# TV and movie plot cliches that really annoy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362 "2009-01-28T06:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/1 "2009-01-28T06:32:03Z")
I just saw an ad for The Closer and they are using one of the most tired plot cliches that ever existed. Brenda is going to get married…or WILL SHE??? ARGH! I don’t even watch that show, but no more of this ‘there’s a big wedding coming up, but it might not happen!’ crap. Please, I’m begging every writer out there to stop doing this. What well worn plot devices get on your nerves? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/2 "2009-01-28T06:38:55Z")
Ticking timebombs. If ya gotta have one, at least set it to detonate at 17:24. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/3 "2009-01-28T07:02:59Z")
Bringing someone who died back to life. 24 I’m talking to YOU! Of course, a bunch of other shows are guilty of it too. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/4 "2009-01-28T09:37:43Z")
Having a baby in a stalled elevator. I can think of at least four shows I’ve seen that on. ---
**Author:** ![dbuzman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de0a6/32.png) [@dbuzman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbuzman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/5 "2009-01-28T09:42:04Z")
When the main character gets amnesia or temporary blindness. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/6 "2009-01-28T09:45:55Z")
Main character has a dream where he imagines he’s Scrooge and the rest of the cast are the other characters from A Christmas Carol. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/7 "2009-01-28T10:01:01Z")
Springs to mind since I’m reading up on House : “If we give him the medicine, and he’s got the disease, he’s cured. If it’s the wrong diagnostic he’ll DIE IN 5 SECONDS BECAUSE HIS PANCREAS WILL EXPLODE !”. Yeah, that gets old. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/8 "2009-01-28T13:16:35Z")
The robot/android that wants to be human. “I want to get tired, get sick, and have to excrete smelly stuff from my behind. Oh, and feel pain, grow old, and die.” ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/9 "2009-01-28T13:36:18Z")
In last year’s season finale of _Lost_, it seemed to me they were trying to use as many stupid cliches as they could. Two that stuck out were: aircraft can’t quite make it unless they lose the weight of a major character who’s due for a redeeming sacrifice; bad guy is shot in the torso, but nobody checks to make sure he’s dead (which he isn’t, thanks to effective body armor, as he actually explains in dialogue later). (In an earlier episode, we have the same “not checking to see if somebody’s dead” cliche, when a woman gets a knife in the back, drops to the ground – and the world-class spinal surgeon standing right next to her doesn’t even check for a pulse.) ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/10 "2009-01-28T14:37:02Z")
When two people get into a “hilarious” or uncomfortable situation because of a misunderstanding that would have been cleared up in 5 seconds if either one had talked to the other. Oh, wait, that’s like EVERY SINGLE SITCOM EVER. I don’t watch much TV. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/11 "2009-01-28T14:42:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The robot/android that wants to be human. “I want to get tired, get sick, and have to excrete smelly stuff from my behind. Oh, and feel pain, grow old, and die.” TELL me about it! The worst perpetrator of this being the writers of the Star Trek franchise. TOS: Spock exploring his “half humanity” TNG: Data trying to find ways to be more human DS9: Odo trying to fit in with the solids Voyager: Originally it was just the Doctor who was trying to be more like a real person, but that clearly wasn’t enough so they decided to throw Seven of Nine into the mix too - gah! Never watched Enterprise so maybe they’d given up on it by then. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/12 "2009-01-28T14:46:07Z")
The Christmas Episode. Select one: -It’s a Wonderful Life -A Christmas Carol -Sigh, We’re Stranded and Will Not Be Home For Christmas (“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” a requirement on soundtrack) ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/13 "2009-01-28T14:53:00Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The robot/android that wants to be human. “I want to get tired, get sick, and have to excrete smelly stuff from my behind. Oh, and feel pain, grow old, and die.” Ditto for angels. _Supernatural_, I love you, but I am tired of creatures that have no emotions, but, oh, have the emotion of envy for creatures that have emotions. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/14 "2009-01-28T14:54:02Z")
“I’m not your real (father/mother/son/daughter/wife/husband/dog).” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/15 "2009-01-28T14:54:12Z")
Girl meets boy who is in danger and being attacked and after five minutes drops her life to chase him. Bourne Identity, I’m looking at you. And a thousand other flicks, of course, but that one annoyed me the most. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/16 "2009-01-28T14:56:23Z")
The ole reset button bugs the crap out of me. There’s no real sense of danger if you know everything’s going to be copasetic by the end of the episode. There’s an episode of Farscape that’s like that, Crighton and Aeryn age into old grumpy people on a planet and part of the episode is really good because there’s a whole deep development in their relationship, but then 50 minutes later, there’s some super alien mumbo jumbo and everything is back to normal. Or when they hand the ship back to Picard after he de-Borgified. That would be about the right time for someone to actually retire. Another is the baby in danger. When it’s supposed to be funny it’s not and when it’s supposed to be dramatic, it seems needless. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/17 "2009-01-28T14:57:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The robot/android that wants to be human. “I want to get tired, get sick, and have to excrete smelly stuff from my behind. Oh, and feel pain, grow old, and die.” Robot: And perhaps you can teach us how to feel emotions like love? Bart Simpson: I said I was “human”. I’m didn’t say I was a girl. > [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Bringing someone who died back to life. 24 I’m talking to YOU! Of course, a bunch of other shows are guilty of it too. I wouldn’t mind it if other characters weren’t so surprised all the time. HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!! Uh…the same way you are for the fifth time, dude. I’m getting sick of the deeply implanted “mole”. What, they don’t have background checks? ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/18 "2009-01-28T15:14:35Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I wouldn’t mind it if other characters weren’t so surprised all the time. HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!! Uh…the same way you are for the fifth time, dude. > I’m getting sick of the deeply implanted “mole”. What, they don’t have background checks? To be fair, 24 only brought one person back from the dead. They killed some pretty major characters, which makes it about the only network drama were you’re not sure everyone is safe. On Alias dying was really a joke. The only real death was her fiance in the first episode. Everyone else either came back to life or was never really dead. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/19 "2009-01-28T15:25:42Z")
The pre-pubescent kid who has all of The Answers[sup]tm[/sup], while his/her parents/relatives/friends are clueless. The imbecile father figure, played against the hip and all-knowing mother figure. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362/20 "2009-01-28T16:05:03Z")
Member of one sex meets member of the other and they fall in love despite false pretenses. The truth comes out and they break up. Ten minutes later they realize that they cannot live without each other, no matter what, and get back together. As seen in every single romantic comedy ever made. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movie-plot-cliches-that-really-annoy/483362.md?page=2)