Basic Trope: A character is killed off repeatedly for laughs.
- Straight: Bob dies in many episodes and comes back with no explanation.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob dies, however, he is seen okay in the very next scene within the same episode.
- Everybody, minor characters included, experiences this.
- Downplayed: Bob always breaks his arms, legs, or even gets crippled for life, yet is as fresh as new the next episode.
- Justified:
- Bob has a very high healing factor.
- The show's a comedic "Groundhog Day" Loop.
- Bob has Resurrective Immortality.
- Bob is from a world where medical technology has advanced so much, "death" is just a temporary and minor annoyance.
- Bob has been cloned numerous times. Each time one dies, the next one takes over.
- Similar to the previous example, Bob is a robot, so when his body is destroyed his A.I can just be put into another robot.
- Inverted:
- Bob's always the Sole Survivor of whatever unfortunate event that the creators throw at him and others, Survivor Guilt optional.
- Bob is resurrected in every episode but is inexplicably dead again the next time around.
- Subverted:
- The character dies all the time, but then he ends up getting Killed Off for Real... which makes it all the more heartbreaking because the characters and/or audience know that he isn't coming back.
- It's revealed that Bob is actually a bunch of clones, and each "return" was merely a replacement.
- Double Subverted:
- ...and then comes back a few episodes later with no explanation.
- ...However, thanks to the use of Body Backup Drive, Bob is able to transfer his consciousness and all relevant aspects of his original self to the next clone in line.
- Parodied: Bob dies repeatedly in the same episode, and each time comes back with no explanation.
- Zig Zagged: Bob dies, then comes back in the next episode. But then he gets Killed Off for Real... only to come back a season later. But then it turns out he’s a ghost. But then he gets revived in another body... and then dies shortly after. He’s back the next day.
- Averted: Either Bob never dies, or Bob is Killed Off for Real.
- Enforced: The executives want a memorable Running Gag and/or hate Bob’s character.
- Lampshaded: "Oh my God! They killed Bob again!" "You bastards!"
- Invoked: Alice feeds Bob a healing potion that means Death Is Cheap for him.
- Exploited: The team decides to make Bob their first line of defense, knowing that if anything happens to him, he'll be back by the next episode.
- Defied: Bob refuses to die.
- Discussed: "Bob, how is it that you keep coming back after dying?" "I get better."
- Conversed: "How do those characters always come back fine despite dying more than once?"
- Deconstructed:
- Repeatedly dying does a number on Bob's psyche, and it doesn't help that no one even remembers that he ever died to begin with.
- Or, he's eventually brought back to life, and everyone laughs it off knowing he'll come back... and then immediately feels worse because no, he definitely isn't.
- In addition to being The Chew Toy as well as being hated, mistreated, and/or made fun of by everybody even his own friends, repeatedly dying just adds to the trauma, so Bob is Driven to Suicide, but can’t because he’ll just be back by the next episode.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob doesn't remember dying either.
- Bob himself knows he's coming back, and it turns out dying isn't that unpleasant. So he faces each demise with a wry This Is Gonna Suck.
- Played For Laughs: Nobody likes Bob, so they get a good laugh out of watching him die every other day.
- Played For Drama: The show is a "Groundhog Day" Loop where Bob's death is the cause of the loops, causing much agony until he finally survives and earns his happy ending.
Oh my God! They Killed Kenny Again! You bastards!
