Troperville
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Sam: A small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs... and solve crimes. Toby: Sam... Sam: It'd be good.
Two very different characters are obliged to work together to solve a crime. The premise is very often expressed in Trailers and pitches as "He's an X. She's a Y. Together, they fight crime!"… So much that it's almost become a Stock Phrase. Expect lots of cultural clash humor arising both from different policing traditions and from general personal differences between the two characters. Sometimes the ante will be raised by making the crime-fighters from two groups that are actively antagonistic.
The story often (but not always) involves one character being on his own turf while the other character is a visitor. If there is a sequel, the character who was on his home turf in the first story will probably be visiting the home turf of the other character.
Can be the premise of a Buddy Cop Show, although then there usually needs to be some reason for the other cop to continue hanging around beyond the pilot.
A subtrope of both Wunza Plot and Odd Couple.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- The Big O: He's a rich negotiator with a Humongous Mecha, she's a robotic maid. They Fight Crime!
- Read Or Die:: Three sisters: two love books and the youngest...doesn't. They Fight Crime!
- Cowboy Bebop: He's an ex-mafia martial artist/fighter pilot/bounty hunter. She's a hot 70-year-old cryogenically unfrozen amnesiac crack-shot waif perpetually on the run from astronomical gambling debts. He's an ex cop taken out by injury, and possibly mafia influence, who owns the main HQ. She's...Ed. They Fight Crime... In SPACE!
- Hellsing: He's the First Vampire, with more than enough power to destroy everything that exists. She's his dual-howitzer-wielding big-chested innocent spawn. They Fight Crime!
- Death Note: One is a bored, brilliant high school student. The other is an immature supernatural being with an addiction to apples...They Fight Crime!...kind of.
Comic Books
Film
Literature
Live Action TV
- Blood Ties: She's a Canadian police detective who is slowly losing her sight. He's a vampire. They Fight Crime!
- On Friends, Joey got a starring role in 'Mac & Cheese', a show described as "One's a hard-bitten detective, one's a robot. They Fight Crime!"
- Pushing Daisies: He's a pie-maker with the power to bring the dead back to life. He and his undead girlfriend team up with a detective who knits to, yes, fight crime.
- The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: He's a Lord Peter Wimsey with a title and a complicated personal life. She's a cranky, foul-mouthed working-class junk food addict with massive class resentment issues. They Fight Crime!
- Castle: He's a bestselling mystery writer who doesn't play by the rules. She's a no-nonsense detective who'll do anything to bring a killer to justice. They Fight Crime! And Have Lots Of UST!
- Automan: One is a police computer nerd who overclocks the computer and creates a Tron-like superbeing. The other is that self-same Tron-like superbeing. They Fight Crime!
- Numb3rs: One's an FBI agent! The other is the Agent's nerdly math-professor brother. They Fight Crime!
- Knight Rider: He's a man...who does not exist. It's a car holding plot-advancing gadgets with an entertaining A.I.. They Fight Crime!
- Burn Notice: He's an out-of-work spy. She's his trigger happy ex-girlfriend. He's Bruce Campbell. They fight crime!
- Life: He's an Eccentric Millionaire who spent twelve years in prison. She's an ex-junkie with a kick-ass attitude. They Fight Crime!
- Due South: One's a crude, rude American cop. One's a polite, soft-spoken Canadian mountie. They Fight Crime!
- Holmes and Yoyo: One's a human cop. One's an experimental robot cop. They Fight Crime!
- Simon And Simon: Even though they're brothers, Rick and A.J. have nothing in common.
- Collector's Item: Vincent Price is an antique dealer. Peter Lorre... well, I'm not sure what he does. He's short and kind of creepy. Together, they fight crime.
- Psych One's a slacker with a photographic memory. One's a pharmaceutical rep with an acute sense of smell. They Fight Crime!
- Bones One's a street-smart FBI agent, one's a socially-inept forensic anthropologist. They Fight Crime!
- The first season of Angel: He's a vampire. She's a struggling diva. He's a half-demon (or inept linguist, depending on when in the season you're watching). They Fight Supernatural Crime!
- Parodied by Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Conan O'Brien is very tall, Robert Reich is a former Secretary of Labor and very short. They Fight Crime!
- Frequently used as a gag on Mystery Science Theater 3000. For example, near the end of the first-season movie Robot Holocaust, Tom suggests a sequel: "He's a robot. He's a human. They're detectives!"
- One's a streetwise American self-made millionaire, the other is a daredevil English aristocrat. They Fight Crime!
- Doctor Who: He's a time-travelling, near-immortal alien from a long-dead race. His constantly-changing companions are either helpful or not. They Fight Crime!
Video Games
Web Original
Web Comics
Western Animation
- An episode of Family Guy played this as a joke, with the newest cop show, where the hardened cop got paired with a kid from the streets, a robot, and a couch?
- Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers: Two chipmunks, two mice, and a housefly fight crime among both animals and humans.
- Kim Possible: She is the popular cheerleader. He is the under achiever who has no friends. They Fight Crime! And she'd better be home before 10.
- Parodied on The Critic, when Clint Eastwood played a cop partnered with a child, a leprechaun, and a velociraptor.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force. One's a megalomaniacal, sociopathic milkshake. One's an intelligent, African-American box of french fries. One's a dumbass meatball. They're detectives... or at least used to be.
- Hilariously, the shows creators had to describe the show's premise as They Fight Crime, because the real concept of the show was too bizzare for the network to want to put on the air.
- Bonkers. He's a by-the-book cop who aspires to be promoted. The other is a washed-up, toon actor bobcat. Together, they fight crime!
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