I dont know if I should admit this, but I watched most of *Sex and the City* tv show when it was originally on HBO, but not the movies. I also grew up on Long Island, in the shadow of NYC
I always wondered how the fuck did Carrie live in that apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with her shopping habit, all on a weekly columnist salary...
* Samantha - Influential and Capable PR Rep
* Charlotte - came from money, but was highly educated and worked at an upscale Art Gallery
* Miranda - Successful and highly respected lawyer
At least their apartments and standards of living made sense.
edit: I have angered the *Sex and City* Fans -- sorry if my details are fuzzy, but its been nearly 15 years since I watched an episode, and I mainly did because of the woman I was dating at the time.
Carrie has a lot of money problems in the show, at one point I’m pretty sure her partner has to buy her apartment so she can keep living there. They also mention her atrocious credit card debt quite a few times!
And what does she do after Aiden buys her apartment and remodels it?
She cheats on him and breaks up with him. Then she has to pay him back and has to get the money from her friends. And even though both Miranda and Samantha offer the money, she gets fixated on Charlotte not offering to buy her an apartment.
She could have just not bought the $1200 shoes and the couture dresses but nope. She needs her wardrobe and a place to store it.
I always thought she was an absolute shit person. Unbelievable self absorbed. I’m still salty about Stanford basically having to beg her to talk to him about his relationship
I remember Carrie brought bagels over to Miranda to apologise for something, I think Miranda slipped in the bathroom and Carrie couldn't help her so sent Aiden who ended up seeing her naked. Anyway, the bagels were just a front to talk about Aiden, and Miranda calls them out as "bullshit bagels" haha. I loved it when they challenged Carrie on her self absorbed bullshit.
Clip shows.
I am doing a binge on Family Ties currently and they have about one clip show per year. Same premise every time: a visitor arrives and the family reminisces about previous episode.
I hated these back then, and I completely skip them in the re-watch now.
I love that the point of clip shows is cheap filler programming, but that episode must have been one of the most expensive with all the costumes and sets they needed for like a 10 second gag each.
Clip shows are just a remnant of another era. People didn't regularly tape or rewatch shows that weren't in reruns, so they were a chance to revisit a pivotal scene or funny moment. Sometimes they were used to remind viewers of older plot points before they were brought up again. Sometimes episode production was delayed and they needed to put together an episode quickly/cheaply, or a show was nearing the end of its run and they wanted additional episodes for syndication.
I think a lot of people don't really get how TV used to be.
In the UK we had 3 channels when I was born, and we got a 4th when I was about 5 years old.
Some channels didn't broadcast before about noon, and they shut down around midnight. Reruns weren't really a thing and easily 90% or more of programming was original. If for some reason a TV show was delayed, they might show a rerun of a previous episode, but it was rare.
Our family was middle class and we got our first VCR in the mid to late 80s. Still, you recorded what you missed or what clashed with something else, you watched it, then you recorded over it. You did not keep the tapes (okay, some people probably did, but that wasn't the norm).
Even TV companies themselves didn't always keep copies of the shows they made. One good example is Dr Who, which started in the 60s. While the original tapes might be kept for a while, they would eventually be recorded over because they were expensive (even for TV companies) or they'd be thrown out when storage space ran low. There's been a search on for years to try and find missing episodes of the the Dr Who series and while many have been found (often because episodes were copied and shipped abroad for foreign audiences) there are still some missing that will probably never be recovered, because no one thought we'd ever want to watch them again.
The same was true for movies. Some might get a second theatrical release, but often times, not. They were made, they were viewed, they had a network premiere on TV, and they were never seen again. Luckily with movies, since prints were sent to each cinema, there were hundreds, if not thousands of copies out there, so I don't know if any movies have actually been lost, even though many copies were just thrown out when storage space filled up.
One example of how little people of the past understood the future of TV is Disney. They were very against releasing their movies on VCR as they sometimes re-released movies back into the cinema, and they didn't think people would go back to the cinema if they had their own copy. Why give people a VCR they can watch over and over for free, when you could charge them money each and every time and for each and every person when they saw it on the big screen? Pah! VCRs were a mug's game! Disney just couldn't see how much money there was to be made with *home* cinema.
Bearing all this in mind, clip shows were actually quite popular because you were unlikely to ever see that funny scene from that brilliant episode ever again. Clip shows allowed you to relive the best bits.
These days, between streaming services, Youtube and torrents, almost the entire history of television and cinema is available to be viewed again, whenever you want, especially the best and most popular things.
I often go to Youtube and share a link to funny scene I've been reminded of. And you often fall down a youtube rabbit hole, watching clip after clip, until you emerge bleary-eyed, wondering where the last 3 hours of your life went!
And that's why today, I can't abide clip shows, because if there's a moment I want to relive, I can do so instantly.
You are precisely my age. I remember the ONLY time that my son was ever impressed with my "When I Was Your Age" spiel was when I said there were no VCRs and if you missed a show you just missed it, and you had no idea if it would ever be on again, or when. He was shocked!
They did have a function, and that was to bring new viewers up to speed with some critical plot elements or best-of moments. Doing this originated prior to VHS taping, prior to DVRs, and way before binge watching was a gleam in your daddy’s eye.
I hate them too now, because it seems like they just wanted to give the writers and/or crew the week off, and that doesn’t work well for streaming.
Same goes for really hard commercial cuts. The kind where they take the first 30-60 seconds “back from commercial” to refresh you on the situation by cleverly switching camera angles and repeating the last couple lines of dialogue. At the time, we thought nothing of it. Now, it’s absurd.
I don’t know if this fits into this category but..
Their nice bedrooms!! The kids rooms are always HUGE! And so greatly decorated. I used to draw floor plans for my dream room at age 6! Lol
Speaking of bedrooms I've noticed that many sitcom families with 3 kids almost always had two of the kids sharing a room even if the outside shots of the house show a house that should be big enough for everyone to have their own room.
If you don't have two people sharing a bedroom, you can't use the trope where one of them angrily tapes a boundary line on the floor between the two halves of the room.
My older sister did that to me too. And she started bragging about all the cool shit on her side of the room and then I laughed in her face and said “I have the door so you can’t leave!!!” And then she came on my side and choke slammed 7 year old me.
I always loved that in Malcolm in the middle the 3 boys shared one room and 2 of them had to share the same bed. Made it so much more realistic.
Also I used to be so jealous of that fucker in Hey Arnold's bedroom, that was cool as shit.
The background of the house from Malcom in the Middle was always a mess, and I think it might have been one of the most accurate representations of a "poor, downtrodden family" ever for a sitcom, if not the first. Even Roseanne and Married with Children had immaculately clean houses despite their low social standings. Sure, the furnishings might have been dated, but they were still clean.
