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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2
3[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gary_the_Rat_8905.jpg]]
4
5-> ''"Gary Andrews was a successful Wall Street attorney. He had money, prestige and power. But in winning the rat race, Gary had gone too far."''
6-->-- The narrator, at the start of every episode.
7
8Gary the Rat (2003) was an adult-oriented, animated television series created by Mark & Robb Cullen. It starred Creator/KelseyGrammer as an AmoralAttorney named Gary Andrews who, one day, discovered that his ruthless tactics have earned him a KarmicTransformation — he's now a [[RatMen 6-foot-tall anthropomorphic rat]], who must struggle to keep his job at the Harrison, Camille, Beckett & Weiss law firm, while simultaneously warding off local exterminator Johnny Bugz, who is hellbent on killing him. The series lasted one season of 13 episodes on Creator/SpikeTV and was introduced to the world as a small series of {{webisode}}s.
9----
10!!'''Tropes used in this series:'''
11
12* AffectionateParody:
13** "This is Not a Pipe", of the film ''{{Film/Philadelphia}}''.
14** The whole series' premise is a nod to Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis." There's even a scene where Gary has a nightmare that he's turned into a cockroach.
15* AmoralAttorney: Gary. Full stop.
16* AnimalTalk: Since his transformation, Gary can talk to rodents.
17%%* ArtEvolution: Between the webisodes and the series proper.
18* AssholeVictim: Terry Mcmillan, on his very first day of work, proves to be a thief, a cad, a backstabber, a liar, a sexual harasser and embezzler. When he's killed off at the end of the episode, nobody really cares.
19** Ditto for Gary's shady cousin Jerry. When he's murdered right in front of Gary, Gary isn't very broken up over it.
20* BarefootCartoonAnimal: Gary.
21* ButterFace: Angel, Mr. Stiletto's goddaughter. She has an attractive, slender body, [[spoiler: but her face resembles some kind of fish/lizard creature]].
22%%* TheBaroness: Gary's ex-girlfriend and fellow attorney, Caroline Swanson.
23* BunnyEarsLawyer: Or rat-ears lawyer... Mr. Harrison doesn't think much of Gary, especially now that he's a rat-man, but he is the best lawyer in the firm.
24* CartoonCheese: Typically used straight, but it's more often presented in cubes than the classic wedge.
25* CatapultNightmare: Introduces every episode.
26* ClassReunion: "The Reunion", natch.
27* ComingOutStory: Mr. Harrison's son Scott subverts this; Scott believes that his father already knows and disapproves of the lifestyle, but it turns out that Mr. Harrison was clueless the whole time and hates Scott only for being a "no-good slacker deadbeat".
28%%* DeadpanSnarker: Gary, ''par excellence''.
29* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that Gary manages to regain his humanity by trying to stop Johnny from being executed, but is killed when the bomb goes off.]]
30%%* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[AvertedTrope Except for Gary.]]
31* EverybodyDiesEnding: [[spoiler:''Everybody'' important dies in the final episode, thanks to Johnny's explosive... Well, okay, one person survives, but exactly who it is isn't shown before the credits roll. And it's not clear if they survived at all.]]
32* HarmlessVillain: Johnny Bugz, although he's not so harmless to people that ''aren't'' Gary.
33* InterspeciesRomance: Johnny has... very strong feelings for his cat, Boots. Boots doesn't seem to reciprocate.
34%%* IvyLeagueForEveryone: He's a Harvard graduate, of course.
35* JerkAss: '''Everyone.'''
36* JustWokeUpThatWay: Gary woke up as a rat in the first episode.
37* KarmicTransformation: Gary's dirty tactics got him transformed into a rat.
38* LaserGuidedKarma: Johnny Bugz shoots six innocent bystanders trying to get Gary. He's promptly arrested and put on death row for serial killing.
39* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Gary's LimitedWardrobe consists of a large collection of Armani and Valentino suits.
40* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Gary dies trying to save Bugz, despite being able to not be punished for any bad deed he commits.
41* NoIndoorVoice: Mr. Harrison.
42* OnlySixFaces: Bud and all of his relatives/acquaintances. Points for their names usually being a variation of "Bud", to boot.
43* OnceAnEpisode: Johnny Bugz' trap ends up killing an innocent bystander instead of Gary.
44* PhraseCatcher: Gary is a "rat bastard".
45* PointyHairedBoss: How Mr. Harrison ever was put in charge of an upscale law firm is anybody's guess. The man is obviously insane, seems to know nothing about law, and is constantly distracted by discussions about food.
46%%* RatMen: The titular character was transformed into one of these as a result of a Karmic Transformation.
47* RichBitch: A rare male example in Truman Pinksdale.
48* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Gary is a six-foot-tall rat.
49* RunningGag
50** Gary's newfound love of gourmet cheeses, oversized mouse and hamster toys, and rolling around in garbage.
51** Gary having unsettlingly frank phone conversations with his mother.
52** Bud confusing Gary for a large dog and subsequently being offered $5 to kill himself.
53** Gary's dreams at the start of every episode. Most (but not all) involves his head being cut or otherwise torn off.
54** Characters complaining about [[GroinAttack injured balls]].
55* SadisticChoice: Don Stiletto gives Gary a pretty blunt one... marry his goddaughter, who is [[spoiler: a hideous, mutated, animalistic... ''thing''...]] or be killed. Gary takes option A, albeit with considerable reservations.
56* ShoutOut: In the intro to "Mergers and Acquisitions", Gary is informed by a hotel clerk that he's been given the [[Literature/RatmansNotebooks Willard]] suite.
57** Gary wistfully calls his ex-girlfriend [[Music/NeilDiamond Sweet Caroline]].
58* SlasherSmile: "... So if you even ''try'' to evict me, I will [[SophisticatedAsHell litigate you all]] '''[[SophisticatedAsHell into ANNIHILATION!]]'''"
59* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Boots is the only major character to survive the series finale]]. Not only that, but [[KarmaHoudini unscathed!]]
60* SophisticatedAsHell: Gary retains his culture and articulation despite now being a rat-man.
61* SpeedSex: One of the episode intros has Gary dreaming of meeting a cute girl who is interested in him on the basis that rats are able to climax multiple times. He actually manages to do so ''right there'' in her presence. The newly-woken-up Gary laments that he needs to stop taking Viagra.
62* StatusQuoIsGod: If anything happens in an episode that threatens to change Gary's life or social standing (a love interest, a chance of promotion, etc.), expect for the source to either be killed in a freak accident or quickly forgotten about. Or both.
63* TheStoner: Bud; doubles as TheDitz.
64* TailSlap: Gary's tail is very powerful. Someone accidentally ran over it with a shopping cart except the cart flipped over and slipped all its contents. When he actually directs it at someone, it's gonna hurt.
65* TheUnreveal: We never see what Gary's face looked like as a human. There is an undetailed, far-away shot of him in the opening and we see the back of his head when he has a dream about being in school as a kid, but his face is never shown. We also don't see his mother on screen either, though she did have a speaking scene.
66* UglyGuyHotWife: Gary assumes that Mrs. Harrison is a frumpy old bat, as she's married to a bald, dumpy, unattractive lunatic like Mr. Harrison. Turns out, she's a knockout... and ultimately, she genuinely loves him.
67* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: A six-foot-tall rat-man? It never inspires much more than bemused surprise at best, mild disgust at worst. Same goes for Boots behaving like a human occasionally.
68* YouDirtyRat: Guess who.
69* TheVamp: Gary's law school flame, Caroline, is pretty conniving, manipulative and wholly without scruples. It's obvious that she was a perfect match for Gary. Despite Gary being wise to underhanded attorneys, her ploy almost suckers him in nonetheless.

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