The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
Find a Trope:
openCharacter devolution in dramas Live Action TV
I'm re-watching BSG currently. Even though I knew it wass coming, I again got crazy frustrated by some of the characters who start out as competent and then lose 10 IQ points per episode, ending up as whiny idiots who shift their loyalties every five minutes. I found similar decay of characters in The Expanse, ST:Disco, Fringe, etc (degrees may vary). No clear motivation/drive, just doing a random, detrimental thing, shouting, regretting, apologizing, then immediately doing this all over again, only faster and more stupid.
In a sitcom I think its okay to turn your main cast into caricatures (Joey from Friends as prime example), but in a drama IMO its just an easy out to suddenly create tension.
Am I alone on this, and if not, is there a name for it?
openFake kidnapping Live Action TV
A person steals cell phones from people going into a movie theater (no one out side will see them for a couple hours). He then uses the cell phone to call the victim's family, claiming that the victim was kidnapped, and orders that the ransom be paid very soon (it must be paid before the cell phone's owner comes out of the theater, revealing the kidnapping to be fake).
openArrest the right person by mistake Live Action TV
A man is arrested, by his own confession, for running a Ponzi scheme. The police believe he's also guilty of murder; to pressure him to admit that, they arrest his wife. In the process of her arrest, they naturally process her fingerprints; turns out a fingerprint at the scene of the murder is hers.
Edited by Someone1981openUnintended victim of parents Live Action TV
A man runs a hedge fund, his daughter invests in it and looses all her money. Then her father is sent to prison for his crimes with the fund and its investors, and his wife for the murder of a reporter who would have told the world about it. Now the daughter has no money, and is being threatened by other investors in her father's fund.
openHe can't be prejudiced against them, his mother is one Live Action TV
Three teenagers have been assaulting Hispanic illegal immigrants, and ended up killing a Hispanic who they thought was illegal. The mother of one of them (the mother was born in Argentina) said that there is no way her son would possibly be attacking Hispanics.
openCheck the DA's record for ulterior motive Live Action TV
A group of teenagers are on trial for a murder and an assault, each against a different Hispanic who they believed at the time are illegal immigrants (the murdered guy is actually a citizen). Someone apparently had gone through the DA's own personal history, and discovered that, during his divorce 20 years earlier, an illegal immigrant was hired as a nanny for his child. It was actually his wife who didnthe hiring, but this unknown individual has leaked to the press that the DA did it.
openI won't let you testify to that, they'll kill you Live Action TV
A husband accuses a third party of a murder his wife is suspected of. When the wife finds out, she's willing to go to prison, and tries to prevent her husband from testifying, out of fear for the husband's life.
openAdmitting the lesser part of the accusation Live Action TV
A person is suspected of throwing a brick into a recruitment center, followed byba firebomb which burned the place and killed a baby. He admits, repeatedly, that he threw in "a brick and nothing but a brick".
openCalling Out Racism Live Action TV
Is there a trope for when a character of colour calls out a white character, usually a friend, for being oblivious to their white privilege and schools them on all the additional obstacles and difficulties they face in society?
openClaims to be related to an important person Live Action TV
A person believes himself to be an illegitimate son of John F. Kennedy, and is desperate to prove it.
openStepsiblings fall in love Live Action TV
C's father and A's mother marry each other; at the time, C is 20 and A is 14. Once A is an adult, C and A fall in love with each other. According to them (reported after the parents had been murdered, but not contradicted by anything later in the episode), C's father knows and doesn't mind; they want it kept a secret from A's mother because the mother still thinks of A as her little girl and doesn't want A to date anyone.
openFedora wearing dcom best friend Live Action TV
you know that stereotype where the best friend of the main character in a disney channel original movie or disney channel show will wear a fedora, blazer, vest, maybe a tie or a scarf? Yeah what is that?
openCan't get evidence against individuals? Find a greatly exaggerated charge which doesn't require you Live Action TV
A killer gets off with no prison time. A riot breaks out in order to kill him, and ends up also killing 2 others and injuring a dozen. With no presentable evidence of who did what, the DA charges the entire group with terrorism. Of course, this charge is much more serious than what actually happenned, and allows punishing any individual participent merely for being involved, regardless of what (s)he personally did.
(In the end, the DA was convinced by the actual prosecutor to Plea Bargain down to reasonable charges of murder for those who killed the intended target and manslaughter times 2 for the others.)
Edited by Someone1981openTrope for phonecalls: Saying Hello? after they've hung up Live Action TV
Trope for phonecalls: Saying Hello? after they've hung up Live Action TV
Hey tropers Have had a look but can't see a trope for this common one I see in film and TV (most likely comedy)
Character is on the phone and the person on the other end hangs up. So Character ends up asking Hello Hello? ... or saying their name. Hello? Jerry?
AND THEN THEY LOOK AT THE PHONE
Does this trope exist on here? should it?
openTime Freezing but not really Live Action TV
Is there a version of Time Stands Still without any sci-fi elements or actual time stopping? As in, a group of characters just suddenly stop, and then resume actions later. I've seen this trope done several times, for both comedy and horror (such as in The Prisoner (1967)).
Edited by CanuckMcDuck1openPossibility ruled out due to allergy Live Action TV
A woman had apparently comitted suicide. In fact, her wool gloves have gun shot residue. Oops—ahe was extremely allergic to wool. Since her hands show no sign of an allergic reaction, the golves could only have been put on her hands after death.
openDated by the presence of an isotope Live Action TV
A claim of something being from the 1930's is proven to be incorrect by the presence of a Cesium isotope not present in the environment until 1957.
openCounterfeit wine Live Action TV
A winery sells what proports to be wine from the 1930's. However, lab results prove it couldn't possibly be from any earlier than 1957. (It's probably much more recsnt than 1957, but no more precise evidence is ever told to the audience.)
Edited by Someone1981openMisreport the cause of disappearance Live Action TV
A woman is missing, and is suspected to have been murdered. A news reporter claims the woman is still alive, and is at an undisclosed mental hospital. It eventually turns out that she was, in fact, murdered; the reporter is suspected to be involved with the murder.
Edited by Someone1981
A person on the witness stand is asked, on cross examination, about an incident several years earlier; he then basically claims all his prior testimony was a lie. It later turns out that the incident in question was a crime he comitted before becoming a US citizen; a conviction for that past crime would cause him to lose his US citizenship and be deported to Syria, while the worst he could get for changing his testimony is being sent to prison in the US where he is still guaranteed certain rights.