Operation: Good Guys refers to an early 1990s Brit Com which focuses on a crack team of people from the police sent to bring down McCarthy the Teflon Don. Unfortunately, they prove to be anything but competent: D. S. Raymond Ash has no life outside of being D.I. Beach's second-in-command, Garry Barwick, their Deep Undercover Agent, "Strings" and "Bones", their Drugs Squad member, new recruit Mark Kemp, Vice Squad member Kim Finch (alias Boo-Boo).
Tropes in this series:
- Arc Villain: "Smiler" McCarthy serves as the villain for Series 1.
- As Himself: A lot of people play as themselves in the series, finding themselves at the mercy of the police officers. This includes David Seaman (beat up under the belief that he was part of a intricate plan involving "Smiler" McCarthy).
- Minority Police Officer: Garry Barwick, the group's Deep Undercover Agent, is Black.
- Mockumentary: An early pre-The Office (UK) example focusing on the day-to-day lives of a group of incompetent police officers.
- Nepotism: Mark Kemp is implied to have only become part of the group because he's the Commissioner's nephew, not helped by the fact that he's very incompetent.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Strings" and "Bones".
- Operation Title: "Operation Good Guys" refers to the police's attempts to bring down McCarthy the Teflon Don by bringing together people from all the parts of the force.
- Police Are Useless: The whole point of the series is to show how incompetent the police can be at times, starting when they run over a woman by mistake.
- Punk In The Truck: In the second episode, an idea put forward has one of the members of the team hide in a car trunk so that they could have extra eyes on a drug trade. Unfortunately, breathing holes are neglected, leading to the member beginning to complain about not being able to breathe over the radio and ruining said drug trade when the dealers realize that they're dealing with members of the police force..
The Peter Principle is a sitcom from the BBC which ran from 1996-2000. The show is set in the fictional Country and Provincial branch and stars Jim Broadbent as Peter Duffley, a Pointy-Haired Boss who somehow manages to keep his position. Assisting him is his Hyper-Competent Sidekick Susan, the dedicated David, Geoffrey, Bradley, Iris, and Brenda.
Series 2 introduces some new characters, including Barbara, who is a firm believer of Sleeping Their Way to the Top, and the Nervous Wreck Evelyn.
Tropes in this series:
- Ascended Exta: Evelyn goes from an One-Shot Character charity worker in the Series 1 episode "Insecurity" to one of the workers in Series 2.
- Bank Robbery: "Insecurity" seems to start when the bank is robbed by two people wearing animal masks... until it cuts to Susan and Peter talking to David, where Susan clarifies that Peter is being an Unreliable Narrator in that regard - in reality, Peter mistook two charity workers asking for money as bank robbers.
- Black Comedy Pet Death: Peter accidentally swallowing a pet goldfish in "Bank Holiday" whilst drinking from the fishbowl.
- Bumbling Sidekick: Bradley manages to outclass Peter in the dumb department, to the point that Susan calls him an "amoeba in a nylon suit".
- Chained Heat: In "The Midas Touch", both Susan and Peter handcuff themselves to the same suitcase. Unfortunately for them, the keys to the handcuff are safe in the suitcase and Peter forgot the combination lock. Susan is thus forced to go to dinner with David whilst hiding Peter under a table.
- Convience Store Gift Shopping: In "Health Matters", the staff have given several gifts and some money for an old cleaner called Mrs. Moss who is leaving her job. Unfortunately, Peter has used it all to pay for dinner, so he and Bradley grab the nearest things they can find in his office, such as a plant and an ashtray, and give it to the cleaner. Making matters worse, one of the things picked up by accident is a bag of puke.
- Cringe Comedy: The comedy of the show comes from watching Peter make stupider and stupider decisions until the whole thing collapses on him in the most embarrassing way possible.
- Death Faked for You: In the pilot, Susan heads off to her aunt's, Peter is given a meeting from David, who informs him that a meeting he wanted to go to has been moved forward. So that he can join instead of Susan, he claims that her aunt has passed away. This leads to a One Dialogue, Two Conversations where Susan and David talk to each other, with David believing that she's talking about the funeral and Susan thinking that David is talking about her trip with the aunt.
- Deadpan Snarker: Geoffrey - you need it when you have a boss like Peter.Geoffrey: Well, if Brenda's off, I'm off.Peter: No Geoffrey, don't go! Think of all the favors I've done for you.Geoffrey: (Beat) Done that. See you tomorrow.
- Ditzy Secretary: Iris, whilst competent at her role as a secretary, is a bit dim nonetheless.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Whilst Bradley is dumb, sometimes, his solutions help clear up the plot:
- In "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", he's the one to suggest that the videotape of the car park is used so that Peter's name is cleared, although Peter is quite embarrassed.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Aside from the different cast in the first episode, Peter's surname is Duff rather than Duffley.
- Epunymous Title: A play on the famous management title The Peter Princple starring a man named Peter Duffley.
