History Series / OrdinaryJoe

** The episode ends with [[spoiler: Amy and Diaz shot at a rally).

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Music Joe brings their son's yearbook to Amy, he mentions that since being told he was a father, he tells her that he feels like he's "outside his body watching from somewhere else."

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: In Cop Joe's timeline, Amy is having an affair with Diaz. She meets with Jenny on how Diaz may have paid off an intern he had an affair with before. Amy is unsure until she sees a card Diaz gave the woman..with a note on the back that has ''exactly'' the cheesy "you're the only one" line Diaz gave to Amy.

** Joe and Jenny have a son with muscular dystrophy, who was conceived before graduation. Although he's the same child in each timeline, his given name differs (Christopher, Zeke or Lucas).

** Joe and Jenny have a son with muscular dystrophy, who was conceived before graduation. Although he's the same child in each timeline, his given name differs.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/{{Awake}}''. Different color-coded realities play out and intermingle in front of the viewer. The main difference being that in ''Ordinary Joe'' the main character doesn't seem to be aware of the different timelines, and there's no insinuation that one or more of them must be hallucinations like there was in ''Awake''.

* AlternateTimeline: The entire point of the show is that it follows the same central characters across three different universes, diverged from each other by the choice of what Joe chose to do to celebrate his college graduation.

* ColorWash: Each timeline has distinct shading as differentiators, with the musician timeline being red, the nurse timeline being green and the cop timeline being blue.

** Joe and Jenny have a son with muscular dystrophy.
** Joe will somehow cross paths with Bobby Diaz -- as a musician who's married to Diaz's campaign manager, a cop who saves him from an AssassinationAttempt, or as a nurse who cares for him after being wounded in the attack.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Series/{{Awake}}''. Different color-coated realities play out and intermingle in front of the view. The main difference being that the main character doesn't seem to be aware of the different timelines.

* Music Joe -- Joe decides to ask Amy, who he bumps into at graduation, out on a date. In this timeline, Joe has become a rock star and is happily married to Amy. Although he seemingly has everything, Joe and Amy are struggling to conceive and he's floored when Jenny comes back into his life and confesses that she'd been pregnant with his child but that she gave the baby up for adoption.

* Musician Joe -- Joe decides to ask Amy, who he bumps into at graduation, out on a date. In this timeline, Joe has become a rock star and is happily married to Amy. Although he seemingly has everything, Joe and Amy are struggling to conceive and he's floored when Jenny comes back into his life and confesses that she'd been pregnant with his child but that she gave the baby up for adoption.

* AssassinationAttempt: In the pilot, a gunman tries to shoot Congressman Bobby Diaz at a campaign rally. In Cop Joe's timeline, he's on duty at the rally and stops the shooter; in Nurse Joe's timeline, Diaz gets shot and Joe tends to him as he recovers in the hospital; and in Musician Joe's timeline, Joe has a concert in the same venue, causing Diaz to reschedule the rally and thus avoid being shot.
* ColorWash: Each timeline has distinct shading as differentiators with the musician timeline being red, the nurse timeline being green, and the cop timeline being blue.

* ItsAllMyFault: Joe blames himself for his father's death on 9/11, because he decided to stay in UsefulNotes/NewYorkVity to practice with his school band instead of going to a football game in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} like his father wanted, meaning his father was in the city and died with other first responders when the towers collapsed.

* ItsAllMyFault: Joe blames himself for his father's death on 9/11, because he decided to stay in New York to practice with his school band instead of going to a football game in Denver like his father wanted, meaning his father was in the city and died with other first responders when the towers collapsed.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To Series/{{Awake}}. Different color-coated realities play out and intermingle in front of the view. The main difference being that the Main Character doesn't seem to be aware of the different timelines.

* YourCheatingHeart: In Cop Joe's timeline, Amy is having an affair with the married Congressman Diaz.

** Joe will somehow cross paths with Bobby Diaz as a musician, a cop, or as a nurse.

* WhatIf: Each timeline is kicked off by Joe making a different choice at his college graduation.

The show follows Joe Kimbreau across three parallel timelines that examine what changes and what remains the same based on a choice he made at his college graduation.

* Nurse Joe -- Joe spends the night with Jenny, his on-off girlfriend and, ten years later, he is an emergency-room nurse. He and Jenny, a paralegal, are married but the strain of caring for Christopher, their disabled son, has brought them to the brink of divorce.
* Musician Joe -- Joe asks Amy out on a date and, ten years later, he is a rock star married to Amy. Although he seemingly has everything, he and Amy are struggling to conceive and he's floored when Jenny comes back into his life and confesses that she'd been pregnant with his child but that she gave the baby up for adoption.
* Cop Joe -- Joe goes to dinner with his family and, ten years later, he is a cop who saves the life of Congressman Bobby Diaz. The follow-up investigation brings him back in contact with Amy, who is the congressman's trusted aide, and Jenny, who is a prosecutor.

* TragicKeepsake: In all timelines, Joe holds his father's badge -- damaged in the 9/11 attacks -- close to him. In the cop timeline, Frank and Amy cut through red tape to have Joe issues his father's retired detective number.

* Musician Joe -- Joe asks Amy out on a date and, ten years later, he is a rock star married to Amy, who he bumped into at graduation. Although he seemingly has everything, he and Amy are struggling to conceive and he's floored when Jenny comes back into his life and confesses that she'd been pregnant with his child but that she gave the baby up for adoption.