Tucker
Tucker was a 2001 American Dom Com starring Eli Marienthal, Allison Lohman, Catey Sagal and Seth Green. It only ran for one season but was extremely popular in the UK, being featured prominently on Nickelodeon.
The show revolved around Tucker, a fifteen year old whose parents have just split up. He and his mother Jeannie move in with Jeannie's sister Claire (Sagal) who is prim and proper, and doesn't approve of Tucker's behaviour. She has an eccentric son of her own called Leon, who has a habit of collecting human hair in jars. Tucker eventually discovers the beautiful McKenna (Lohman) and tries to woo her but she already has a boyfriend who happens to be Seth Green.
Tropes used in Tucker include:
- An Aesop: Tucker learns a good one when he tries to get his parents back together. He sees his dad is happy with Debbie, even if he doesn't like his new attitude.
- As Himself: Seth Green plays himself.
- Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Tucker and Claire get a few moments like these. Notable is Claire consoling him after he finds McKenna and Seth kissing in the garden.
- Bait and Switch: One episode has Jeannie finding a lot of money stashed in Leon's room. He admits to spending it on junk food, firecrackers and...other stuff. The viewer at this point is led to believe it's naughty magazines. It's actually a pet octopus he visits at an aquarium.
- Batman Gambit: Tucker hopes that electing Claire chairwoman of the neighbourhood will get her to ban Seth Green from coming there, thus splitting him and McKenna up and allowing him to make his move.
- Betty and Veronica: Jeannie and Debbie were these to Tucker's dad. Jeannie was the Betty, soft and sweet and a stay-at-home mother, while Debbie is younger and more wild.
- Bitch Alert: Claire gets one of these. McKenna seemigly gets one as well spraying Tucker with a hose but we quickly find out she's just teasing.
- Christmas Episode: It was the finale.
- Closer to Earth: Played with. Claire is the disciplinarian and the strict one but Jimmy is shown to be a capable parent and often more level-headed than her.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Leon.
- Comically Missing the Point: Jeannie and Claire talking about Tucker's t-shirt which has a bunny...
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Claire: "It's sucking up poop through a straw. Hardly appropriate for his first day at school". |
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- Control Freak: Claire, but she can be fun at times.
- Continuity Nod: Tucker steals one of Claire's toilet roll covers to give to McKenna as a hat. A few episodes later, Claire remarks that her last cover mysteriously vanished and she doesn't want anything happening to the new one.
- Cool Mask: Leon has one in spirit of his favourite luchador Senor Evil. Jimmy apparently has one for his arch rival.
- Cool Old Lady: Jeannie and Claire's mother. It's then subverted when Tucker realises how demeaning she is to Claire when Claire does so much for her.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tucker and Claire.
- Gag Haircut: Happens to Tucker in the pilot as Leon cuts a chunk of his hair for his collection (while he's asleep). Tucker later gets a lock of Seth's hair.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: One episode has the family come home to find Jimmy and Claire cuddling on the couch. The previous scene makes it as clear as can be possible on a family sitcom that they've spent the day having sex.
- Girl Next Door: McKenna.
- Halloween Episode: Tucker and Claire end up catching a fever and have to be confined to the same bed. The fun starts when McKenna drops by.
- Hair Flip: McKenna does this a lot.
- Hair of Gold: McKenna is kind and sweet, and completely oblivious to Tucker's crush on her. She's dating a celebrity and not using him at all.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Gender Flipped with McKenna and red haired Seth.
- Ho Yay: In the second episode Tucker wakes up to find Leon in bed with him, saying he couldn't sleep because it was cold. Tucker looks under the covers and says "well maybe you shouldn't sleep in the nude".
- Ironic Echo Cut: Without a cut. Tucker's narration refers to Debbie as a "man-stealing she beast" just before she throws open the door, squeals his name and throws her arms around him. Tucker then thinks "what was I just saying?"
- Irony: After realising how demeaning his grandmother is to Claire, Tucker tells her off. Claire overhears the end of the speech and yells at him for being rude to Grandma not knowing he was actually defending her. The two women then bond over Claire's disciplining.
- I Call It "Vera": Leon named his favourite pair of scissors "Annabelle".
- Noodle Incident: One of these is the reason Tucker's father never cooks anymore. He apparently still can't straighten his arm out.
- Power Blonde: Debbie Dixon, the best darn estate agent around.
- Precision F-Strike: At one dinner, Leon randomly yells at Claire "Mom, will you ever get your head out of your ass!".
- Shaking Her Hair Loose: In an Imagine Spot where Tucker's parents get back together in a faux dramatic scene, Jeannie takes the clip out of her hair and shakes it loose.
- Stacy's Mom: Jeannie has this effect on the neighbourhood kids. Even Leon admits he wouldn't mind watching her change.
- Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded when one episode ends with McKenna furious with Tucker. He asks if she forgives him and she says no but then adds she will in a few days.
- Take a Third Option: When Claire and McKenna's mother have an election to determine the committee chairwoman, all the neighbours vote for someone else. Claire then improvises and announces it was a tie, and they both pick up the position.