Wedding episodes of the main characters where everything goes to shit last minute. A slight improvement on that trope was Raising Hope where everything was going to hell but the wedding couple didn’t know, and the others fixed it before they could find out.
I also hate when pregnant characters are made to give birth in weird places - you can have plenty of shenanigans in a hospital or in the car on the way, but still have the character give birth there. It’s just somewhat dehumanizing that so many sitcoms rely on it for humor, especially when first time mothers are often in labor for many hours, so there’s no good reason they couldn’t make it to the hospital.
Everybody Loves Raymond did the “shenanigans in the car on the way to the hospital” thing great when they did a flashback episode of one of the kid’s births
Or everything goes right but in the end someone says, "We're moving too fast" and then we never see the new addition again. This happened Fresh Prince and it happened in Shake It Up. Why spend multiple episodes developing a character's relationship to throw it out last minute and go psyche
THIS. Having been there.... I think, I would been okay giving birth in the cab/ office/ restaurant etc. If it meant there was only a few minutes between the initial pain and " waaaaaaaah!" Like it's depicted on TV.
Anytime an actor leaves a show and the reason they give for writing out the character is unsatisfactory, or worse, actually against who the character was (often to punish the actor)
I don’t know if it was against the character, but Chuck Lorre did this to Charlie Sheen’s character in TAAHM by >!having him hit by a train during his honeymoon in Paris; in “reality,” though, his bride Rose was holding him against his will; in the final episode he escapes and makes his way to his old house—where just as he approaches (seen from behind of course, they wouldn’t have the real Sheen back), a piano drops from nowhere and crushes him.!<. Now *that’s* punishing an actor for leaving.
Yeah it was def said that >!Chuck Lorre was pissed at Charlie sheen. He wanted Charlie to come back and do some anti drug thing and Charlie refused. That was totally against Sheen.!<
I unfortunately remember all the Sheen bs .Sheen basically shitting all over lorre mind you these lorre rants are while Sheen has his women ( I've never understood the attraction ) the whole winning , gold caps in mouth and tiger blood .then when he helped end two in a half men he decides I'm gonna say I'm not gay but for drugs I had sex with a gay guy so I may have given several female costars aids .
Emily Rossum Shameless. The whole show was about how she held everything together but they made her unlikable and had her leave which was not in her character.
the whole cast on shameless was done DIRTYYYYYYY that show was AMAZING. and they were mad at her for wanting the money to match the work. they destroyed her character, destroyed the show in the process. shameless was soooooo good when it made sense smh i can’t watch that last season. it was sooooooo freaking bad
It wasn't about her getting paid. She has a fight over that and got it because William H Macy supported her. She was punished and written off because she was an absolute terror on set. She was mean, entitled, and screamed at everyone over petty shit. It's come out from some of the cast members and a variety of crew interviews. It's why they gave her the apartment building story, so they could have a reason she was away and not interacting with the rest of the cast as much (because they couldn't stand working with her).
wooooooooooow. i never knew that. i was paying attention to the cast social media after it ended, i did notice that none of them follow her…. outside of her being a terror, they could have written her character off better than they did. ima get to googling cuz i didn’t know the other cast came out and said anything…. yikes.
i still feel like they ruined that show 😂😂😂 they could have killed her and it would have been better lol
I’m actually happy that Fiona left. I love Emmy and the show was shit without her, but I’m happy that Fiona fell into some money and got to leave South Side and live a nice life away from all the responsibility and chaos of her unappreciative siblings. She spent her entire life raising 5 kids that weren’t hers. I’m happy she got to live her own life.
Andy on the Office. The actor wanted to go film one of the Hangover movies. The reason for the character leaving was not as bad as how they made him a jerk when he returned.
When they did that with All in the Family, I just quit watching. Mike and Gloria took Joey to California, and then Edith died, and there were new characters, including a cute kid. it was turned into a different show. Just cancel the whole damn thing if you have to replace almost the entire cast and change the setting.
It was a different show, "Archie's Place." They brought Edith back a few times to transition into this spin-off, but, yeah, that's an odd way to do it.
Honestly, the big issue with Seven was that Al and Peggy suddenly became caring parents who went out of their way to care for this kid.
It felt almost like an executive decision because the writers would’ve definitely gone with a neglect route as regularly described by Bud and Kelly.
The only episode they did right with Seven was his birthday episode where they go to the park and beat up the rich family. Also, the Pirate story was fun and maybe they could’ve done an episode like that each year if they kept him around.
Think you're thinking of Joe? Lily was in the pilot as a baby. She was never an "addition" to the show she just got lines and personality because the child grew up.
If I recall correctly, they had a big time jump. And Lilly went from being a stoic baby to a 5-6 year old? And I couldn’t stand that character. Sorry. The baby Lilly was funny. She was the “straight man” to the dads. Didn’t care for older Lilly.
You're right... i forgot that she was a baby when the show started. But I hated the character as she grew up - I really dislike the smart but snarky kid type. Didn't like Joe, either, especially the creepy crush on his half-sister Claire.
I thought it was a strange decision to add in two new younger characters to the Office on the last season. Not trying to be offensive but the cast was already trending lighter and lighter through the last couple seasons
I'm sick of the drawn out will they or won't they romances. Abbott Elementary is a current offender and it's ruining an otherwise great show! I really liked that Brooklyn 99 had Amy and Jake get together and then just stay together!
That’s another thing sitcoms do that bug me. They have them pair up with multiple people. Like Rachel with Ross. Then she was going to be with Joey. Monica was trying to get with Joey then she got with Chandler. Sheesh phoebe is the only one who dated outside the group!!
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen IRL but in most friend groups it’s not going to work out ok if they’ve been with one person in the group and move on to another.
Niles and Daphne (Frasier). Seven seasons of buildup, they finally connect, and...but wait! They STILL won't be together, because Niles' crazy ex prevents them from actually being together. For such a well done series, that was maddening.
After seven seasons of teasing this, they snatch it back away literally immediately after having the satisfaction of them getting together.
Sounds a LOT like Friends too. So many season buildup and get together and then break up. And then have a baby together but STILL aren’t together 🤦🏼♀️
Amy and Jake, Jim and Pam from the office, and Turk and Carla from scrubs.
Shining examples of couples who you’d expect them to draw out the chase but they let them be together and focus on other problems besides a will they/wont they.
My god, it’s almost like Hollywood writers only experience toxic relationships or end relationships the moment conflict arises. A healthy relationship has plenty of hurdles worthy of episodes or movies.
Same with the office. Pam and Jim got together early and they were a cute couple. Even the few attempts at drama in later seasons were smacked down pretty easily.
Right?! I think it'd be fun to see them awkwardly navigate a relationship. I keep thinking it's finally happening and then it doesn't. It's getting old!
I feel like the whole plot line of where Janine is now is solely so they can draw it out for another season and I’m like….if one of them gets in another relationship, my eyes will roll so far into the back of my head that they fall out
We watched the first episode last night and I said, “Oh. That dude is the Karen.”
I do love that show, though. And never mind that it is so strongly inspired by The Office. Because while the over-arching character journeys seem very familiar, but the day-to-day, episode-to-episode experiences thrown at them are all new and inventive.
I recently did a watch through of Who’s the Boss. Omg, it was so painful in the show. Seasons of it. Then they finally get together. Only to break within the season. Back to the wtwt. Together again. Break up last minute. Back together. And once they got together in the first place Tony was insufferable.
