The Mothers In Law :
The son of one of them was married to the daughter of one of them (I was too young to now remember who Kaye Ballard's character or Eve Arden's character was the mother of).
However, there was an episode in which the daughter was expecting a child and when it was close to the delivery date, someone's dog, who was also expecting puppies, began to go into labor. From what I recall Eve Arden's character went to another room to help with delivering the puppies. Somehow there was miscommunication and the expectant father came to the scene. Other people, thinking that he knew that it was a dog that was delivering puppies, told him that one had been delivered and another is coming. In the final scene, Eve Arden's character comes out and says to the expectant father that all the babies had been born. He asks something like "Boys or girls?" and Eve Arden's character says "Three of Each" and then the father just faints.
This Mothers In Law episode was similar to another which I think might have been on McHale's Navy . I was really young when I watched this episode also so I cannot recall the names of the characters or all the actors who played them, but I recall the plot itself quite vividly.
One of the male military characters (possibly Tim Conway) had a female friend who was expecting a baby and he took her along with him on a ship. I don't know the scenario regarding who was the father or whether "Tim Conway" was dating the expectant mother, but the expectant female was given a tuna sandwich by "Tim Conway" and left in a room and then when the lady put down her sandwich, suddenly a cat came to eat it and the expectant female thought that the cat was adorable and petted it and found out that it was an expectant female cat and she knew that the cat was going to give birth right that minute. Then "Tim Conway" comes in and asks where the cat came from and the expectant female says that the cat was a stow-away and about to have kittens, so "Tim Conway" and the expectant female help the cat to give birth and "Tim Conway" runs to another room to tell some male crew members (who know that there is an expectant woman in another room) "She is delivering right now" and he goes back and forth telling the guys in the other room that "One is born and another coming" and the guys in the other room think that the pregnant female is giving birth to several kids.
I don't recall how the men in the other room eventually found out that "Tim Conway" was referring to a cat.


The Adams Family Christmas episode in which Morticia and Gomez talked Uncle Fester into dressing like Santa and going down the chimney so as to surprise Pugsley and Wednesday who thought that Santa would not come, and the Christmas episode of The Monkees in which Davey Jones talked Mickey Dolenz into dressing like Santa and going down a chimney so as to surprise a young boy they were baby sitting. Furthermore in both individual episodes, Mickey Dolenz and Uncle Fester got stuck in the chimney that each was trying to climb down and eventually fell down filled with soot and smoke.
Also this particular Christmas episode of the Adams Family was similar to the Christmas episode of the Partridge Family (the episode in which the Partridge Family got stuck in a ghost town and worried that they would not make it home in time for Christmas but they eventually did) in that at the end of the show, the characters all faced the camera and wished the viewing audience a Merry Christmas.

And besides this, The Partridge Family Christmas episode was similar to to a certain episode of The Monkees "Monkees In A Ghost Town" because while stuck in the ghost town both the Partridge family and The Monkees found themselves back in the wild west fighting outlaws and dressed in clothes of those times. Of course with the Partridge Family, they were all imagining themselves as being back in the wild west.

All In The Family episode in which Michael Stivick had to have his appendix removed was a similar plot to that of Doctor in the House when Michael (the medical student) had to have his appendix removed.

To Rome With Love when the youngest character, a girl who carries a toy lamb with her, decides to grow up and stop carrying the toy with her all the time, and Family Affair when Buffy decided to stop carrying Mrs Beasley all the time.

Also an episode of The Partridge Family in which Danny puts hamsters in a cage and they start breeding uncontrollably. and Family Affair when Buffy and Jody put guppies together in a fish bowl and they multiply .

On one episode of the Partridge Family Keith said that he wanted to live on his own because the other kids in the family made too much noise and he needed quiet to concentrate on writing music and also he felt he was getting older and needed more freedom. He found an affordable place and found himself moving next door. (That alone Sounds like what happened in All in The Family with Gloria and Michael Stivic when Archie Bunker wanted them to move out on their own and accept any affordable home but it turned out that the most affordable one was the home next door). But then Keith could not manage on his own because he was used to having his mom iron his clothes and prepare his meals. Eventually Keith confessed to his mom that living alone is not what he thought it would be and wants to move back home, and Shirley tells him that he can move back home but he has to accept the fact that he has to live with noisy younger sibljngs . It seemed that Keith learned that it isn't so bad living with bothersome siblings since he was used to it anyway and there are conveniences to living with his family. This was similar to the episode of One Day At A Time in which Julie wanted to move out on her own because she was growing up and felt she should not be sharing a room with her sister and she went out on her own for a while but ended up coming back to mom and essentially saying that she thinks that she can wait a bit longer to be on her own and that she hopes that her sister does not mind being her roommate again.

Here is my most glaring similar/rehashed plot

Doris Day Show 1st season--The Antique
The Real McCoys 3rd season--Where There's A Will

Both shows deal with old ladies trying to swindle antiques and in both shows one of the old ladies is played by Estelle Winwood

Watching some All In the Family on Youtube, looking at random episodes, and there was an episode with a tired plot device. A conflict over an event and who was the jerk or the worst people in the event.

I did not watch the whole episode but Archie, Edith, Meathead and Gloria were in a restaurant and were talking about what happened earlier in the evening and who was at fault, and there are two stories. The first is Meathead's side of the story where Archie coming home pissed off and angry and Meathead and Gloria being very cordial and nice, and I guess the second story Arch states is that he comes home all happy and nice and Meathead and Gloria were jerks.

MASH did a show somewhat like it when Hawkeye was court martialed when Frank was in charge. Similar plot, the two differing stories with the storyteller in the right. I am sure (without proof like Donald Trump) that Three's Company probably did that story too. Probably a dozen other shows.

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW used that plot once too.

There was an All In The Family episode in which Michael Stivick got into a contest with Archie Bunker . Michael had to stop eating and Archie had to stop smoking.
.
I just found out that there was an episode of The Partridge Family called " Each Dawn I Diet" in which Danny feels self conscious about his weight and decided to diet and eventually it gets to where Rubin Kinkaid has to stop smoking so as to prove that if he can quit cigarettes Danny can lose weight.

I saw a lot of the episodes of The Partridge Family but never heard of this episode or saw it.

There was an All In The Family episode in which Michael Stivick got into a contest with Archie Bunker . Michael had to stop eating and Archie had to stop smoking.
.
I just found out that there was an episode of The Partridge Family called " Each Dawn I Diet" in which Danny feels self conscious about his weight and decided to diet and eventually it gets to where Rubin Kinkaid has to stop smoking so as to prove that if he can quit cigarettes Danny can lose weight.

I saw a lot of the episodes of The Partridge Family but never heard of this episode or saw it.

"Three's Company" did a variation on this plot once as well. Jack bet Janet that he could give up women for as long as Chrissy gave up eating, though these shows never looked into the possible health problems that can result from prolonged fasting.

I was posting on another thread about how Rubin Kinkaid once dressed up like a fairy and then it occurred to me, Davey Jones was forced into dressing like a girl by Peter, Mike and Mickey in an episode of the Monkees ("Some Like It Lukewarm") . Gilligan was made to dress up like a girl by the Professor and the Skipper in one episode of Gilligan's Island. It is one of those often-used scenarios in TV shows ( or movies) in which a man dresses feminine because it is just funny. It ia a cliche of a tactic for laughs.
Also it can be a springboard into the particular plot.

