Tropescilloscope: Truth in Television

When a trope actually does happen in Real Life. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Hell Is That Noise Big-Bad Ensemble Insistent Terminology World of Ham What You Are in the Dark Your Head A-Splode Bunny-Ears Lawyer Evil Is Hammy Unwitting Instigator of Doom Hoist by His Own Petard Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Police are Useless A Date with Rosie Palms Rated M for Manly Knight Templar Bring My Brown Pants Real Life Writes the Plot Determinator aka: The Determinator Darkest Hour Rich Bitch Department of Redundancy Department Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Actually Pretty Funny The Ghost Manipulative Bastard Brutal Honesty Bittersweet Ending Ominous Latin Chanting Woman in White Character Development Random Events Plot Heterosexual Life-Partners Man on Fire Blackmail Time Skip Creative Closing Credits The End... Or Is It? Henpecked Husband Moment Killer Accidental Murder Agony of the Feet Amusing Injuries Maybe Ever After The Quiet One Not Using the "Z" Word O.O.C. Is Serious Business Revenge Cain and Abel Evil Brit Title Drop Dramatic Gun Cock Annoying Younger Sibling Reasonable Authority Figure Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Soft Glass Funny Background Event Big Damn Heroes Coming-of-Age Story Oh, Crap! One-Man Army Thriller Fainting Four-Temperament Ensemble Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas The Chick Darker and Edgier In the Back Adaptational Badass Laser-Guided Karma Suspiciously Similar Substitute Lighter and Softer Left the Background Music On Vomit Discretion Shot Affectionate Parody Country Matters Naked People Are Funny Stealth Pun Those Wacky Nazis Truth in Television Contrived Coincidence From Nobody to Nightmare Precision F-Strike Blood from the Mouth Papa Wolf Offscreen Moment of Awesome Enemy Mine Auto Erotica Developing Doomed Characters Chase Scene Hollywood Darkness The Mafia Karma Houdini Throwing Your Sword Always Works No-Holds-Barred Beatdown You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Armor-Piercing Question The Remake "Shaggy Dog" Story Be Careful What You Wish For Gilligan Cut Word of God Manly Tears Take a Third Option Gone Horribly Right Crazy-Prepared Properly Paranoid Evil Is Petty Costume Porn Morality Pet MacGuffin Black and Gray Morality Hero Antagonist Genre Shift Evil vs. Evil Unresolved Sexual Tension Bloodier and Gorier Kick the Son of a Bitch Film Noir Index Villain Opening Scene Call-Forward Almost Kiss Not So Different Deadpan Snarker Slasher Smile Names to Run Away from Really Fast Cool Old Guy Killed Mid-Sentence Men Are the Expendable Gender Slashed Throat Frame-Up I Have Your Wife Gratuitous English The Smurfette Principle Driven to Suicide Aside Glance Ship Tease Cat Scare Never My Fault Blatant Lies Fiery Redhead Tap on the Head Gory Discretion Shot Mexican Standoff Adaptation Name Change BFG Extremely Short Timespan Tempting Fate Broken Pedestal Pyrrhic Victory Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Deus ex Machina Break the Cutie Dogged Nice Guy Ambiguous Disorder Anachronic Order Drowning My Sorrows Nothing Is Scarier Reckless Gun Usage Police Brutality Catapult Nightmare Fish out of Water Mugging the Monster "Well Done, Son!" Guy Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Spell My Name with an "S" Famous Last Words Death Seeker Overly Long Gag Zombie Stories Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Our Zombies Are Different Disproportionate Retribution Malevolent Masked Men Light Is Not Good Put on a Bus Brick Joke Room Full of Crazy Taking You with Me Hypocrite Break the Haughty Romantic False Lead Vomit Indiscretion Shot Big Applesauce Reality Ensues La Résistance Boom, Headshot! Wicked Cultured Greater-Scope Villain What Happened to the Mouse? The Bully Babies Ever After Leitmotif Badass Grandpa Curb-Stomp Battle Vampire Fiction Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Crucified Hero Shot Death by Adaptation Meaningful Background Event The X of Y Italian Films What the Hell, Hero? Last-Name Basis Kubrick Stare Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Japanese Films Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Plucky Comic Relief Amoral Attorney Badass Normal Fun with Acronyms Tranquil Fury Artistic License – Geography Corrupt Corporate Executive Humiliation Conga Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Exact Words Real Life Knife Nut And Starring One-Word Title Badass in a Nice Suit Fatal Family