History Series / Becker

* NoNameGiven: Linda and Bob's last names are never revealed.

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: The judge in Becker's malpractice suit ("Trials and Defibrillations") loses any patience she still had with him when he starts quoting ''Film/AndJusticeForAll''. "You have no idea how much I hate that damn movie!" It's also implied in her expression in the following episode ("Psycho Therapy") when Becker belatedly notices that her last name is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Reinhold Reinhold]].

%%** In "What Indifference a Day Makes", Becker talks about the events of the episode "Drive, They Said."

%% * FourTemperamentEnsemble: Becker is Choleric, Margaret is Lekuine, Linda and Bob are Sanguine, Reggie is Melancholic, and Jake is Phlegmatic.

%% * MustHaveCaffeine: Becker.

* WhamLine: "Subway Story," the second to last episode of the series, has Becker guiding an old woman named Naomi through the subway system to her destination on Chambers Street, in his typical curmudgeonly fashion. When they arrive, he sees her sit down instead of heading upstairs and becomes is livid, demanding an explanation. Naomi then mentions that her son would have been forty that day.

* WhamLine: "Subway Story," the second to last episode of the series, has Becker guiding an old woman named Naomi through the subway system to her destination, in his typical curmudgeonly fashion. When they arrive, he sees her sit down instead of heading upstairs and becomes is livid, demanding an explanation. Naomi then mentions that her son would have been forty that day.

* WhamLine: "Subway Story," the second to last episode of the series, has Becker guiding an old woman named Naomi through the subway system to her destination at Ground Zero. When they arrive, he sees her sit down instead of heading upstairs and becomes frustrated until Naomi explains that her son would have been forty that day.

* TheDitz: Linda is an extreme example. She is staggeringly incompetent at work and prone to flaky behavior and ComicallyMissingThePoint -- a CloudCuckoolander very much in a world of her own.

** Hector fills Bob's role as the FriendNobodyLikes who comes up with dicey get-rich-quick schemes.

* CrossingTheBurntBridge: In "Another Tricky Day," Mr. Garland, who is one of Becker's patients, realizes he'll be forced to atone for his bad behavior towards his wife, his boss, and the IRS after finding out that the lab made a mistake on a test and he's not dying after all. Not only has he spent a lot of his money in the last two weeks, but he quit his job, set fire to his boss's BMW, cursed out his wife, and photocopied his butt and sent the picture to the IRS. The scene where Becker calls him back after getting the test redone is [[JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites played as if he actually was dying and was desperate for a cure]].

'''Becker''': Look on the bright side, everyday you pick up a paper and discover how scientists are discovering something new that can kill you.\\

* DeadpanSnarker: Every character contributes heavily to the show's overall WorldOfSnark, with Becker being the prime example.

* DenserAndWackier: Season 4 contains more outlandish and bizarre plots than the other seasons. Highlights include Becker getting high on valium, Margaret carrying a dog around in her shirt, Jake getting into increasingly painful and ridiculous accidents like flying off an elephant and Linda having to explain sex to a room full of kids and getting lusted after by them.

%% * TheDitz: Linda.

%% * DrJerk: Guess who.

%% * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Chris, for Reggie; Hector, for Bob.

* TooGoodToBeTrue: In "Lucky Day," the normally unlucky Becker experiences a surprising streak of good fortune, such as finding an ideal parking space, getting an unexpected tax refund, experiencing am unusually fast trip to the post office, and picks a winning horse for Jake. [[spoiler:He's convinced this is something that will turn on him -- which finally happens at the end of the episode in grand fashion. Becker gets soaked when a car splashes him while going through a puddle. He also gets robbed, losing his gold pen, IRS refund check, and share of horse race winnings.]]

%% * MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Bob is their own personal Zoidberg.

** After Becker's friends encourage him to change his routine by eating at a different restaurant, chaos ensues resulting in Margaret getting food poisoning, Becker having to stay late at the office and missing a hockey game, and Reggie and Jake being scammed at said hockey game when they can't access Becker's tickets. The next day, Becker delights in pointing this out to the others, who then urge him back to his routine.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Becker and Chris have a strong love-hate relationship. This is highlighted in the Season 6 premiere, which ends with an argument that reads like a ShoutOut to the iconic SlapSlapKiss between [[Series/{{Cheers}} Sam and Diane]]:

* GreyAndGreyMorality: In one episode, a twin brother of one of Becker's patients uses his brother's insurance to get cancer treatment. Becker spends the episode debating whether to give him the treatment (resulting in insurance fraud and possibly risking his license) or deny him the treatment (condemning a sick man to die because he is uninsured). Ultimately, Becker decides against committing fraud because he's the only practice in a poor neighborhood, so [[TheNeedsOfTheMany more people would die if he got caught]].

