Follow TV Tropes

Following

Playing With / With a Foot on the Bus

Go To

Basic Trope: A character is supposed to leave the show, but they don't.

  • Straight: Alice packs her bags and plans to move away to New York (the show is set in Chicago) but just before getting on the bus, she changes her mind and goes back home.
  • Exaggerated: Alice was planning on moving to another planet and not even writing, but then she changes her mind and decides to never step foot outside Chicago again, even if only temporarily.
  • Downplayed:
    • Alice does move to New York, but she comes back to Chicago in the same episode.
    • Alice still takes her trip to New York, but she's changed her mind about living there and only stays a week, sightseeing.
  • Justified: Alice is a bit impulsive, she didn't think it through about whether or not she wants to live in New York.
  • Inverted: Alice already moved to New York in Season Two. Season Three has an episode where she considers moving back to Chicago, but doesn't.
  • Subverted: She changes her mind again and moves to New York anyway.
  • Double Subverted: But she's missed the bus, so she decides to stay in Chicago anyway.
  • Parodied: Alice is only considering moving across the street, but the episode plays it up like she's going to leave town.
  • Zigzagged: Alice considers moving to New York but just before getting on the bus, she changes her mind. She goes home and changes her mind again and goes back to the bus station, but she's missed the bus. She decides to stay in Chicago...but then she catches the next bus to New York...but only for a day trip.
  • Averted:
    • Alice does not consider moving away.
    • Alice moves away without ever considering otherwise.
  • Enforced:
    • Alice has an important reason for changing her mind and the writers did it to show how important Alice is.
    • Alice's actress was cast as the female lead in a movie scheduled to be shot from the production of this season's penultimate episode to the production of the next season's finale, so the writers prepared a bus for her, but then, just before she was to get on said bus, the movie got canceled. note 
  • Invoked: "Don't move to New York, Alice!"
  • Exploited: Bob is a Genre Savvy Lazy Bum who doesn't bother planning a going-away party, knowing that Alice is not really going to go away.
  • Defied: "Ah, just move to New York anyway, Alice."
  • Discussed: "Remember when Alice tried to move to New York but changed her mind?"
  • Conversed: "That episode had me nervous that Alice really would go away."
  • Implied: Alice considers moving to New York. In the next episode, she's still in Chicago.
  • Deconstructed: ???
  • Reconstructed: ???
  • Played for Laughs: Alice's friends are about to throw her a going-away party but when they find out she's not leaving, they throw her a not-going-away party instead.
  • Played for Drama: Alice's reason for not going is because Bob will be very sad and miss her and she has an Imagine Spot of Bob crying dramatically.

Back to With a Foot on the Bus, unless you change your mind.

Top