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Facial expressions and gestures as idioms. Some of these were invented for television, some came from the wild, but TV certainly gives them extra attention — it's a big way that TV differs from the stage.
Things like Spock's "Fascinating" eyebrow-raise, the wide eyes of surprise, the "these people are crazy" eye-roll, the scoff of derision, the furrowed brow of anger, the other kind of furrowed brow of concentration, and the lip-curl of disgust.
Animation has its own pile of these, like bulging or heart-shaped eyes, or Anime's sweat drop of embarrassment.
These are distinct from Reaction Shots, which have a narrower and more specific meaning.
When it's a character in a video game performing the action over and over because the developers programmed a perfectly good action and want to get as much out of it as possible, it's Going Through The Motions.
Examples:
Live Action TV
- The Dick Van Dyke Show did it with Dick's famous "now I'm drunk, now I'm sober" schtick.
- CSI Miami must be eligible for Horatio Caine's habit of putting his hands on his hips while wearing sunglasses. And his habit of putting on sunglasses for dramatic pronouncements. Or, if he's already wearing them, adjusting them. Or taking them off, and putting them on again a moment later.
- And let's not forget that he never kneels like a normal person, he always gets down on one knee, as if to propose.
- Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer had a tic related to his glasses. He would take them off or put them on with essentially every emotional "beat". (Eventually, this was Lampshade Hung when Buffy worked out he did this to avoid having to see whatever was going on.)
- Simon in Firefly is good at this. One of the best was when River told Jubal, "I don't think your intentions are honorable" and Simon squinted(saying "Oh, really?")
- Dr Cox's habit of touching his nose in Scrubs. According to actor John C. McGinley, this is an homage to Paul Newman's character in The Sting.
- Picard's habit of straightening his uniform whenever he stands up in Star Trek The Next Generation. So common that fans gave it a joke name: the Picard Maneuver (named after an actual tactic the character invented). He also did a little motion with his hand most of the time when he said "Engage."
- Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG-1 tends to subtly furrow his eyebrows and lips when frustrated (although that's probably more Michael Shanks).
- Teal'c falls victim quite frequently to the Spock Eyebrows — so frequently that it's been lampshaded on multiple occasions.
- Once, Teal'c interrogated a prisoner simply by raising his eyebrows.
- Col. Carter's momentary grimace anytime she either does something wrong, or bad things are about to happen.
- Rodney McKay of Stargate Atlantis snaps his fingers when he's trying to remember something, and shakes his finger (like he's scolding you) when he's thinking really hard.
- If you pay (too much) attention to the Tenth Doctor, you realize that he has a whole lot of distinctive gestures and facial expressions. He runs his hands through his hair when he's frustrated, he dramatically dons his glasses when it's time to look clever, and he raises an eyebrow when he's interested. Oh, and there's that tongue-on-the-roof-of-his-mouth thing he does all the time.
- This may be due to David Tennant just acting like a overcaffeinated spaz.
- Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in the Dune miniseries had a distinctive habit of rubbing his right temple when he was frustrated. Later on, Paul Atreides does this himself, demonstrating the family connection between the two. In Children of Dune, we see Alia performing the gesture when she hears the Baron's voice in her head.
- Robert Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond always touches food to his chin before eating it.
- In the Star Trek The Original Series episode "The Man Trap," Nancy Crater the salt vampire has a habit of putting the knuckle of her index finger in her mouth. Then we see Dr. McCoy doing the same gesture...
- Monk has a lot of these: neck-crinking, fingers steepled, hands in front when examining crime scenes... it's compounded by his obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
- It was eventually revealed that the finger-steepling is something he got from his father.
- With the severity of his tics, Jerry from Boston Legal puts Monk to shame. He would stomp, purr, hop, and make popping noises when he got upset; and in later episodes pull out a wooden cigarette as a crutch. This is, of course, ignoring his characteristic hands-on-your-knees style of walking and general social awkwardness.
- In The X Files, Agent Mulder is always putting things in his mouth—usually sunflower seeds, but in the first season especially, he can also be caught munching on paper clips.
- Hiro on Heroes certainly pushes his glasses further up his face a lot.
