# Plot Genres You Hate, Even In Your Favorite Shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851 "2014-02-08T19:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/21 "2014-02-08T23:54:03Z")
A wedding, any wedding, and most especially a wedding where an old flame shows up. A cop, firefighter, soldier, etc. doing something dangerous just before retirement. Extra demerits if the something dangerous is defusing a bomb, and the bomb has a timer. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/22 "2014-02-09T00:39:15Z")
In sci-fi, someone develops increased intelligence and promptly Goes Evil for no apparent reason _other than_ having superior intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/23 "2014-02-09T00:50:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In 60s dramas, the 54-minute love affair, where the star falls deeply in love with someone who’s never been shown before, only to break up at the end (if the lover isn’t killed halfway through). On **Bonanza** , any engagement to one of the Cartwright boys was more lethal than anthrax to the actress that fell in love with Adam, Little Joe or Hoss. I was just a kid during the show’s prime time run, but even at the age of 9 I knew any future Mrs. Cartwright was a goner by the end of the episode. Hell, even old man Ben had sired his 3 sons by 3 different wives, all of whom had bit the dust before the series started. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/24 "2014-02-09T00:52:44Z")
Haven’t seen one of these recently, but any show involving a tomboyish female character who, for whatever reason, is shown the error of her ways and learns how nice and wonderful it is to wear pretty dresses and makeup and attract _boys_! ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/25 "2014-02-09T00:53:36Z")
A callback to the lead actor’s previous show. It was cute the first time, _Castle_, but for gods’ sake it’s time to stand on your own. Again, free pass for _Newhart_… Which was also a spoof of another show (_Dallas_). That’s another one I hate. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/26 "2014-02-09T00:55:05Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > The Misunderstood Out Of Context Statement. > > One well placed question is all it takes to fix the situation. Aah, yes, this one is so aggravating! Or the more general case, any misunderstanding that could be trivially dispelled in 30 seconds if only some character just opened their mouth and said what’s up, but somehow everyone expects ESP or thinks their point is too obvious. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/27 "2014-02-09T00:55:16Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > “ **It’s a Wonderful Life** ” which itself is a Hollywoodized version of **A Christmas Carol** How? ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/28 "2014-02-09T00:56:26Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > A wedding, any wedding, and most especially a wedding where an old flame shows up. > > A cop, firefighter, soldier, etc. doing something dangerous just before retirement. Extra demerits if the something dangerous is defusing a bomb, and the bomb has a timer. Also, especially in sitcoms, everything that can go wrong does. If I recall correctly, I think the series _Coach_ stands out for this. Christine is trying to plan the perfect wedding and at some point during the ceremony ends up swinging from a chandelier. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/29 "2014-02-09T00:57:12Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > A baby being born somewhere outside of a hospital, especially if it’s somewhere ridiculous like in an elevator or in a mountain cabin. This is the one I came in to mention. Without even trying I can think of three “baby in the elevatior shows” _All in the Family_, _Benson_, and _Night Court_ did it. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/30 "2014-02-09T01:17:13Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Haven’t seen one of these recently, but any show involving a tomboyish female character who, for whatever reason, is shown the error of her ways and learns how nice and wonderful it is to wear pretty dresses and makeup and attract _boys_! And more specifically- remove glasses and straighten curly hair. Because no one with glasses and curls can be pretty ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/31 "2014-02-09T01:17:16Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > A baby being born somewhere outside of a hospital, especially if it’s somewhere ridiculous like in an elevator or in a mountain cabin. I think that’s why elevators now have emergency stop buttons you pull rather than push, but I think the elevators on sitcoms were grandfathered in so an errant elbow can still cause laffs to ensue. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/32 "2014-02-09T01:18:01Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Maybe not a genre, exactly, but (and I’ve mentioned this before) I see absolute blazing red when there’s a Troublesome Younger Sibling (99 times out of 100, it’s a Troublesome Little Sister). Parents inevitably die in a car crash sticking the (99 times out of 100) heroine with a 12 - 15 year old young sister. Young sister inevitably is a big screwup, getting in the way of heroine’s undercover job/romantic life. Young sister guzzles the booze, has wild parties in heroine’s apartment, sets hair on fire, gets kicked out of school, and most likely is kidnapped by the villain. Young sister should be put on a goddam bus, pronto, to Auntie Em in Biblebiter, Kansas, but NO! I hate the Troublesome Little Sister. Not that I’m unsympathetic to their situation, but it’s always the same. Acting out like an asshole. Never a nice kid, always being the big honkin’ cliche. “Wahh, I’m an orphan! I hate you! You aren’t my mother! Is that your boyfriend, he is HOT!!! I hate you! I hate school! Don’t tell ME what to do!” Still bitter about Dawn, huh? Here’s a popular soap trope but it’s happened in primetime dramas, too, I guess we can thank “Gone With The Wind” for it; no pregnant woman should ever go near stairs because she is going to fall or get pushed down them and lose the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/33 "2014-02-09T01:27:27Z")
