When you find yourself trying to remember a show (or any works) that's on the tip of your tongue but just out of reach, come here - the collective brain of the TVTropes community can probably help. Post all the details you can remember (examples help). If you're looking for a trope, head over to Trope Finder. Have general questions about tropes? Visit Ask The Tropers!
Find a Show:
openthree books Literature
Bumping some old YKTSs I posted years ago in a new query.
First two were novels for tweens, read by me in the mid to late 1970s or early 1980s.
1. By Judy Blume or is a Judy Blume "type." It has a male protagonist who is a high school senior (I think) and gets involved romantically with a female teacher. She breaks up with him towards the end of the book. There's a scene where he is having a picnic with her and they're drinking wine; within the context of the scene it's not treated as a big deal but I remember thinking at the time that he's underage and drinking! Or maybe, he goes out alone in a picnic-for-one after she breaks up with him.
2. Girl gets involved (non-romantically) with a rebellious girl. The rebellious girl may be living with the protagonist girl & her family for some reason, but the book starts at about the time the rebellious girl moves in. In the town where they live there's a variety store
which the family calls a "ten cent store" and the rebellious girl refers to as a "five and dime." The protagonist girl picks up this bit of lingo, and at one point mentions the "five and dime" to her older sister. The sister says "do you mean the ten cent store?" (Italics per original IIRC). The sister, who is significantly older & doesn't hang around with the protagonist girl & the new girl, doesn't pick up on her sister having adopted that slang from the rebellious girl.
3. Adult novel from the mid to late 1990s. A lower-class person (possibly American) had earned himself a Rhodes Scholarship and is studying Shakespeare at Oxford. He gets an outside job doing "contract research" for a woman and her father, who have what they believe is a lead to proof that Shakespere didn't write Shakespeare's plays, Francis Bacon [or perhaps another author] did. He is initially reluctant to take the job but he needs the money, and as the story goes along he's sucked into their belief. A couple of plot points I recall:
- A. At one point slightly more than halfway through the book a small bidding war erupts between the woman/father and another couple for a trunk they find in an estate sale: the researcher thinks there is some vital clue in the trunk, and the other couple see their interest and figure hey, if they want the trunk it must be valuable so we'll bid on it too! Our protagonists win the auction and look inside. The important items in the trunk were a letter and a manuscript. The letter says something to the effect of "the manuscript will prove that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare." The letter is loose and has survived the centuries, but the manuscript was sealed in the best that the 1700s had to offer so it has crumbled to dust.
- B In the end the researcher has been completely convinced that Bacon (or someone else) wrote Shakespeare's works and is given a dressing-down by one of his professors. The researcher is humbled by the professor. But AIR the professor doesn't really give any reason why the researcher is wrong. I don't know if this was just poor writing on the part of the novel's author or if it was purposely ambiguous.
In my previous query
it was suggested that Chasing Shakespeare is the answer to number three. I dismissed it at the time but I'm having second thoughts and have requested the book from my local library; in the meantime if someone has a good idea of the answer I would be appreciative.
openGlowing tracers rounds being fired from BB guns at neo-Nazis Film
I was watching a film on You Tube or Television (can't remember which but if it was the former it is definitely well-known) and the soldiers from the Islamic Sultanate of Qarsherskiy were firing B Bs that were glowing Green and Red called "tracer rounds" at a group of neo-Nazis near Aiden Stalnik's Forest Lake & Trail in Newport News, VA, USA. I also remember RC boats on Lake 'Aydn and model rockets packed with M80s fired off the boats from the middle of the Lake.
openDora spin-off with older Dora
It was a Dora spin-off I think Dora was older or smth my memory of it is faint
Idk if this was real or a weird dream but
openIntense animated trailer Western Animation
Back when I saw The LEGO Movie at the time it was still new, there was this trailer for an animated movie I don't remember the name of that played before it. I mostly remember it because it was intense and frightening to my family. All I remember from it is that it had humans as the characters, and was either 2D animated or 3D in a way that doesn't resemble most animated films. The start of it involved someone talking about people and if I remember right, was talking about how good they were in video games, with levels in games they got up to.
It honestly feels like my brain just made this up, but this memory is distinct in my mind, especially because my family had dread when it showed up again before another movie, though if memory serves me right, it didn't play in full that time.
openSexy British sci-fi series? Live Action TV
Late one night in the summer of 2008, I ended up on that "weird part of YouTube" and found a video clip from what I believe to have been from something that was in a similar vein as Series/Torchwood (but I don't believe it was actually Torchwood) for three reasons. A. It was very sexually charged. B. It seemed that something otherworldly/extraterrestrial was going on. And C. The characters spoke with British accents.
