My personal favorite - The pilot of the jumbo jet has a heart attack, and someone who never saw a cockpit before manages to land the plane perfectly. One season some years back, this was the favorite plot twist - I think I saw it on half a dozen shows…
And how about when someone inadvertently delivers the bad news to a main character… this leads to the inevitable fade-to-black before commercial.
I hate TV…
Look alike bags that are always swapped - antics enuse when someone has to make a presentation with the wrong materials.
Kitchens always have doors. They always swing in/out. Leaves room for basic slapstick at any point in the script.
Court rooms are where characters who are suing eachother make great speeches to stuffy judges who help resolve all family problems with exactly five minutes to go in the show.
Husband forgets: Wife’s B-day, Anniversary, Big Award/Speach, other important event.
Husband is idiot, antics ensue, wife is right, teaches hubby and world a lesson. This is the most common formula.
You know how many shows have a cute kid?
And you know how after a few years, the kid isn’t so cute?
But even so, the writers feel obligated to have an episode
each season about that character?
And you know how, one of those episodes, even though they’ve
never mentioned it before and will never mention it again,
is about the kid being in a rock band?
And you know how they’ll show the band performing in
exactly one scene (often the last scene)?
That’s my favorite scene in all of sit-com-dom.
This was an episode of “Family Ties” years ago, and yes, Michael J. Fox’s character DID shop at the 7-11, giving his family presents of Slim Jims, soda, snack food and the like.
Another one…if the sitcom son goes to college, at some point he will join a fraternity and end up dressed like a woman for a prank.
One of the most cliche scenes is how the kids never get punished. They get “talked to” by their parents, but rarely get grounded or privileges removed. The other day on some show or the other, a kid out-and-out lied to a direct question asked by the parent. Parent searches for lied-about item in kid’s backpack, and lo and behold, there it is! Not one word mentioned about the lie, because a) joke about kid’s rights; b) “bigger” issue of behavior to sibling.
In our house, lying is the ultimate sin. Sit-coms never show any reality towards parenting, even when they’re trying to be “serious”.
No teevee back in the thirties, eh? Read it 'n weep.
Excellent point. I, for one, would like to see the entire cast of BEVERLY HILLS 90201 receive bare-bottom spankings.
Okay, just the girls.
No one’s mentioned this yet – the long-lost twin of a main character shows up. Hilarity ensues.
Our heroes are in a mountain cabin in the winter, and try to dig a tunnel to get out. Hilarity ensues.
This was popular during the cold war: a Russian defector arrives on the scene. Hilarity ensues.
To give themself some status, character will lie and say they know a celebrity; later it will be learned that said celebrity will be in the area, resulting in series of comic hijinks as character tries to prove they DO know celebrity, who goes along with lie after meeting character.
When playing poker, player who has never played before will get all winning hands. If 2 are playing cards and 1 player is fussing about something else or is distracted, the other player will yell at them to sit down and play the game, whereupon distracted player lays down all their cards and announces “Gin”.
1). Any character who is overweight or bald will get put down at every chance by the rest of the cast because of their weight or hairloss to his/her face. And their only reply will be “the frown”.
2). At least one character, usually more, on every show will be in a band.
3). If a character has a catch phrase, then other characters will use it from time to time on the original sayer for comedic effect. Examples:
Ritchie Cunningham - “Sit on it Fonzie!”
Mel - “Flo, kiss my grits!”
Mr. Drummond - “Watch you talkin’ 'bout Arnold?”
It’s not really a cliche in the “clicheick- (is that a word?) writting” sense, but it’s just a general annoying sit-comy element…
Here’s the set-up -
Character A and B are away from the sit-com’s main setting (usually an apartment or house) and are at either at a bar, restaurant, coffeehouse, chili cook-off, etc.
Character B does something silly and embarrassing to character A.
cut to…
Minutes later, characters A and B walk in the sit-com’s main setting and character A will say something that’s oh-so-funny about what character B just did at the (bar, restaurant, coffeehouse, chilli cook-off, etc.).
The main point is… they just spent X amount of minutes together in the car on the way home - they didn’t talk to each other in the car? I guess in sit-com land, people save their witty one-liners until they are safely home.
It’s just something that’s always bugged me.
