History YMMV / ShortlandStreet

* HarsherInHindsight: Any scene with Rene Naufahu playing a nice friendly guy when it comes to women is incredibly awkward given his sexual assault conviction.

** On ''Shortland Street'', Olivia Tennet played the daughter of drug addict Guy Warner (played by Craig Parker). In ''Series/UnderbellyNZLandOfTheLongGreenCloud'', she plays Julie Theilman, a real-life drug runner and heroin addict.

* MandelaEffect: Due to only a limited run of reruns originally, several things from the show's early years were forgotten about or incorrectly remembered by fans and so were accepted as the truth until the show reran again in 2009. One example was one of Carrie Burton's triplets being referred to as "Flynn" in articles and write-ups prior to 2010, when upon rewatch his name is in fact Finbar, not Flynn. Thankfully, this led to him having his correct name when the character reappeared in 2017. Damien Neilson was also referred to as Darryl Neilson's twin brother due to being played by the same actor, but Damien was actually Darryl's younger brother.

** There is not a snowball's chance in hell we will ever see another storyline like the one Harry Martin and Minnie Crozier had in 1996 which presented Harry as a sympathetic figure grappling with his conscience as to whether he would bed the 15 year old Minnie or not.

** Stella Reihana is the most well-received of the registrar team in 2023. Stella is well-liked for not only being TheWoobie because of her storyline with a patient who sexually assaulted her, but for being the most well-rounded one of the new cast, having excellent chemistry with the new version of Harry Warner, for being a genuinely likeable protagonist and for having none of the glaring shortcomings of fellow newcomers Quinn and Parker.

** Madonna was incredibly unsympathetic in her early days due to her habit of being generally sanctimonious and obnoxious about her Catholic faith, even telling a coworker and her superior that she doesn't "hate lesbians... just what you do in the bedroom" on *her first day of work.* Brightshine, meanwhile, went from a weird phenomenon to an ObviouslyEvil CorruptChurch that murdered a main character's teen son, making them more of a plot arc than a source of irritation about the way they practiced their religion. It was more Leanne's sanctimonious behavior as a believer that angered viewers than any of Brightshine's more ambiguous beliefs and moves as an institution.

** Transgender nurse Samantha Thomas was played by a gay male in 2006 rather than a transgendered actress as would be traditional nowadays. But to have a transgender character at all, let alone one who happened to be treated as a normal person rather than someone strange or an Aesop for a storyline in 2006 was huge for New Zealand TV in 2006.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: What was hyped as a Ferndale's Next Top Surgeon-type competition in 2023 didn't play out as such. After Britt quit, it wasn't until Milo Cross's rampage more registrars would leave the programme, and by his hand rather than by surgical performance.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Happens from time to time. The series has touched on various political and social issues in New Zealand from drug use to teenage driving.

** Upon becoming CEO in mid-2023 Esther had to deal with staff shenanigans like workplace pranks gone wrong (Harper tricking Drew into losing his clothes) and Nicole and Maeve using the new tele-health initiative to get physically intimate not realising the video call to a patient wasn't closed off. Esther is portrayed as a stick in the mud over quite reasonably concerns.

** Desi was a terrible partner to Damo on many occasions. However, she was made more sympathetic than her actions probably warranted by the fact that she clearly loved Damo while Leanne still acted as though she had a claim on Damo, often putting Desi in a victim role as a result. Leanne was constantly referring to Desi derisively–including her insistence on calling Desi "Desdemona"–and belittling Desi for various things, including the fact that she dealt with alcoholism. The cherry on top was when Leanne eventually slept with Damo during his marriage to Desi. Though of course that takes two, and Damo was the married one, it seemed especially malicious on Leanne's part due to the way she'd been treating Desi and the fact that Leanne was more concerned about her reputation than actually remorseful for her actions. It was also especially awful since Leanne herself had just had her heart broken by her ex-fiancée, Rosalyn, who cheated on her.

** Arguably Chris and Selina as of 2023. Chris pursuing Selina essentially the same way he did Viv (begging her not to leave and then kissing her) was rendered entirely unrealistic by the fact that–while Viv had her flaws as well–Selina has been nothing but incredibly obnoxious and even malicious since arriving on the show. It very much feels like a PairTheSpares scenario.