Anyway, here's what happened that I can recall: a couple were in a bedroom where they were recording their escapades, and all the while, I believe they were being watched by someone... or something through a hole in their wall: all we see through the hole on the other side is an eyeball in a green-lit room, and more the couple get into their love-making, the more we see the eyeball widening and jittering (I think it was implied whoever or whatever was spying on them was having A Date with Rosie Palms). And just as the couple are about to climax, a couple of nerds barge into the room, presumably to inform them of something important, only for them to apologize for their interruption in a rather cheeky/naughty manner.
And no, it's not Friday the 13th (2009), even though there is a similar scene in that movie, it clearly was not Jason Voorhees watching the couple through a cabin window.
Edited by greaterthan2lessthan24openTwo live-action films Film
I'm trying to find two certain live-action films that I remember my dad having on TV in the background while I was growing up in the 90s, because they have stuck in my head after all of these years, and it drives me crazy sometimes.
The first one I believe may have been anywhere from the 50s up into the 70s, because I remember it had that distinct 35mm motion picture film look to it. Basically, the scene was there was a woman who was being attacked by a group of soldiers in a barn, and as they're ripping her clothes off, a friend/sister/whoever jumps in to try and save her, only to be ganged up on by the same soldiers as well. Finally, their commanding officer casually steps into the barn to dismiss his men, but the two women are obviously very traumatized and yelling at the officer about how they attempted to rape them, only for the officer to casually tell them if it happens again, he will reprimand them himself. And no, I don't believe it was The Outlaw Josey Wales, which somebody once suggested as a possibility (I'd have to look again to be 100% sure).
The second one seemed to have been a far more recent movie (at the time), it was definitely a drama, and maybe even a thriller, I'm not sure. I remember it was a young family who were in the process of building their dream home out in the country, and it all just fell apart from there. I remember some thugs set fire to the house (while it still only the wooden framework), and at one point, attempted to lynch the wife from a rafter - while even taking pictures of her. I also recall their young daughter ran through the woods with a teddy bear or stuffed animal that got caught on a branch, and her tugging on it provided enough of a stall for one of the thugs to pop out from the other side of the shrubbery to give her a jump scare.
openTV show with an animated scene about Albert Hoffman discovering LSD. Live Action TV
It was on the Science Channel or History Channel, and the whole show wasn't animated, which is why I categorized it the way I did.
The animation looked like early CGI, kind of the Money for Nothing music video, only less cartoony.
I remember he was ride a bike and basically going to hell as recent of testing the drug.
openScooby Doo with Moving Floors Western Animation
Around 2003-2004, I saw a Scooby-Doo episode (I believe on videotape) where a major feature of the “haunted” location was moving floors. They functioned like conveyor belts, so the culprit could chase characters without them actually moving. “Moving floors” was the specific terminology used to describe them though, and I believe the culprit had a moment where he gloated over his plan and how the floors would help him. The moment I remember most clearly is that Scooby and Shaggy were once caught on the floors being chased by the culprit, and Shaggy said something along the lines of “Zoinks, Scoob! The floors are moving, but we sure aren’t!” I don’t remember which other characters were in the episode, if any.
openSecret of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Videogame
Alright, maybe you guys can help me with this. I am recently playing the Secret of Monkey Island 2: Lechuck's Revenge, on Steam, with special editions, such as an audio commentary, and the three guys mentioned that the library has several references. A part in particular is one that one of the three found online, Guybrush and Lechuck turn out to be brothers and they had a fight over something trivial when they were kids. The media referenced is that two kids thought that they were kids when they were actually robots and did not realize that they were dead, and one kid sees dead people. I automatically thought 'o-k, the Sixth Sense', but that movie came out in 1999 and the game came out in 1991.
Does this seem familiar to anyone else? I am wrecking my mind over this, and I cannot find anything online. Please help, thank you.
Edited by thestormtrooperopen1990s tv show
So there is a tv show I watched a long time ago ( maybe late 2000s), and the show is about some stories stories: One story is about a nice fellow, that turns out to be a murdered. The story take place around the 1920s, because he was wearing a boater hat, then there is a story about a gangland leader that showed up at an hotel, then goes to his room and gets angry because some of his guys were killed, and the leader doesn't trust anybody. So creates a code, that says that when he hits three times the wall, means there is something bad and his guys have to come. After a while, we can see the gang leader alone in his room and he believes something is bad, so he hit the wall three times but when he does that after a while, nobody goes to his room when he believes his guys betrayed him, so he called the polices and when they showed up, they ask him for his gang, the leader does that but the cops turn out to be members from a rival gang, and they kill him. In spanish, the show was called Crimenes Perfectos, or Perfect Crimes, but I cannot find any info about the show. Can somebody help me?
