Basic Trope: An episode of a sitcom focuses on a trendy, edgy issue, or has a much darker tone than the rest of the series.
- Straight: In an episode of the series Tropetown, Alice meets Bob, a homeless Vietnam Vet with a drug problem, and gets him a job and on the road to recovery. At the end, a number for a drug abuse hotline is displayed. This is in stark contrast with the rest of the show, which is about Alice and her Five-Man Band Charles, Danny, Ethan, and Faye going on wacky adventures in their funny town.
- Exaggerated: In the same episode, Faye gets pregnant after a one-night stand and contemplates abortion, Ethan deals with the fact that he Never Learned to Read, Danny's previously unknown brother Gregory dies of cancer, and after Charles makes an insensitive remark to his best friend (and Token Minority) Hazel, and has to apologize to her. After the episode, a plethora of hotlines are shown in Unreadably Fast Text. By the end of the episode, Faye gets the abortion, Bob and Gregory are never mentioned again, Ethan's illiteracy is never brought up again, and Hazel forgets the remark, and everyone gets a hefty dose of Angst? What Angst?. The episode wins an Emmy.
- Downplayed: There is an episode where Tagalong Kid Irene gets head lice, and the episode contains some tips for kids with head lice and their parents. That said, there's a comedic subplot about Ethan getting a job at a coffee shop, and the episode is only mildly more serious than usual. Irene's head lice is never brought up again, but it's not a major plot point or source of trauma.
- Justified: Just because the town of Tropetown is pretty wacky doesn't mean it has its own problems.
- Inverted: Tropetown, a drama series, has an episode where the Five-Man Band work at a retail store and have all kinds of mischievous antics;
- Subverted: Bob shows up begging for change, and it looks like he's about to tell Alice his whole life story when Alice gets a call from Hazel, causing Alice to leave and Bob isn't seen again for the rest of the episode.
- Double Subverted: Hazel wants Alice to volunteer at a soup kitchen with her, where Bob goes for food. The rest of the episode is about Alice trying to help Bob.
- Parodied: An episode is about Charles getting a paper cut, and the rest of the episode is about the gang coming to his aid, and Faye comes out as a "paper cut survivor". The episode ends with a 555 number for a "paper cut trauma" support group.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice's plot line is about helping Bob overcome his addiction, but it is interwoven with a subplot about Ethan getting a job at a coffee shop where Hilarity Ensues. However, the episode also includes another sub-plot where Charles must help a Littlest Cancer Patient to make his wish come true; meeting the President. Sadly, he dies before he can, and the episode ends with the Littlest Cancer Patient's funeral where everyone who is attending, including the President himself, burst into Inelegant Blubbering and beg him to wake up from his deep sleep.
- Averted: No episode of Tropetown is more serious than any other.
- Enforced:
- An anti-drug group approached the creators and asked them to create the episode.
- The writer of the episode has an uncle who had drug problems after Vietnam, so they wanted to address the issue to prevent people from becoming like that uncle.
- The executives noticed a homeless veteran begging to be in an episode and demanded the creators include him.
- Lampshaded: "I'm so glad I taught you a lesson about taking care of your elders, helping the homeless, and saying no to drugs. But now I must go, because Status Quo Is God."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alice suddenly becomes a Jerkass and refuses to help the homeless man.
- Discussed: "Look at that homeless guy over there. Maybe he can make our wacky adventures less wackier."
- Conversed: "This episode seems more serious than usual."
- Deconstructed: The episode is panned by critics and general audiences alike for being too dark for Tropetown.
- Reconstructed: It is, however, held in incredibly high regard by former drug addicts and Vietnam vets who are fans of the show.
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