- Fake Static: When Peter is faced with a threatening customer on the phone, he ends it by pretending that there's static, rubbing his hands against the receiver to emphasize the point.
- Fancy Chairs: The Executive and Executive-Plus swivel chairs in "Bank Holiday", with the Executive Chair, in particular, having an ability to readjust itself.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: "The Midas Touch" begins with Peter trying to cover up the fact that he hadn't bought Iris a ticket and gets more and more ridiculous over time, including faking an investment into a company whose stocks then go up.
- Foreshadowing: At the start of "Bank Holiday", Iris recounts how she got trapped between the doors of the bank and was only saved by Susan. This sets up Peter getting locked there as well.
- The Ghost: Peter has a wife, Marjorie, and a son, Marty, but neither are ever seen. Even in a scene where he gets into bed with Marjorie, she is covered up by a duvet.
- Headphones Mean Isolation: In "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", Iris wants Bradley to deliver a Valentine's letter for her. Unfortunately, he has decided to put on some headphones and he hears nothing of what she tries to tell him, leading to a mix-up.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Susan to Peter - whilst Peter is an idiot, everyone is in agreement that Susan is the real intelligent boss of the bank.
- Manchild: Bradley - in one episode, he shows excitement for a bouncy castle, whilst another has him going to a Laserquest for his birthday.
- Market-Based Title: Promoted as "The Boss" in the US.
- Mistaken for Flirting: Thanks to a mix-up in letters and a poor choice of words from Susan, Peter is led to believe that Susan wants to have a relationship with him.
- Mistaken for Gay: In "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", Peter is led to believe that Susan wants to get into a sexual relationship. He goes up to a car and tells her of his feelings for her, only for the reveal that it was one of the gay customers he denied a mortgage to, leading to everyone thinking that he's gay.
- Nervous Wreck: Evelyn spends most of her time freaking out and has horribly low self-confidence. Fridge Horror may settle in if one considers the origin of her personality to come from the time Peter accused her of being a bank robber in Series 1 and got her thrown in jail.
- Overworked Sleep: Peter in "Upwardly Mobile", courtesy of him taking on too much bank work with the handling of Hunter's Sport finances - by the time he gets to an important dinner, he's driven a guest off the road half-asleep, accidentally complements a woman, and comes in with the wrong suit. It culminates in him falling asleep and disrupting a piano performance.
- Pilot: Released in 1995, the pilot episode is notable for having an almost completely different cast from the final series, as well as a different title sequence.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Peter is an idiot, lazy, and always screws up everything. He's also the boss of the bank.
- Pop Culture Episode Title:
- "Truly Bradly Deeply" is a play on the film title Truly, Madly, Deeply.
- There's Something About Geoffrey is a play on There's Something About Mary.
- Sleeping Their Way to the Top: Barbara's belief is that one must get to the top by sleeping with others and suspects Susan of being in an affair with David for this purpose, although Susan wants to achieve her position in the workplace through merit alone.
- Swivel-Chair Antics: In "Bank Holiday", the bank gets new swivel chairs, and Peter has some difficulty adjusting his whilst a couple of people are trying to ask for a business loan from him.
- Unintentional Period Piece: In one episode, the staff come across videos of Susan and Bradley's entry for a dating agency. In addition to such places falling out of favor and being replaced by apps such as Tinder, the actual video is stored on the outdated VHS format.
- Valentine's Day Episode: "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" takes place on Valentine's Day and involves a mixup of letters from Bradley, leading to Peter thinking he's got a secret lover.
- Variations On A Theme Tune: Usually, the end credits is just the same as the Instrumental Theme Tune shown in the opening. However, "Un Homme et Une Femme", features the tune "Lola" by The Kinks instead, a reference to the transgender woman at the heart of the episode.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: In "Health Matters", Peter pukes into a bin bag (which ends up as a gift to Mrs. Moss), although thankfully, the most the audience sees is the faint shiloutte of the puke
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkened Skies is an ongoing rom hack. It starts off just like the original game, although the player is locked into a Vulpix and Murkrow. As the game goes on, however, it goes off the rails...
You can find the rom hack here.
Tropes in this game:
- Adaptational Badass: Unlike in the original, Drowzee has a partner in a Bronzor, and they are actually successful in running off with Azurill.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Murkrow begins exhibiting the Dimensional Scream a chapter earlier than in canon, first getting it when touching Spoink's pearl, although it isn't a complete version.
- All Just a Dream: Chapter 4 starts with the hero and their partner waking up in a mysterious place. It isn't until the end of the chapter however that it's revealed that it's just a hallucination of Murkrow's after having been knocked out at Mt. Bristle.
- But Thou Must!: You don't have much choice in your partner or hero - no matter what you pick in the Player Personality Quiz, the player will give you a Murkrow as your choice, and the only option you can pick during the partner selection screen is Vulpix.