* MinorFlawMajorBreakup: Jake goes on a date with Nina, a woman who turns out to be blind as well (neither of them realizing until they'd both been at the restaurant for a while). Jake is ready to end the relationship after that first date, bringing up the fairly legitimate point that any relationship they had would be "a never-ending game of Marco Polo". Reggie talks him out of it, but in the end Nina dumps him after finding out that he's black.
* MistakenForRacist: When journalist in the diner overhears Becker's rantings about rap music and an Asian taxi driver in the episode "PC World," he smears him as a racist in the paper (leaving out the context that the music was being broadcast into the street and the driver had just crashed into Becker's car), losing Becker at least one patient. Becker later confronts him during a radio interview and seemingly manages to clear himself by exposing the journalists' own prejudices.

** We never hear Bob's tale when the gang decide to tell stories that are a little more personal after having become bored with each others regular ones, other than that it apparently traumatized him to the point that he can no longer get undressed unless he's in complete darkness and that it horrifies Reggie and Jake to the point that they decide to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain pretend they'd never heard it.]]
** Something involving veal piccata seems to be the reason why Becker and Margaret's husband Lewis can't stand to be in the same room as each other.

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: The judge in Becker's malpractice suit loses patience with him when he starts quoting ''Film/AndJusticeForAll''. "You have no idea how much I hate that damn movie!" It's also implied in her expression in the following episode when Becker belatedly notices that her last name is Reinhold. Occurs in the episode "Trials and Defibrillations."

* NoodleIncident: We never hear Bob's tale when the gang decide to tell stories that are a little more personal after having become bored with each others regular ones, other than that it apparently traumatized him to the point that he can no longer get undressed unless he's in complete darkness and that it horrifies Reggie and Jack to the point that they decide to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain pretend they'd never heard it.]]

At work, head nurse Margaret (Creator/HattieWinston) was in charge, and the practice was assisted by Linda (Creator/ShawneeSmith), who could be TheDitz but was very popular with the patients. Becker spent most of his time at Reggie's Diner, owned by ex-model Reggie Kostas (Creator/TerryFarrell, who also had a pre-existing relationship with Paramount, having starred on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' prior to this series). Other characters included blind newspaper seller Jake Malinak (Creator/AlexDesert) and Bob (Creator/SaverioGuerra), an annoying old schoolfriend of Reggie's who [[ThirdPersonPerson referred to himself in the third person]].

After Season 4, Reggie was suddenly written out of the show after Farrell was fired, and new character Chris Connor (Creator/NancyTravis) took over for the final 2 seasons. Bob left in Season 6 and was replaced by Hector (Creator/JorgeGarcia).

* BreakfastClub: With one exception, the characters are a band of misfits. Becker is an opinionated, perpetually angry DrJerk who rants about everything. Reggie is a depressed JadedWashout ex-model who is stuck running a dilapidated GreasySpoon. Jake is a blind StepfordSnarker who owns a small, unsuccessful newsstand. Linda is a CloudCuckooLander of epic proportions. Bob is a SmugSnake who regularly goes through HumiliationCongas and becomes the biggest loser of the group. [[OnlySaneMan Margaret]] is the only person who has a relatively stable and happy life, and even she has to take care of her uncaring {{Manchild}} husband.

* CrossingTheBurntBridge: One of Becker's patients is faced with this after finding out that the lab made a mistake on a test and he's not dying after all -- not only had he spent a lot of his money in the last two weeks, but he quit his job and set fire to his boss's BMW. The scene where Becker calls him back after getting the test redone is [[JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites played as if he actually was dying and was desperate for a cure]].

** Linda frequently talks about her active love life with Margaret. She has an on-again, off-again boyfriend named Gil as well as as several short-term sweethearts.

** In "Linda Quits," John and Margaret hire Ann as a replacement. It turns out she's a sex addict and they have to fire her.

** Linda manipulates a patient into believing that she has a mental problem just to cover up her own mistakes.