Overused TV Tropes

TV show tropes are situations or plots which are used so often they have become cliched. I'm sure you can think of quite a few, but here are the most common tropes to be used in recent years:

The Chosen One

This may not have started with Buffy, but it is certainly where the idea was picked up in popular culture. The chosen one is the one person who can stop the bad guy, the person with the best fighting skills or special powers. It is hard to relate to a person who is perfect. Buffy may have had her problems, but she was still a pretty blonde cheerleader at the end of the day. In recent years, writers have taken this idea and created chosen ones who are less than perfect, for example Ash from Ash vs Evil Dead. Whether your chosen one is a brilliant athlete or a drunken loser, the chosen one trope has been done to death.

Final Girl

One trope that has stood the test of time is the final girl. The final girl is (usually) the virginal young woman who becomes the only survivor when a serial killer/supernatural psycho starts killing people. Scream tried to take this trope and do something different with it. With its tongue in cheek attitude, it poked fun at the idea, even pointing out that Sydney, the lead character, had had sex and therefore wouldn't survive the climax! She proved them wrong. Four times. I think the Scream movies became a trope in themselves.

The Big Bad!

TV shows such as Buffy and Supernatural must have a big bad for the heroes to do battle with. This bad guy must be virtually unstoppable and will toy with the heroes throughout the season before the final battle, usually in the last episode of the series. There is nothing wrong with the big bad in itself, the heroes need someone formidable to face, but for shows like Supernatural, it gets harder and harder to come up with a believable big bad each season. In the early seasons, the big bad was usually a powerful demon, but then the brothers went up against the Devil himself and God's sister! It's hard to come up with anything bigger than that. Charmed is another similar show, although they had the interesting idea of making the final big bad in season eight, two witch sisters. When they have faced everything over the years, including the source of all evil, two witches don't seem like worthy big bads, but they became dangerous because the sisters were close to Billie and they knew them.

Game Changer

Another trope used, particularly in genre shows, is to have a game changer, something huge happen to the main character. Dean becomes a demon (Supernatural), Crane becomes a horseman (Sleepy Hollow) only for the situation to be easily rectified in the following episode. There is no payoff and no consequence. A lot of shows don't want to upset the status quo, but I believe a lot of shows could be better if more twists were involved. I think this is why shows like Game of Thrones are popular. It is unpredictable and it gets people talking. One show that had the opportunity to create a big change is Once Upon A Time when Emma takes the Dark One dagger and becomes the Dark One. Despite becoming the embodiment of evil, she doesn't actually do anything particularly evil. Her actions are even seen as noble. Considering the theme of the show was redemption, it would have been a lot more interesting to see Emma do some truly evil things before having to make amends.

So why do these trope exist? They exist because they get viewers to watch the show. They are easily recognizable and the viewer knows ahead of time what to expect—for example, the show stars a chosen one, this might appeal to Buffy fans. There is nothing wrong with shows starting out in this premise, but in order to be memorable, to make an impact, I believe that more of them need to break away from the status quo and do something different. To have these huge cliffhangers, pay off. That is what makes a truly great show.