B_P : Right on. [prime example: Mad About You]
And to expand a little on “the big presentation” mentioned a couple times earlier, let’s not forget this classic set-up:
Main character has “big presentation” to make, say, to a “major client”; something goes wrong (lost materials, briefcase switched, partner critical to the presentation doesn’t show, etc.). Character has to “wing it” and somehow account for unusual/unexpected circumstance. Character does a complete switch-over from originally-planned presentation to an angle altogether different and unique. Typical dialogue:
“Mr. Client, we here at Xyz Company think your company deserves a DIFFERENT APPROACH. Instead of the traditional advertising campaign promoting the product, we think your sales would increase based on your image as a philanthropist”
(In the meantime, character’s boss is fuming, fumbling, and making half-hearted explanations to client). Client interrupts boss and says “Wait, Mr. Boss, I LIKE his ideas! I haven’t seen anything this refreshing for a long time! You’ve got the account!”
Denoument of above scene:
Boss to Character: “Just what exactly HAPPENED in there?”
Character to Boss: “Well, Mr Boss, sometimes you just have to know what the client wants!” (or smug words to that effect)
Think: ‘Bewitched’, ‘I Dream of Jeannie’
Hmm…
Female character will fall in love with male guest character who winds up to be either gay or a priest.
Appliance will break, and male character will insist on fixing it himself, causing greater destruction.
On a Very Special Holiday episode, character won’t be able to buy expensive present, because of a.) a lost job, b.) no Christmas bonus, or c.) a pressing yet unforseen emergency, but will get/make cheap gift to show his love, which is “the best present in the world”
Ooh! Oooh! I almost forgot–presents are always wrapped as box and lid separate, so they’re really easy to open.
The two that really bug me:
Nobody ever finishes a phone conversation with “Goodbye”. All they do is hang up.
The phrase “Let’s get out of here”. I defy you to find a single series where this was never said.
Ooh, I forgot the classic “Person meeting his/her boy/girlfriend’s parents for dinner and wants to make a good impression but makes a fool of him/herself” plot.
How about this:
Parents leave to go out for the evening, leaving the kids alone, usually with some specific thing they’re not supposed to do. Kids get into bizarre situation alone which would result in them getting in Deep Trouble. At the very last moment, they manage to get things pulled together. Parents return, ask how things went, and the kids wink at each other and say “Oh, just great.” Hilarity ensues. Or the parents say “Looks like you had a boring night.” Geh.
Actually, among my circle of friends, we say that a lot…
Anyway… more cliche’s!!
Phones are always placed on an endtable by the couch in the center of the room, never on the wall or in an “out of the way” place. Most often, they’re right beside the couch, which allows a character to glare at someone sitting on said couch when receiving news about their misdeeds.
All kitchens have a little “island” counter in the center, around which arguments and/or other “action” can take place. Also useful for a character to rest his drink on just before delivering a witty comment.
Nope, I refuse to do it.
None of the main characters owns a car with bucket seats. Also, they’ll always end up carpooling with 6 people in the car, with three in front and three in back, and hilarity will ensue.
Nobody owns a monitor bigger than 15". Even rich characters, in modern-day sitcoms, don’t seem to have access to a $150 17" computer monitor. The computer itself is rarely, if ever, turned on, except as a plot device.
The main characters’ kid will inevitably get into a fight at school, resulting in the MC having to give him some fatherly/motherly advice. In the following scene, it’s learned that said advice was used by the MC’s kid to beat up the bully that caused the problem in the first place. MC’s kid gets suspended, and hilarity ensues.
Yeah, and just where are those phones plugged in, anyway? Is the cord under the rug?
And no one ever has a storm door or screen door.
No one has screens on their windows, either.
Kitchens are usually huge and professionally equipped with all the latest appliances.
Everyone has a dishwasher, but there is always a dish drainer on the side, always with plates on it.
The outside ‘establishing shot’ of the house NEVER matches the interior…Brady Bunch, Full House, Happy Days…what else?
For a Halloween episode, if someone irresponsible (Dad, teenager, wacky neighbor) takes the young child trick-or-treating, they will inevitably return with a child dressed EXACTLY like their own child, but upon removing the mask/makeup will find out that it is a different unknown child, usually of the opposite gender, and maybe even a different race. Hilarity ensues as they try to find the right child before Mom gets home.
Anyone attending a Halloween party always has a wonderful (professionally-made) costume.
I was just watching a repeat episode of Frasier in syndication, and saw two that I don’t believe have been mentioned yet within the span of 5 minutes: