tick-tock
n.—Gloss: A chronological recounting of events. «In the convention of the recovery narrative, readers will want to scan past the tick-tock, looking for the yucky part so that they can feel better about themselves.» —“Me and My Girls” by David Carr New York Times July 20, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...
In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds — with Latin names we still use today, like cumulus, cirrus, and stratus. Also: when...
For more on the history of the term, with cites back to 1973, see this post:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0506A&L=ADS-L&P=R458