Some of you may remember "Joe and Sons" which was very short lived. It was about a father (Richard S. Castellano) and his two sons (Jimmy Baio and Mitch Brown); and in one episode Jimmy Baio mimics a woman by putting on a feather boa and strutting around the room, and his father thinks he is showing tendencies of being a "sissy" and he is very worried.

Also as a something of a subtopic to this topic is the fact that the same TV show would do a "rehash" of a plot it already did.
In The Partridge Family I think there were at least two different episodes in which there was some scenario about Danny being replaced as the bass player. In "Anatomy of a Tonsil" Danny thought he would die or lose his voice because he was going to have his tonsils removed so he tried to find red headed boys to replace him and by the end of the show Danny survived the surgery but was convinced he can't sing anymore and his family decided to use reverse psychology by having Danny's best friend ( a dark haired kid that actually looked like Mike Lookinland of Brady Bunch) put on a red haired wig and have him play the bass guitar. Eventually Danny wanted his old job back.
But there was another episode I recall in which Danny made a funny mistake on stage and when the audience laughed ,Danny thought he could become a comedian and it got to where he and the family had to consider who would replace him as bass player.
And in even another episode Danny wanted to "go solo" because he felt he had the talent to perform without his family. I think it was while Jeremy Gelbwalks was still playing "Chris" and the rest of the family did reverse psychology and started rehearsing with a bit of an older looking kid than Danny (This was one of the earlier episodes as I recall and I think the kid looked Hispanic and I am not sure if was Armando Islas, the kid who did a Disney movie called "Pablo and the Dancing Chihuahua" or if it was Manuel Padella Jr. who played "Jai" in the Tarzan TV series and also played a Mexican boy in "Cutter's Trail" ) but eventually Danny heard the family rehearsing and saw his replacement and the family told him that the new bassist was better than him and I really recall "Chris" (Gelbwalks) saying "And you ought to hear him sing" (which was also said in a different way in the other episode in which Danny was going to be replaced).And then Danny then feels depressed , and then another day when he hears the family rehearsing he then walks in the garage to see that the new bassist is not there but Shirley just hands Danny his guitar and without saying anything it is apparent that the family wants him back as bassist and Danny goes back to playing bass in the family band.And when the family breaks out into a song and then there is a scene of the kid who was supposedly going to replace Danny just standing to the side and smiling and gesturing using the "OK" hand-gesture meaning that he was happy that he helped make the reverse psychology work.

In Diff'rent Strokes the issue of bed wetting was used twice I think. Once when Arnold wanted attention and made others think that he wet the bed but then Willis played a trick on Arnold and made Arnold think he really wet the bed (that's what I best recall of the plot and it may not be exact) and there was another episode in which Danny Cooksey's character had a bed wetting problem.

a dark haired kid that actually looked like Todd Lookinland of Brady Bunch

http://www.supanova.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Mike-Lookinland-Profile-Version-C.jpg

http://www.supanova.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Mike-Lookinland-Profile-Version-C.jpg

OK, I actually meant Mike Lookinland. Of course Mike's brother Todd played in a movie with Elizabeth Taylor.
I will correct my post

Of course Mike's brother Todd played in a movie with Elizabeth Taylor.


I didn't know that. Cool.

Anyone recall a Betty Boop cartoon in which she was all politically fired up and saying "I'll show everybody that a woman can be president."? (Meaning herself).
There was an episode of Popeye in which Olive Oyl was singing about being a woman President

A teenage (or younger) person falling in love with, or having a crush on someone who is an adult:

Here's Lucy: When Donny Osmond (playing himself) fell in love with Lucie Arnaz' character "Kim" who was much older than he.
(It might be interesting for anyone who does not know, Eve Plumb of the Brady Bunch played Kim's cousin , Percilla, who Kim took to see Donny perform, but because of a mix-up of names, Donny thought that Kim was Percilla and visited Kim's home to ask her out for a date) .

The Partridge Family: "I Left My Heart In Cincinatti," when Keith fell in love with a woman older than he and tried to impress her but she thought of him as a kid.

"Family:, " When a teenager (male) fell in love with Sada Thompson's character, Kate Laurence (who was old enough to be the teen's grandmother)

The Partridge Family: When teen twin singers (Andy and David Williams who were playing themselves) both fall in love with Lori who is older than they and they both tell Lori to choose which one of them she prefers to have as a boyfriend, but Lori is not interested in them because she thinks they are just kids

Notice how the Partridge Fami!y has , more than once, done more than one rehash of one of its own episodes. Someone having a crush on an older person has been an often-used plot.


.

on I LOVE LUCY once a teenager got a crush on Ricky.

I never watched the show, but I heard that The Nanny was going to have Elton John on as a guest star so I wanted to see that episode. I completely forgot about it and I was flipping channels at about 8:25 and I stumbled onto the episode when it was almost over. They were in a restaurant having lunch with Elton John and the nanny had some weird disguise on. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that they were ripping off the I Love Lucy episode with William Holden, where she was desperate to meet him, made a fool of herself, then actually got to meet him and put a ridiculous disguise on so he wouldn't recognize her.

I just found out that the Brady Bunch once had an episode about Marcia getting braces and then thinking she is unattractive. I think the name of the episode was "Brace yourself." It was one of the very early episodes of The Brady Bunch and the youngest "Bradys" (Cindi and Bobby) seemed to be about 8 years old and the oldest "Bradys" (Greg and Marcia) seemed to barely be in their teens.
There was also an episode of the Partridge Family in which Lori got braces and was ashamed to have anyone see her teeth. The episode was called "Old Scrapmouth."

Come to think of it, I might have seen both episodes but I was very young and may not have recalled the one with The Brady Bunch, but I do recall seeing the "braces" episode of The Partridge Family and I recall thinking that it sounds like a plot I had seen before in another show.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIj7AfcKW48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiOg0-PCZfA

Bewitched had an episode where Serena and Uncle Arthur lose their powers, and are forced to get "mortal" jobs. They get ajob in some sweet shop and fail miserably. The scene is a complete rip-off of the Lucy/Ethel scene on the chocolate conveyer belt on "I Love Lucy".

There are countless sitcoms that have done a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol or an episode version of the movie It's A Wonderful Life.

And it always goes one main sitcom character doesn't have the Christmas spirit or for some reason is thinking the other characters would be better off if they'd never been born or hadn't met them. Then either an angel (if it's a It's A Wonderful Life episode) or three mysterious Christmas spirits (if it's a Christmas Carol episode) come and visit the character and show them the error in their thinking and by the end of the episode everything's good and all's right with the world again. Once in a while there'll be a slight variation when the episode will be a two-parter but not very often. Both of these sitcoms scenarios have been done to death. And I love Christmas but they really need to stop.

Ed.

Bewitched had an episode where Serena and Uncle Arthur lose their powers, and are forced to get "mortal" jobs. They get ajob in some sweet shop and fail miserably. The scene is a complete rip-off of the Lucy/Ethel scene on the chocolate conveyer belt on "I Love Lucy".

