Inspired by the similar thread about movies.
**There’s always room for one more.[/b/]
A sitcom family discovers a previously unmentioned attic or garage room when they need to make room for another character.
Well, there are the pregnancy cliches, which I think I mentioned on another thread but here it goes again:
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The baby will be born at the worst time and place (traffic jam, stalled elevator)
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Teenage putz screwup redeems himself by delivering baby and thereby proving he is MATURE and RESPONSIBLE.
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Labor only takes ten minutes and involves little pain and no blood loss. No baby is ever premature, deformed, or presenting bass ackwards. Sometimes babies even emerge from the womb with an entire set of baby clothes!
Other cliches: If a man and his wife argue the wife is always right and the man is always the jerk. The man will learn this lesson in the end.
And anyone who comes into some money and uses it for their material betterment will suffer unfortunate calamities, lose both money and material goods, and then learn that what counts most in life is having family/friends who really like to hug you.
In anything remotely like a sit-com, even the ones with some pretensions to drama, where characters are walking by water, verily, one or all shall become very wet indeed.
O splashy splashy! O originality!
Oh, honey. I’m HOME!
There is a misunderstanding. Wacky antics ensue.
A character’s parents-in-law will visit: they will be weird, flakey, and the character will crack jokes about them causing stern looks from their spouse.
A character lies about how well s/he’s doing (e.g. he’s not just a paralegal, he’s the head of the law firm, or not just a mailroom clerk but a top executive) to a relative in another city, then has to quickly beef up the illusion when said relative comes to visit, but ultimately the truth comes out and the relative couldn’t be prouder. (THREE’S COMPANY, LOVE BOAT)
A character who was sexy when young is terrified because s/he is now overweight and out of shape and has to meet an old rival. The rival arrives and, guess what, s/he’s overweight and out of shape too! (ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS did the meanest but funniest twist on the “reunion” cliche ever.) (LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, FAMILY MATTERS, that godawful Suzanne Somers/Patrick Duffy show)
A character is thrilled to have a date with the boy/girl of his dreams, only to remember that s/he has another date the same night. Hilarity ensues. (Exeption: on QUEER AS FOLK, two dates in one night isn’t usually played for comedy or seen as a problem.) (BRADY BUNCH, HAPPY DAYS, BLOSSOM)
A character is in love with a gorgeous person but ignores the attentions of a Plain Jane/Jim. Later the gorgeous person turns out to be a conceited ass and character winds up with the Plain Jane/Jim, who really is sweet and good, though they’re never seen in any subsequent episodes. (THREE’S COMPANY, BRADY BUNCH, BLOSSOM)
Family adopts a cute kid about the time their youngest child is no longer a cute kid. (GROWING PAINS, MARRIED WITH CHILDREN [who resolved it hilariously in a future episode], BRADY BUNCH].)
People inadvertently think that a female castmember is pregnant. The subsequent misunderstandings compound the confusion by making it seem like she doesn’t know who the father is and will be a terrible mother. (all of them)
If the show is predominantly white, then the main character will try to prove to a black co-worker that he is not racist despite many coincidental mishaps that give the impression that he is.
If the show is predominantly black, then the main character will try to prove to a white co-worker that he is not a “gangsta thug” that will try to mug him despite many coincidental mishaps that give the impression that he is.
This might be a slight hijack, but I’ll include it anyway as it’s related. There are a few syndromes that some shows suffer from that occur so much they’re cliche:
the- BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAID EARLIER syndrome- a character makes a comment that directly contradicts what you’ve already learned about a character (among many instances, in some episodes of THE JEFFERSONS George grew up in Alabama while in others he grew up in NYC; in the early episodes of ALL IN THE FAMILY Archie was one of at least three kids [it mentioned his sister Alma and his brother Fred] and his father was still alive; in other episodes his father was dead and he was an only child, while still later his brother came to visit and his niece joined the cast; Dick Van Patten’s character turned 50 during the run of EIGHT IS ENOUGH, then again several years later in the reunion movie; Phylicia Rashad somehow gives birth to a fully grown fifth child on THE COSBY SHOW after clearly stating she has four children in early episodes)
the I NEVER KNEW THAT syndrome- a fairly major aspect of a character becomes a plot device even though it was never mentioned before (e.g. George Jefferson never mentions his love of mysteries or any other type of book during the first several years of THE JEFFERSONS, then a two-parter hinges on his obsession with mystery novels; Rose and Blanche’s obsession with Elvis is mentioned on only one episode of GOLDEN GIRLS, as is Dorothy’s devotion to wetland preservation)
the BUT WHAT I REALLY AM IS A SINGER WHO ACTS syndrome- when a show uses any excuse to allow the star to sing- (worst offenders: ALICE, BENSON, GIMME A BREAK, GOMER PYLE)
the FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON syndrome- a stupid character gradually becomes intelligent or even gifted as the show progresses (Shawn [who also went from growing up middle class with a mother and sister to growing up in a trailer as the only child of a single father] on BOY MEETS WORLD, Mike on GROWING PAINS, Theo on THE COSBY SHOW)
the BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS syndrome- the awful but ubiquitous change-of-pace episode in which a usually stupid sitcom decides to address a serious social issue in hopes of resolving it in 24 minutes- worst offenders: BLOSSOM, DESIGNING WOMEN [which had some fantastic episodes when it just wanted to be funny], & DIFFRENT STROKES (though even HAPPY DAYS, SILVER SPOONS and LOVEBOAT got in on this action; to their credit, some shows that never did were CHEERS [other than incorporating Coach’s death, which was necessary], MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, and SANFORD & SON [though he sometimes became sentimental for his wife])
Or how about when the sitcom family’s new baby magically grows from newborn to 5 years old in one or two seasons (GROWING PAINS, PARTY of FIVE, FAMILY TIES – ok, in the case of Party of Five, it was from toddler to 10 years old in one season).
