Cousin Oliver: Difference between revisions

* Andy and Pippa on ''[[The Facts of Life]]''.

* In ''[[Family Matters]]'' the Winslows adopted 3J, a streetwise little orphan. Since there already was a kid in the show, little Richie, they merged into a single split-personality Cousin Oliver ("Maybe we shouldn't do this." "Oh, come on, it'll be fun!").

* Penny from ''[[Good Times]]''. Introduced to give Willona someone to care for, since the Evans kids weren't really kids anymore.

* ''[[Growing Pains]]'' had two: Chrissy, the youngest Seaver daughter, and then later Leonardo Dicaprio's homeless-kid character.

*** For some, such as [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]], Justin wasn't hated because of his youth, but because he was only competent Ranger in the bunch, despite being a Cousin Oliver. Even in his early days, he was probably the smartest Ranger and one of the strongest (despite guys like [[Memetic Badass|''Tommy'']] still being around), such as when he managed to kick Elgar's ass in one of the first episodes ''unmorphed'', which would be the equivalent of one of the original Rangers handing Goldar his ass in the first episode with no sweat (something that generally didn't happen even ''after'' his [[Villain Decay]]).

* The diner in the ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "[[Jump the Shark]]" is called Cousin Oliver's... and the plot is about a possible younger brother turning up. Subverted though, when it turns out that the character in question {{spoiler|''was'' actually their half-brother, emphasis on "was" because he was already dead before the start of the episode}}.

* Played with in ''[[The X-Files]]'' in which one episode had a man who assumed this identity because he associated with the original Cousin Oliver.

** That series played with other shows a great deal, and that in turn got played right back on them when the series ending for ''Strangeluck'' had Chance directed to seek out Mulder.

** Not to mention he wasn't shoved down our throats like some of the other aforementioned examples of this trope, having appeared in only five episodes. However, they were all in the same year and that could be evidence that the writers stopped before he got a chance to become a [[The Scrappy|scrappy]].

* Nicky and Alex in ''[[Full House]]''.

*** Though in their defense, he was a screw up and a [[Man Child]].

* Sky, a late addition to the cast of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', who appeared in the final three stories of the series as a regular before it was cancelled due to the death of its lead actress. Played straight and Sky is not necessarily a Cousin Oliver in the case of being an annoying addition, but she does qualify as far as being a young character added to a well-established cast that was growing older than their target demographic.

* Sofi in ''[[Two Broke Girls]]''. While she doesn't adhere to the basic Cousin Oliver requirement - she's a 50-something post-cougar, rather than a kid or teenager - she otherwise fulfills a number of the other Cousin Oliver criteria; she upsets the dynamic between the two leads, and critics and fans have singled the character out for criticism. As this is written the series is still midway through its first season, so time will tell if Sofi catches [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].{{verify}}

* Alex on ''[[One Day At a Time]]'' was the orphaned son of Ann's recently-deceased boyfriend whom she took in. Unlike most Olivers, his presence, while changing the show dynamic, didn't ruin it, and he lasted four years on the show -- almost half its run.

 

== Video Games ==