RE: Grandma’s Secret Recipie episodes
Taxi did that when Latka was willed a cookie recipie. Its secret ingredient was so good that Alex wrote an opera overnight, Elaine found Alex’s ear fascinating, Tony wrestled with a coke machine, and Famous Amos entered Latka’s dream on a flying harness.
And Jim analyzed the cookie contents by crumbling, sniffing and listening to them. He expertly narrowed the source down to the side of one mountain in Columbia. Before the rainy season.
Musicat’s description of one of my favorite “Taxi” episodes (of which there are at least two dozen), shows why they keep mining these old plot threads. When you get a talented crew at work, they find a way of making it hysterical.
On the other hand, reading through this thread reminded me of just how many sitcoms I watched in my life. That’s depressing.
How about the ubiquitous ice-fishing episode? Offhand, I can think of half a dozen (Frasier, Home Improvement, That 70’s Show, Yes Dear, Family Matters) and I am sure there are more. Does staging a show in a small room over a hole in the ice present such irresistable comic possibilities that no writer can resist?
“The Waltons” also did this. It wasn’t Gradma exactly, but a couple of old ladies in town had this secret recipe for some drink. Turns out the secret ingridient was whisky, and John Boy gets drunk.
I think the purpose is for the characters, whom have almost always been fighting before fishing, to get closer.
No, “The Recipie” didn’t INCLUDE whisky, it WAS bootleg whisky. These two dear old ladies had received “The Recipie” from their beloved father, and never quite realized it was illegal.
On further reflection, a correction to my own post: Elaine found Louie’s ear fascinating :eek: and Tony wrestled with a coffee vending machine. Accuracy counts. 
RE: ice fishing episode
Grumpy Old Men. Taxi also had the “camping in the wilderness” version.
Although these don’t belong in this thread – none of them make me cringe & wince, just the opposite.
I should learn not to post about episodes that were on the TV as background noise. 
On rereading this thread, I think that almost every one of these standard sitcom plots can be brilliant, when handled by a good writer (writing by committee almost always produces mediocrity) and performed by a talented cast. The pot-brownie episode of Barney Miller is wonderful:
Barney: “Have these analyzed.” Harris starts eating one “Not that way!”
Barney: “Harris, go home until you’re feeling better” Harris: “I’ll go home, Barney, but I ain’t never going to feel no better.”
Yes, but it was totally consistent with their characters. Did you really expect Marie to **not **interfere with the ceremony? Especially knowing what she’s capable of, from the “FBI Interview” episode.
What really bothers me about “Raymond” is why Debra married him in the first place. Sure, he’s cute and funny and a good provider, but obviously she could have done so much better than marrying someone who’s so clueless and insensitive. But I have to admit that the contrast is part of what makes the show funny. If we’re looking for total realism, we wouldn’t be watching TV.
And I don’t care what anyone thinks, I love the episodes with his cousin, Gerard.
slight hijack
University of Maryland, Collage Park Campus, elected a king (Monarchist party) to head the student government. His campaign promises included building a moat around the campus and filling it with beer.
/slight hijack
ALL of them, most especially the ones with laugh tracks. Put an “h” between the “s” and the “i” in sitcom.
But done with a twist, as Kylie turns up instead. In fact, the joke itself is that the villagers try to convince ‘cousin Reg’ that they weren’t really expecting Elton John at all.
I know what you mean, however, In defence of the switcheroo, I present episode 7 of Fawlty Towers - Communication Problems - (Synopsis:Mrs. Richards, a deaf, crotchetty, incoherent old nag, misplaces some money and insists that it was stolen. Basil is in possession of a similar sum of money that is the result of a bet on the horses, but he wishes to keep Sybil from finding out, so he entrusts the money to the absent-minded major; switcheroo-style hijinks ensue)
However, the whole idea of Fawlty Towers was to induce cringing and wincing…
And I thought the reference to it in the “Mentor” episode of Seinfeld was good, too. What with Bania striking comic gold with his “risk management” material.
I hate to admit this but I was watching a rerun of the Fresh Prince a day or so ago and I thought of this thread. In my defense I only saw part of it. It was the very special racial profiling episode. When I flipped by Will and his cousin are in a holding cell. Apparently they have already used their “one” phone call and are stuck there. Will finds out that his uncle is somewhere watching a football game with his old college buddies or something. Will has a great idea. Next it cuts to the uncle watching the game when it is suddenly interupted with a special news braodcast. The reporter says the police have two suspects in custody who confessed to being the car theives who have been stealing from the area. Of course the reporter is there at the police station and puts the two “theives” on camera. WTF? CBS just fired a producer for cutting into a broadcast because Arafat died. When was the last time you saw anything preempted for news that a car thief was arrested?
I’m sure its been mentioned but the one that used to send me screaming from the room : Character A is playing with handcuffs and snaps them on B’s wrist and his own. Neither one has keys, no one else has keys, OWNER of cuffs (if present) has no keys. B has an important meeting, date, whatever sohe has to drag A along with him and try to be casual while arm is hanging over back of a booth or under a table etc…
All of which could be prevented by A. a trip to a locksmith or B. a trip to Home Depot and a pair of bolt cutters!
Eddie: You mean to tell me you could have gotten out of those handcuffs at any time?
Roger Rabbit: No. Only when it was funny!
My So-Called Life had a quite good episode about this. The characters were trying to think their way out of it, but it took time to try out their solutions. First of all, they knew the key wasn’t in the house, so they tried various substitutes, none of which worked. Locksmith was out of their price range, and would have attracted too much attention. Home Depot and bolt cutters didn’t even occur to them, probably because they were teenagers, and therefore not conditioned to think that way. (Though nothing apparently stopped that one girl’s BF from going to Le Sex Shoppe for a replacement key! Was he of age? I don’t remember.) Finally, they took the bed apart, which at least freed the captive, and when the parents came home, they managed to snag the key and undo the handcuffs.
Absolutely anything that happens in The Office. David Brent, and everything he does just makes me feel hopelessly embarrased. I have not yet been able to bear a full episode, and think I have laughed once, the humour just goes straight over my head.