- Forced Transformation: Whilst like in the original games, Murkrow is a human turned Pokemon, they are even more particularly outspoken about how much they hate the fact that they transformed into a Murkrow in particular.
- Foreshadowing: Vulpix and Murkrow initially head off to Mt. Bristle not because of Drowzee, but to apprehend a Bronzor criminal. It's forgotten once they learn from Marill that Drowzee and Azurill have vanished, but it becomes important when, after Drowzee is knocked out, Bronzor shows up to knock them both out.
- It Was a Gift: Unlike in the originals, Vulpix's Relic Fragment was gifted to her by a friend.
- Magpies As Potent: Fittingly for a Pokemon based on a crow, Murkrow is viewed with some suspicion by the others for the possibility that they might bring misfortune. Chapter 4 is even called "Two for Sorrow" and has Murkrow come across the infamous poem whilst hallucinating.
- Player Personality Quiz: Like in the originals, you are given a quiz at the beginning. Unlike in the original, however, no matter what you pick, you are forced into a Murkrow as the hero and a Vulpix as the partner.
Perfect World is a Creator/BBC sitcom starring Paul Kaye which aired from 2000 to 2001. It features a man named Bob Slay (Kaye), a man who is the personification of Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist. He is obnoxious, lazy, and ammoral, but this somehow does not stop him from having a fancy office, being well-regarded by his Manager, or having an attractive girlfriend.
Part of the supporting cast includes Vaughan, Bob's hard-working friend who is really behind all the achievements which Bob claims that he has achieved, Maggie, who can be just as shallow as Bob, but lacks his nastiness, and his sex-crazed Pointy-Haired Boss.
At the end of Series 1, Bob breaks up with his girlfriend, the model Lauren, leaving him free to pursue other conquests (albeit unsuccessfully).
Tropes in this show:
- Affectionate Nickname: Lauren usually calls Bob "Bobby" to show that she's his girlfriend.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Vaughan's parents are this to him, thanks to the fact that they're nudists.
- Aside Comment: Bob will occasionally turn towards the audience and make a remark to them regarding his situation.
- Fake Twin Gambit: "Tarquin" is about Bob making up a fake twin named Tarquin when he criticizes his job in front of a woman intending to review his work, which becomes problematic when he is asked to bring his "brother" to a business meeting
- Got the Whole World in My Hand: The opening credits of the show depict Bob playing around with a model of the Earth and spinning it on one of his pinkies, emphasizing how the world is his oyster.
- Karma Houdini: Despite his annoying behavior, the worst thing which happens to Bob is that his girlfriend breaks up with him in "Love".
- Lousy Lovers Are Losers: In "Tarquin", Bob has sex with a woman whilst passing himself off as his fake twin brother. When he asks how good the brother was in bed on a scale of 1 to 10, he is told that he rates either a 2 or a 3. Fitting, seeing as he's immoral and lazy.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Bob's boss is obsessed with sex, even pissing off Bob's possible mother-in-law just because he is too flirtatious with her, but this is used to play up his eccentricity and is Played for Laughs.
- Meet the In-Laws: The plot of "Parents" is about Bob being introduced to the parents of his girlfriend Lauren. At first, Bob proves to be embarrassing, which actually pleases Lauren as she's tired of her boyfriends sucking up to them. However, Bob discovers from Maggie that they are very rich, convincing him to try to get back in their graces.
- Parental Abandonment: Bob was abandoned by his parents when he was a baby at Sainsbury's, providing a Freudian Excuse for why he is a git.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Bob's boss is a sex-crazed eccentric who fails to realize just how much of a git that Bob is.
- Ridiculous Procastinator: Bob is so lazy he'll leave his work until the very day he needs to hand it in, and even then, he'll struggle to work on it, as seen in "Deadline". By the time he manages to start working on it, he is called up early, although the meeting is postponed.
- Stealing the Credit: "Charity" shows that Bob is perfectly willing to take credit for work done dominantly by another person, such as Vaughan.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Bob has one in "Deadline" when he gets into an elevator packed to the brim with other business people, where he loudly announces that someone has farted before annoying the rest of them.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Bob is immoral, lazy, and obnoxious. He is also our main protagonist.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In "Tarquin", Bob is forced to bring his twin brother to him on a dinner. Problem is that the twin was made up, so he attempts to cover for the missing twin by faking a severe car accident, which turns into several leg injuries when Vaughn goes overboard. He is annoyed with this, but is able to use this as an excuse to cover up the fact that he was cheating on his girlfriend, as well as convincing Lauren to drop the vegetarian diet she was forcing him on.
Joint Account
Tropes in this show:
- Alliterative Name: Belinda Braithwaite
- House Husband: A rare early example with David, who largely confines himself to doing menial tasks at home whilst his wife is the breadwinner through her job at a bank.
- Just the Introduction to the Opposites: In this case, it's the man who does the housework rather than the woman, who has a job as a bank manager. Whilst more normal in the modern day, at the time of this sitcom's airing, this was a fairly atypical inversion.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Ned, who makes it perfectly clear to Belinda in his first scene that he thinks that women shouldn't be bank managers.