There were similar episodes of those two series when both Samantha and Lucy hired a maid with some of the dialogue also similar. William Asher, a producer and director of Bewitched (and Elizabeth Montgomery's husband at the time) had also worked on I Love Lucy as a director (and directed "Samantha's Power Failure," the Bewitched episode mentioned above).

Both M*A*S*H and Barney Miller did episodes about a guy who thought he was Jesus Christ.

Both M*A*S*H and WKRP in Cincinnati did episodes where all the charatcers had dreams. (In WKRP it was daydreams.)

Both Barney Miller and The Bob Newhart Show did an episode where a ventriloquist thinks his dummy is a real person in the same season that Soap introduced a regular character who though his dummy was a real person.

In the final episodes of both Barney Miller and M*A*S*H, there was a regular white male character engaged or getting married to an Asian woman.

The wrong person being drafted has gotten a lot of mileage.

Lucy Carmichael accidentally got drafted because the military thought her name was Lou C. Carmichael.

Danny Partridge accidentally got drafted.

Arnold the Pig from Green Acres accidentally got drafted.

Snuffy Smith accidentally got drafted because the military did not know that he already served in WW2 (or something like that)

There are countless sitcoms that have done a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol or an episode version of the movie It's A Wonderful Life.

And it always goes one main sitcom character doesn't have the Christmas spirit or for some reason is thinking the other characters would be better off if they'd never been born or hadn't met them. Then either an angel (if it's a It's A Wonderful Life episode) or three mysterious Christmas spirits (if it's a Christmas Carol episode) come and visit the character and show them the error in their thinking and by the end of the episode everything's good and all's right with the world again. Once in a while there'll be a slight variation when the episode will be a two-parter but not very often. Both of these sitcoms scenarios have been done to death. And I love Christmas but they really need to stop.

Ed.the 2-hour finale of the original DALLAS did a parody of "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE' but it wasn't set at Christmas.

I never watched the show, but I heard that The Nanny was going to have Elton John on as a guest star so I wanted to see that episode. I completely forgot about it and I was flipping channels at about 8:25 and I stumbled onto the episode when it was almost over. They were in a restaurant having lunch with Elton John and the nanny had some weird disguise on. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that they were ripping off the I Love Lucy episode with William Holden, where she was desperate to meet him, made a fool of herself, then actually got to meet him and put a ridiculous disguise on so he wouldn't recognize her.


It reminds me of another Lucielle Ball episode I saw. I think it was "Here's Lucy" rather than "The Lucy Show" and the plot was that Lucy Carmichael was in a restaurant in which she saw Tony Randall (playing himself) and she was so star struck that she did all kinds of scatterbrained things and I think she ended up spilling something on Tony Randall and he just looked at her in a strange way and she ended up just running out of the restaurant.

Lucy Ball had at least three different TV sitcoms playing a scatterbrained woman. I think she played Lucy Carmichael on the last two sitcoms she did before she retired from doing TV sitcoms. I noticed that in the very last sitcom she ever did and also during the last episodes of that sitcom, she had a lot of celebrity guest stars playing themselves in some plot that involved Lucy Carmichael somehow meeting the celebrity, often accidentally.
I recall the one with Wayne Newton who I think played himself but in the context of being a young man who grew up in a farm and could not sing unless there were some farm animals with him. I doubt that was his true situation in real life. I think Vincent Price played himself but in Lucy Ball's sitcom he was somehow tricking people into thinking he was some kind of
evil scientist : I cannot recall the exact details of the episode with Vincent Price.
It seemed that "Here's Lucy" was done in a way to partially be like a variety show in which there are celebrity guest stars but instead of acting out different skits and performances within the hour-long show, the celeberty guest plays a certain role throughout the episode.

It reminds me of another Lucielle Ball episode I saw. I think it was "Here's Lucy" rather than "The Lucy Show" and the plot was that Lucy Carmichael was in a restaurant in which she saw Tony Randall (playing himself) and she was so star struck that she did all kinds of scatterbrained things and I think she ended up spilling something on Tony Randall and he just looked at her in a strange way and she ended up just running out of the restaurant.

Lucy Ball had at least three different TV sitcoms playing a scatterbrained woman. I think she played Lucy Carmichael on the last two sitcoms she did before she retired from doing TV sitcoms. I noticed that in the very last sitcom she ever did and also during the last episodes of that sitcom, she had a lot of celebrity guest stars playing themselves in some plot that involved Lucy Carmichael somehow meeting the celebrity, often accidentally.
I recall the one with Wayne Newton who I think played himself but in the context of being a young man who grew up in a farm and could not sing unless there were some farm animals with him. I doubt that was his true situation in real life. I think Vincent Price played himself but in Lucy Ball's sitcom he was somehow tricking people into thinking he was some kind of
evil scientist : I cannot recall the exact details of the episode with Vincent Price.
It seemed that "Here's Lucy" was done in a way to partially be like a variety show in which there are celebrity guest stars but instead of acting out different skits and performances within the hour-long show, the celeberty guest plays a certain role throughout the episode.

That sounds more like The Lucy Show episode "Lucy and John Wayne," one of the 30 public-domain episodes (available on several cheap DVD sets). According to IMDb, Tony Randall only appeared as character Rudolph Springer III on Here's Lucy and never as himself and did not appear on The Lucy Show at all. The Wayne Newton episode was on The Lucy Show while the Vincent Price episode was on Here's Lucy. (According to IMDb, the plot is: "Vincent mistakes Lucy for an actress in his new horror movie and proceeds to rehearse a scene in his newly created evil laboratory."

Lucille Ball played Lucy Carmichael on The Lucy Show and Lucy Carter on Here's Lucy, similar but different characters. (Note that all three of Lucy's main sitcom character names have the word "car" in them.)

Later episodes depended on celebrities because they couldn't come up with any plots concerning the regular characters and it's always thought celebrities bring higher ratings. The Odd Couple had the same problem at the end.

In one episode of The Brady Bunch Carol and Cindy Brady had to have their tonsils out. (I think it was "Coming out party").

In Family Affair, Bufy and Jody both had their tonsils out in one episode ("A Matter of Tonsils").

I could only find a link to one

http://www.hulu.com/watch/646976

I never knew that there were several more Brady Bunch plots that a variation-of was done on Partridge Family (and/or other sitcoms). I find out a lot by looking through the internet.

There was a Brady Bunch episode called "Ghost Town U.S.A."
It seems that TV characters finding themselves in a ghost town is a commonly used plot. As mentioned previously in this thread, there was "Monkees in a Ghost Town" and there was a Christmas episode of The Partridge Family in which the Partridges found themselves stranded in a ghost town. Also there was an "F-Troop" episode, "The West Goes Ghost" in which O'Rourke and Agarn take over a ghost town hoping to make a business because a railroad is going to be built through the town, but then they find out that there is some spectre on a horse that rides through town (it turns out to be a hermit who tries to scare people away by dressing up and riding a horse making spooky noises).

