# Name and Exemplify Sitcom Syndromes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218 "2005-08-16T04:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/221 "2005-09-10T12:40:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Also know as “The Cybill Shepherd Syndrome.” I think that was first known as “Fonzieism” (I’m so glad this thread is back!) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/222 "2005-09-10T15:46:59Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > I think that was first known as “Fonzieism” > > (I’m so glad this thread is back!) Darn, you beat me too it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/223 "2005-09-10T17:21:11Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A female version, I should add, is Chrissy from _Three’s Company_ or Jennifer from _WKRP_. Both are attractive women, but neither is going to cause an invasion of Troy anytime soon. Seems to be more a ‘Loni Anderson’ thing than a ‘Jennifer’ thing. Recently saw her on Match Game, from just before WKRP (she was there promoting its premier the monday following her appearances), and all the men there (save Charles, unsurprisingly) - Gene, Maclean Stevenson, and Gary Burghoff - were falling all over themselves for her. I agree Loni’s cute-but-nothing-special, but the inflated sense of her beauty seems to be her deal, in general. > [@monstro](#): > > When George Jefferson was on _All in the Family_, he was serious, prim-and-proper man and Louise Jefferson was demure and sugary-sweet. But once they moved up to the eastside, George became more of a buffoon character and Louise became more domineering. George was always a buffoon. He was Archie, except black. And I think the change in Weezie is more a matter of who she’s with than a change with getting their own show - she was always like that with George (and usually Archie), but she was really nice with Edith, who she dealt with more (that we the audience saw). Without Edith around, the louder Weezie became the dominant one. To use a Jeffersons example, I think Lionel became a lot less sarcastic when the Jeffersons moved on up. Although, actually, that might also be more getting away from Archie (a good target) and Mike (a willing audience) than anything else. I can’t remember him ever laying into his dad. **You Time Travelled For That!?** - Minor props or references in period shows will often be terribly anachronistic. Sometimes closer to when it was filmed than when it was set. Sometimes these anachronisms will center around a single character. Radar on MASH being the biggest example. He’d occasionally mention having movies that wouldn’t have been out in the Korean war, like [Son of Godzilla](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000039LT/002-2847524-2908863?v=glance), and in one episode, a copy of [Avengers #60](http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=22462) open in his lap as he slept. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/224 "2005-09-10T23:08:44Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > Which reminds me of: > > **You Must Really Run Up the Phone Bill Talking Like That** - The syndrome where a person using a phone repeats everything the person on the other line says (for the benefit of the viewer). E.G.- “What’s that? You say you are going to the movies? Which one? (silence) Gone With the Wind. That’s an excellent film. Who is going with you? (silence) Eric, Steve and Susan make for excellent company!” Bob Newhart raised that to a real art form – it was his trademark schtick as a standup comic, before he ever went on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/225 "2005-09-11T07:48:06Z")
**The We Sell the World’s Most Expensive Coffee Syndrome** One of the characters has a cafeteria or bar where all the rest of the characters hang out, but the only customers seem to be the show’s other main characters. One wonders how they stay in business. [see Becker and Wings]. **The Goldilocks Syndrome** Somehow two characters end up in bed without any noticing the other is in bed, or that they got in bed with the wrong person. [too many examples, but I am thinking Golden Girls and The Nanny off the top of my head]. **The Night of the Living Dead syndrome/Am I in heaven? Syndrome** Everybody thinks one of the main character has died (or maybe the character him/herself thinks so). Much hilarity ensues. [Golden Girls did both]. > [@Sampiro](#): > > and one more: > > **The Janet Trego Syndrome** - when TV and reality combine too much and you can’t enjoy a scene because you know what happened later to the actor or actress. Named for the secretary on _Beverly Hillbillies_ played by Sharon Tate, it can also apply to any episode of _Facts of Life_ with Dana Plato, the [Heather O’Roarke](http://imdb.com/name/nm0001576/) episodes of _Happy Days_ or [David Strickland’s](http://imdb.com/name/nm0834362/) episodes of _Suddenly Susan_ (not that you’d be likely to be enjoying that show anyway). Also see 8 Simple Rules. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/226 "2005-09-11T07:58:18Z")
Ah, I was forgetting **The Wayback Syndrome** One or more episodes where the characters remember things that happened in many other episodes. Also known as **We Couldn’t Come Up with a Script for this Week Syndrome**. [Seinfeld, Golden Girls, The Nanny, etc., etc., etc.] ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/227 "2005-09-11T08:00:23Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Ah, I was forgetting > > **The Wayback Syndrome** > One or more episodes where the characters remember things that happened in many other episodes. Also known as **We Couldn’t Come Up with a Script for this Week Syndrome**. [Seinfeld, Golden Girls, The Nanny, etc., etc., etc.] I hate those kind of flashback episodes with the firey passion of a thousand suns! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/228 "2005-09-11T08:09:38Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > I think this one may qualify as a different category then: > > **OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND** - When a cast member leaves (often to do movies) and though they were a huge part of the characters’ lives, they are rarely,if ever, mentioned again. Fortunately a new, SIMILIAR character will magically appear to fill that void. Reminds me of Star Trek: Voyager. Kes left the ship, and despite running into a situation(the year of hell) that she experienced while time jumping, nobody ever sees fit to mention they once had a “KES” on the ship. Not even an offhand reference. Though later they suddenly remembered who she was when she appeared a couple years later. I believe they got 7 of 9 around the same time Kes left. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/229 "2005-09-11T08:30:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > **WE-ALL-EAT-IN-A-HUDDLE SYNDROME** –No matter how big the table, the characters always eat on one side in a space that is coincidentally just narrow enough for the camera lens. “All In The Family” was a prime exaple. I believe this could also be called LAST SUPPER SYNDROME, as created by Da Vinci. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/230 "2005-09-11T08:42:50Z")
> [@Mehitabel](#): > > Also a few more cliches that haven’t been mentioned yet: > > **Look, Look, We’re Making Fun of Our Own Network, Oooh Edgy!** Occasionally Al would turn onto something on Fox, sneer, and change the channel, bad shows were always on Fox (‘Naturally!’ remarked Peg) and of course there was the immortal call “Fox viewing positions!” and the family members would grab wires, coat hangers, etc. and hold onto each other and the furniture to see what was often a high-UHF station in those mostly pre-cable days. **NewsRadio** also did this, although more in the promos than in the shows–I remember one where they were racing around a giant calendar like chess pieces to mock how pre-empted and moved around the poor show was. > . The Simpsons has done this quite a bit, though usally not that expressivly. Though I have a fondness for a line in particulary: [The family is berating lisa for standing up for what she believes in a bit too much] Bart: We had to march in that Gay Pride Parade. \*Homer: (in a condescending voice) Yeah, and we can’t watch Fox, because they own those Chemical Weapons plants in Syria! \* ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/231 "2005-09-11T14:35:32Z")
The Simpsons have had a field day making fun of many of these conventions throughout its run. I remember once Homer went off on one of his tangents and Lenny asks Carl, “Does he even work here any more?” I think Lenny responded: “I think the answer is obvious.” The unmentioned past exploits shtick has been mocked: Homer in one episode (where the school gets snowed in) shows no sign of knowing he had ever been Mr. Plow even though he is wearing a “Mr. Plow” jacket at the time. The Now You See 'Em/Now You Don’t character syndrome has been used/mocked several times, most notably in which Homer becomes the voice of Poochi, a new character on the Itchy & Scratchy series who just doesn’t work out. There was also a Treehouse of Horror ep where Bart turns out to have had a twin bother. And Homer’s dead mother who turns out to be alive. And I seem to remember an episode where Bart and Lisa are gone for a time and when they come back they find a new kid living in the Simpson’s house who gets chased off in short order, never to be seen again. Trip to Vegas has been used, with Homer and Flanders getting married while there – togh th be fair, the Vegas wives showed up in a subsequent and VERY funny episode. Basically, I think the Simpsons writers have realized that they can use ANY of the plot devices if they also mock the hell out of them when they do. And boy have they been good at that. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/232 "2005-09-11T14:41:42Z")
How About These?: 1. The “We Never Have Flying Insects Here” Syndrome–Rarely do you see screen doors or or window screens on TV houses. Even on houses supposedly set in places where you never get a good winter-kill of flies or mosquitoes, like Florida. 2. The “It Gets Cold Here But We Have An Infinite Utility Budget” Syndrome-- People who live in NYC, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alaska, etc. have no storm windows or storm doors. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/233 "2005-09-11T14:44:34Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > or or . Stutter-finger Syndrome! ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/234 "2005-09-11T15:25:47Z")
What is the rule to describe “same character played by a totally different actor/actress?” This happen with Will’s aunt on the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. And I really hate those clip shows. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/235 "2005-09-11T15:29:26Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > The Now You See 'Em/Now You Don’t character syndrome There was also a Treehouse of Horror ep where Bart turns out to have had a twin bother. And Homer’s dead mother who turns out to be alive. And I seem to remember an episode where Bart and Lisa are gone for a time and when they come back they find a new kid living in the Simpson’s house who gets chased off in short order, never to be seen again. I don’t think the Halloween episodes are suppose to be considered canon to the series. I tjink the episodes with Homer’s mom were good. And which episodes has Bart and Lisa finding a new kid in their home? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218/236 "2005-09-11T19:56:38Z")
> [@BluePitbull](#): > > I don’t think the Halloween episodes are suppose to be considered canon to the series. I tjink the episodes with Homer’s mom were good. > And which episodes has Bart and Lisa finding a new kid in their home? You’re right, treehouse isn’t canon, but I don’t think the Simpson take canon real seriously. Remember the ep I mentioned where Homer was Poochi’s voice and was a speaker along with the rest of the cast, and all the, uh, attendees were peppering them with questions about inconsistencies on the show, and Homer gave ‘em a good rant? I think that might express the writers’ feelings on that topic. As for which episode … don’t remember. It wasn’t a major plot point, IIRC. Might have been the one where they go off to military school. Or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-and-exemplify-sitcom-syndromes/317218.md?page=11)