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* CaneFu: Ethyl's preferred method of dealing with Earl.
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* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: When Earl starts freaking out after Robbie misses his howl, thereby dooming all dinosaurs, Ethyl whacks him with her cane and tells him to get a hold of himself.
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* ShoutOut/StealthPun - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan's]] tartan.
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* ShoutOut/StealthPun ShoutOut / StealthPun - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan's]] tartan.
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* {{unishment}} - Being tossed across the kitchen by daddy is this to baby, who enjoys it.
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* ShoutOut - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan's]] tartan.
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* ShoutOut ShoutOut/StealthPun - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan's]] tartan.
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** In one episode, Earl and Roy are dumping toxic waste in a swamp called "Silent Spring Recreation Area."
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* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Georgie in "Georgie Must Die".
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* DownerEnding - A series of environmental crises brings on the Ice Age, and [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll everybody dies]]. No, really.]]
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* DownerEnding SuddenDownerEnding - A series of environmental crises brings on the Ice Age, and [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll everybody dies]]. No, really.]]
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** There are many examples. One episode features Earl making the same argument with Fran, ending with Fran scoffing and saying "It'll last a season. Another episode features Ethyl complaining about a sexual harassment trial by stating "Don't they know children are watching?" Still another episode cites its constant comparison to the Simpsons by having the baby exclaim "Don't have a cow, Man!"
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* CheckPlease: Robbie invented a device that'd allow people to draw energy from a volcano. Fearing the financial loss [[MegaCorp Wesayso Corporation]] would suffer, Mr. Richfield invited the Sinclairs for dinner and tried to buy all rights to the device. When Earl unwittingly gave Richfield the idea to buy the volcano instead, Richfield quickly left the scene and Earl asked for the check.
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** Not after, ''while'' they were dating his daughter.
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* FlyingBrick: When Earl takes a swim in a toxic waste-infected lake he gets flight, heat vision, and the ability to guess a person's weight to within a pound.
* GenreSavvy: When Earl gets his Flying Brick powers, Roy tells him he has to become a superhero and not tell his family, because that's how they do it in comic books.
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** It's not just the men. Fran and Charlene might wear a dress if they were going to sleep, otherwise the female characters all are pantsless.
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** It's not just the men. Fran and Charlene might wear a dress nightdress if they were going to sleep, otherwise the female characters all are pantsless.
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* ILoveNuclearPower: In one episode Earl gets superpowers from a dip in a toxic waste dump. When he finally showers it off he loses them.
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wick cleaning following TRS rename
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* ShowWithinAShow - Several, most notably ''Mr. Lizard'' ("'''We're''' [[GonnaNeedMoreTrope going to need]] another Timmy!").
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* ShowWithinAShow - Several, most notably ''Mr. Lizard'' ("'''We're''' [[GonnaNeedMoreTrope [[GonnaNeedMoreX going to need]] another Timmy!").
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* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Considering the thickness of the cloud cover, scientists predict it may be tens of thousands of years before the sun shines over Pangaea again."]]
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Removing wick to Did Not Do The Research per rename at TRS.
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** This is of course, a spectactular demonstration of lay people [[DidNotDoTheResearch not doing the research]].
*** Or possibly an {{Anvilicious}} TakeThat against perceived semantic hair-splitting by insurance agents.
*** Or possibly an {{Anvilicious}} TakeThat against perceived semantic hair-splitting by insurance agents.
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** This is of course, a spectactular demonstration of lay people [[DidNotDoTheResearch not doing the research]].
***research. Or possibly an {{Anvilicious}} TakeThat against perceived semantic hair-splitting by insurance agents.
***
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* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong - Earl, even in the episodes where his complaints seemed to have a certain degree of validity, was ''always'' proved 100% wrong by the coda.
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* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong - Earl, even in the episodes where his complaints seemed to have a certain degree of validity, was ''always'' proved 100% wrong by the coda.
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* CrappyCarnival: Wesaysoland in the episode "Variations on a Theme Park", which was created in a single day to take advantage of Pangaea's newly-instituted vacation time "through imagination, ingenuity, and a relaxed attitude towards building codes". Unfortunately, the rides are unfinished, the concessions are expensive, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the hotel rooms are decorated in an unflattering cow-themed design]] (to go along with its corporate mascot, [[GoofySuit Moola the Cash Cow]]).
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* CrappyCarnival: Wesaysoland in the episode "Variations on a Theme Park", which was created in a single day to take advantage of Pangaea's newly-instituted vacation time "through imagination, ingenuity, and a relaxed attitude towards building codes". Unfortunately, the rides are unfinished, the concessions are expensive, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the hotel rooms are decorated in an unflattering cow-themed design]] (to go along with its corporate mascot, [[GoofySuit Moola the Cash Cow]]).
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* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]] - Multiple, including Robbie's stint with vegetarianism being treated like homosexuality (or having a drug addict in the family or someone in the family getting involved in an unconventional religion or political party), Robbie doing "The Mating Dance" around a girl he likes, Robbie bulking up on "Thornoids," Charlene's tail growing being an obvious reference to breast development, the ''Green Card'' episode refers to anti-immigration sentiment, and blue-furred mammals standing in for African American people.
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* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]] DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything? - Multiple, including Robbie's stint with vegetarianism being treated like homosexuality (or having a drug addict in the family or someone in the family getting involved in an unconventional religion or political party), Robbie doing "The Mating Dance" around a girl he likes, Robbie bulking up on "Thornoids," Charlene's tail growing being an obvious reference to breast development, the ''Green Card'' episode refers to anti-immigration sentiment, and blue-furred mammals standing in for African American people.
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** And of course the finale where [[spoiler:dinosaur-made climate change causes the species' extinction.]]
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** And of course the finale where [[spoiler:dinosaur-made climate change causes the species' extinction.]] ]]
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* FunWithAcronyms: The most obvious being the [[{{ABC}} Antediluvian Broadcasting Company]]. There's also '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ight and '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ong.
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* FunWithAcronyms: The most obvious being the [[{{ABC}} [[Creator/{{ABC}} Antediluvian Broadcasting Company]]. There's also '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ight and '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ong.
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* ImageSong: The [[{{earworm}} irritatingly catchy]] "I'm The Baby" is the best known because it had a music video that aired after an episode, but there was actually a full album of these. Even [[LetsMeetTheMeat the food in the Sinclairs' refrigerator]] got it's own song.
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* ImageSong: The [[{{earworm}} irritatingly catchy]] "I'm The Baby" is the best known because it had a music video that aired after an episode, but there was actually a full album of these. Even [[LetsMeetTheMeat the food in the Sinclairs' refrigerator]] got it's own song.
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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: During the "Sexual" Harris Hearings on TV, Monica gets called a prostitute by one of the workers. Ethyl complains about the language used on TV these days and how it's bad for kids. Fran argues that it makes them think, with Ethyl saying that she doesn't want kids to think, and instead would rather have them watch "safe little situational comedies with [[StrictlyFormula time-tested repetitive storylines]]".
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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: During the "Sexual" Harris Hearings on TV, Monica gets called a prostitute by one of the workers. Ethyl complains about the language used on TV these days and how it's bad for kids. Fran argues that it makes them think, with Ethyl saying that she doesn't want kids to think, and instead would rather have them watch "safe little situational comedies with [[StrictlyFormula time-tested repetitive storylines]]".
