TV Tropes

[minor muppetz]

Of course it seems like in movies, the silent characters usually end up getting to talk at some point, at least if they are main characters. Heck, some of the most quiet Muppets (Lips, Bruno) have had some of their few speaking appearances in movies (considering how minor they are the dialogue isn't really made a big deal of on-screen).

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think TV Tropes has any tropes for when "silent" characters talk. It could be a good trope... Perhaps call it "The Silent One Speaks" or "The Tom and Jerry" (referring to how they talk in Tom and Jerry: The Movie). Perhaps if there could be a seperate page where a non-speaking character talks but it's not meant to be funny, surprising, or no big deal is made of it, call it "The Wile E. Coyote", since in all cartoons where Wile E. talks it actually doesn't come off as weird (well it sort of does when he first talks in The Adventures of Road Runner, and his "Ouch" spoken in Zoom at the Top is kinda surprising).

Seems like the Silent Bob would be more like Ferb of Phineas and Ferb, as he only has one line per episode... But Tom, Wile E. Coyote, and Pink Panther (before the Matt Frewer cartoon) all had entire cartoons where they would talk quite a bit. I wonder if that's a special case.

 

[minor muppetz]

And I was looking at the page for The Silent Bob and that's not exactly what I had in mind.... That's where silent characters CAN easily interact with others despite their lack of dialogue (and it seems lack of signs or gestures... I didn't notice any non-anthropomorphic animal characters listed). Though that page does list some instances where the characters actually speak.

One thing I thought of, though it's not actually a silent character but the same basic idea: Occasionally on Taz-Mania the Tasmanian Devil would speak coherently, almost always as a joke or character alteration. In one episode he tells the audience he's too tired to do anything (and points out that he normally doesn't talk). In The Pied Piper of Taz-Mania he runs screaming incoherrently at first but then repeats what he said in clear, calm english (and then a few minutes later he struggles trying to warn Bushwacker Bob not to drink the spoiled milk in the refrigerator). And in I'm Okay You're Taz Taz talks calmly and coherently after Buddy Boar changes him to act more like Buddy.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, I found that there is a trope I was asking about (the one regarding people badmouthing others who suddenly happen to show up behind them), and saw that it's called Right Behind Me.

 

[D'Snowth]

I know I really shouldn't have done this, but I actually started up pages on TV Tropes for both Steve D'Monster (well, specifically, his YT videos, not him as a character) and the VAMPIRE GIRL webcomic I did a couple of years ago.

 

[minor muppetz]

Looking at the page for One-Hour Work Week, which deals with works where the main characters seem to get plenty of free time and still paid well, I wonder if the Stratford Inn and Minuteman Cafe from Newhart would count as examples (I didn't see them listed there). Both places have small staffs (especially the cafe) and yet there are times when all employees/employers are away from work.

The inn is a little justified, as most of the action takes place there and most of the main characters (four out of five actors listed in the opening credits at a time) work there. Also, all the employees live there. Not too unusual at first. But then there are instances where all of the employees are away from the inn. There are episodes where they all travel to England to visit Stephanie's family (I know that in at least one of those episodes they even mention that the inn is closed during that time), times when they are at city hall (don't know off-hand if there are any instances where the entire staff is there at once), a few instances where they are all at Michael's apartment, and an episode where George takes them all out to dinner. Of course it seems like they usually only have a few guests at a time (though the dining room can sometimes be crowded during breakfast).

One of the bonus features on the Newhart first season DVD had Bob Newhart talking about reading an article on inns once where it was said that running an inn is NOT like it is on Newhart. In that same featurette, he says that in real life the inn would have probably filed for bankruptcy halfway through the first season. But that sort of contradicts what Dick said in the first episode, that his reason for reopening the inn was not solely for profit, and that he made plenty of money off the sales of his books so that it didn't matter if they got guests (of course in the Mad Magazine parody one running joke is that he's a terrible writer), so I guess they can afford to close the place for a vacation, and later on he made extra income as the host of Vermont Today (though in one episode it's implied he doesn't make much... And there's another episode where he reluctantly agreed to a pay cut so Michael could get a raise).