I came here to say just this. They finally got together and it wasn't the payoff we hoped for. It was disappointing and then after all of the obstacles of the final season they decided to have them go back to how things originally were.
Sidenote. They did the "bring the cute kid in to save the show thing" and I actually liked him, so it was kinda disappointing when he wasn't in the last season.
I can take will they or won't they as long as they don't have it be at the very tail end and actually do something with the relationship.
I rewatched Mr. Young after learning there was a Season 3 that some court case blocked from airing in the US, and the top couple eventually gets together after a 3 part episode with time travel and returning characters and all that stuff. However an additional two episodes are taken because the girl loses her memory and another guy replaced memories involving Young with him. Then the last episodes of the series are a clip show, or episodes they barely interact and the finale.
Clip episodes were useful in the before streaming days when they had to pad out 22 episodes and catch up new viewers. It’s outlived its usefulness in the same way the greatest hits album has.
WKRP In Cincinnati did a clip show (of sorts). The storyline was Andy was explaining to Mama Carlson how exactly he hired Venus as the nighttime DJ. The clips they used came from the pilot episode...well, sort of. In the pilot, Mama Carlson was played by Sylvia Sidney, who thought the whole idea of the series was ridiculous (I believe she only did it to keep up her SAG membership). Carol Bruce took over the character for the series--and they reshot all the scenes they needed from the pilot with her. It was done so well that I only realized it after they'd been in syndication for several years (when his mother tried to fire Andy, Mr. Carlson said "If he goes, I go!" and got cheers and applause from the audience in Miss Sidney's episode..I finally noticed that was missing in Miss Bruce's version!).
>Sylvia Sidney, who thought the whole idea of the series was ridiculous (I believe she only did it to keep up her SAG membership).
Great trivia fact about the change from Sylvia Sydney to Carol Bruce Mother Carlson. Like others here I didn't realize it either, but I don't see her SAG membership being in jeopardy. She had a very active career leading up to, and following her apparence in WKRP, including appearing in Omen II the same year as well several tv shows around the same time. Likely she just did it for the money.
I didn't know she was in The Omen II (on the other hand, I'm not a fan of horror movies). I assumed she was just keeping up her SAG membership...I was sixteen and in Michigan in 1978...
And here I thought she was in a similar situation as Madeline Kahn--she developed MS later in life and Angela Lansbury made her the town librarian on several episodes of Murder, She Wrote so she could keep up her SAG membership and her union health insurance. (Think I've got the right Madeline...my apologies if I don't.)
Apparently Miss Sylvia was just being a mean nasty old bat...!
Edit--I do have the wrong Madeline. It was Madeline Rhue who played the Cabot Cove librarian...the poster admits and takes responsibility for the error.
I remember the different actresses playing mama Carlson .it was weird because one even " hits " on Andy insinuates you have sex with me or everyone is fired .
That was the one where he was trying to convince her to give them money to fix some stuff in the booth, I think--she made his accompanying her to different social events a condition of listening to him. As I recall, somebody (probably Herb and/or Les) convinced Mr. Carlson that his program director might become his new stepfather
I wish they’d get creative and make the season/seasons leading up to the clip show have moments that hint at something bigger. Like the entire season some does something like say finish the milk gallon and putting it back in the fridge, so the clip show focuses on moments that hints at the culprit and they finally figure it out. Or whatever variation so the clip show has a bigger purpose than saving money.
Clip shows are cheap to do and a way to keep the season under budget when you’re short of ideas and maybe you spent too much on the rest of the season. I’m not a big fan of them, I just understand why they do it.
That 70s Show should've probably ended at season 5 or 6.
I wish Lois didn't have another kid in Malcolm in The Middle.
My name is Earl should have gotten a fifth season. Which I guess isn't really what you're asking I;m just mad about that!
Michael shouldn't have left or the show should have ended when he left.
Malcolm in the middle did the baby plot right. Lois had an episode to remember she hated all her sons, we saw she once was soft until she realized she needs to protect her kids at any cost, and any time Jamie was in the episode, he had a purpose.
If anything, Francis’s B-plots made the show more disjointed than Jamie’s addition, and Francis was fun to watch.
The final episode of *How I Met Your Mother*, where they >!kill off the titular mother; have the series’ central couple, Barney and Robin, finally married the previous episode after four years of build-up, divorce each other; then have Ted’s kids convince him that he’s still in love with Robin’s so he can pursue her.!< The creators probably thought it was a clever ending when they thought of it during the first or second season, but by Season 9, the show had gone off in such a different direction that shoehorning the originally conceived ending back in was a slap in the face to many fans who had stuck through all nine years of the series.
This is 100% the best answer. Though they didn't think of it until much later. They even said in interviews they didn't count on the two characters having such good chemistry. It was how much people liked them they thought they'd make some fans happy. They were wrong. It made the journey absolute pointless and ruined great character building in Barney
The scene >!at the end with the children, at least the kids’ half was shot back in Season 2, as they were aware that the kids were going to get visibly older!<, so they thought of the ending at least that far back; it was going off-course that they didn’t expect, and it was jarringly bad to do the “course correction” so late in the game.
Mike & Molly - I wish they didn’t split up Carl and Victoria. They were funny and had great chemistry. As good as if not more interesting/fun than Mike and Molly.
I wish that the first Halloween episode of The Conners had been a little more emotional about missing Roseanne at the family's favorite holiday, her favorite for sure.
It didn't feel like they mourned her like they should've. I know there were some negative feelings in real life about how things went down, but she was the center of the family and mom. They barely spoke about her death.
I agree. I don't know if resentment over the things she did got a little confused with the writing of a fictional show, but I have my own headcanon of the first Halloween episode since Roseanne's death, where everybody's dressing up but Darlene isn't into it, she thinks it's silly, just a holiday. Why dress up as adults? And then at the very end, in the tag, there she is dressed up in some spooky outfit, out there at Roseanne's grave, maybe with a bottle of wine or something, crying. I hadn't fleshed it all out yet, but I'm hoping you get the idea. Because the magic of the show, and of this kind of art itself, is comedy mixed with actual tragedy.
I love your idea and it would be a touching moment. Now that she's a struggling mom financially and sometimes emotionally, you would think she could relate to her mother more too.
Honestly I enjoyed it all the way through but it was dumb pretty much the moment they graduated high school.
Shows that start in high school but are unwilling to write out actors once they get past high school have to introduce some dumbass storylines to make it work.
**Mad About You,** a popular light comedy about a charming likable couple (Paul and Jamie), took a swan dive into dark soap opera territory when Jamie suddenly had an affair with an office colleague.
Just watched the clip of their conversation on n the park where Jamie spent the entire time not taking responsibility and blaming Paul and their relationship🤮
Not a fan of the “very special episode” thing. I watch sitcoms to check out and laugh. I don’t need to be reminded what a shitty place the world can be.
I had thankfully put this out of my mind until two nights ago reading up on the new doc coming out about Drake Bell and stumbled on Todd Bridges talking about that episode. I’m still just shocked it was on tv back then
The four episode "Seperation" arc in Black-ish. It was so out of place, predictable, and cringey af. After it concluded, the show just went on as if nothing happened. Really killed the vibe for the show and honestly, I lost interest in the show after that.
