History Main / PaidForFamily

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': "An Indecent Family Proposal" had the Belchers' landlord promise them several rent-free months if Linda, Tina, Gene, and Louise will pretend to be his family. Why? His old flame Shelby is coming to dinner and Mr. Fischoeder knows she will only be interested in him if she thinks he's taken. HilarityEnsues.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' had the Belchers' landlord promises them several rent-free months if Linda, Tina, Gene, and Louise will pretend to be his family. Why? The One Who Got Away is coming to dinner and Mr. Fischoeder knows she will only be interested in him if she thinks he's taken. HilarityEnsues.

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': After Tim's father died [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce]] offered to adopt him, only for a Jack's will to state his previously unheard of brother was Tim's godfather. It quickly turns out that this was all orchestrated by Tim, who paid an actor to act as his uncle so he could keep his freedom and because of [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]]'s negative reaction to Bruce's offer. When Batman finds out (of course he finds out, he's Batman), he tells Tim he's proud of him and shows him how to make the fake nature of his uncle even harder to uncover, because labyrinthine scheming is [[DysfunctionJunction encouraged in that household over telling people who care about you what you really feel]].[[note]] This storyline was presumably inspired by the original early Batman story where Dick Grayson's real uncle turned up and sued for custody, but only so he could force Bruce to bribe him to give it up. This was back when Alfred was a humorously incompetent fat man, and he accidentally saved the day with one of the Penguin's old umbrellas.[[/note]]

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': After Tim's father died [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce]] offered to adopt him, only for a Jack's will to state his previously unheard of brother was Tim's godfather. It quickly turns out that this was all orchestrated by Tim, who paid an actor to act as his uncle so he could keep his freedom and because of [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]]'s negative reaction to Bruce's offer. When Batman finds out (of course he finds out, he's Batman), he tells Tim he's so proud of him he could cry, because labyrinthine scheming is [[DysfunctionJunction encouraged in that household over telling people who care about you what you really feel]].[[note]] This storyline was presumably inspired by the original early Batman story where Dick Grayson's real uncle turned up and sued for custody, but only so he could force Bruce to bribe him to give it up. This was back when Alfred was a humorously incompetent fat man, and he accidentally saved the day with one of the Penguin's old umbrellas.[[/note]]

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': After Tim's father died [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce]] offered to adopt him, only for a Jack's will to state his previously unheard of brother was Tim's godfather. It quickly turns out that this was all orchestrated by Tim, who paid an actor to act as his uncle so he could keep his freedom and because of [[ComicBook/Nightwing Dick]]'s negative reaction to Bruce's offer. When Batman finds out (of course he finds out, he's Batman), he tells Tim he's so proud of him he could cry, because labyrinthine scheming is [[DysfunctionJunction encouraged in that household over telling people who care about you what you really feel]].[[note]] This storyline was presumably inspired by the original early Batman story where Dick Grayson's real uncle turned up and sued for custody, but only so he could force Bruce to bribe him to give it up. This was back when Alfred was a humorously incompetent fat man, and he accidentally saved the day with one of the Penguin's old umbrellas.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': One origin story (can't remember the comic) for Robin had Bruce intend to adopt Robin after the death of his parents, only for an uncle of Robin's to show up, preventing adoption. It later turns out that this was all a ploy orchestrated by Robin, who paid a guy to act as his uncle so he could keep his freedom. When Batman finds out (of course he finds out, he's Batman), he tells Robin he's so proud of him he could cry, because labyrinthine scheming is [[DysfunctionJunction encouraged in that household over telling people who care about you what you really feel]].[[note]] This storyline was presumably inspired by the original early Batman story where Dick Grayson's real uncle turned up and sued for custody, but only so he could force Bruce to bribe him to give it up. This was back when Alfred was a humorously incompetent fat man, and he accidentally saved the day with one of the Penguin's old umbrellas.[[/note]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' had a parent/teacher conference where Spinelli was too embarrassed to have her family come so she paid a couple of people who did a really bad job.