This one has a cousin cliche – the one-time guest character who is mentally disabled, and yet out thinks the conceited know-it-all star of the show. Ends up saving the day by doing something so smart that no one else even thought of it. See All in the Family, One Day at a Time, Laverne and Shirley.
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Adolescent obtains credit card. Adolescent uses credit card to make irresponsible purchases. As the adolescent tries to both enjoy the purchases and keep these actions a secret, hilarity ensues. Family members discover the irresponsibility. The adolescent has the purchases repossessed or has to return them, but learns a valuable lesson about money and responsibility and the (lack of) value of material things.
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When children age and begin to lose their cuteness, new cute children are born. Or, as Sampiro said, adopted.
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Twins. Children often come in pairs.
Whenever a large misconception about a character arises (i.e. that character is pregnant, gay or appears to have some very embarassing secret), the subsequent dialog will address the issue in such a way that (miraculously):
- The other party will further believe said rumor*.
- The original character will remain oblivious to it until the worst possible time.
*this is usually because they are unknowingly talking about different things.
[How Ya Doin’, Jack?] Does anybody remember a looong time ago, on Family Matters, there was a younger sister, named… Judy? What in God’s name happened to her?[/HYDJ]
She went the way of Chuck Cunningham on Happy Days and that other kid on Step by Step. Disappeared without a trace. Good riddance, too.
Money Isn’t a Problem Syndrome
A character could have a rather mundane job, but can afford large apartments in New York City (Friends), or afford a maid and a good house while they have six children to support already (The Brady Bunch).
Teenage screw-up character will take his younger sibling trick-or-treating (younger sibling is of course in a cute costume) as a favor to his parents, to show how “responsible” he is. Upon his return, he will remove the mask of said sibling (in the cute costume) and discover he has returned, not with his sibling, but with a child of another race and the opposite gender. Hiliarity ensues as he (and possibly one or two of his screw-up friends) race to find the right kid.
Mom is encourged to sell her cookies/pies/spaghetti sauce (pr whatever) and within days transforms her kitchen into a mini factory to create said product. Someone (usually Screw-up teenager) takes an impossibly large order from the diner or grocery store down the street, and in the rush to fill it, they totally trash the kitchen, with flour flying everywhere, eggs being dropped and a food fight breaking out.
The Christmas Special:
A take-off on either A Christmas Carol or It’s A Wonderful Life. A main character either becomes Scrooge-like, and is shown around various points in their life by three ghosts, or decides everyone would have been better off without him around, and is shown by an angel how awful life would have been without him.
They then have to rush out and buy presents for everyone at the only place open at 5:00 am on Christmas morning … the 7-11, so everyone gets gifts of Slim-Jims, Twinkies, sodas and magazines.
Overweight, under-employed, slob married to fashion model/hot woman who, IRL, wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room with him.
Poor, unattractive, not-too-bright guy married to intelligent, beautiful, inhumanly patient woman.
Honeymooners, The Flintstones, King of Queens, The Jeffersons (the inter-racial couple), Yes, Dear, According to Jim, Webster, The Ten of Us, and so on, and so on . . .
How can this thread have gotten this far without mentioning two of the classic TV show cliches?
–Friends, relatives, and even total strangers will walk right into someone’s house without knocking.
–Noone ever says “hello” when answering the phone. They just start talking.
The Christmas Special: the show’s resident jerk will find himself alone on Christmas because nobody likes him. Even his own mother doesn’t want him to drop by for a visit. At the last moment the main character will relent and invite the jerk to the party and a VALUABLE LESSON will be learned about the jerk actually being a human with feelings. Hugs will ensue, but you can bet that by next season the jerk will be back to his usual jerkiness. (Example: Perfect Strangers)
Social problems such as teen suicide, alcoholism, and child molestation can be solved in 22 1/2 minutes if the person in question chats with a school counselor or goes to just one AA meeting. (Every sitcom ever made.)
Little kids on TV shows are so horrendously cute that they can get away with things you and I would have gotten spanked silly for. They are also much wiser than adults and every day their parents learn the obligatory VALUABLE LESSON from them.(Example: Just about every TV show ever made.)