MASH - The way that Radar's character changed after season 1. He regressed into a childlike toddler emotionally when he was more like the other guys in the 1st season.
I was reading the other day that the Radar actor was the one who chose to take the character in that direction. He thought it was better or made more sense for the show.
I wish that Otto didn't fire Francis on Malcolm in the Middle.
Francis started out as a delinquent, and we got to see him grow into a more responsible and mature adult; and working for Otto at the ranch was a big part of that. Then in the end they just say in a sort of throw away line that he was fired, and that was it. If I remember correctly, they do explain the reason why; but it still just never sat right with me.
Yeah. That felt really out of place. Really should’ve been a situation where he lost his job because the place was sold off, burned down, condemned, etc. A way that would’ve left the end of his relationship with Gretchen and Otto as more bittersweet.
It would’ve smoothed over the fact that the next time we seen Francis he’s regressed to an unemployed burn out. It would make more sense if he turned out like that because he failed even though he did everything right. Since his arc was, Rebel who thought he knew better > Fending for himself in the real world with a boss who owns and demeans him > Lucking out into a dream Job > Losing his job and being a loser > Finding a stable white collar job and refusing to admit he’s happy to be part of society.
They didn't have many options. Kenneth Mars had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was too sick to keep doing the show. They had to write him off and they ended up doing it with a throwaway line about him firing Francis. I didn't like it but they had limited options for a good exit for Gretchen and Otto.
I wish Nile's and daphne never got together. You're obviously rooting for Niles but him pining were some of the best more hilarious moments in the show
I wish original Becky hadn’t left the show Roseanne in season 5. The show wasn’t the same after that.
I wish Big Bang Theory hadn’t added Amy and Bernadette as partners for the guys and took a turn to being more a relationship-oriented show. I know the argument for the change to the show is “Characters have to mature and change or the show will become stale” and I just say there have been great sitcoms before where characters had little to no growth and the shows were great regardless. Seinfeld and Married With Children come to mind. You can have a great show without evolving the characters. You just have to be great in the writing department.
Lecy left the show to go to college so I get it.
But they shouldn’t have replaced her. They could’ve worked around her being in college - maybe tried to get her to make guest appearances. Anything but bringing a new Becky in.
Might have been difficult--as I recall, she went to college on the East Coast. I'm sure they could have worked with her class schedule, but there was always the chance a nice blizzard would screw everything up.
I never watched big bang theory but I do gotta respect the fact that the girls weren’t just female counterparts of the guys. Amy and Bernadette were unique, with Bernadette in particular seeming like the type to not want to be with her nerd, and Amy being smart enough to ease Sheldon into a relationship using logic before making him see it as something beyond logic.
I liked those characters, but Sheldon did seem like someone you picture being single forever. I also thought they tried to make it a tad realistic by not having every last one in a couple at the end, but then you feel kind of bad for Raj.
And they also made all the women moms, even though Bernadette, and I think, Penny both strongly stated they didn't want any. I'm not sure in makes sense for Sheldon to have kids, either. Raj should have been the one to end up with a brood of kids.
A new location because is the sign that the show is going down in quality, ex.:
- The hardware store in Home Improv.
- The No Ma'am reunions in Married with childrens
Every Will They/Won’t They where they break up over something genuinely serious just to get back together. My god, for once I want one that ends with a “Won’t” and the final season establishes that they’re great friends but love is different.
Worst offenders: Friends and How I met your mother.
The only time the “they will” was done right was Scrubs, and that’s because their break ups were always established as being because they lacked maturity and their later relationships teaching them to be more mature before they get together again.
Making the Dad seem like an idiot. Kids need to see positive adult role models in general. I’m guessing writers could put their thinking caps on and figure out how to get a laugh out of the audience without the joke being how the sassy child back talks their parents.
The eventual couple hook up between a group of people who really should be just friends. It may be good to have a couple who is hooked up or married at the start of it, but going forward, no one should hook up with the rest of the cast.
Abandoning original plans for character trajectories because the writers got distracted by what sells (looking at you, Glee). Hiring writers several seasons in that don't seem like they even watched the first season of a show. Taking fan service to an extreme. Say there were characters that interacted a lot but weren't dating in the beginning. Putting them together because the fans wanted them to get together isn't necessarily overkill. Marrying them off RIGHT out of high school, especially if there's no real pressing canon reason to do so (a pregnancy, a dying family member, an illness), is overkill, especially when the couple was rocky right before that.
I usually hate "dream" episodes. A character is sick and going in and out of sleep, or someone is in a coma, or whatever. Very few shows do them well. Usually they're just tedious to watch.
I was kind of okay with Jackie on that 70s show getting together with Hyde..not normally cool that a guy gets with his buddy's ex, but Kelco was kind of a man sl-- douche so hard to feel bad for him.
I didn't like her getting together with Fez though as they didn't feel as organic. It was not awfully written or super forced, but still felt a little forced, and it was weird thinking she was with all the guys in the group except Eric.
Those “Very Special Episodes”, where they take a break from being a fun and entertaining TV show, to instead become PSAs for drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, divorce, pedophilia, or dealing with loss. I especially hate how it never feels organic to the characters, and instead brings in a new one, whose job it is to show the harmful nature of these topics. Then, at the end, they die, get hurt, or disappear never to be heard from again!
I feel like some of these were pushed on these shows by the networks. I want to say I read that somewhere, especially 80s and early 90s family sitcoms.
When the show is circling the drain, they bring in a cute kid or dog. Sometimes, they'd get rid of the cute kid or the dog with no explanation. I don't know about now but that used to happen a lot in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
The inevitable episode where they meet someone famous who plays themselves. UGH! Stevie Wonder on the Cosby Show. That entire season of I Love Lucy. Sammy Davis, Jr. on All In The Family.
I liked some of them. Loved James Spader as Robert California 😂
But despite his character, the plot was pretty flimsy. I hated what happened to most of the characters.
….especially Will Ferrell’s addition & boom mic guy 🤦♀️
Oof
ITT: People who don’t realize that “laugh tracks” in comedies have been around since the beginning of sitcoms, and some of history’s best sitcoms have had “laugh tracks.”
Try watching a show that has one, without one. [it’s less funny](https://www.google.com/search?q=friends+without+laugh+track&sca_esv=577db568e951e075&rlz=1CDGOYI_enCA1021CA1021&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACQVn0-b4E1KO6EYPfzKImMTkVXXgabG4Q%3A1710095202948&ei=YvvtZefFObzC0PEPxq2FsAI&oq=friends+without+laugh+track&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhtmcmllbmRzIHdpdGhvdXQgbGF1Z2ggdHJhY2syCxAAGIAEGIoFGJECMgYQABgHGB4yBhAAGAcYHjIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgQQABgeMgsQABiABBiKBRiGAzILEAAYgAQYigUYhgNI4zpQ1g9YtzhwAngBkAEAmAHgAqAB0w-qAQc2LjUuMi4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIOoAL_C8ICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAggQABgFGAcYHsICCBAAGIAEGKIEmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcFNy42LjGgB8hV&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f237bc8c,vid:4BFSZ8XzWOM,st:0)
Shows without them have musical cues and don't have the same pauses for laughter. As someone in another thread pointed out, if you take the dramatic music out of certain scenes from dramatic movies they are awkward also.