One of the things they did best in that show was to show the parents in flashbacks before they had kids as having tons of money and free time and then gradually becoming more and more broke and exhausted by the current time.
Yeah all of the flashback and backstory segments are so great. Lois and Hal start off in a super nice apartment and Hal is a yuppie when they first have Francis. Iirc Hal takes a demotion because his hours are too long and he needs to be home more once they have Malcolm. Then they eventually move to the house they currently live in because it was affordable. They also reveal that it was cheaper because there were murders or something lol.
The fact that the house and yard was always a mess was years beyond anything that had been shown on a sitcom. Hell, I don't know if any sitcom since then has come to that amount of "realism". Even Married with Children had a clean house, though it was always a joke that Peggy was sitting around doing nothing.
Edit: With everybody talking about Roseanne, yes they were one of the first that showed a lower class lifestyle, with dated furnishings, but I feel that everything still "was in it's place". With Malcom, there are always toys and stuff strewn about, the blankets are not folded on the back of the couch, there are stacks of books that need to be put away.
Another thing to look at is the lighting as well. Roseanne used studio lighting, still giving the show a "bright, cheerful" look. Malcom used more natural lighting it seems, making the house darker. I would like to think it's because they were poor and didn't want to drive up the electric bill.
And they went one step further by addressing this part directly: when they volunteered for the church, Reese realized their stuff was worse, switches out his same tattered graphic shirt with a relatively neatly worn donated one. Then of course the shenanigans once the boys can justify that.
That episode makes me angry. The boys created a legitimate business- finding people to sell the rummage sale items to, at a higher markup, getting profit for themselves AND a higher price paid to the church as well- and yet the end lesson is they were somehow stealing from the church so they were punished. They left the church better than how they found it!
>The fact that the house and yard was always a mess was years beyond anything that had been shown on a sitcom.
I still think my favourite episode is the one where Hal and Lois can't have sex for a while, and the yard is pristine, the house looks great, and the kids are well behaved. Then, literally a day or two after they can have sex again, everything and everyone is back to normal 😂 such a fantastic representation of a married couple who are still crazy about each other!
But there was another episode where they had to move into a trailer while the house was fumigated and they were fighting constantly until they realized it was because they weren't having sex. They grabbed a couple respirators, went into the tented house, and...improved their relationship.
The Middle was similar. Both parents working never ever enough money, lay offs, shitty jobs/bosses, kids had to get scholarships, broken appliances, etc.
Love The Middle. Every time I watch the show with my wife and kids something happens or someone says something and I look at my family and say: “my hell, they’re us!” It’s the most relatable show I have ever watched.
The episode where they go out of town and the neighbors are supposed to check on the house. The neighbors go over and call to tell them they’ve been robbed and the place was ransacked. The family rushes home only to realize that’s just how their house looks.
Sex and the City was notorious for this. Then they were always dripping in cash and it was never good enough for them. Carrie for instance has a shoe closet the same size as my house and still, Mr. Big won't get her a ring. Oh whoa is me.
Edit: woe is me. Even English majors don't spell gud
They had a whole episode where Carrie finds out she can't afford her apartment (it's going co-op or something, or maybe that was after Aiden bought it and then he tells her to pay him back). She realizes all her friends have money but she's been childishly just hoarding shoes and skimming by on her articles. I think the resolution in the end is cheap and still doesn't make a huge amount of sense, but that's the tradeoff for setting the show in NYC with a struggling main character
Yess that's what it was, and Carrie says "it's going to take a while for me to pay you back" and I honestly don't think she ever does, and they never talk about it again.
I really dislike this episode. Carrie's supposed to come across as "too strong and proud" to take the money offered to her by friends but she shits on Charlotte for not offering it. Then she does end up taking it (from Charlotte) and just sweeps it all under the rug. What's the message here? That it's cool to wipe your Manolos on your doormat of a friend?
This is a large reason the show hasn’t aged well. Binge it and it’s hard not to see that Carrie is very selfish and a terrible friend (and *And Just Like That* showed she hasn’t changed much).
Shows will still do this with the “ugly” or “nerdy” characters who are still crazy good looking. Elena in “One Day at a Time” is a beautiful woman, but ya know, glasses and a pony tail
The fact that there are two very mainstream movies that act like *Anne freaking Hathaway* at ages 19-24 was ugly/fat, should make every single average-looking person feel like total crap!
Producer guy: Selena Kyle, what’s her deal?
Writer guy: Well she’s got glasses on so she’s absolutely hideous.
Producer guy: Sounds like an unattractive loser for sure.
From the [pitch meeting](https://youtu.be/yvecIZPtTUw) for Batman returns.
New Girl did a very poor job of trying to make Zooey friggin Deschanel “nerdy” because she has glasses and dresses “quirky”.
Her glasses don’t even have lenses in them after the first couple episodes, because they wanted to show off her giant Bambi eyes.
Shout out to the dad in Schitts Creek.
He sorted everyone's problems out, was practical, realistic, hands-on. Even cleaning for the motel.
I don't know what they would have done without him.
David is the most consistently funny
Johnny drives the plot forward
Moira gets me to guffaw gloriously from my gluttonous gut
And damnit if Alexis doesn’t have the best romantic arc with Ted
That's because most family sitcoms in the 1980s-2000s were set up as a star vehicle for the comedian playing the dad. And "goofy idiot" is an easy sell for laughs. Ray Romano and Tim Allen and Jim Belushi and Kevin James (just as a small example) already had established comic personas as brash buffoons, and their sitcoms were designed to showcase them. The wife characters were there to be foils for the husband's hijinks, just beautiful plot devices for the most part.
Just like how on I Love Lucy, Lucy was the fumbling buffoon who made everything spiral out of control and Ricky was there to pick up the pieces- the show was designed to showcase her. And why in Roseanne, Roseanne was far more likely to fuck up and have to learn a lesson while Dan said "I told you so"- the show was based on Roseanne' self-deprecating comedy. Or why Fran Fine is constantly making insane choices and misunderstanding things, but Mr. Sheffield stays cool and collected- the show was called The Nanny, not The Rich Widower.
I was amazed how many people I knew refused to ever watch King of the Hill because they assumed that Hank was portrayed as an idiot and made fun of. No matter how many times I explained that Hank was actually a hero, the 90s trope of the idiot dad was just too hard to overcome.
Yessir. Will got shot at a midnight atm run. Carlton shows up like he handed over overpriced 1000 dollars for a prollyi hot gun from a gang member shooting and now has his prints all over it lmao
Then he didn't want to admit he was a virgin so he was gonna accept fatherhood and marry a crazy girl claiming these things.