And then there's the cafe. The cafe never has any employees beyond owners, and yet the owners are often seen visiting the inn (perhaps not too big a deal since it's next door) as well as other places. During the time Kirk was on the show he was the only one running the place, and in addition to visiting the inn frequently, he was able to go to a basketball game in Boston, went out of town to take a lie detector test (which was out of necessity), went on a date with Leslie and several dates with future wife Cindy, and attended a few city council meetings. There were two instances where he had Larry, Darryl, and Darryl watch the cafe for him, and it's possible they (or someone else) looked after the cafe those other times (probably not when he was visiting the inn next door, though). Of course it's also often said that the cafe isn't a very good cafe, leaving plenty of free time to visit the neighbors.

And then when Kirk left and Larry, Darryl, and Darryl bought the cafe, there were now three people working there, so one might expect them to be more flexible with their hours, one could work while the other two do things outside of work. But then they seem to function as one. It's rare to only see two or even just one of them without the others being there.

Not sure whether all that would count as "one hour work week". And if I ever join TV Tropes and add this, I might have to be less detailed than I was here.

 

[D'Snowth]

Jerry Seinfeld seems to be a big example of this... I even posted about this in the Headscratchers section of SEINFELD on TV Tropes, that in-universe, Jerry seems to have a ridiculous amount of freetime for a grown man, not to mention, I'm trying to wrap my mind around someone being able to live in a sweet rent-controlled NYC apartment like he did on just standup alone, but apparently, standup is actually quite a decent-paying living.

I wonder the same thing on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND; again, for a grown man, Ray seems to have a LOT of freetime, and he, Debra, and the kids seem to live very well on him just being a sportswriter, but I seem to recall an episode where he and a famous athlete (can't remember who) were bantering with each other about the similarities in their salaries, so I guess being a sportswriter is a pretty sweet little gig as well.

 

[charlietheowl]

Jerry Seinfeld seems to be a big example of this... I even posted about this in the Headscratchers section of SEINFELD on TV Tropes, that in-universe, Jerry seems to have a ridiculous amount of freetime for a grown man, not to mention, I'm trying to wrap my mind around someone being able to live in a sweet rent-controlled NYC apartment like he did on just standup alone, but apparently, standup is actually quite a decent-paying living.

I thought the show referenced this a bit when his mother would tell Jerry to try out the manager's training program at Bloomingdale's, as if Jerry didn't make any money at all. I think even Kramer told him to join the program at one point.

 

[minor muppetz]

Jerry Seinfeld seems to be a big example of this... I even posted about this in the Headscratchers section of SEINFELD on TV Tropes, that in-universe, Jerry seems to have a ridiculous amount of freetime for a grown man, not to mention, I'm trying to wrap my mind around someone being able to live in a sweet rent-controlled NYC apartment like he did on just standup alone, but apparently, standup is actually quite a decent-paying living.

I'd been reading that part of "one-hour work week" lately. Did you actually write it? Good job.

Recently I read one page at TV Tropes, about typecast actors, can't remember which one (I think it was called "Never Gonna Let it Down"). Anyway, it mentions that Jerry Seinfield will never be able to play another live-action role until he's 70, but is content to be a stand-up comedian. I must say, is he REALLY typecast? He was the straight man on his show, and it's not often I hear about an actor being typecast for playing a straight man. And even then, the rest of the main cast have been able to get plenty of roles, both during and after the show's run (though it seems Michael Richards has gotten the least amount of different roles, especially when it comes to GOOD roles... I find it ironic that his best non-Kramer roles, in UHF and Problem Child, came before he was Kramer). And it's the supporting cast who seems like they should be typecast, not Jerry Seinfeld.

 

[D'Snowth]

I thought the show referenced this a bit when his mother would tell Jerry to try out the manager's training program at Bloomingdale's, as if Jerry didn't make any money at all. I think even Kramer told him to join the program at one point.

Yeah, wasn't that the episode where his parents flew in for a visit, and they were under the impression he was in a financial rut, so his father got a job at Peterman while Elaine was still managing in his absence?

I'd been reading that part of "one-hour work week" lately. Did you actually write it? Good job.

No, I didn't write the page, I was just saying that I was asking on the SEINFELD page, in the Headscratchers section if realistically, Jerry would be able to live in a rented NYC apartment on just standup alone, which he seemed to do with no problem.