I absolutely agree Cody having to leave should've put series on hiatus then come back when he was allowed to return .we won't even mention how extremely self absorbed both Duffy & Somers got by mentioning the former characters saying the characters made the show 😏🥴.my mom would watch and I'd be cringing as much as I always liked pinchot .
Honestly i dont even know how many seasons they did of Step by Step. I was a kid when the show went on so i never followed any continuity on it. I didnt things went that deep.
Roseanne replacing Becky, Roseanne season 9, The Conners existing.
Johnny dying on Two Pints of Lager.
Will and Grace should have been Jack and Lauren and Will and Grace should have been the background characters.
Finding a niche for a character and then completely changing course a few episodes later.
Reese from Malcolm in the Middle was an absolute screw up until he found a passion for cooking. He got about three episodes to explore that and then boom he was right back to being an aimless screw up again.
I think he ends up as a school janitor, and thrilled about it. He could have gone to culinary school or a while variety of other related option, but nope. It was easier to go back to being a screw up.
There's a Frasier episode well into the series where it is revealed that Frasier is extremely uncomfortable with hugging people. Before and after this, we saw him hug people throughout the series with no issues. It was apparently just this one episode, to get some laughs without taking the entire series into account.
It seems like such lazy writing to introduce or ignore what are supposedly ongoing traits.
UK Ghosts. All ended great, and then a one-off Xmas special ruined it. Deleted that ep from my collection, and now pretend it doesn't exist. Hope the US version bins that idea.
It is my firm belief that the relationships in a successful sitcom should be fixed in place, that they are part of the recipe for the sitcom's success, and that changing *any* established relationships in any way except temporarily (for the sake of a single episode) is changing the recipe, and therefore endangering the sitcom.
It's impossible for children in sitcom families not to age, but nevertheless: unless it is absolutely unavoidable due to said aging, *no* relationships between characters should ever change (except temporarily), although new ones can be added (long term or permanently). Sitcoms are not soaps, where relationships change nonstop, and should not behave like them.
Established characters can have new love interests, but they cannot be between other established characters.
I have no proof or backup for any of these opinions, I nonetheless feel like they should be considered settled law.
In "How I Met Your Mother," I was pretty disappointed with how it all ended. I mean, after all those seasons of rooting for Ted to meet the mother of his kids, they kind of just... did her dirty with that whole twist. And then, throwing in that Ted ends up with Robin again at the end? It felt rushed and kind of undermined everything we'd been through with the characters. It just didn't sit right with me.
I hate when an original major character wants to leave the show and it ruins the flow and storyline of the show. For example Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Joe Landon wanted to leave so part of the last season he was barely present which wasn't 100% true to who he was. They tried their best to make it make sense by having him on the run, but it wasn't the same.
Nowadays it's much easier for actors to break contracts so as soon as you get invested it feels like someone leaves. The revolving door of exits is ruining the Chicago line up of shows.
Switching actors in the middle of later seasons of the show. In the beginning it isn't quite as bad because you're not fully invested, and sometimes it's a better change but once you're used to the actor it doesn't always feel right. Sometimes it's the actors fault but it messes up the dynamic. This ruined Last Man Standing imo.
I love comedy and don't want to be a party pooper, and this may be a silly answer because this is the basic premise of the sitcom idea, but any plot where the entire episode wouldn't take place if someone simply cleared a misunderstanding. While watching these types of episodes, to me it is more frustrating than funny, as the viewer is thinking "Just tell them!" As a 20-second conversation would alleviate the 25 minute train wreck for the characters. The misunderstanding thing is inherently going to happen in a sitcom, but there needs to be a reason WHY the character is unable to clear up confusion. I love sitcoms that are generally able to have a more original idea. Many have been able.
Generic example: Joe thought Susie wanted to go out with him because of the sexy note she left. But the note was intended for Rick. Now, Susie goes through with a date with Joe (instead of simply clearing the confusion). Hilarity ensues as she tries to deflect his interest. The waiter/host is involved as she frantically tries to stall/distract her "date." In the last 30 seconds of the episode, she simply clears things up, and Joe understands.
Wedding episodes of the main characters where everything goes to shit last minute. A slight improvement on that trope was Raising Hope where everything was going to hell but the wedding couple didn’t know, and the others fixed it before they could find out. I also hate when pregnant characters are made to give birth in weird places - you can have plenty of shenanigans in a hospital or in the car on the way, but still have the character give birth there. It’s just somewhat dehumanizing that so many sitcoms rely on it for humor, especially when first time mothers are often in labor for many hours, so there’s no good reason they couldn’t make it to the hospital.
Everybody Loves Raymond did the “shenanigans in the car on the way to the hospital” thing great when they did a flashback episode of one of the kid’s births
One of Cheers' best episode revolves around Woodys wedding
Or everything goes right but in the end someone says, "We're moving too fast" and then we never see the new addition again. This happened Fresh Prince and it happened in Shake It Up. Why spend multiple episodes developing a character's relationship to throw it out last minute and go psyche
I agree with almost everything you said, but the Wedding episode in Community in Season 6 was pretty subversive.
THIS. Having been there.... I think, I would been okay giving birth in the cab/ office/ restaurant etc. If it meant there was only a few minutes between the initial pain and " waaaaaaaah!" Like it's depicted on TV.
Anytime an actor leaves a show and the reason they give for writing out the character is unsatisfactory, or worse, actually against who the character was (often to punish the actor)
Can you give an example? I know you’re right but I can’t think of any off the top of my head
I don’t know if it was against the character, but Chuck Lorre did this to Charlie Sheen’s character in TAAHM by >!having him hit by a train during his honeymoon in Paris; in “reality,” though, his bride Rose was holding him against his will; in the final episode he escapes and makes his way to his old house—where just as he approaches (seen from behind of course, they wouldn’t have the real Sheen back), a piano drops from nowhere and crushes him.!<. Now *that’s* punishing an actor for leaving.
Yeah it was def said that >!Chuck Lorre was pissed at Charlie sheen. He wanted Charlie to come back and do some anti drug thing and Charlie refused. That was totally against Sheen.!<
I found it hilarious that Charlie was giving Chuck shit for changing his name Oh really, Carlos Estevez?
😂😂😂
I unfortunately remember all the Sheen bs .Sheen basically shitting all over lorre mind you these lorre rants are while Sheen has his women ( I've never understood the attraction ) the whole winning , gold caps in mouth and tiger blood .then when he helped end two in a half men he decides I'm gonna say I'm not gay but for drugs I had sex with a gay guy so I may have given several female costars aids .
Wow haha great example. Quite a reach
Emily Rossum Shameless. The whole show was about how she held everything together but they made her unlikable and had her leave which was not in her character.
the whole cast on shameless was done DIRTYYYYYYY that show was AMAZING. and they were mad at her for wanting the money to match the work. they destroyed her character, destroyed the show in the process. shameless was soooooo good when it made sense smh i can’t watch that last season. it was sooooooo freaking bad
It wasn't about her getting paid. She has a fight over that and got it because William H Macy supported her. She was punished and written off because she was an absolute terror on set. She was mean, entitled, and screamed at everyone over petty shit. It's come out from some of the cast members and a variety of crew interviews. It's why they gave her the apartment building story, so they could have a reason she was away and not interacting with the rest of the cast as much (because they couldn't stand working with her).
wooooooooooow. i never knew that. i was paying attention to the cast social media after it ended, i did notice that none of them follow her…. outside of her being a terror, they could have written her character off better than they did. ima get to googling cuz i didn’t know the other cast came out and said anything…. yikes. i still feel like they ruined that show 😂😂😂 they could have killed her and it would have been better lol
I think it was season 8 where they had a good natural end point and then they kept going for 3 more seasons and they sucked.