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* LaughTrack: Employed against the wishes of the producers by ABC for the first few episodes before (thankfully) being abandoned.
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* LaughTrack: Employed against the wishes of the producers by ABC for the first few episodes before (thankfully) being abandoned.
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* ObnoxiousInLaws: Ethyl to Earl.
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* ObnoxiousInLaws: Ethyl to Earl.
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** Ethyl even wonders [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall how his catchphrase got so popular]].
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** Ethyl even wonders [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall how his catchphrase got so popular]].
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* ShoutOut - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan]]'s tartan.
to:
* ShoutOut - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan]]'s clan's]] tartan.
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* TakeThat: See LeaningOnTheFourthWall towards those who complain about the show itself being "bad for kids".
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* TakeThat: See LeaningOnTheFourthWall towards those who complain about the show itself being "bad for kids".
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* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Earl and Fran suffered so much from their experiences with their two oldest kids while they are two, that they had blocked out the entire year.
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* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Earl and Fran suffered so much from their experiences with their two oldest kids while they are two, that they had blocked out the entire year.
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** As for the baby's reaction... just see the related trope's page image.
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** As for the baby's reaction... just see the related trope's page image.Baby used some blocks to write "They think I can't spell".
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: Georgie the hippo in "Georgie Must Die", who acted like a friendly and playful ManChild that loves children, but was really [[spoiler: a ManipulativeBastard who only uses the smiles of children for his own profits to make money and avoid taxes.]]
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: Georgie the hippo in "Georgie Must Die", who acted like a friendly and playful ManChild that loves children, making children happy, but was really [[spoiler: a ManipulativeBastard who only uses the smiles of children for his own profits to make money and avoid taxes.]]
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* LaughTrack: Employed against the wishes of the producers by ABC for the first few episodes before (thankfully) being abandoned.
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* InsaneTrollLogic: In "Family Challenge," Earl preps his family for their upcoming game show appearance with a lesson. On his blackboard, he has classified everything on Earth into three categories - "Animal", "Vegetable" and "Rocks."
-->'''Robby:''' What about fire?\\
'''Earl:''' Vegetable.\\
'''Charlene:''' What about water?\\
'''Earl:''' Water is the opposite of fire, which we have previously established as a vegetable. What's the opposite of a vegetable? Fruit! So, water is a fruit. Fruit is not a vegetable, so it has to be an animal or a rock. We know it's not an animal, so therefore, fruit is a rock.
-->'''Robby:''' What about fire?\\
'''Earl:''' Vegetable.\\
'''Charlene:''' What about water?\\
'''Earl:''' Water is the opposite of fire, which we have previously established as a vegetable. What's the opposite of a vegetable? Fruit! So, water is a fruit. Fruit is not a vegetable, so it has to be an animal or a rock. We know it's not an animal, so therefore, fruit is a rock.
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* {{Expy}} - ''TheSimpsons'' as lampshaded in one episode (the episode where Sideshow Bob returns to marry Selma Bouvier) in which Bart is watching a Springfield version of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' and he remarks that its just like someone watched their family and copied it.
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* {{Expy}} - ''TheSimpsons'' as has lampshaded in one episode (the episode where Sideshow Bob returns to marry Selma Bouvier) in which Bart is watching a Springfield version of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' and he remarks that its just like someone watched their family and copied it.
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: Georgie the hippo in "Georgie Must Die", who acted like a friendly and playful ManChild that loves children, but was really [[spoiler: a ManipulativeBastard who only uses the smiles of children for his own profits to make money.]]
to:
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Georgie the hippo in "Georgie Must Die", who acted like a friendly and playful ManChild that loves children, but was really [[spoiler: a ManipulativeBastard who only uses the smiles of children for his own profits to make money.money and avoid taxes.]]
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: Georgie the hippo in "Georgie Must Die", who acted like a friendly and playful ManChild that loves children, but was really [[spoiler: a ManipulativeBastard who only uses the smiles of children for his own profits to make money.]]
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* ADateWithRosiePalms: Robbie uncontrollably doing the mating dance in "Dirty Dancin'", even by himself.
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* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]] - Multiple, including Robbie's stint with vegetarianism being treated like homosexuality, Robbie bulking up on "Thornoids," Charlene's tail being an analogy for a girl's breasts, the ''Green Card'' episode refers to anti-immigration sentiment, and blue-furred mammals standing in for black-skinned musicians.
** Also a "war-time" episode, where the four-legged dinos waged war with the two-legged over pistachio nuts.
** Also a "war-time" episode, where the four-legged dinos waged war with the two-legged over pistachio nuts.
to:
* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]] - Multiple, including Robbie's stint with vegetarianism being treated like homosexuality, homosexuality (or having a drug addict in the family or someone in the family getting involved in an unconventional religion or political party), Robbie doing "The Mating Dance" around a girl he likes, Robbie bulking up on "Thornoids," Charlene's tail growing being an analogy for a girl's breasts, obvious reference to breast development, the ''Green Card'' episode refers to anti-immigration sentiment, and blue-furred mammals standing in for black-skinned musicians.
African American people.
** Also a "war-time"episode, episode ("Nuts to War"), where the four-legged dinos waged war with the two-legged over pistachio nuts.
** Also a "war-time"
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** There was also an episode where the dinosaurs purchased a huge amount of land from cavemen for a fistful of glass pearls...
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** There was also an episode where the dinosaurs purchased a huge amount of land from cavemen for a fistful of glass pearls...pearls.
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* {{Expy}} - ''TheSimpsons'' as lampshaded in one episode in which Bart is watching a Springfield version of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' and he remarks that its just like someone watched their family and copied it.
to:
* {{Expy}} - ''TheSimpsons'' as lampshaded in one episode (the episode where Sideshow Bob returns to marry Selma Bouvier) in which Bart is watching a Springfield version of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' and he remarks that its just like someone watched their family and copied it.
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* ForegoneConclusion - ...it's about ''dinosaurs''. What did you think would happen?
** That it would be [[ExecutiveMeddling canned by the network]] before it ever stepped out of the typical early-90s TGIF sitcom StatusQuoIsGod mindset?
*** Dinosaurs ruled the world for 190 million years. WHY does a light comedy have to take place [[spoiler: on the very cusp of their extinction?]]
*** The show makes it pretty obvious that the dinosaurs were going to wipe themselves out due to their ignorance and negligence of the environment. The shock came from the fact that nobody thought the show would actually have the balls to show it.
** That it would be [[ExecutiveMeddling canned by the network]] before it ever stepped out of the typical early-90s TGIF sitcom StatusQuoIsGod mindset?
*** Dinosaurs ruled the world for 190 million years. WHY does a light comedy have to take place [[spoiler: on the very cusp of their extinction?]]
*** The show makes it pretty obvious that the dinosaurs were going to wipe themselves out due to their ignorance and negligence of the environment. The shock came from the fact that nobody thought the show would actually have the balls to show it.
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* FunWithFlushing: The VerySpecialEpisode where baby learned to use the toilet had some of this.
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* FunWithFlushing: The VerySpecialEpisode where baby Baby learned to use the toilet had some of this.
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* FurryConfusion - Taken to its logical conclusion. If the animals are stand-ins for humans, wouldn't it make sense for the humans to stand-in for animals?
** Well in one episode it shows that the "new two rare cavemen" have been added to a zoo in the hopes that they'll breed (mirroring the Chinese panda) the newsman said as much as "We can't get them to breed, which means one is sterile." though it's actually two men who are trapped in the cage.
