Basic Trope: A character's parent is missing without explanation.
- Straight: Bob lives with his mother, Alice, but the absence of his father is never addressed in any way.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is missing both of his parents and was raised by his Grandma Dana. Whatever happened to his parents is never explained.
- Alice is explicitly remarried but never mentions her first husband.
- Downplayed:
- Alice says, "Your father would be proud of you" to Bob, but that's the only mention his father gets.
- The characters imply that he is dead, but never mention how he died.
- Justified:
- Alice gave birth magically to Bob without the help of a man, making her a Truly Single Parent.
- Other characters in the work have been Unpersoned by their oppressive government, and neither Alice nor Bob dare talk about his father out of fear that they will receive the same treatment.
- Whatever happened to Bob's dad would bring back traumatic memories, so it's just never brought up.
- Inverted: Bob is into genealogy, so the audience gets to know a lot more about his extended family than expected. (Whether the information adds to the story is a different matter.
- Subverted:
- After not seeing his ex-wife and son for years, Bob's father Charlie unexpectedly shows up on their doorstep.
- After four seasons of not acknowledging his existence, Bob tells his friend Frank that the reason his grandmother raised him was because his father died when he was ten.
- Double Subverted:
- The reason he showed up was to tell Bob that he wasn't actually his father.
- Frank realizes that Bob never mentioned why his mother wasn't there to raise him.
- Parodied: Every character is raised by a single mother, with no mention ever given to fathers.
- Zig Zagged: Bob lives with his Grandma Dana, but has a flashback to his mother but not his father.
- Averted:
- Bob lives with his doting parents, Alice and Charlie.
- Alice mentions that she is divorced and has full custody of her son.
- Enforced:
- Due to the fact that the show was made in a time when it wasn't socially acceptable to talk about divorce, the absence of Bob's father Charlie is never explained.
- The creators didn't want to go through the trouble of creating another character.
- Never Say "Die".
- Invoked:
- Alice tells Bob she will tell him what happened to his father when he turns eighteen as long as he doesn't mention him until then.
- Alice swears that Charlie is dead to her after he cheats on her.
- Charlie cheated on Alice while she was pregnant with Bob, so she took a potion that would make her forget about him.
- Exploited: A kidnapper tries to lure Bob away with the promise that "I know where your dad is".
- Lampshaded: "Where's your dad?" "Well—" "Bob! Time for dinner!'
- Defied: A truth serum forces Alice to talk about her husband, who up until this point she refused to speak of.
- Discussed: "Bob and his mom never talk about his dad. I wonder why."
- Conversed: "So are they gonna mention Bob's dad? No?"
- Implied:
- There's only one scene set at Bob's house, where we see his mother but not his father.
- Bob occasionally mentions his mother, but she never makes it on-screen. His father gets neither treatment.
Go back to Ambiguously Absent Parent, but don't expect to see its mom or dad hanging around.
