History Series / Wiseguy

* DomesticAbuser: Winston Newquay verbally abuses his wife Claudia, and she physically abuses him right back.

* AntagonistInMourning: [[spoiler:Winston Newquay]] is crushed by [[spoiler:Isaac Twine]]'s death.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Mark Volchek.

** Mark Volchek orders Vinnie to "get rid" of a teenager who tried to shoot him, and is shocked when Vinnie returns with a jar [[FakingTheDead supposedly containing the boy's ashes]]. They decide on a codeword to avoid future "misunderstandings".

* GrumpyOldMan: Mike [=McPike=].

** Vinnie and [=McPike=] ''really'' don't like each other at the start of the series.

* BeingGoodSucks: A hallmark of the series. Vinnie grows to genuinely like and care about the people he befriends while undercover, like Sonny Steelgrave and Albert Cerrico, and it tears him apart to bring them down.

* BeingGoodSucks: A hallmark of the series.

** Roger Loccoco, to Mel Proffit.

* HammerSpace: In the first episode TheMafia [[spoiler:is surprised to see an ArmsDealer bring a woman to their meeting. As things go badly we see her casually unbuttoning her skirt (how she does this [[NotDistractedByTheSexy without attracting attention]] is not explained), then she somehow produces an [[CoolGuns Ingram MAC-10]] and starts blazing away. Now admittedly the MAC-10 is quite small for an SMG, but it's still a large chunk of metal to be hiding [[TrouserSpace between your legs]] while wearing a tight skirt. It's worth noting that this was based on a scene in ''The Underground Empire'' where the narrator noticed two women at an arms deal were concealing firearms between their legs just from the way they sat down.]]

** Humorously subverted in the Lynchboro arc: Vinnie thinks Volchek is testing him this way when he tells him to "get rid of somebody," but Volchek is really just telling him to throw him off the property. When Vinnie shows up with an urn ostensibly containing the troublemaker's remains, Volchek is shocked.

** In "Sins of the Father," a sting is blown because Carlo Spoletta refuses to do business with black people.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: After Ken Wahl broke his ankle in an on-set accident, he was replaced by Anthony Denison (playing John Henry Raglin). This was WrittenInInfirmity as Vinnie having his leg broken by loan-shark Johnny "Coke Bottles". After a dispute with the producers Ken Wahl was replaced by actor Steven Bauer, playing disbarred Cuban-American prosecutor Michael Santana. Vinnie had ostensibly been killed by a death squad while investigating the smuggling of Salvadorean refugees.

* TroubleEntendre: Mark Volchek orders Vinnie to "get rid" of a teenager who tried to shoot him, and is shocked when Vinnie returns with a jar [[FakingTheDead supposedly containing the boy's ashes]]. They decide on a codeword to avoid future "misunderstandings".

* ProperlyParanoid: In his intro episode, Mel Profitt causes a gang war by insisting that an associate's fiancee is a DeepCoverAgent for the federal government. Despite the fact that his only "evidence" is that her family is from Virginia, he turns out to be right.

-->"So, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Base_Quantico he was a Marine]]."
-->"Quantico is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Academy where they train federal agents]]."

* CuttingTheKnot: Rather than spend years working his way up the ranks of Sonny Steelgrave's organisation, [[RefugeInAudacity Vinnie provokes a fight with Sonny]], knowing he's Golden Gloves boxer who won't turn down a challenge. Naturally everyone thinks Vinnie will flee [[YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYouAreDealingWith when he finds out he's antagonized a Mafia boss]]; when Vinnie turns up for the fight anyway, [[YouGotSpunk Sonny is impressed]].

* DaChief: [=McPike=] is this to Vinnie in the first season. Once [=McPike=] and Vinnie start to actually like each other, Paul Beckstead is brought in to fill this role for both of them.

** Roger Loccoco has Vinnie join him on a hit before bringing him into the Proffits' business.

* VerbalTic: Roger Lococo calls pretty much everyone "Buckwheat" at one point or another.

* WickedCultured: Winston Newquay and Albert Cerrico.

* SchrodingersCat: Ken Wahl returned for a reunion movie in 1996, with no explanation of what happened to him in the Guzman arc.

''This page is about the show. If you were redirect here from a link referring to a member of the mob, see TheMafia.''

* IncrediblyLamePun: After loan shark Johnny "Coke Bottles" (for his thick glasses) is DrivenToSuicide, the next day's headline reads "Bottles Cashes In"

* ConfessInConfidence: Vinnie's brother Pete, a Catholic priest, is the only one with whom he can break his cover because of the seal of the confessional. [[spoiler: Later Vinnie is able to bring his mother in as well.]]

* TheCastShowoff: [[{{Music/Blondie}} Deborah Harry]], [[{{Music/Eagles}} Glenn Frey]], and Creator/TimCurry all get opportunities to show off their musical talents during the Dead Dog Records arc.

* DawsonCasting: Eddie Tempest is repeatedly referred to as a "teenage rock star." His actor, Billy Wirth, was 27 at the time he appeared.

* FakeNationality: Austrian actor Maximillian Schell as the ''very'' Cuban Amado Guzman.

* StarMakingRole: The Mel Profitt arc put Creator/KevinSpacey on the map.

* BiggerBad: Martinez-Gacha, head of TheCartel, in the Miami arc.

* StarMakingRole: The Mel Profitt arc put KevinSpacey on the map.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Sonny Steelgrave]], [[spoiler:Mel Profitt]] (although he gets someone else to do the deed), [[spoiler:Herb Ketcher]], Johnny Coke Bottles, and Kay Gallagher (although she fails).