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.
- 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.
Extra! Extra! Back button stolen for Big Bad's evil purposes!