*** What was hyped as a Ferndale's Next Top Surgeon-type competition didn't play out as such either. After Britt, it wasn't until Milo Cross's rampage more registrars would leave the programme, and by his hand rather than by surgical performance.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Shane Cortese earned a lot of female attention playing the psychotic Dominic Thompson.
** More than one person out there must have fully been on-board with Ethan Pierce's fetish for sexual domination and humiliation.
* Ian Seymour was a well-dressed man with a stylish goatee, was well-spoken and intelligent. If it weren't for the whole "homicidal maniac who watched his mother die of a heart attack" deal, he'd have been a catch.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Nicole is this for some people where Maeve is concerned. In just three years of being married to Maeve, she has: distanced herself from her wife at the suggestion of a therapist she barely knew, including going on what was supposed to be their honeymoon by herself (well, with Pele); falsely accused Maeve of cheating on her with Theo when all that went on was a one-sided crush and unwanted kiss while Maeve was stuck in a hospital bed; defended Madonna after she was blatantly homophobic to Maeve and Nicole (her new boss) on her first day of work; and kissed another woman twice, in the midst of Maeve struggling through the trial of Rebekah, who manipulated Maeve's emotions and was retconned to have murdered Maeve's son. There's also the hypocrisy with Harper and Quinn: in 2022, Nicole freaked out over Maeve kissing Harper once when both were drunk and Nicole had all but ended her marriage to Maeve. Nicole and Maeve were this close to reconciling and Maeve admitting to the drunken kiss with Harper completely changed Nicole's mind back in favor of divorce. Six months later, though, Nicole kissed Quinn on two separate occasions when both were sober and Nicole and Maeve were very much back on as a couple. Nicole never apologized to Maeve for kissing Quinn (at least not on screen), and it was Quinn–not Nicole–who told Maeve about the cheating in the first place.
** ...But people make the same argument about Maeve. She's had three cases (Millie, Alexis, and the kid with the tetanus shot) where she clearly crossed the line ethically speaking as a nurse, which put Nicole in a difficult position as DON. She doesn't express remorse for either one, framing the situation as though she was helpless and had no other option than to cross ethical lines even though she did it very deliberately in every case. She arguably didn't do enough to shut down Theo's attention: she kept the pounamu Theo gave her for Christmas and didn't tell Nicole about it, and she even admitted to being attracted to Theo. Maeve also secretly accepted Leanne's money for a vacation for her and Nicole when Nicole wouldn't have wanted to do so, lying about where she'd gotten the money until Nicole caught her, with nothing to suggest that she'd ever intended to tell Nicole the truth. There was also a period when Tom lived in Ferndale where Nicole felt as though Maeve would talk to anyone else but her, specifically Tom. Finally, there's Maeve kissing Harper. It was clearly unethical of her to kiss Harper specifically, since Harper was happily married to Drew, but it's not as clear-cut of an ethical issue when it comes to Maeve and Nicole's marriage, as Nicole had distanced herself heavily from Maeve at that point and their marriage was implied to be all but over.

** Dawn Robinson keeps leaving, fans keep hoping she's gone for good and the writers keep bringing her back. Dawn has been around for 6 years as of 2023 and has had no character development or growth. In spite of this, she's been one of the most focused on characters since she showed up in 2017.
** Quinn had shades of this, mainly because it was implied we were meant to treat her as a decent person with a strong love of a woman she couldn't have which drove her mad, rather than the creepy female incel with the odd good trait here or there she actually was. Compare and contrast her and fellow registrar Noah who himself had a crush on a taken woman (Cece, who is married to TK.) During Milo Cross's shooting rampage, Quinn was shot dead, with Maeve comforting the woman who'd borderline stalked, harassed, kissed her wife twice and insulted Maeve to Nicole's face, while Noah (rightly) was told by Cece to pull his head in because she was taken.
** Selina. Loudmouth, brash, obnoxious and repugnant by every measure, Selina has so far managed to ensnare Max Lynch and Dr Love himself, Chris Warner, both good-looking, rich men who could have any woman they wanted, constantly says obnoxious things to people above her at work, has thrown eggs at Drew with no consequence, disrespected her brother's fiance Madonna in their home and not been kicked out. In spite of being a terrible character, the writers are doing what they did with Desi except worse.

** Many characters over the years have become this, most notably Nick Harrison, whose original character was retooled from a drug-abusing badboy into a goofy good guy with a comedic side. A similar thing happened to Shortland Street's IT guy Damo Johnson- originally created to be a goofy nuisance and run-ins with popular characters such as Chris Warner and Mo Hannah, Damo became one of the more popular characters of the mid 10's because of his amusingly socially incompetent personality, rather than in spite of it. Damo became so popular in fact that his sporadic appearances were streamlined into a more regular role.

** Logan Barns, AKA Logan the Bogan has been a sign of the show getting better in 2022. Logan is well-liked for having some of the best lines and being one of the closest things to a hero the show has had in years.

