History Main / AnticlimacticParent

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Raz spends the entire game complaining about his father, and how he won't let him be a psychic due to an old family curse. Raz even ends up battling his own mind's demonic version -- green skin, tattered clothing, evil cackling -- of his father. This trope occurs when [[spoiler:Raz's father, a regular old nice guy, uses his psychic powers to enter Raz's own mind to save him, and is genuinely saddened by the way his son views him]].

* An episode of ''KappaMikey'' uses a distant permutation of this.. Mikey lies to a reporter about his life in Tokyo, then forces his castmates into an elaborate ruse to fool his parents when they come to visit after reading the article, making them cancel a vacation at the beach for a visit that, ultimately, never comes: killer bees force the airport to close, and Mikey then decides, rather than coming clean, to go find stand-ins for his parents and fake the visit. Needless to say, everything falls apart in utterly ridiculous ways.

--> '''Barney:''' If you were just gonna be some lame suburban dad� [[CallingTheOldManOut why couldn't you have been that for me?!]]

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--> '''Barney:''' If you were just gonna be some lame suburban dad… [[CallingTheOldManOut why couldn't you have been that for me?!]]

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* In ''{{Everworld}},'' [[MagnificentBitch Senna]] goes to meet her mother in Everworld-Egypt fully expecting her to be an all-powerful witch who may well choose to smack the crap out of her. Instead she discovers that her mother is little more than a sycophantic servant of [[StrawFeminist the Amazons]] and nowhere near the intelligent villainess that her daughter grew up to be. If anything, Senna seems angry that [[ParentalAbandonment she was abandoned]] for a life that wound up being so pointless.

* There was a version of this in ''WillAndGrace'' where Jack envisioned his stepdad as cold, unloving, and ubermacho. When the gang visited him, he was a friendly guy who got along very well with Jack's son.

* On ''{{Spaced}}'', Brian's mother visits and he spends the whole episode pretending to be a lawyer, only to discover that she'd always wished he was an artist. Then he gets to reveal to her that he actually is!
* In an episode of ''TheMonkees'', Davy's grandfather is flying in from England for a visit, under the impression that Davy is a big star. Panicked, Davy convinces the rest of the band to pose as his chauffer, houseboy, and personal chef to keep up appearances. Of course, given what show we're talking about, it fails, but the grandfather allows him to stay (rather than taking him back to England) because he has "such loyal friends".

* ''KeroroGunsou'''s father causes quite a scramble, until he leaves much sooner than expected when the weather doesn't agree with him.

* In ''FruitsBasket'', so many people in the Honda family were against Katsuya and Kyoko's marriage that Kyoko wound up psyching herself up to think that Katsuya's father (who he used to be at odds with) would be the worst of the lot. He winds up being the only family member who happily approves of them, and eventually the only one willing to take in their daughter Tohru once both her parents have died.

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* In ''SpongebobSquarepants'', Patrick Star is in a panic because his parents are due for a visit. Because they constantly belittle him for being an idiot, Spongebob volunteers to pretend to be even dumber than Pat. This works well until all three begin to ridicule Spongebob and he storms off. Only then do Patrick's "parents" realize that they're complete strangers: "Oh, that's right. We don't have a son!" Patrick's real parents arrive[[note]]delivered by Squidward as they were outside his place asking where Patrick is ''for several hours''[[/note]], and are just as stupid as their son, if not more so.

* In an episode of ''{{Doug}}'', Judy has a boyfriend named Kyle, and her parents invite him over for dinner, but she's ashamed of her family. So she has them put on an elaborate play, with Doug as the butler, Phil as a struggling writer, and Theda as an anthropologist or something. It does not go well at all, and [[GirlOfTheWeek Kyle is never seen or mentioned again]] after that episode, implying that he and Judy broke up not long afterwards.

* ''{{Blackadder}}'' has to impress his ultra-puritan Aunt and Uncle at a dinner party so he can earn his inheritance (a stunning feat considering his Aunt and Uncle consider things like chairs and mashed turnips "too decadent"). In the end, his uncle breaks his vow of silence and tells Edmund that he had a wonderful time. [[spoiler: Then everyone gets really drunk, including Queenie.]]

