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This one I've seen all throughout sitcom history. Hope I can get the wording right.. You've got two people. One person is annoying the other usually, though they could just be taking it casually. The second person then starts getting them to either act or start talking about something that the main character gets into at first, but then suddenly realizes how stupid the situation is and usually bursts out with "Oh what am I doing!?", or something like this.
I've luckily got an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiljoS4ChOk
Skip to 2:45
It's such a cliche moment in sitcoms, it's gotta have a trope.
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I've cruised the list of Tropes and I couldn't find anything remotely related to this trope I noticed in a couple of shows, and I couldn't find any allusions to it on the pages of those receptive shows.
This trope is something like "Gender Misdirection". I happens when an unseen character is referred to by a male noun that misleads the viewers into thinking the character has to be a man, only to be shocked when they find out it's a woman. This happened in Prison Break, in early episodes when they alluded to the Vice-President, who later turns out to be Caroline and in Alias, in which Irina was referred to as "The Man". These are two on top of my head. I'm sure there are more. Is there already a trope for this?
Edited by Troper2011openNo Title Live Action TV
What is the name of the trope for when an actor is contracted to appear for so many episodes, but some of those episodes aren't written with them in mind, so they only appear in one scene that could easily be cut out and they leave again for the rest of the episode?
I'm thinking of Angel and Spike in Buffy. After Angel became evil again in season 2, some of the later episodes had him show up just to threaten her, and Spike, around season 5, would appear just so we could see him obsess over Buffy.
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In times of crisis or nigh-apocalypse, ill-prepared civilians are often handed over fire weapons by military agents, and usually they end up pulling through and/or even saving the day.
Does this trope exist?
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Is there a trope for one-shot secondary characters who later become recurring characters? Like Spike in Buffy.
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Is there a trope that remotely resembles something like "Doomed By Topical Humor"? I'm referring to sitcoms that revolve around current events and if you watch them 10 later, the jokes have become anachronistic.
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What do you call when a show has celebrity guest stars popping out for no reason.
What about when the show is well into its run, and they introduce this "cousin" who was never mentioned before and becomes a regular.
And finally, the character that just disappear with no explanation.
Edited by Troper2011openNo Title Live Action TV
1) Is there a trope for when a show uses a disaster like a fire or earthquake as a ploy to remodel a set?
2) When a friend moves in "temporarily" but overstays their welcome, so the other characters wants to help him to find an apartment and tries to convince them to settle with the first they find, usually a bad one but far from their own home.
3) Two best friends are inseparable until one gets a boyfriend/girlfriend and one becomes jealous or insecure because his/her best friend never makes time for him/her.
4) A character who always has a snappy, well articulated, elaborated and witty comeback for EVERYTHING someone else says.
5) Overbearing parents.
6) Call waiting mix-up, like in Freaky Friday.
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What about the pairing of improbable lovers? Like two characters who have always hated each other until one day a character walks in on them kissing.
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Thinking about spinoffs, is there a trope for the case in which a secondary character steals protagonism and becomes the main character within the same series? And even the former protagonist is put on a bus?
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Is there a trope for this? When there's Contractual Immortality, and a character dies and gets better, other characters can sometimes underreact to the initial "death" because reacting realistically would divert the episode in a direction the writers didn't want it to go.
E.g. SG 1 - the Season 3 ep where they find the dark-age Christian society and the town priest or whatever kills Teal'c by drowning. Jack &co are just like *shrug* "Whatever, Teal'c's dead" rather than actually acting all that upset.
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I've Seen It A Million Times: it's a trope usually used in television, but I've seen it in films too, wherein near the end of the show a character will see or do something totally unrelated to the main conflict but this will somehow make their brain click things together and give them the epiphany needed to solve their problem. Or someone else will talk to them and maybe give them advice about something unrelated, but they'll find a way to apply the Aesop to their problem.
I know that House is famous for this, and I've also seen it used a few times in Scrubs. Can you help me out, troper collective?
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Can you guys help me find these tropes?