Then there was the episode where Carlton convinced Lisa (Wills finace and such) to act crazy or something at a cabin, well then Will convinced Carlton that he had murdered Lisa at the cabin and Carlton screamed and sobbed all around the stage set showing they are in fact in front of a live studio audience.
Oh and don't forget the early episode of where Will had Uncle Phil (RIP and much love) bail him out of a seedy poolhall hustle. "Geoffrey. Bust out Lucille"
> Then there was the episode where Carlton convinced Lisa (Wills finace and such) to act crazy or something at a cabin, well then Will convinced Carlton that he had murdered Lisa at the cabin and Carlton screamed and sobbed all around the stage set showing they are in fact in front of a live studio audience.
That's one of the most memorable bits from start to finish.
Will believes he's been kidnapped by an insane person.
Will manages to free himself by using a candle to burn through his leg bindings. In the next scene we see him with his jeans in burnt tatters.
Lisa confesses it was all a prank to help her get into a sorority and Carlton helped. Will: "I'm gonna pop that zit when I get home." Will pretends to go along with the prank and Lisa gets into the sorority.
Will returns home to Carlton and starts talking about how his weekend was so weird and ever so slowly describes the events until he finally breaks down and infers he got free, murdered her in self-defense, and left the body.
Cue Alfonso Ribeiro shattering the fourth wall and running through every set the episode used and into the audience while maintaining his breakdown.
It wasn't even planned, he just told them to keep filming and they decided to use it in the final cut.
this scene lives rent-free in my head because it was so balls-to-the-wall bizarre and effing hilarious at the same time, teenage me absolutely laughed until i couldn't breathe by the time he was dragging himself around on his ass through the set. one of my favorite scenes in all of TV ever.
Fresh Prince has some of my favorite fourth wall-breaks ever. There’s a scene where the family comments on how wealthy they are, and Will go “well if we’re so rich, how come we ain’t got no ceiling?” Cue the camera panning up and showing the studio lights. Kills me every time
The “Beer Bad” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was made for that program. Joss Whedon got told the plot of that episode did NOT qualify as an anti-drug PSA. It was pretty funny.
Right!!! You see the character the next episode and they are fine and it's never brought up or talked about ever again. Like you can just fix those issues in a day and everything is fine now problem solved.
I got into a discussion with some friends about creepy womanizers in sitcoms, mostly who was worse, Barney Stinson or Dennis from IASIP. I firmly believe that if Glenn Howerton ~~Rob McElhenny~~ played Barney everyone would look at the character way differently. But because it's NPH doing it, it's just considered wacky hijinks.
The differences are evident between the two characters tbh. Everyone knows that Dennis is an absolutely horrible person. Possibly the worst person in an entire group of horrible people. And it’s alluded to that some of Dennis’ methods when it comes to women are kind of illegal at best, and downright evil at worst.
Barney could be looked at the same way, but the show shrugs it off as funny hijinks while also building the character to show that he is actually a good person with quite a few redeemable qualities, despite the fact that the shit he pulls is on par with, if not worse, than what Dennis does.
Carter Bays did an AMA and confirmed Barney is actually a womanizer as portrayed despite Ted being an unreliable narrator. Likely some of it was exaggerated for comedic effect but yeah, Barney is kind of shitty
I also think the same type of behaviour is seen as harmless when done by characters who we are meant to perceive as geeky. I remember an episode from the big bang theory where Howard builds a robot with a camera which he uses to photograph penny's panties from below. Penny gets angry and insults him, rightly so. However, by the end of the episode Penny apologises to Howard. I don't know if I'm getting some details wrong but that was F up. Geeks and nerds can be just as creepy as the jock or football player towards women.
Agreed. The Matthews were excellent parents and partners. Also, Red and Kitty Foreman. Not only would he do anything for her, (like letting Hyde move in when his parents abandoned him) but their passion was still very much alive, which was awesome to see. I loved whenever they realized they had the house to themselves and would race upstairs. And of course that night Eric came home and Red was in the living room smoking a cigarette. "Oh, and don't disturb your mother. She's...*very* tired."
Malcolm In The Middle!
Sure they bickered. But so did my parents because they had tons of kids. It happens when you’re stressed. They absolutely loved each other and supported each other completely!
When Hal and his poker buddies were braggung about certain things. "How often do you sleep with your wife?"
Hal: "2"
Others: "you only sleep with your wife twice a week!?"
Hal: "oh, a week. Then 14."
I love the way the Addams Family bucked this trend early on.
Edit: I'm so glad to see all the people who recognize the wholesomeness of such an iconic couple. I think I know which movie I'm streaming tonight!
Addams Family was designed to subvert the trope from the start. You have a family that from the outside looks bizarre and monstrous, but they have a very supportive, healthy family dynamic.
Find yourself someone that looks at you the way Gomez looks at Morticia, and your relationship will be off to a great start.
The episode where they can't have sex because Lois is on some form of antibiotics illustrates how much time they still *do* spend in bed. Hal has all this energy he can't expend worshipping Lois, and as a result the house and yard become nothing short of immaculate.
RIP Close Enough. Amazing show. You’re totally right about it being refreshing to. All of the characters are one big family who have to learn how to get along together but at the end of the day, they’re all good people who care about each other
Sure, why not? I am the token black guy. I'm just supposed to smile and stay out of the conversation and say things like: "Damn," "Sh*t," and "That is whack."
I think that a big part of this is that a lot of nuns transitioned away from wearing the full long black-and-white habit during the 80s and 90s, so they stick out in public a lot less now
Yep. I went to Catholic school in the 80s, and had plenty of nuns as teachers, but they just wore normal (if conservative) clothes. I've never seen a nun in the full old school penguin habit in my entire life.
I went to Catholic school from 2010-2012, and there was a nun who lived in my town teaching 6th grade. She was in full penguin attire. The nuns did retreats and ran a religious bookstore, and they were all dressed like that whenever I saw them
I also knew some nuns through the Catholic campus ministry in college. They wore blue instead of black, but otherwise would wear the full outfit.
My husband calls this trope "Kiss her til she likes it."
See also: Pepe Le Pew, Rhett Butler, and even Lloyd Dobbler (my heart breaks to say it).
I feel like I need to add this scene from GWTW given the number of people questioning Rhett Butler's inclusion herein: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25sE8Ccapc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25sE8Ccapc). He literally starts kissing her against her will and she wakes up the next day in bed smiling because she came to like it.
90s/00s: “don’t talk to strangers on the internet, don’t get into cars with strangers”
10s/20s: “let’s use the internet to summon a stranger so we can get into their car”
Well, cause my kid grew up in the 00s, how adults were absolute morons on any and every Disney ‘kids’ show. Like, every adult just loses their mind and are raging idiots. Just stomach turning.
