Basic Trope: Grandparents are never seen and are only rarely (if ever) mentioned.
- Straight: None of the characters appear to have any living grandparents. If we see any extended family, it's uncles or aunts, and if ancestors are mentioned, they are at least great-grandparents.
- Exaggerated:
- No one has any extended family, period. The only relatives we see for each character are their siblings (if they have any) and one or both parents.
- No grandparents or other ancestors are ever mentioned.
- Downplayed:
- Alice and Bob each have one living grandparent, but no one else's grandparents are mentioned.
- Grandparents are occasionally mentioned, but only dead ones.
- Justified:
- The characters live in an area with an extremely short life expectancy.
- Alice and Bob are second generation immigrants, their grandparents are still living in The Old Country.
- Inverted: We see all four grandparents (and both parents) of each character, including characters who themselves are too old to realistically be alive.
- Subverted: No grandparents are seen at first, but then Bob's grandfather - who lives far away - comes for a visit.
- Double Subverted: Neither of Bob's parents recognizes the mysterious Cool Old Guy claiming to be Bob's grandfather; it turns out he was lying, and is really a villain.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Most characters have at least one living grandparent, and some have all four.
- Enforced:
- "We don't want any irrelevant grandparents cluttering up the cast. It would be too confusing, and we can't afford more actors than we need."
- Protagonist Alice is orphaned at a young age, and the directors decide it would seem more tragic if she was sent to live at the Orphanage of Fear instead of grandparents.
- Lampshaded: "Why haven't we met anyone's grandparents? Are they all dead or what?"
- Invoked: No one in Tropeland is allowed to live past 55 due to overpopulation.
- Exploited: Hoping to ambush the heroes, the Big Bad hides in the cemetery, knowing that all the heroes' grandparents are buried there.
- Defied: The government extends the legal lifespan limit to 75, so future generations will get to know their grandparents.
- Discussed: "Why did you just assume I didn't have any grandparents? It's not like our town has a particularly short life expectancy."
- Conversed: "Ever notice how there are no grandparents on this show? What's up with that?"
- Implied: Some characters' grandparents are mentioned, but they are always referred to in the past tense (e.g. "My mother tells me my grandmother was a great cook.") and none are ever seen. This strongly implies that they are dead.
- Played For Laughs: Alice tells her parents, "It's a good thing I don't have any grandparents, because you two are all the family I need."
- Played For Drama: Charlie is depressed because he really misses his grandparents. His depression drives him to insanity and eventually causes him to become evil.
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