# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/81 "2014-02-11T19:13:40Z")
I always feel like these threads should require people to post two actual examples. The threads seem to always devolve into “They always do this on cops shows–a main character is revealed to have a half-brother who just happens to be the chief suspect in a murder…” I struggle to remember a single example let alone multiple examples making it a trope. The Johnny Bravo plot- main character is selected to be a pop star due to their “look” not their talent- Examples- Brady Bunch, Perfect Strangers and Friends all used this. ---
**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 11, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/82 "2014-02-11T19:36:48Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I always feel like these threads should require people to post two actual examples. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, but I clearly recall the lone juror/Twelve Angry Men scenario I described happening with Edith Bunker and the Fonz–and I think also Aunt Bea, although it may have been someone else in Mayberry. ---
**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 11, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/83 "2014-02-11T19:40:17Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, but I clearly recall the lone juror/Twelve Angry Men scenario I described happening with Edith Bunker and the Fonz–and I think also Aunt Bea, although it may have been someone else in Mayberry. Doogie Howser, too (it was his friend Vinnie). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/84 "2014-02-11T19:44:19Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I always feel like these threads should require people to post two actual examples. OK, for mine (character accidentally takes drugs) OTTOMH: Girls, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood and Six Feet Under (Same actor), Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, TNG (Naked Time), Firefly, House, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, and my favorite: [L&O: SVU](http://youtu.be/U-xYhGX0h88) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/85 "2014-02-11T19:44:36Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Twins trading places, anyone? Yes, because twins also sound, talk, and act alike all the time too. You could lose your mind. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/86 "2014-02-11T20:26:13Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I always feel like these threads should require people to post two actual examples. The threads seem to always devolve into “They always do this on cops shows–a main character is revealed to have a half-brother who just happens to be the chief suspect in a murder…” I struggle to remember a single example let alone multiple examples making it a trope. Criminal Minds and Law & Order: SVU used that trope. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/87 "2014-02-11T20:29:55Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > OK, for mine (character accidentally takes drugs) OTTOMH: > > Girls, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood and Six Feet Under (Same actor), Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, TNG (Naked Time), Firefly, House, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, and my favorite: [L&O: SVU](http://youtu.be/U-xYhGX0h88) Also Barney Miller and That '70s Show. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/88 "2014-02-11T21:02:11Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I always feel like these threads should require people to post two actual examples. For “Back from the Dead” plots, it came up in Babylon 5 (though I think technically he didn’t die, he simply came as close to it as humanly possible thanks to an alien intervention), Stargate (it happened to Daniel Jackson enough that even the redshirts on the show would crack jokes about it), Farscape (multiple villains, more than once, plus at least one of the heroes), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (technically twice on the show’s run, but the first time she was only technically dead for a few seconds before she was revived via CPR), probably others. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/89 "2014-02-11T21:05:12Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > OK, for mine (character accidentally takes drugs) OTTOMH: > > …TNG (Naked Time)… The episode you’re thinking of is The Naked Now. The Naked Time was an entirely different episode of Star Trek TOS about the crew getting infected by Polywater. I’m pretty sure both episodes used the same script. _ **I’LL TAKE YOU HOME AGAIN KATHLEEN…** _😃 ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/90 "2014-02-11T21:59:18Z")
I am very fond of American sitcoms to the exclusion of other TV; however the most fucking annoying plotting from the 90s on involves the extraordinary difficulty American couples in sitcomland have in conceiving children, which includes in vitro, adoption, insemination, sperm banks, carrying another’s children, infertility, vasectomy, childbirth etc. etc… all gruesomely wrapped in emotion , for an act which George Moore pointed out could be achieved in a couple of minutes by a drab and a brute in a back-alley. See: Drew Carey, Two and a Half Men, Caroline in the City, Friends, Cheers, Frasier, Big Bang Theory, Spin City, Murphy Brown, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Mad About You, Ally McBeal, Mike & Molly amongst others. The only one, unsurprisingly, to mock this was _According To Jim_, where Cheryl temporarily convinces Jim that due to his deception with a sperm sample she was pregnant by Andy. _Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d have to say: I am not having my brother’s baby._ ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/91 "2014-02-11T22:02:19Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Doogie Howser, too (it was his friend Vinnie). And MacGyver. And Monk. And Veronica Mars. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/92 "2014-02-11T22:07:30Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, but I clearly recall the lone juror/Twelve Angry Men scenario I described happening with Edith Bunker and the Fonz–and I think also Aunt Bea, although it may have been someone else in Mayberry. Dick Van Dyke Show did it, too. Rob was the lone holdout one way, got everyone convinced, then changed his mind to the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/93 "2014-02-11T23:00:52Z")
I think Newhart did it as well with Bob being the hold out. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/94 "2014-02-11T23:34:50Z")
Ooh! Big Bang Theory hasn’t done this one yet! Wouldn’t it be delicious, Sheldon on a jury? He could try so hard in the voir dire to get himself kicked off, but due to his usual social mis-communication he would end up a solid pick. Then in the jury room, he could be the lone holdout and be so tedious and condescending that everyone would give in to his side just to shut him up, and then he would think of some other point of evidence and change his mind to the other side. The other jurors would then murder him, and cover it up by saying he went home sick. Hmm, I guess I need to re-think that ending. But they could play with that trope quite a bit. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/95 "2014-02-11T23:49:31Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, but I clearly recall the lone juror/Twelve Angry Men scenario I described happening with Edith Bunker and the Fonz–and I think also Aunt Bea, although it may have been someone else in Mayberry. Yes, it was Aunt Bea. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/96 "2014-02-11T23:51:35Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Any heist episode. **White Collar** and **Remington Steele** , among others. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/97 "2014-02-12T00:02:27Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > In sci-fi, someone develops increased intelligence and promptly Goes Evil for no apparent reason _other than_ having superior intelligence. Hmph. Just because I suffer from Malign Hypercognition Syndrome is no reason to get snarky. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/98 "2014-02-12T00:31:37Z")
I hate HATE when police procedural shows (I’m lookin’ at you, Law & Order) does the following: Shows a character’s homelife in anything but a passing moment; I’m interested in the criminal story, not divorces and drunk kids. A cop/DA (and almost always a female) is kidnapped and her colleagues have to carry out an elaborate rescue plan. Storylines where a disgruntled arrestee/released prisoner pursues a vendetta against cop/DA. BORING! Not an annoying storyline per se, but I have difficulty believing that every female DA/ADA in the world is gorgeous. Not just pretty, but model-gorgeous and size 2. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/99 "2014-02-12T00:36:39Z")
In order to solve the crime of the week, one of the female cast members must infiltrate the local Roller Derby ring. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851/100 "2014-02-12T02:22:48Z")
Someone else’s beloved pet dies while in the care of our main character. … and they have to lie to cover it up! Hilarious! … and it wasn’t even the protagonist’s fault! Hilarious! … and they try to replace the pet with an “identical” replacement. Let’s all laugh when the owner doesn’t realize it! Hilarious! This can also happen by breaking a precious object instead, like a car wreck, or having a dog run away instead of dying. Sometimes it **is** the main character’s fault, it doesn’t really make a difference. * * * In other tropes, I like a good heist episode. The two-part **Laverne & Shirley** heist was a series highlight, which also spoofed/lampshaded the “narrated plan in flash-forward” bit, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-genres-you-hate-even-in-your-favorite-shows/680851.md?page=6)