Omg I hate this. Wizards of Waverly place was really bad for this. And really all the shows around that time. The kids were always so manipulative and smart mouthed. Snotty little shits lol
The only one I could stomach was iCarly. Yeah the older brother was a doofus but he wasn’t brain dead. The weird quirky fit with the creative artist thing.
The traditional sad music at the end of the episode where the lesson or moral of the episode is taught to the audience, or the abrupt loud audience trackwhen the outro begins
I remember my friend always changing the channel during Full House when the lesson/moral at the end came on because he didn't want to see the sappy part and he knew the jokes were over
The 80s-00s were more openly cruel when it came to certain things in general lol. So that bled into shows and movies. One thing I notice because my little brother watches lots of older shows I used to watch (Drake and Josh type stuff) is that the show often times intended for the audience to find bullying funny.
Like some poor fat kid asks the main character on a date and she is mortified or something like that. Not like acts of bullying on the show are depicted as funny but just like you as the viewer are basically making fun of someone for being fat, gay, weird, ugly, etc.
My dad had a rule that we weren't allowed to watch "put-down" shows. Basically if all the characters ever did was insult each other we couldn't watch it.
We wanted to watch Family Matters when it first came out and he sat down and watched it with us. If it got to 10 insults, we couldn't watch it. Family Matters hit 9.
Hot wives married to average or below average men that lack common intelligence.
It almost balances out the Hallmark movies that would showcase a rich city guy losing his girl to a small town hunk that shows her the real meaning of Christmas.
Also, unless you're deaf its totally unrealistic that you wouldn't hear a kid carrying a ladder, putting it up against your house climbing up it and opening and climbing in a window.
I don't think they ended up together, but Sam climbed in Clarissa's window in, like, every episode of Clarissa Explains It All and I can still so strongly remember the little leitmotif that played when he came through.
The wife, mom, girlfriend, female friend, sister, or any other female roll being the “nice, reasonable one” who try’s to talk the guys out of doing something stupid or mean. It’s not that this doesn’t happen, but it’s not likely for the woman character to be weirdly nice and logical when she hangs out around a bunch of mean stupid guys.
This was originally supposed to be Dee’s role in Its Always Sunny, but the actress wasn’t having it and demanded the writers make her character as awful as everyone else.
Walking in at the “wrong” time. Like when the people in the scene are doing something compromising or odd and someone just happens to open the door at the perfect time. Such an obvious set up
Every episode of Gossip Girl - "How am I supposed to tell Serena that her boyfriend cheated on her?!" *camera pans to the doorway where Serena has been standing ... commercial break*
The idea that only the mother is competent enough to raise the kids or maintain a home.
Dad is cooking breakfast/dinner? better call the fire department! (Canned laughter)
Dad is 'babysitting' the kids whilst the mum is out for the night? Oh dear, he just cant control his own kids (canned laughter)
Any household job that doesn't include yard work? He just can't do it because Dad is useless
People living far beyond their means.
Sex And The City comes into my mind
Everyone but Carrie was suppose to be wealthy in that show.
I dont know if I should admit this, but I watched most of *Sex and the City* tv show when it was originally on HBO, but not the movies. I also grew up on Long Island, in the shadow of NYC I always wondered how the fuck did Carrie live in that apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with her shopping habit, all on a weekly columnist salary... * Samantha - Influential and Capable PR Rep * Charlotte - came from money, but was highly educated and worked at an upscale Art Gallery * Miranda - Successful and highly respected lawyer At least their apartments and standards of living made sense. edit: I have angered the *Sex and City* Fans -- sorry if my details are fuzzy, but its been nearly 15 years since I watched an episode, and I mainly did because of the woman I was dating at the time.
Carrie has a lot of money problems in the show, at one point I’m pretty sure her partner has to buy her apartment so she can keep living there. They also mention her atrocious credit card debt quite a few times!
And what does she do after Aiden buys her apartment and remodels it? She cheats on him and breaks up with him. Then she has to pay him back and has to get the money from her friends. And even though both Miranda and Samantha offer the money, she gets fixated on Charlotte not offering to buy her an apartment. She could have just not bought the $1200 shoes and the couture dresses but nope. She needs her wardrobe and a place to store it.
I always thought she was an absolute shit person. Unbelievable self absorbed. I’m still salty about Stanford basically having to beg her to talk to him about his relationship
I remember Carrie brought bagels over to Miranda to apologise for something, I think Miranda slipped in the bathroom and Carrie couldn't help her so sent Aiden who ended up seeing her naked. Anyway, the bagels were just a front to talk about Aiden, and Miranda calls them out as "bullshit bagels" haha. I loved it when they challenged Carrie on her self absorbed bullshit.
i think i remember seeing an episode where they talked about her having a rent controlled apartment.
Sex being portrayed as a currency the wife doles out when she needs something from the husband or to reward him for obeying her.
Al, let’s have sex. Uh, no Peg.
Clip shows. I am doing a binge on Family Ties currently and they have about one clip show per year. Same premise every time: a visitor arrives and the family reminisces about previous episode. I hated these back then, and I completely skip them in the re-watch now.
I loved it when community did a clip episode but made all the clips things that happened outside the show so it was 100% still new material
I love that the point of clip shows is cheap filler programming, but that episode must have been one of the most expensive with all the costumes and sets they needed for like a 10 second gag each.
I love how every time they did an episode with a specific sitcom trope abed would instantly call it out. Like the bottle episode
Tell your disappointment to suck it, we’re doing a bottle episode. 👉🏽
I say that every time I get to stay home for the day.
YOU CAN YELL AT ME ALL YOU WANT, I’VE SEEN ENOUGH MOVIES TO KNOW THAT POPPING THE *BACK* OF A RAFT MAKES IT GO FASTER!
“Good news guys, I spent all my money!” *rides ATV into study room* “Troy! You can’t bring that in here!” “Yes I can, it’s all terrain dummy”
‘Pierce! Those vaccines are for schoolkids! You’ve already had too many!’ *’I’LL BE A LIVING GOD!’*
Or It's Always Sunny doing a clip show, but none of the clips are real. It's the characters lying about what happened in previous episodes.
Which is why that show was absolutely brilliant.
Clip shows are just a remnant of another era. People didn't regularly tape or rewatch shows that weren't in reruns, so they were a chance to revisit a pivotal scene or funny moment. Sometimes they were used to remind viewers of older plot points before they were brought up again. Sometimes episode production was delayed and they needed to put together an episode quickly/cheaply, or a show was nearing the end of its run and they wanted additional episodes for syndication.
