# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/161 "2022-04-29T22:16:05Z")
The bad woman driver (often employed for comedic effect: “But honey, how did you get the car stuck in the mailbox?!”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/162 "2022-04-29T23:54:50Z")
Woman is insanely jealous when boyfriend/husband gets a hot new secretary and feels like an idiot when he doesn’t give in to temptation. Or, the same happens with the husband/boyfriend when the woman gets a new boss who’s a hunk. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/163 "2022-04-30T07:01:40Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > “Of course we know, we’re the telephone company!” The Phone Company is more evil than you think. > **[The President's Analyst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President%27s_Analyst)** > > The President's Analyst is a 1967 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Ted Flicker and starring James Coburn. The film has elements of political satire and science fiction, including themes concerning modern ethics and privacy, specifically the intrusion of the telecommunications alliance, working with the U.S. government, into citizens' private lives. The film was released theatrically on December 21, 1967, and was initially not a commercial success. However, it was re... > Kropotkin arranges a pickup with his trusted CEA colleague Don Masters, but Schaefer is kidnapped again, this time by TPC (The Phone Company), a far more insidious organization than the CSS, the FBR, or the KGB, which had been secretly observing him. Taken to TPC headquarters in New Jersey, he is introduced to its leader, who wants Schaefer’s help in carrying out their plan for world domination. As the TPC leader makes his presentation, a camera closeup reveals electronic cables connected to one of his feet, revealing that he is actually an [animatronic robot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animatronics). ---
**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:** [April 30, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/164 "2022-04-30T18:27:34Z")
I just read that synopsis, and though I remember enjoying the movie, none of that sounded familiar. Was there a bit where the members of a terrorist cell were in fact all agents trying to infiltrate the cell? ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/165 "2022-04-30T18:40:44Z")
Yes, everybody in the movie were basically spies of one sort or another. Spying on each other, or themselves, or just random people. Really over the top, but I found it humorous. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/166 "2022-05-05T04:11:35Z")
It occurred to me that old sitcoms used to have a lot more stories about get-rich-quick schemes, like: - Character buys shares in a silver mine that turns out to be worthless - Character comes up with a great new invention that causes more trouble than it’s worth - Character’s wife has a favorite dish to cook and character tries to make money selling it - Character finds out he has a valuable antique (but it is either a fake or it gets destroyed) - Character is in line to inherit money from a long-lost relative, but only if they do something drastic (like get married immediately or stay in a haunted house) ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/167 "2022-05-05T04:40:03Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Another one that was used very often in old TV dramas-- a main character is in an accident and loses the ability to walk. At one point the person seems like they will succumb to sheer despair. But, through hard work and sheer determination, they finally regain the ability to walk! Usually within a single episode. > > I’ve seen it in Bonanza and The Rifleman (Mark fell of his horse and couldn’t walk; at one point Lucas actually got a little mad at him for not trying hard enough to walk again. But by the end of the 1/2 hour, he was back on his feet). One of the Walton girls had several logs fall on her. I think it was a 2 or 3 episode arc before she could walk again. > > Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I’ve thought regarding that trope-- it seems insulting to real people who become paralyzed from an accident, can’t walk, and will never be able to walk again; suggesting if you just have enough determination and try hard enough, anybody can learn to walk again. So if you can’t in real life, you just didn’t try hard enough? Also kind of suggesting that if someone can’t walk, their lives are basically worthless The thing is, occasionally that trope plays out in real life. The best-known example would be FDR. Another example would be Ben Hogan, who not only learned how to walk again, but returned to professional golf. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/168 "2022-05-05T07:21:22Z")
I’ve seen far too many sitcoms where apparently a character hears an expression that’s basically “If you kiss your true love you will see fireworks immediately” and they take it literally, so they kiss someone on the 4th of July, see fireworks, and assume that’s their true love. I haven’t seen that one since a 90s Family Matters episode though. ---