Photo Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Guile Hero Double Entendre Bad "Bad Acting" Fantastic Racism Science Fiction Films Faux Affably Evil timeperiod Those Two Bad Guys For Want of a Nail Daddy's Girl Grey and Gray Morality Take That! Unusual Euphemism The '50s Kick the Dog Actor Allusion Anti-Hero Flipping the Bird Bar Brawl Foreshadowing Ass Shove Not So Stoic Evil Plan All There in the Manual Camp Gay Reality Is Unrealistic In Medias Res Extreme Doormat German Films Video Credits Badass Longcoat Card-Carrying Villain folderlabel Wrong Genre Savvy Freeze-Frame Bonus Fatal Flaw My Beloved Smother Comically Missing the Point Karmic Death Smug Snake In Name Only Face Death with Dignity Call-Back Made of Iron Unusually Uninteresting Sight Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Animated Credits Opening Exactly What It Says on the Tin Toplessness from the Back Major Injury Underreaction Mistaken for Gay Fat Bastard Jump Scare The Oner Immune to Bullets Arch-Enemy Daylight Horror A Minor Kidroduction The Film of the Book Genre Throwback NO INDOOR VOICE Action Girl Adult Fear Public Domain Feature Films Fate Worse than Death Sports Stories Butt-Monkey Author Avatar Decoy Protagonist Big Fancy House Even Evil Has Loved Ones Bald of Evil Big Bad Cool Guns I'm a Humanitarian Early Installment Weirdness The Brute Eureka Moment Married to the Job Nice Guy The Atoner Meaningful Name Did Not Get the Girl Ascended Extra Death Glare Earn Your Happy Ending Back from the Dead Imagine Spot Fire-Forged Friends I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Rewatch Bonus Action Prologue Villain Ball Make It Look Like an Accident Arranged Marriage Every Car Is a Pinto Jerk with a Heart of Gold Historical Villain Upgrade Bullying a Dragon Red Eyes, Take Warning Not Even Bothering with the Accent Only One Name Award-Bait Song Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Twist Ending The Voiceless The Great Depression Beware the Nice Ones Sassy Black Woman Ambiguous Ending Recycled IN SPACE! Big Brother Instinct Better to Die than Be Killed The Cavalry Drugs Are Bad Based on a True Story The Place Manchild Undying Loyalty Death by Irony Not Quite Dead Mooks Mood Whiplash Show Within a Show Guns Akimbo Dumb Blonde Jerkass Asshole Victim Fingore Chekhov's Gun Mythology Gag Novelization Say My Name Fanservice Suddenly SHOUTING! The Smart Guy Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Friend to All Children Parental Substitute Dual Wielding Chekhov's Skill And the Adventure Continues Psycho for Hire Never Found the Body Older Than They Look Pre-Mortem One-Liner Action Genre Conspicuous CG Love at First Sight Cruel and Unusual Death Dressing as the Enemy Overprotective Dad Genre Savvy Martial Arts Movie Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Cowboy Cop Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Gold Digger Film Noir Motor Mouth Evil Counterpart Grievous Bottley Harm The Hero Dies Crapsack World Get Out! Romantic Comedy The Stoic Bloody Hilarious And I Must Scream The Bad Guy Wins Destination Defenestration The Alleged Car Let's Get Dangerous! The Casanova Reality Has No Subtitles Adaptation Distillation Bloodless Carnage Artistic License – History Dark Reprise Bury Your Gays Product Placement Sadistic Choice Hollywood Law Off with His Head! Adaptation Expansion Match Cut Curse Cut Short Belligerent Sexual Tension All Men Are Perverts Whole Plot Reference Protagonist Title Running Gag Abhorrent Admirer Non-Indicative Name The Ace Spiritual Successor Made of Explodium Age Lift It's All About Me Canon Foreigner The Stoner Ungrateful Bastard Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? The Faceless Storming the Castle Alas, Poor Villain Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Meaningful Echo Parental Abandonment Loophole Abuse Unreliable Narrator The '60s Corpsing Market-Based Title Anti-Villain Demoted to Extra Ironic Echo Drill Sergeant Nasty She's Got Legs He Who Fights Monsters Dramedy Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie I Did What I Had to Do Disappeared Dad "The Reason You Suck" Speech Lock and Load Montage Sequel Hook Femme Fatale Serious Business The Dreaded French Films Manic Pixie Dream Girl Aluminum Christmas Trees Trailers Always Spoil Drives Like Crazy Mind Screw Small Name, Big Ego It Will Never Catch On Sole Survivor Hair-Trigger Temper "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue The Load Token Minority Big Eater Redshirt Army Defiant to the End The '80s The Power of