History Narm / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/StrangerThings'':
** In "[[Recap/StrangerThingsS1E3ChapterThreeHollyJolly Holly, Jolly]]", we get a flashback of Eleven being forced to use her powers on a cat. While it makes a variety of noises, the cat makes one [[ThatPoorCat very common stock yowl]], usually seen in cartoons and comedies, which can pull you out of the otherwise tense scene.
** After all the emotion over Eleven's disappearance at the end of Season 1, it's pretty jarring when Season 2 reveals she just walked right back into our world.
** Some of Will's monologues in Season 2 about the Upside-Down and the Mind Flayer feel very stilted and theatrical, as opposed to the more naïve and childlike naturalism of the other child actors. At times, he sounds like a thirty-year-old stage actor inside a twelve-year-old's body.
** "[[Recap/StrangerThingsS2E8ChapterEightTheMindFlayer The Mind Flayer]]" lingers ominously on Bob having left his gun behind, but between the Demodogs' bullet resistance and Bob barely knowing which end to point, it's obvious to the viewers it's useless to him anyway and comes off a bit silly. (In retrospect, the point may be to show he's lacking vital situational awareness that he'd forget it, but that's not apparent in the moment.)
** A huge amount of tension is built around Will fighting the Mind Flayer's possession to give a message to the other heroes... Which turns out to be that they should close the gate they already knew full well was the cause of everything.
** While Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown continue to do a stellar job in portraying [[PuppyLove the relationship between Mike and Eleven]] in Season 2, "[[Recap/StrangerThingsS2E9ChapterNineTheGate The Gate]]" occasionally saddles the former with some very cheesy lines that sound more like [[MostWritersAreAdults something from a cliched romance film than something a kid would say]].
** The sheer fact that Billy never runs into any legal issues throughout season 2. So much about him is so ObviouslyEvil that it breaks the suspension of disbelief that no one would ever call the cops on him.
** During Billy and Steve's fight in "[[Recap/StrangerThingsS2E9ChapterNineTheGate The Gate]]", Billy breaks a plate over Steve's head. While it's likely meant to highlight just how insane Billy has gone in the moment, it comes off a bit like something out of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''.
** The first couple episodes of Season 3 really can't make up their mind on how normally Eleven can speak now. Thankfully, this clears up for the rest of the season.
** Grigori's resemblance to the Terminator seems like a nice homage, until you rewatch previous seasons and see that the actual film exists in the ''Stranger Things'' universe. The end result makes it seem like he is deliberately channeling TheAhnold in an attempt to be trendy.
** Creator/CaryElwes does a fine job as the slimy mayor Larry Kline, but his reaction to Hopper breaking his nose stands out as hilarious in an otherwise intense scene. His delivery is definitely what sells it.
--->'''Larry:''' MY NOSE! YOU BROKE MY GODDAMN NOSE!
** Will ''still'' has his bowl cut in Season 4, even though he's long since grown too old (both in and out of universe) for it to look anything but daft.
** Eleven [[spoiler: beating Angela with a roller skate]] is treated as a shocking assault and compared to [[spoiler: her apparently massacring the test subjects at the lab]], which can be hard to take seriously as it's far from the most violent thing she's done. The build-up to this moment, with her menacingly walking after Angela with ominous close-up shots of the skate in her hand, is also rather overdramatic, and is almost played like she was going to ''kill'' her.
*** Just to drive home the point, in the following episode, Angela is being helped by paramedics (as if her injuries were life-threatening) and ''every person in the roller rink'' is crowded around, gaping at the scene.
** Hopper's daring [[spoiler:escape attempt from the Russian gulag]] seems to forget Hop is just supposed to be a small-town sheriff, since he spontaneously gains superhuman-level pain resistance and immunity to cold weather. For a start, he breaks his own ankle only to continue walking, running, and even ''landing'' on it without expressing any discomfort, not even a limp, then later travels quite far through snow without any footwear. He's still not given any, even when [[spoiler:captured again]], and continues to never express discomfort over conditions that should have led to him losing his feet to frostbite.
** The big reveal that Vecna [[spoiler:is Henry Creel/001]] can be a little hard to take seriously when you realise he's delivering a dramatic, eloquent MotiveRant to an [[spoiler:eight year old child]]. And when they reunite years later, he gives ''another'' rant about what he's been doing since then.
** Vecna can use telekinesis, so the shot of him carrying Max over one shoulder is hard to take seriously.
** The scene where Will delivers a speech about being different to Mike and then turns away and starts crying fits into this trope. It's a sad moment for Will and [[spoiler:his struggle to accept his sexuality]], but it [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2401827-stranger-things has become a meme.]] Many fans were especially confused at the fact that Mike couldn't see Will obviously crying right next to him.

** A Latin-American VA-induced one is Locke's voice (Francisco Colmenero) in the Mexican Spanish dub. He can't be taken seriously once the audience realizes that his VA is the same that narrates Disney cartoons and did voiceovers for Bill Cosby, [[Characters/TheMuppetShow the Swedish Chef]], ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' and '''freaking WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}'''

** Daniel Faraday in general can be this due to his actor's over-dramatic performance, as he delivers almost every line in a ridiculously intense manner along with dramatic gestures, which makes him come off as unhinged. His dialogue doesn't help, such as in season five where he explains how time travel works to a truly absurd degree, as if the writers thought they were inventing the entire concept. "When we first met, did I have a scar on my neck? No. Because that was my past."