* In ''Series/KingOfQueens'', Carrie Heffernan becomes mother to one of these, a "family" otherwise composed of actors which is used to present an illusion of cosy normality, employed to sell hard-to-shift houses. Carrie gets into this so much that she gets withdrawal symptoms when it ends, and the child actors playing her kids accuse her of being creepy and threaten to take out injunctions.

* ''TheFlash'': Captain Boomerang in one appearance, pays two elderly con artists he knows to play his aged parents. They testify to Boomer's good character to deflect Barry Allen's suspicions.

* ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'': In a decidedly creepy variation, in one story that has ComicBook/TheAuthority replaced by SociopathicHero CaptainErsatz versions, the Engineer has all her nanomachines removed and is brainwashed, then placed in a "family" of evil children and an abusive husband (all actors), that she will be conditioned to never leave or go against despite the abuse they heap on her. Her escape is a definite CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

'''John:''' I said, I ''said'' I saw your dad on ''Series/FantasyIsland!''
-->--''Film/MrAndMrsSmith''

* ''MrAndMrsSmith'': Mr. Smith learns his wife was an orphan, so when he asks about her parents at the wedding, she replies "Paid actor".
--> '''Mr. Smith''': [[IKnewIt I said, I said I saw your dad on]] ''Series/FantasyIsland!''

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'': As part of his plan, the Count hires an old Italian major to play the role of estranged father to the escaped murderer [[spoiler:and illegitimate son of Villefort[[note]]the man who had Edmond thrown into jail for possibly knowing too much[[/note]][[/spoiler]] Benedetto and Benedetto the dutiful son, as prince Andrea Cavalcanti, son of the very rich Count Bartolomeo Cavalcanti. This in order to get Danglars[[note]]the man who sent the letter to get Edmond arrested[[/note]] to get Andrea fianceed to his daughter (by breaking up with Morcerf's[[note]]Edmond's former love rival[[/note]] son), [[spoiler:expose Andrea as Benedetto on the day of the contract signing, and ''then'' expose Benedetto as Villefort's bastard.]] The Count takes his vengeance seriously.

* It's implied in ''{{Anime/Noir}}'' that the couple Kirika was living with in Japan to prior to [[EasyAmnesia losing her memories]] were one of these, but the specifics, including who they actually were and who hired them, is left ambiguous and we only see them in a photograph that she finds in the house where she wakes up, but it's likely they were agents of the AncientConspiracy that has hands in the rest of the plot. It'a also never established what became of her biological family.

* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' contains an example where Truman himself isn't the one hiring the family, instead it's Christof, the director of [[TrumanShowPlot the show Truman is unwittingly starring in]] hiring actors to play his family and loved ones. The actor playing Truman's father eventually quit and was "written out" by allegedly dying, this then becomes awkward when he decides to come back and gets an in-universe AssPull of how he survived that only makes Truman more suspicious that his whole life is a lie.

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'': As part of his plan, the Count hires an old Italian major to play the role of estranged father to the escaped murderer (and illegitimate son of Villefort[[spoiler:*:the man who had Edmond thrown into jail for possibly knowing too much]]) Benedetto and Benedetto the dutiful son, as prince Andrea Cavalcanti, son of the very rich Count Bartolomeo Cavalcanti. This in order to get Danglars[[note]]the man who sent the letter to get Edmond arrested[[/note]] to get Andrea fianceed to his daughter (by breaking up with Morcerf's[[note]]Edmond's former love rival[[/note]] son), [[spoiler:expose Andrea as Benedetto on the day of the contract signing, and ''then'' expose Benedetto as Villefort's bastard.]] The Count takes his vengeance seriously.
* An odd version of it occurs in Charles Stross's ''Literature/HaltingState'' where [[spoiler:Jack Reed]] is threatened with the kidnapping of the relatives whose communications he receives periodically, but he disregards the threat because [[spoiler:they've been dead for years. The communications are courtesy of a service that helps him maintain the illusion that they're still around]].

* ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'': When Oscar's rival for City Council shows up for an appearance with his family, Campaign Organizer Felix hires minority actors to play Oscar's loving family.