** Well in one episode it shows that the "new two rare cavemen" have been added to a zoo in the hopes that they'll breed (mirroring the Chinese panda) the newsman said as much as "We can't get them to breed, which means one is sterile." though it's actually two men who are trapped in the cage.
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** The News Anchorsaur Howard Handupme.
*** Are you sure his name isn't Howard Handupme because, I don't know, he's a puppet?
*** Are you sure his name isn't Howard Handupme because, I don't know, he's a puppet?
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** The News Anchorsaur Howard Handupme.
*** Are you sure his name isn't HowardHandupme because, I don't know, (though that's a reference to the fact that he's a puppet?puppet).
*** Are you sure his name isn't Howard
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* ItIsNotYourTime: Ethyl once went to afterlife only to be told it wasn't her time yet and she woke up with earth on her face since Earl buried her. She missed her late husband so much she didn't want to wait for her time any longer until he warned her to live her life to her full extent otherwise she'd spent her afterlife at a "not so nice place". (In her case, a Sinclair household full of Earls, resulting in a BigNo)
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* ItIsNotYourTime: Ethyl once went to the afterlife only to be told it wasn't her time yet and she woke up with earth on her face since Earl buried her. She missed her late husband so much she didn't want to wait for her time any longer until he warned her to live her life to her full extent otherwise she'd spent her afterlife at a "not so nice place". (In her case, a Sinclair household full of Earls, resulting in a BigNo)
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* EndOfAnAge (the last episode)
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* EndOfAnAge (the The last episode)episode.
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* FullyAutomaticClipShow: Poor Earl getting hit over the head in the opening credits.
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** And of course the finale where [[spoiler:dinosaur-made climate change causes the species' extinction.]]
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* ItIsNotYourTime: Ethyl once went to afterlife only to be told it wasn't her time yet and she woke up with earth on her face since Earl buried her. She missed her late husband so much she didn't want to wait for her time any longer until he warned her to live her life to her full extent otherwise she'd spent her afterlife at a "not so nice place". (In her case, a Sinclair household full of Earls, resulting in a BigNo)
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* SoapPunishment: Used when Baby learns rude words off the television. When Fran washes his mouth out, every time a bubble from his mouth pops it echoes the word.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dinosaurs_1775.jpg
[[caption-width:217:Just your average dinosaur family.]]
''Dinosaurs'' was a show created by JimHenson (or at least his production company, since he died when the show was still in pre-production) that aired on ABC in the early '90s. Basically it's ''TheFlintstones'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''TheSimpsons'', and yeah, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin they're dinosaurs]]! It followed the adventures of the Sinclair family: Earl, the not-too-bright blue collar dad; his wife, long-suffering Fran; and their three kids, typical teenager Robbie; naive middle daughter Charlene; and catch-phrase spouting Baby. Many of the episodes parodied modern society and issues, like the environment and family problems.
----
!!This show features examples of:
* AdamAndEvePlot - A cute but delicious species of furry animal has been reduced to a single breeding pair.
* AllAnimalsAreDogs - In at least two episodes, the family has one or more cavemen as their pets. Guess how they act.
* AndIMustScream - The episode "If You Were A Tree".
* BadBoss: Richfield.
* BerserkButton: Never use the [[TWordEuphemism E-word]] ("efficient") in front of Mr. Richfield.
* BreakingTheFourthWall - In the "How to Pick Up Girls" episode, Earl and Baby are watching a puppet show on TV. Fran wonders why they're watching a "kids show." Earl defends his choice of entertainment by citing the concept of ParentalBonus, doing an AsideGlance at the camera while doing so.
* BreakTheCutie: Robbie in "Career Opportunities." While getting a feel as a tree pusher, he incurs the wrath of Richfield, and is shown the entire time to be paralyzed in fear. Unlike most instances of the trope, it's PlayedForLaughs.
* BumblingDad - Earl.
* CarnivoreConfusion - Mr. Richfield is a ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) that eats meat (specifically the two mammals mentioned above, and his daughter's boyfriends). Possibly HilariousInHindsight with the new discoveries that Triceratops may have been omnivorous.
* CasanovaWannabe - Sexual Harris.
* CatchPhrase - The Baby's "Gotta Love Me!" and "Not The Mama", among others.
** An odd instance - "We're going to need another Timmy!" was only used in 3 episodes, yet it sticks out in people's minds.
** Earl Sinclair: Honey, I'm home! I'm hungry!
** B.P. Richfield: SINCLAIR! IN HERE NOW!!!
* CelebrityIsOverrated
* CensorshipBySpelling
-->'''Fran''': I don't want to argue in front of the B-A-B-Y.\\
'''Earl''': Well I'm not changing another D-A-I..no wait..D-I-A...
** As for the baby's reaction... just see the related trope's page image.
* ChocolateFrostedSugarBombs: Known as "Sugar Frosted Boo-boo Bears".
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong - Earl, even in the episodes where his complaints seemed to have a certain degree of validity, was ''always'' proved 100% wrong by the coda.
* ConstructionCatcalls: While on break, Roy begins leering at a young dino lady with a fully-developed tail.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive - Mr. Richfield.
* CrappyCarnival: Wesaysoland in the episode "Variations on a Theme Park", which was created in a single day to take advantage of Pangaea's newly-instituted vacation time "through imagination, ingenuity, and a relaxed attitude towards building codes". Unfortunately, the rides are unfinished, the concessions are expensive, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the hotel rooms are decorated in an unflattering cow-themed design]] (to go along with its corporate mascot, [[GoofySuit Moola the Cash Cow]]).
* CrapsackWorld - It's a world where the biggest, strongest, or oldest are the only ones that get a say in matters, and the decisions made are usually terrible. Not to mention the fact that, If you are not the absolute apex predator, you always have to watch your back from being eaten by aformentioned biggest and stongest. And don't get us started on what life is like for small mammals.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Robbie uncontrollably doing the mating dance in "Dirty Dancin'", even by himself.
* DeadpanSnarker - Ethyl definitely counts.
-->'''Earl:''' It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
-->'''Ethyl:''' Then you're the guy for the job.
** Or upon learning that Earl will be challenged to a duel to the death.
-->'''Ethyl:''' ''(to Fran)'' Congratulations. You're a widow.
* DealWithTheDevil: Earl once traded his soul for a mug with a devil.
* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]] - Multiple, including Robbie's stint with vegetarianism being treated like homosexuality, Robbie bulking up on "Thornoids," Charlene's tail being an analogy for a girl's breasts, the ''Green Card'' episode refers to anti-immigration sentiment, and blue-furred mammals standing in for black-skinned musicians.
** Also a "war-time" episode, where the four-legged dinos waged war with the two-legged over pistachio nuts.
** And there was the episode ''The Greatest Story Ever Sold'', which covered philosophy and organized religion, particularly the use of religion as a pacifier for the masses.
** There was also an episode where the dinosaurs purchased a huge amount of land from cavemen for a fistful of glass pearls...
** Charlene's muse accidentally giving her the round-earth theory instead of a great brownies recipe, sparking a science versus religion debate.
* DownerEnding - A series of environmental crises brings on the Ice Age, and [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll everybody dies]]. No, really.]]
** [[spoiler:They don't die in the episode, but the implication is that they'll all meet their demise sometime after the episode ends.]]