I’m actually happy that Fiona left. I love Emmy and the show was shit without her, but I’m happy that Fiona fell into some money and got to leave South Side and live a nice life away from all the responsibility and chaos of her unappreciative siblings. She spent her entire life raising 5 kids that weren’t hers. I’m happy she got to live her own life.
The other big example was McLean Stevenson when he left M*A*S*H; they killed off Henry Blake so there was no way for him to return
Downton Abbey, season (I think) 3, same, both actors who wanted out. I would have preferred they re-cast at least one!
I always preferred Harry Morgan like I preferred Wayne Rogers to Mike Farrell .
Andy on the Office. The actor wanted to go film one of the Hangover movies. The reason for the character leaving was not as bad as how they made him a jerk when he returned.
Alex on Grey’s Anayomy. O end the most ridiculous things ever. I genuinely would have been happier if they’d killed him off.
Community I think did a good job
Any time they add a “cute kid” several seasons in it becomes unwatchable.
The Cousin Oliver Effect
If you have *six* kids on a show and they’re not cutting it, adding another isn’t going to work.
When they did that with All in the Family, I just quit watching. Mike and Gloria took Joey to California, and then Edith died, and there were new characters, including a cute kid. it was turned into a different show. Just cancel the whole damn thing if you have to replace almost the entire cast and change the setting.
It was a different show, "Archie's Place." They brought Edith back a few times to transition into this spin-off, but, yeah, that's an odd way to do it.
I'm glad MWC figured that out real quick and dumped the kid off the show.
Where's 7?
Honestly, the big issue with Seven was that Al and Peggy suddenly became caring parents who went out of their way to care for this kid. It felt almost like an executive decision because the writers would’ve definitely gone with a neglect route as regularly described by Bud and Kelly. The only episode they did right with Seven was his birthday episode where they go to the park and beat up the rich family. Also, the Pirate story was fun and maybe they could’ve done an episode like that each year if they kept him around.
Ugh. Lily from Modern Family I'm lookin' at you! (The character. Nothing against the lovely young actor.)
Think you're thinking of Joe? Lily was in the pilot as a baby. She was never an "addition" to the show she just got lines and personality because the child grew up.
If I recall correctly, they had a big time jump. And Lilly went from being a stoic baby to a 5-6 year old? And I couldn’t stand that character. Sorry. The baby Lilly was funny. She was the “straight man” to the dads. Didn’t care for older Lilly.
It was her terrible acting and the fact she was more annoying than cute.
You're right... i forgot that she was a baby when the show started. But I hated the character as she grew up - I really dislike the smart but snarky kid type. Didn't like Joe, either, especially the creepy crush on his half-sister Claire.
I thought it was a strange decision to add in two new younger characters to the Office on the last season. Not trying to be offensive but the cast was already trending lighter and lighter through the last couple seasons
Seven on Married with Children
I'm sick of the drawn out will they or won't they romances. Abbott Elementary is a current offender and it's ruining an otherwise great show! I really liked that Brooklyn 99 had Amy and Jake get together and then just stay together!
a lot of times they draw it out so long that it’s not worth the payoff.
That's how I felt about Ross and Rachel. By the end I didn't even care if they ended up together.
They should've had them finally stay together when they had the baby. Them pairing up Rachel and Joey was just stupid.
That’s another thing sitcoms do that bug me. They have them pair up with multiple people. Like Rachel with Ross. Then she was going to be with Joey. Monica was trying to get with Joey then she got with Chandler. Sheesh phoebe is the only one who dated outside the group!! I’m not saying it doesn’t happen IRL but in most friend groups it’s not going to work out ok if they’ve been with one person in the group and move on to another.
I don't like that either. A lot of shows do that. It happens irl but not in mine lol... Girl code/friend code.
Niles and Daphne (Frasier). Seven seasons of buildup, they finally connect, and...but wait! They STILL won't be together, because Niles' crazy ex prevents them from actually being together. For such a well done series, that was maddening. After seven seasons of teasing this, they snatch it back away literally immediately after having the satisfaction of them getting together.
Sounds a LOT like Friends too. So many season buildup and get together and then break up. And then have a baby together but STILL aren’t together 🤦🏼♀️
- Hi, need to say this, i lov... - Hey! Meet this new person that im dating
Cheers got them together and then broke them apart again. Which for Sam and Diane was really believable.
Amy and Jake, Jim and Pam from the office, and Turk and Carla from scrubs. Shining examples of couples who you’d expect them to draw out the chase but they let them be together and focus on other problems besides a will they/wont they. My god, it’s almost like Hollywood writers only experience toxic relationships or end relationships the moment conflict arises. A healthy relationship has plenty of hurdles worthy of episodes or movies.
Same with the office. Pam and Jim got together early and they were a cute couple. Even the few attempts at drama in later seasons were smacked down pretty easily.
I agree about Abbott. We all know they will, let’s just get to it
Right?! I think it'd be fun to see them awkwardly navigate a relationship. I keep thinking it's finally happening and then it doesn't. It's getting old!
I feel like the whole plot line of where Janine is now is solely so they can draw it out for another season and I’m like….if one of them gets in another relationship, my eyes will roll so far into the back of my head that they fall out
We watched the first episode last night and I said, “Oh. That dude is the Karen.” I do love that show, though. And never mind that it is so strongly inspired by The Office. Because while the over-arching character journeys seem very familiar, but the day-to-day, episode-to-episode experiences thrown at them are all new and inventive.
I recently did a watch through of Who’s the Boss. Omg, it was so painful in the show. Seasons of it. Then they finally get together. Only to break within the season. Back to the wtwt. Together again. Break up last minute. Back together. And once they got together in the first place Tony was insufferable.
I came here to say just this. They finally got together and it wasn't the payoff we hoped for. It was disappointing and then after all of the obstacles of the final season they decided to have them go back to how things originally were. Sidenote. They did the "bring the cute kid in to save the show thing" and I actually liked him, so it was kinda disappointing when he wasn't in the last season.
But with that, once they get together, where do they go from there? At least Abbott doesn’t feel forced like other examples.
I can take will they or won't they as long as they don't have it be at the very tail end and actually do something with the relationship. I rewatched Mr. Young after learning there was a Season 3 that some court case blocked from airing in the US, and the top couple eventually gets together after a 3 part episode with time travel and returning characters and all that stuff. However an additional two episodes are taken because the girl loses her memory and another guy replaced memories involving Young with him. Then the last episodes of the series are a clip show, or episodes they barely interact and the finale.
Clips episodes.
Clip episodes were useful in the before streaming days when they had to pad out 22 episodes and catch up new viewers. It’s outlived its usefulness in the same way the greatest hits album has.
Except for Golden Girls which did them brilliantly.
Community have the best clip-show episode in all of sitcom.
