Every movie and TV show that has ever come to be has fallen victim to being cliché at one point or another. As much as creators try not to tread on familiar tropes, at times it’s unavoidable.
However, there are some clichés that have become so redundant that they end up threatening the very integrity of the film or series as a whole. See what I mean and check out these 10+ TV and movie clichés people are definitely over.
Depicting people with glasses as being unpopular.
Jess from New Girl is adorably quirky but has never been popular. Alex from Modern Family is easily the most intelligent in her family, yet she’s a total loner.
If smart is the new sexy, why do these shows lean on such outdated stereotypes?
Moms who act like overbearing nags.
Why is it that Claire on Modern Family constantly has to play the hammer and Phil gets to act like a child and have all the fun?
Real parenting dynamics aren’t like this at all, so why do we pretend otherwise?
When people just yank out their I.V. drip in hospital scenes.
Why is it that whenever someone with amnesia wakes up in a hospital bed, their first instinct is to pull out the I.V.?
That goes directly into your vein ! You couldn’t just tug it out without making an absolute bloody mess.
When the main character is able to walk away from an explosion unscathed.
In the opening scene of Iron Man , Tony is putting his new Jericho missile on display for the Armed Forces.
After it detonates, a huge aftershock reverberates through the canyon and sends the soldiers flying backward. Yet Tony is somehow able to stay on his feet?
Characters getting progressively more attractive as the series goes on.
As a show becomes more and more successful, so, in turn, do the actors typically become more attractive.
To combat this trope, Rob McElhenney from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia purposely gained 50 lbs.
When people wear shoes to bed or in their home.
This happens in every single TV show from Saved by the Bell to Friends and I find it absolutely loathsome!
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What person in their right mind would track dirty footprints through their home and into their own bed?!
Characters getting progressively less intelligent as the series goes on.
Think of classic characters like Kevin Malone from The Office or even Joey Tribbiani from Friends .
Every good series has a village idiot that they tend to use as a whipping post whenever the situation calls for a cheap laugh.
The fact that nobody ever says “goodbye” when they end a telephone call.
I never understood why TV and movie characters seem to have such a hard time properly greeting one another on the phone.
If someone just hung up on me out of nowhere, I’d personally find it incredibly rude.
When TV characters live in outlandish apartments they’d never be able to afford IRL.
I’m looking at you, Phoebe Buffay! At least the writers made some attempt to rectify why Monica was able to afford her late grandmother’s apartment (rent control).
But no such explanation was ever made as to how or why Phoebe could afford a multi-million dollar apartment in Greenwich Village.
That one kid who always talks as if they’re 30 years older than their actual age.
Why can’t kids ever act like kids anymore? I frankly can’t stand it.
Do you remember little Summer Hathaway from Richard Linklater’s School of Rock ? Wasn’t she just the worst?
Dads who act like children.
Don’t get me wrong, I love TV dads like Phil Dunphy and Homer Simpson just as much, if not more, than anyone else.
But even I can admit that these two are terrible role models for young fathers.
Why is it that TV wives are always so much more attractive than their TV husbands?
How I Met Your Mother taught us that every relationship has a ‘reacher’ and a ‘settler.’
Larry David, Chandler Bing, and Jay Pritchett are all reachers. Whereas Cheryl David, Monica Geller, and Gloria Pritchett are all undoubtedly settlers.
The one couple that always seems to have a will they/won’t they dynamic.
This trope is known in some circles as ‘the Ross & Rachel’ or ‘the Jim & Pam experiment’ to others.
Regardless of the label, we all know it when we see it as well as the implications that it carries.
When the main characters always sit at the same table or booth in a restaurant.
How is it that the gang in How I Met Your Mother are always able to find their booth at MacLaren’s? Why does no one else ever sit on the main couch inside Central Perk on Friends ?
Is it just constantly being reserved for them?
The bad guys always have to die.
Thanks to movies like Joker , we’re finally getting a taste of what it’s like to cheer for the villain as opposed to the hero for a change.
What’s your least-favorite TV/movie cliché? Leave a comment and let us know!
