Paid-for Family: Difference between revisions

Something like [[The Paid for Harem]], this is when a character pays people to act as though they were his warm and loving family. A rather extreme form of [[I Just Want to Be Normal]], if the character in question is incapable of founding a "normal" family, or a way to show said character's [[Freudian Excuse]]. Sometimes played for laughs, such as for keeping a [[I Want Grandkids]] parent at bay. See also [[The Beard]], for when the character pays someone to act as his [[Love Interest]].

* ''[[Mr. and Mrs. Smith]]'': Mr. Smith learns his wife was an orphan, so when he asks about her parents at the wedding, she replies "Paid actor".

* In the Steve Martin movie ''Housesitter'', Goldie Hawn's character uses a local homeless couple to act as her parents at a reception.

* ''[[XIII]]'': In the comic, we learn more about the Mongoose's backstory, including that he pays prostitutes to act like women who want him to join their family for Christmas.

* ''[[Batman]]'': One origin story (can't remember the comic) for Robin had Bruce intend to adopt Robin after the death of his parents, only for an uncle of Robin's to show up, preventing adoption. It later turns out that this was all a ploy orchestrated by Robin, who paid a guy to act as his uncle so he could keep his freedom. When Batman finds out (of course he finds out, he's Batman), he tells Robin he's so proud of him he could cry.

* ''[[The Authority]]'': In a decidedly creepy variation, in one story that has [[The Authority]] replaced by [[Heroic Sociopath]] [[Captain Ersatz]]-es, the Engineer has all her nanomachines removed and is brainwashed, then placed in a "family" of evil children and an abusive husband (all actors), that she will be conditioned to never leave or go against despite the abuse they heap on her. Her escape is a definite [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* An issue of ''[[Superman]]'', when they were trying to keep [[Post-Crisis]] continuity (so Lex Luthor's parents were [[Self-Made Orphan|killed when he was a boy]]) but also trying to mimic early ''[[Smallville]]'' as much as possible (so they needed a Lionel Luthor character), had Young Lex hire an actor with a [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting|striking resemblence]] to John Glover.

* ''[[The Flash]]'': Captain Boomerang in one appearance, pays two elderly con artists he knows to play his aged parents. They testify to Boomer's good character to deflect Barry Allen's suspicions.

* ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'' has a very strange episode in which various women prostitute themselves, catering to various fetishes: one does domination S&M, another is a woman "caught" in a bear trap, waiting to be rescued by a passing hunter, and yet another is a smiling housewife awaiting her husband's return with a warm meal. The murder victim even tells her he'd want to marry her... for real.

* One episode of ''[[JAG]]'' has a marine refusing to testify in his own defense, because he believes it will dishonour the memory of a dead friend. Vic, his lawyer, brings in the dead friend's father, who reads a letter his son sent him about how the thing that killed him was an accident waiting to happen, which gives the marine courage to tell the truth about how his friend died. {{spoiler|Both the father and the letter were fake-- Vic hired an actor to encourage his client to take the stand.}} Of course, this action being morally suspect at best, the lawyer ''does'' get called on it by his superiors.

* In an episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', Barney pays a pair of actors (for several years) to play his wife and son... so that his mother will believe he's happy and has a family.

* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' has an episode where the murder victim is a professional friend.

* This is the central premise of ''[[Sons Of Tucson]]''. The Gunderson boys hire Ron Snuffkin to pretend to be their dad.

* [[Magical Diary: Horse Hall|Damien]] later admits that his parents are really just a couple of his servants, ordered to raise him. It's unclear on whether or not he had a happy childhood or not, since the only information you have on the matter comes from Damien himself - and he is more than willing to twist the facts to make himself look sympathetic.

* An episode of [[Recess]] had a parent/teacher conference where Spinelli was too embarrassed to have her family come so she paid a couple of people who did a really bad job.

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