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A character is accused of a crime, and pursued by main investigative characters whose belief means, for the sake of the show, that the accused probably did it, unless the episode is about a mistake they made. Point being, the accused is shielded by a giant wall of 'How Dare You?'. The accused themselves denies it or people that know them/know of them refuse to hear of it not on evidentiary basis, but simply because of how important and powerful the accused is. It ends up being very circular logic, and in RL, some accounts say this is how Bernie Madoff got by for so long. Young prosecutors of a free-market bent ignored red flags because of how successful Madoff supposedly was, never questioning the basis of that success. A big phrase in the fictional version of this circumstance is something like "Do you have any idea just who I am/they are/who you're talking about?"
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Happens mostly in western live action comedies but also in some animated cartoons. Seen It A Million Times.
this is how the scene plays out person X (usually a main or supporting character) get a new guy or one shot character a drink at a party (usually a wedding but not always), problem is X had no idea new character Y was The Alcoholic ,Usually Played for Laughs.
do we have a trope page for this?
Edited by VyctorianopenNo Title Live Action TV
This may not be a trope, but I could have sworn I'd seen it around before.
Essentially, the trope is a spoiler trope in live-action casting. If a MAJOR character is played by a name actor, we are USUALLY assured that character will survive though the course of the movie or show. If a MINOR character is cast as a name actor, that character will surely return to become important later in the film/show.
If this is not currently a trope, we need to YKTTW it ASAP.
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Breakup Speech!
If it's not used anywhere other than The Big Bang Theory, it's at least lampshaded in "The Vartabedian Conundrum":
"Leonard: Oh, right, yeah, um, so, Stephanie, here’s the thing. I really like you.
Steph: Oh, God, here comes the speech.
Leonard: What speech?
Steph: I really like you, but maybe we should spend a little less time together ‘cause I need my space but I’ll call you on Tuesday, and then you never call me so I call you, but you don’t call me back and then when I run into you at the coffee shop you pretend like you’ve been having problems with your voice mail and I know that you’re lying, but I pretend like I don’t care even though I’m dying inside!
Leonard: No! No, no! I wasn’t going to say any of that. I was just going to say, I really like you.
Steph: Oh. Oh, good! ‘Cause I really like you, too.
Leonard: Terrific."
Edited by IantheGeckoopenNo Title Live Action TV
Do we have this one? Guess this is waaay obvious, but can't find it here yet; a minor character is followed into a seemingly innocuous scene or errand simply to have something bad happen to them. You know it's coming because they are just driving, or walking to the store...no other connection to the plot. Either killed, hurt badly, assaulted, lost, sees something they shouldn't, etc. Thanks everyone...am new to the site, and love it.
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Music query:
Is there a trope for rounding out the last 2-3 minutes of a show by playing a soulful song over dialog-less shots of all the characters looking moody about the Dramatic Developments of the episode?
This seems increasingly common in hour-long character-driven drama shows since 2001. Happened a fair amount on Buffy and Angel and for a current example it seems to happen almost to excess on Bones these days.
Does it seem like a cliche to anybody else? Anybody else suspect it's a filler tactic?
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I'm pretty sure I've seen this one, but I can't remember the name. It's where something's happening on the show involving T Vs (T Vs stealing minds, or anything like that), and you realize that you're watching the show ON tv and get freaked out. Anyone?
Edited by evandavis7openNo Title Live Action TV
Is there a trope for when, after a show has just sucked, lost a large amount of viewers and gets cancelled, it starts getting... tolerable? Because I think SGU is becoming whatever the hell trope this is.
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I think we know the story between Buffy and Faith by now. Faith's a new slayer, she's a bad girl fighting vampires, accidntly kills someone, goes to rape Xander, becomes evil, kills for fun, Buffy puts her in a coma. Faith wakes up, goes looking for revenge, steals Buffy's body, acts like herself in Buffy'[s body, Willow and Tara come to the rescue, Faith runs to LA and goes on a rampage to get Angel's attention, she wants him to kill her.
The point now. In Sanctuary Angel tries to get Faith to redeem herself, Buffy comes to town seeking revenge, Faith is fine with Buffy wanting to kill her but Angel basically tells Buff to piss off. Is there a trope for Buffy, the hero, acting like a trouble making bitch (I'm using Television Without Pity's description here) in this episode.
