Sitcom Cliches

[Mace Dolex]

-the episode in which the parents discipline their child by sending them to do charity work at a senior citizens rest home to which the child hesitates at first but gets attached to an elderly sweet old lady and then suddenly the kid sees life in a new light.

But at the end when the kid wants to continue visiting the sweet old lady she can not remember the kid because she's suffering from Alzheimer.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by Mace Dolex

But at the end when the kid wants to continue visiting the sweet old lady she can not remember the kid because she's suffering from Alzheimer.

Or dies...

- A group of girls have a slumber party that a group of boys eavesdrop and spy on, either through a secretly place mic or a secretly place camera.

and the boys are totally stupid with mic, and the girls end up hearing them.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

A girl sees her new boyfriend kissing another girl in the school hallway. Audience lets out an audible gasp as they relate to her open-mouthed shock and pain. Fade to commercial break.

[Mace Dolex]

Originally Posted by JJJ's Ulcer

A girl sees her new boyfriend kissing another girl in the school hallway. Audience lets out an audible gasp as they relate to her open-mouthed shock and pain. Fade to commercial break.

And don't forget the corny cliffhanger style music before it goes to commercial break.

[Artistsean]

One that tends to bug me is when the main actor on the show starts dating someone, maybe a big name or just a guest star who isn't a big name yet, that actor usually leaves after one episode so you can guess that the date wont end well. So the moment you see them with someone you can see where the story is headed.
Friends did this a lot.
But thats why I like when the shows change it up.
Like how Friends had Chandler and Monica stick together for a few seasons and then get married and be married for a few seasons and then the show ended with them still married.
Or how Big Bang Theory took two different guest spots with Bernadette and Amy (each were meant to just be one episode each) and they turned into full cast members.

What about other usually Cliché things have TV shows done a reversal of, or went against what was expected?

[PyroChamber]

Whenever a character or two gets into a fight with a group of thugs, there's always at least one guy in that group that knows martial arts and usually comes out of nowhere with it.

And there's always a big cheer from the audience when a woman gets involved in the fight.

[ShredderX]

Whenever a sitcom character is in a fast food restaraunt, and drinks from a fast food cup straw, it always sounds like it's empty and never full.

[Mace Dolex]

When the setting is inside a movie theater where in reality it would be dark but in sitcoms it's as clear as day.

[SlamAdams]

Just watch CBS and take notes. They pretty much just string cliches together and use a laugh track to get a pavlovian response

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by PyroChamber

Whenever a character or two gets into a fight with a group of thugs, there's always at least one guy in that group that knows martial arts and usually comes out of nowhere with it.

And the street gangs are usually multi-racial, which rarely is a thing in real life.

[Donnie Darko]

Originally Posted by PyroChamber

- the Backdoor Pilot

One that wasn't mentioned was Gomer Pyle's spin-off pilot on Andy Griffith. Andy basically just hung around the background the entire episode (but of course helped Gomer out when he needed it).

[SoulManX]

Originally Posted by Donnie Darko

One that wasn't mentioned was Gomer Pyle's spin-off pilot on Andy Griffith. Andy basically just hung around the background the entire episode (but of course helped Gomer out when he needed it).

Yep!