Tropes in A Little Night Music:
- Driven to Suicide: The fic starts when Angela, feeling like she is ignored by everyone, decides to kill herself, leading to her being reincarnated as an Eevee.
- Abusive Parents: Angela's parents spend their disability money getting drunk, ignore her, emotionally blackmail her into not becoming a trainer, and tell her to her face that she's a mistake, which is one of the reasons why she chooses to kill herself. Angela even recounts an incident where they dumped her into the water and left her to swim back to the shore of Petalberg, even though Angela couldn't swim.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: In Chapter 15, Michael reveals that he had a twin brother called Antony, but he died a mere few minutes after his birth. He admits that he still feels sad when he talks about him and wonders what might have been.
- Bald of Evil: Donny is a teenager who have shaved his head bald. He's also an insane asshole who treats Angela poorly and forces another woman to look like Angela. His final moments even have him try to kill Michael allegedly for taking Angela away from him.
- The Cynic: Angela doesn't have a bright outlook on life thanks to her upbringing. Rush even points out that her attitude is quite different from most Eevee, which is how he figures out that she used to be human.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Rush the Mudkip was bullied by a Marshtomp in his clan, kidnapped by abusive humans, and kicked out by his own clan after he managed to return to them for leading the humans, who murdered most of the clan, to them.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to the Pokémon franchise, featuring subjects as dark as suicide, parental abuse, and death.
- Disney Villain Death: After trying to kill Michael, Donny's death comes about as a result of falling off of a balcony, although it that didin't do him in, the fact that Michael had slashed him across the throat would have.
- Forced Transformation: Angela is forcefully reincarnated as an Eevee after killing herself. For a long time after, she rather hates her new body, finding it weak and useless. The fact that she can't communicate with humans (although she still smells like one) and has poorer ngiht vision doesn't help.
- Hellhole Prison: Isole Prison is described as a nasty place -situated in the middle of nowhere, with only three people ever managing to escape from it (and it ended with their bloated bodies in the middle of the sea), the prisoners are shut up in cement cells and tied up with shackles. It's such a hellhole that even the guards suffer for it, with high suicide rates amongst them.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Angela meets Enfer the Growlithe, who quickly realises that she used to be a human. She sobs to Angela about her suicide, a fact that Angela notes she never told her about.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Played With, as Rush is rather old for a Mudkip, but he has no desire to evolve into a Marshtomp after a traumatic incident with his previous pack.
- Reincarnated as a Non-Humanoid: It's actually fairly common in this fic for humans to reincarnate as Pokemon upon dying.
- After her death by suicide, the human Angela is reincarnated as the non-human Eevee. This naturally leads to Language Barrier issues.
- Enfer the Growlithe used to be a woman named Anna Kendle, who was killed by her husband for spending over his determined limit on a Growlithe figure.
- Scars Are Forever: Rush has a distinct scar on his tail which makes it look forked. Chapter 20 explains why - he was captured by abusive humans, with a scar being applied to his tail with a nail because they considered him weak. It wasn't the only burn-related injury he got during that period, but it was the only one which didn't heal.
- Sluggish Sloths: Louis 3 is a Slakoth who prefers sitting and drooling and is rather brain-dead. Well, until she is given pot, at which point she subverts the trope by being rather hyperactive.
- Stumbling in the New Form: Angela has difficulty walking around in the quadruped form of an Eevee, not helped by the fact that she became a baby version of it. It ends up taking her five days for her to get used to it.
- Take Our Word for It: Tagger did something involving Cold-Blooded Torture on Angela's mother, but Angela refused to divulge the details, fearful that it would give the readers nightmares. On a similar note, she also refuses to say in any detail the state of her mother's body at the end, only that it was in worse shape than her father's.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: According to Enfer, Louis began smoking at the age of 10 and was drinking and taking drugs by his teen years.
Special Episode 0: In a Dark Past is a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers ROM Hack released in 2022. Set in the style of the official special episodes, it details how Grovyle and Dusknoir first met as a Treecko and Duskull respectively. Starting out as a relationship of friendliness, things soon change when Darkrai wants someone easily manipulable to maintain his desired future of darkness.
Tropes in this ROM Hack:
- Ax-Crazy: Rampardos is rather crazy and will casually kill anyone, such as the Omastar brothers and Kabutops if need be. It's enough that even Darkrai is impressed with how evil he is.
- Backstory: This fic covers the story of how Dusknoir and Grovyle first met, how Dusknoir came to work for Primal Dialga, and how he and Grovyle turned on each other.
- Bee Afraid: Cherrim encounters a group of seemingly friendly Combee. In truth, they are only putting on a facade so that their Queen can attack and kill her, a danger that Espeon recognizes and saves Cherrim from.