Also there was a Brady Bunch episode called "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor" in which the Brady family was chosen to do a detergent commercial and they all felt that they were being forced to embellish the product beyond what they really tought of it . It is exactly the same concept in an All in The Family episode in which Edith was chosen to do a commercial in which she felt that she was being pressured to over embellish the effectiveness and quality of the product. The product she had to embellish was detergent !

"The Liberation of Marcia Brady" is conceptually similar to some of the Partridge Family episodes such as "My Son The Feminist" and "This Male Chauvenist Piggy Went To Market." It seems that during the early 70s, TV shows tried to depict the mood of the times by using the "battle of the sexes" plots.



In "The Un-Underground Movie" Greg Brady tries to make a movie. SOunds similar to "Fellini, Bergman, and Partridge in which Keith thinks he can become a filmmaker.

There was that well-known episode "Getting Davey Jones" in which Marcia tries to get Davey Jones to perform at her school. Well I think there was a faintly similar plot in The Bad News Bears in which the team tries to get a well known baseball player to come over to their school and they resort to certain tactics such as one of the boys acting sick and needing to meet his hero before he dies. Eventually the Bears do get the baseball player to visit.
(I saw this years ago and only have a general recollection of the plot). This is already similar to an episode of Different Strokes in which Arnold feigned being sick so as to get Mohammad Ali to visit him. I know there was one Brady episode in which Joe Namath visited Bobby Brady.
Of course rock stars and famous athletes have been used in certain sitcom plots when there are children characters who want to meet their idol or hero.
Davey Jones also made an appearance in My Two Dads (a show I never saw but have heard of) and the plot of course was about a rock star visiting the young female character of the show. Also I never saw "Malcolm in The Middle" but I understand it is about a young boy who is the middle child in the family (I may be wrong) but I heard that David Cassidy made an appearance as an aging teen idol ( but not as himself). I have seen one small clip of that episode ( I thought it was absurd and tacky and sexist) in which David Cassidy is singing and dancing and is partially dressed like Elvis and partially dressed like Tom Jones and he is likewise singing Madonna's song "Papa dont preach" in a mixed Tom Jones/ Elvis style and there are showgirls dancing with him and they have fake pregnant bellies on them.
I can't imagine what the plot was and that is a far cry from most of the TV plots in the 70s. Nevertheless it seems it was part of those "TV character gets to meet a famous person" plots.

Of course sometimes there are just parts of a plot that remind me so much of what happened in another TV show.
In "The Hero" Peter Brady rescues a girl and gets some publicity in the newspaper and then feels so "famous" that he holds a party for people to come admire him but no one shows up. I did not see that episode, but only read about it. However it reminds me of a "Family Affair" episode in which Buffy and Jody just want to hold a party in the building and try to let everyone in the building know that they can come to enjoy themselves, but no one comes. If anyone knows the name of that plot, say so.

Also there was a Family Affair episode in which Buffy and Jody decided to fix up an abandoned parking lot and turn it into a small public park but after they did some fixing up and had high hopes, they were told by police that there are local ordinances that say that they cannot just re-design abandoned property without a permit or city permission. That was a similar scenario to a Nanny and The Professor episode in which Nanny, Prudence, Hal and Butch all tried to fix an old abandoned fountain in the park, and bought some paint to paint the statue on the fountain, but a police officer came by asking if they had a permit to do so.

I think that when it comes to sitcoms in which there are children or teens as major characters, there has been a trend to have rock stars ( or pop stars or teen idols) and sports stars, and occasionally people such as famous astronauts and even politicians sometimes make appearances as themselves.
I would wonder which TV show first had a celebrity playing himself or herself. Anyone know?


There is more on the ol' "Celebrity guest" scenario:

Regarding real-life celebrities playing themselves and making an appearance:

Andy Gibb played himself in the sitcom "Punky Brewster." I did not see the episode but my understanding was that the plot involved Andy Gibb hosting a childs' beauty pageant in which Punky Brewster was going to compete in.

A real-life astronaut once made an appearance on "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father." I saw it long ago and may not recall the exact details but in general it was something along the lines of Eddie winning a school or newspaper contest in which he gets to have lunch with one of the astronauts who went to the moon, and then Eddie is torn between just meeting with his hero alone, or inviting his friends ( and if he does not invite his friends, they will be angry with him). I am not sure if the astronaut was Buzz Aldrin.

On "Diff'rent Strokes" Dorothy Hamill once made an appearance as herself. I think it was a plot in which Kimberly was taking skating lessons from her.

Also, Nancy Ragan made an appearance on Diff'rent Strokes in which she visited Aronld's home and spoke with Arnold and his friends about saying "No" to drugs.

Furthermore "Mr. T" made an appearance as himself on Diff'rent Strokes."

Also, there are times in which the TV show does not have a child or teen as a major character but in "Maude," John Wayne made an appearance as himself. The plot was about Maude's home being used to film a movie. Of course Maude's grandson wanted to invite his friends to meet John Wayne.
And this is a similar plot to the one on "Diff'rent Strokes" in which Mr. T made an appearance since Arnold Drummond's home was being used to film a movie.


The Lucielle Ball Show (and/or any of the shows she starred in with her name) very often had celebrity stars playing themselves. Chuck Connors was one that I particularly recall because it was aired fairly soon after Chuck Connors accompanied the president (Nixon) to the Soviet Union because Brezhnev was a fan of American Westerns and Chuck Connors was his favorite actor, and Chuck Connors was apparently taken along to be an ambassador and Brezhnev was so thrilled to see his movie hero that he just jumped into his arms and Chuck Connors lifted and bear-hugged Brezhnev in what went down in trivia history as a prominently-whimsical incident between celebrity and fan.
However in the Lucille Ball Show , Lucy asked Chuck Conners why he lifted up Brezhnev and Chuck Connors just said "Because he was there" or that is what I recall of the episode.

1. In an episode of The Facts of Life Blair finds out that her grandfather was in the KKK and Blair feeling guilty, overcompensates by buying Tootie gifts and doing all sort of nice things for her.

There was an episode on Saved By The Bell when Jessie finds out that her family owned slaves, she also overcompensated by doing all sorts of nice things for Lisa.

2. Facts of Life had an episode where Tootie meets a black boy that she liked, but he tries to get her away from her white friends....Tootie then rediscovers her heritage by befriending other black girls....

Saved By The Bell The College Years had a similar episode where Slater meets an Hispanic girl and she makes him rediscover his roots. It's been a long time since i seen the episode but i remember him and Zack's relationship got a lil strained as well. But they eventually got back together though in true brotherhood.

Although they were similar, they worked.

And that wasn't an angel in the Dallas finale either!

Ed.

There are countless sitcoms that have done a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol or an episode version of the movie It's A Wonderful Life.

And it always goes one main sitcom character doesn't have the Christmas spirit or for some reason is thinking the other characters would be better off if they'd never been born or hadn't met them. Then either an angel (if it's a It's A Wonderful Life episode) or three mysterious Christmas spirits (if it's a Christmas Carol episode) come and visit the character and show them the error in their thinking and by the end of the episode everything's good and all's right with the world again. Once in a while there'll be a slight variation when the episode will be a two-parter but not very often. Both of these sitcoms scenarios have been done to death. And I love Christmas but they really need to stop.

Ed.


I don't watch current sitcoms but I'm sure they stopped that a while ago. There's very little pro religion on TV now.