You don’t see much of them anymore, but around the '70s several shows did “Twelve Angry Men” episodes, where one of the characters had jury duty and held out for the accused person’s innocence against the other 11 jurors. These irrated me because in every case the lone juror was vindicated; some information emerged that proved that person’s innocence beyond a doubt. In “Twelve Angry Men,” the accused’s actual innocence is left unknown even after his acquittal–an important part of the play’s whole point about the nature of the judicial system which the sitcoms seem to have completely missed. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/34 "2014-02-09T01:53:48Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > On **Bonanza** , any engagement to one of the Cartwright boys was more lethal than anthrax to the actress that fell in love with Adam, Little Joe or Hoss. I was just a kid during the show’s prime time run, but even at the age of 9 I knew any future Mrs. Cartwright was a goner by the end of the episode. Hell, even old man Ben had sired his 3 sons by 3 different wives, all of whom had bit the dust before the series started. It’s kind of like that with Doctor Who. If there’s a pretty girl who would be an awesome companion, but who isn’t an official Companion, she will die. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/35 "2014-02-09T01:54:53Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Clip shows. Sometimes it’s alright, like when the Simpsons parodied it. Sometimes it is meh or worse, like the Simpsons musical episode. I liked one of Stargate’s ones, _Disclosure_. The existence of the Stargate program is being revealed to a few more major powers for the first time. Senator Kinsey spends the entire episode poisoning them against the SGC, right up until Thor stops by to hand him his ass. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/36 "2014-02-09T02:10:25Z")
I’m not a big fan of Abaddon on Supernatural, nor did I much like the Leviathan. I don’t like invulnerable, indestructible, unstoppable villains and the long, boring, drawn-out storylines to find the one teeny tiny thing that will take them down. While that did happen on Buffy a lot, I did like how it was deconstructed too, with the miniature demon or the one they blew up with the rocket, no weapon known to man. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/37 "2014-02-09T02:24:04Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > This is the one I came in to mention. Without even trying I can think of three “baby in the elevatior shows” _All in the Family_, _Benson_, and _Night Court_ did it. Any others? _The Odd Couple_ did one in a stalled subways train, with a dog, rather than a human. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/38 "2014-02-09T03:12:42Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > For me: > > [ol] > [li]Blatant ripoffs of “ **It’s a Wonderful Life** ” which itself is a Hollywoodized version of **A Christmas Carol** [/li][/ol] That’s not true; **It’s a Wonderful Life** was an adaptation of the short story “[The Greatest Gift](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Gift_(story)),” which was nothing at all like Dickens. > [@RandMcnally](#): > > It’s kind of like that with Doctor Who. If there’s a pretty girl who would be an awesome companion, but who isn’t an official Companion, she will die. Didn’t happen to Sally Sparrow, who was clearly companion material (Moffat described her as such in the original script). ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/39 "2014-02-09T03:24:22Z")
I’m tired of any story about a rich family. Rape and abduction cases depress me, although I enjoyed “Taken.” I hate any movie whose setting makes you think of slums in Iraq, Turkey, and general Somalia. The Hurt Locker might well be the last movie I’ll watch about Iraq/Afghanistan. Lastly, nice rich girls who break away from their “stuffy” rich families to join good-for-nothing rebels is sooo 50s. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/40 "2014-02-09T03:48:14Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > That’s not true; **It’s a Wonderful Life** was an adaptation of the short story “[The Greatest Gift](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Gift_(story)),” which was nothing at all like Dickens. I know the origins of the film. Thanks. However, it is being exceptionally charitable to state that both **The Greatest Gift** and **It’s a Wonderful Life** can’t be traced very closely back to Dickens. A magical being appears and shows a person how his life is supposed to be? Also, the short story **The Greatest Gift** is so different from IAWL that they barely resemble one another. The protagonist’s job is different, the S&L subplot isn’t there, George’s wife isn’t a spinster, but is married to a different man. There’s no subplot about the druggist almost poisoning a child by mistake and George stopping him. The name of the town doesn’t change. The Clarence the angel subplot is isn’t there nor is the now famous ( but rather trite) ending about bells ringing/angel’s wings. After RKO purchased the story, the director and writer performed extensive rewrites upon so that it barely resembles its source material. The main premise is the same ( a suicidal man sees how life would be without him) but almost none the remainder is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851.md?page=3)