TV Tuesday: Say what?

[yourlibrarian]

Do you like having recurring sayings or actions or callbacks in a TV show? This could mean either a character's catchphrase, or something which becomes a staple of the show.

Comments

[devilc]

It depends on how it's used, when done right it's gold. When done for the purpose of ticking a box on the checklist of things that have to be included? it's insertion is so painful.

So, for ones I think did it right?

One of the staples of Reacher is corny humor. It's welcome to keep the show from being grimdark, but also, it serves to show that the creative team is not being deadly serious and is well aware that this show is not Capital A Art.

Highlander had "there can be only one" and while, at times, it served to be a deadpan one-liner, in the hands of the best writers on the best episodes, it underlined how sad and awful in some ways these characters' lives were. Somebody was always hunting you and it was very difficult to trust the only other people who were like you.

Same thing with Justified, where the title of the show came from the fact that all of the many shootings that Raylan Givens had done/been involved with were "justified".

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In The Expanse, fannon made "I am that guy" Amos's "thing", and it's just ARRRGH, because people use it as being snarky (as in "Go ahead, make my day"), when actually, it's not delivered in a snarky way, and is meant to show how frightening Amos is. He is the guy who can shoot you in cold blood.

[jo]

I had to google callbacks, because I wasn't sure, and based on the examples, I'd never pick up on most of them because I simply wouldn't remember the earlier episode the callback was referencing. One common example that kept coming up was the last episode of Seinfeld replaying a conversation between George and Jerry about shirt buttons that they had in the very first episode of the show. Or Penny wearing the same shirt in both the first and last episode of The Big Bang Theory. Who the hell has that good a memory?? Not me!

I used to really like Francis Urquhart's famous catchphrase from House of Cards (the original, not the US remake) -- "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment", or everyone in Gavin and Stacey saying "What's occurin'?" And of course "Clear minds, full hearts, can't lose" from Friday Night Lights. Or the most famous (maybe) one of all "Live long and prosper". I'm also old enough to remember "Sock it to me" from Laugh-in. I was too young to really understand the jokes on that show, but I did laugh when that phrase was uttered because someone ended up getting socked in some slapsticky way, e.g. a pie in the face. That said, I'm really not bothered one way or another. Some can get a bit annoying, like Joey's "How you doin'?" from Friends.

[olivermoss]

Let's steal a....
I dated a...

Leverage makes good use of this

[china_shop]

Ha, this makes me think of Sledge Hammer's "Trust me -- I know what I'm doing," and Kojak's "Who loves ya, baby?" /showing my age

Idk, I think you can't establish character without some repetition, but there's always the risk of turning the characters into cartoons.

I do like callbacks, though, especially if they're recontextualised, given deeper significance, or funny.

[yourlibrarian]

I've watched Expanse but am not in its fandom, so I didn't know that. But I totally get what you're saying. It'd kind of an interesting thing, what fandom turns into a catchphrase, even if it never was one in the show.

I am very tired of seeing some similar things in Merlin fanfic.

[yourlibrarian]

I hadn't thought of that but I can see it!

[yourlibrarian]

Such a great example, the Urquhart one! I remember it so well, and have never heard it since without hearing him. And yes, Joey's phrase is absolutely one even non-watchers like me would pick up on.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm in the same boat -- personally I'm not fond of catchphrases, though certain actions are less common and I think could work well to quickly demonstrate, say, group cohesion.

I really like callbacks. I think a major reason is because it shows intentionality in a writer's room, in terms of developing those characters and that verse. It makes it seem more fleshed out. It can be a great moment when they payoff happens a considerable time later (one example I can think of is Thor's hammer in the MCU). And there were a bunch of them in Buffy which I really appreciated.

[devilc]

I am facepalming that I forgot "Clear eyes ..." and FNL

[firecat]

I like them up to a point but not to the point where they turn watching the show into a drinking game, or break the fourth wall, or are supposed to establish the character as "offensive, but because we like the character we think it's cute."

For example, I like Dr McCoy's "I'm a doctor, not a [FITB]." But I don't like Dr McCoy's "You green-blooded half-breed."

[yourlibrarian]

What you said about the Trek ones reminded me of the novelty song "Star Trekkin" and the lines they chose for each character. Uhura's never made any sense, both because she never called the Captain "Jim" and wouldn't be likely to be reporting Klingons off the Starboard bow (and the "Hailing frequencies open" was right there!)

By comparison I think Scotty's "I canna change the laws of physics" actually is something quoted for him often, and while Spock's line was actually used in the show, again, "Fascinating" was right there!

[firecat]

I’m familiar with the song but that never occurred to me — you’re absolutely right!

[tinny]

Oh boy. :D

I think I used to like it more when I was younger and it wasn't so overdone? I like more subtle jokes better. But I am still for puns and verbal humor in general, so I usually end up liking those catchphrases after all. Long story short: i think my answer is yes. :D

[tinny]

omg yes, Sledge Hammer! That was a good one. And it does work well in humorous shows in general, where the risk of losing the audience's respect is not as high.

The first one I could think of was Sam's "Oh boy" from Quantum Leap.

[yourlibrarian]

It's such a wide swaths of possibilities too -- some things are intentional catchphrases and others are just things the characters must say regularly given their roles.

[china_shop]

I think it works well when it's part of a character trait. Like in Due South, two of the characters have very strong car preferences, so that comes up over and over (since cars don't always survive the case of the week). ;-)

One of my favourite things about fanfic is callbacks to canon. It's like we're all sharing the same inside jokes. Of course, it can be overdone -- but in general it's great.

[china_shop]

And it does work well in humorous shows in general, where the risk of losing the audience's respect is not as high.

Hee! <3

I never watched much Quantum Leap, but from what I know, that seems an entirely fair reaction. ;-)