openDad, baby, computer, model Commercial Live Action TV
I am trying to recall a commercial from some years ago. I don't remeber the product, just the premise. A baby is upset late at night. The father takes the baby to the computer where he pulls up photos of a sexy woman model, which both of them enjoy. Then sometime later the front door opens and in walks the model. She is the guy's wife and mother of the baby.
openEarl grey tea commercial Live Action TV
A You Tube commercial I used to see all the time, for a tea company, in which this dude was dressed as like an 18th century aristocrat called "Lord Earl Grey" and gets punched out by a regular looking dude. The regular dude then says something about how people who feel intimidated by fancy tea companies should buy from this company instead.
openAn 3d animated show about an alien family Western Animation
Saw this around 10ish years ago and it basically was about two alien siblings (a girl and a boy) who went on all kinds of weird adventures (one time they travel back in time) and at some point get invaded by other aliens, pretty much all i can remember
Edited by nebula7openEarly 90s Disney or Nickelodeon show Live Action TV
I don't know why this is suddenly coming back into my mind, but I recall it being a live action show from the early 90s, it was either Disney Channel or Nick (since Cartoon Network didn't do live action yet), and I recall it was a group of teens who hung out with some kind of robot who could have very well been an early Teletubby before Teletubbies were even a thing. The robot had a TV set for a body, and I believe a VHS tape for a head (with the spools for his eyes, and the actual tape ribbons for his hair) - I seem to recall he also spoke like a Surfer Dude.
Edited by greaterthan2lessthan24openMecha anime: Kid with giant robot fighting corporate? Anime
I only remember one chapter: the protagonist was dressed in worn clothes and looked like some kind of "Wild Boy" with a connection to a giant robot. For some reason an organization was after him and the villain on duty was a fat man, somewhat old, who controlled a kind of robot shaped like a head (it was just a head without a body).
openQuote from book Literature
This is a long shot but I remember reading a book that had a line like "She said I wouldn't know [something] if it stood up in my soup and sang."
openTruman show-esque indie game Videogame
I'm looking for a game where you watch out as somekind of special high school student (could be a god, an alien, idk) lives a seemingly normal life experiencing everiday things and growing up, but your job is to make sure they learn valuable things. To that end you hire extras for they to meet, among other things that reminded me of the first part of the anime Blood-C.
VN novel style,text based, min artwork (faceless characters, IIRR), Slice of life. Asian developer. That's all I can recall.
resolved documentary on the console wars
It is a rather recent production (don't remember HOW recent though) which details the early history of videogames up until the PSX era - particularly the working conditions. The early part is dedicated on Atari, with an inside look on the hippie 80's culture of the office (like how they had a jakuzi in there) before moving on to buy-outs, mentions of the rape games from third party developers, the videogames rating, the Sega Vs Nintendo war, etc.
Particular clips I remember were:
- a man who quit from Nintedo and was on vacation with his family on Hawai being approached by a Sega representative while on the beach to present to him the working models of the new 16 bit console they were preparing.
- A man in a full maskot fursuit showing up on the parking lot of the competition's headquarters to make fun of them.
- The last segment was about the price wars of the new PSX versus everyone the hours just before the official reveal
- a whole other segment on the patent of the first atari console and an apparent tech stealing lawsuit or something
If anyone could help me find it it'd be very helpful.
openKing who shot a servant every day
A story I've heard is that an insane king had the hobby of killing a servant every day (that is, he was given a gun filled with blanks, fired from a distance and the servant dutifully keeled over, getting back up once the king had left), but I can't find it on google.
He might have been a German, does that ring any bells for anyone?

I remember some scenes and parts of the plot. The parts between parentheses are things that I'm not sure of.
An orphan teenager or young adult moves in with her uncle and aunt, (or grandparents?). The aunt/grandma was blonde, sickly and stuck up, and the uncle/grandpa ended up revealing that (he was actually the girl's father?) or (he was interested in her?), which of course disgusted her.
Before that happened, she had crossed the forest outside the house, which the man had told her not to do. She ended up finding a little house and fell in love with the (toymaker? carpenter?) guy that lived there, but in the end they couldn't be together because (he died?). I vaguely remember him telling her about his brother.
After the uncle confessed the truth, she left to find a (sister?) who had bad luck in life, lived in a caravan and was upset (because the girl didn't lend her money?) or something (I think she had several brothers and sisters who were raised in the same foster home). She also ends up being saved by an ex-boyfriend during a rainy night and spends the night in his house, but leaves quickly.
She goes to school where some girls bully her because of her background, and finally she graduates and is greeted outside the building by her uncle. She then tells him (she doesn't need him in her life?) and the movie ends.
The scenes might not be in the exact order. Thanks in advance!