Summary
All long-running sitcoms have to keep coming up with new storylines, so it’s not surprising that even the best comedy shows have a few misjudged plots that almost ruin everything. Shows such asFriends,The SimpsonsandThe Officehave all irritated fans with storylines that just don’t work. This could be because the plot ideas are too contrived, or because they don’t make sense for the characters.
The best sitcoms can correct course after a failed storyline, rather than letting it kill the entire show. Looking back on some long-running sitcoms, these unpopular plots seem like meandering side roads instead of dead ends. Acrazy sitcom storyisn’t always a disaster, but if it’s handled poorly it can look like jumping the shark. The next step is recovering from an unpopular narrative choice with some respect still intact.
10 Heartbreaking Sitcom Episodes That Killed Characters
Whether meant to honor a deceased cast member or to advance the show’s narrative, sitcom deaths have a special place in the genre’s history.
The early seasons ofBrooklyn Nine-Ninedidn’t quite know what to do with Charles Boyle. Although Joe Lo Truglio’s performances are always hilarious, his character became more unique and interesting as the show went on. The beginning ofBrooklyn Nine-Ninefocused more on Jake’s push-and-pull with Captain Holt and his playful working relationship with Amy. Charles was little more than his lovable loser of a best friend.
The early seasons ofBrooklyn Nine-Ninedidn’t quite know what to do with Charles Boyle.
It makes sense for a character like Charles to fall for a woman who would never give him the time of day, but Charles' crush on Rosa could only go so far. Eventually forcing them together may have felt like a victory for Charles' character, but it would have been much less interesting for both him and Rosa. Once Charles gets his own love interest and Rosa gets some more personal development to go with her tough, standoffish exterior, both characters flourish.Their unlikely friendship is more heartwarming than a relationship would have been.
There’s some debate among fans ofThe Simpsonsover what should and should not be classified as the show’s"Golden Age".The season 9 episode “The Principal and the Pauper” is seen by many fans as the end of the era. One of themost divisiveSimpsonsepisodesreveals that Principal Skinner is an impostor who has been living in Springfield after assuming another man’s identity during the war.
There’s some debate among fans ofThe Simpsonsover what should and should not be classified as the show’s"Golden Age".The season 9 episode “The Principal and the Pauper” is seen by many fans as the end of the era.
The reveal that Principal Skinner is actually a fraud named Armin Tamzarian felt strangely melodramatic forThe Simpsons,but, more importantly, it created some massive plot holes for the show’s previous eight and a half seasons. Rather than trying to patch these problems,The Simpsonscontinued on as if “The Principal and the Pauper” never happened.There would be no other way to explain Skinner’s strange relationship with his mother.
After 12 seasons ofIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,Glenn Howerton decided to branch out by starring in the NBC showA.P. Bio.This meant that he had to divide his time more evenly, and he was absent from a few episodes ofIt’s Always Sunny.Other cast members had their own commitments, like Rob McElhenny’sMythic Quest,but they had never impactedIt’s Always Sunny.
It’s Always Sunnyshowed great self-awareness during this period. To make fun of shows which replace cast members with big names,It’s Always Sunnybrought in Mindy Kaling for an episode.
Naturally, the gang’s dynamic just isn’t the same without the Golden God, Dennis Reynolds.It’s Always Sunnyshowed great self-awareness during this period. To make fun of shows which replace cast members with big names,It’s Always Sunnybrought in Mindy Kaling for an episode. However, her style jarred with the tone of the show.If Glenn Howerton hadn’t returned on a full-time basis, the show might not have survived.It’s Always Sunnyseason 17is set to extend the show’s lengthy run.
Three seasons ofArchertake place entirely in Sterling Archer’s subconscious mind. The"coma seasons"have split opinion over the years, especially the show’s first themed season, a film noir pastiche subtitled"Dreamland.“Drawing from movies likeThe Maltese FalconandChinatown, Archer: Dreamlandreimagines the show’s familiar characters as different archetypes from a salacious Hollywood murder mystery in the 1940s.
The novelty of seeing the characters in a different setting never really wears off throughoutDreamland.
The novelty of seeing the characters in a different setting never really wears off throughoutDreamland.It seems like a gimmick that needs to get out of the way so that the show can return to Archer and his friends working as spies. The next two coma seasons didn’t have the same problems, and they also fully embraced their genre parodies and their low stakes.The coma seasons may be a novelty, butArcherfigured out how to make them worthwhile eventually.
The Officestruggled to find its feet after Steve Carell left the show. There are still some great episodes and some fun new characters in the later seasons, but there are also a lot of misjudged storylines. The most notorious storyline of the whole show is Jim and Pam’s marital trouble that pops up in season 9. The couple’s issues never seemed big enough to cause such a rift, and the entire storyline fell flat.
There are still some great episodes and some fun new characters in the later seasons, but there are also a lot of misjudged storylines.