There was a plot of Please Don't Eat The Daises in which the four boys decided to build a boat to sail the seas in. I'm not sure if their dad helped, but the boys worked hard in the garage and built a makeshift boat, but their parents had a man who used to be a sailor or a sea captain or ship builder (or something to that effect) explain to the boys that if special kinds of nails and wood and other materials are not used in building a boat, the boat will eventually fall apart.
The episode ended with the boys nevertheless sailing their boat in a swimming pool.

Then there was an episode of Nanny and The Professor in which Hal and Butch decided to build a boat to sail it in a lake ( perhaps not the sea) and they put together a boat and throughout the episode The Professor had been telling the boys about how he built a boat when he was a boy but when it came time for the three "men" to sail on the boat, the Professor hired some crane to lower their boat into a nearby lake (It was not explained how they just did this without getting permission from the municipality or the city in which they lived since no one can just build a large boat and sail it in a park lake out of nowhere), but Hal and Butch were having second thoughts about doing it because the lake looked deep, but the Professor encouraged them to go ahead with their original plans and what happened was that Prudence and Nanny stayed on shore to watch the three "men" sail off on the lake but a man who was fishing nearby told Nanny that if the boat was not built right that it would sink, and indeed the boat malfunctioned in some way and started to sink and the Professor fell off the boat but it turned out that the lake was only knee deep and the Professor pulled the boat back to shore and the boys and the Professor were happy anyway because it was a lesson learned in taking chances and the Professor said that when he built a boat as a boy, he was not successful either.

I might have confused some of the elements of one of the shows with the other. These plots were so similar. Also in Please Don't Eat The Daises, the mother of the four boys did not accompany her sons and husband on the boat that they sailed in a swimming pool, but came to visit on a raft.
In both cases, the women characters were not expected to sail in the boat and be adventurous.

I just found out that the Brady Bunch once had an episode called "The Undergraduate" and the Partridge Family also once had an episode called "The Undergraduate."
In each episode the plot involves a younger person having a crush on an older person.
In the Brady Bunch Greg gets a crush on his math teacher.
In The Partridge Family, Shirley enrolls in college and a younger classmate of hers gets a crush on her.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0531153/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0670205/

There are countless sitcoms that have done a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol or an episode version of the movie It's A Wonderful Life.

And it always goes one main sitcom character doesn't have the Christmas spirit or for some reason is thinking the other characters would be better off if they'd never been born or hadn't met them. Then either an angel (if it's a It's A Wonderful Life episode) or three mysterious Christmas spirits (if it's a Christmas Carol episode) come and visit the character and show them the error in their thinking and by the end of the episode everything's good and all's right with the world again. Once in a while there'll be a slight variation when the episode will be a two-parter but not very often. Both of these sitcoms scenarios have been done to death. And I love Christmas but they really need to stop.

Ed.

Yes. Definitely. I also hate the "It was all just a dream" plot.

I cant believe I forgot to mention these:

All In the Family when Gloria puts on a wig for laughs and Michael finds he likes her better with the wig but Gloria gets angry because Michael seems to want to think of her as a different woman.

The Mothers In Law when Kay Ballard's character puts on a wig and her husband seemed to like her better as a different woman and Kay Ballard's character gets mad at her husband for it .
Then Eve Arden's character tries to cheer them up by inviting them to her home and she puts on a wig and tells her husband to act as if he likes it in front of the other couple to show them that a married couple could get along even if one wears a wig ,but when Kaye Ballard and her husband showed up they were still miserable and no matter what Eve Arden and her husband did ( act as if they were having a good time dancing and interacting) Kay Ballard's character just stormed out and so did her husband.
Then Eve Arden's husband tells her that he liked pretending with her in her wig and they both start dancing as they never did because Eve s husband likes her better with the wig on.

Also there was an episode of The Dick Van Dyke show in which his wife, (Mary Tyler Moore's character ) , was considering getting a wig and she asked her husband what he would think of her in a blond wig, and he said that she would look like Harpo Marx.
This episode presented Dick Van Dyke's character's wife as very stereo typically weepy and childish because she felt that her husband did not appreciate her attempt to pretty herself up with a wig. Or that is what I best recall of it.

The more I look at old TV shows on YouTube the more I find ones that have had similar or rehashed plots .

There was a Brady Bunch episode in which Greg and Bobby found themselves locked in a meat locker in a butcher shop.
This is similar to when Archie Bunker and his son-in-law Michael Stivic found themselves locked together in the basement of a bar and grill .
(I think that by the time this episode aired, All In The Family had been on the air for years and it got to where the Archie character was the owner of the bar and grill).
Furthermore, the episode in which Archie and Michael were stuck in the cellar was its own rehash of an All In The Family episode in which Archie got stuck in the cellar of his own home when the rest of the family went away and he was alone and he accidentally locked himself in the basement .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghThTDJDTU4

Another variant would be stuck in an elevator (Dick van Dyke Show and again All in the Family. The handcuffed together episodes (every sitcom ever) are kind of related to these, too.


I can only remember an episode of The Patty Duke Show regarding being handcuffed together when Patty tried to keep an eye on her younger brother Ross and handcuffed herself to him but then Ross told her that he had lost the key to the handcuffs long ago.

The more I look at old TV shows on YouTube the more I find ones that have had similar or rehashed plots .

There was a Brady Bunch episode in which Greg and Bobby found themselves locked in a meat locker in a butcher shop.
This is similar to when Archie Bunker and his son-in-law Michael Stivic found themselves locked together in the basement of a bar and grill .
(I think that by the time this episode aired, All In The Family had been on the air for years and it got to where the Archie character was the owner of the bar and grill).
Furthermore, the episode in which Archie and Michael were stuck in the cellar was its own rehash of an All In The Family episode in which Archie got stuck in the cellar of his own home when the rest of the family went away and he was alone and he accidentally locked himself in the basement .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghThTDJDTU4
This reminds me the Family Guy episode Brian and Stewie. Those 2 were locked in a bank vault. I hated that episode.

Courtship of Eddies Father had an episode called "When The Shoe Is On The Other Foot It Doesn't Fit" in which Eddie's father dates a "women's libber" (as described in one internet site that provides a synopsis of old TV shows).
This sounds similar to the Partridge Family episode "My Son The Feminist."

Also another Courtship of Eddie's Father episode was about Eddie taking up playing a trumpet and annoying the neighbors; similar to the Partridge Family Episode in which a new neighbor makes noise complaints against the Partridges because they rehearse their music in their garage.

And even another Courtship of Eddie's Father episode was about someone convincing Eddie that he was adopted similar to Danny Partridge being convinced he was adopted.

Oh and furthermore, Jodie Foster was in one episode of Courtship of Eddie's Father "Bully For You" I think was the name, and Jodie was a tomboy of a girl who was very tough with Eddie and hit him but Tom and Ms Livingston tried to teach the girl to be less like a brawler and more like a proper lady so they had her learn to be like a Japanese lady who serves men meals (an extremely outdated plot) . Jodie Foster also famously played in an episode of Partridge Family "Promise Her Anything But Give Her A Punch" in which she was very much the same kind of tomboy -like girl and though she was "dating" Danny she slugged him for trying to kiss her.