*** Of course, [[DoomedByCanon given that the cast was all dinosaurs...]]
* EconomyCast - One shot characters are played by the same seven or eight puppets every episode, known as "Unisaurs". That meant a character could be male in one episode and female in another. This got a little awkward when the puppets usually used as Earl's coworkers played females. In one disturbing episode, the usually-male puppets are used as not just females, but ''exotic dancers.''
* EndOfAnAge (the last episode)
* EscalatingWar - the two-parter ''Nuts To War'' miniseries, made in response to the Persian Gulf War, where a petty territorial dispute over the rights to pistachio trees escalates into a full-blown war between the two-legged dinosaurs and the four-legged ones. In the end, there was only one two-legged casualty, [[spoiler: but it turns out Robbie is okay]].
* ExactWords - Turns out Earl's Meteor insurance is no good because his house was hit by a meteor''ite''.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - The show's title.
* ExplodingCalendar: Made fun of in one episode where Earl frantically tries to stick the previous day back on.
* {{Expy}} - ''TheSimpsons'' as lampshaded in one episode in which Bart is watching a Springfield version of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' and he remarks that its just like someone watched their family and copied it.
* FantasticRacism - A few episodes dealt with tensions between two-legged and four-legged dinosaurs.
* ForegoneConclusion - ...it's about ''dinosaurs''. What did you think would happen?
** That it would be [[ExecutiveMeddling canned by the network]] before it ever stepped out of the typical early-90s TGIF sitcom StatusQuoIsGod mindset?
*** Dinosaurs ruled the world for 190 million years. WHY does a light comedy have to take place [[spoiler: on the very cusp of their extinction?]]
*** The show makes it pretty obvious that the dinosaurs were going to wipe themselves out due to their ignorance and negligence of the environment. The shock came from the fact that nobody thought the show would actually have the balls to show it.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the first episode, Robbie notes that Pangea's dating system goes in reverse, and wonders what they're supposed to be counting down to.
* FreeTheFrogs - When Robbie's class are called on to dissect cavepeople, Robbie smuggles his out of the class, takes it home as a pet, and eventually releases it into the wild.
* FryingPanOfDoom - The Baby's weapon of choice.
* FullNameUltimatum - ''"Earl Snead Sinclair!"''
* FunWithAcronyms: The most obvious being the [[{{ABC}} Antediluvian Broadcasting Company]]. There's also '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ight and '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ong.
* FunWithFlushing: The VerySpecialEpisode where baby learned to use the toilet had some of this.
* FurAndLoathing - The episode "Slave to Fashion".
* FurryConfusion - Taken to its logical conclusion. If the animals are stand-ins for humans, wouldn't it make sense for the humans to stand-in for animals?
** Well in one episode it shows that the "new two rare cavemen" have been added to a zoo in the hopes that they'll breed (mirroring the Chinese panda) the newsman said as much as "We can't get them to breed, which means one is sterile." though it's actually two men who are trapped in the cage.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - Several times.
** One of the greatest example is in "The Howling" when Ethel informs us that male dinosaurs tend to get cranky around the time of a full moon because of Pre-Howling Syndrome... PHS.
-->'''Charlene''': I'm so happy I'm a girl.
** The News Anchorsaur Howard Handupme.
*** Are you sure his name isn't Howard Handupme because, I don't know, he's a puppet?
** The mating dance, anyone? There's also a mating dance instructor Earl visits called "Mel Luster".
** And, of course, "Sexual" Harris, the subject of the episode "[[JustForPun What Sexual Harris Meant]]".
** After Charlene, Earl, and Roy perform at the war in "Nuts to War: Part 2", Charlene says "I was born to give pleasure to whole groups of boys!".
* GilliganCut - Lots and lots of times with Earl.
* GlamorousWartimeSinger - When the dinosaurs went to war over pistachios, Charlene, Earl, and Roy (all in dresses) performed for the soldiers, as it was the only way to get to the front lines and bring Robbie home.
* GreenAesop - The abovementioned environmental crisis, and many earlier episodes.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal - Most of the males wear everything but pants.
** Lampshaded in the [[InformedObscenity "smoo" episode]], when censorship goes amuck, Earl shows that, as part of the push for censorship, the pants that he suddenly is forced to wear, to Fran's horror.
** It's not just the men. Fran and Charlene might wear a dress if they were going to sleep, otherwise the female characters all are pantsless.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction - Earl is a megalosaurus. Fran is, according to WordOfGod, an ''Allosaur''. What their children are is anyone's guess.
** On the behind the scenes feature for the DVD, the creators admit that the kids' designs aren't based on any real dinosaurs and are pretty much made up.
* HumansAreBastards - Or rather, animals who ''act like'' humans are bastards.
* ImpossibleInsurance: In one episode, the Sinclair's house (and TV) gets struck by a falling meteor. Earl actually had bought meteor insurance but is denied coverage since he's only covered for meteors and once a meteor passes through the atmosphere it becomes a meteorite. When the insurance company employee told Earl he'd only get coverage if his house had been floating in space when the meteor hit the TV, Earl [[BlatantLies claimed it was and that the neighbors would confirm it]].
* ImageSong: The [[{{earworm}} irritatingly catchy]] "I'm The Baby" is the best known because it had a music video that aired after an episode, but there was actually a full album of these. Even [[LetsMeetTheMeat the food in the Sinclairs' refrigerator]] got it's own song.
* InformedObscenity - In one episode, a great controversy erupted over the word "smoo".
** And thanks the the publicity, the same channel then started showing "The Flark Show"
* InnocentSwearing: Baby learns one such word, "smoo". (In the dinosaur lingo, this is a dirty word because it describes debris that accumulates on the sole of a dinosaur's foot.)
* ItCameFromTheFridge: And they even help you get hard-to-find items, too!
* IronicEcho - At the very end of the first episode, Earl tells Baby while standing at the window that he and his brother and sister were born dinosaurs, "and dinosaurs rule the world... and we're gonna rule the world forever." In the final episode, he [[spoiler: admits to Baby that he's screwed up the world to the point where there isn't much of a world left for his children. He also says desperately, "And hey, I'm sure it will all turn out OK. After all, dinosaurs have been on this earth for 150 million years. It's not like we're going to just...disappear." One of the final scenes is Earl at the same window, watching the encroaching Ice Age that will doom the dinosaurs.]]
* JudgmentOfSolomon: In one episode where the baby was believed to have gotten switched with a green clone of himself from another family, he was literally cut in half and then put together in a weird cross between this trope and Vegas-style stage magic.
* KentBrockmanNews: Howard Handupme of DNN News.
* KillThePoor:
** When the bipeds declared war against 4-Leggers, the biped President announced the young and the poor would be drafted.
** In a debate on whether rich people should eat poor people, the proposition's supporters claimed being food was the only thing poor people were useful for and those opposed claimed the poor could contaminate whoever ate them.
* KnightTemplarParent: Richfield. He's eaten every ex-boyfriend his daughter has dated after they broke her heart. Naturally, this raises problems for the Sinclair family once Robbie starts dating her.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: During the "Sexual" Harris Hearings on TV, Monica gets called a prostitute by one of the workers. Ethyl complains about the language used on TV these days and how it's bad for kids. Fran argues that it makes them think, with Ethyl saying that she doesn't want kids to think, and instead would rather have them watch "safe little situational comedies with [[StrictlyFormula time-tested repetitive storylines]]".
