Tropescilloscope: Truth in Television

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

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