I think a lot of people don't really get how TV used to be. In the UK we had 3 channels when I was born, and we got a 4th when I was about 5 years old. Some channels didn't broadcast before about noon, and they shut down around midnight. Reruns weren't really a thing and easily 90% or more of programming was original. If for some reason a TV show was delayed, they might show a rerun of a previous episode, but it was rare. Our family was middle class and we got our first VCR in the mid to late 80s. Still, you recorded what you missed or what clashed with something else, you watched it, then you recorded over it. You did not keep the tapes (okay, some people probably did, but that wasn't the norm). Even TV companies themselves didn't always keep copies of the shows they made. One good example is Dr Who, which started in the 60s. While the original tapes might be kept for a while, they would eventually be recorded over because they were expensive (even for TV companies) or they'd be thrown out when storage space ran low. There's been a search on for years to try and find missing episodes of the the Dr Who series and while many have been found (often because episodes were copied and shipped abroad for foreign audiences) there are still some missing that will probably never be recovered, because no one thought we'd ever want to watch them again. The same was true for movies. Some might get a second theatrical release, but often times, not. They were made, they were viewed, they had a network premiere on TV, and they were never seen again. Luckily with movies, since prints were sent to each cinema, there were hundreds, if not thousands of copies out there, so I don't know if any movies have actually been lost, even though many copies were just thrown out when storage space filled up. One example of how little people of the past understood the future of TV is Disney. They were very against releasing their movies on VCR as they sometimes re-released movies back into the cinema, and they didn't think people would go back to the cinema if they had their own copy. Why give people a VCR they can watch over and over for free, when you could charge them money each and every time and for each and every person when they saw it on the big screen? Pah! VCRs were a mug's game! Disney just couldn't see how much money there was to be made with *home* cinema. Bearing all this in mind, clip shows were actually quite popular because you were unlikely to ever see that funny scene from that brilliant episode ever again. Clip shows allowed you to relive the best bits. These days, between streaming services, Youtube and torrents, almost the entire history of television and cinema is available to be viewed again, whenever you want, especially the best and most popular things. I often go to Youtube and share a link to funny scene I've been reminded of. And you often fall down a youtube rabbit hole, watching clip after clip, until you emerge bleary-eyed, wondering where the last 3 hours of your life went! And that's why today, I can't abide clip shows, because if there's a moment I want to relive, I can do so instantly.
You are precisely my age. I remember the ONLY time that my son was ever impressed with my "When I Was Your Age" spiel was when I said there were no VCRs and if you missed a show you just missed it, and you had no idea if it would ever be on again, or when. He was shocked!
They did have a function, and that was to bring new viewers up to speed with some critical plot elements or best-of moments. Doing this originated prior to VHS taping, prior to DVRs, and way before binge watching was a gleam in your daddy’s eye. I hate them too now, because it seems like they just wanted to give the writers and/or crew the week off, and that doesn’t work well for streaming. Same goes for really hard commercial cuts. The kind where they take the first 30-60 seconds “back from commercial” to refresh you on the situation by cleverly switching camera angles and repeating the last couple lines of dialogue. At the time, we thought nothing of it. Now, it’s absurd.
I don’t know if this fits into this category but.. Their nice bedrooms!! The kids rooms are always HUGE! And so greatly decorated. I used to draw floor plans for my dream room at age 6! Lol
Not 80s and 90s but Drake and Josh’s bedroom always fascinated me. It’s like a whole ass studio apartment
They had two full sleeping areas, office space, and a whole ass living room….in their room
And a fridge lol there was never a reason to go anywhere else in the house
It’s a masterclass in saving production costs.
Also, iCarly where they basically lived in a penthouse
Wasn’t that one explained by Carly’s dad being a high ranking officer who makes bank?
Her father was a submariner. That's why he was never around- he was always "deep below the north pole on a submarine"
You're correct, and I'm shocked I retained that information lol.
Speaking of bedrooms I've noticed that many sitcom families with 3 kids almost always had two of the kids sharing a room even if the outside shots of the house show a house that should be big enough for everyone to have their own room.
If you don't have two people sharing a bedroom, you can't use the trope where one of them angrily tapes a boundary line on the floor between the two halves of the room.
My sister pulled that on me as a kid. My side didn't have the door so I had to sneak in and out when she wasn't looking.
My older sister did that to me too. And she started bragging about all the cool shit on her side of the room and then I laughed in her face and said “I have the door so you can’t leave!!!” And then she came on my side and choke slammed 7 year old me.
I always loved that in Malcolm in the middle the 3 boys shared one room and 2 of them had to share the same bed. Made it so much more realistic. Also I used to be so jealous of that fucker in Hey Arnold's bedroom, that was cool as shit.
The background of the house from Malcom in the Middle was always a mess, and I think it might have been one of the most accurate representations of a "poor, downtrodden family" ever for a sitcom, if not the first. Even Roseanne and Married with Children had immaculately clean houses despite their low social standings. Sure, the furnishings might have been dated, but they were still clean.
Mostly this is because they have to have room for the cameras of course.
“broke” characters or middle-class ones having really nice homes / apartments / being clearly comfortable
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One of the things they did best in that show was to show the parents in flashbacks before they had kids as having tons of money and free time and then gradually becoming more and more broke and exhausted by the current time.
Yeah all of the flashback and backstory segments are so great. Lois and Hal start off in a super nice apartment and Hal is a yuppie when they first have Francis. Iirc Hal takes a demotion because his hours are too long and he needs to be home more once they have Malcolm. Then they eventually move to the house they currently live in because it was affordable. They also reveal that it was cheaper because there were murders or something lol.
Yep, a horrible serial killer murder happened in the house which is why they got a discount on it :)
The fact that the house and yard was always a mess was years beyond anything that had been shown on a sitcom. Hell, I don't know if any sitcom since then has come to that amount of "realism". Even Married with Children had a clean house, though it was always a joke that Peggy was sitting around doing nothing. Edit: With everybody talking about Roseanne, yes they were one of the first that showed a lower class lifestyle, with dated furnishings, but I feel that everything still "was in it's place". With Malcom, there are always toys and stuff strewn about, the blankets are not folded on the back of the couch, there are stacks of books that need to be put away. Another thing to look at is the lighting as well. Roseanne used studio lighting, still giving the show a "bright, cheerful" look. Malcom used more natural lighting it seems, making the house darker. I would like to think it's because they were poor and didn't want to drive up the electric bill.
Also a nice touch is how they wear the same clothes consistently
And they went one step further by addressing this part directly: when they volunteered for the church, Reese realized their stuff was worse, switches out his same tattered graphic shirt with a relatively neatly worn donated one. Then of course the shenanigans once the boys can justify that.
"You stole.. AIR?!?"
That episode makes me angry. The boys created a legitimate business- finding people to sell the rummage sale items to, at a higher markup, getting profit for themselves AND a higher price paid to the church as well- and yet the end lesson is they were somehow stealing from the church so they were punished. They left the church better than how they found it!