** Plus, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXiwXVrjYHc this quote]] from Earl on a ShowWithinAShow;
-->"You might think that because they're puppets, the show seems to have a children's aesthetic. ''(AsideGlance)'' Yet the dialogue is unquestionable sharp-edged, witty, and thematically skewed to adults."
* LetsMeetTheMeat - The furry little mammals often stored and used as food. They may not be entirely happy about their ultimate fate, but oftentimes treat being eaten as a matter of course, and go along with it dutifully.
* LimitedWardrobe
* LiteralGenie - The house gets hit by a '''meteorite'''. Earl says it's okay, since they have '''meteor''' insurance. Guess what the insurance guy says?
** This is of course, a spectactular demonstration of lay people [[DidNotDoTheResearch not doing the research]].
*** Or possibly an {{Anvilicious}} TakeThat against perceived semantic hair-splitting by insurance agents.
* MacGuffin - Parodied. (Of course.) In the episode "Scent of a Reptile", Charlene gets her "scent", which will attract one male dinosaur, who will be her mate for life. Because her destined mate is a slobbish janitor, her grandmother tells her the only way to change her scent is with a very rare flower found on the other side of the world - the MacGuffin Lily.
* MeaningfulName: The episode "Family Challenge" had the Sinclairs competing on a game show against the [[{{Ratings}} Nielson]] family, who have an extensive knowledge of television.
* MegaCorp: The Wesayso Corporation.
* MerchandiseDriven: Parodied with "Captain Action Figure", which blatantly plugs its toys in the show, causing impressionable viewers like Baby to demand it.
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds - [[spoiler: Earl in the last episode.]]
* MoodWhiplash: The final episode.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg - "Hello family! ... And Ethyl."
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Earl as he was made VP of communications to help clear up the vines that were plauging the dinosaurs (due to WESAYSO building a wax factory over the bugs that ate them and kept them at bay). Robbie and Charlene both tried to get him to use alternate, less damaging methods but he wouldn't listen and when came time for the final volcano exploding plan. When he had the opportunity to object it and save his species, he caved. In the end, the plan formed a new Ice Age which will no doubt kill off the dinosaur civilization.]]
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Ethyl to Earl.
* OnlySixFaces - Because of how elaborate and complex the (remote-operated) faces were, expect to see the same few used for the one-shot, unnamed, and background dinosaur characters.
* OutOfOrder: Even though Charlene grew a bigger tail in "Charlene's Tale", certain episodes filmed prior showing her shorter tail such as "Employee of the Month" and "Unmarried... With Children" aired after it. There's also the seven episodes filmed prior to the series finale that were shown afterwards when the show moved to syndication.
* ParentalBonus - As with every other Trope, hilariously [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXiwXVrjYHc&feature=related lampshaded]].
** Complete with AsideGlance directly at the camera.
** Also done in a TakeThat to Scientology, where "Dino-Netics" is advertised on TV.
* PeopleInRubberSuits - Sorry if this [[TheUntwist shocking revelation]] has just shattered anyone's illusions here. [[YesVirginia No Virginia]], there is no Sinclair family. This is also mixed with hand-operated puppets.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero - Earl is a LicensedSexist, much like his co-workers at Wesayso.
* ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud- "And let me conclude by saying Foreman Harris is a great guy. Monica's been a troublemaker as long as I've known her and I'm pretty sure she cheats on her taxes. Stop here, look up, [[http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3328/earlfvp.jpg smile]]."
* RefugeInVulgarity
--> '''Baby:''' "I just had a big poop!"
* RuleOfFunny - The only reason dinosaurs are involved at all.
* RunningGag - Several.
* SelfDeprecation: One episode where Earl was a TV executive had him see a pilot episode of ''Dr. Kirk Marcus, M.D.'' which featured a minor character called "Baby Cuddlebunny", who is essentially a parody of Baby Sinclair himself. Earl liked him and demanded that he be the doctor, changing the name to ''[[DoogieHowser Baby Cuddlebunny, M.D.]]''. He later spouts his catch phrase ("Not the pajamas!"), wears T-shirts of his likeness, and the execs even make a talking pullstring doll (similar to the [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Talking_Baby_Sinclair_Doll real doll]] made of Baby Sinclair).
** Ethyl even wonders [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall how his catchphrase got so popular]].
* ShowWithinAShow - Several, most notably ''Mr. Lizard'' ("'''We're''' [[GonnaNeedMoreTrope going to need]] another Timmy!").
* ShoutOut - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan]]'s tartan.
** Earl's boss, B.P. Richfield, is named after both British Petroleum (BP) and the Richfield Oil Company (which coincidentally absorbed the Sinclair chain in the late 1960s, and both companies were later absorbed by BP many years later!).
** In "Charlene's Flat World", after being convicted of heresy for thinking the Earth wasn't flat, Charlene requests her sentence be death by being thrown off the earth. She and Robbie return from the other side...[[AroundTheWorldInEightyDays 80 days later]].
** Robbie has a poster in his room of the ''[[{{TMNT}} Teenage Mutant Ninja Cavemen]]''. Also a bit of FridgeBrilliance in that Jim Henson's Creature Shop, who designed the costumes and puppets for ''Dinosaurs'', also designed the Ninja Turtles in the [[Film/{{TMNT}} live-action films]].
* SpikesOfVillainy: B.P. Richfield has a lot of horns on his frill.
* StrawmanPolitical - In the election episode, Earl's already-strawmanned [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil big-business boss]] became a Republican-expy strawman, who among other things described trickle-down economics as stuffing the pockets of rich people so full of money that the change would fall out and roll downhill to poor people.
* StrongFamilyResemblance
* SuddenDownerEnding - [[spoiler:Earl accidentally brings about the extinction of the dinosaurs.]]
* SwitchedAtBirth: There's an episode literally called this trope where the Sinclair family finds out that [[spoiler:Baby's egg got switched with the egg of the Molehill family.]]
* TakeThat: See LeaningOnTheFourthWall towards those who complain about the show itself being "bad for kids".
* TerraDeforming: In the last episode, Earl ends up destroying all plant life on the planet to get rid of these vines that were growing everywhere as a result of the bugs that would normally eat them having gone extinct (Wesayso built a wax fruit factory on their breeding grounds, thus killing all the bugs).
* ThatOldTimePrescription: Baby gets seriously ill and the family spends lots of money on fancy new medicines. When those fail, they go to a healer who lives in the woods, who cures the baby with moldy bread.
* ThemeNaming - The names of the main characters are based on oil and/or gas companies ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Oil Sinclair]], Roy [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hess_Corporation Hess]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene Ethyl]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Petroleum Phillips]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP B.P.]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARCO Richfield]]). Petroleum is a fossil fuel. Since dinosaurs are the best-known fossil animals, they have become associated with oil.
** Earl also sounds like "oil".
* TheyKilledKenny - "We're gonna need another Timmy!"
* TinkleInTheEye - Subverted; Baby Sinclair used a squirt gun.
* TooDumbToLive - Each and every Timmy. Well, maybe not at first, when the experiments weren't as obviously deadly, but after how many Timmies bit the dust, and after Mr. Lizard started hiding behind lead shielding before Timmy did what he did, this was clearly in effect.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Earl and Fran suffered so much from their experiences with their two oldest kids while they are two, that they had blocked out the entire year.
