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35 TV and Movie Tropes You Can’t Unsee

Let’s all make a pact to score before we finish this list

35 TV and Movie Tropes You Can’t Unsee

April 07, 2024

“Are all you kids on that Tikity Tokity thing?”

Ugh, our moms are just so out of touch! Honestly, we’re closer to the out-of-touch mom’s age now than the eye-rolling, blue-haired teen in this extremely overused trope. We just wanted to fit in with the cliches on this list. Maybe even become friends with them in the first act, then hate them in the second act, then make up and forge an even tighter bond in the third.

So many tropes to try! Here, let’s sample them all…

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35

CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes The Jim Halpert John Krasinski looking at the camera was a perfect straight man gesture, creating complicity between the mockumentary format and the audience. After every show started following The Office's template, however, it grew tiresome, as they just had to have the smartass glancing at us to tell us how dumb everyone else was. — Source

34

Awful Sitcom Tropes Locked in a room Bottle episodes are in every TV genre, but they can be very predictable in sitcoms. Sitcoms with episodes in which their characters end up locked inside a room include Friends, Saved by the Bell, All in the Family, Night Court, and The Office. If it's an elevator and a pregnant woman is about to give birth, even better worse. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes The overblown misunderstanding We get it, you can't have a situation comedy without situations, but must every misunderstanding be blown out of proportion like it's the ending to Batman V Superman? This was pretty much the entire narrative force behind Three's Company, but Friends and Modern Family have also relied strongly on it. — Source

32

Awful Sitcom Tropes will they or won't they Today's fluid, less committed relationships may be displacing it, but Andy and Haley in Modern Family or Annie and Jeff in Community have helped keep this ages-old trope alive. Seinfeld got it over with fast, when Jerry and Elaine hooked up in Season 2. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Canned Laughter

Awful Sitcom Tropes Loud audience Canned laughter, burn in hell. Studio audiences are always overly enthusiastic, way too loud, and cackle after the blandest of jokes. We'd mention an example, but come on, you know it's The Big Bang Theory. Now for a good example of actual audience participation, listen to the person loudly going oh my god in an old episode of Titus. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

TIRED COMEDY BITS I'M OKAY! Even overdone in cartoons, but at least the absurdity of an I'm okay after a building falls on someone is way funnier than a live action character just falling, giving a dramatic pause, then proclaiming, I'm okay! Extra hacky points for the thumbs up. CRACKED — Source

29

TIRED COMEDY BITS PARENTS TRYING TO BE COOL Middle-aged parents who have no idea what a Tikitty Tokitty is get a massive eye-roll from their teen daughter, who either helps them understand, or just storms off in a huff. CRACKED — Source

28

TIRED COMEDY BITS AWKWARD HANDSHAKES It's usually the punchline in most commercials, but countless movies and TV shows feature a spin on it. The missed high-five, or being left hanging, or the are we gonna hug, or fist bump, or shake, or high-five, or 'oh my god, this is so awkward! CRACKED — Source

27

TIRED COMEDY BITS AWKWARD! In lieu of writing an actual punchline, a character will just say awkward, and the cringe we feel is supposed to be the joke. It's not a joke! It's all set up with a forced awkward chuckle because we're uncomfortable! CRACKED — Source

26

TIRED COMEDY BITS Mets THE FAT MAN-CHILD AND HIS HOT WIFE After Homer Simpson (who ironically was created to satirize the American man), the fat idiot who is helpless without his capable (out-of-his-league) wife became the biggest sitcom trope. CRACKED — Source

25

Animated movies have been using dead, dying, or missing parents for character development since at least 1938. Ding FROZEN FINDING NEMO RATATOUILLE THE GOOD DINOSAUR LION KING Aladdin Disney MERMAID Disney TARZAN 111 Bambi Cinderella SnowWhite - Disney Beauty Beast It's time to leave this idea behind. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

