TVtropes is one of my favorite websites. I don't write fiction, but I read a lot, and I love how it provides a vocabulary to think about what I'm reading. But I must warn any listeners...the arrangement of the site makes it easy to get lost there for hours...hopelessly distracted as you follow the network of interconnecting links.

Great piece and good reminder of the recurrence of story themes. Here's one more the trope collector missed ...

The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

and so not to run afoul of the Principles of Plagiarism, this is (most recently?) from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Scene II, The Forum.
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.

You will probably get a number of these comments, but long, long before TV Tropes, the "tropes" were called motifs or mythemes which were collected and indexed for the study of folktales, folklore and myth, worldwide. The most comprehensive is the Aarne-Thompson Index, begun in the 1920s, which classifies hundreds of thousands of motifs (from magic hats to unhappy kings). Even so, TV Tropes is terrific as a popular, wiki source and shows how vernacular thinking creates nove approaches to knowledge.

As for, "On The Media," it is simply one of the best shows ever. Thank you

This was a great segment, really enjoyed it.