# Overused plots in your (otherwise) favorite show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647 "2006-11-09T02:16:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/1 "2006-11-09T02:16:17Z")
I loved Farscape, but there were far too many plots where some alien fungus or the like invades Moya and infects her or her inhabitants, and it boils down to a race against time to thwart the fungus before it completely takes over the ship/inhabitants. What is your least favorite done-to-death plot tropes in your favorite shows? ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/2 "2006-11-09T02:19:29Z")
I am absolutely in love with House M.D. but the show is pretty much the same every time - someone is sick, they can’t figure out what it is, they get worse, somehow House figures out what rare or weird disease it is. There is a bit of variation, but not much. But I am sad when I miss an episode. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/3 "2006-11-09T03:29:45Z")
Not a show, but Spider-Man comics in the 60s always used the same plot: 1. Villain appears and whips Spider-Man. 2. Life shits on Peter Parker. 3. Villain reappears and Spider-Man wins. Sometimes they took two issues to do this. **Doctor Who** , which I love, usually has the same plot: 1. The Doctor lands somewhere. 2. An alien menace is attacking. 3. The Doctor defeats it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/4 "2006-11-09T03:33:49Z")
Well, on “Three’s Company,” they kept using the plot where the landlord thinks Jack is gay, and he really isn’t. Then there was that plot on the “X-Files” where they’re finally about to explain the whole alien conspiracy, and the only person who knows the secret gets killed. Oh, and remember how the castaways on “Gilligans’s Island” were always just about to escape, and then Gilligan did something stupid to screw it up? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/5 "2006-11-09T05:03:43Z")
Lucy wants to be in the show, Ricky won’t let her, so she comes up with some hairbrained scheme to get around him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@The\_Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Octagon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/6 "2006-11-09T05:07:36Z")
I had to stop watching Scrubs because it’s the same damn gushy everyone-comes-to-the-same-empty-generalization-about-life ending every episode. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/7 "2006-11-09T05:13:31Z")
_Star Trek_ went through two of these phases. Early on in TNG, it was: The Enterprise is under threat from some (alien attack/spatial anomaly/horrific malfunction) and young Wesley saves the day, hooray! Then, in the fourth season of Voyager, it was: The Voyager is under threat from some (alien attack/spatial anomaly/horrific malfunction) and Seven of Nine’s nanoprobes save the day, hooray! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/8 "2006-11-09T07:11:19Z")
[QUOTE=Spatial Rift 47] Then, in the fourth season of Voyager, it was: The Voyager is under threat from some (alien attack/spatial anomaly/horrific malfunction) and Seven of Nine’s nanoprobes save the day, hooray! [/QUOTE] Though it’s by no means my favourite, I was thinking about _Voyager_ earlier today, occasioned by seeing Jeri Ryan on a magazine cover. I realized that I’d never really found her attractive, and the clumsy unsubtle way she was thrown at fans was off-putting. The overused recurring plot involving her (and the holographic doctor, and earlier on, Data) was the character spending an entire episode learning how to be human. Not only is this tedious (I’m watching for aliens and sci-fi tech; I already _know_ how to be human), the _version_ of human that was always considered the desirable norm was such a cliché, childish, simplified baby-boomer middle-American stereotype. Apparently being an individual was fine, as long as you were the right _kind_ of individual. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/9 "2006-11-09T07:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=myskepticsight] I am absolutely in love with House M.D. but the show is pretty much the same every time - someone is sick, they can’t figure out what it is, they get worse, somehow House figures out what rare or weird disease it is. There is a bit of variation, but not much. But I am sad when I miss an episode. [/QUOTE] I am always wondering if they will find that ultimate disease, the one they are _always_ searching for, yet never finding: _LUPUS_! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/10 "2006-11-09T15:13:14Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] Well, on “Three’s Company,” they kept using the plot where the landlord thinks Jack is gay, and he really isn’t. [/QUOTE] Three’s Company also used the “someone overhears something and misinterprets it” so much it’s still considered a cliche. And then there’s Timmy, Lassie and that damn well. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/11 "2006-11-09T15:39:53Z")
