# TV Show Plot Cliches You Hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689 "2010-08-09T09:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/81 "2010-08-10T12:35:39Z")
> [@El\_Nene](#): > > It mostly bothers me when I’m watching with my wife and she asks if the good guy is going to die. It takes me out of the moment and I have to acknowledge that no, the good guy won’t die Ok, but here’s my trope hate: The good guy doesn’t die, but his best friend/the new kid/the little brother/the comic sidekick does. I grew up a very traumatized little girl because when I watched action adventure movies with my older brothers I never fell for the main hero (he always had a girl already) - I always fell for the sidekick. And the sidekick always died/got badly hurt. I was afraid to date any boys I was attracted to for the longest time - because I was convinced they were destined for death and dismemberment. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/82 "2010-08-10T13:14:15Z")
> [@El\_Nene](#): > > The one’s where the show’s main character is depicted as on the verge of being killed. I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will never believe that Jack Bauer\* is going to die, Dexter is no going to get caught until the last season, McGyver will find a way to rig something up. It’s even worse in movies. I strongly doubt 007 is going to meet his maker in any Bond movie. Agreed. This was one of the flaws of the X-Files. They are not going to kill Mulder. They are not going to kill Scully, or Doggett, nor Reyes. Hell, as much as I liked it, this was a major flaw of Fargo. As much danger as she got in, I just couldn’t in any way believe they would harm/kill a pregnant woman. She has immunity. ETA: melodyharmonius, added to that is the reason the sidekick usually died is because he was doing something stupid…sulking, or going off to fight the Big Bad without the hero, or whatever. Just as annoying! ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/83 "2010-08-10T13:22:17Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > ETA: melodyharmonius, added to that is the reason the sidekick usually died is because he was doing something stupid…sulking, or going off to fight the Big Bad without the hero, or whatever. Just as annoying! Actually, 2 of them I’m thinking of involve the sidekick doing something courageous - like rescuing the little kid who decides to walk through the middle of a shoot out. You know he’s going to rescue her, and you know he’s going to die. . . . And so does the hero - but he’s either too far away to stop it or hurt or something. And the sidekick dies saying, "i always was a f\*ck up. . . " or “tell momma I would have made her proud at the end.” or something that is smarmy but makes me cry anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/84 "2010-08-10T13:48:24Z")
> [@melodyharmonius](#): > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > ETA: melodyharmonius, added to that is the reason the sidekick usually died is because he was doing something stupid…sulking, or going off to fight the Big Bad without the hero, or whatever. Just as annoying! > > Actually, 2 of them I’m thinking of involve the sidekick doing something courageous - like rescuing the little kid who decides to walk through the middle of a shoot out. You know he’s going to rescue her, and you know he’s going to die. . . . > > And so does the hero - but he’s either too far away to stop it or hurt or something. And the sidekick dies saying, "i always was a f\*ck up. . . " or “tell momma I would have made her proud at the end.” or something that is smarmy but makes me cry anyway. But again! Stupid plot devices decide that. I didn’t mean the sidekick was stupid for doing it, but it is stupid for setting it up in such a way. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/85 "2010-08-10T13:57:01Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > That sounds more like it was averted than lampshades. (looks up lampshading on Tropes) Oops. :o ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/86 "2010-08-10T14:04:16Z")
> [@El\_Nene](#): > > The one’s where the show’s main character is depicted as on the verge of being killed. I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will never believe that Jack Bauer\* is going to die… > > \*Disclaimer - I don’t know if this actually happened in 24. I never watched it but it seems like the type of show where the situation would come up. I couldn’t think of any others off the top of my head. Yeah, Jack Bauer, by all rights, _should_ have been killed about 100 times over the course of the series. He’s been shot, stabbed, electrocuted, and knocked unconscious more times than I can count, but of course there’s never any question he’ll survive. Worse is when they make it look like the main character _has_ been killed, but of course they’ll reveal – after the commercial break – that he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, or grabbed a flagpole after falling off the roof, or wasn’t really in the exploding car, or whatever. The running joke with my wife and me is to say “Well, I guess this is the last episode,” then act mock-surprised when we learn our hero is safe. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/87 "2010-08-10T14:04:27Z")
> [@El\_Nene](#): > > The one’s where the show’s main character is depicted as on the verge of being killed. I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will never believe that Jack Bauer\* is going to die, Dexter is no going to get caught until the last season, McGyver will find a way to rig something up. It’s even worse in movies. I strongly doubt 007 is going to meet his maker in any Bond movie. Jack Bauer was often in horrible danger and was actually clinically dead twice. He got better both times. Of course, Kiefer Sutherland made it known to anyone who asked that he and the writers wanted to kill off Jack, but they never ended up doing it. Too bad too, because as awesome as Jack was, the “kill 'em all” philosophy of the 24 writers would have made Jack’s death a huge shocker. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/88 "2010-08-10T14:12:33Z")
