Tropescilloscope: Ripped from the Headlines

A recent or ongoing news story is the basis for the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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