Sitcoms are often built on tropes, as fans are used to seeing characters in the same scenarios. Characters don't understand what the other person is saying, they have trouble sharing their romantic feelings, and they wind up in silly situations that could be easily cleared up.
But while viewers see common tropes in most episodes of TV comedies, these storylines and characterizations can still be tiresome and frustrating as fans want to see something new and exciting. Redditors are sharing the elements of sitcoms that they would love to stop seeing.
10 Will A Couple Ever Date?
From Sam and Diane on Cheers to Andy and Haley on Modern Family, there are many examples of sitcom couples who dance around the idea of dating each other. Sometimes this can be fun and exciting, as fans ship the characters and can't wait to see them fall in love. But other times, it can feel like a cliched trope that these characters won't just admit how they feel about each other.
One Redditor wrote that the trope "will/they/won't/they gets tedious after a while" and mentioned Annie and Jeff on Community as a couple using this trope.
9 Fathers Who Aren't Smart
There are many hilarious '90s and 2000s sitcom fathers, but all too often, a husband and dad will be played off as someone who is ditzy and silly and doesn't ever understand what's going on.
Redditor tagjohnson doesn't like "The dumb dad trope" and this is a character who seems to appear on most sitcoms, most recently on Man With A Plan. Viewers don't like this and wish that fathers would be portrayed as much more intelligent.
8 Having A Career Vs. Being A Parent
Many movies use the common trope of a character saying that they don't want to start a family because they're so focused on their career. Several films and TV shows portray this choice as an either/or scenario instead of showing the more realistic and balanced viewpoint that people can do whatever they want and they can definitely have kids and also work.
One Redditor doesn't like the trope of the "working girl who focuses on her career over love/babies" and mentioned that once a friend has a baby, the character suddenly wants one.
7 "Aesop Amnesia"
Redditor Shipping_Architect mentioned the trope called "Aesop Amensia" when a character "learns a lesson or otherwise undergoes development in one episode" and in the next episode, they are just as they were before.
It can definitely be frustrating to watch a show where it seems like characters are growing and then they're right back to the immature person that they were before, but this does happen a lot.
6 Kids Who Are Over The Top Smart
While sometimes kids are the best sitcom characters, as Stephanie, DJ, and Michelle are hilarious and smart on Full House, sometimes young characters can be tropes.
Redditor MaineSoxGuy93 doesn't like "Making the youngest child precocious" and if used poorly, it's true that this can be frustrating. Characters can sometimes speak in a way that doesn't match up with their age.
5 The Way That Characters Deliver News
Redditor Kingofthegnome doesn't love the trope when characters are excited to share something big with each other but when one person speaks, it ruins everything. The fan wrote, "I have big news and someone blurts their news first and they can't say what they want to say.'
This often happens when one character is announcing a big job promotion or that they want to make a life change, and the other person has news that will affect the relationship.
4 All The Characters Are Awful People
One Redditor doesn't like the trope of "everyone in a sitcom being terrible people" and mentioned Seinfeld as a series that does this properly.
There are many fan favorite Seinfeld characters and while they do make mistakes, do the wrong thing, and hurt people's feelings, they are still loveable, funny, and interesting. Not every sitcom can approach characters like this.
3 Silly Misunderstandings
One of the most common sitcom storylines is characters misunderstanding one another. This often happens when characters don't take the time to sit down and carefully talk to each other and, instead, make assumptions that aren't actually true.
Redditor trytryagainn doesn't like "Overheard + partially misunderstood conversation" that creates chaos and mentioned Three's Company as a sitcom that does this a lot. Redditor justforviewing8484 noted that Modern Family does this a lot and it becomes "stale."
2 A Strange Neighbor
Redditor therealrenshai doesn't like the trope of "The wacky neighbor," which was most notably done with Kimmy Gibbler on Full House.
Kimmy can be a confusing Full House character and on the original series, Kimmy mostly interacts with the Tanner family by storming into their house. While DJ is of course always happy to see her best friend, the other characters can't stand Kimmy and act like she's always bothering them. Kimmy never seems quite that odd and is a sweet and quirky person.
1 When Characters Sneeze
Redditor Gauge117 doesn't like that on a sitcom, "when someone sneezes it automatically means they are sick." This is definitely a trope that comes up a lot.
A good example of this is on Modern Family as Claire will often sneeze and then the other characters will look nervous about being close to someone who clearly has a cold. It's true that sometimes IRL, people just sneeze and it doesn't mean that anything is wrong.
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