- Star Trek Voyager. In "Dark Frontier", Chakotay notes that Captain Janeway always fiddles with her comm badge when she's plotting something, a character tic that had never been seen before or since in the series. More accurately, Janeway has a tendency to place her hands on her hips, which unfortunately turned out to be the worst insult imaginable for one alien species that communicated through body language.
- Buster of Arrested Development has a tendency to rub his hands over his ears, usually when he is nervous. So he essentially perpetually rubs at his ears.
Western Animation
- On The Simpsons, Mr. Burns has one of the most obvious ones: his tendency to hold his hands in front of him like a praying mantis with his fingers steepled (often as he says his Catchphrase, "Eexxxxcellent...").
- Kim Possible has a few: Kim's "puppy-dog pout", Rufus's "groggy blink", and a couple others.
- Robin's habit of punching his palm whenever he gets angry in Teen Titans. He does this so often that if he took his glove off, viewers might see permanent knuckle prints there.
- In the Disney Animated Canon films, animators watch the footage of the voice actors recording so they can give their mannerisms to the characters.
- Ariel sighing so that it blows her bangs upward.
- Belle pushing back that lock of hair that always falls out of place.
- Tiana squinting one eye when she cringes. Anika Noni Rose also asked if she could be lefthanded like she is.
Anime and Manga
- Gendo Ikari's so-called "Gendou Position" in Neon Genesis Evangelion: sitting with his elbows on a table, fingers interlaced and hands in front of his mouth (thereby preventing anyone from seeing his expression unless looking from below).
- Thereby saving the animators from having to draw his lips.
- Gendo also pushes up his glasses, as if to add a non-verbal '...dumbass' to the end of his sentence. This also has the side-effect of making him seem more suspect; in a real life example of this trope, many people will cover their mouths somewhat when lying (without knowing it), and many other people will pick up on that (usually subconsciously). Of course, some people just scratch their nose from time to time, unintentionally invoking this.
- Monster: Runge's most distinguishing feature is his habit of moving his fingers as though he were typing, which helps him memorize information verbatim.
- Pretty much anything L does in Death Note, Near's hair-twirling and playing with toys, and Mello's maniacal chocolate-eating.
- Fullmetal Alchemist. Envy has a very distinctive grin, which lets us recognize him when he's transformed into someone.
- Miki of Revolutionary Girl Utena and his seemingly random stopwatch usage. He did it so often that fans had asked Ikuhara just why the hell did Miki keep timing things? Naturally, Ikuhara gave one of his infamous non-answers.
- Haruhi from Suzumiya Haruhi has her famous "hairflick". This is only portrayed in the anime.
- Kyon's "frown and sigh", which he tends to do a lot.
- Don't forget Kyon's infamous Face Palm tendency.
- Kurahadol (Captain Kuro) from One Piece had a rather distinctive way of adjusting his glasses. Most characters wrote it off, but his old crewmate Jango understood exactly why he still pushed his glasses up with the palm of his hand.
- The odd little dance Chopper does whenever he's denying feeling pleased with being praised. Word Of God says it was based on a Real Life comedy routine.
- Caimie the mermaid's distinctive face fault. It's...hard to describe. Her eyes bug out, her teeth jut out, her jaw seems to unhinge, and her tongue looks huge and hangs out.
- Lelouch from Code Geass is well-known among anime fans for his propensity for dramatic poses, but he seems particularly fond of hand gestures that draw attention to his left eye (the one that holds his Evil Eye powers). A good example of this can be seen in the first opening for the show's second season.
- Deconstructed in part 4 of Jojos Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Miyamoto, the user of the Stand Enigma can trap and fold anything in paper, but in order to trap a person he first needs to identify their specific "nervous tic". Obviously, he's scarily good at figuring them out.
- The heroine of Gokusen is a Yazuka Princess, and thus while she isn't a Tattooed Crook herself, has picked up the gesture of raising her sleeve to show (nonexistent in her case) tattoos when aggravated.
Comic Books
- Given the way comic-book physics work, there is no possible way Superman (or any other hero, for that matter) needs to raise one arm when he takes flight. Yet... it looks cool.
