”

--> '''Melody''': [Signing] That is a load of crap!
--> '''Interpeter''': [To Police Officer] ...she doesn't believe you.

** In "Ecce Mono," John imagines that Regina came clean about discovering the switch in 1998 but lost custody of the girls due to her drinking. Daphne is raised with the Kennishes, getting a cochlear implant to help her hear and not identifying as Deaf - but is a manipulative brat. Bay is now a studious young woman who falls in her sister's shadow; Toby is still gambling, and Kathryn is having an affair with another man ([[spoiler:Chip Coto)]]). The girls grow up thinking that Regina stopped contacting them altogether. [[spoiler: She actually has tried to make contact with them their entire lives, but the Kennishes stash away the letters and presents instead of giving it to the girls. When they find this out and go to find Regina, they instead only find Adrianna; they find out from her that Regina died of drinking on their birthday.]]

** Subverted - this is actually an extremely important point for Melody.

** John and Kathryn's marital problems -- he was fine with the status quo, and she was unhappy and seeking a change in the routine. As with most marital issues in RealLife, both parties were obstinate and unwilling to hear each other out.

** Toby thinks this trope is in play after Elisa tries to jump his bones in a hot tub -- she forgot to tell him that her mom [[spoiler:is his dad's opponent in the election, and she opposes her mom's policies.]] That said, Elisa genuinely ''was'' interested in Toby.

* DisabledLoveInterest: The series has several deaf characters, all of whom are quite attractive-Daphne, Emmett, Emmett's mother-and have relationships with hearing people. However they're all played as ordinary people, with some of the relationships lasting a very long time.

** It's later touched on in a DreamSequence. Daphne dreams that the switch never happened, and that she was Bay and Bay was Daphne. The Christmas special between seasons 3 and 4 takes this idea and runs with it -- Bay was raised by both Regina and Angelo and has a biological brother, Regina never overcame her alcoholism, Toby is an emo hipster, John and Kathryn are on the brink of divorce, Emmett is dating a different hearing girl, and Daphne is an Olympic hopeful soccer player.

* HowWeGotHere: "And We Bring The Light" starts with Kathryn being woken up by her phone ringing; when she answers she's told there's been an accident - and after the opening title we flash back to twelve hours earlier. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode we find out Angelo was in the accident, with medical staff seeing to him over the end credits.]]

** Bay has basically instructed Daphne to stand aside with every boy from Bay's world she's dated during the show's run - despite the fact that she's dated both Ty and Emmett, friends of Daphne.

* NoPartyGiven: John's run for office. He's either an old-school New England style Republican (in Kansas!) or a Blue Dog Democrat - liberal on "live and let live" social issues, fiscally conservative. Good luck getting through the primary! Later he's explicitly called a Republican, but the problems above remain.

* LatinoIsBrown: Regina, Adriana, Natalie and other Latinos in East Riverside are all dark-skinned. Regina's daughter, Daphne (fair-skinned, red-haired, green-eyed) is revealed to have been SwitchedAtBirth. Regina's biological daughter Bay, played by a white actress of Italian descent, is very pale skinned (which is really unlikely [[HollywoodGenetics given her heritage]]). This becomes a plot point in one episode where Daphne applies for a Latina scholarship, and every other candidate there is very stereotypical of a Latino. She laments to Regina that even though they think she's Latina, no one else sees it that way. Later though when she's introduced to Jorge's family, none of them questions it. A chemistry professor who she has is fascinated, remarking how rare red hair is among Puerto Ricans.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Daphne and Ty.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/switched-birth-dvd-out-today_9370.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: Sure, they look happy ''[[ConflictBall now]]''.]]

Bay was raised in a BigFancyHouse by the wealthy John and Kathryn Kennish. Daphne, who went deaf after catching meningitis as a toddler, was raised by single mother Regina Vasquez in a tough neighborhood. Neither girl knew that they weren't biologically related to their families, and in fact didn't know about each other, until Bay requested a DNA test. Once the secret is out, the Kennishes invite the Vasquezes to move in, and the two families start to get to know their biological daughters. In addition, we have generalized family drama in the form of boy problems, the growing pains of the elder Kennish sibling Toby, and various personality conflicts between the parents.

* BillyElliotPlot: A minor one, where John prefers Toby's baseball to his music as hobbies and professions.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Daphne to Emmett, after she finds out about him and Bay.

* BettyAndVeronica: Daphne's the Betty and Bay's the Veronica to Emmett's Archie. [[ColorCodedCharacters Complete with hair colors]].

* BittersweetEnding: In the season 2 spring finale, [[spoiler: John wins his state senate campaign by default, but admits that he had hoped he would lose, and that Kathryn should have run instead of him.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Most of the characters (more or less), but Daphne is the most vulnerable target. Before finding out about the switch, she was very positive and well-adjusted. Afterwards, well....