In a drama, I present to you The Troublesome Little Sister. The Bionic Woman series with Zoey from Eastenders a couple years ago is the most blatant example. I’ve droned on about TTLS before, but basically the parents have inconveniently died in a car crash and the hero/heroine is saddled with a younger sibling. Who inevitably ‘acts out’, gets into trouble and has to be bailed out of same time after time, interferes with, by her sheer annoying presence, hero/heroine’s love life, and often buddies up to the villain of the show. And gets kidnapped by the villain, needs a suspenseful rescuing, many wild shots fired, some kickass action… Enough, I say. Give the Troublesome Little Sister a one-way bus ticket to visit Auntie Em in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/89 "2010-08-10T14:14:06Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > In a drama, I present to you The Troublesome Little Sister. The Bionic Woman series with Zoey from Eastenders a couple years ago is the most blatant example. I’ve droned on about TTLS before, but basically the parents have inconveniently died in a car crash and the hero/heroine is saddled with a younger sibling. Who inevitably ‘acts out’, gets into trouble and has to be bailed out of same time after time, scuttles by her sheer annoying presence hero/heroine’s love life, and often buddies up to the villain of the show. And gets kidnapped by the villain, needs a suspenseful rescuing, many wild shots fired, some kickass action… Enough, I say. Give the Troublesome Little Sister a one-way bus ticket to visit Auntie Em in Kansas. Oh yes! I hate that. I want to slaughter them. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/90 "2010-08-10T14:15:13Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > > [@El\_Nene](#): > > > > The one’s where the show’s main character is depicted as on the verge of being killed. I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will never believe that Jack Bauer\* is going to die, Dexter is no going to get caught until the last season, McGyver will find a way to rig something up. It’s even worse in movies. I strongly doubt 007 is going to meet his maker in any Bond movie. > > Agreed. This was one of the flaws of the X-Files. They are not going to kill Mulder. They are not going to kill Scully, or Doggett, nor Reyes. > > Hell, as much as I liked it, this was a major flaw of Fargo. As much danger as she got in, I just couldn’t in any way believe they would harm/kill a pregnant woman. She has immunity. The Coen brothers totally would kill a pregnant woman. They didn’t in this movie, but they would. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/91 "2010-08-10T14:17:03Z")
This isn’t a “plot” cliche, but I hate the thing about using a single punch to the jaw or blow to the back of the neck and rendering people unconscious for the duration of a scene, without doing serious injury to them. When did this start? I have a feeling it goes all the way back to the beginning of motion pictures. Did it exist even before then, in pre-film stories and plays? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/92 "2010-08-10T14:35:05Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > In a drama, I present to you The Troublesome Little Sister. The Bionic Woman series with Zoey from Eastenders a couple years ago is the most blatant example. I’ve droned on about TTLS before, but basically the parents have inconveniently died in a car crash and the hero/heroine is saddled with a younger sibling. Who inevitably ‘acts out’, gets into trouble and has to be bailed out of same time after time, interferes with, by her sheer annoying presence, hero/heroine’s love life, and often buddies up to the villain of the show. And gets kidnapped by the villain, needs a suspenseful rescuing, many wild shots fired, some kickass action… Enough, I say. Give the Troublesome Little Sister a one-way bus ticket to visit Auntie Em in Kansas. Then you don’t want to watch _ **In Plain Sight** _, in which US Marshall Mary Shannon has to act as surrogate mom to little sister Brandi (although they’ve toned it down from season One). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/93 "2010-08-10T14:37:29Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > Agreed. This was one of the flaws of the X-Files. They are not going to kill Mulder. They are not going to kill Scully, or Doggett, nor Reyes. > > > > Hell, as much as I liked it, this was a major flaw of Fargo. As much danger as she got in, I just couldn’t in any way believe they would harm/kill a pregnant woman. She has immunity. > > The Coen brothers totally would kill a pregnant woman. They didn’t in this movie, but they would. Which movie did they do it in, then? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/94 "2010-08-10T14:40:03Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > The annual “It’s A Wonderful Life” ripoff episode. That or the “A Christmas Carol” ripoff episode, with the three ghosts being played by characters from the show of course. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/95 "2010-08-10T14:40:26Z")
