My Crazy Ex is an American reality storytelling television series. This show tells the purportedly "true stories" of people who imagine themselves lucky in love, but their relationships eventually spiral out of control. The series first aired in June 2014, and lasted four seasons, ending in September 2017.
This series uses the following Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: Sometimes, an Ex is secretly acting maliciously instead of being outright insane, and does not even get punished after the episode's events.
- Based on a Great Big Lie: Quite a few of the stories featured seem too ridiculous to be true, for example much of the "tyrannical flight attendant" story in "Exposed, De-clothed & Seriously Hosed".
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Occasionally, an Ex's insanity is induced by their partner, such as the Crazy Survivalist's girlfriend wanting him to be more aware of current events, the Neat Freak's girlfriend wanting him to stop being so messy, and the Sleazy Politician's wife wanting him to do more than just sit on the couch and complain about politics.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Not with a beast, but a tree, in one segment of "Hidden Cams, Business Scams & Forest Jams".
- Bridezilla: "Deceptions, Receptions & Infections" features one, wanting to recreate the marriage of Prince William at any financial cost, and going so far as to have the somewhat rambunctious best man kidnapped.
- Complexity Addiction: Some of the plans these "Crazy Exes" do fit into this trope. Such as in "Psyched Out" where the guy wanted to break up with his girlfriend. He used the fact she believed in psychics to set up a fake psychic studio, had his other girlfriend pose as a psychic, state they were going to suffer if they stated together, then faked getting injured and getting fired to get her to leave him.
- Crazy Survivalist: One segment of "Deceptions, Receptions & Infections" is about a man that, after being encouraged by his wife to learn more about current events, becomes enthralled with disaster stories and converts their basement into a fallout bunker.
- Creepy Doll: "Rude Dummies, Ripped Tummies and Lying Hubbies" has a man attempt to build up his confidence with a ventriloquist dummy which he grows overly attached to, to the point that he learns to operate it with his...lower extremities.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Tom, from a segment of "Mortified, Terrified & Stupefied", was turned down for the Marines after all his old Scout friends got accepted. At first, he finds purpose feuding with a sorority house next door that's pestering his girlfriend...but then he ends up joining them, to feel a sense of camaraderie. The girls accept at first, mainly just so they can rent his house out to other sorority sisters.
- Dramatization: The majority of episodes are presented as reenactments based on accounts from (supposedly) real people, with some details altered for their protection...and, of course, for the audience's amusement.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: There's a fitness guru in "Rude Dummies, Ripped Tummies and Lying Hubbies" that acts like one, turning a lazy man into a fitness-crazed jock willing to try anything to improve himself, such as drinking squid ink and breastfeeding.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Many of the "Crazy Exs" usually only become crazy after their partner tries to help them and he/she get WAY too into it.
- How We Got Here: Most segments begin with one person in the relationship about to discover something crazy, before a counter of "Days into the relationship" ticks back and that person narrates how it happened.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode consists of three words or phrases, each describing one segment, as well as the words being similar in some way (such as rhyming, or alliteration).
- Lightning Can Do Anything: It supposedly gave an Ex named Rod clairvoyance and the ability to talk to the dead...well, until the reveal that he faked it with the help of a nurse, to convince his current girlfriend to break up with him.
- Loony Fan: One segment of "Compulsions, Confessions & Obsessions" has a female Ex turn into this after becoming addicted to a cancelled sci-fi show, to the point that she kidnaps one of its writers to try and convince him to continue the series.
- Mafia Princess: One of the Exes in "Impersonating, Humiliating & Vibrating" plays up this image for attention, even though her father is just an ordinary butcher with a similar name to a convicted mobster.
- Meta Twist: In at least one episode, the "crazy" one in the relationship was actually the narrator instead of their Ex.
- Mistaken for Junkie: One of the exes in "Hidden Cams, Business Scams & Forest Jams" is a botanist whose girlfriend starts to suspect is secretly an illegal marijuana dealer due to some suspicious sales and a map with a spot marked "Mary Jane" (a slang term for the substance). It turns out he's a Dendrophile (sexually attracted to plants), whose odd sales were helping others in his subculture, and "Mary Jane" is the name he gave to a tree he's caught having sex with.
