Overused Plots in Movies and TV

[Mo Frackle]

The Three Stooges also had to deal with a declining budget and Shemp's sickness in the early 1950s, which made them do a lot of remakes and re-cuts. They even remade four Shemp shorts after he died with a stand-in, which has to be one of the most tasteless decisions made by a production company ever.

Yeah, Harry Cohn liked to save every penny he could. Though those last four Shemp shorts were mainly made because the Stooges (including Shemp) were still obligated to finish four more shorts. Slightly off topic, but one of the Joe Besser shorts ("Triple Crossed") had so much stock footage in it, that it only took a day to shoot the new footage.

 

[Hayley B]

There was a two-part (I think it was a two-parter) Full House episode that did that.

Full House did. I think Roseanne might had too. I liked the Roseanne one.

 

[HeyButtahfly]

Full House did. I think Roseanne might had too. I liked the Roseanne one.

So did Step By Step.

 

[Mo Frackle]

So did Step By Step.

And Family Matters and Boy Meets World.

 

[HeyButtahfly]

Oh yeah! I remember the BMW episode now that you mention it. I don't think I've ever seen the Family Matters one, though.

 

[Drtooth]

Remakes were common back then because film series (like Looney Tunes or the Three Stooges) weren't shown the way TV shows are. Usually, you had to wait a month to a month and half to see a new short. And the shorts were almost never reshown in theaters, other than for the occassional Saturday Matinee. As a result, it was easier to get away with remaking an old short, especially if it was one made decades before.

It also has something to do with updating them for color and in some cases conversion to cinemascope. They have several Tom and Jerry shorts that are the same thing, too.

And these are a great deal better than the Korean traced and colored versions of black and white silent films. Those are a trainwreck.

 

[D'Snowth]

Nowhere nearly as overused as most of the other plot devices we've mentioned in this thread, but here's a plot that has seen it's share of overuse as well over the decades: we learn one or more of the characters has a rather embarrassing middle name, and in most of those cases, if the character is male, the middle name is usually regarded as a feminine name: both Double D from Ed, Edd n Eddy and Frank Burns from M*A*S*H have Marion as their middle names.

And overused even less is if a character goes by a nickname or their last name, or even a Barkeep name, after a while, we FINALLY learn the character's real name, and it turns out to be just as embarrassing as the middle name plot device (ala Kramer from Seinfeld's first name being Cosmo, Curly from Hey Arnold!'s real name being Thaddeus, or Binky from Arthur's real name being Shelly).

EDIT: Then there's also the nickname episode, where a character receives a nickname they dislike, but doesn't have the courage to just come out and say, "Dude, dis nick ain't kewl man!"

 

[Hayley B]

I remember seeing footage of a John Ritter interview where he said that's when he knew Three's Company had run out of steam, because they were filming an episode in the last season where they had to hide a cat that was a virtual remake of a first season episode where they hid a dog.

I remembered that very interview. It was bunny and then cat (they were small animals). I remember the bunny one. Krissy hid the bunny under her shirt. That part was so funny, imo.

 

[D'Snowth]

Here's another one I just thought of: school plays. And those tend to fall into three different categories:

1. One character is desperate to get a good part, or even as one of the leads, and starts scheming their way into getting it, by any means necessary.

Oh gee, what do you know? Today's new episode of Arthur is about... D.W. being jealous that Emily is the star of the preschool play... wow, I never would have guessed, those Arthur writers sure are always fresh on ideas, aren't they?

 

[Drtooth]

Oh gee, what do you know? Today's new episode of Arthur is about... D.W. being jealous that Emily is the star of the preschool play... wow, I never would have guessed, those Arthur writers sure are always fresh on ideas, aren't they?

And then she gets stage fright too.

I can't find that list you made, but I'm sure it's on there. Of course, Arthur using old cliches is a matter of fleeting demographic and basically being on the air for 16 years.