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Ever been so annoyed with a show that you just felt that you had to say something? Or perhaps you have noticed that certain shows seem to take ideas from other shows, alter it, then use it for their own diabolical purposes. Or, maybe YOU have a sitcom and are looking for ideas for your own show to steal. In either case, this webpage is made JUST for you. My friends and I thought these up while waiting at a basketball game. Although the initial idea came from me and was slightly inspired from that Top 15 Music Video Cliches thing on MTV. Most of the cliches were probably thought of when thinking about shows such as: Family Matters, Step by Step, Saved by the Bell, Full House, Sister, Sister, and Boy Meets World. Remember, there is a legend of submitters at the bottom of the page, so use it when you see something like this [we].
Have fun. And if you can think of any on your own not on this page, email me.

The Cliches

Poker-saavy woman.

Gentle bullies hired by bad guys.

Parents not teaching lessons until damage is done.

Disney World. You may not understand this, but think about how many sitcoms have gone "off-location" and placed a few main characters in a "situation" at the amusement park or filming location. There are way too many of these episodes floating around. They are usually associated with season finales or otherwise climactic shows. [dt] adds this - "And the reason why most family sitcoms have an episode at DisneyWorld(Full House, Boy Meets World, Step by Step) is because those shows are aired by ABC, which is owed by Disney, who shamelessly plug their theme parks on national television. Its basically a 30 minute advertisement, which they profit from anyway." - [dt]

Handi-capped (or should I say "Handi-capable") people.

Applause for children doing nothing.

Two people trapped in a room.

Basketball games.

Drug abuse. Also, overdosing on prescription drugs / no sleep pills.

Gambling.

Annoying neighbor or friend.

That person will occassionally come through by saving someone's life, passing a usually hard test, or showing someone the true meaning of love, etc... - [dt]

Santa Claus.

Handyman jobs screwed up by husband.

Bomb-defusing.

UPDATED Guest musicians/band/singers. [jf] remarks that "We learn that is-- oh-my-god-- 's biggest, hugest fan in the whole wide world during the same episode where-- surprise!-- has a guest appearance. (See Brady Bunch Ep. 24, "The Posible Dream")" - [jf]

Destruction of houses.

Parties lacking parental guidance.

Drinks that are spiked at parties (injuring others).

Wrong friends.

Child abuse.

UPDATED Upstairs bedrooms (also known as "References to love-making made by older people to the shock of younger persons to get applause"). This is usually brought on by "You come upstairs and I'll..." [me] calls this "The grandma cliche (Family Matters, Who's The Boss...) she always behaves the opposite of the way grandmas should behave. She knows all the MTV lyrics, and she knows all the famous people, and in each episode she's dating a different person." - [me]

Proms.

Every time a male character/s makes a bet with a female character/s (usually about something that is considered male dominated like a contact sport or repairing a car) the female ALWAYS wins! It never fails. And the ante of the bet, 99% of the time is "You Have To Be My Slave For A Week." - [dt]

Someone that doesn't like being naked in public at a nudist colony. - [tc]

Streaking. -[tc]

Seeing somebody that they'd rather not see naked (such as parents or a geeky guy). - [tc]

Pregnant woman in labor gets trapped in an elevator (ex. "The Nanny" finale). - [cg]

People making love in an elevator. - [cg]

There's never any type of weather change on a show unless the weather is directly related to the plot( it always snows on Christmas Eve, or there will be a thunderstorm which causes a power outage ). Otherwise its a beautiful sunny day. - [dt]

When people on a sitcom are discussing a certain topic, it appears on their TV screen one second later. - [dt]

Sexual tension for several seasons between main character and (pick one: employee, best friend, etc.) before resolving in an actual relationship. - [mb]

There are L-shaped sheets that come down to a man's stomach, but only to a woman's neck. - [ca]

"I keep seeing a cliche when a person doesn't pass a urine test because they ate poppy seeds. that one is very annoying." - [sf]

Didya ever notice how 90's sitcoms seemed to ridicule "authority figures" (principles, parents, grandparents, salesmen, teachers, city officials, or just older people in general) by making them try to "act hip" or talk slang, using keywords that "the kids" say... That sort of goes along with "You come upstairs and..." I guess it's an easy gag and it can continue throughout the rest of the show... or the entire series if they feel it "caught on."

