Plots that were similar or a rehash

[um]

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.

[dakert]

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

[Yong Fang]

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.

[treky]

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW used that plot once too.

[um]

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.

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by um

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.

[um]

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.

[um]

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.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by um

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

[um]

Originally Posted by DJM77

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

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by um

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

I didn't know that. Cool.

[um]

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

[um]

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.


.

[treky]

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

[Babalu]

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.