* ''MidsomerMurders'' has a very strange episode in which various women prostitute themselves, catering to various fetishes: one does domination S&M, another is a woman "caught" in a bear trap, waiting to be rescued by a passing hunter, and yet another is a smiling housewife awaiting her husband's return with a warm meal. The murder victim even tells her he'd want to marry her... for real.

* This is the central premise of ''SonsOfTucson''. The Gunderson boys hire Ron Snuffkin to pretend to be their dad.

* ''KenanAndKel'': Afraid it was to tell something bad the principal wanted to meet Kenan's parents, he hired a couple of (rather lousy) actors to pose as them. Kenan had to entertain the principal and his fake parents to dinner at his house and, obviously, it ended with Kenan's real parents appearing in the end.

* [[MagicalDiary Damien]] later admits that his parents are really just a couple of his servants, ordered to raise him. It's unclear on whether or not he had a happy childhood or not, since the only information you have on the matter comes from Damien himself - and he is more than willing to twist the facts to make himself look sympathetic.

* An issue of ''{{Superman}}'', when they were trying to keep PostCrisis continuity (so Lex Luthor's parents were [[SelfMadeOrphan killed when he was a boy]]) but also trying to mimic early ''{{Smallville}}'' as much as possible (so they needed a Lionel Luthor character), had Young Lex hire an actor with a [[ComicBookFantasyCasting striking resemblence]] to John Glover.

* It's implied in ''{{Anime/Noir}}'' that the couple Kirika was living with in Japan to prior to [[EasyAmnesia losing her memories]] were one of these, but the specifics, including who they actually were and who hired them, is left ambiguous and we only see them in a photograph that she finds in the house where she wakes up, but it's likely they were agents of the AncientConspiracy that has hands in the rest of the plot.

* In National Lampoon's Vacation, Clark Griswold tells The Girl in the Ferrari (Christie Brinkley) that Ellen, Russ and Audrey are his brother's family and he borrows them to pose as his family when he wants to check out the hotels in his chain(s).

* It's implied in ''{{Anime/Noir}}'' that the couple Kirika was living with in Japan to prior to [[EasyAmnesia losing her memories]] were one of these, but the specifics, including who they actually were and who hired them, is left ambiguous and we only see them in a photograph with her that she finds, but it's likely they were agents of the AncientConspiracy that has hands in the rest of the plot.

* It's implied in ''{{Anime/Noir}}'' that the couple Kirika was living with in Japan to prior to [[EasyAmnesia losing her memories]] were one of these, but the specifics, including who they actually were, is left ambiguous and we only see them in a photograph with her that she finds, but it's likely they were agents of the AncientConspiracy that has hands in the rest of the plot.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': One origin story (can't remember the comic) for Robin had Bruce intend to adopt Robin after the death of his parents, only for an uncle of Robin's to show up, preventing adoption. It later turns out that this was all a ploy orchestrated by Robin, who paid a guy to act as his uncle so he could keep his freedom. When Batman finds out (of course he finds out, he's Batman), he tells Robin he's so proud of him he could cry.
** Because labyrinthine scheming is encouraged in that household over telling people who care about you what you really feel. (This storyline was presumably inspired by the original early Batman story where Dick Grayson's real uncle turned up and sued for custody, but only so he could force Bruce to bribe him to give it up. This was back when Alfred was a humourously incompetent fat man, and he accidentally saved the day with one of the Penguin's old umbrellas.)

* One episode of ''{{JAG}}'' has a marine refusing to testify in his own defense, because he believes it will dishonour the memory of a dead friend. Vic, his lawyer, brings in the dead friend's father, who reads a letter his son sent him about how the thing that killed him was an accident waiting to happen, which gives the marine courage to tell the truth about how his friend died. [[spoiler:Both the father and the letter were fake-- Vic hired an actor to encourage his client to take the stand.]] Of course, this action being morally suspect at best, the lawyer ''does'' get called on it by his superiors.

* ''PushingDaisies'' has an episode where the murder victim is a professional friend.

--> '''Mr. Smith''': [[IKnewIt I said, I said I saw your dad on]] ''Fantasy Island!''