1. Member of tightly-knit crime-fighting team is accused of doing something criminal, and the whole ep revolves around proving them innocent. 2. Member of tightly-knit crime-fighting team is actually guilty of doing something criminal (okay, it’s interesting, to some extent, with Gibbs, but Zack Addy? Please. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/96 "2010-08-10T14:47:28Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > In a drama, I present to you The Troublesome Little Sister. The Bionic Woman series with Zoey from Eastenders a couple years ago is the most blatant example. I’ve droned on about TTLS before, but basically the parents have inconveniently died in a car crash and the hero/heroine is saddled with a younger sibling. Who inevitably ‘acts out’, gets into trouble and has to be bailed out of same time after time, interferes with, by her sheer annoying presence, hero/heroine’s love life, and often buddies up to the villain of the show. And gets kidnapped by the villain, needs a suspenseful rescuing, many wild shots fired, some kickass action… Enough, I say. Give the Troublesome Little Sister a one-way bus ticket to visit Auntie Em in Kansas. I dunno . . . Except for the getting-kidnapped part, this might well be [Truth In Television.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TruthInTelevision) ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/97 "2010-08-10T17:43:13Z")
> [@El\_Nene](#): > > The one’s where the show’s main character is depicted as on the verge of being killed. I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will never believe that Jack Bauer\* is going to die, Dexter is no going to get caught until the last season, McGyver will find a way to rig something up. It’s even worse in movies. I strongly doubt 007 is going to meet his maker in any Bond movie. Watch the movie “To Live and Die in L.A.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/98 "2010-08-10T18:06:27Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > Hell, as much as I liked it, this was a major flaw of Fargo. As much danger as she got in, I just couldn’t in any way believe they would harm/kill a pregnant woman. She has immunity. > > The Coen brothers totally would kill a pregnant woman. They didn’t in this movie, but they would. Was Marge ever really in “danger” aside from perhaps the last couple minutes? If there was some long scene of her being kidnapped or something, I could see the criticism but she never even encounters the “bad guys” until the movie is in its final scene. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/99 "2010-08-10T19:03:02Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Saying the wrong person’s name during sex. Who calls roll during hanky-panky, anyway? I never did anything exactly like this, but upon the third re-reading of this (you are at the top of the page, after all) I remembered an incident from college. It wasn’t while we were having sex…I was taking a nap in my bf’s room, and he shook me away, and I said his suitemate’s name. I was pretty embarrassed, as was he. I never was reotely attracted to this guy, but we were all pretty young, and I had no idea where it came from. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689/100 "2010-08-10T19:49:24Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > When one person is deceiving the other person in the relationship about who they really are, and s/he’s about to tell the other person, but is interrupted, and doesn’t bother trying again, and then the other person discovers it on their own, gets pissed off, and finally the deceiver convinces them of their true love. In this vein, any scene where two people are in love and keep meaning to tell the other but something else always comes up. > [@Skott](#): > > Shapeshifters. I can’t stand shapeshifters. And it seems like every single sci-fi or fantasy show has to have at least one. The main part that’s usually annoying is that the audience knows that the evil shapeshifter has infiltrated the good guys and the writers attempt to string it out as long as possible. Then there’s the inevitable “Which one is the real one?” or “I know you’re not X because although you were able to copy them in every possible detail, you left out…” > > \ > > I decided not to watch Battlestar Galactica because they introduced Cylons disguised as humans in the mini-series and I really didn’t want to have to deal with “Spot the hidden cylon” for the rest of the show. I later saw an episode of Robot Chicken that confirmed my fears. Battlestar Galactica is one of the single best television series ever produced, in part because of Cylons. The way the subject is handled is the exact opposite of clishé. They aren’t shapeshifters, though–they can’t change form or impersonate any individual, they just look human, and a lot of them don’t even know what they are. Furthermore there are only twelve models. So while part of the dramatic tension revolves around identifying what the twelve models look like and they could very well be anyone, it’s not like they can keep transforming into other people. Once any one model is found out, neither it or its ‘‘siblings’’ that look exactly the same can hide. The character development that is driven by the experience of Cylons and the conflict that arises because of their uncertain identities and mixed loyalties is some of the finest I have ever seen in any television show ever. You’re doing yourself a tremendous disservice by dismissing it based on the premise. > [@ghardester](#): > > Or, expanding upon **bouv** ’s post, how about the “does anyone object to this marriage” type thing where the man/woman changes their mind at the last minute, during the final vows of the wedding, and runs off with someone else. > > How romantic! How unlikely! > > How the hell is that new relationship going to work out? Subverted beautifully at the end of _The Graduate_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-show-plot-cliches-you-hate/549689.md?page=6)