Michael’s shared an utterly fascinating link on television and media tropes, and one of the better pages is for Writer on Board:
Obvious authorial intrusion. When the characters start behaving like idiots or against their previously established characterization because the writer damn well needs them to in order to tell his story.
May also occur when a character is accused of being used just to show a particular POV, and not because he actually has it.
A play on “Baby on Board”.
Examples:
* Pretty much the entire sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer had the characters (particularly Buffy and Spike) changing opinions, morality and emotions depending on who was writing the episode that week. For example, one week Buffy is shown to be trapping lovelorn Spike in an abusive relationship. Then next, he’s preying on an emotionally damaged Buffy…
Yes, yes, yes! Thank you! (Longtime readers will know I have a serious issue with Season Six of Buffy, and that I will wince and run from Marti Noxon when at all possible because of it. In fact, I think I blame Noxon for this last season of Grey’s Anatomy…)