Classic TV series Cliches (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

I know what you mean but I think that Family Guy isn't a spoof as much as it just uses cliched sitcom plots. They take that plot, add their own spin (which usually a gay joke or 1980's pop culture reference) and then Seth MacFarlane laughs all the way to the bank.

 

[MatthewA]

Lazy writing used in order to point out lazy writing is still lazy writing.

 

[MarkHastings]

Every sitcom has to use some sort of cliche in order to speed up the plot. That's the problem with the Simpsons; they have to use these cliches and since they've been on so long, I think the writters are fearing that the fans are going to call it "lazy writting", so they feel the need to point it out the "time savers". It doesn't usually bother me beacuse I know why they are doing it.

Like when the Motherloving Sugar Company's headquarters were right down the street and Marge says "How convenient"

or when a big event is sweeping the country and the tour dates are Chicago, New York, LA, and Springfield.

or (for dramatic effect) Marge always sees a different building outside her window.

or when Homer is going through some crazy scheme (or new career) and everyone always asks if Homer even HAS a job at the Nuclear Plant anymore.



But one of the most annoying sitcom cliche's to me is when person A is talking to person B and saying something that they really shouldn't be saying, but don't know that what they're saying is going to anger person B. - Then you have person C, who knows that what person A is saying will upset person B, but instead of aggressively trying to stop person A from speaking, they just do lame things like wave their hands in the air and cringe like there's nothing they can do to stop it.

 

[Jon_Are]

I don't know how I forgot to mention this, something I've been noticing for years. Virtually every show where there is a dinner table scene, it looks like a table full of players awaiting the blackjack dealer.

Edit: More of a device than a cliche, though.

Jon

 

[MarkHastings]

^^ Yeah, I don't know if it was mentioned here or not, but I've always laughed at the placement of the couch in a sitcom. In real life, the couch always goes up against the wall, but in every sitcom, it's in the middle of the living room and almost never against a wall.

I understand why they do it, but it's amazing how it's always done that way even though it has nothing to do with the real world placement of a couch.

 

[Steve Armbrust]

Another one that's always bugged me, both in movies and on TV, is when one character calls another one and says to the effect, "something important has happened, but I don't have time to talk about it now," or "I don't want to talk about it on the phone." It's either a ploy to artificially induce suspense or something is going to happen to the first character before getting a chance to talk. It's as much of a setup as going into the haunted house or parking on that deserted road.

 

[David Deeb]

Along those same lines:

The "I've got such dramatic news to tell you, that I'll look the other way".

First character tells the other one "I have to tell you something". She then turns around and faces the camera, so her back is facing her man, looks down at the floor, and says "I'm having an affair".

The person hearing this horrible news is staring at her back!

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Have you never needed to tell someone something that you couldn't tell them on the phone from where you were (the office, someone else's house) or that was too delicate to handle by phone. ("I think we should see other people." "You cat I've been watching? Dead.") Again, I'm less inclined to gig them on stuff that isn't terribly unusual in real life.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

And, right on schedule, the producers of House manage to have a regular character almost die and go temporarily blind in the same episode.

Regards,

Joe

 

[MarkHastings]

Since most sitcoms don't take place in the 1700's, the most common placement of the couch should be against the wall.

 

[TonyD]

I may have missed it but how about
no one ever eats chinese food with knives or spoons, always chop sticks.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Antique shops? Not used since the invention of modern heat? Really they do exist. I've seen them.

You might want to consider that your own personal experience does not encompass all of reality. Antique shops? I can take you to a dozen new furniture showrooms within ten miles of my house that all stock sofa tables as a matter of course.

And yes, rooms on TV (and apartments) are too large. Almost no character in the history of television could afford the apartment he or she is shown occupying, at least those living in New York or Los Angeles. I'm willing to cut the producers a little more slack on room size because the reality is you have to move bulky cameras to various positions inside all those rooms to cover all the angles. David Gerrold pointed out years ago how absurdly big the compartments and the corridors on Star Trek's Enterprise were, given the need maintain life support in all those areas. The answer was the same - they needed the room for the cameras.

(And speaking of things that are too big: can we have a 20 year moritorium on action heroes and/or lost sitcom characters crawing through air condititioning ducts that are bigger than my master bathroom? Just once I'd like to see somebody take the grate off an ac duct in the teaser, try to get into it and get jammed in at the shoulders and stay that way until the tag.

)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Say No! to the Jeffries tubes!

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, I forgot to add the smiley. It was a joke. I know they exist, but they aren't used as what they are intended (at least not anywhere close to where I live) - Around here, they're used as regular tables that go up against the wall (nowhere near the couch).

The reason is, around here, homes aren't built "outward", they're built "Upward" so there aren't a whole lot of large rooms in anyone's home. Most people have long hallways and narrow passages, so they like the Sofa Tables because it's the only table that can be used and still allow people to get by without having to either climb over them or whack their shins.

...also, in New England, you find a a lot OLD homes. These old homes tend to have many small rooms....lots of walls. A lot of homes I have been to have Sofa Tables, but we never refer to them as Sofa Tables because they are no longer being used as they were intended. They have basically become the modern coffee table (that's been place up against the wall)...kinda of like many of the photos in the link you provided.


So I appologize if I didn't take other areas of the country into consideration, but with ALL of the couches in the middle of the room in sitcoms, how come none of them have sofa tables behind them?

 

[Steve Armbrust]

If only that were the case in these shows. Usually, however, there's some huge crisis that needs to be conveyed immediately and the idiot on the phone says he/she doesn't have time to talk.

 

[Rob P S]

Characters who conveniently enter the house in the same room that the other characters happen to be at that moment.

Someone talks on the phone for 10 seconds and relays a minute's worth of info to the other characters.

 

[Lucia Duran]

My couch is placed in the middle of the room. There is plenty of space to walk behind it. Our living room is really big, so if I placed the couch on the opposite wall of the television, it would be too far away. Oh yeha and we do not have a sofa table or a coffee table.


The only show I can think of where I have seen a couch placed on the wall, was a scene in Seinfeld where George is at one of his girlfriends home and they are sitting on a couch up against a wall. I think I even recall elaine talking on the phone with who she thought was her girlfriend, but it turned out to be her girlfriends husband and he was sitting on a couch against a wall. Probably the same apartment used for random scenes in Seinfeld.

 

[Josh Dial]

The Simpsons' couch is placed against the wall.

The Griffon's couch is in the middle of the room.

 

[Lucia Duran]

Ha!

Twitch City | DVD | A.V. Club

 

[MarkHastings]

^^ LOL, that's awesome. I'm glad someone else feels my pain.