I agree.
Except in Goldfinger. Otherwise, yes, very lame. Particularly if someone has to call a bomb tech by phone and ask which wire to cut. I don’t know if anyone has tried that one with a straight face in ages.
It’s the very beginning of the episode, but the main character is already in the midst of a predicament. Characters we’ve never seen before are discussing events we didn’t see happen. What the hell? Did I set the Tivo wrong?
Nope. There’s a sudden freeze frame and a caption reading “Two Days Earlier,” and we then get to see what leads up to the predicament. That opening scene will come around again three-quarters into the episode or so, with no real reason why we already saw it before.
Non-linear storytelling like this can be effective if done well, but usually it’s just a sign of lazy writing, when they can’t come up with an interesting way to begin the story.
“NO! There’s no WAY you’re going to get me to <go to that place / wear that costume / pretend to be that person> so FORGET IT!”
::quick cut to the person doing exactly that, with laugh track::
Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Spock and Ensign Leibowitz beam down to a planet…
A version of the twin thing: Prince and the Pauper episodes in which unrelated lookalikes trade places.
Shapeshifters. I can’t stand shapeshifters. And it seems like every single sci-fi or fantasy show has to have at least one. The main part that’s usually annoying is that the audience knows that the evil shapeshifter has infiltrated the good guys and the writers attempt to string it out as long as possible. Then there’s the inevitable “Which one is the real one?” or “I know you’re not X because although you were able to copy them in every possible detail, you left out…”
Ironically, among my favorite shows are Fullmetal Alchemist and Lost, although Lost dealt with the shapeshifting satisfactorily (at least for me) since
the Smoke Monster could only take the form of someone who was dead, and quite possibly someone he had to have actually had physical contact with
I decided not to watch Battlestar Galactica because they introduced Cylons disguised as humans in the mini-series and I really didn’t want to have to deal with “Spot the hidden cylon” for the rest of the show. I later saw an episode of Robot Chicken that confirmed my fears.
“Death solves the romantic triangle.” This may only be on Desperate Housewives, but I get sick of seeing ot over and over again - person has two lovers (one likely married to), has reasons can’t dump one and stay with other, suddenly a disaster kills one, voila, now free.
I guess George’s finacee’s death on Seinfeld is a similar version of this just without another woman involved, just George’s not really wanting to marry her anymore.
It really became one of the best character development bits in the series. Seeing what happened to those who found out they were not what they thought they were, and their differing reactions.
The wedding episode where everything possible goes wrong with the wedding.
Bride and/or groom don’t show up on time, the church burned down, the reception has no food and/or music, etc…and 9 times out of 10 someone will fall face-first into the wedding cake. Why, sitcom writers, WHY?!
Saying the wrong person’s name during sex. Who calls roll during hanky-panky, anyway?
The crew loses all control of the Enterprise D and has to solve some mystery. That was the least reliable ship in Star Fleet history.
That is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. That and when Guy yelled, “did any of you even watch the show?”
That’s just because you’ve never met the right asshole…
Mine is similar to an earlier poster’s, where someone is trying to tell someone else something, and they just keep won’t listen, and then get po’ed when they find out. I always want to say, “He tried to tell you, you bitch!”
Oh, and I hate uselessly screaming women, period. I hate uselessly screaming little girls, too.
David Caruso 
The one’s where the show’s main character is depicted as on the verge of being killed. I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will never believe that Jack Bauer* is going to die, Dexter is no going to get caught until the last season, McGyver will find a way to rig something up. It’s even worse in movies. I strongly doubt 007 is going to meet his maker in any Bond movie.
*Disclaimer - I don’t know if this actually happened in 24. I never watched it but it seems like the type of show where the situation would come up. I couldn’t think of any others off the top of my head.
Seconded. This can sometimes work in a comedy, especially when it presents one or more character’s viewpoint as wildly unrealistic. Typically, though, it come across more like a writing workshop excercise than as an interesting story.
Also, I hate the setup when a character eats something questionable/exposes himself to influenza right before a big event. You just know he’s gonna barf all over the cake. 
The USAF was getting really suspicious as to why Maj. Nelson was still unmarried at his age, didn’t even have a steady girl, and it seemed like his closest relationship was with Maj. Healy? 
He was rich before he met the Simpsons, then became poor because of Homer, then became rich again, forgave Homer, and disappeared from the series. Maybe he’s just not taking any more chances with them.
Homer also has a British half-sister who was only in one episode.