- Darker and Edgier: Even compared to the Dark Future scenes in the original, this one ups the ante, adding Pokemon deaths and cannibalism to the mix.
- Death Is Gray: A Pokemon's sprite going monochrome is used to indicate that they've died in this hack, such as with Espeon's partners, Kabutops, and the Omastar brothers.
- Delicate and Sickly: Thanks to being attacked by Rhyperior, Minun is first introduced in a coma, with Espeon unsure whether he will survive or not and Plusle worried sick for him. Thankfully, he eventually wakes up.
- The Dragon: As this is before Dusknoir became Dialga's henchmen, here's it's shown to be a Rampardos. However, said Rampardos' insanity and desire for power means that Darkrai, the real mind behind Dialga, is looking for a replacement.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The fight against Vespiquen and her Combees is not intended to be defeated due to how strong Vespiquen is - if you do beat them, there will be an Author's note expressing surprise that the player defeated them and that they do intend to put in an alternative reward scene for the final release of the game.
- People Puppets: It's revealed that the Primal Dialga of the future is being controlled by Darkrai, although not without difficulty. This lasts until Rampardos attacks Dialga, at which point, Darkrai leaves Dialga's essence at Temporal Tower and hides the body elsewhere.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: This ROM hack covers how Dusknoir went from a helpful Duskull who is eventually convinced to change the future for the better to the Dusknoir who actively tries to maintain the present future. Whilst the Heel–Face Turn is yet to happen, there are already several hints of what is to come, such as Espeon's vision of his future villainous self.
- The Starscream: Rampardos constantly schemes to get power from his boss Primal Dialga, to the point of actively using Head Smash on the Legendary to get it for himself. It's part of the reason why Darkrai, who is really in control of Primal Dialga at this point, wants a new middleman.
- Tragic Monster: In the future, Rhyperior of Team Raiders has undergone such a Sanity Slippage so severe that he has been reduced to mindlessly attacking anyone who stands in his way and can only speak in Pokémon Speak. After being defeated, he briefly recalls his former partners before fainting, with Duskull feeling sorry for him.
Faith In The Future is a sitcom by LWT which aired from 1995 to 1998. A Sequel Series to the earlier Second Thoughts, it focuses on Faith (Lynda Bellingham), now having split from Bill for good, enjoying life as a single woman. However, her plans are ruined when Hannah (Julia Sawalha) returns home intending to live with her mother again. This, plus issues such as menopause and lover issues, ensures that Faith is going to have a chaotic time in front of her.
Also part of the cast is Paul (Jeff Rawle), Faith's off-and-on boyfriend, and Jools (Charlie Creed-Miles in Series 1, Simon Pegg in Series 2), a Dogged Nice Guy who only has eyes for Hannah. Series 3 introduces a new character in Zoe (Susannah Wise), Faith's long-lost daughter whom she gave up for adoption.
Tropes in this series:
- Demoted to Extra: Joe from Second Thoughts goes from a regular character to a One-Shot Character here.
- Sequel Non-Entity: Neither Bill nor Liza from Second Thoughts make any appearances in this series despite their previous relevance.
The Upper Hand is a Foreign Remake of ''Who's the Boss?' which aired on Creator/ITV from 1990 to 1996. As in the original series, it focuses on a widower, this time called Charlie Burrows (Joe McGann), who moves from a deprived area in London to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire to provide a better life for his daughter Joanna (Kellie Bright). He takes a job as housekeeper for Caroline Wheatley (Diana Weston) and quickly becomes a father figure for her son Tom (William Puttock). Also part of the cast is the man-eater Laura West (Honor Blackman).
Much like the original, much time was focused on the Will They or Won't They? relationship between Charlie and Caroline, although unlike the original, this got a more concrete resolution, with both getting married and being depicted in the final series as husband and wife.
Tropes in this series:
- Adaptational Job Change: In Who's the Boss, Anthony was a baseballer, being a former second baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals. Here, his counterpart Charlie was a footballer for a First Division club.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the original, Anthony and Angela's relationship eventually ended with them admitting love but nevertheless ended on an ambiguous note with neither marrying each other. Here, their counterparts Charlie and Caroline actually do end up marrying, and we get a showcase of them as husband and wife in the final series.
- Animal Lover: Tom is a massive fan of reptiles and is first seen keeping a pet snake called Sydney.
- Camping Episode: "Dinner for Two" is this for Tom, Joanna, and Laura, focusing on a camping trip to Virginia Water.
- Christmas Episode: "Requiem" is set on Christmas and takes a sadder approach to the usual idea, featuring Charlie's struggle to move on from the death of his father.
- The City vs. the Country: Charlie moves from the city of London to the more countryside area of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire to provide a better life for his daughter. The juxtaposition is immediately obvious - whilst London is depicted as a warzone filled with drunks and skinheads, Henley-on-Thames is shown to be much more peaceful.