School plays seem to be the topic of alot of sitcom episodes.

One simple formula... 1) Child does something wrong in the first 7 minutes of the show. 2) Hides it for the next 18 minutes. 3) Parent(s) find out and correct it then have the speech explaining the child is still loved for the last 5 minutes. (hint: for hour long specials, multiply by 2) A lot of sitcoms rely on this plot point formula every week.

Piano music after an emotional plot point has been made. [tc] adds that on Full House specifically, every time Mr. Tanner gives one of his speeches the EXACT same piano music is played. (Thanks for giving something NOT about nudes, Tim!)

"I dunno if this cliche is a sitcom cliche, but there's always someone losing his/her memory." - [me]

"The Las Vegas episodes, where they go to a casino, say that everything'll be ok, and they start gambling and lose a lot of money. A variation to this cliche is the one where there's a strict person that says that it's wrong to gamble and you can lose a lot of money... and after a few minutes, we see that person spending hours in front of those [slot] machines..." - [me]

"There are also the episodes that a person falls asleep on the couch and has a dream of "what would happen if... 20 years from now", then he wakes and finds out that it was just a dream." - [me]

"Every character has his own characteristic phrases ("I've fallen and I can't get up"...)" - [me]

"The girl wants to go out with the cutest guy in the school, then he asks her help in the subject she's good at, she helps him, he gets a good grade, he goes out with her, something happens that she thinks he's an idiot, and she doesn't like him anymore." - [me]

I remember there always seems to be a concert or some show where the main cast wants to go to so they will wait in line forever to get tickets. You've seen those shows, right?

Now the cliche is to have a gay friend or someone is "discovered" to be gay. And it has to be accepted by the close friends. No one can go against these politically correct themes. - [se]

There always seems to be an irrational love choice on these sitcoms.... Take for example the many different proposals to the much too young heroins of the sitcoms. Some way too good to be true guy falls desperately in love with her and must have her as his wife immediately. - [lf]

Certain characters avoid honesty regarding a bad character's cooking or some recently acquired talent. The writers usually play with the other characters' reactions throughout the whole episode and reveal the truth at the end. - [hb]

Why is it that nobody ever mentions the "Private Eye Fantasy" cliche?!? It has happened on almost every sitcom! Family Matters and Step by Step did that cliche! Several Sitcoms from the 80s and early 90s did! - [af]

Kid gets into situation with friend and is totally and completely innocent, but all their friends bail out and their parents catch them and get the blame. The kid pleas their innocence but parents won't believe them. Kid runs away or pouts and parent discovers their innocence and apoligizes *hug*. (e.g. D.J. goes to school dance and her date spills beer on her. She smells like beer and is holding can when Uncle Jessie walks in, therefore she must have been drinking!) - [kw]

Ok, originally in Boy Meets World, Cory did NOT like Tapanga. He and Shawn would make fun of her in Mr Feeney's class (because Mr. Feeney magically taught them every year of school somehow). But later after they were going out it was the basic belief that they had always been together, and had a flashback episode showing how they met on the playground in pre-school or something. I guess it's sad i actually remember that... but anyhow, Anything for the sake of ratings! - [kw]

The dreaded "WHOOOOOOOOO" from the whole studio audience when two characters kiss for the first time. I hate that! - [cd]

Even worse is when two charaters kiss in front of a group on the sitcom, and the group applauds! When does that ever happen in real life? - [cd]

Two friends fight over a love interest of opposite gender for the whole show until of course at the end, when they realize that dating the other person is not as important as their friendship. - [cd]