- Mistaken for Special Guest: Happens twice in "Gimmicks, Mimics, and Academics", though both cases has the impostor purposely passing himself off as the real deal. First is with a director's assistant passing himself off as his Broadway hit boss, and second is with an audio assistant whose voice is similar to a radio DJ he works for.
- Neat Freak: In "Fumigated, Manipulated and Inseminated", a woman scaring her partner out of being a slob with a documentary about mites turns him into this, and he nearly burns down their house when trying to cleanse it.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: In the first segment of "Gimmicks, Mimics, and Academics", a girl convinces an aspiring novelist to use a typewriter (claiming he would be just like Ernest Hemingway) so that there's a sole copy of his work, which she later pretends to burn and then publishes under her own name after breaking up with him.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Rod of "Fumigated, Manipulated and Inseminated" claims to become clairvoyant after being struck by lightning. It turns out to be a ploy so that he could break up with his fiance and date the nurse that treated his injuries.
- Office Romance: One of the featured couples in "Slander, Dander and Pander" is a businesswoman who hires, and then sleeps with, a former high school jock she had a crush on. It ends badly because he planned to get fired from the start and then blackmail her for a higher severance package.
- Phony Veteran: In "Camera Plants, Patriotic Rants and Yoga Pants", one of the crazy Exes faked being in the military to seem more manly and seductive, as well as to explain long absences when dating multiple women.
- Pun: Each segment of an episode has its own title, usually being a pun related to its events; for example, "Lightning Rod" in "Fumigated, Manipulated and Inseminated", which is the segment where an Ex named Rod becomes clairvoyant after getting struck by lightning.
- Slave Brand: Tom, from "Mortified, Terrified & Stupefied", willingly gets branded with a Delta sign on his butt to pledge allegiance to a sorority of teenage girls. It ends up infected, and the girls kick him out when he complains.
- Sleazy Politician: In "Falsifying, Mortifying & Electrifying", a woman suggests that her constantly-complaining husband run for mayor to change things, and it leads to him turning into this. He goes as far as to accuse his opponent of sleeping with his own wife, to gain sympathy from voters.
- Subculture of the Week:
- "Hidden Cams, Business Scams & Forest Jams" had one of the Exes be a Dendrophile, AKA someone who's attracted to plants.
- "Sexed, Perplexed, and Unfortunate Texts" had a woman and her boyfriend end up at the wrong address and winding up at a (rather stereotypically-portrayed) furry party. The boyfriend ends up becoming a (stereotypical) furry.
- Thrill Seeker: One segment of "Falsifying, Mortifying & Electrifying" features a man that becomes addicted to trying to achieve dangerous World Records. He eventually succeeds...at "most trips to a hospital emergency ward within 24 hours".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: "Exposed, De-clothed & Seriously Hosed" ends with the man bound & gagged in his seat and his girlfriend sedated because a crazy flight attendant had a crush on him. Then it goes to the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue without stating what happened to them afterwards, or what happened to said flight attendant.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Each segment ends with some brief text stating what happened to both sides of the relationship after the break-up.
- Yoko Oh No: Played with in one segment of "Impersonating, Humiliating & Vibrating", in which a girl seduces and separates a member of a band because she thinks the band sounds better without him. Ironically, following the break-up, he becomes a successful solo artist while the rest of the band (plus the ex, who married the guitarist) remains in mediocrity.
- You're Drinking Breast Milk: In "Rude Dummies, Ripped Tummies and Lying Hubbies", the fitness guru convinces the ex to join him in drinking milk right out of a recent mother that gave her consent (in exchange for cash), which freaks out the narrator and ends the relationship. Both men end up getting sick from the lactose.
- Zombie Apocalypse: A fake one is set up to prank the Crazy Survivalist in "Deceptions, Receptions & Infections" and scare him straight. He ends up freaking out, locking himself in his bunker while leaving his wife outside, and attacking the firemen called in to bust him out.