1) Call waiting mix-up, like in Freaky Friday.
2) when a crank call backfires.
3) In times of crisis or nigh-apocalypse, ill-prepared civilians are often handed over fire weapons by military agents, and usually they end up pulling through and/or even saving the day.
4) When one character runs his mouth off about something he has next to someone who has lost. Like in Friends when Ross got tenure and prattled about it not knowing that Rachel had lost her job and everyone else tries to shut him up.
5) A character has to take care of on disease-ridden parent.
6) Roll reversal: when one daughter scolds her mother for coming home late from a date.
7) One woman is terrified of meeting her boyfriend's mother. Also, an old hot girlfriend.
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Do we have a trope that covers the Wacky Neighbor? Like Kramer from Seinfeld, Wilson W. Wilson on Home Improvement, Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show, etc.
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Seen this come up a fair few times: A is on the phone to B while C is in the room. A has to sound innocuous while cluing B in to C's presence. Often leads to some sort of plot involving C's absence - an affair, escape or whatever.
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Is there a trope for how, what seems to be, 95% of families depicted on television are living in unusually large spaces, often in contrast with their established class or region? For example, consider that the Bundys (Married With Children) and The Simpsons have numerous stories relating to economic problems, but both have large two-story houses. There are some notable exceptions (such as I Love Lucy and Seinfeld) but it appears in many places, mostly Sitcoms.
The closest thing I can find is Land Poor, but that relates to a particular plot point, whereas what I'm thinking of, if it is addressed, is usually in a handwave.
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Bob meets Alice on the way to work/school/home, & flirts with her (or is rude to her). When he gets to work/school/home, he meets Alice again, & finds out that she's his boss/teacher/long-lost sister - somebody he shouldn't have flirted with/been rude to.
Does this fall under The Reveal or is it a different trope?
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There's a scene in Sons Of Anarchy where after Tara is kidnapped Tig, Piney and Kozic go to Alverez, wanting him dead. Specifically they want him to fake his death to draw the kidnapper out. Alverez responds that he wants to kill them because they show up at his home with guns. He's unmoved by Tig's plea that Jax's woman is in danger, nor is he impressed about Piney's idea of rising from the dead to spook his Latin rivals. When Kozic apologizes for their actions and promises to make up for their misdeeds however Alverez finally relents.
What tropes would be in this scene?
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A person says something absurdly outrageous, then corrects himself, because he meant something mundane. I don't think it's Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking, it's just two things, absurdly juxtaposed.
Examples: (Father Ted): Mrs. Doyle: Father, would you like one of these muffins? It's got COCAINE in it!
Father Ted: WHAT??!?
Mrs. Doyle: Oh, no, not cocaine. God, what am I on about? No, what d'you call them... RAISINS!
(another one, made up) "One of my friends used to say this every time before he started eating breakfast. Until his wife eventually murdered him. (beat) Or maybe she divorced him, I can't remember..."
Edited by MarvinArnold

Theres a big bad for a season of a cop show any type, and your sitting on the couch wondering, What makes this guy so special? these guys catch serial killers/thievs etc for a living and thier very good at it! so why can't they catch this guy?!
a trope about why the villain of an entire season in a cop show seems impossible to catch even though he isn't as that different from other killers who are caught in one episode. It's about how on a cop show, the Rule Of Drama dictates that the Big Bad of a season must be Badass, for no other reason than to prolong the hunt for his capture, and make a final confrontation more dramatic, to the point where he seems above the average psychopath, when in reality he's not really that different from the Axe Crazy Murderer the Hero arrested in one episode three weeks ago.
usually a villain like this has some kind of connection to the hero or some other member of the band. maybe he killed one of the band off for real, or maybe he's the one blotch on the Always Gets His Man record of the hero, or something else. Or sometimes he just comes out of nowhere!
this has to be an ordinary criminal. If He's had special training, or is a world class criminal that no one can seem to catch, or is backed up by an organization equal to the investigative agency, this trope is averted
Ex: Nate Haskell, from season 11 of the original CSI