Far more sordid than it appears.
The Librarians is an Australian
Work Com produced by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. It mainly centres on Frances, who is head librarian in a particularly dysfunctional suburban library, and her utter failure to ever get anything right in her work or personal life.
- Aerosol Flamethrower - Frances' daughters improvise one from Dawn's deodorant.
- Armchair Psychology - Frances typical mode of speaking. She's almost like a Distaff Counterpart of Bill Lumbergh at times.
- Awful Wedded Life - Frances and Terry's marriage.
- Beleaguered Assistant - Nadia. Who actually gets the library in something approximating order in those times when Frances isn't around.
- Break the Cutie - Young Frances who did not deserve what happened to her. She gradually turned into someone who did.
- Butt Monkey - Dawn.
- Camp Gay - Ky Lee, whose name is a Shout Out to influential Australian gay icon Kylie Minogue.
- Caught with Your Pants Down - Frances walking in on Terry is a running joke.
- The Chew Toy - Nothing Frances ever does goes the way she wants it to. NOTHING.
- Cringe Comedy - In a similar vein to The Office.
- Deadpan Snarker - Pretty much everyone, but particularly Frances and Neil.
- Distracted by the Sexy - Frances, whenever Lachie is around and, to a lesser extent, Christine.
- Dogged Nice Guy - Neil, who is besotted with Christine, but such a useless ne'er do well that even she can do better.
- Fiction Is Not Fair - The midwife's stubborn refusal to give Christine any pain relief despite her never requesting a natural birth would have her sued for malpractise in Real Life.
- Keet - Ky Lee, who is possibly the only person in the series without malice.
- Loveable Rogue - Neil thinks he's one of these.
- Not so Different - As the series progresses, Nadia is shown to be absorbing some of Frances more unpleasant personality traits. It's implied Nadia is going to end up the same way as Frances eventually.
- No Sympathy - Frances lives and breathes this trope. Particularly towards Dawn. Whom she was responsible for crippling.
- Poor Man's Porn - Terry is caught jerking off over an underwear catalogue.
- Screaming Birth - Christine goes to absurd lengths to avoid this, but the Rule of Funny intervenes.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss - Subverted, when Frances attempts to make a move on Adrian. He's gay.
- She Who Must Not Be Seen - Frances' daughter Bernadette, while the effects of her rampant sociopathy are visible, she herself never is. Later progresses to The Voice.
- Really Gets Around / Bottle Fairy - Christine.
- Twofer Token Minority - Much to Frances dismay, she's surrounded by them: Nadia is a devoutly Muslim woman, Dawn is a paraplegic woman and Ky Lee, who is a gaysian.
- Transparent Closet - Frances is bisexual, widely assumed to be so by pretty much everyone, but deeply in denial about it on account of being a conservative Catholic.
- Tyrant Takes The Helm - Adrian, although only from Frances's point of view. Frances, to everyone else.
- Ultimate Job Security - Frances largely keeps her job as a result of exploiting loopholes in Australian employement law and convincingly portraying an image of being a morally upright Catholic woman.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist - Frances, a passive-agressive egomaniac who appears to be bigoted towards every minority group known to man.
- Zany Scheme - Neil always has one going.
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