# Ripped off sitcom plots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202 "2005-11-15T19:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/21 "2005-11-16T16:56:48Z")
The 1950s sitcom _I Married Joan_ had a plot where Joan couldn’t resist opening her husband’s mail. Eventually she opened a package addressed to him, which contained a self-inflating life raft. Which led to the 1960s sitcom _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ where Laura couldn’t resist opening her husbands mail – leading to a package which contained a self-inflating life raft. By the time _WKRP in Cincinnatti_ came along in the 1970s, the writers had dispensed with the setup, leaving Mr. Carlson alone to open his own self-inflating life raft. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/22 "2005-11-16T17:20:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > The 1950s sitcom _I Married Joan_ had a plot where Joan couldn’t resist opening her husband’s mail. Eventually she opened a package addressed to him, which contained a self-inflating life raft. > > Which led to the 1960s sitcom _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ where Laura couldn’t resist opening her husbands mail – leading to a package which contained a self-inflating life raft. > > By the time _WKRP in Cincinnatti_ came along in the 1970s, the writers had dispensed with the setup, leaving Mr. Carlson alone to open his own self-inflating life raft. which Klinger also did (but I can’t recall if the CO was Potter or Blake) ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/23 "2005-11-16T17:31:17Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > Not a sitcom, but once when I was sick and had to watch local TV all day (ugh), I watched an episode of ‘Police Woman’ where the baddies kidnap the bank president’s family in their own house and make him go there and get money to ensure their safety. > Police Woman caught the baddies and all was well with the world. > > A few hours of boredom later, I got to watch the same plot again. Except this time it was TJ Hooker at the helm! They caught the baddies and William Shatner held forth loudly and proudly on the consequences of crime. Life _is_ stranger than fiction! This actually happened here in my county a couple of years ago; I took the 911 call after the crooks left the bank manager’s house. And we caught the baddies by the end of the day. 🙂 Back on topic, didn’t “The Munsters” frequently re-use “Leave it to Beaver” scripts? ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/24 "2005-11-16T17:59:06Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I was watching a sitcom about ten years ago (I don’t recall the name) when Melissa Ethridge/Jill Sobule/Ani DiFranco were all big on the charts. The show had a female singer, who was straight, being seen by a big record company executive, who liked her music and offered her a big contract. But it became clear the executive thought the singer was a lesbian. So to keep her record deal, the singer decided to pretend she was gay. And I was thinking to myself, “I guess there are new sitcom plots - this never would have happened to Lucy.” it was What I like About You with Jenny Garth and that Bines girl ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/25 "2005-11-16T20:23:06Z")
Again not a sitcom duo, but I mentioned on another thread about the rehash of _Bonanza_ plots on _Little House on the Prairie_- same side characters and everything. One was about some orphans being split up, another was about a dying prize fighter, another about yet another ill prize fighter- even the episode in which Laura is helped by an angelic Ernest Borgnine was derived partially from a _Bonanza_ episode. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/26 "2005-11-16T21:21:29Z")
_Saved by the Bell_ LOVED having its male stars dress in drag and suddenly NO ONE, noit even their best friends who see them day in day out for years, can recognize them. I can think of at least one episode where Zach did it, and at least one where Screch did it, though I’m certain there must be at least another where Screech did, and maybe other episodes where someone else did, too. Oh, and the teenage whiz kid who can build amazing technological wonders that our best scientists and engineers can’t. Screech, from the aforementioned _Saved by the Bell_ had a robot with AI that governemnts would kill for, that nerdy kid from _Ste by Step_ built several things, most notable a perfect lie detector, and Urkel from _Family Matters_ had some kind of machine or potion that eliminated his nerdiness and turned him into ‘Stephan.’ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202/27 "2005-11-17T00:23:03Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > no - the point of the BJ version is to show he was more than just a Trapper substitute - Mike Farrell commented as such in a PBS special on M_A_S\*H That may be why they did the episode, but the message within the episode itself was as I said. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > One example is the “Our Hero/Heroine Gets Audited” I recall seeing this on several shows in the late 1960s/early 1970s, but I haven’t seen it on any shows in ages. _Designing Women_ did a “Julia gets audited” episode in the 80s but put a twist on it by having the auditor be a man Julia had publicly humiliated in an earlier episode, and later bringing back the same auditor when Suzanne had tax problems of her own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripped-off-sitcom-plots/331202.md?page=1)