* BusCrash: Averted. [[spoiler:Ty doesn't die in the attack on his unit in Afghanistan.]]

* DarkSecret: The Kennishes ''kind of'' suspected that Regina knew something about the switch. [[spoiler:And they were right. Around the time of Daphne's meningitis infection in 1998, Angelo had Daphne DNA tested, and Regina figured out ''then'' that the hospital had switched the girls at birth in 1995. Fearing that, as a poor alcoholic, she'd lose Daphne, Regina kept the secret to herself. Later, she hired a private investigator to track down Bay, and watched Bay from afar for several years. And now it's not a secret anymore.]]

* DisabledLoveInterest: The series has several deaf characters, all of whom are quite attractive- Daphne, Emmett, Emmett's mother-and have relationships with hearing people. However they're all played as ordinary people, with some of the relationships lasting a very long time.

* DisappearedDad: Bay's biological father, Angelo. She's not happy about this. [[spoiler:He eventually shows up out of the blue in the midseason finale, after reading about the switch in a newspaper. Then disappears again. Then comes back. You can understand why Regina told him she wants off his roller coaster of comings and goings. Before this, he'd also left after Daphne was born, rightly suspecting she wasn't really his daughter given that she looked distinctly different from both him and Regina.]]

* ForWantOfANail: Touched on every so often, as Bay, Daphne, and their families wonder how the girls would have ended up had the switch not taken place. Notable when Emmett and Daphne talk about Bay in the first episode:

* FromBadToWorse: Daphne's already having a bad day, having just found out about Emmett and Bay dating. Then [[DisappearedDad Angelo]] shows up to see Bay.

* HumiliationConga: PlayedForDrama with one of the protagonists. [[spoiler:Everyone eventually finds out that Regina knew about the switch (and Bay's whereabouts) as far back as 1998. Daphne disowns Regina for lying to her for years. Bay disowns Regina for not trying to be a part of her life. The Kennishes are so put off that they pretty much evict Regina and make plans to take custody of Daphne.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: Emmett's angered when Daphne disapproves of him and Bay, whereas he's judged every love interest she's had during the show's run.

* InformedFlaw: People, including Daphne herself, say how Daphne is just as flawed as Bay, but... how, exactly?

* LonelyPianoPiece: Plays whenever Emmett doesn't understand what someone's saying and we cut to the conversation from his perspective.

* LoveTriangle: Bay and Emmett become a couple--right about the same time that Daphne realizes that she has a thing for Emmett herself. Bay and Daphne also compete over [[spoiler: Noah in early season 2]].

* LoveDodecahedron: Wilke decides he likes Daphne, who decides to fight for Emmett, who wants to make things work with Bay.

* NonuniformUniform: Buckner Hall's dress code seems to be "as long as it looks kinda-sorta preppy, no matter how revealing it is, it's fine by us."

* OnlySaneMan: Toby had a few issues, but he almost always can keep a level head in the most tense of situations.

* TranslatorBuddy: Daphne operates as this for Emmett when he's around the Kennishes.

* UnwantedAssistance: InUniverse. Emmett gets offended when Bay tries to interpret and defend him.

*** Slightly {{deconstructed}} later in the episode. When Angelo fesses up and says he covered for Bay sneaking out, John calls him on it and tells him that's NOT how a father is supposed to behave.
* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Emmett, after much guilt and deliberation (and being called out on it by Daphne), confesses to Bay during prom that he slept with Simone after the tournament. Unsurprisingly, she doesn't take it well.]]
** In the same episode, [[spoiler:Kathryn has an AlmostKiss with Craig the lawyer. He quickly apologizes, but she admits that it wasn't all on him. However, she is horrified by it, and as a result she quickly reconciles with John.]]
*** [[spoiler:Kathryn ''does'' cheat on John in the AlternateUniverse episode "Ecce Mono", where it's established that she's been having regular trysts with Senator Coto of all people. This is chalked up to the fact that, in this timeline, because John found out about the switch earlier on, he has become a lot more domineering. When Alt!John finds out, he calls her out for it.]]
** [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} by Ty in the season 2 summer finale. He pretends that he cheated on Bay in order to get her to hate him, because he knows he's going back into a dangerous warzone, and he doesn't want Bay to have to live with any heartbreak that might arise from his death.]] Because, you know, one kind of heartbreak is better than another?
** In season 3, [[spoiler: Nikki's mother Jennice kisses John. Regina sees it and considers telling Kathryn, but before she can, Kathryn overhears John and Jennice discussing how it was a mistake. Kathryn and John temporarily separate over the incident, although they had already been having other issues. Thankfully, they reconciled.]]
** Later in season 3, [[spoiler: Bay cheats on Tank with Emmett and feels horribly guilty about it, given her history of being cheated on. She breaks up with Tank without telling him the real reason, but John accidentally spills the beans. Needless to say, Tank is pissed.]]