Also regarding the often-used scenario of little tom-boy girls being tough on certain young boy characters in sitcoms, there was an episode of Family Affair in which Jody found himself being bullied by an older girl. Same with one of the Nash boys in Please Don't Eat The Daises in which the second oldest Nash boy was being kicked and hit by a girl at school and still he would not avoid her because he thought she was cute and by the end of the show she was more feminine ( though she then started dating the older Nash boy) because somehow Mr and Mrs Nash saw to it that she learn to be like a
girl instead of a boy.

In these episodes Tom Boy girls were portrayed in a rather negative light even though it was supposed to be funny.

There seems to be something about writing up very cliche type of episodes for sitcoms with child characters in them.

I cant believe I forgot to mention...

...there was an episode of The Dick Van Dyke show in which his wife, (Mary Tyler Moore's character ) , was considering getting a wig and she asked her husband what he would think of her in a blond wig, and he said that she would look like Harpo Marx.
This episode presented Dick Van Dyke's character's wife as very stereo typically weepy and childish because she felt that her husband did not appreciate her attempt to pretty herself up with a wig. Or that is what I best recall of it.

But the producers were high on this episode because it displayed Mary Tyler Moore's heretofore lesser-known comedic talents. Although it was the ninth episode filmed they had it broadcast as the SECOND episode.

Here is my most glaring similar/rehashed plot

Doris Day Show 1st season--The Antique
The Real McCoys 3rd season--Where There's A Will

Both shows deal with old ladies trying to swindle antiques and in both shows one of the old ladies is played by Estelle Winwood
There are so many family sit coms that are so alike.

Let's see: Frasier got handcuffed to a stripper, Harry and Christine on Night Court, Kramden and Norton on the Honeymooners, Lucy and Ricky, Fred Sanford and Aunt Esther.
Patty & Ross Lane did once.

Kids (or teens) running away from home is a theme that a lot of sitcoms ( or non-sitcom TV shows) has covered ad-nauseum.

Of course some of those plots are presented well and others not. Some are too similar to other "kids running away" plots.

Julie ran away from home in "One Day At A Time" even though she was already a teenager. She eventually came back home voluntarily. I think that in a way, the plot was non-climatic and useless, but on the other hand it was not handled like other "running away" plots and was somehow more realistic.

In The Brady Bunch, Bobby and Cindy wandered away during the family camping trip. They did not exactly run away, but the plot still worked out as if it was about them running away. The family had to try and find them.

On Please Don't Eat The Dasies, Trevor and Tracy, the twins decide to run away but they actually don't get past the front porch and are found easily by their parents because they left a trail of cookies. (I think this plot belongs on the "Useless episodes" thread).

In the clay-mation TV show "Davy and Goliath" Sally runs away because she feels that her brother Davy does not understand her and she is a pathetic little girl out in the world with her doll and Davy has to rescue her and bring her back. I think the episode was called "The New Year Promise" and it really overplayed the scenario of a little girl running away not knowing what she is getting herself into and how emotionally frail and physically vulnerable she is, and how she needed to be rescued by her big brother.

In "The Waltons" I recall that Elizabeth once ran away because she thought
her family did not love her more than they did a deaf mute little girl who the family was taking care of. I may not recall it exactly but I am surprised that the plot is described differently on the website ( link below) which says that Elizabeth was only playing hide and seek with the deaf girl.
I never watched the Waltons much, but looking through the internet I found out that it had more than one "run away" episode . I think that Jim Bob ran away because he felt his family did not pay enough attention to him. Also Mary Ellen planned on running away (I guess eloping) with a boy she thinks she is in love with.

http://www.the-waltons.com/season1.html

In "My Three Sons" Kate had triplets.
In "Get Smart" Agent 99 had triplets.

In "The Flintstones" Wilma once had triplets but it was an episode that was never followed up on and Fred and Wilma Flintstone afterward were only shown with one child, Pebbles. (Strange. I will have to make a different thread about that)

A teenage (or younger) person falling in love with, or having a crush on someone who is an adult:

Here's Lucy: When Donny Osmond (playing himself) fell in love with Lucie Arnaz' character "Kim" who was much older than he.
(It might be interesting for anyone who does not know, Eve Plumb of the Brady Bunch played Kim's cousin , Percilla, who Kim took to see Donny perform, but because of a mix-up of names, Donny thought that Kim was Percilla and visited Kim's home to ask her out for a date) .

The Partridge Family: "I Left My Heart In Cincinatti," when Keith fell in love with a woman older than he and tried to impress her but she thought of him as a kid.

"Family:, " When a teenager (male) fell in love with Sada Thompson's character, Kate Laurence (who was old enough to be the teen's grandmother)

The Partridge Family: When teen twin singers (Andy and David Williams who were playing themselves) both fall in love with Lori who is older than they and they both tell Lori to choose which one of them she prefers to have as a boyfriend, but Lori is not interested in them because she thinks they are just kids

Notice how the Partridge Fami!y has , more than once, done more than one rehash of one of its own episodes. Someone having a crush on an older person has been an often-used plot.


.
Family Ties, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Drake and Josh also had those kinds of plots.

I think it's kind of sad that too many kids think the iCarly episode "iMake Sam Girlier" is a rip-off of the Hannah Montana episode "You Are So Sue-able To Me..." or at least they did around the time those shows aired.


1. In an episode of The Facts of Life Blair finds out that her grandfather was in the KKK and Blair feeling guilty, overcompensates by buying Tootie gifts and doing all sort of nice things for her.

There was an episode on Saved By The Bell when Jessie finds out that her family owned slaves, she also overcompensated by doing all sorts of nice things for Lisa.
I thought something like that was going to be a B-story in the Girl Meets World episode "Girl Meets the Great Lady of New York." Zay's ancestors were snatched from Africa (specifically Ghana) as part of the slave trade, and I thought Lucas' ancestors might've owned some of them as slaves until the end of the Civil War. The last part didn't happen.

In "My Three Sons" Kate had triplets.
In "Get Smart" Agent 99 had triplets.

In "The Flintstones" Wilma once had triplets but it was an episode that was never followed up on and Fred and Wilma Flintstone afterward were only shown with one child, Pebbles. (Strange. I will have to make a different thread about that)


OOPS!
I just found out from reading a different thread that Agent 99 actually had twins not triplets.
Any way, having more than one child at a time has often been a Jump The Shark moment, or at least an attempt to bring new characters in or make major changes for the characters (Except maybe for The Flintstones. I hear that in some episodes Barney Rubble had a completely different job from his friend Fred).

OOPS!
I just found out from reading a different thread that Agent 99 actually had twins not triplets.
Any way, having more than one child at a time has often been a Jump The Shark moment, or at least an attempt to bring new characters in or make major changes for the characters (Except maybe for The Flintstones. I hear that in some episodes Barney Rubble had a completely different job from his friend Fred).

Yeah, 99 had twins, one of which grew up to look like Andy Dick.
I believe on the TV show Barney always worked in a different place except in specific episodes where Mr. Slate hired him (temporarily of course).
I believe in the comic books Barney worked with Fred.