When Pam breaks down in tears while speaking to camera, the documentary crew’s boom operator steps in to comfort her. Having a previously unseen character suddenly entering the frame to provide emotional support made for a jarring moment, but it also went against the way thatThe Officehas used its format for years.The Officeoften uses the style of a documentary for laughs, whether this is with Jim looking down the barrel of the camera or a perfectly timed cutaway interview, but it had never taken the format seriously enough to interrogate how the subjects of the documentary coped with being watched.
South Parkdidn’t start out as a very political show, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone gradually introduced more of their particular brand of nihilistic centrism as the seasons rolled by. During the 2016 presidential election, they took their"giant douche vs. turd sandwich"philosophy to a new level, as they tried to parody the major events of the election each week.South Parkreacted to every campaign blunder and political misfire of the election just days after it happened.
South Parkdidn’t start out as a very political show, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone gradually introduced more of their particular brand of nihilistic centrism as the seasons rolled by.
South Parkused Mr. Garrison as their stand-in for Donald Trump during the election. He had the same dark tan and blonde quiff as the Republican candidate, and many of the same policies. However,South Park’s entire season seemed to gamble on a Hillary Clinton victory. Trump’s surprise win meant that Mr. Garrison found himself in the Oval Office.South Parkonly survived by leaning further into social and political commentary, but there was no saving the season.
Seinfeldproudly bucked every sitcom trend with its famous"No hugging, no learning"rule. Fans knew that the characters would be just as self-absorbed every week, and very little would ever change in their lives. However, the show did break this rule on one notable occasion, forcing Jerry and Elaine back into a relationship.The two characters were never meant to have the stereotypical on-again-off-again dynamic that other sitcom couples share.
Jerry and Elaine’s new relationship was over just as quickly as it began, with the writers clearly realizing that it didn’t align with the spirit of the show.
Jerry and Elaine’s new relationship was over just as quickly as it began, with the writers clearly realizing that it didn’t align with the spirit of the show. What seemed like it could be a momentous shift in the tone ofSeinfeldwas explained away with a line or two. Within a couple of episodes, Jerry was back to having a new girlfriend every week.Seinfeldlater made fun of the concept of"will-they-won’t-they"TV relationships. When George says that he always hoped Jerry and Elaine would work things out, Jerry tells him flatly"well, you’re an idiot.”
3The Return Of The Darkest Timeline
Community
Fans of the show often refer to season 4 asCommunity’s “gas leak” year.Without Dan Harmon at the helm, season 4 introduced increasingly gimmicky episodes, like the felt puppet musical episode, and plenty of storylines which didn’t quite work. None of the characters seemed to act naturally, leading fans to joke that there was a gas leak at Greendale Community College causing their strange behavior.
The second time around, the darkest timeline wasn’t an interesting window into Abed’s head. It was just a convoluted sci-fi storyline that distracted from the show’s plot.
Some of season 4’s terrible storylines resolved themselves. Arguably the worst of them all was Troy and Britta’s brief relationship, despite the fact that the couple shared no romantic chemistry and very little time on screen together. Other storylines, required some more cleaning up, like howCommunitybrought back the darkest timeline, a reference to one of the show’s best episodes. The second time around, the darkest timeline wasn’t an interesting window into Abed’s head. It was just a convoluted sci-fi storyline that distracted from the show’s plot.
Zooey Deschanel leftNew Girlearly in season 5 for her maternity leave. The show dealt with her absence by explaining that Jess had to be sequestered while on jury duty. This worked out fairly well, but the loft wasn’t the same without Jess. While Megan Fox made an interesting addition to the cast,New Girlfelt like a different show without one of its main characters. Jess proved harder to replace than Coach.
While Megan Fox made an interesting addition to the cast,New Girlfelt like a different show without one of its main characters.
Zooey Deschanel returned to the show after a few episodes, and she slotted back into the cast with ease. However,New Girlthen had another problem, since Megan Fox’s character Reagan had become important to the group’s dynamic, especially with Nick’s romantic interest in her. Rather than pitting the two women against each other like a more predictable sitcom might have done,New Girlsaved itself by making Jess and Reagan friends.
Ross and Rachel’s relationshipis one of the most iconic"will-they-won’t-they"sitcom relationship ever. However, sinceFriendshad to drag out the drama for ten whole seasons, some of the ways that the writers created more problems for the couple felt overly contrived.Rachel’s brief fling with Joey was undoubtedly the most forced storyline onFriends.Rachel and Joey soon felt weird about the whole situation, but not as much as fans did.
Friendshad to hurriedly get things over with so that Rachel could have her happy ending with Ross. It was never truly in doubt.
Seeing Rachel and Joey together romantically was fundamentally wrong for many fans of the show. Not only did it cheapen their friendship to a certain extent, but it also made things a little more uncomfortable for the whole group in one way or another. Ultimately, their relationship only lasted for a few episodes.Friendshad to hurriedly get things over with so that Rachel could have her happy ending with Ross. It was never truly in doubt.