Love Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Chiaroscuro The Musical Fantasy Films He Knows Too Much Retcon The Sociopath Action Survivor Shower Scene Badass Boast Noodle Incident Stepford Smiler Demonic Possession Important Haircut Obstructive Bureaucrat Roger Ebert: Great Movies List No-Sell Bond One-Liner Flashback Unspoken Plan Guarantee Needs Wiki Magic Love Spared by the Adaptation Bowdlerise Funny Foreigner Insane Troll Logic An Axe to Grind Brainless Beauty Rule of Symbolism Cool Old Lady Failed a Spot Check Sexy Discretion Shot Eiffel Tower Effect Fake Shemp Batman Gambit Everyone Has Standards No OSHA Compliance You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Authority Equals Asskicking Very Loosely Based on a True Story One Steve Limit Breaking the Fourth Wall A God Am I Does This Remind You of Anything? Horror Films Would Hit a Girl Hero of Another Story Pragmatic Villainy No Ending All Just a Dream Covers Always Lie Retired Badass The Alcoholic Honor Before Reason My God, What Have I Done? Villain with Good Publicity Combat Pragmatist Pay Evil unto Evil Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Attempted Rape Cool Shades Wham Shot Captain Ersatz Historical-Domain Character Mr. Fanservice Heroic BSoD Loads and Loads of Characters Dropped a Bridge on Him Mystery and Detective Films Red Oni, Blue Oni As You Know Eldritch Abomination Dissonant Serenity Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Red Herring Crazy Jealous Guy Downer Ending Leave the Camera Running Rasputinian Death Alliterative Name Interrupted Suicide Anyone Can Die Dirty Cop The Mole Villain Song It Can Think Expository Hairstyle Change Christmas Movies Index Scenery Porn The Hero Black Dude Dies First The Dragon Refuge in Audacity Plot Hole Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Heroes Want Redheads Faking the Dead Suspiciously Specific Denial Establishing Character Moment Kill 'em All Superhero Rousing Speech The Vamp The Lost Lenore Wounded Gazelle Gambit Bad Boss No Good Deed Goes Unpunished She Cleans Up Nicely Star-Crossed Lovers Camera Abuse Ghost Fiction Chewing the Scenery Sacrificial Lion Disney Villain Death Determinator Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Homage Credits Gag Green-Eyed Monster Rule of Funny Works Set in World War II Outrun the Fireball Evil Sounds Deep Due to the Dead Foil Slap-Slap-Kiss Film Series Pretty Little Headshots You Have Failed Me Implacable Man Distracted by the Sexy Big "NO!" Rule of Cool Broken Aesop Leaning on the Fourth Wall Sanity Slippage Black Comedy Dirty Coward As Long as It Sounds Foreign Mercy Kill Large Ham The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Wham Line Scare Chord Arc Words Only Sane Man The Reveal All There in the Script Visual Pun Disney Death Foregone Conclusion Would Hurt a Child Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Domestic Abuse Blonde, Brunette, Redhead The Dog Bites Back Stuff Blowing Up Evil Laugh An Arm and a Leg Naïve Newcomer Eyepatch of Power It's Personal May–December Romance Artistic License – Military Empathic Environment Gainax Ending Book-Ends Those Two Guys Offscreen Teleportation Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Catch-Phrase Advertised Extra Red Shirt Dramatic Irony Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Politically Incorrect Villain Only in It for the Money Adaptation Dye-Job Off-into-the-Distance Ending Betty and Veronica Dies Wide Open Here We Go Again! Canadian Movies Becoming the Mask Soundtrack Dissonance Scenery Gorn Posthumous Character Spiteful Spit Beauty Is Never Tarnished Deliberate Values Dissonance Redemption Equals Death Dirty Old Man Paper-Thin Disguise Final Girl Pimped-Out Dress Defrosting Ice Queen Race Lift Bare Your Midriff Worthy Opponent Australian Movies Sequel Escalation Never Trust a Trailer Damsel in Distress Self-Deprecation Creepy Child My Greatest Failure Mundane Made Awesome A.I. Is a Crapshoot Cluster F-Bomb Artistic License – Biology Fanservice Extra Cool Car Mad Scientist Pragmatic Adaptation Eagleland Logo Joke Face–Heel Turn Stealth Hi/Bye Adapted Out Parental Incest Villainous Breakdown Beard of Evil Kill It with Fire Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Bottomless Magazines Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Broken Bird Closed Circle Bound and Gagged Shell-Shocked Veteran Improvised Weapon A Father to His Men Air-Vent Passageway Death by Sex Abusive Parents The Cameo Translation Convention Too Dumb to Live Dark and Troubled Past Gender Flip Race Against the Clock The