* In ''PercyJackson'', Percy naturally assumed from the way Annabeth talked about her father and stepmother that they treated her badly. When he came to visit her home, they were friendly and helpful.

* ''TheBoysNextDoor'' has an example of this when Barry's father comes to visit. The father is really scary, actually, and only seems to bring out Barry's neuroses.

* Marena from ''KeychainOfCreation'' initially describes her mother as a manipulative EvilMatriarch. When Sonorous Aria actually shows up, though...

---> '''Barney:''' If you were just gonna be some lame suburban dad… [[CallingTheOldManOut why couldn't you have been that for me?!]]

** Jack's ''very straight'' son.
** Also on ''WillAndGrace'', Will was trying to protect his presumably gay nephew from criticism by this mother (the child's grandmother) over wanting to stage a play for the family. But the mother had mellowed, attributing it to the experience she had gained raising Will.

* On ''{{Chuck}}'', Ellie spent the Thanksgiving episode stressing out over the arrival of the Awesomes (her fiance's parents), only to have them not show up at all. Then they show up in the next episode, where they mainly get on her nerves for taking over her wedding planning.

* The parent's reputation was exaggerated, and they get along fine with everyone, except the child. What sounded like a ArchnemesisDad is really more of a SitcomArchNemesis.

* The parent's reputation was exaggerated, and they get along fine with everyone, except the child. What sounded like a ArchnemesisDad, is really more of a SitcomArchNemesis.

* The parent's reputation was exaggerated, and they get along fine with everyone, except the child. What sounded like a ArchnemesisDad, is in really more of a SitcomArchNemesis.

* The parent's reputation was exaggerated, and they get along fine with everyone, except the child.

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* ''TheBoysNextDoor'' has an example of this when Barry's father comes to visit. The father is really scary, actually, and only seems to bring out Barry's neuroses.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': After a ton of build up over the revelation of Barney's father, it turns out his father is... a regular old family man (though at least he's played by JohnLithgow). It's seemingly subverted at first when Jerome (Barney's father) tells him all these awesome things about his life, like being a manager for a band, and being just as much of a sexual deviant as Barney himself, but it's later revealed that Barney made it all up, because he was having a hard time accepting that Jerome wasn't the most legen... wait for it... dary daddy ever. He ''was'' a roadie who partied hard back in the day. He just decided to settle down at some point and become a regular suburban dad when he had his second son. This only makes it worse in Barney's eyes:

* ''{{Blackadder}}'' has to impress his ultra-puritan Aunt and Uncle at a dinner party so he can earn his inheritance (a stunning feat considering his Aunt and Uncle consider things like chairs and mashed turnips "too decadent") in the end, his uncle breaks his vows of silence and tells Edmund that he had a wonderful time. [[spoiler: then everyone gets really drunk]]

* Played with in ''TeenTitansGo'' in the form of Trigon. At first, he appears in all his extradimensional demonic terror, but then immediately dons regular clothes (including a pink sweater vest) and [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu acts nice around the Titans for the entire episode]], even giving them extra powers ([[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext like Cyborg's new]] [[RuleOfFunny dog for a hand]]). And then he tells Raven to kill her friends and become a demon.

* ''KamenRiderRyuki'' did an episode of this.

** In another episode, the eponymous Doug is given an assignment to write a report about a classmate's home life, and he's assigned [[CreepyTwins the Sleech brothers]]. Everyone believes their dad is some kind of MadScientist, and Al and Moo try to keep Doug from interviewing their dad. [[spoiler: It turns out, he works as a baker, and works on donut recipes at home in his spare time.]]

* In an episode of ''{{Doug}}'', Judy has a boyfriend named Kyle, and her parents invite him over for dinner, but she's ashamed of her family. So she has them put on an elaborate play, with Doug as the butler, Phil as a struggling writer, and Theda as an anthropologist or something. It does not go well at all, and [[GirlfriendOfTheWeek Kyle is never seen or mentioned again]] after that episode, implying that he and Judy broke up not long afterwards.