For a couple of seasons there, it seemed \*Star Trek: TNG \* had only two basic plots: 1) the holodeck goes nuts, and 2) a time paradox screws with the space-time continuum. However, every once in a while the writers would throw in the Emergency Back-Up Plots: 1) Data goes nuts, and 2) Q shows up and screws with the space-time continuum. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/12 "2006-11-09T16:01:57Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Three’s Company also used the “someone overhears something and misinterprets it” so much it’s still considered a cliche. And then there’s Timmy, Lassie and that damn well. [/QUOTE] There was a Friends episode where the tall blonde walks into a room where they’re watching television, sees it’s Three’s Company and asks which episode. Chandler answers, “I think it’s the one where there is some kind of misunderstanding.” Blonde says, “OK, then we don’t need to watch it,” and turns it off. ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/13 "2006-11-09T16:13:40Z")
I was reading the unfilmed _Firefly_ scripts and one of them was remarkably similar to “The Message”: (1) Old war buddy of Mal’s shows up; (2) Buddy gets in trouble with the authorities; (3) Serenity crew gets caught in the middle. I have a feeling that if the show had gone on longer, that formula would have gotten a lot of workouts. Also, _Law & Order_ episodes where they prosecute some corporate executive for indirectly causing a crime-- the blood diamonds episode, the fast food sickness episode, the HMO episode, etc. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/14 "2006-11-09T17:18:58Z")
There’s pretty much the entire Dragonball series. Goku meets a new invincible seeming challenger. Goku’s buddies try to fight the new challenge and lose. Goku fights and is losing. Goku suddenly gets more powerful/figures out how to do something new. Goku wins and the challenger joins him, and from that point on can’t fight worth a crap. Rinse, repeat. Of course it never happened in a single episode, usually about 12. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/15 "2006-11-09T17:23:00Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] Well, on “Three’s Company,” they kept using the plot where the landlord thinks Jack is gay, and he really isn’t. [/QUOTE] Same show, different plot device: Jack and one of the roommates behind closed doors, doing something innocuous (like rearranging the bed). The other roommate is listening in on the other side of the door: “Oh, put it right there, Jack!” “You like that?” “Yes!” _and etc_ ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/16 "2006-11-09T17:25:24Z")
Whereas my most overused SDMB plot device is posting something that’s already been mentioned. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/17 "2006-11-09T17:29:50Z")
Sam gets choked an awful lot on _Supernatural_. (Of course, he’s very sexy while it’s happening, so it’s all good.) And then, my top hated plot device: Kim’s in peril (again? Must be Tuesday) on _24_. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/18 "2006-11-09T17:31:17Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Three’s Company also used the “someone overhears something and misinterprets it” so much it’s still considered a cliche. And then there’s Timmy, Lassie and that damn well. [/QUOTE] Let’s not forget the cruel monotony that was watching [Halvsie](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=51807) run around in circles for 30 minutes _every_ episode. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/19 "2006-11-09T17:39:38Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] And then there’s Timmy, Lassie and that damn well. [/QUOTE] But that led to the classic Seinfeld bit where Kramer is acting like a dog and barks out that there’s trouble at the Old Mill Restaurant. Having never seen Lassie, I wouldn’t have appreciated the Seinfeld bit without the cliche being part of common usage. I was happy when Criminal Minds broke the cliche of “the team finding the hostages at the last possible minute before anything really goes wrong” a couple weeks ago when the show actually had one of the hostages dying as the kidnapper wanted. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647/20 "2006-11-09T17:44:21Z")
Anyone remember \*\*_Kung Fu[_/B]? He walks into town, meets girl, gets in a fight, kicks everyone’s ass, walks out of town (intermix with various “snatch the pebble from my hand” flashbacks)… Every week. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overused-plots-in-your-otherwise-favorite-show/379647.md?page=2)