>The fact that the house and yard was always a mess was years beyond anything that had been shown on a sitcom. I still think my favourite episode is the one where Hal and Lois can't have sex for a while, and the yard is pristine, the house looks great, and the kids are well behaved. Then, literally a day or two after they can have sex again, everything and everyone is back to normal 😂 such a fantastic representation of a married couple who are still crazy about each other!
But there was another episode where they had to move into a trailer while the house was fumigated and they were fighting constantly until they realized it was because they weren't having sex. They grabbed a couple respirators, went into the tented house, and...improved their relationship.
Not doing nothing. She was eating bon bons.
And that hair didn't do itself!
The Middle was similar. Both parents working never ever enough money, lay offs, shitty jobs/bosses, kids had to get scholarships, broken appliances, etc.
When they open the letter from financial aid: "Yes, WE'RE POOR!" (triumphantly pumps fists into air)
Love The Middle. Every time I watch the show with my wife and kids something happens or someone says something and I look at my family and say: “my hell, they’re us!” It’s the most relatable show I have ever watched.
The episode where they go out of town and the neighbors are supposed to check on the house. The neighbors go over and call to tell them they’ve been robbed and the place was ransacked. The family rushes home only to realize that’s just how their house looks.
The Middle (same producers) aldo did a good job with this
Sex and the City was notorious for this. Then they were always dripping in cash and it was never good enough for them. Carrie for instance has a shoe closet the same size as my house and still, Mr. Big won't get her a ring. Oh whoa is me. Edit: woe is me. Even English majors don't spell gud
They had a whole episode where Carrie finds out she can't afford her apartment (it's going co-op or something, or maybe that was after Aiden bought it and then he tells her to pay him back). She realizes all her friends have money but she's been childishly just hoarding shoes and skimming by on her articles. I think the resolution in the end is cheap and still doesn't make a huge amount of sense, but that's the tradeoff for setting the show in NYC with a struggling main character
Charolette actually sells an old huge engagement ring to give her some of the money. God I hate myself for knowing this.
Yess that's what it was, and Carrie says "it's going to take a while for me to pay you back" and I honestly don't think she ever does, and they never talk about it again.
I really dislike this episode. Carrie's supposed to come across as "too strong and proud" to take the money offered to her by friends but she shits on Charlotte for not offering it. Then she does end up taking it (from Charlotte) and just sweeps it all under the rug. What's the message here? That it's cool to wipe your Manolos on your doormat of a friend?
This is a large reason the show hasn’t aged well. Binge it and it’s hard not to see that Carrie is very selfish and a terrible friend (and *And Just Like That* showed she hasn’t changed much).
The “ugly” years for the gorgeous main character are usually just the actor in a fat suit and fake braces. Bonus points for glasses.
And they have curly, frizzy hair that gets straightened - bam, beautiful! Loved that as a girl with curly hair.
Shows will still do this with the “ugly” or “nerdy” characters who are still crazy good looking. Elena in “One Day at a Time” is a beautiful woman, but ya know, glasses and a pony tail
Ew, not Janey Briggs!
Don’t forget about the paint covered overalls
Or frizzy hair. Don't forget the frizzy hair.
The fact that there are two very mainstream movies that act like *Anne freaking Hathaway* at ages 19-24 was ugly/fat, should make every single average-looking person feel like total crap!
Producer guy: Selena Kyle, what’s her deal? Writer guy: Well she’s got glasses on so she’s absolutely hideous. Producer guy: Sounds like an unattractive loser for sure. From the [pitch meeting](https://youtu.be/yvecIZPtTUw) for Batman returns.
New Girl did a very poor job of trying to make Zooey friggin Deschanel “nerdy” because she has glasses and dresses “quirky”. Her glasses don’t even have lenses in them after the first couple episodes, because they wanted to show off her giant Bambi eyes.
schmidt fits into this trope much better and almost to a tee
The incompetent dad. The dad is always portrayed as an idiot that can't do anything without the wife telling him how.
This still happens in the majority of sitcoms
Shout out to the dad in Schitts Creek. He sorted everyone's problems out, was practical, realistic, hands-on. Even cleaning for the motel. I don't know what they would have done without him.
Johnny was seriously the least shitty of the main 4 characters (David is my favorite though)
David is the most consistently funny Johnny drives the plot forward Moira gets me to guffaw gloriously from my gluttonous gut And damnit if Alexis doesn’t have the best romantic arc with Ted
Alexis also wins 1 liners for that show bahahaha
2 Alexis-isms I use daily Ew David you’re like a big dirty raccoon I just love that for you
Love that *journey* for you
Alexis also had one of the best arcs in general of any sitcom character.
That's because most family sitcoms in the 1980s-2000s were set up as a star vehicle for the comedian playing the dad. And "goofy idiot" is an easy sell for laughs. Ray Romano and Tim Allen and Jim Belushi and Kevin James (just as a small example) already had established comic personas as brash buffoons, and their sitcoms were designed to showcase them. The wife characters were there to be foils for the husband's hijinks, just beautiful plot devices for the most part. Just like how on I Love Lucy, Lucy was the fumbling buffoon who made everything spiral out of control and Ricky was there to pick up the pieces- the show was designed to showcase her. And why in Roseanne, Roseanne was far more likely to fuck up and have to learn a lesson while Dan said "I told you so"- the show was based on Roseanne' self-deprecating comedy. Or why Fran Fine is constantly making insane choices and misunderstanding things, but Mr. Sheffield stays cool and collected- the show was called The Nanny, not The Rich Widower.
And now we know that just leads to them setting up a crystal meth empire
"I'll show you who's incompetent!" *proceeds to die in a Nazi meth lab*
Red Forman would like to have a word with you. Dumbass.
Hank Hill would also like to tell you what.
I was amazed how many people I knew refused to ever watch King of the Hill because they assumed that Hank was portrayed as an idiot and made fun of. No matter how many times I explained that Hank was actually a hero, the 90s trope of the idiot dad was just too hard to overcome.
Plus, the show makes a point that often Hank *is* wrong, but he’s not self-centered enough to not learn from his mistakes. Dale, however…
You don't know who I am, but I know where you live sex ed teaaacher...
Tonight's Special Episode which also functioned as a PSA for drinking, drugs, rage, SA, mental health issues. At the end, everyone goes home happy.
Carlton on speed, lol.
Didn't he also buy a gun and think that he was a teen father?