* TyrannosaurusRex - Roy.
* VerySpecialEpisode - Spoofed in an early episode, then played straight with nearly every other episode.
** The particular episode which spoofed this was "A New Leaf" where the "happy plant" is like a drug. At the end of the episode, Robbie implores the viewing audience to not do drugs so that an end can be put to "preachy [TV] sitcom endings".
* WasntThatFun: Turned into a RunningGag. Whenever Baby endured any kind of physical punishment, ranging from being hit to being thrown across the room, and one time, even falling out of a tree, one of the first words out of his mouth was an enthusiastic, "Again!"
* WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties: In the episode where Earl becomes a TV executive and creates programming that makes most of Pangaea's population stupid, the cameraman in the newsroom fails to focus on Howard Handupme's anchoring, bringing up a "PLEEZE STAND BIE" card.
* WhenIWasYourAge
-->'''Earl:''' "When I was your age we didn't have lawn mowers, we didn't have scissors, we had to get down on all fours and graze like a cow."
* YouMeanXmas - "Refrigerator Day".
----
[[caption-width:217:Just your average dinosaur family.]]
''Dinosaurs'' was a show created by JimHenson (or at least his production company, since he died when the show was still in pre-production) that aired on ABC in the early '90s. Basically it's ''TheFlintstones'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''TheSimpsons'', and yeah, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin they're dinosaurs]]! It followed the adventures of the Sinclair family: Earl, the not-too-bright blue collar dad; his wife, long-suffering Fran; and their three kids, typical teenager Robbie; naive middle daughter Charlene; and catch-phrase spouting Baby. Many of the episodes parodied modern society and issues, like the environment and family problems.
----
!!This show features examples of:
* AdamAndEvePlot - A cute but delicious species of furry animal has been reduced to a single breeding pair.
* AllAnimalsAreDogs - In at least two episodes, the family has one or more cavemen as their pets. Guess how they act.
* AndIMustScream - The episode "If You Were A Tree".
* BadBoss: Richfield.
* BerserkButton: Never use the [[TWordEuphemism E-word]] ("efficient") in front of Mr. Richfield.
* BreakingTheFourthWall - In the "How to Pick Up Girls" episode, Earl and Baby are watching a puppet show on TV. Fran wonders why they're watching a "kids show." Earl defends his choice of entertainment by citing the concept of ParentalBonus, doing an AsideGlance at the camera while doing so.
* BreakTheCutie: Robbie in "Career Opportunities." While getting a feel as a tree pusher, he incurs the wrath of Richfield, and is shown the entire time to be paralyzed in fear. Unlike most instances of the trope, it's PlayedForLaughs.
* BumblingDad - Earl.
* CarnivoreConfusion - Mr. Richfield is a ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) that eats meat (specifically the two mammals mentioned above, and his daughter's boyfriends). Possibly HilariousInHindsight with the new discoveries that Triceratops may have been omnivorous.
* CasanovaWannabe - Sexual Harris.
* CatchPhrase - The Baby's "Gotta Love Me!" and "Not The Mama", among others.
** An odd instance - "We're going to need another Timmy!" was only used in 3 episodes, yet it sticks out in people's minds.
** Earl Sinclair: Honey, I'm home! I'm hungry!
** B.P. Richfield: SINCLAIR! IN HERE NOW!!!
* CelebrityIsOverrated
* CensorshipBySpelling
-->'''Fran''': I don't want to argue in front of the B-A-B-Y.\\
'''Earl''': Well I'm not changing another D-A-I..no wait..D-I-A...
** As for the baby's reaction... just see the related trope's page image.
* ChocolateFrostedSugarBombs: Known as "Sugar Frosted Boo-boo Bears".
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong - Earl, even in the episodes where his complaints seemed to have a certain degree of validity, was ''always'' proved 100% wrong by the coda.
* ConstructionCatcalls: While on break, Roy begins leering at a young dino lady with a fully-developed tail.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive - Mr. Richfield.
* CrappyCarnival: Wesaysoland in the episode "Variations on a Theme Park", which was created in a single day to take advantage of Pangaea's newly-instituted vacation time "through imagination, ingenuity, and a relaxed attitude towards building codes". Unfortunately, the rides are unfinished, the concessions are expensive, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the hotel rooms are decorated in an unflattering cow-themed design]] (to go along with its corporate mascot, [[GoofySuit Moola the Cash Cow]]).
* CrapsackWorld - It's a world where the biggest, strongest, or oldest are the only ones that get a say in matters, and the decisions made are usually terrible. Not to mention the fact that, If you are not the absolute apex predator, you always have to watch your back from being eaten by aformentioned biggest and stongest. And don't get us started on what life is like for small mammals.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Robbie uncontrollably doing the mating dance in "Dirty Dancin'", even by himself.
* DeadpanSnarker - Ethyl definitely counts.
-->'''Earl:''' It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
-->'''Ethyl:''' Then you're the guy for the job.
** Or upon learning that Earl will be challenged to a duel to the death.
-->'''Ethyl:''' ''(to Fran)'' Congratulations. You're a widow.
* DealWithTheDevil: Earl once traded his soul for a mug with a devil.
* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]] - Multiple, including Robbie's stint with vegetarianism being treated like homosexuality, Robbie bulking up on "Thornoids," Charlene's tail being an analogy for a girl's breasts, the ''Green Card'' episode refers to anti-immigration sentiment, and blue-furred mammals standing in for black-skinned musicians.
** Also a "war-time" episode, where the four-legged dinos waged war with the two-legged over pistachio nuts.
** And there was the episode ''The Greatest Story Ever Sold'', which covered philosophy and organized religion, particularly the use of religion as a pacifier for the masses.
** There was also an episode where the dinosaurs purchased a huge amount of land from cavemen for a fistful of glass pearls...
** Charlene's muse accidentally giving her the round-earth theory instead of a great brownies recipe, sparking a science versus religion debate.
* DownerEnding - A series of environmental crises brings on the Ice Age, and [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll everybody dies]]. No, really.]]
** [[spoiler:They don't die in the episode, but the implication is that they'll all meet their demise sometime after the episode ends.]]
*** Of course, [[DoomedByCanon given that the cast was all dinosaurs...]]
* EconomyCast - One shot characters are played by the same seven or eight puppets every episode, known as "Unisaurs". That meant a character could be male in one episode and female in another. This got a little awkward when the puppets usually used as Earl's coworkers played females. In one disturbing episode, the usually-male puppets are used as not just females, but ''exotic dancers.''
* EndOfAnAge (the last episode)
* EscalatingWar - the two-parter ''Nuts To War'' miniseries, made in response to the Persian Gulf War, where a petty territorial dispute over the rights to pistachio trees escalates into a full-blown war between the two-legged dinosaurs and the four-legged ones. In the end, there was only one two-legged casualty, [[spoiler: but it turns out Robbie is okay]].
* ExactWords - Turns out Earl's Meteor insurance is no good because his house was hit by a meteor''ite''.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - The show's title.
* ExplodingCalendar: Made fun of in one episode where Earl frantically tries to stick the previous day back on.
* {{Expy}} - ''TheSimpsons'' as lampshaded in one episode in which Bart is watching a Springfield version of ''{{Dinosaurs}}'' and he remarks that its just like someone watched their family and copied it.
* FantasticRacism - A few episodes dealt with tensions between two-legged and four-legged dinosaurs.