* Daniel Faraday in general can be this due to his actor's over-dramatic performance, as he delivers almost every line in a ridiculously intense manner along with dramatic gestures, which makes him come off as unhinged. His dialogue doesn't help, such as in season five where he explains how time travel works to a truly absurd degree, as if the writers thought they were inventing the entire concept. "When we first met, did I have a scar on my neck? No. Because that was my past."

** Half of Daniel's lines in season five, as he explains how time travel works to a truly absurd degree, until it seems like the writers literally thought they were inventing the entire concept. "When we first met, did I have a scar on my neck? No. Because that was my past."

** In Season Two, Mike confronts Susan about paying [[spoiler: his biological son, Zach]] money to go find Paul in Utah in order to keep him away from her and Julie, while lying to Mike and pretending she's helping him with the search, Susan is eventually forced to admit the truth and Mike leaves. Susan then follows him, begging for him to come back...whilst wearing a wedding dress. She stats screaming at him not to go and Mike drives away, leaving Susan bawling in the middle of the street like a baby and all the other housewives, plus her mother, come flocking to her like they're comforting a toddler who scraped her knee. Add to that it looks kind of similar to [[NauseaFuel a certain scene]] from Film/{{Bridesmaids}} and it just becomes hilariously [[{{Wangst}} wangsty.]]

* In episode 8.02 of Series/{{Dexter}}, "Every Silver Lining", the first scene is an old video of Harry talking about how he took young Dexter to a crime scene (at his request) to shock him out of his "problem". Instead of that, he says Dexter was fascinated with it, and then he starts crying. It's supposed to be heartbreaking, but it's hilarious instead.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' was not immune to this. The Dragon Orphenoch was kicking Faiz's ass and was able to do him in, but stopped after this -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLGYis7Eito a paper airplane]]...

* Creator/{{PBS}} once had a series called ''Series/{{Wishbone}}'' in which a well-read Jack Russel Terrier would dream and imagine himself as the hero of various stories and novels. A cute idea to be sure... except that this is the kind of concept that's better animated. Instead, it was live-action; Wishbone was a real dog whose thoughts were expressed as a [[{{Narrator}} running voice-over,]] and all the other characters were humans. For instance, kids would get to see an otherwise dead-serious dramatization of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' in which Mr. Darcy is a cute little dog in a suit, and everyone else is human and [[FurryConfusion acting as if Mr. Darcy being a talking dog is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary]].

** In one of the more boneheaded (sorry) episodes, Wishbone once did a series of three short stories from African American folklore. The first one was the story of Anansi, TricksterGod Spider. Fair enough, Wishbone wore an adorable spider costume. The second was a rather dramatic slave trade story. In it, winged Africans were forced onto ships to be sold, [[FauxSymbolism violently shedding their wings after being captured]]. The third one was the story of a plantation rebellion and in it, Wishbone, clad in ''a little doggie style plantation slave outfit'' liberates human actors. He even calls them "Brother". Its heart is in the right place, but it's just so bizarre.
** There was also a ''Romeo and Juliet'' episode [[InterspeciesRomance that featured Wishbone romancing a human actress]] and ended with Wishbone playing dead like dogs do with his legs stiffly sticking up in the air while the human cast talked about what a tragedy it was.
** Wishbone was playing Literature/SherlockHolmes, and at one point he trots into the scene with his voice actor laughing. Watson asks him what the matter is, and he responds in between giggles, "I can't tell you, Watson! It's too funny!" His next line should have been, "I'm really a dog!"
*** Also the scene (based on one in the original short story) where Sher-bone comes in and Watson doesn't recognize him because he's in "disguise." You want Watson to say: "Sorry. I thought you were a ''different'' talking dog."
** It gets better. Several {{novelization}}s [[RecursiveAdaptation of episodes]] were released. They featured more of the original literature's text, but still integrated Wishbone as a dog into the story. For example, in ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'', as Darnay (played by Wishbone) gets out of his coach, he muses that he needs a private moment with a tree; and it is noted that he can only trot at his (human!) wife's ankle height when they walk together.

** There's a nice bit in his adaptation of David and Goliath, David is to take down Goliath headshot style. Cut to a scene of Wishbone as David, with his paw up in the air, spinning a sling around his head.

--> "CRRRRUSH him! CRRRUSH him under your FOOT! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis LIKE YOU WOULD! A COCKROACH]]!" ([[PunctuatedPounding Punctuated by a foot-stomp at the end.]])
* A Hamas propagandist decided to tell Palestinian TV viewers a story of a dying man leaving his grandson Farfur the deed to his land, which he must protect from the evil Jews who try to take it from him by force, ([[SarcasmMode because that's just what Jews do in their spare time]]), and ends up being martyred. Also, [[CaptainErsatz Farfur is a high-pitched Mickey Mouse rip-off]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2J3my3pOIc&feature=player_embedded Behold]]
** Want to amplify the Narm up to eleven? Watch that video with the [[WordSaladHumor auto-generated closed captions turned on]]. You're welcome, Internet!

* From ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'':

** One episode has an eleven year old girl whose mother never lies to her. Okay. At one point the team asks her about the mom's dating life. She mentions that [[{{Squick}} the mom used to prefer being op top, but now prefers the guy being behind her]]. This is treated as a revelation even though the only reaction an audience could possibly have is "what the hell?!?"

** Nathan's beard at the beginning of season 2.
** Peter's Season One Bangs.