# The Ultimate Sitcom - One Cliche at a Time! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612 "2003-03-02T18:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/1 "2003-03-02T18:44:06Z")
He’s a heavy blue-collar worker who talks tough but has a heart of gold! She’s a modern woman with a quick wit and a heart of gold! …your turn… ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/2 "2003-03-02T18:51:52Z")
And that’s when the wacky neighbor next door walks and starts raiding their fridge! ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/3 "2003-03-02T18:58:11Z")
The show is a hit, but then after a few years, the cute kids are not so cute any more, so they add some lame plot twist that allows them to add some “adorable” little Cousin Oliver type to the cast. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/4 "2003-03-02T19:04:49Z")
Week long vacations always turn into a wacky adventure, what with kids or luggage getting lost, the rental car being too small or getting stuck in a ghost town! ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/5 "2003-03-02T19:08:07Z")
A **must see episode** for the entire family. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/6 "2003-03-02T19:10:38Z")
The funniest thing on TV since (insert random mid-season replacement show here)! ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/7 "2003-03-02T19:14:30Z")
And in a very special episode, Gordon Jump or Angela Lansbury or Al Roker or Howard Hesseman or the members of KISS play a homeless person or a racist or a sexual pervert or someone’s old army buddy with a terrible secret or the members of KISS ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/8 "2003-03-02T19:23:38Z")
The wacky next door neighbor is always joking and complaining about his wife but…get this…the audience never sees her! Get it? They hear about her but they never see her! Oh, and the guy’s boss at work is intimidating and blustery on the surface, but underneath is a decent guy. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/9 "2003-03-02T19:25:35Z")
Let’s not forget that heart-warming holiday episode, where the husband falls off the ladder while complaining about staple-gunning X lights to the house. While he’s passed out, he has a heart-warming vision that is uncannily similar to (yet not so uncanny as to be not heart-warming) _A Christmas Carol_, with himself cast as Scrooge, the Cousin Oliver-esque fake kid as the Ghost of Christmas Past, the wacky yet heart-warming neighbor as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the members of KISS as the members of KISS. Naturally, he wakes up without sustaining any serious injury (which would be non-heart-warming) just in time to make this The Very Best Christmas Ever, full of gifts and food and pointed barbs about how his mother-in-law is a demented hag. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/10 "2003-03-02T19:35:18Z")
> [@](#): > > And that’s when the wacky neighbor next door walks **YEAH! WOO HOO! CLAP CLAP CLAP! WOO! CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP! YEAH! CLAP CLAP CLAP WOO-WEE! CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP! CLAP!** > [@](#): > > and starts raiding their fridge! ---
**Author:** ![Fiat\_Lux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Fiat\_Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiat_Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/11 "2003-03-02T20:25:58Z")
By the second or third season, everyone complains about how unfunny it’s gotten, although they keep watching for the next six seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/12 "2003-03-02T20:29:40Z")
…an episode where they learn the _true meaning_ of Christmas – with hilarious consequences! ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/13 "2003-03-02T20:35:10Z")
A family member walks into a room halfway thru a conversation and overhears that someone was “not going to last much longer” and thinks “x” is going to die orpeople are plotting “x”'s death and crazy antics ensue. At the end of the episode she is informed that they meant that the leftover meatloaf was what wasn’t going to last and they needed to “Get rid of it”. WALKA WALKA WALKA!! ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/14 "2003-03-02T21:47:30Z")
And when all the viewers discuss the episode at the water-cooler next day, all they can remember is main character’s amusing, dependable catchphrase. ---
**Author:** ![kka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kka)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/15 "2003-03-02T22:30:18Z")
There is an escalating degree of sexual tension between two of the main characters, but they refuse to act on it. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/16 "2003-03-02T22:57:00Z")
Not to mention the crazy with a capital K episode where the two main characters have to switch roles. The husband has a terrible time trying to take care of the house (burns the food, the laundry overflows, loses “Oliver” at the mall)… the wife gets really overwhelmed with some kind of manual labor and gets dirt on her face. Eventually they realize they both have difficult jobs. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/17 "2003-03-02T23:18:33Z")
Wife and mother-in-law must hate one another. There has to be an episode–possibly the holiday one–where the two come to some sort of short-lived understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/18 "2003-03-02T23:21:42Z")
That will take place during the obligatory annual Christmas epidsode of course. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/19 "2003-03-02T23:41:08Z")
Don’t go in the kicthen! That’s Urlack’s spaceship. And you thought he was just the cook! Watch the hilarity unfold. ---
**Author:** ![Fiat\_Lux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Fiat\_Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiat_Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612/20 "2003-03-02T23:42:07Z")
There is one gay male character. Although his orientation is often referred to and causes the occasional hilarious misunderstanding, he never, ever has a partner. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-sitcom-one-cliche-at-a-time/158612.md?page=2)