- Disappeared Dad: Tom's father is absent from his life, spending his time far away on expeditions. Whilst said father does eventually return, he struggles to cope with settling down, and he ends up divorcing from Caroline and largely vanishing from Tom's life.
- Just the Introduction to the Opposites: It's Charlie who is the housekeeper of the household and Caroline who can't cook and is the breadwinner. Naturally, there is some comedy made out of the inverted gender reversal roles, with Caroline needing to be warmed up to the idea of a man doing stereotypical women's work.
- Marry the Nanny: Charlie is intially hired as the housekeeper for Caroline. They soon fall into a Will They or Won't They? relationship and by the end of Series 6, they end up marrying.
- Missing Mum: Joanna's mother died around a young age, leaving her without a suitable female role model.
- Mythology Gag: One Series 5 episode is named for the show that this one is a Foreign Remake of, Who's the Boss?.
- Parental Substitute: As in the original, Charlie ends up becoming a substitute father to Tom and Caroline a substitute mother to Joanna. After their marriage at the end of Series 6, they become stepfather and stepmother respectively.
- Really Gets Around: Laura, a man-eating Silver Vixen who dates a string of men throughout the series. The series in fact starts partially because Laura finds Charlie sexy, driving her to convince Caroline to keep him on as housekeeper.
- Remake Cameo: Katherine Helmond, who played Mona in Who's the Boss?, appears in the episode "Tunnel of Love" as Madame Alexandra.
- The Runaway: In "Caroline's First Fight", where Joanna runs back to her old home in London with an enamored Tom in tow.
- Shower of Awkward: The major drama of "Briefless Encounter", where Charlie ends up stumbling across Caroline naked whilst she's using the bath.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Caroline appears to be in a romantic relationship with her boss Simon in the first episode, with both sharing passionate kisses. It's soon revealed that Caroline thinks her chance of becoming a creative director hinges on spending a weekend away with Simon, with Charlie managing to convince her that she can get the job on her own merit.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Inverted in the case of Charlie, who is told by Caroline that she was expecting a female to take up the housekeeping duties and that she wouldn't be willing to accept a man. Thankfully, Caroline soon warms up to the idea.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Joanna starts out as a rather tomboyish girl, but gradually shows a more girlish nature, nurtured by her Parental Substitute (and eventual stepmother) Caroline.
- Variations on a Theme Song: "Wheels" sees the normal Instrumental Theme Tune replaced with "You to Me Are Everything" by The Real Thing.
Ed Stone Is Dead
Tropes in this series:
- Celestial Bureaucracy: Nigel introduces himself as being the representative for death in the UK South East Mortality Division (specifically its Regional Sub Manager). There's also the reference of a Head Office, which Nigel hasn't bothered to memo yet regarding his idea of resurrecting Ed.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Nigel is a genuinely nice guy in spite of being a Grim Reaper, having an interest in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and reviving Ed from the dead.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Ed becomes a form of Revenant Zombie thanks to Nigel freezing him at the moment of his death. He can't go near flames (or more than 6 feet underground), scavengers are a risk, and most of his bodily functions, including being able to taste things, are gone, but he doesn't have to age either.
- Punny Name: Ed Stone, a play on "headstone". Also counts as a Meaningful Name, considering his death and resurrection.
A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures
In 2012, a sequel to the movie was released, called A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise. This was followed up by a TV series, Sammy & Co, which ran for two series from 2015 to 2017.
Tropes in this movie:
- Action Girl: Vera, who is able to stand down, punch away, and chase off a shark without any bother whatsoever.
- Babies Ever After: A variation in that the movie ends with Sammy, Shelley, and Ray becoming grandparents.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool : One scene features Sammy and Ray going up to a glowing jellyfish in the dark. Whilst Ray sees it as food, trying to eat it, Sammy is fascinated by the jellyfish.
- Blown Upward by a Blowhole: One scene features Sammy and Ray on top of a whale. When Sammy unknowingly pushs Ray down on top of the blowhole, they are quickly ejected into the air by a blast of water.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sammy directly speaks to the audience when telling his story.
- Captain Oblivious: Sammy and Ray don't find out for a while just how dangerous the ocean really can be, with one scene showing a marine animal about to eat them before being chased away by a shark, with neither turtles even realising what happened. The fact that they spent their early years on a raft help matters.
- Distressed Dude: Both Sammy and Ray end up captured in fishing nets. Sammy tries to escape only to get caught between the boat and a box,
- Feathered Fiend: A seagull plucks Sammy out of his birthing nest with the intent to eat him, only letting go when Sammy spits on its face. Shelley faces a similar fate, only being freed after Sammy's spit causes the seagull holding him to collide with the one holding her.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: After being thrown off a human fishing boat, Sammy is woken up by a dolphin, who helpfully gets him back up to the surface.
- Green Aesop: Most of the challenges that the turtles face are man-made in nature, including oil spills, netting, and contamination of the ocean with rubbish.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Sammy ends up being captured by several hippies and kept as a pet by them with the intention of breeding them, to the point that they release Vera because she and Sammy don't end up sharing the same aura which would apparently allow them to mate. The hippieness is largely conveyed through clothing, use of the peace symbol, and a strong connection with nature. Sammy is eventually returned to the ocean when the hippies are arrested by the police.
- Nightmare Sequence: Sammy has a nightmare on the first night of his life, featuring Shelley being attacked by a seagull just as she was encouraging him to move.
- "Pan from the Sky" Beginning: The movie begins with a shot of the sky before panning down to the beach where an Adult Sammy provides the story.
- Puppy Love: Sammy gains feelings for Shelley minutes after he hatches from his egg. They're strong enough that even decades into his life, long after he saw Shelley vanish from his life in his infancy, he still holds feelings for her.
- Threatening Shark: Sammy rediscovers Shelley when she is being chased by a shark. Thankfully, Vera is able to chase off the shark.
- Walking the Earth: Sammy for the most part simply travels the World's oceans, firstly on a raft before swimming on his own.
- Defend Command: It is possible for a monster to defend themselves and cut damage from an attack by pressing in the displayed direction on the control pad.
- Dream Intro: The game starts with the main character getting a Starter Mon and coming into contact with a vicious Rock-type monsters who immediately destroys their monster. It is only then that they wake up in class, laughing off the idea that them, who isn't Neo Seeds, could have a Monster.
- Invisible to Normals: Only a small amount of the population, known as the Neo-Seeds, can actually see the monsters. The player is surprised when they encounter one, as they were a Pure-Breed and the mutation required to see a monster occurs at birth.
- Palette Swap: For the most part, evolutions of monsters are just them recoloured.
- Save Spot: Energy Spots are crystal-like structures that allow the player to save.
- Starter Mon: At the beginning of the game, you are offered a choice between the Grass-type Flowerpower, Fire-type Kiticon, and Water-type Tadpolaris. They can't be obtained anywhere else, but they can be bred.
Second Thoughts is a sitcom made by LWT between 1991 and 1994. The show focuses on the Will They Wont They relationship between divorcees Bill and Faith, one which is constantly put in danger by Bill's Jerkass ex-wife Liza and Faith's two children, football-obsessed son Joe and Bratty Teenage Daughter Hannah.
A Sound-to-Screen Adaptation of the BBC Radio 4 radio series of the same name (which ran between 1988 and 1992), the series would receive a Sequel Series in 1995 called Faith in the Future, running for three series until 1998 and focusing on Faith's life after leaving Bill for good.
Tropes in this series:
- Amiable Exes: Bill still gets on well with Liza despite them being divorced, to the point that they're eventually implied to have partaken in Sex with the Ex. Surprising, considering Liza's manipulative, Jerkass personality.
- Attention Whore: Liza is obsessed with making herself the centre of attention.
- Cliffhanger: The series ends with Liza giving birth to a baby who look remarkably like Bill, heavily suggesting that Bill is going back on his relationship to Faith.
- Footsies Under The Table: In "Night Moves", Faith gives Bill a footsie under the table. Bill doesn't take it well, intitally believing a rat to have gotten up his leg.
- The Friends Who Never Hang: Liza and Faith are main members of the cast, yet it takes until the Grand Finale for a meeting to occur with each other.
- Just Friends: Bill claims this to be the case regarding his and Faith's relationship to Grace in the first episode, annoying Faith as she thought their relationship was more romantic than that.
- Manipulative Bitch: Liza, who is constantly trying to manipulate Bill's emotions to convince him to leave Faith.
- Mistaken For Relative: Not believing that Bill could have produced teenager children at such a fast rate, Grace briefly believes Hannah to be Bill's sister in "Found and Lost", causing Bill to have to correct her, as he's an only child, and confirm that they're actually Faith's children.
- Obsessive Sports Fan: Joe is so obsessed with football that it extends to the women he eventually falls in love with.
- Opposites Attract: The major drawing factor of the series - whilst Bill has no children and pets, Faith has two children and a dog. Additionally, Faith works as a freelance illustrator, whilst Joe is an art editor.
- Parent with New Paramour: The major issue regarding Faith in her relationship to Bill is the fact that she has two children in Joe and Hannah. For the most part, they're used to it, although Hannah is wary of Faith going back into a relationship and wants her to live the single life.
- Reveal Shot: In "She Who Hesitates", Faith gets a phone call from Bill. The camera is close to Bill's face as he explains to her that he's in Paris at the moment, and to get on the next plane. When Faith does agree to him, Bill begins to panic and the camera shifts angle to reveal that he's still in his office in the UK.
- Rich Bitch: Liza is a rich, glamorous woman with expensive tastes. She also constantly puts down and manipulates the others around her and is a big Attention Whore.
- Right Through the Wall: Discussed as an issue in "She Who Hesitates" when Faith points out to Joe that the walls in his house are thing enough that sounds can be heard through it.
- Sex with the Ex: The final episode heavily implies that Bill and his ex-wife Liza had sex together, as Liza gives birth to a child who looks a lot like Bill.
- Sibling Rivalry: Joe and Hannah, a pair of siblings who constantly snipe at each other.
- Staircase Tumble: In "Night Moves", Bill, in an attempt to leave the house in the middle of the night, ends up tripping on a dog bone and falling down the stairs. On the bright side, he is unharmed.
- Will They or Won't They?: The relationship between Bill and Faith is hindered by a variety of factors, including Bill's ex-wife and Faith's children and dog. Ultimately falls on "They Won't", with Bill being heavily implied to have left Faith by the time of the Sequel Series to get back together with his wife.
"No Place Like Home" is a BBC 1 sitcom which aired from 1983 to 1987.
Now that Nigel, the youngest of their four children, has gone off to university, Arthur and Beryl Crabtree are looking forward to a quiet life. This does not last long however as all of the children drift back into their house.
Examples:
- Animal Lover: Vera both loves and cares for sick animals, to the point of keeping what Arthur describes as a "menagerie" at her home.
- Awful Wedded Life: It's not hard to imagine why Lorraine wants to go back home, considering the fact that her husband Raymond is the sort of man who accidentally cuts her finger at the wedding reception, locks himself in the bathroom, and says something implied to be unpleasant to her.
- Basement-Dweller: The show focuses on the adult children of Arthur and Beryl moving back into their parents, although their reasons vary: Nigel returns because he doesn't believe himself ready to do veterinary science yet (that, and he had gotten engaged to Fiona and had previously wanted a year to think over things), Lorraine comes back after a row with her husband, Tracey comes back after breaking up with her boyfriend, and Paul reappears after he is fired from his job as a car room salesman
- Dating What Daddy Hates:
- Arthur never approved of Tracey's boyfriend due to the fact that he had a job at the library. Despite his claims that his disapproval comes from an old-school sensibility, Vera claims that he's just peeved that it's because the library didn't open until after he had bought the book. Of course, the fact that Tracey decided to move in with the boyfriend before getting married was not a positive in Arthur's eyes.
- Nigel explains to Arthur that he can't hold celebrations for his girlfriend's birthday at her house because her father has an allergy... to him.
- Housewife: Beryl has been a simple housewife since marrying Arthur, not having the qualifications to progress far in a career. "Just the Job" features her children trying to get her a job, but all the positions they find end up falling through for one reason or another.
- Nosy Neighbour: Vera is Arthur and Beryl's next-door neighbour. She's also constantly showing up at the couple's house for a variety of reasons.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: In the wake of all his children deciding to move back in, Arthur decides to try to walk out the door and leave home. He doesn't get very far.
- Second Episode Introduction: Lorraine and Raymond are mentioned in the first episode, but don't make any on-screen appearances until the second episode.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Arthur does not want Beryl to take a job. Whilst his reasoning includes the stresses of a shop job, her lack of office qualifications, and his worry about what a rejection would do to her, everyone accuses him of wanting her only for himself and calls him chauvinist. At the very least, he does have a change of heart and tries helping out by looking into a potential job as a receptionist for her.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: In fitting with her Cloudcuckoolander personality, Vera has some very odd animals she keeps, such as piranhas and parrots.
- Vacation Episode: In "Home and Away", Arthur, stressed by his children, goes on a holiday with Trevor. They don't make it very far due to Arthur's car breaking down and they end up in the hospital when, whilst hitching a ride on the back of a truck, Trevor notices that someone has nicked his car's wheels and bangs at the driver to stop... in the middle of a ton of furniture.
Good Times is an Animated Adaptation of the 1970s sitcom Good Times.
Tropes in this series:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Junior has severe difficulty focusing, best exemplified when he struggles to do maths work and ends up drawing instead.
- Book Dumb: Junior does rather poorly in school, to the point that he's repeating tenth grade for the third time, but he does show a high talent for art and is able to make very detailed paintings.
- Denser and Wackier: The original was a largely straightforward and grounded sitcom about the trials and tribulations of a working-class black family. This series includes such elements such as talking objects and animals and drug-dealing babies.
- Distant Sequel: Takes place several decades after the original, with Reggie being the grandson of James Evans.
- Fuzz Therapy: In "Black of Focus", Reggie sees his rising blood pressure go down thanks to a therapy dog trained for people with PTSD.
- Held Back in School: Junior is repeating the tenth grade for the third time when first seen.
- Soapbox Sadie: Grey has some very strong opinions on things and isn't afraid to voice them, like her belief that spam is a "pink, racist meat designed in a lab by a pink racist".
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Dalvin is a baby who gets into very mature things. Like drug-dealing and getting involved in shoot-outs.
- The Un-Favourite: Of the three children, Reggie likes Dalvin the least - whilst his siblings get to live under his roof, Reggie tells Dalvin that he isn't allowed in their house, and he doesn't have many kind words about the baby.