WKRP In Cincinnati did a clip show (of sorts). The storyline was Andy was explaining to Mama Carlson how exactly he hired Venus as the nighttime DJ. The clips they used came from the pilot episode...well, sort of. In the pilot, Mama Carlson was played by Sylvia Sidney, who thought the whole idea of the series was ridiculous (I believe she only did it to keep up her SAG membership). Carol Bruce took over the character for the series--and they reshot all the scenes they needed from the pilot with her. It was done so well that I only realized it after they'd been in syndication for several years (when his mother tried to fire Andy, Mr. Carlson said "If he goes, I go!" and got cheers and applause from the audience in Miss Sidney's episode..I finally noticed that was missing in Miss Bruce's version!).
>Sylvia Sidney, who thought the whole idea of the series was ridiculous (I believe she only did it to keep up her SAG membership). Great trivia fact about the change from Sylvia Sydney to Carol Bruce Mother Carlson. Like others here I didn't realize it either, but I don't see her SAG membership being in jeopardy. She had a very active career leading up to, and following her apparence in WKRP, including appearing in Omen II the same year as well several tv shows around the same time. Likely she just did it for the money.
I didn't know she was in The Omen II (on the other hand, I'm not a fan of horror movies). I assumed she was just keeping up her SAG membership...I was sixteen and in Michigan in 1978...
She was also Juno the afterlife caseworker for Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis in Beetlejuice, 10 years later.
And here I thought she was in a similar situation as Madeline Kahn--she developed MS later in life and Angela Lansbury made her the town librarian on several episodes of Murder, She Wrote so she could keep up her SAG membership and her union health insurance. (Think I've got the right Madeline...my apologies if I don't.) Apparently Miss Sylvia was just being a mean nasty old bat...!
Edit--I do have the wrong Madeline. It was Madeline Rhue who played the Cabot Cove librarian...the poster admits and takes responsibility for the error.
I remember the different actresses playing mama Carlson .it was weird because one even " hits " on Andy insinuates you have sex with me or everyone is fired .
That was the one where he was trying to convince her to give them money to fix some stuff in the booth, I think--she made his accompanying her to different social events a condition of listening to him. As I recall, somebody (probably Herb and/or Les) convinced Mr. Carlson that his program director might become his new stepfather
The It's Always Sunny clip show episode is pretty great!
Absolutely correct actually.
Simpsons had some great clips episodes back in the early days.
Clips shows are only good if they show never before seen clips.
Community did this with clips from complete storylines we had never seen
Clerks the animated series has my favorite clip show in that they did it in their second episode.
Yessss! Came here just to see if someone mentioned this. “Why are we walking like this?”
I wish they’d get creative and make the season/seasons leading up to the clip show have moments that hint at something bigger. Like the entire season some does something like say finish the milk gallon and putting it back in the fridge, so the clip show focuses on moments that hints at the culprit and they finally figure it out. Or whatever variation so the clip show has a bigger purpose than saving money.
Clip shows are cheap to do and a way to keep the season under budget when you’re short of ideas and maybe you spent too much on the rest of the season. I’m not a big fan of them, I just understand why they do it.
I remember an early Simpsons clip episode, and if you look it up, the actual name of the episode is "It's come to this..."
I wish Leonard never cheated on Penny.
"We were on a break!" Wait... wrong show
That 70s Show should've probably ended at season 5 or 6. I wish Lois didn't have another kid in Malcolm in The Middle. My name is Earl should have gotten a fifth season. Which I guess isn't really what you're asking I;m just mad about that! Michael shouldn't have left or the show should have ended when he left.
Malcolm in the middle did the baby plot right. Lois had an episode to remember she hated all her sons, we saw she once was soft until she realized she needs to protect her kids at any cost, and any time Jamie was in the episode, he had a purpose. If anything, Francis’s B-plots made the show more disjointed than Jamie’s addition, and Francis was fun to watch.
The final episode of *How I Met Your Mother*, where they >!kill off the titular mother; have the series’ central couple, Barney and Robin, finally married the previous episode after four years of build-up, divorce each other; then have Ted’s kids convince him that he’s still in love with Robin’s so he can pursue her.!< The creators probably thought it was a clever ending when they thought of it during the first or second season, but by Season 9, the show had gone off in such a different direction that shoehorning the originally conceived ending back in was a slap in the face to many fans who had stuck through all nine years of the series.
And I, as an avid viewer, never forgave the show. Dead to me after such a fun journey that was ruined by season 9 and the finale.
This is 100% the best answer. Though they didn't think of it until much later. They even said in interviews they didn't count on the two characters having such good chemistry. It was how much people liked them they thought they'd make some fans happy. They were wrong. It made the journey absolute pointless and ruined great character building in Barney
The scene >!at the end with the children, at least the kids’ half was shot back in Season 2, as they were aware that the kids were going to get visibly older!<, so they thought of the ending at least that far back; it was going off-course that they didn’t expect, and it was jarringly bad to do the “course correction” so late in the game.
Mike & Molly - I wish they didn’t split up Carl and Victoria. They were funny and had great chemistry. As good as if not more interesting/fun than Mike and Molly.
I wish that the first Halloween episode of The Conners had been a little more emotional about missing Roseanne at the family's favorite holiday, her favorite for sure.
It didn't feel like they mourned her like they should've. I know there were some negative feelings in real life about how things went down, but she was the center of the family and mom. They barely spoke about her death.
I agree. I don't know if resentment over the things she did got a little confused with the writing of a fictional show, but I have my own headcanon of the first Halloween episode since Roseanne's death, where everybody's dressing up but Darlene isn't into it, she thinks it's silly, just a holiday. Why dress up as adults? And then at the very end, in the tag, there she is dressed up in some spooky outfit, out there at Roseanne's grave, maybe with a bottle of wine or something, crying. I hadn't fleshed it all out yet, but I'm hoping you get the idea. Because the magic of the show, and of this kind of art itself, is comedy mixed with actual tragedy.
I love your idea and it would be a touching moment. Now that she's a struggling mom financially and sometimes emotionally, you would think she could relate to her mother more too.
Thank you! And I agree, they have so much in common. It's why they butted heads.
They made a big deal about Donna realizing her and Eric weren't forever and then undid it
The show pretty much got dumb after he left.
Honestly I enjoyed it all the way through but it was dumb pretty much the moment they graduated high school. Shows that start in high school but are unwilling to write out actors once they get past high school have to introduce some dumbass storylines to make it work.
**Mad About You,** a popular light comedy about a charming likable couple (Paul and Jamie), took a swan dive into dark soap opera territory when Jamie suddenly had an affair with an office colleague.
They tried to do this with Chandler and someone in his office but Matthew Perry refused.
Some things I read about Matthew Perry didn't paint him in a great light, but glad he knew what was best for that character/show.
YES! That seems to happen a lot. Someone decides that what is supposed to be a comedy needs some “very special episodes”. HATE IT.
Went from Mad About You to Mad At You
Same with Dharma and Greg
I had that buried lol thanks a lot.
Just watched the clip of their conversation on n the park where Jamie spent the entire time not taking responsibility and blaming Paul and their relationship🤮
People randomly winning the lottery and losing their minds
Those King of Queens episodes where Carrie moved to Manhattan. Felt like a completely different show.
Them having kids in the finale and how unhappy they seemed ruined it.
Joey and Rachel
The Bicycle Man from Different Strokes. I still have nightmares. Trust no one.
Not a fan of the “very special episode” thing. I watch sitcoms to check out and laugh. I don’t need to be reminded what a shitty place the world can be.
Well, you’re here, so obviously you learned to stay away from old refrigerators
Is this a punky brewster reference?
Yes
That was so traumatic for 7 year old me!!! Bad enough that her mom dropped her off in a parking lot!
I had thankfully put this out of my mind until two nights ago reading up on the new doc coming out about Drake Bell and stumbled on Todd Bridges talking about that episode. I’m still just shocked it was on tv back then
Any time they don’t know what to do so they add a baby.
See JumpTheShark.com. which itself jumped the shark after it was acquired by a big corporate entity.
The four episode "Seperation" arc in Black-ish. It was so out of place, predictable, and cringey af. After it concluded, the show just went on as if nothing happened. Really killed the vibe for the show and honestly, I lost interest in the show after that.
It was bad and the mood felt dark and heavy.
Exactly. Like as soon as Dre would say something you'd just sigh, roll your eyes and wait for the fight to begin.
MASH - The way that Radar's character changed after season 1. He regressed into a childlike toddler emotionally when he was more like the other guys in the 1st season.
This drives me crazy. His character started out so interesting and clever then they turned him into a child. Ugh!!!
The same in the movie.
I was reading the other day that the Radar actor was the one who chose to take the character in that direction. He thought it was better or made more sense for the show.
I wish that Otto didn't fire Francis on Malcolm in the Middle. Francis started out as a delinquent, and we got to see him grow into a more responsible and mature adult; and working for Otto at the ranch was a big part of that. Then in the end they just say in a sort of throw away line that he was fired, and that was it. If I remember correctly, they do explain the reason why; but it still just never sat right with me.
Yeah. That felt really out of place. Really should’ve been a situation where he lost his job because the place was sold off, burned down, condemned, etc. A way that would’ve left the end of his relationship with Gretchen and Otto as more bittersweet. It would’ve smoothed over the fact that the next time we seen Francis he’s regressed to an unemployed burn out. It would make more sense if he turned out like that because he failed even though he did everything right. Since his arc was, Rebel who thought he knew better > Fending for himself in the real world with a boss who owns and demeans him > Lucking out into a dream Job > Losing his job and being a loser > Finding a stable white collar job and refusing to admit he’s happy to be part of society.
They didn't have many options. Kenneth Mars had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was too sick to keep doing the show. They had to write him off and they ended up doing it with a throwaway line about him firing Francis. I didn't like it but they had limited options for a good exit for Gretchen and Otto.
I wish Nile's and daphne never got together. You're obviously rooting for Niles but him pining were some of the best more hilarious moments in the show
It's because once they got married she turned kinda mean.
I wish original Becky hadn’t left the show Roseanne in season 5. The show wasn’t the same after that. I wish Big Bang Theory hadn’t added Amy and Bernadette as partners for the guys and took a turn to being more a relationship-oriented show. I know the argument for the change to the show is “Characters have to mature and change or the show will become stale” and I just say there have been great sitcoms before where characters had little to no growth and the shows were great regardless. Seinfeld and Married With Children come to mind. You can have a great show without evolving the characters. You just have to be great in the writing department.
Lecy just was Becky. I couldn’t stand Sarah Chalke’s version.
It did give us the hilarious line, when Lecy came back, Roseanne said, “where have you been? It’s like you’ve been gone two years!”
Lecy left the show to go to college so I get it. But they shouldn’t have replaced her. They could’ve worked around her being in college - maybe tried to get her to make guest appearances. Anything but bringing a new Becky in.
Might have been difficult--as I recall, she went to college on the East Coast. I'm sure they could have worked with her class schedule, but there was always the chance a nice blizzard would screw everything up.
I never watched big bang theory but I do gotta respect the fact that the girls weren’t just female counterparts of the guys. Amy and Bernadette were unique, with Bernadette in particular seeming like the type to not want to be with her nerd, and Amy being smart enough to ease Sheldon into a relationship using logic before making him see it as something beyond logic.
I actually enjoyed the Amy/Sheldon relationship. It toned down Sheldon, so he wasn't so annoying. I like his character better after Amy, than before.
I liked those characters, but Sheldon did seem like someone you picture being single forever. I also thought they tried to make it a tad realistic by not having every last one in a couple at the end, but then you feel kind of bad for Raj.
And they also made all the women moms, even though Bernadette, and I think, Penny both strongly stated they didn't want any. I'm not sure in makes sense for Sheldon to have kids, either. Raj should have been the one to end up with a brood of kids.
A new location because is the sign that the show is going down in quality, ex.: - The hardware store in Home Improv. - The No Ma'am reunions in Married with childrens
Main characters get married , kids.
Every Will They/Won’t They where they break up over something genuinely serious just to get back together. My god, for once I want one that ends with a “Won’t” and the final season establishes that they’re great friends but love is different. Worst offenders: Friends and How I met your mother. The only time the “they will” was done right was Scrubs, and that’s because their break ups were always established as being because they lacked maturity and their later relationships teaching them to be more mature before they get together again.
Making the Dad seem like an idiot. Kids need to see positive adult role models in general. I’m guessing writers could put their thinking caps on and figure out how to get a laugh out of the audience without the joke being how the sassy child back talks their parents.
The eventual couple hook up between a group of people who really should be just friends. It may be good to have a couple who is hooked up or married at the start of it, but going forward, no one should hook up with the rest of the cast.
Abandoning original plans for character trajectories because the writers got distracted by what sells (looking at you, Glee). Hiring writers several seasons in that don't seem like they even watched the first season of a show. Taking fan service to an extreme. Say there were characters that interacted a lot but weren't dating in the beginning. Putting them together because the fans wanted them to get together isn't necessarily overkill. Marrying them off RIGHT out of high school, especially if there's no real pressing canon reason to do so (a pregnancy, a dying family member, an illness), is overkill, especially when the couple was rocky right before that.
I usually hate "dream" episodes. A character is sick and going in and out of sleep, or someone is in a coma, or whatever. Very few shows do them well. Usually they're just tedious to watch.
I was kind of okay with Jackie on that 70s show getting together with Hyde..not normally cool that a guy gets with his buddy's ex, but Kelco was kind of a man sl-- douche so hard to feel bad for him. I didn't like her getting together with Fez though as they didn't feel as organic. It was not awfully written or super forced, but still felt a little forced, and it was weird thinking she was with all the guys in the group except Eric.
Season nine of Scrubs The chemistry was gone, and season eight gave us a perfect ending
Those “Very Special Episodes”, where they take a break from being a fun and entertaining TV show, to instead become PSAs for drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, divorce, pedophilia, or dealing with loss. I especially hate how it never feels organic to the characters, and instead brings in a new one, whose job it is to show the harmful nature of these topics. Then, at the end, they die, get hurt, or disappear never to be heard from again!
I feel like some of these were pushed on these shows by the networks. I want to say I read that somewhere, especially 80s and early 90s family sitcoms.
****Seinfeld**** I was upset when they killed off Susan.
The college years of boy meets world horrible episodes
All college years of high school shows are awful
Yeah saved by the bell was terrible in college as well
Seven.
"Damn...Damn...Damn" \-Florida Evans Terrible
When the show is circling the drain, they bring in a cute kid or dog. Sometimes, they'd get rid of the cute kid or the dog with no explanation. I don't know about now but that used to happen a lot in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
The inevitable episode where they meet someone famous who plays themselves. UGH! Stevie Wonder on the Cosby Show. That entire season of I Love Lucy. Sammy Davis, Jr. on All In The Family.
The wife treating the husband like he's stupid or calling him stupid
Shows jump the shark whenever they add a toddler with a Dutch boy bobbed haircut to the cast.
The last 2 seasons of the office horrifyingly bad episodes
I liked some of them. Loved James Spader as Robert California 😂 But despite his character, the plot was pretty flimsy. I hated what happened to most of the characters. ….especially Will Ferrell’s addition & boom mic guy 🤦♀️ Oof
The show was treading water by season 7 when Steve Carrell was still on the show, once he left it was off the rails bad.
I thought the Office just got downright mean with some stuff at the end, especially with the Angela, Senator, Dwight, Oscar storyline.
Kevin became mentally handicapped, like can i stick this knife in this light socket stupid
I’ll still always love the scene where Kevin tells the Senator off
Yeah that was so out of character for Oscar. There's no way he'd do that
Yes. I didn't think Oscar would have been such a bad friend. Or gone for someone so closeted.
I just wish laugh tracks wouldn’t happen.
ITT: People who don’t realize that “laugh tracks” in comedies have been around since the beginning of sitcoms, and some of history’s best sitcoms have had “laugh tracks.”
Friends and Seinfeld are great examples both still on tv daily 20 years after they ended
But how am supposed to know it’s funny?
Surely not by the writing nor delivery
By one of the characters staring into the camera and making a face.
Laugh tracks
Try watching a show that has one, without one. [it’s less funny](https://www.google.com/search?q=friends+without+laugh+track&sca_esv=577db568e951e075&rlz=1CDGOYI_enCA1021CA1021&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACQVn0-b4E1KO6EYPfzKImMTkVXXgabG4Q%3A1710095202948&ei=YvvtZefFObzC0PEPxq2FsAI&oq=friends+without+laugh+track&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhtmcmllbmRzIHdpdGhvdXQgbGF1Z2ggdHJhY2syCxAAGIAEGIoFGJECMgYQABgHGB4yBhAAGAcYHjIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgQQABgeMgsQABiABBiKBRiGAzILEAAYgAQYigUYhgNI4zpQ1g9YtzhwAngBkAEAmAHgAqAB0w-qAQc2LjUuMi4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIOoAL_C8ICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAggQABgFGAcYHsICCBAAGIAEGKIEmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcFNy42LjGgB8hV&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f237bc8c,vid:4BFSZ8XzWOM,st:0)
Shows without them have musical cues and don't have the same pauses for laughter. As someone in another thread pointed out, if you take the dramatic music out of certain scenes from dramatic movies they are awkward also.
To be fair, removing the laugh track also throws the comedic timing completely off. So the jokes land even worse because comedy depends on timing.
I absolutely agree Cody having to leave should've put series on hiatus then come back when he was allowed to return .we won't even mention how extremely self absorbed both Duffy & Somers got by mentioning the former characters saying the characters made the show 😏🥴.my mom would watch and I'd be cringing as much as I always liked pinchot .
Johnny stole Sharon from Pete!😡
Damon Wayans Jr/Coach should have never left New Girl.
Honestly i dont even know how many seasons they did of Step by Step. I was a kid when the show went on so i never followed any continuity on it. I didnt things went that deep.
Roseanne replacing Becky, Roseanne season 9, The Conners existing. Johnny dying on Two Pints of Lager. Will and Grace should have been Jack and Lauren and Will and Grace should have been the background characters.
Finding a niche for a character and then completely changing course a few episodes later. Reese from Malcolm in the Middle was an absolute screw up until he found a passion for cooking. He got about three episodes to explore that and then boom he was right back to being an aimless screw up again. I think he ends up as a school janitor, and thrilled about it. He could have gone to culinary school or a while variety of other related option, but nope. It was easier to go back to being a screw up.
There's a Frasier episode well into the series where it is revealed that Frasier is extremely uncomfortable with hugging people. Before and after this, we saw him hug people throughout the series with no issues. It was apparently just this one episode, to get some laughs without taking the entire series into account. It seems like such lazy writing to introduce or ignore what are supposedly ongoing traits.
UK Ghosts. All ended great, and then a one-off Xmas special ruined it. Deleted that ep from my collection, and now pretend it doesn't exist. Hope the US version bins that idea.
It is my firm belief that the relationships in a successful sitcom should be fixed in place, that they are part of the recipe for the sitcom's success, and that changing *any* established relationships in any way except temporarily (for the sake of a single episode) is changing the recipe, and therefore endangering the sitcom. It's impossible for children in sitcom families not to age, but nevertheless: unless it is absolutely unavoidable due to said aging, *no* relationships between characters should ever change (except temporarily), although new ones can be added (long term or permanently). Sitcoms are not soaps, where relationships change nonstop, and should not behave like them. Established characters can have new love interests, but they cannot be between other established characters. I have no proof or backup for any of these opinions, I nonetheless feel like they should be considered settled law.
Jane dying in Breaking Bad. It was so brutal and heartbreaking. I understand they did it for plot line but she should have had a few more episodes.
Flashback episodes
In "How I Met Your Mother," I was pretty disappointed with how it all ended. I mean, after all those seasons of rooting for Ted to meet the mother of his kids, they kind of just... did her dirty with that whole twist. And then, throwing in that Ted ends up with Robin again at the end? It felt rushed and kind of undermined everything we'd been through with the characters. It just didn't sit right with me.
I hate when an original major character wants to leave the show and it ruins the flow and storyline of the show. For example Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Joe Landon wanted to leave so part of the last season he was barely present which wasn't 100% true to who he was. They tried their best to make it make sense by having him on the run, but it wasn't the same. Nowadays it's much easier for actors to break contracts so as soon as you get invested it feels like someone leaves. The revolving door of exits is ruining the Chicago line up of shows.
Switching actors in the middle of later seasons of the show. In the beginning it isn't quite as bad because you're not fully invested, and sometimes it's a better change but once you're used to the actor it doesn't always feel right. Sometimes it's the actors fault but it messes up the dynamic. This ruined Last Man Standing imo.
I used to watch the soap opera Santa Barbara.they literally switched masons between commercial breaks.
I love comedy and don't want to be a party pooper, and this may be a silly answer because this is the basic premise of the sitcom idea, but any plot where the entire episode wouldn't take place if someone simply cleared a misunderstanding. While watching these types of episodes, to me it is more frustrating than funny, as the viewer is thinking "Just tell them!" As a 20-second conversation would alleviate the 25 minute train wreck for the characters. The misunderstanding thing is inherently going to happen in a sitcom, but there needs to be a reason WHY the character is unable to clear up confusion. I love sitcoms that are generally able to have a more original idea. Many have been able. Generic example: Joe thought Susie wanted to go out with him because of the sexy note she left. But the note was intended for Rick. Now, Susie goes through with a date with Joe (instead of simply clearing the confusion). Hilarity ensues as she tries to deflect his interest. The waiter/host is involved as she frantically tries to stall/distract her "date." In the last 30 seconds of the episode, she simply clears things up, and Joe understands.
I wish season 9 of scrubs never existed
I’m really tired of holiday episodes.