Annoying TV/Movie Tropes
- Thread starter dahliaclone
- Start date
- Mar 27, 2006
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- Mar 27, 2006
- 42,416
- 32,926
- 113
- Mar 27, 2006
- 42,416
- 32,926
- 113
This one isn't a trope, but maybe it should be...
I think I'd rather enjoy it if more movies featured scenes with tough, no-nonsense action heroes, like Charles Bronson, questioning the functionality of various sex toys.
Dirty Harry Callahan - "You recognize these? What are they used for? They're for strengthening your pelvic floor muscles, aren't they? Well, aren't they, punk?"
I think I'd rather enjoy it if more movies featured scenes with tough, no-nonsense action heroes, like Charles Bronson, questioning the functionality of various sex toys.
Dirty Harry Callahan - "You recognize these? What are they used for? They're for strengthening your pelvic floor muscles, aren't they? Well, aren't they, punk?"
One I can think of off the top of my head is when the bad guy is chasing the good guys and he's walking but the good guys are sprinting and somehow he catches up to them.
One of my big ones was already mentioned, "Zoom, enhance" But another big one for me is when the good guys are in trouble, in a seemingly inescapable predicament and the one person is so scared they are just blathering, but then say something very clearly and matter of fact (I'm simplifying it) like, "if we only had a tire iron to pry open the door." And the leader of the pack says, "Wait, what did you just say?" so the guy repeats it. Then by repeating what he already heard, the leaders brilliant idea finally comes to light and he uses the tire iron to pry open the door. I mean, by asking him to repeat it, didn't he already have the idea in his head? Did it matter what the person even said, the leader got the idea of what he was going to do.
What I hate is when the show is about to reveal something big and you have to wait until next week to hear it and when they reveal it, it doesn't give you any more answers, just more questions.
I'm thinking of shows like the Black List, Manifest, etc., that have an underlying mystery unfolding during the life of the show that never gets solved even as they solve other, many times unrelated, problems along the way.
You just summed up the entire Friday the 13th series.
It has "evolved" somewhat over time. It used to be a stalk/bunch of celery sticking out the sack.
Update: @dahliaclone posted similar response way before I did.
I don't know if it's a trope, but I definitely feel like it's becoming one: When a TV show has one random episode that is stylistically completely different from the rest of the show. These episodes are generally artsy/experimental and well-reviewed but by they drive me up the wall since they stop almost all rhythm the series has.
Examples:
Fargo S5: Puppet Show Episode
Ted Lasso: Coach Beard episode
Bojack Horseman: Lost in Translation underwater
Barry: ronny/lilly
I'm not saying these episodes are bad, in fact some are great, but they also aren't the show I wanted to watch. Especially since seasons are only like 10 episodes now. It made more sense to be experimental when there were 24 episodes a season.
Examples:
Fargo S5: Puppet Show Episode
Ted Lasso: Coach Beard episode
Bojack Horseman: Lost in Translation underwater
Barry: ronny/lilly
I'm not saying these episodes are bad, in fact some are great, but they also aren't the show I wanted to watch. Especially since seasons are only like 10 episodes now. It made more sense to be experimental when there were 24 episodes a season.
- Mar 27, 2006
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A lot of shows end up falling victim to this. A cliffhanger can be very effective, but it's easy to overuse them as a way to ramp up suspense. Take a show like Suits, which is entertaining, but very formulaic. So many of their episodes end on cliffhangers where the very fate of the characters hang in the balance. And once that's solved in the following episode, you've got to make the next challenge just as daunting, if not more. So it becomes a cycle of upping the ante on the stakes, until your stories become farcical and contrived.
Good example of a "good" use of that. It was part of "character development" + the scene/setting didn't suggest it was a possibility AND the viewer can see what's about to happen like two seconds before (enough to register, and knowing the people in the car don't realize it).
Kind of a rambling explanation of it, but for anyone who has seen the movie, you know what I mean.
- Mar 27, 2006
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Depends on how they're used. Look at a show like Community. Many of their best moments are bottle episodes, or gimmicky premises. That's sort of a Dan Harmon signature. Does it with Rick and Morty as well. He leans heavily into that type of thing, and his fans love him for it.
And the moment they get in they know precisely how that particular software works.
Leaving the door open drives me crazy. Another is they hear something in the house at night so they investigate without turning on a single light. "There might be a killer in here but I don't want to waste electricity"
A couple that, although relatively minor, long have annoyed or at least distracted me:
* Lightning and thunder occur simultaneously (almost always on TV shows, movies sometimes it's more realistic, but not often). I realize maybe it's a cinematic challenge to have a flash of light with no immediate boom if you aren't aware of a storm context, but it's used even when you know weather conditions in a scene.
* When a pet dog or cat comes into a scene, and you can see them or their referenced by a character immediately prior, the cat meows once or dog barks once. "Hey, there's Rover!" "Woof!"
* Lightning and thunder occur simultaneously (almost always on TV shows, movies sometimes it's more realistic, but not often). I realize maybe it's a cinematic challenge to have a flash of light with no immediate boom if you aren't aware of a storm context, but it's used even when you know weather conditions in a scene.
* When a pet dog or cat comes into a scene, and you can see them or their referenced by a character immediately prior, the cat meows once or dog barks once. "Hey, there's Rover!" "Woof!"
