I always feel like these threads should require people to post two actual examples. The threads seem to always devolve into “They always do this on cops shows–a main character is revealed to have a half-brother who just happens to be the chief suspect in a murder…” I struggle to remember a single example let alone multiple examples making it a trope.
The Johnny Bravo plot- main character is selected to be a pop star due to their “look” not their talent- Examples- Brady Bunch, Perfect Strangers and Friends all used this.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, but I clearly recall the lone juror/Twelve Angry Men scenario I described happening with Edith Bunker and the Fonz–and I think also Aunt Bea, although it may have been someone else in Mayberry.
OK, for mine (character accidentally takes drugs) OTTOMH:
Girls, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood and Six Feet Under (Same actor), Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, TNG (Naked Time), Firefly, House, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, and my favorite: L&O: SVU
For “Back from the Dead” plots, it came up in Babylon 5 (though I think technically he didn’t die, he simply came as close to it as humanly possible thanks to an alien intervention), Stargate (it happened to Daniel Jackson enough that even the redshirts on the show would crack jokes about it), Farscape (multiple villains, more than once, plus at least one of the heroes), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (technically twice on the show’s run, but the first time she was only technically dead for a few seconds before she was revived via CPR), probably others.
The episode you’re thinking of is The Naked Now. The Naked Time was an entirely different episode of Star Trek TOS about the crew getting infected by Polywater. I’m pretty sure both episodes used the same script.
I am very fond of American sitcoms to the exclusion of other TV; however the most fucking annoying plotting from the 90s on involves the extraordinary difficulty American couples in sitcomland have in conceiving children, which includes in vitro, adoption, insemination, sperm banks, carrying another’s children, infertility, vasectomy, childbirth etc. etc… all gruesomely wrapped in emotion , for an act which George Moore pointed out could be achieved in a couple of minutes by a drab and a brute in a back-alley.
See: Drew Carey, Two and a Half Men, Caroline in the City, Friends, Cheers, Frasier, Big Bang Theory, Spin City, Murphy Brown, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Mad About You, Ally McBeal, Mike & Molly amongst others.
The only one, unsurprisingly, to mock this was According To Jim, where Cheryl temporarily convinces Jim that due to his deception with a sperm sample she was pregnant by Andy. Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d have to say: I am not having my brother’s baby.
Ooh! Big Bang Theory hasn’t done this one yet! Wouldn’t it be delicious, Sheldon on a jury? He could try so hard in the voir dire to get himself kicked off, but due to his usual social mis-communication he would end up a solid pick. Then in the jury room, he could be the lone holdout and be so tedious and condescending that everyone would give in to his side just to shut him up, and then he would think of some other point of evidence and change his mind to the other side. The other jurors would then murder him, and cover it up by saying he went home sick.
Hmm, I guess I need to re-think that ending. But they could play with that trope quite a bit.
Roddy
I hate HATE when police procedural shows (I’m lookin’ at you, Law & Order) does the following:
Shows a character’s homelife in anything but a passing moment; I’m interested in the criminal story, not divorces and drunk kids.
A cop/DA (and almost always a female) is kidnapped and her colleagues have to carry out an elaborate rescue plan.
Storylines where a disgruntled arrestee/released prisoner pursues a vendetta against cop/DA. BORING!
Not an annoying storyline per se, but I have difficulty believing that every female DA/ADA in the world is gorgeous. Not just pretty, but model-gorgeous and size 2.
Someone else’s beloved pet dies while in the care of our main character.
… and they have to lie to cover it up! Hilarious!
… and it wasn’t even the protagonist’s fault! Hilarious!
… and they try to replace the pet with an “identical” replacement. Let’s all laugh when the owner doesn’t realize it! Hilarious!
This can also happen by breaking a precious object instead, like a car wreck, or having a dog run away instead of dying. Sometimes it is the main character’s fault, it doesn’t really make a difference.
In other tropes, I like a good heist episode. The two-part Laverne & Shirley heist was a series highlight, which also spoofed/lampshaded the “narrated plan in flash-forward” bit, too.