In "My Three Sons" Kate had triplets.
In "Get Smart" Agent 99 had triplets.

In "The Flintstones" Wilma once had triplets but it was an episode that was never followed up on and Fred and Wilma Flintstone afterward were only shown with one child, Pebbles. (Strange. I will have to make a different thread about that)

Wilma had triplets??? Please provide name or airdate of episode where such a thing happened (and was not a dream or misunderstanding of Fred's).

Wilma had triplets??? Please provide name or airdate of episode where such a thing happened (and was not a dream or misunderstanding of Fred's).

I wish I could recall the exact episode, but I was very young when I saw it. What I recall vividly is the very last scene in the episode in which Fred and Wilma are looking at their newly-born triplets in their cribs through the large hospital window, and Wilma asks what they are going to call them and Fred says "Fred, Fred and Fred" and I think Wilma says something to the effect that the babies are all girls.

Maybe it was a dream that Fred had. I don't recall seeing it that way though.

Perhaps if I research on the internet, I will find the episode or information about it.

I believe on the TV show Barney always worked in a different place except in specific episodes where Mr. Slate hired him (temporarily of course).
I believe in the comic books Barney worked with Fred.

According to Wikipedia, Barney's occupation has often been questionable since on certain episodes he would have a different job from Fred's though on certian other episodes it was indicated that Fred and Barney both were construction workers who worked with each other. However I have read before (not in Wikipedia) that at least in one episode Barney was some kind of secret agent. It is mentioned in Wikipedia.

So apparently depending on what the writers wanted in the plot, Barney's job often changed from episode to episode. Also, this is in reference to the most original Flintstones cartoon show.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Rubble

One of the most recycled plots: a trip to a mountain cabin, or cabin in the woods. I don't know of a sitcom that hasn't used that one.

One of the most recycled plots: a trip to a mountain cabin, or cabin in the woods. I don't know of a sitcom that hasn't used that one.


Often it is about getting lost and finding an old cabin in the woods.
I think "Father Knows Best" once had an episode in which the family got lost while picnicking (or something like that) . I am not sure if it is the very first such plot that other sitcoms copied in some way.

Yeah, they got trapped on an island when their rowboat got away, and were stuck in a (surprise) cabin. It probably was the first time this plot was used.

I should have said, first sitcom use of it!

Yeah, 99 had twins, one of which grew up to look like Andy Dick.
I believe on the TV show Barney always worked in a different place except in specific episodes where Mr. Slate hired him (temporarily of course).
I believe in the comic books Barney worked with Fred.
there were Fkintstones comic books? When?

there were Fkintstones comic books? When?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flintstones_(comics)

there were Fkintstones comic books? When?
I saw the cover of one from around the late-1980's where it looked like Bedrock was about to be destroyed by an erupting Volcano.

Gilligan's Island often rehashed plots from earlier episodes example the first season episode where a missile landed on the island and Gilligan got stuck in it when it blew up was rehashed in one of the later seasons but with a mine.

Gilligan's Island often rehashed plots from earlier episodes example the first season episode where a missile landed on the island and Gilligan got stuck in it when it blew up was rehashed in one of the later seasons but with a mine.


That happened with The Partridge family regarding more than one scenario. I already mentioned earlier that there was more than one episode in which Danny tries to quit the family band for some reason, whether it is because he thinks he should be a solo act, or he thinks he is going to die from tonsillitis or some other reason and each time he comes back because he realizes that the act would not be the same without him.
Of course a bit of a twist to this scenario was "Mom Drops Out" when Shirley decided to leave the band because she felt she was too old to be singing with her kids but by the end of the episode, she rejoins the group because she realizes she is needed and actually has her own popularity in the band.

But also there was more than one plot in which Shirley tries to date a man or has an "old flame" come back after so many years. The plot always, or at least usually involved the kids resenting Shirley's boyfriend or somehow being suspicious of him or just not wanting their mom to date or possibly marry him.
I think "When Mother Gets Married" was the first episode in which Shirley tried to date a man but the kids all resented it. Shirley still ended up not wanting to marry the guy by the end of the episode. Then there was "The Forty Year itch" "A Likely Candidate" "The Diplomat" "Aspirin At 7, Dinner At 8," and the ultimately last episode , "SOS."
"Art For Mom's Sake" was an episode that had some elements of The Partridge brood suspecting that their mother was dating a man and not liking the idea.

Also "Forgive Us Our Debts" was about Shirley having to deal with computer mistakes because she bought a Cuckoo clock from a store that used a new computer system but which erroneously kept putting the decimal point to the right and Shirley had to argue with the store to correct the bill because the clock cost $29 not $290 but then the computer sends Shirley a bill for $2,900 and ultimately the episode was meant to show how computers are making life more complicated.
It reminded me of the "All In The Family" episode in which Edith sent away a coupon from a box of prunes to get 25 cents rebate but she started receiving dozens of quarters and it was because of a computer mistake.Of course Archie did not want her to correct the mistake. By the end of the episode Edith gets the prune company to stop sending her quarters but then they start sending her boxes of prunes. Both episodes seemed to be trying to get a certain "message of the times" across about how computers are taking over and it is not for the better.

The Episode "To Kill An Angel" from Charlies Angels was a remake of an episode called "Cricket" from the Mod Squad.

Here's even another:
In The Brady Bunch both Bobby and Cindy were competing to get into a kid's Game-Quiz Show on TV. Cindy studied hard to get the right answers because there was some kind of preliminary test first. Bobby did not study and did not get chosen. Cindy learned she was chosen for the show and then started acting like a prima donna worrying about how she is going to look on T V and was annoying her family by thinking she was going to be a star.. Eventually when the day came for her to be on the kid's TV show, Cindy just got stage fright and while the game-show host asked the other kids questions which they answered quickly, Cindy just stood staring at the camera paralyzed with fear.
She did not win or become a star and is feeling down on herself but at home Bobby made her feel better by telling her that he is the one who did not study like she did so he is the one who did not have what it takes.

In Maude, both Maude and her friend Vivian are chosen to be on a TV game show which Maude is not really thrilled about but Vivian is and Vivian is very nervous about what she will look like on TV. When the time comes for Maude and Vivian to be on "Beat The Devil" a silly game show in which contestants are asked different trivia or other questions by the game-show host and if the guest knows the answer she or he uses a hammer to hit a little toy's devil's head that is on the table to answer the question before any other contestant.
But, Vivian is so nervous that she cannot really answer questions from the game-show host and Maude answers the questions easily though she is bored and un-enthusiastic about it all but when the game-show host announces that the grand prize will be a all-expenses-paid trip to some destination that Maude wants to visit, Maude gets really determined to win the next round of questions and starts hitting the devil's head intensely saying "We are going to Beat The Devil" (which is hilarious).
But then what happens at the end is that Maude and Vivian win the game but when they mention to the show host that a relative of Maude's works at the TV station and arranged for Maude and Vivian to be on the show, the game show host says that there is a rule of the TV station that family members of employees of the station are not supposed to compete on the show. So Maude does not get the all-expenses trip she tried hard to win.

I saw this episode years back and may have some details wrong but the general plot was like this.

However, these two sitcom plots were rehashes of each other to a good extent.