Chessmaster Bi the Way Children Are Innocent Handicapped Badass Early-Bird Cameo Jitter Cam The Big Guy Jerk Jock Epic Fail Adults Are Useless Good Is Not Nice The '70s You Killed My Father Madness Mantra Mr. Exposition Red Right Hand Bilingual Bonus Same Language Dub Parental Neglect Body Horror For the Evulz Peek-a-Boo Corpse Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Improbable Weapon User 20 Minutes into the Future From Bad to Worse Dwindling Party Sci-Fi Horror Dying Moment of Awesome Intergenerational Friendship Neck Snap Bait-and-Switch Not What It Looks Like War Is Hell Skewed Priorities Blood Knight Five-Man Band Cloudcuckoolander Riddle for the Ages Once More, with Clarity! Punch-Clock Villain The Stinger There Is No Kill Like Overkill Accidental Misnaming The '90s Love Triangle Animal Title Index This Is Gonna Suck Shoot the Shaggy Dog Documentary Easily Forgiven Epic Movie Chuck Cunningham Syndrome As the Good Book Says... As Himself Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Victoria's Secret Compartment Male Frontal Nudity No Antagonist Disguised in Drag Straight Gay Narrator Dark Action Girl Historical Hero Upgrade Hate Sink Casting Gag Artistic License – Gun Safety Animal Motifs Ambiguously Gay Meet Cute Adaptational Villainy Really Gets Around Television Movie Index I Need a Freaking Drink Military and Warfare Films Re-Cut Depraved Bisexual Evil-Detecting Dog Idiot Ball The Lancer The Starscream Pet the Dog Anachronism Stew Shirtless Scene Poor Communication Kills Ax-Crazy Taking the Bullet Shout-Out Totally Radical Playing Gertrude Framing Device Deconstruction Expy True Companions The Un-Reveal British Films Adaptational Attractiveness Half the Man He Used to Be Heel Realization Getting Crap Past the Radar Hypocritical Humor Scary Black Man Dark Is Not Evil Mama Bear Have a Gay Old Time Diabolus ex Machina Together in Death Only a Flesh Wound Hong Kong Films No Celebrities Were Harmed Anguished Declaration of Love Didn't Think This Through Continuity Nod The Ditz Rule of Three After the End Central Theme Line-of-Sight Name Took a Level in Badass Double-Meaning Title Badass Bookworm Calling the Old Man Out Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Laughing Mad Mighty Whitey Villain Protagonist Does Not Like Shoes Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Music Stories More Dakka Adaptational Heroism Monumental Damage Berserk Button Bolivian Army Ending Super Strength Alpha Bitch Roaring Rampage of Revenge Hooker with a Heart of Gold Smoking Is Cool Ms. Fanservice Silent Movie Happily Married Adorkable Yandere Freudian Excuse "Awesome McCool" Name Insult Backfire Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Captain Obvious Improbable Aiming Skills Even Evil Has Standards Russian Films Hope Spot Cat Fight Black Best Friend Creator Cameo Nice Hat Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Author Appeal Bond Villain Stupidity Heel–Face Turn All Girls Want Bad Boys Fan Disservice N-Word Privileges Artistic License – Physics Neck Lift Fourth Date Marriage Chekhov's Gunman Obfuscating Stupidity Affably Evil Our Vampires Are Different Apocalypse How B-Movie Humans Are Bastards No Name Given Silence Is Golden Jerkass Has a Point Facial Horror Up to Eleven Stock Footage Informed Ability Vitriolic Best Buds Male Gaze Well-Intentioned Extremist Shut Up, Hannibal! Antagonist Title Tagline Lampshade Hanging Shipper on Deck Not So Above It All Composite Character Despair Event Horizon Heroic Sacrifice Hidden Depths Irony Rape as Drama Eye Scream Bland-Name Product Index of Film Westerns Cassandra Truth Slasher Movie Took a Level in Jerkass Dutch Angle Death of a Child '80s Hair Deal with the Devil An Aesop Artistic License – Law Gorn Your Cheating Heart Punny Name Celebrity Paradox All for Nothing Psychological Thriller Serial Killer Groin Attack Kids Are Cruel Car Fu Setting Update Horror Comedy Stylistic Suck Psychopathic Manchild Danny Peary Cult Movies List Deliberately Monochrome Biopic Missing Mom Brother–Sister Incest Sinister Minister Cold-Blooded Torture Vacation Films Sealed Evil in a Can Woman Scorned Big Bad Duumvirate Spanner in the Works Historical In-Joke Pretty in Mink Dull Surprise Black Comedy Rape Shown Their Work Retirony Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Wretched Hive Stalker with a Crush How We Got Here Training Montage Ripped from the Headlines Instant Death Bullet Only Known by Their Nickname Sir Swears-a-Lot Intrepid Reporter Awesome, but Impractical Bavarian Fire Drill Obviously Evil Beta Couple