Tropescilloscope: Truth in Television

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

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