* AbsenteeActor: Sean Berdy gets an onscreen credit for "Las Dos Fridas," but Emmett only appears in the PreviouslyOn segment and not in the episode itself. Similarly, Gilles Marini gets PromotedToOpeningTitles in season 2, but Angelo doesn't appear in every episode. [[spoiler: He's credited on a few episodes even ''after'' Angelo is killed off.]]

--> '''Emmett:''' [[[SuddenlyVoiced speaking]]] I...just...want...''you''.

* TheSpeechless: Melody and Emmett mostly, but [[spoiler: Emmett [[SuddenlyVoiced does speak]] in the summer finale.]] Melody occasionally does as well. Tyler also speaks once in a while. Natalie never does however, along with other deaf students.

** In "Yuletide Fortune Tellers," the girls are upset about their families' Christmas traditions only to wake up in a world where the switch never happened. Daphne is Bay, a star athlete with Toby a moody musician and John and Kathryn having marriage problems. Bay is Daphne, raised with a younger brother but Regina still drinking and Emmett only a friend.

* BilingualBonus: Daphne and her friends use sign language, which is usually subtitled or interpreted for the audience's benefit; and Daphne's mom and grandmother both speak Spanish.
** Specifically, they're signing using ASL[[note]]American Sign Language[[/note]] and SEE[[note]]Signed Exact English [[/note]], in a mixture called Pidgin Signed English.

* MasculineFeminineGayCouple: Natalie is fairly effeminate, in contrast with her girlfriend Hilary, whose more masculine and has short hair. The latter pointedly refuses to wear a dress for the prom, going in a tuxedo instead. They get barred as a result, because their school dress code requires girls wear dresses. In protest, they stage their own prom dance on the lawn outside with friends.
* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:Sixteen-year-old Daphne starts a romance with her boss, the much older Chef Jeff, to her family's disapproval.]] In fact, it's later shown that he was interested in her at first because he thought she was in college; it's only when she tells him that she wants it to happen that he gives in and kisses her.
** In season 5 Regina dates Luca, a college student.

* LatinoIsBrown: Regina, Adriana, Natalie and other Latinos in East Riverside are all dark-skinned. Regina's daughter, Daphne (fair-skinned, red-haired, green-eyed) is revealed to have been SwitchedAtBirth. Regina's biological daughter Bay, played by a white actress of Italian descent is very pale skinned (which is really unlikely [[HollywoodGenetics given her heritage]]). This becomes a plot point in one episode where Daphne applies for a Latina scholarship, and every other candidate there is very stereotypical of a Latino. She laments to Regina that even though they think she's Latina, no one else sees it that way. Later though when she's introduced to Jorge's family, none of them questions it. A chemistry professor who she has is fascinated, remarking how rare red hair is among Puerto Ricans.

* LatinoIsBrown: Regina, Adriana, Natalie and other Latinos in East Riverside are all dark-skinned. Regina's daughter, Daphne (fair-skinned, red-haired, green-eyed) is revealed to have been SwitchedAtBirth. Regina's biological daughter Bay, played by a white actress of Italian descent is very pale skinned (which is really unlikely [[HollywoodGenetics given her heritage]]). This becomes a plot point in one episode where Daphne applies for a Latina scholarship, every other candidate there is very stereotypical of a Latino. She laments to Regina that even though they think she's Latina, no one else sees it that way. Later though when she's introduced to Jorge's family, none of them questions it. A chemistry professor who she has is fascinated, remarking how rare red hair is among Puerto Ricans.

* ProductPlacement: Kathryn revealing her new Camry Hybrid was basically a Toyota commercial, complete with description of Internet features and screenshots.
** Given Regina's constant financial woes, at least this means her circa-1990 Camry probably won't be breaking down anytime soon...

* [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Self-Demonstrating Episode]]: "Uprising" chronicles the attempts of the students at Carlton Academy for the Deaf to keep the school open. It is being closed by a School Board decision, which Melody claims will stand until hearing people walk a mile in Deaf shoes. Appropriately, it has only one scene (and one WhamLine at the very end) with audible spoken dialogue. (When deaf characters are forced to read lips, the dialogue is italicized.)

* LatinoIsBrown: Regina, Adriana, Natalie and other Latinos in East Riverside are all dark-skinned. Regina's daughter, Daphne (fair-skinned, red-haired, green-eyed) is revealed to have been SwitchedAtBirth. Regina's biological daughter Bay, played by a white actress of Italian descent is very pale skinned (which is really unlikely [[HollywoodGenetics given her heritage]]). This becomes a plot point in one episode where Daphne applies for a Latina scholarship, every other candidate there is very stereotypical of a Latino. She laments to Regina that even though they think she's Latina, no one else sees it that way. Later though when she's introduced to Jorge's family, none of them questions it though. A chemistry professor who she has is fascinated, remarking how rare red hair is among Puerto Ricans.