* ForegoneConclusion - ...it's about ''dinosaurs''. What did you think would happen?
** That it would be [[ExecutiveMeddling canned by the network]] before it ever stepped out of the typical early-90s TGIF sitcom StatusQuoIsGod mindset?
*** Dinosaurs ruled the world for 190 million years. WHY does a light comedy have to take place [[spoiler: on the very cusp of their extinction?]]
*** The show makes it pretty obvious that the dinosaurs were going to wipe themselves out due to their ignorance and negligence of the environment. The shock came from the fact that nobody thought the show would actually have the balls to show it.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the first episode, Robbie notes that Pangea's dating system goes in reverse, and wonders what they're supposed to be counting down to.
* FreeTheFrogs - When Robbie's class are called on to dissect cavepeople, Robbie smuggles his out of the class, takes it home as a pet, and eventually releases it into the wild.
* FryingPanOfDoom - The Baby's weapon of choice.
* FullNameUltimatum - ''"Earl Snead Sinclair!"''
* FunWithAcronyms: The most obvious being the [[{{ABC}} Antediluvian Broadcasting Company]]. There's also '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ight and '''W'''e '''A'''re '''R'''ong.
* FunWithFlushing: The VerySpecialEpisode where baby learned to use the toilet had some of this.
* FurAndLoathing - The episode "Slave to Fashion".
* FurryConfusion - Taken to its logical conclusion. If the animals are stand-ins for humans, wouldn't it make sense for the humans to stand-in for animals?
** Well in one episode it shows that the "new two rare cavemen" have been added to a zoo in the hopes that they'll breed (mirroring the Chinese panda) the newsman said as much as "We can't get them to breed, which means one is sterile." though it's actually two men who are trapped in the cage.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - Several times.
** One of the greatest example is in "The Howling" when Ethel informs us that male dinosaurs tend to get cranky around the time of a full moon because of Pre-Howling Syndrome... PHS.
-->'''Charlene''': I'm so happy I'm a girl.
** The News Anchorsaur Howard Handupme.
*** Are you sure his name isn't Howard Handupme because, I don't know, he's a puppet?
** The mating dance, anyone? There's also a mating dance instructor Earl visits called "Mel Luster".
** And, of course, "Sexual" Harris, the subject of the episode "[[JustForPun What Sexual Harris Meant]]".
** After Charlene, Earl, and Roy perform at the war in "Nuts to War: Part 2", Charlene says "I was born to give pleasure to whole groups of boys!".
* GilliganCut - Lots and lots of times with Earl.
* GlamorousWartimeSinger - When the dinosaurs went to war over pistachios, Charlene, Earl, and Roy (all in dresses) performed for the soldiers, as it was the only way to get to the front lines and bring Robbie home.
* GreenAesop - The abovementioned environmental crisis, and many earlier episodes.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal - Most of the males wear everything but pants.
** Lampshaded in the [[InformedObscenity "smoo" episode]], when censorship goes amuck, Earl shows that, as part of the push for censorship, the pants that he suddenly is forced to wear, to Fran's horror.
** It's not just the men. Fran and Charlene might wear a dress if they were going to sleep, otherwise the female characters all are pantsless.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction - Earl is a megalosaurus. Fran is, according to WordOfGod, an ''Allosaur''. What their children are is anyone's guess.
** On the behind the scenes feature for the DVD, the creators admit that the kids' designs aren't based on any real dinosaurs and are pretty much made up.
* HumansAreBastards - Or rather, animals who ''act like'' humans are bastards.
* ImpossibleInsurance: In one episode, the Sinclair's house (and TV) gets struck by a falling meteor. Earl actually had bought meteor insurance but is denied coverage since he's only covered for meteors and once a meteor passes through the atmosphere it becomes a meteorite. When the insurance company employee told Earl he'd only get coverage if his house had been floating in space when the meteor hit the TV, Earl [[BlatantLies claimed it was and that the neighbors would confirm it]].
* ImageSong: The [[{{earworm}} irritatingly catchy]] "I'm The Baby" is the best known because it had a music video that aired after an episode, but there was actually a full album of these. Even [[LetsMeetTheMeat the food in the Sinclairs' refrigerator]] got it's own song.
* InformedObscenity - In one episode, a great controversy erupted over the word "smoo".
** And thanks the the publicity, the same channel then started showing "The Flark Show"
* InnocentSwearing: Baby learns one such word, "smoo". (In the dinosaur lingo, this is a dirty word because it describes debris that accumulates on the sole of a dinosaur's foot.)
* ItCameFromTheFridge: And they even help you get hard-to-find items, too!
* IronicEcho - At the very end of the first episode, Earl tells Baby while standing at the window that he and his brother and sister were born dinosaurs, "and dinosaurs rule the world... and we're gonna rule the world forever." In the final episode, he [[spoiler: admits to Baby that he's screwed up the world to the point where there isn't much of a world left for his children. He also says desperately, "And hey, I'm sure it will all turn out OK. After all, dinosaurs have been on this earth for 150 million years. It's not like we're going to just...disappear." One of the final scenes is Earl at the same window, watching the encroaching Ice Age that will doom the dinosaurs.]]
* JudgmentOfSolomon: In one episode where the baby was believed to have gotten switched with a green clone of himself from another family, he was literally cut in half and then put together in a weird cross between this trope and Vegas-style stage magic.
* KentBrockmanNews: Howard Handupme of DNN News.
* KillThePoor:
** When the bipeds declared war against 4-Leggers, the biped President announced the young and the poor would be drafted.
** In a debate on whether rich people should eat poor people, the proposition's supporters claimed being food was the only thing poor people were useful for and those opposed claimed the poor could contaminate whoever ate them.
* KnightTemplarParent: Richfield. He's eaten every ex-boyfriend his daughter has dated after they broke her heart. Naturally, this raises problems for the Sinclair family once Robbie starts dating her.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: During the "Sexual" Harris Hearings on TV, Monica gets called a prostitute by one of the workers. Ethyl complains about the language used on TV these days and how it's bad for kids. Fran argues that it makes them think, with Ethyl saying that she doesn't want kids to think, and instead would rather have them watch "safe little situational comedies with [[StrictlyFormula time-tested repetitive storylines]]".
** Plus, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXiwXVrjYHc this quote]] from Earl on a ShowWithinAShow;
-->"You might think that because they're puppets, the show seems to have a children's aesthetic. ''(AsideGlance)'' Yet the dialogue is unquestionable sharp-edged, witty, and thematically skewed to adults."
* LetsMeetTheMeat - The furry little mammals often stored and used as food. They may not be entirely happy about their ultimate fate, but oftentimes treat being eaten as a matter of course, and go along with it dutifully.
* LimitedWardrobe
* LiteralGenie - The house gets hit by a '''meteorite'''. Earl says it's okay, since they have '''meteor''' insurance. Guess what the insurance guy says?
** This is of course, a spectactular demonstration of lay people [[DidNotDoTheResearch not doing the research]].
*** Or possibly an {{Anvilicious}} TakeThat against perceived semantic hair-splitting by insurance agents.
* MacGuffin - Parodied. (Of course.) In the episode "Scent of a Reptile", Charlene gets her "scent", which will attract one male dinosaur, who will be her mate for life. Because her destined mate is a slobbish janitor, her grandmother tells her the only way to change her scent is with a very rare flower found on the other side of the world - the MacGuffin Lily.