MAIN VILLAIN DELIBERATELY CAPTURED GLASS BOX CRACKED.COM — Source

23

CRACKED COM Surprise twist villains are always underdeveloped. Zootopia Incredibles 2 Frozen Having to hide their true character robs them of valuable screen time. — Source

22

I'm tired of seeing sitcom weddings GRACKED.COM that get cancelled at the last moment. New Girl It's always obvious they're not adding a new main character to the cast, so unless Golden Girls they're on the last season, it's just a question of waiting to see what goes wrong. Friends — Source

21

BATMAN BEGINS IRON MAN III I FIND IT ANNOYING AND ANTICLIMATIC WHEN THE #2 BAD GUY IS REVEALED AS THE REAL #1 BAD GUY CRACKED CON EQUILIBRIUM FAST & FURIOUS — Source

20

Something unbelievable just happened! Oh, no, wait. It was just a dream. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

CRACKED.COM Can we please stop having Chosen One movie heroes? It's a lazy way for writers to make a character a hero without proper development. — Source

18

Kissing Tropes

CRACKED COM It's time for writers to retire interrupted kisses. The X-Files Zombieland Were we supposed to feel anything other than The Guardians of annoyance? the Galaxy — Source

17

GRACKED.COM (KNOCKED UP) The trope of the lead characters breaking up in the second act, just to get back together in the third act is one of the most overused cliches ever. You know they'll reunite. It's just a lazy way to create drama. — Source

16

Twister The Parent Trap Making divorced people fall back in love is just lazy and predictable, with the addition of giving kids false hope for their own divorced parents. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

burn notice HOUSE M.D. Hugh Laurie It's time to stop ending shows with faked deaths. WHITECOLLAR DEXTER CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Can we get rid of the scene where a character gets all their signature traits at once? CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Not every children's character needs a depressing origin story. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

CRACKED COM Enough of the new hair = character development shortcut. It's time to be a little more creative. — Source

11

MR. & MRS SMITH Perfect Gift... الله Card TMNT SPIDER-MAN WALL-E DAWN OF THE DEAD X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE *Awkward Elevator CRACKED.COM Music* — Source

10

CRACKED.COM Best friends in high school (these are all specifically about males) try to lose Porky's their virginity before college or some other specific date. Hilarity rarely ensues. American Pie Superbad Girl Next Door Sex Drive — Source

9

CRACKED COM Not all nerds wear glasses. But anyone who wears glasses is Yamazaki Velma probably a nerd. (Welcome to the (Scooby-Doo) NHK) Tucker (Danny Phantom) Steve Urkel Taranee Hale (Family Matters) (W.I.T.C.H.) Polly Professor Frink Professor Farnsworth St. Trinian's) (The Simpsons) (Futurama) — Source

8

The romance develops CRACKED COM quickly. Canon THE BIG TWIST? She's working for the bad side. — Source

7

It is hard to take a movie seriously when the main character has an obscure hobby that gives them the exact skill needed to advance the plot. Billy from Jurassic Park-III actually does base-jumping in his spare time. Nick Spitz from Murder Mystery just happens to speak Latin. Too convenient. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

GRACKED.COM SNOW PLANET. DESERT PLANET JUNGLE PLANET A planet with more than one type of biome? Only Earth. — Source

5

Friends Only You Prem CRACKED.COM Don't worry, if someone loves you just book a flight and they'll chase you to the airport to stop you from leaving them... ...right? She's Outta My League Love Actually — Source

4

I'm Pumped and covering a LOT of Distance unless I'm A FATSO! GRACKED.COM — Source

3

CRACKED.COM New Girl Friends Are you best friends with your exes? How I Met Your Scrubs Mother — Source

2

CRACKED.COM GOTH GIRLS KNOW DARK MAGICI Bellatrix Lestrange Nancy Black Alice Random spell caster AND ARE ALL BAT-SHIT CRAZY. — Source

1

CRACKED.COM A character makes a wish.. Regrets making it. - — Source

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