Sick + Hollywood Clichès: Round Two

I've been sick for the past three days with the worst cold I've had in five years. Between sneezing, coughing, fevers, and an on again/off again nose, I haven't been able to think or do much of anything. Mostly I've watched a lot of television.

I'm really sick of television right now. So now I have two illnesses.

But I have managed to ferret out two more Hollywood clichès.

They both involve couples arguing. In the first version, and most often used, a couple are fighting and all of a sudden the phone rings. How many times in real life does this actually happen? I admit that I rarely argue, so maybe other people think this is common, but I think it's trite and an obvious device to create some sort of tension. I'm actually amazed that people still fall for it. Personally the only tension I feel is from annoyance.

The other clichè involves the same situation except instead of a phone ringing, a child walks in out of the blue, usually with a completely crestfallen expression. First of all, if the parents argue all the time the child by this point will be used to it and have less of an emotional impact. And second, why does the child always seem to wait, like Captain Jack Sparrow, for the opportune moment to interrupt? Could it be that the writers are hacks and can't think of anything else to get on with the show?

Being sick has tuned me in to the overwhelming monotony of television. In the past you used to run across an interesting show once in a while. But it looks like today's fodder is all about crap wrapped in a pretty bow with no new ideas on the horizon.