# Retired tropes of yesteryear **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324 "2022-04-23T18:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/241 "2022-05-16T16:16:15Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I remember saying once (while _Three’s Company_ was on) that if a stupid character on a stupid sitcom ever asked “Wait, what are you talking about?”… the show would only be ten minutes long. Speaking of Three’s Company, the show also had what was possibly the most iconic TV example of the “Dumb Blonde” ever: Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow. It was also, I think, one of the last representations of the TV dumb blonde trope. When Somers left she was briefly replaced with a character that was supposed to be her cousin Cindy, also dumb and clumsy to boot. But she didn’t last long and was replaced with Terrie, a character who was a nurse and not at all dumb, ditzy, or clumsy. I think changing attitudes led to the retirement of the ‘dumb blonde’ trope, though there were still dumb characters like Joey on Friends. Phoebe on friends was close to reviving the dumb blonde trope, but I think they walked a fine line by portraying her as more “eccentric” or “quirky” than straight-up dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/242 "2022-05-16T17:23:19Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It was also, I think, one of the last representations of the TV dumb blonde trope. How about Kelly Bundy on _Married With Children_? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/243 "2022-05-16T17:33:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > How about Kelly Bundy on _Married With Children_ ? Yep, I thought wrong. clearly the dumb blonde trope died slowly. I can’t think of any examples from the last 20 years or so, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada_Jr)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/244 "2022-05-16T17:45:11Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I can’t think of any examples from the last 20 years or so, anyway. Penny on _Big Bang Theory_, at least in the first couple of seasons. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/245 "2022-05-16T17:46:36Z")
Not quite a trope, but I’ve noticed watching old movies (pre-60’s) how much information would be delivered with just shots of text. Like, instead of a character saying “Hey, we got invited to Steve’s wedding”, the character would say “Look what we got”; cut to a static shot of the wedding invitation for 5 seconds with no voice-over or anything. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/246 "2022-05-16T18:04:56Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](#): > > Penny on _Big Bang Theory_ , at least in the first couple of seasons. I always just thought of her as ‘normal’, as opposed to the others. She had a couple character flaws, like she wasn’t great with money and she was a bit of a slob, but she often showed more everyday common sense than the brainiacs on the show. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/247 "2022-05-16T19:23:34Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Burt Reynolds’ last chase movie was in 1984, and five years later _Cops_ debuted with the tables turned and the audience rooting for the police and laughing at the pursued. I wonder at what went into that shift. Easy: 1971, the year of _The French Connection_(with its famous chase) and _Dirty Harry_, was the watershed year, at least when it came to urban cops and criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/248 "2022-05-16T19:34:19Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Outrunning the police for **comedic** effect Bolded for emphasis ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/249 "2022-05-16T20:01:40Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > But those were period pieces _Sherlock_ isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/250 "2022-05-16T20:20:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > _Sherlock_ isn’t. I mean, it is and it isn’t. It’s a 19th-Century character copied and pasted into the modern day. You can’t deny that it has the occasional anachronism baked into its premise. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/251 "2022-05-16T20:32:41Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s a 19th-Century character copied and pasted into the modern day. I wouldn’t characterize _Sherlock_ as a copy-and-paste. At all. He’s very much modernized. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/252 "2022-05-17T02:59:35Z")
Was the one from Two Broke Girls a dumb blonde? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/253 "2022-05-17T03:37:24Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > > Seems like the idiot husbands of the past always belonged to lodges… > > Ohhh, maaaan… we need those now more than ever! I grew up watching B&W sitcoms with those, and reading about the old clubs in London in P. G. Wodehouse. How I’d love to pop into “my club” where I could pull up a comfy leather armchair in front of a stone fireplace, and an attendant would bring me a pouch of pipe tobacco, today’s paper, and inform me that the bartender had just made a pitcher of Peychaud’s Aromatic Brandy Bumpers… Man, there’s a really retired trope! Although I have virtually no experience with either, my impression is that lodges of the type depicted in US sitcoms and men’s clubs of the kind often found in British literature are A) rather different creatures, 2) not entirely extinct, and incidentally, iii) not exclusive to either county. Although they may have certain common characteristics, e.g., a physical location, membership by invitation, socializing among the membership as a significant component, etc., ISTM that what we’re calling lodges are generically known as [fraternal orders](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_order), like the Freemasons, Shriners, Odd Fellows, Elk, Moose, etc. > A fraternal order is a fraternity organised as an order, with traits alluding to religious, chivalric or pseudo-chivalric orders, guilds, or secret societies. Contemporary fraternal orders typically have secular purposes, including social, cultural and mutually beneficial or charitable aims. Although all of those and many others still exist, their heyday was roughly from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. Their numbers and membership levels have dropped significantly in the last 50 years. On the other hand, clubs (not to be confused with "gentlemen’s clubs, " aka strip clubs), were, and still are, primarily social and sectarian, with no “mission” as such, other than to provide members a place to gather, dine, drink, and perhaps reside temporarily. Fictional examples include Holmes’ Diogenes Club and Bertie Wooster’s Drones Club. Extant real-world clubs I happen to know about include Harvard Clubs in various cities, the Army-Navy Club, and the [Cosmos Club](https://www.cosmosclub.org/About-the-Club). Presumably some still exist in Britain and other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/254 "2022-05-17T03:41:11Z")
George Babbit meets Bertie Wooster? I’d watch. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/255 "2022-05-17T04:41:52Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > were, and still are, primarily social and sectarian, with no “mission” as such I get the point you’re making, but it should be noted that, lots of clubs are themed or dedicated to particular intellectual pursuits, like the Alpine Club, the Arts Club, the Athenaeum, the Authors’ club, and the various sports-related ones, as opposed to being just _generally_ social. > [@commasense](#): > > Presumably some still exist in Britain and other countries. [Many](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gentlemen%27s_clubs_in_London). ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/256 "2022-05-17T06:32:23Z")
An episode of the Dollop podcast made that claim the reason why bowling leagues disappeared was entirely because of a shrinking middle class, in the 50s to 70s every single middle class family to afford to go bowling every week and buy their own bowling balls, but the shrinking middle class now means there’s less people who can afford to bowl. Which I find complete bullshit but it’s one theory I’ve heard in the wild. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/257 "2022-05-17T09:07:41Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > On the other hand, clubs (not to be confused with "gentlemen’s clubs, " aka strip clubs), were, and still are, primarily social and sectarian, with no “mission” as such, other than to provide members a place to gather, dine, drink, and perhaps reside temporarily. Fictional examples include Holmes’ Diogenes Club and Bertie Wooster’s Drones Club. Extant real-world clubs I happen to know about include Harvard Clubs in various cities, the Army-Navy Club, and the [Cosmos Club](https://www.cosmosclub.org/About-the-Club). Presumably some still exist in Britain and other countries. Private Clubs (of the sort Sherlock Holmes might frequent) do very much still exist, and while (fortunately) they’re no (generally) longer a place for rich men to smoke and avoid their wife nagging them for the evening, they still have an important role in some sectors of society. They also exist outside the UK; we have them in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/258 "2022-05-17T10:54:49Z")
It’s true that bowling is less affordable, but that’s not nearly the only reason there are fewer bowling leagues. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/259 "2022-05-17T11:05:21Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > An episode of the Dollop podcast made that claim the reason why bowling leagues disappeared was entirely because of a shrinking middle class, in the 50s to 70s every single middle class family to afford to go bowling every week and buy their own bowling balls, but the shrinking middle class now means there’s less people who can afford to bowl. My friends in the 80s used to refer to bowling as “The sport of thousandaires”, which implies you have at least a few thousands of dollars in the bank. That does seem be generally less common these days. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/260 "2022-05-17T11:33:56Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Are couples in the suburbs really best friends with their next-door neighbors, like the Petries and the Helpers? Do they even _know_ their next-door neighbors? Another thing that used to be true in real life and reflected in TV. Back in the 1970s, my mother was very close friends with several neighbors, including some she keeps in touch with now (45 years after we moved away). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=14)