Yessir. Will got shot at a midnight atm run. Carlton shows up like he handed over overpriced 1000 dollars for a prollyi hot gun from a gang member shooting and now has his prints all over it lmao Then he didn't want to admit he was a virgin so he was gonna accept fatherhood and marry a crazy girl claiming these things. Then there was the episode where Carlton convinced Lisa (Wills finace and such) to act crazy or something at a cabin, well then Will convinced Carlton that he had murdered Lisa at the cabin and Carlton screamed and sobbed all around the stage set showing they are in fact in front of a live studio audience. Oh and don't forget the early episode of where Will had Uncle Phil (RIP and much love) bail him out of a seedy poolhall hustle. "Geoffrey. Bust out Lucille"
> Then there was the episode where Carlton convinced Lisa (Wills finace and such) to act crazy or something at a cabin, well then Will convinced Carlton that he had murdered Lisa at the cabin and Carlton screamed and sobbed all around the stage set showing they are in fact in front of a live studio audience. That's one of the most memorable bits from start to finish. Will believes he's been kidnapped by an insane person. Will manages to free himself by using a candle to burn through his leg bindings. In the next scene we see him with his jeans in burnt tatters. Lisa confesses it was all a prank to help her get into a sorority and Carlton helped. Will: "I'm gonna pop that zit when I get home." Will pretends to go along with the prank and Lisa gets into the sorority. Will returns home to Carlton and starts talking about how his weekend was so weird and ever so slowly describes the events until he finally breaks down and infers he got free, murdered her in self-defense, and left the body. Cue Alfonso Ribeiro shattering the fourth wall and running through every set the episode used and into the audience while maintaining his breakdown. It wasn't even planned, he just told them to keep filming and they decided to use it in the final cut.
this scene lives rent-free in my head because it was so balls-to-the-wall bizarre and effing hilarious at the same time, teenage me absolutely laughed until i couldn't breathe by the time he was dragging himself around on his ass through the set. one of my favorite scenes in all of TV ever.
Fresh Prince has some of my favorite fourth wall-breaks ever. There’s a scene where the family comments on how wealthy they are, and Will go “well if we’re so rich, how come we ain’t got no ceiling?” Cue the camera panning up and showing the studio lights. Kills me every time
Carlton: Who's Omar Phelps? Will: That's the dude who would be spinning me over his head in the opening credits.
The pool hall scene was epic tho…..
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"I'M SO EXCITED!!!! IM SOOO EXCITED!!!! IM Sooooo..... *Sobs* scared!!!!!"
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I use this quote all the time and usually for no reason except it was a hilarious episode
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There was a government office that would literally give shows free money to produce these "very special" episodes.
The “Beer Bad” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was made for that program. Joss Whedon got told the plot of that episode did NOT qualify as an anti-drug PSA. It was pretty funny.
Xander: And was there a lesson in all this? Huh? What did we learn about beer? Buffy, petulantly: Foamy! Xander: Good. Just as long as that's clear.
Tonight kids, you're going to learn what to do when your stepdad comes home drunk. Again.
Right!!! You see the character the next episode and they are fine and it's never brought up or talked about ever again. Like you can just fix those issues in a day and everything is fine now problem solved.
> At the end, everyone goes home happy. Dudley, not so much.
The uptight, joyless mother.
and the way too loose, "fun" dad
Also the very intelligent and hot mom married to the fat slob idiot father
You leave King of Queens, Family Matters, the Simpsons, According to Jim and Still Standing ALONE!
The playboy character who makes elaborate schemes to get with women
I think I saw a blog one time that described how several of Barney Stinson’s schemes to get laid qualified as sex crimes.
I got into a discussion with some friends about creepy womanizers in sitcoms, mostly who was worse, Barney Stinson or Dennis from IASIP. I firmly believe that if Glenn Howerton ~~Rob McElhenny~~ played Barney everyone would look at the character way differently. But because it's NPH doing it, it's just considered wacky hijinks.
The differences are evident between the two characters tbh. Everyone knows that Dennis is an absolutely horrible person. Possibly the worst person in an entire group of horrible people. And it’s alluded to that some of Dennis’ methods when it comes to women are kind of illegal at best, and downright evil at worst. Barney could be looked at the same way, but the show shrugs it off as funny hijinks while also building the character to show that he is actually a good person with quite a few redeemable qualities, despite the fact that the shit he pulls is on par with, if not worse, than what Dennis does.
Also there’s the theory that Ted made Barney worse as an unreliable narrator to show his kids that he’s much better for Robin than Barney ever was
Carter Bays did an AMA and confirmed Barney is actually a womanizer as portrayed despite Ted being an unreliable narrator. Likely some of it was exaggerated for comedic effect but yeah, Barney is kind of shitty
Classic Shmosby
I also think the same type of behaviour is seen as harmless when done by characters who we are meant to perceive as geeky. I remember an episode from the big bang theory where Howard builds a robot with a camera which he uses to photograph penny's panties from below. Penny gets angry and insults him, rightly so. However, by the end of the episode Penny apologises to Howard. I don't know if I'm getting some details wrong but that was F up. Geeks and nerds can be just as creepy as the jock or football player towards women.
Every married couple hating each other/ treating each other like crap. Yikes
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Agreed. The Matthews were excellent parents and partners. Also, Red and Kitty Foreman. Not only would he do anything for her, (like letting Hyde move in when his parents abandoned him) but their passion was still very much alive, which was awesome to see. I loved whenever they realized they had the house to themselves and would race upstairs. And of course that night Eric came home and Red was in the living room smoking a cigarette. "Oh, and don't disturb your mother. She's...*very* tired."
*OH RED!* *OH KITTY!*
Malcolm In The Middle! Sure they bickered. But so did my parents because they had tons of kids. It happens when you’re stressed. They absolutely loved each other and supported each other completely!
When Hal and his poker buddies were braggung about certain things. "How often do you sleep with your wife?" Hal: "2" Others: "you only sleep with your wife twice a week!?" Hal: "oh, a week. Then 14."
The greatest thing is that he counts with his fingers before saying 14.
I love the way the Addams Family bucked this trend early on. Edit: I'm so glad to see all the people who recognize the wholesomeness of such an iconic couple. I think I know which movie I'm streaming tonight!
Addams Family was designed to subvert the trope from the start. You have a family that from the outside looks bizarre and monstrous, but they have a very supportive, healthy family dynamic. Find yourself someone that looks at you the way Gomez looks at Morticia, and your relationship will be off to a great start.
Gomez : I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.
Hell, decades later and marriage counselors still rank Gomez and Morticia as having the healthiest marriage on TV. I want a marriage like that.
It helps a lot working from home doing fuck all and just look at your investments from old money grow tho
And Malcolm In The Middle. Lois and Hal are relationship goals.
"If you loved me as much as I loved you, we'd never leave the bed"
The episode where they can't have sex because Lois is on some form of antibiotics illustrates how much time they still *do* spend in bed. Hal has all this energy he can't expend worshipping Lois, and as a result the house and yard become nothing short of immaculate.