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What's the name of the trope where the opening credits show the characters doing stuff outdoors, but the show itself is rarely (if ever) or never filmed outdoors? For example, Three's Company, Laverne and Shirley, Bosom Buddies, WKRP in Cincinnati, Growing Pains, etc.
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Okay, so this was on Body Of Proof. In the episode, spermless semen was found in the victim, and Megan asked one of the guys (sorry, don't remember which one) if he can think of any single man who'd rather get a vasectomy instead of using a condom. He says no, there's no way a single man would ever get a vasectomy, and they conclude the victim absolutely must have been having an affair with a married man (she was, but that's not the point).
That sounds so much like a trope, or like it could be one if it's not, but I can't think of which one it is. I looked at Childfree Is Not Allowed, but that's definitely not it (and especially now, after the retool). It falls under Wall Banger to me, yes (especially with the hilarious story from The Baby Trap as counter-evidence), but it seems like it should be another, more specific trope.
Is there a trope for assuming that all men want kids? Like a Spear Counterpart to My Biological Clock Is Ticking, but without the time limit, since he can always just marry a woman who's still young enough to have a few once he's sown his wild oats and is finally ready to settle down? That seems to be the way they were thinking: no man wants to be childfree forever, so he'd never do anything to jeopardize his ability to have children in the future when he's good and ready. Trope?
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Is there a trope about kids on sitcoms being replaced because they're not cute anymore?
Like when the first kid gets older, another cute kid is put on the show to keep ratings up.
Example: In The Cosby Show, When Rudy got older and "less cute", Olivia was introduced.
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What would be the name of the trope used in the episode of SG-1 where Teal'c is basically dying and leaves the SGC, meeting and befriending the little girl who brings him food.
Teal'c: To show my gratitude, I have brought you a new weapon. One with increased range and firepower.
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What's it called when someone who is working for a villain (usually a scientist, engineer, computer whiz, etc) realizes the ethical ramifications or what the villain is asking them to do and refuses to continue, at which point the villain kills them? This usually happens right at the beginning of the show to establish the evilness of the villain. This happens all the time, so I feel like it has to be a trope already.
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What's it called when a TV show has a special guest star actor/actress who doesn't appear in the first half of the show and it then becomes abundantly obvious to the audience that they play a vital role in the episode? Example: Michael Shanks in Burn Notice. The first episode he's introduced? He doesn't appear until the last minute. And I was totally expecting that.
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This may touch on several tropes, but it's mainly a form of Exposition. The trope I'm looking for is when the Hero is looking for answers, and after going through a lot of trouble, he finds someone who knows what he wants to find out: the Truth.
The exposition which follows is usually something the Hero isn't supposed to know; it's secret, it's dangerous, and it's completely at odds with the 'official' story that everyone else accepts as the truth. Usually begins with "I shouldn't be telling you this."
X-Files was fond of this trope, but it's been so long ago I don't remember concrete examples. Babylon 5 used it in season three when the informant told the Command Staff about the Shadow vessel she'd seen on Mars, ending with, "Okay, now you know. They can kill me if they want." Played with in the Serenity movie when the Crew finds out the truth about the Reavers from a dead woman in a hologram. It's typical for the informer to die after imparting this knowledge to the Hero, actually — leaving them as the sole living possessor of the Truth.
Is there a name for this type of exposition scene, or should I start a new YKTTW? Do I need more examples first?
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Is there a trope that something along the lines of "screwing the boss's wife"? tried to look for it but can't find it. i'm only thinking of this cuz i JUST realized that J.D. from the Scrubs show has done this in the first season since Jordan is the ex-wife of Dr. Cox who is pretty much J.D.'s boss(technically wife because we found out later that their divorce wasn't offical) as well as Christa Miller who is Jordan's actress being the real-life wife of the creator of scrubs. I think there should be so maybe i missed it. if this trope hasn't been made i'd be somewhat disappointed
Is there a name for when, during a show or movie, there's music playing which the audience assumes to be for the sake of mood and not in the world of the show and then we are shown it is indeed coming from a source in the characters' world? Sometimes it's just a radio, but when they're really pushing for a joke, it can be an orchestra or choir that is inexplicably nearby.
I just saw this on Scrubs, but the number of possible examples must be absurdly high.