* MeaningfulName: The episode "Family Challenge" had the Sinclairs competing on a game show against the [[{{Ratings}} Nielson]] family, who have an extensive knowledge of television.
* MegaCorp: The Wesayso Corporation.
* MerchandiseDriven: Parodied with "Captain Action Figure", which blatantly plugs its toys in the show, causing impressionable viewers like Baby to demand it.
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds - [[spoiler: Earl in the last episode.]]
* MoodWhiplash: The final episode.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg - "Hello family! ... And Ethyl."
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Earl as he was made VP of communications to help clear up the vines that were plauging the dinosaurs (due to WESAYSO building a wax factory over the bugs that ate them and kept them at bay). Robbie and Charlene both tried to get him to use alternate, less damaging methods but he wouldn't listen and when came time for the final volcano exploding plan. When he had the opportunity to object it and save his species, he caved. In the end, the plan formed a new Ice Age which will no doubt kill off the dinosaur civilization.]]
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Ethyl to Earl.
* OnlySixFaces - Because of how elaborate and complex the (remote-operated) faces were, expect to see the same few used for the one-shot, unnamed, and background dinosaur characters.
* OutOfOrder: Even though Charlene grew a bigger tail in "Charlene's Tale", certain episodes filmed prior showing her shorter tail such as "Employee of the Month" and "Unmarried... With Children" aired after it. There's also the seven episodes filmed prior to the series finale that were shown afterwards when the show moved to syndication.
* ParentalBonus - As with every other Trope, hilariously [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXiwXVrjYHc&feature=related lampshaded]].
** Complete with AsideGlance directly at the camera.
** Also done in a TakeThat to Scientology, where "Dino-Netics" is advertised on TV.
* PeopleInRubberSuits - Sorry if this [[TheUntwist shocking revelation]] has just shattered anyone's illusions here. [[YesVirginia No Virginia]], there is no Sinclair family. This is also mixed with hand-operated puppets.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero - Earl is a LicensedSexist, much like his co-workers at Wesayso.
* ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud- "And let me conclude by saying Foreman Harris is a great guy. Monica's been a troublemaker as long as I've known her and I'm pretty sure she cheats on her taxes. Stop here, look up, [[http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3328/earlfvp.jpg smile]]."
* RefugeInVulgarity
--> '''Baby:''' "I just had a big poop!"
* RuleOfFunny - The only reason dinosaurs are involved at all.
* RunningGag - Several.
* SelfDeprecation: One episode where Earl was a TV executive had him see a pilot episode of ''Dr. Kirk Marcus, M.D.'' which featured a minor character called "Baby Cuddlebunny", who is essentially a parody of Baby Sinclair himself. Earl liked him and demanded that he be the doctor, changing the name to ''[[DoogieHowser Baby Cuddlebunny, M.D.]]''. He later spouts his catch phrase ("Not the pajamas!"), wears T-shirts of his likeness, and the execs even make a talking pullstring doll (similar to the [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Talking_Baby_Sinclair_Doll real doll]] made of Baby Sinclair).
** Ethyl even wonders [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall how his catchphrase got so popular]].
* ShowWithinAShow - Several, most notably ''Mr. Lizard'' ("'''We're''' [[GonnaNeedMoreTrope going to need]] another Timmy!").
* ShoutOut - the Sinclair family's name comes from the Sinclair gas station, which has a green dinosaur for a mascot. Earl is name after Earl Holding, the company's owner. Earl also wears a shirt of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair Sinclair clan]]'s tartan.
** Earl's boss, B.P. Richfield, is named after both British Petroleum (BP) and the Richfield Oil Company (which coincidentally absorbed the Sinclair chain in the late 1960s, and both companies were later absorbed by BP many years later!).
** In "Charlene's Flat World", after being convicted of heresy for thinking the Earth wasn't flat, Charlene requests her sentence be death by being thrown off the earth. She and Robbie return from the other side...[[AroundTheWorldInEightyDays 80 days later]].
** Robbie has a poster in his room of the ''[[{{TMNT}} Teenage Mutant Ninja Cavemen]]''. Also a bit of FridgeBrilliance in that Jim Henson's Creature Shop, who designed the costumes and puppets for ''Dinosaurs'', also designed the Ninja Turtles in the [[Film/{{TMNT}} live-action films]].
* SpikesOfVillainy: B.P. Richfield has a lot of horns on his frill.
* StrawmanPolitical - In the election episode, Earl's already-strawmanned [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil big-business boss]] became a Republican-expy strawman, who among other things described trickle-down economics as stuffing the pockets of rich people so full of money that the change would fall out and roll downhill to poor people.
* StrongFamilyResemblance
* SuddenDownerEnding - [[spoiler:Earl accidentally brings about the extinction of the dinosaurs.]]
* SwitchedAtBirth: There's an episode literally called this trope where the Sinclair family finds out that [[spoiler:Baby's egg got switched with the egg of the Molehill family.]]
* TakeThat: See LeaningOnTheFourthWall towards those who complain about the show itself being "bad for kids".
* TerraDeforming: In the last episode, Earl ends up destroying all plant life on the planet to get rid of these vines that were growing everywhere as a result of the bugs that would normally eat them having gone extinct (Wesayso built a wax fruit factory on their breeding grounds, thus killing all the bugs).
* ThatOldTimePrescription: Baby gets seriously ill and the family spends lots of money on fancy new medicines. When those fail, they go to a healer who lives in the woods, who cures the baby with moldy bread.
* ThemeNaming - The names of the main characters are based on oil and/or gas companies ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Oil Sinclair]], Roy [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hess_Corporation Hess]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene Ethyl]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Petroleum Phillips]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP B.P.]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARCO Richfield]]). Petroleum is a fossil fuel. Since dinosaurs are the best-known fossil animals, they have become associated with oil.
** Earl also sounds like "oil".
* TheyKilledKenny - "We're gonna need another Timmy!"
* TinkleInTheEye - Subverted; Baby Sinclair used a squirt gun.
* TooDumbToLive - Each and every Timmy. Well, maybe not at first, when the experiments weren't as obviously deadly, but after how many Timmies bit the dust, and after Mr. Lizard started hiding behind lead shielding before Timmy did what he did, this was clearly in effect.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Earl and Fran suffered so much from their experiences with their two oldest kids while they are two, that they had blocked out the entire year.
* TyrannosaurusRex - Roy.
* VerySpecialEpisode - Spoofed in an early episode, then played straight with nearly every other episode.
** The particular episode which spoofed this was "A New Leaf" where the "happy plant" is like a drug. At the end of the episode, Robbie implores the viewing audience to not do drugs so that an end can be put to "preachy [TV] sitcom endings".
* WasntThatFun: Turned into a RunningGag. Whenever Baby endured any kind of physical punishment, ranging from being hit to being thrown across the room, and one time, even falling out of a tree, one of the first words out of his mouth was an enthusiastic, "Again!"
* WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties: In the episode where Earl becomes a TV executive and creates programming that makes most of Pangaea's population stupid, the cameraman in the newsroom fails to focus on Howard Handupme's anchoring, bringing up a "PLEEZE STAND BIE" card.
* WhenIWasYourAge
-->'''Earl:''' "When I was your age we didn't have lawn mowers, we didn't have scissors, we had to get down on all fours and graze like a cow."
* YouMeanXmas - "Refrigerator Day".
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