Markup View

Author: Psychobabble6

Jul 15th 2011 at 6:02:24 PM

* Happens a few times in ''That70sShow''. Once in a very early episode in which Eric goes to Donna's house in the middle of the night while her parents are away to find that they've come home early. And then again when Donna and Eric take advantage of having the house to themselves, when all of the other characters come home almost immediately, much earlier than anticipated. And yet again when Eric has "borrowed" his dad's car and relaxes, glad that he has so much time to clean up - but he learns that he only has forty minutes.
* DrakeAndJosh turn the house into an inn while their parents are away, and it becomes a monumental affair. The parents call the boys to tell them that they're coming home early. They clean it up in time, but get busted anyway.

I'm certain there are others I'm not thinking of. Doesn't this happen in the ''FairlyOddparents'' once? I'm sort of floored that we don't have this one. SeenItAMillionTimes.

I feel like most of the examples are going to fall into two broad categories. There's the more dramatic kind where the cheating husband/wife is caught by their spouse coming home early. Then there's the more sitcom-y version of kids doing something reckless while their parents are away and have to clean up the trashed house in time before they're caught, usually given fair warning.

Don't know if fair warning counts in this case. Does it? I feel like it still fits the spirit of the trope. Not saying that there aren't other ways for this to happen - it's such a broad topic - but just saying that those seem like the most common versions.