Mother and daughter

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available. This article has been tagged since February 2006. This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. This is a list of clichés found on the various programmes on television. Contents 1 Medical Dramas 2 Reality 3 Soap Opera 4 Sitcoms 5 Made for TV movies 6 Crime Dramas 7 General 8 See also Medical Dramas Every symptom is the result of some strange illness (It's not the flu, it's cholera!) Every other female patient is there because of domestic violence. Every other child is there because of child abuse. Every other African-American is there because of drugs or gang related violence. Speaking of which, abusive parents tend to be so charismatic that the authorities believe them when they say they never abused their child(dren), much to the chagrin of said child's rescuer. Every cardiac or respiratory illness will often result in needing defibrillation, even if that patient's condition or heart rhythm does not need to be defibrillated. Most medical people call this the "electric cure-all" cliche. The main character is the only one who can come up with a solution/treatment/perform the surgery/cure the patient. The main character's mentor will be a harsh tough love medical professional with a difficult love life and controversial way of doing things. Reality See reality television. Contestants must pass challenges for usually a prize or to prevent elimination (See Below) Contestants are usually eliminated from the show by votes. An establishing shot using a camera crane that moves slow, then speeds up, then moves slow again. A shot of the moon zoomed in that quickly zooms out. One of the cast members has AIDS. One of the contestants is homosexual. Contestants are usually forced to live together in a lavishly furnished/ decorated house Soap Opera Family members of regular characters often appear, despite never being mentioned before. Family members who leave the show rarely, if ever, come back to visit or to attend weddings, funerals etc. Alternatively, long time cast members' only appearances on the series are to appear at weddings, funerals, etc. Most characters have a job within walking distance of where they live. Characters can get hired and change jobs with almost no effort. Characters jobs usually only involve and cater for all the other characters (e.g. The character who is a doctor would be the doctor for all the other characters) All characters know all the details of the other characters' lives. Characters only have relationships with other regular characters. Or somebody who is about to die... A character may experience tragedy and constantly changing relationships with no long-term effects. Everyone has a long-lost sibling. The long-lost sibling is very rarely actually their sibling. Every town has a citizen whose sole desire is to gain control of all the other citizens. Every one in town hates this person but will never do anything to get rid of them. If the villain does end up in jail due to their exploits, it won't be for long. Something always goes wrong at a wedding and at Christmas (e.g. the secrets of a character's forbidden love affair come out). Characters only leave the soap if they have had a family row, or if they have been killed off. No one ever leaves just for a change of scenery. No married couple can stay happy for too long. One of the pair will always commit adultery desoute being happily married beforehand. A character, usually a rich woman, will have an affair with her gardener if her marriage is unhappy. If a female character has an affair, she will always end up pregnant and not know whether the father is her partner or her lover. Twins are used heavily in soaps to either add to the storyline or replace their other twin who has died or left the town Common in Australian soaps: when a character leaves, if they don't die, they move to Queensland With the exception of The Bold and the Beautiful, which is set in Los Angeles, all American soaps are set in fictitious towns/cities. All the characters are very beautiful, even the workers of dirty jobs (e.g. gardeners). An exception is the British soap opera Eastenders. Characters are able to keep their jobs even if they have been through so many traumas that they shouldn't have the job anymore. (Example is Marlena Evans on "Days of Our Lives", who keeps her psychologist job despite being kidnapped several times, possessed and charged with murder). Sitcoms See sitcoms. Typical Family Units: The Nuclear Family Generally consists of mother, father and three children Parents' relationship dates back to college, or even high school Mother is the matriarch; very rarely has a job (sometimes works at home), responsible for any necessary discipline; if, for any reason, she leaves the house, everyone falls apart Father is the breadwinner, usually middle management. He is absent minded and immature, completely clueless in domestic matters Father can be goofy looking but mother is almost always attractive (e.g., The King of Queens). The youngest sibling is a small child, around 5 or 6. They will either say cute things and ask about adult topics, or have above average intelligence, appearing to be the smartest in the family (except for the mother) Oldest sibling will usually be a boy. He receives poor grades in school but has other sources of intelligence, often has a garage band and is quite successful with the ladies. He is constantly annoyed by his youngest siblings, but supports them when necessary. If eldest sibling is female; she will usually be smart and considers herself to be an adult, even if in puberty. The middle sibling is typically a girl in her early teens. She is preoccupied with becoming popular, getting a male love interest to notice her, and fashion. She is very precocious, and known for screaming, 'Get out of my room!' at younger sibling. Teenagers only have one or two close friends who they've known since kindergarten Sometimes, the nuclear family will consist of two children: the forementioned teen girl and an annoying younger brother. (An exception is The Cosby Show. Though nuclear in form, there are five children. Sondra and Denise are both older than Theo, the only son. Sondra is responsible (an adult from the beginning), while Denise and Theo share parts of the typical oldest sibling cliché, fourth child Vanessa resumes the middle sibling cliché, and Rudy does the youngest sibling cliché.) The Single Parent Family Father and son: mother/wife has died. Father and son share a normal age gap; they have an awkward, distant relationship that will improve as the series progresses; often bond over beer and pizza.(Eg Two And A Half Men.) Father and daughter: mother/wife has died or abandoned the family. Mother is not in contact. Father and daughter are often quite close. Daughter is mature for her age and takes on the responsibilities of her mother. Mother and daughter: mother and father divorced/father left/mother and father never married. Mother had daughter young. Mother and daughter share close relationship. (e.g., Gilmore Girls.) Auxiliary Characters Aunts are young and irresponsible, sometimes single mothers (always the mother's sister; see Family Matters) Mothers of the mother (i.e. the father's mother-in-law) are disapproving of their daughters choice of husband, their husbands are either afraid of them (see The Flintstones) or constantly absent or dead. Typically by the end of the series the Dad has come to terms with his mother-in-law, usually brought about by the birth of his and his wife's first child, and her grandchild. (again Bewitched) Made for TV movies The main character will have a long monologue while they are crying, especially if the main character is a female. A lot of the plot will be derived from issues currently in the news such as gang violence, school shootings, cults, rape, etc. Crime Dramas At some point during the show, a defense attorney, in the presence of his/her client, will say to a DA or detective in an interrogation room, "We're done here." (nearly every episode of Law & Order) When presented with forensic evidence during a police interrogation, the suspect will immediately give up and confess It is assumed convictions are guaranteed even if all the evidence is circumstantial (see: CSI) The hero is often told "you're off the case" by his senior. General No character acts like a jerk because of his/her personality. S/he either has a needy child or disabled dependent living with him/her, or s/he is living with an abusive or alcoholic family member (or is homeless). See also List of animation clichés List of cliché lists Search Term: "List_of_clich%C3%A9s_on_television" Categories: NPOV disputes | Articles lacking sources | Cleanup from February 2006 | Incomplete lists | Clichés

Mother and daughter kidnapped in Pittsburgh, left in Cleveland