**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 5, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/169 "2022-05-05T12:13:55Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > The thing is, occasionally that trope plays out in real life. The best-known example would be FDR. Another example would be Ben Hogan, who not only learned how to walk again, but returned to professional golf. I never said that it never happens in real life, but it seldom happens in real life the way it does on TV. On TV, the trope is, a main character has an accident that causes them to not only not be able to walk, but not move their legs at all, or feel any sensation in their legs. I’m not a doctor, but that sounds like a severe spinal injury to me. Then the character makes a miraculous full recovery through sheer determination, because they ‘wanted it enough’. Sometimes in a single episode, sometimes it takes a multi-episode arc. It just seems to me that it’s a trope that sets unrealistic expectations for people who suffer spinal cord injuries in reality. Your examples are a bit more complicated. FDR didn’t become paralyzed from an accident, he was diagnosed with polio, though some think it may have been Guillain–Barré syndrome. He did partially regain ability to walk, but only short distances with braces, and he needed support when standing for any period of time. Ben Hogan was severely injured in a car accident, but it doesn’t appear to have been a spinal cord injury, he had a severely fractured pelvis and a number of other problems that threatened his ability to walk again. It sounds like he did recover through sheer determination and hard work, but again, he wasn’t coming back from a spinal cord injury. Tiger Woods has a similar story- from being messed up so badly he almost lost a leg, to returning to professional golf. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/170 "2022-05-05T13:26:09Z")
How about the montage where they skip the hard parts of beating an alcohol addiction and cut to the part where they’re clean? That was much more popular in the past. The only place I’ve seen it used recently was ironically on Harley Quinn. ---
**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 5, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/171 "2022-05-05T14:33:22Z")
“I Love Lucy” did most of these (some of them more than once) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/172 "2022-05-05T14:35:58Z")
I was thinking about “The Flintstones” and the radio show “Fibber McGee and Molly” as well. ---
**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 5, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/173 "2022-05-05T15:28:21Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It occurred to me that old sitcoms used to have a lot more stories about get-rich-quick schemes, like: Old sitcoms seem to be more about money, period. When is the last time you can remember a sitcom character talking about money? ---
**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 5, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/174 "2022-05-05T15:34:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Old sitcoms seem to be more about money, period. When is the last time you can remember a sitcom character talking about money? Heh? Money and how to get more of it more quickly is a universal, perpetual subject of much comedy and drama, as well as life itself, from the invention of money to today. Quick answer to the specific question: on ‘Abbott Elementary’, they are perennially underfunded, so much of the plots often involve resorting to creative ‘schemes’ to either raise money on their own or procure school materials in other ways, such as donations. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/175 "2022-05-05T15:37:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > When is the last time you can remember a sitcom character talking about money? _Young Rock_, constantly. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/176 "2022-05-05T15:59:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Old sitcoms seem to be more about money, period. When is the last time you can remember a sitcom character talking about money ? The new CBS sitcom _[How We Roll](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_We_Roll_(TV_series))_ – kind of a throwback series to be sure – has been centered around the protagonist’s money concerns throughout the first few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/177 "2022-05-05T16:12:35Z")
GHOSTS has the protagonists try a variety of offbeat things to make enough money to get their little Bed-and-Breakfast up and running (which, since the plan is for _it_ to make money, means that’s still the point whenever they engage in wacky hijinks to get a needed permit or comically struggle to un-delete the website they’ve been working on or whatever). ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/178 "2022-05-05T16:16:32Z")
Are “spit takes” still a thing? They never were funny and actually quite disgusting. ---
**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 5, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/179 "2022-05-05T16:50:02Z")
They are on the internet, at least… ![](https://media2.giphy.com/media/hvq8ONQhQ1XLq/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47uxvnitcxoxp5wqwcyzy3sc9am8wufeks0xmtn3b5&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/180 "2022-05-05T17:12:02Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It occurred to me that old sitcoms used to have a lot more stories about get-rich-quick schemes _The Big Bang Theory_ did a modern take on this. In a flashback, the gang mined some Bitcoin back when it was a brand new thing and most people hadn’t heard of it. In the present day, one of them remembers that Bitcoin they mined a long time ago and realizes it’s worth a lot of money now, and they spend the rest of the episode looking for the old flash drive containing their Bitcoin wallet. IIRC they eventually find it, but discover Sheldon has encrypted it (sort of a twist on the “it gets destroyed” trope). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=10)