** Maeve Mullens seems to have a habit of turning into a teenage girl whenever she's in a new relationship. Literally the same day she told Nicole she was interested (and Nicole turned her down), she showed up at Nicole's house and said "I get that you're scared, but that's love... I'm all in." Her dialogue with Rebekah Anderson was downright cringeworthy at times. The two pledged to keep their relationship a secret, and Maeve went from "I'm not gonna be in a secret relationship with a straight woman" to making out with Rebekah again in the course of about two minutes. She also agreed to their relationship stating "it'll be our secret little world" which itself sounds like an edgy teenage turn of phrase. Of course, this may have been a novel way of showing Rebekah's persuasive power, but the dialogue is cringe nonetheless.
** Speaking of Maeve, fans hated the episode which featured nobody other than her and Drew talking to a therapist. The episode itself was disliked enough, but the corny "everything is OK now" dance montage at the end with Maeve dancing with Wilder's ex-girlfriend in a sickly sweet fashion while some cheesy music played in the background was the icing on the cake.

** Selina To'a already hit this territory in 2023 within weeks of getting there. Selina somehow combines the worst traits of both Schmidts (Angel's obsession with social media and attention seeking, Desi's lack of tact) and lacks the hidden depths Desi had. Selina does have the occasional moment of being tolerable and behaving like a normal human being, but they're few and far between.

** Ula Levi finally telling Leanne Miller off after months of pronouncing her name "EW-La."

*** What was hyped as a Ferndale's Next Top Surgeon-type competition didn't play out as such either, after Britt it wasn't until Milo Cross's rampage more registrars would leave the programme, and by his hand rather than by surgical performance.

*** Similarly, Madonna is made out to be a prude for not approving of nurses, specifically Maeve, openly flirting in the workplace. Given the aforementioned video call incident more professionalism is not unreasonable to expect.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Nicole is this for some people where Maeve is concerned. In the not even three years she and Maeve have been married, she has: distanced herself from her wife at the suggestion of a therapist she barely knew, including going on what was supposed to be their honeymoon by herself (well, with Pele); falsely accused Maeve of cheating on her with Theo when all that went on was a one-sided crush and unwanted kiss while Maeve was stuck in a hospital bed; defended Madonna after she was blatantly homophobic to Maeve and Nicole (her new boss) on her first day of work; and kissed another woman twice, in the midst of Maeve struggling through the trial of Rebekah, who manipulated Maeve's emotions and was retconned to have murdered Maeve's son. Maeve's had her own less-than-perfect moments, but overall she's been there for Nicole through thick and thin and Nicole has acted selfishly more often than not. While Maeve has hardly been a saint and became increasingly unpleasant to be around up until Rebekah fled Ferndale to the point Nicole wanted to divorce her, Nicole's actions have been selfish at points as well, especially during their most recent go-around.

* InformedWrongness: Due to some writers making a point of pushing their points of view rather than a nuanced one, they'll fall into this trap. Drew is usually the one they're the most guilty with as of 2023. For example, Esther ended the nurse's strike by capping the surgeons' pay and using shares to make funds available for a payrise for the nurses. Drew was portrayed as being wrong for losing his shit, whereas you could make an argument for both sides.

** Upon becoming CEO in mid-2023 Esther had to deal with staff shenanigans like workplace pranks gone wrong (Harper tricking Drew into losing his clothes) and Nicole and Maeve using the new tele-health initiative to get physically intimate not realising the video call to a patient wasn't closed off. Esther is portrayed as a stick in the mud over quite reasonably concerns.
*** Similarly, Madonna is made out to be a prude for not approving of nurses, specifically Maeve, openly flirting in the workplace. Given the aforementioned video call incident more professionalism is not unreasonable to expect.

** Quinn's fellow registrar Noah also had an infatuation with a married woman as his main character trait. Always following Cece around and even coming on to her when her husband TK was seemingly on his death bed, viewers weren't unhappy when he departed due to mental health issues.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Nicole is approaching this territory. In the not even three years she and Maeve have been married, she has: distanced herself from her wife at the suggestion of a therapist she barely knew, including going on what was supposed to be their honeymoon by herself (well, with Pele); falsely accused Maeve of cheating on her with Theo when all that went on was a one-sided crush and unwanted kiss while Maeve was stuck in a hospital bed; defended Madonna after she was blatantly homophobic to Maeve and Nicole (her new boss) on her first day of work; halfheartedly supported Maeve after her son died for about two weeks; and kissed another woman twice, in the midst of Maeve struggling through the trial of her son's murderer–who is also her former partner. Maeve's had her own less-than-perfect moments, but overall she's been there for Nicole through thick and thin and Nicole has acted selfishly more often than not. While Maeve has hardly been a saint and became increasingly unpleasant to be around up until Rebekah fled Ferndale to the point Nicole wanted to divorce her, Nicole's actions have been selfish at points as well, especially during their most recent go-around.