The character who constantly insults everyone around him, and his denegration passes for witty commentary.
The most recent “30 Rock” had a bunch of these. Jack had a double who acted in a telenovella. Liz opened her neighbor’s mail and pretended to like what he liked to get close to him. Etc. Cliche-city.
You can also watch any episode of “Extras” for a long list of done-to-death tropes. (And any single episode is enough.)
That was Nickelodeon! Not that the channel is any better today.
Someone overhearing an innocent conversation and thinking it’s about sex.
Heh. I really love the Simpsons ep that spoofs it–the spin off show case with Love Matic Grandpa. So many horrible cliches skewered.
Millit–Ah, Pete and Pete. Truly a show ahead of its time.
A situation where the actors in the sit-com perform a TV commercial or some other acting gig - and they are terrible. Wooden, over the top horrible acting.
Reno 911 does this every episode, but in a way that makes fun of the other shows doing it. Like the one they tell people how not to get shot by law enforcement.
The lowest man on the totem pole who tells the folks back home that he’s actually the boss. When his folks show up he runs around pretending to be boss - must included a high-lar-ious scene where the low guy shouts orders to a perplexed authority figure.
Yeah, Nick was all I ever had, since Disney was a pay channel. I’m kind of amazed at the Disney Channel though, for switching over to being basic cable while remaining free of commercials. That is, commercials that actually look like regular commercials. They support themselves simply by promoting Disney. It’s kind of wild, if you think about it. They’ve done some things really, really right.
The price is kind of frightening, however. Pete and Pete would have sucked away my soul too, if I could have watched it six times on TV, eaten my Pete and Pete breakfast crereal, put on my Pete and Pete outfit, played with my Pete and Pete dolls, gone to see the Pete and Pete movie (in 3-D!), then slipped into my Pete and Pete pajamas and fallen asleep on my Pete and Pete sheets. The next day, Pete and Repeat…
Anyway, sorry about the hijack.
Someone already mentioned this, in a way, but “It’s funny because he/she sleeps around a lot! Hahaha!” has worn out its welcome. Plain old sluttiness isn’t necessarily a moral failing, but it certainly isn’t the laugh riot that TPTB seem to think it is.
The Boss as a Jungian archtype of the Tyrant-Father. Another one that needs to be retired not because it isn’t occasionaly funny or even true IRL, but simply because every possible situation that can be done with it has been done a thousand times, going back to Chaplin’s Modern Times.
Yes, the classic Three’s Company moment. From, you know, like, every freaking episode.
Aside: I was very (very!) young when that show was on, and had no reference for most of the gags. Was Mr. Farley gay?
I saw that a couple of years ago, does anyone know what happened to her?
Oh God, yes. Oh please, yes. Oh please, please, please put this to bed.
Isn’t that funny? If someone reads my post and doesn’t know the context, they’ll think I’m talking about sex!
It isn’t funny in sitcoms either.
Saw this one AGAIN last night… the door’s locked and there are people in there? Oh, let me hit it with my shoulder! Ow! Let me hit it with my shoulder really hard! Ow! Let me run up to the door, OH they opened it! I’ll keep running into the room because of my awesome momentum I built up in the 4 ft. hallway!
<<yawn>>
Although, to be fair, that was the set-up for a really pretty funny Welcome Back, Kotter and they got locked in the egyptian exhibit at the musem. But then… it may have been fresh 30+ years ago and could still be a candidate for “retirement”!
That reminds me: Being locked in a closet/furnace room/whatever. I suppose there are *some *places where the door locks from the outside and you can’t get out (I mean *other *than jails which are *supposed *to behave that way) - but I can’t recall *ever *seeing one.
Yeah, but since it was 30 Rock it was cliched, but funny… “Pediatric Restless Leg Syndrome.”
Mr. Furley? No, he was just an awkward nerd. He wanted to be a swinger, but he was an awkward nerd. Awkward nerds don’t get laid on TV unless it’s through a wacky plot involving the rest of the cast.
-Joe