^^^So many sitcoms seem to have a game show episode ... Cheers, Friends, 227, Angie, etc. Mama's Family even had two of them.

Someone ending up in jail is another one. Three's Company and Everybody Loves Raymond are a couple that come to mind.

ELR had an episode where they go to Ray's high school reunion, but Ray Romano was also on an episode of The Nanny where Ray Barone and Fran both show up at a high school reunion.

The Brady Bunch and the Jeffersons had Hawaiian vacation episodes.

Three's Company and Sanford and Son had episodes involving cannabis plants growing in a nearby garden.

Three's Company rehashed a story line involving the same actress. I forgot her name, but she was dark-haired, and the story lines involved her being a classy or respectable friend from one of the girls' past that they completely looked up to. She stops by to touch base, and it turns out she's engaged in something indecent/immoral, but Chrissy and Janet are in the dark or naive about it. In Chrissy's case, the friend wound up being a high class call girl. In Janet's case, she was looking to have an affair. The two episodes are so similar that I always get confused when I see the actress turn up. I always think, "Oh, this is the one where it turns out she's a hooker..." and then it turns out to be the episode where she's the cheater.

A story line that got rehashed repeatedly across many sitcoms involved one of the main characters developing amnesia after getting bonked on the head. The two that immediately come to mind are I Dream of Jeannie and Married with Children, but there were so many others.

Lots of shows have had Rashomon-style episodes where everyone retells their version of a disputed event with their own biases.

There are countless sitcoms that have done a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol or an episode version of the movie It's A Wonderful Life.

And it always goes one main sitcom character doesn't have the Christmas spirit or for some reason is thinking the other characters would be better off if they'd never been born or hadn't met them. Then either an angel (if it's a It's A Wonderful Life episode) or three mysterious Christmas spirits (if it's a Christmas Carol episode) come and visit the character and show them the error in their thinking and by the end of the episode everything's good and all's right with the world again. Once in a while there'll be a slight variation when the episode will be a two-parter but not very often. Both of these sitcoms scenarios have been done to death. And I love Christmas but they really need to stop.

Ed.

There was a similar plot on an episode of Laverne and Shirley in season 7 when Laverne breaks her leg and feels like she's become a burden. Everyone has to wait on her hand and foot, there's a party next door that she has to miss because of her broken leg. Shirley attends this party and leaves Laverne by herself, so Laverne figures out a way to take care of herself and ends up falling asleep on the couch, but before she does so, she wishes she had never been born so she will no longer be a burden. After she falls asleep, she dreams about what it would be like if she had never been born. Of course, things aren't at all what they should be. Shirley becomes a spinster surrounded by dogs, Laverne's father Frank becomes a hobo after his wife dies, and Lenny and Squiggy are criminals who escape from jail. Once she wakes up, she realizes how important she really is when everyone leaves the party to come see her because they missed her. :rolleyes:

The Season 1 Facts of Life episode "Overachieving" is basically recycled in Season 3's episode "The Americanization of Miko": in both episodes, the girls are just doing their thing when a conservative father comes for a visit, decides he doesn't like what's happening at the school, talks to Mrs. Garrett about his daughter's lack of focus/discipline, and then threatens to pull his daughter out of Eastland. In both episodes, the Eastlanders at last convince the conservative father to let his daughter stay.

The Season 1 Facts of Life episode "Overachieving" is basically recycled in Season 3's episode "The Americanization of Miko": in both episodes, the girls are just doing their thing when a conservative father comes for a visit, decides he doesn't like what's happening at the school, talks to Mrs. Garrett about his daughter's lack of focus/discipline, and then threatens to pull his daughter out of Eastland. In both episodes, the Eastlanders at last convince the conservative father to let his daughter stay.

These two episodes have different plots. Overachieving is about Tootie's father wanting her to be something other than a beauty stylist. He felt she wasn't getting the right education because of her choices. Miko's father was against American culture and wanted Miko back in her own country. From the very beginning of that episode Miko's father didn't like she had her ears pierced, was wearing ordinary American clothes, and liked rock n roll music. The real plot of Miko's episode is a kid from another country getting whitewashed in America. It's not like the girls were interested in Miko's culture. She was having to learn theirs so she could fit in. This is something that happens in schools. The high school I worked at had female students who some refused to follow American culture and wouldn't look men in the eyes, and then there were those who would change how they were in their country to fit in here. I understand season 1 fans are trying hard to prove their season is the best of the FOL, but it's a shame you're not seeing the real meaning of the Miko episode. The scene where Miko's father tells Jo he wants Miko to be proud of her heritage clearly establishes the plot is about cultural differences. That wasn't the plot of Overachieving.

These two episodes have different plots. Overachieving is about Tootie's father wanting her to be something other than a beauty stylist. He felt she wasn't getting the right education because of her choices. Miko's father was against American culture and wanted Miko back in her own country.

Yes, because it was her choice to adopt an American lifestyle: no-one was forcing her to do it. At no point does Miko say "Blair had to convince me to get my ears pieced." She wanted to do it. At no point did Miko say, "I feel so strange in these jeans. I should take them off." No, she wanted to wear them. She gets an "I Heart NY" shirt, presumably because this is what she wants, not something the girls force her to purchase. She decides what she wants to do.


From the very beginning of that episode Miko's father didn't like she had her ears pierced, was wearing ordinary American clothes, and liked rock n roll music.

Tootie's father shows up unannounced, sees his daugter in beauty cream and hair curlers, and disapproves. This is closely mirrored when Miko's father shows up unannounced, sees his daughter in make-up and wearing earrings, and disapproves.


The real plot of Miko's episode is a kid from another country getting whitewashed in America. It's not like the girls were interested in Miko's culture. She was having to learn theirs so she could fit in. This is something that happens in schools. The high school I worked at had female students who some refused to follow American culture and wouldn't look men in the eyes, and then there were those who would change how they were in their country to fit in here.

There's absolutely no mention of looking at people in the eyes in this episode, nor of Miko saying she feels "forced" to fit in. She wants friends, she wants to go to the rock concert, and she wants to wear American clothes. No-one is forcing her to do these things, and no-one says she has to do them for them to like her. In fact, Miko makes the choice to go to the concert anyway: no-one talks her into it. This is quite similar to Tootie in "Overachieving": no-one forces her to wear face cream, no-one forces her to put in hair curlers: she's decided that's what she wants to do, all on her own. Her father, though, disapproves, just as Miko's father does.


I understand season 1 fans are trying hard to prove their season is the best of the FOL, but it's a shame you're not seeing the real meaning of the Miko episode.

The real meaning of the Miko episode can't be about things like not looking at people in the eyes because the episode doesn't mention that at all. Instead, it has a conservative father disapproving of what his daughter is becoming at Eastland, with the girls trying to save their friend from being unwillingly removed from the school by an overbearing father.

It's an unfortunate "Fact of Life" that TV plots get recycled, but it's clear this plot did get reused, and I'm not the first to point it out. So on this, I must respectfully disagree with you.

The Golden Girls recycled a lot of their plots with the flashback episodes. There's so many episodes where the girls eat cheesecake and tell stories. Some of them are hour long episodes. I find those a waste to watch because we already know what happened in previous episodes.