I agree that that can be a cliche but I don't think the intent is to suggest that the story is going great but more about how we observe our existence through the medium of mediums, we walk about and imagine a soundtrack (if we don't have one on our ipod) we see a great view and we imagine the camera panning along it, we meet an interesting person and we see them as a character in a novel rather than a person.

Often done very clumsily I agree but with our increasingly more and more media saturated world such cliches are more and more accurate and realistic in describing our lives, what I'd like is for people to find new and exciting ways to express this.
 

It isn't even always in dialog. Sometimes it's in the narrative. Like this:

The whole situation was so amazing, it was like something out of a science fiction film, but Bill knew it was really happening to him.

I hate it when people do this. It throws me right straight out of the book.
 

Sometimes It's used as a cheat to get past what I call The Disbelief Turnstile, ie that part in the story where your character has to believe something is actually happening and isn't a dream /a con/ a symptom of madness. The turnstile's horribly necessary but very tedious, especially in shows where a character is helping different people with their weird abilities each week and has to convince them in different ways every time. Drawing attention to the weirdness of it sometimes allows you to dismiss this bit for some reason.
 

Ooh, that's a good phrase. Can I add it to the Lexicon next time I update? (Full credit to you, obviously.)
 

But of course. Might want to give it a new title as I'm not sure if it's really a turnstile, as several people can go through it simultaneously.
 

I like turnstile, it's nice and clear. :-)