Ripped from the Headlines/Playing With

• Basic Trope: A plotline is very similar to a well-known (or maybe not-so-well-known) news story, recent or otherwise.
• Played Straight: The plotline of an episode mirrors a story in the newspaper.
• Exaggerated: The only difference between the plotline of that week's episode and the news article happens to be the names of those involved.
• Justified: The show in question is a Docu Drama, a Documentary, or simply wants to inject a bit of realism into the work.
• Inverted: A news story mirrors a plotline of an episode, series, or movie.
• Subverted: The plotline more closely mirrors that of previous episodes, another program, a book, etc.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story
• Double Subverted: But those plotlines were Based on a True Story as well, just another one.
• Deconstructed: ???
• Reconstructed: ???
• Zig Zagged: Some episodes are based off events in the news or historical events, others are not.
• Parodied: Very Loosely Based on a True Story, The Tasteless But True Story, Based on a Great Big Lie
  • Or even based on multiple headlines.
• Lampshaded: "This sounds familiar..."
• Averted: The plotline is not Inspired By or otherwise based on real events.
• Enforced: We need to inject a sense of realism into the work, and possibly make it Darker and Edgier.
• Invoked: The writers open the newspaper.
• Defied: The writers, fearing lawsuits, Too Soon, and the like, agree not to do this.
• Discussed: "This sounds like something in the news..."
• Conversed: "That's because it is. Apparently, the writers are too lazy to come up with something even remotely original."
• Played For Laughs: The news story it's based off of was from "the lighter side of the news."
• Played For Drama: Almost always is, as most news stories are tragic.

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