A character is about to do something they love (like going to a rock concert) and something prevents it from happening (like being grounded).
A character who has gotten "A's" their whole lives gets a "B" and flips out (usually accompanied with a "What's wrong with getting a 'B'?" spiel).
A concert or some show where the main cast wants to go to so they will wait in line forever to get tickets.
A couple breaks up and one or both of the characters and their friends go to a strip joint to cheer the sad person up.
A friend or family member dies.
A kid is away for a few days and a friend or relative is supposed to care for their pet and through their carelessness the pet dies, so the friend or relative goes out to the pet shop and buys a replacement hoping the kid won't notice, but they always do.
A lie gets out of hand.
A lot of families have a fat, washed-up / crappy, comedian husband, and a thin wife.
A lot of shows involve two or more main characters dressing in drag for one reason or another. Writers seem to be able to milk a lot of performance from main characters' perceptions of the opposite sex.
A minor character who is different (disabled, different ethnic background, etc.) proves to be "just like one of us"
A visiting mother is A) matchmaker B) overbearing C) overprotective (special guest star)
Abandoning your talent for family or A character giving up something s/he wants (bad) for a best friend (or relative).
A character almost dies, leading to a stronger belief in religion
Acting in a commercial
Also, overdosing on prescription drugs / no sleep pills.
Amnesia (Losing his/her memory).
Annoying neighbor or friend.
Applause for children doing nothing.
Arrested by mistake
Arrested for a protest
Asking for a raise
A supernatural occurence (i.e. character is psychic, characters switch lives, characters use a Ouija board)
At least one of the characters will be a great singer and will sing at a public gathering of some sort.
Baby-sitting (maybe an animal)
Baseball or golf (Starting to play & becoming compulsive)
Boy gets asked out by two girls for same night. He says yes to both of them. He either will make both of them angry when they find out on their own about his "double date" or he will try to date them at the same time without either knowing and they'll find out and get angry.
Brace yourself; someone famous will definitely appear someday. Examples: Robert Goulet, Yasmine Bleeth, and Kathy Ireland on Boy Meets World; "Batman" Marques Houston, Sherman Hemsley, and the Olsen Twins on Sister, Sister; Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, and Colin Quinn on the Cosby Show, etc.
Breaking, reassembling, and lying about a prized possession of another main character. Make sure you learn your valuable lesson, though. (This should happen because character was doing something they weren't supposed to be doing in the first place.)
Certain characters avoid honesty regarding a bad character's cooking or some recently acquired talent. The writers usually play with the other characters' reactions throughout the whole episode and reveal the truth at the end.
Character (or the whole gang) goes to jail
Character breaks something valuable and tries to hide it
Character discovers something he thinks will make him rich
Character goes on a game show
Character is given some authority and it goes to his head
Character is mistakenly thought to be a hero; he doesn't deny it until the guilt builds up and he confesses at a public ceremony in his honor
Character is trapped in a room or basement
Character meets his hero, who turns out to be a big disappointment
Character mistakenly thinks spouse is cheating
Character turns over a new leaf after a close call; this lasts about 10 minutes
Characters make a silly bet
Characters take a self-defense class
Characters take opposite political sides
Characters try to "one-up" each other in some way
Cheating on homework
Christmas 1: nobody can find the right gift
Christmas 2: character snoops and finds what he thinks is his gift, but it is meant for someone else
Christmas 3: the gang learns the true meaning of Christmas
Christmas specials where a character learns that the meaning of Christmas is family (or other intangible values).
Costume party
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Lamentation 3:24 The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
Episodes in which the main characters of the show (or sometimes only one of them) thinks back/talks about all the stuff that happened in the past to that perticular family or group of protagonists. This is a "Clip Show".
Every character has his own characteristic phrases ("I've fallen and I can't get up"...)
Flashbacks 1: how we met
Flashbacks 2: he said/she said
Halloween 1: character hits on the wrong person at a costume party
Halloween 2: the gang checks out a haunted house
If the main character is going to a high school reunion, say 10 years, they will always try to change themselves to make them look successful, but realize that they aren't being true to themselves right before the reuinion, if not after they have already entered. Also, the nerds from high school will always be the most successful when they return.
Road trip 1: the car breaks down and nobody can fix it
Road trip 2: they get lost
__________________
Lamentation 3:24 The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
Has anyone ever noticed that the second or third episode of a new sitcom is an episode about a friend or relative that turns out to be GAY, and it turns out to being about funny awkwardness that the others have toward the homosexual, or it winds up like an ABC afterschool special and the episode ends with the "womanizing bigot" accepting the gay character?
"Will & Grace" did this on their show, but it was about an ex-gay character played by Neil Patrick Harris.
Very, very, very rarely is the husband in the right during an argument. It's more common for the KIDS to be right in an argument with the wife/mom than for the husband/dad to be right.
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"I'd place myself... oh... somewhere between Galadriel and Peter Griffin."
The gang goes to a sporting event (will someone get hurt?)
The gang goes to Las Vegas (or Disneyland, New York, or Hollywood, or Europe)
The grandma cliche (Family Matters, Who's The Boss...) - she always behaves the opposite of the way grandmas should behave. She knows all the MTV lyrics, and she knows all the famous people, and in each episode she's dating a different person."
The invisible character, talked about but never shown ... maybe the writers feel that the character has been talked about so much that actually having an actor play the character would be a disappointment.
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Lamentation 3:24 The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.