Video Games
- The characters in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney all have their own poses and gestures, and Phoenix's dramatic finger point is among the most distinctive. The new prosecutor from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Klavier Gavin, even air guitars when things are going particularly well for him.
- This is actually a key gameplay mechanic in Apollo Justice; if you have no evidence to refute a testimony that is obviously false, chances are the witness is playing with her ring, or he's sweating profusely, or something similar; Apollo can "Perceive" these and call out these nervous twitches by way of an incredible and genetic talent to read people.
- Gale in Digital Devil Saga has a habit of touching his forehead when he speaks. Supposedly it's because he is the partial reincarnation of the scientist David, who was Jenna Angel's lover in the real world. The forehead touch is similar to a "phantom limb" effect: David wore glasses, and switching from wearing glasses for years to not wearing glasses still leaves behind the feeling of wearing glasses.
- Revolver Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid has such a distinctive pistol-twirling motion that Hideo Kojima once didn't bother to refer to him by name in an interview - he merely imitated the twirl.
- Magus from Chrono Trigger has a habit of readjusting his gloves.
- Kadaj, of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, has a tendency to sort of twitch his face if things aren't going his way.
Film
- Dr. Evil from Austin Powers raising his pinky finger to his mouth.
- The infamous juggling his balls (no, not that kind) in The Caine Mutiny.
- Robocop has several trademark gestures:
- The gun twirl, trademark of Show Within A Show character T.J. Lazer, which is how his partner recognized him after his death and cyborg makeover.
- The driving style. Robocop's pull out scrapes the bottom of his car as it did before his cyborg makeover.
- James Bond, amongst others: The infamous hypnobrow of doom.
- Boris Grishenko, Evil Genius for the Big Bad of Goldeneye, had a habit of constantly twirling his pens and clicking on them when he's working or nervous. Bond has a pen that operates as a grenade, armed by clicking three times, disarmed by clicking three times. You do the math.
- Monty Python And The Holy Grail: Sir Bedivere habitually lifts up the visor of his helmet.
- The Harry Potter films have the Voldemort neck roll that Harry takes on when their minds are melded.
- Then there's Hermione's eyebrows dancing up and down with every syllable, sometimes getting out of sync with eachother. Emma Watson even does this when she's not acting, making it more of an actor tic, though she has managed to tone it down somewhat in the later films.
Literature
- Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan (who's just slightly self-conscious about his height) tends to lift his chin defensively when under stress, especially in the earlier books.
- The Wheel Of Time: Nynaeve often tugs her braid when she's agitated. And she is often agitated.
- In the book Children of Dune, the late Baron used to tap his fingers in a certain way. This is not genetic, and when one of his descendants does it, it's significant.
- Narrator Huckleberry Finn remarks that Tom Sawyer, in the lesser-known Mark Twain novel Tom Sawyer, Detective, has a habit of tracing the letter V on his cheek or chin when he's thinking deeply.
- In the first book of the Sword Of Truth series, both Richard and Darken Rahl have their ticks. Richard runs his hands through his hair when gets nervous or exasperated, while Rahl licks his fingers and runs them over his lips and eyebrows habitually. Richard's tic clues Zedd in that the "Darken Rahl" they see is not, in fact, Darken Rahl, but he realizes it a moment too late.
- In A Series of Unfortunate Events, Violet always ties back her hair when she's inventing something.
- In Isaac Asimov's Powell and Donovan stories, Powell tends to pull at his mustache when he's nervous, whereas Donovan runs his fingers through his hair. In "Catch That Rabbit!" Powell even reaches for the mustache while wearing a space suit.
- In the Discworld novels, Lord Vetinari raises one eyebrow when he's faced with something particularly stupid, usually in conjunction with a deeply ironic remark. Lampshaded in Making Money, where Vetinari-wannabe Cosmo Lavish practices his eyebrow raising.
Web Comics
- Grace of El Goonish Shive has a habit of holding her hands in front of her, a bit like a squirrel. Also, several characters will touch their index fingers together when nervous or embarrassed.
- Grace's squirrel hands make her recognisable even when she's transformed into a duplicate of someone else.
Web Original
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