Basic Trope: The standard family structure.
- Straight: You have the mother Alice, a classic housewife, the father Bob, a cubicle worker who just got out of the military, the son Charlie, who's the local Lovable Jock at his school, the daughter Danielle, a bookworm who may or may not be Dating What Daddy Hates, and the pet dog Eddie.
- Exaggerated: Each family in the entire town consists of a husband, a wife, a son, and a daughter. In addition to the above, their neighbor next door also has the father Fred, the mother Gabrielle, the daughter Hayley, and the son Ian. Another one also has the father James, the mother Kylie, and the twin children Lucas and Luna. Bob's sister Michelle also marries Nathan and has a son named Oscar, a daughter named Penny, and a baby named Quinn.
- Downplayed:
- You have mother Alice, father Bob, and son Charlie.
- Russell and Steve are a gay couple with two kids, Tyler and Una, and the pet cat Vincent.
- Justified: The family tree had parents have at least two kids.
- Inverted: The Chromosome Casting family consists of Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple Russell and Steve, and their son, Tyler.
- Subverted:
- Danielle isn't actually their daughter, but instead their niece...
- Alice's parents move in.
- Double Subverted:
- ...The birth certificate was wrong. Danielle is their daughter.
- They only stay for half a season.
- Parodied: The family is literally nuclear and causes explosions during arguments.
- Zig Zagged: Alice, Bob, Charlie and Danielle are a standard nuclear family until Alice's parents move in, but they move out after half a season. Shortly afterwards, Alice and Bob have another child, Wyatt. Charlie then leaves to go to university. The parents get divorced, leaving Alice as a single mother for a while, until she announces she's found someone new. Turns out she's bisexual, and she soon gets married to her girlfriend Xandra.
- Averted:
- The family does not consist of a husband, wife, and kids.
- The family doesn't have any kids.
- Enforced: "How can we make our protagonist seem like an average guy?" "I know! Let's give him a wife and two children. Y'know, the standard family structure."
- Lampshaded: "I have two children and a wife, just like every other guy."
- Invoked: Bob and Alice, once they marry, agree to have only two kids because that's the norm.
- Exploited: Bob is running for mayor of a conservative town, and his ads make a big point of how he has a "traditional" family to appeal to voters.
- Defied: Bob swears never to marry so that he can avoid having a family.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "You know, our family is the average family, like in those sitcoms and stuff."
- Deconstructed: Russell, Steve, and Tyler feel alienated from everyone since their family doesn't consist of a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter.
- Reconstructed: The citizens of the town learn that family is more than just having to consist of a husband, a wife, and two opposite-gender kids.
Alright, kids, back to Nuclear Family.