Something unbelievably fortunate happens to the main character that will change their life (as well as the entire premise of the show) forever, like winning the lottery, and it lasts only until the end of the show, when it somehow ends up being reversed or not true...whatever. - [cd]

When a group of friends is shown that are young kids, there are always at least three major races represented...the most common configuration being one white boy, one white girl, one asian boy or girl, and one black boy or girl. - [cd]

On halloween episodes of sitcoms, the charaters have some kind of supernatural experience with a completely predictable "twist" ending, supposedly leaving the audience pondering whether or not is was real. - [cd]

A lot of shows involve two or more main characters dressing in drag for one reason or another. Writers seem to be able to milk a lot of performance from main characters' perceptions of the opposite sex.

Episodes in which the main characters of the show (or sometimes only one of them) thinks back/talks about all the stuff that happened in the past to that perticular family or group of protagonists. Which means you get 30 minutes of : character talking (in very cheesy, semi-comic or moralistic manner)-rerun of specific scene, multiplied by 20. - [sv] describing what is known in the business as a "Clip Show"

There are always episodes about a guy who accepts a blind date from a girl, and she turns out to be taller than he expects. - [ke]

Then there's the touching "getting a car episode" where the son says he will wait for his dad in choosing, gets gyped, (by a great deal) and in the end turns back to the dad to get him out. - [ke]

Island adventure or tropical getaway cliche, usually resulting in a "situation." - [ke]

There's always an episode of every sitcom that has this guy or girl that everyone hates and despises because they're a bully or a mean boss. Then at the end of the episode, they discover they were merely misunderstood and that they have something like a terrible disease or no family or something. Then they're really nice to them after that. *tear - [kw]

Let's not forget the holiday season episode of every sitcom. often these are either yearly or re-runs each year... but anyway, there is always some pathetically poor family like from a dicken's novel and the family or people in the sitcom meet them and forget their own selfish wants for christmas and spend all their money on buying the other family a whole lot of stuff. for some reason, they seem to spend an obscene amount of money half the time in these episodes...yay for ABC sitcoms. - [kw]

Every classic family sticom has the episode where somebody wants to buy their house- usually someone who grew up there and is willing to pay way over market value. And then they have the "I remember all the memories in this house montage" and the dad decides to keep it! (Fresh Prince, Full House, Growing Pains) - [bv]

On nearly every sitcom I've ever watched, the family always has one of those "Swinging Doors" that usually seperates the living room area from the kitchen. TV shows such as Family Matters, Full House, Boy meets World, and numerous others contain that ever so popular swingin' door. I rarely see anyone in real life who actually have one of those doors in their home. - [df]

Shameless gameshow plugs: i.e. The Nanny/Mama's Family on Jeopardy. Spin City on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. - [rs]

A lot of families (especially on CBS) have a fat, washed-up / crappy, comedian husband, and a thin wife. - [rs]

There's always a death in the family that leads to questions of one of the character's own life. - [rs]

That kid who shows up in the first couple of seasons that disappears without a trace in the later years. - [rs]

Have parents-to-be decide to have no painkillers at childbirth, then, when the mother is in labor, have her groan to the husband/doctor/friend to give her painkillers. Switch back to her not wanting them, then wanting them again. Repeat as necessary.

Pottery classes with failed results.

Main characters get different hairstyles or new clothing or somehow radically alter their appearance and the friends/family members are appalled at first. But then the family realizes this is their way of wanting attention etc, etc...

Breaking, reassembling, and lying about a prized possession of another main character. Make sure you learn your valuable lesson, though. (This should happen because character was doing something they weren't supposed to be doing in the first place.)

Stuck-in-a cliche. Where the entire episode is based on a small group being stuck in some place for the whole episode and the rest of the cast tries to get them out.

If you have some more cliches that you can think of, email me and I'll put them up here and give you full credit. I enjoy finding how many shows have the same cliches. If you don't want your real name displayed, tell me.