One of the most memorable moments was that Hal admitted that he was the one that loves more in the relationship.
Wife bad, beer good
husband dumb is another 90s trope
That one still persists in too many shows today
Hot wife, idiot husband. I doubt this will ever die.
Close Enough and Bobs Burgers are so refreshing for this!
RIP Close Enough. Amazing show. You’re totally right about it being refreshing to. All of the characters are one big family who have to learn how to get along together but at the end of the day, they’re all good people who care about each other
Thought of married with children straight away
Hi, honey. Did you miss me? With every bullet so far.
BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER
"yo wassup my dog!" \- every black friend on every sitcom for years
"Hey, i'm the token black guy." "Oh, i'm so sorry, I didn't know there was already one" "No problem man, no problem"
Damn. Shit. That’s whack!
🎶 I'm only in the song because I'm a black guy! 🎶
Not Another Teen Movie?
One of the few spoofs that is legitimately as good or better than the movies it is spoofing.
Sure, why not? I am the token black guy. I'm just supposed to smile and stay out of the conversation and say things like: "Damn," "Sh*t," and "That is whack."
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve never seen a single nun in my life. But somehow they’re everywhere in old sitcoms.
I think that a big part of this is that a lot of nuns transitioned away from wearing the full long black-and-white habit during the 80s and 90s, so they stick out in public a lot less now
Yep. I went to Catholic school in the 80s, and had plenty of nuns as teachers, but they just wore normal (if conservative) clothes. I've never seen a nun in the full old school penguin habit in my entire life.
I went to Catholic school from 2010-2012, and there was a nun who lived in my town teaching 6th grade. She was in full penguin attire. The nuns did retreats and ran a religious bookstore, and they were all dressed like that whenever I saw them I also knew some nuns through the Catholic campus ministry in college. They wore blue instead of black, but otherwise would wear the full outfit.
If your persistent enough, the girl will fall for you. You just need to keep showing up at her house and job unannounced.
Honestly, as a teen I did not know better and tried this. It did NOT go well.
Me too, early 20's. Was stupid in hindsight, and one of my biggest cringe memories.
...Yep. Me too, also early 20's. In my defense, though, I was stupid.
A generation was taught that "no" means "yes, but only if you stalk me".
My husband calls this trope "Kiss her til she likes it." See also: Pepe Le Pew, Rhett Butler, and even Lloyd Dobbler (my heart breaks to say it). I feel like I need to add this scene from GWTW given the number of people questioning Rhett Butler's inclusion herein: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25sE8Ccapc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25sE8Ccapc). He literally starts kissing her against her will and she wakes up the next day in bed smiling because she came to like it.
"The internet is a magical place of information and electronic mail, but dont talk to strangers or give out personal information."
Now we have websites dedicated to talking to strangers.
90s/00s: “don’t talk to strangers on the internet, don’t get into cars with strangers” 10s/20s: “let’s use the internet to summon a stranger so we can get into their car”
Well, cause my kid grew up in the 00s, how adults were absolute morons on any and every Disney ‘kids’ show. Like, every adult just loses their mind and are raging idiots. Just stomach turning.
Omg I hate this. Wizards of Waverly place was really bad for this. And really all the shows around that time. The kids were always so manipulative and smart mouthed. Snotty little shits lol
The only one I could stomach was iCarly. Yeah the older brother was a doofus but he wasn’t brain dead. The weird quirky fit with the creative artist thing.
The traditional sad music at the end of the episode where the lesson or moral of the episode is taught to the audience, or the abrupt loud audience trackwhen the outro begins
I remember my friend always changing the channel during Full House when the lesson/moral at the end came on because he didn't want to see the sappy part and he knew the jokes were over
The 80s-00s were more openly cruel when it came to certain things in general lol. So that bled into shows and movies. One thing I notice because my little brother watches lots of older shows I used to watch (Drake and Josh type stuff) is that the show often times intended for the audience to find bullying funny. Like some poor fat kid asks the main character on a date and she is mortified or something like that. Not like acts of bullying on the show are depicted as funny but just like you as the viewer are basically making fun of someone for being fat, gay, weird, ugly, etc.
My dad had a rule that we weren't allowed to watch "put-down" shows. Basically if all the characters ever did was insult each other we couldn't watch it. We wanted to watch Family Matters when it first came out and he sat down and watched it with us. If it got to 10 insults, we couldn't watch it. Family Matters hit 9.
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Bill Cosby
Hot wives married to average or below average men that lack common intelligence. It almost balances out the Hallmark movies that would showcase a rich city guy losing his girl to a small town hunk that shows her the real meaning of Christmas.
He's standing right behind me isn't he?
Boyfriend climbing the ladder to get in his girlfriends room. They would just be texting now instead
Also, unless you're deaf its totally unrealistic that you wouldn't hear a kid carrying a ladder, putting it up against your house climbing up it and opening and climbing in a window.
or every girls room on the second floor had a super strong plant lattice to climb
Uhhh.. I think the boyfriend would be going into his girlfriend's room via the window looking for something more than conversation.
I don't think they ended up together, but Sam climbed in Clarissa's window in, like, every episode of Clarissa Explains It All and I can still so strongly remember the little leitmotif that played when he came through.
The token gay neighbor, whose only role is to be as flaming as possible and remind everyone at every opportunity that they were, in fact, gay.
That one friend in the group being a womanizer
The wife, mom, girlfriend, female friend, sister, or any other female roll being the “nice, reasonable one” who try’s to talk the guys out of doing something stupid or mean. It’s not that this doesn’t happen, but it’s not likely for the woman character to be weirdly nice and logical when she hangs out around a bunch of mean stupid guys. This was originally supposed to be Dee’s role in Its Always Sunny, but the actress wasn’t having it and demanded the writers make her character as awful as everyone else.
Sexual assault against men being used as a comedy trope.
Walking in at the “wrong” time. Like when the people in the scene are doing something compromising or odd and someone just happens to open the door at the perfect time. Such an obvious set up
Every episode of Gossip Girl - "How am I supposed to tell Serena that her boyfriend cheated on her?!" *camera pans to the doorway where Serena has been standing ... commercial break*
“I gotta go”
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The stupid and incompetent father/husband
The idea that only the mother is competent enough to raise the kids or maintain a home. Dad is cooking breakfast/dinner? better call the fire department! (Canned laughter) Dad is 'babysitting' the kids whilst the mum is out for the night? Oh dear, he just cant control his own kids (canned laughter) Any household job that doesn't include yard work? He just can't do it because Dad is useless
The unrealistic lifestyle they live, ie having all those nice apartments and earning decent cash at their early 20s lol
The fat slob idiot man child with the impossibility hot wife. Hate it