History Main / StrictlyFormula

## Casper's lonely, so he tries to befriend people, who run off screaming. "A GHOST!"

** Wile E. Coyote using physics-defying [=ACME=] devices in inevitably failed attempts to catch the Road Runner. Lampshaded in a fake Cartoon Network commercial for ACME devices. "We put Rockets..." (Sound of explosion) "...On Everything."

* While ''TheSimpsons'' isn't a strictly formula show, there a pattern in many episodes. The creators have a lot of material to work off of with their characters, so what usually happens is that a member of the Simpsons family (usually Bart or Homer) purposefully or inadvertently destroy the life of a secondary character and are then driven by guilt to help them, though it isn't always the fault of the family. Sometimes the character will even end up staying at the Simpson's home until their life is put back in order.

## Five seconds of an invisible Casper riding a bike, playing with a yoyo, etc, he fades in.
## Casper's lonely, tries to befriend people, who run off screaming. "A GHOST!"
## Casper meets small child or animal, often helping them out of a jam.
## Casper and the friend play. Sometimes the friend discovers Casper's a ghost, runs off afraid, leaving Casper unhappy.
## Large baddie threatens the little friend, Casper appears, demanding, "You leave my friend alone!"; the baddie runs off in fear. All ends well.

** But this time, they're playing strictly formula because ''that's exactly how it works on reality tv'', which they're parodying.

* ''RegularShow'' plots tend to follow a formula; a character has a conflict, initial attempts to resolve the conflict fail and eventually characters trying to resolve the conflict leads to a bizarre confrontation with supernatural, ultra-powerful and/or over-the-top obstacle or monster. Usually between the second and third stages there's a montage.

** Pepe [=LePew=] chasing the accidentally white-striped black cat, who runs in terror from his stench.

* The ''HarryPotter'' books follow the same formula beginning with the Dursleys, going to Diagon Alley, riding on the Hogwarts Express, going to Hogwarts, solving some mystery, confronting Voldemort or some Death Eaters, and concluding with Dumbledore explaining everything that had happened. Up until the seventh book that is, when they mixed things up a bit.

* Every episode of ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' is pretty much the same. About two or three prominent cities / buildings and a selection of animals (usually household pets, farm animals and / or pests) around a certain theme are selected. Every episode then jumps forward one day, several days, a week, a month, a year, a century and so forth to show how they cope without human care (spoiler: the buildings eventually collapse or crumble away, the animals usually thrive) until a point several centuries or millennia in the future where there's nothing left.

* ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'': Mr. Itoshiki is all riled up about some aspect of society. He lists a bunch of examples, taking the class on an impromptu field trip to do so. He [[CatchPhrase declares that the aspect of society has left him in despair,]] possibly attempting suicide Then, either Kafuka or Chiri shows up to show the positive side of the aspect of society or comment on the aspect of society's proper/ improperness. Then there might be some sort of punchline or something. This formula is followed all but the most [[BizarroEpisode surreal]] episodes, with the exception of some of the character introductions.

## They get there. [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Wheeler]] [[ButtMonkey makes an observation about the situation,]] which is inevitably wrong. The other team members (and sometimes Gaia) have to correct his stupid, ignorant ways.

* A common criticism of JohnGreen's books - all but one or two of them are about a nerdy, highly intelligent teenage boy who has his eye on a quirky, mysterious girl, eventually going on a RoadTrip where he has a mind-blowing revelation about life. His latest book ''TheFaultInOurStars'' reverses roles, telling it from the quirky girl's perspective as she falls in love with the nerdy TeenGenius who is fawning over her.

* Every single brazilian SoapOpera (which usually have a 6-8 months run), specially the ones aired by TV Globo, can specially {{Egregious}} at this. 90% of the main plots are about a ForbiddenLove between a lovable underdog and a lovable rich, and the antagonist in these cases is always a [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Rich Bastard]] who is "in love" for the aforementioned rich part of the OfficialCouple, and spends the whole run of the show [[GambitIndex using one gambit after another]] to try and break them apart. There's a Foreign Background for a couple of episodes (usually Europe, Middle East or Asia) and a set of PluckyComicRelief characters. In the last episode, the main couple get married and the villain is killed or goes to jail. Sometimes the villain will be killed by an unknown murderer some 20-30 episodes prior to the end, and the subsequent episodes will completely revolve around the mistery of who killed the villain.

->''Some crime show. You don't know any of the characters, but you still pay attention to the plot. Abortion doctor murdered. The Christian fanatic is too obvious a suspect. Maybe it's the doctor's wife. Maybe it's his brother; they were professional rivals, and the deceased just won an award. [[FridgeLogic What does an abortionist win an award]] ''[[FridgeLogic for]]''[[FridgeLogic , anyway?]] The cop's partner wants him to do something about his anger issues. Isn't that always the way?''

!!Examples

[[folder:Films]]

* During the 1990s, Disney had a very succesful run from 1989 till 1994, but after that they were often accused of enforcing this trope. Rebellious princesses who want to marry for love, heroines looking for something beyond what they know, bumbling or fantasy-forbidding fathers, [[DisneyVillainDeath bad guys falling off great heights]]. ''{{Pocahontas}}'' especially was accused of adhering to Disney formula, which admittedly is not entirely untrue. Ironically though, the problem seems to have been that all these movies came out in succession, as every single movie of the Disney Renaissance has been VindicatedByHistory and is now well-loved (some more than others: ''{{Pocahontas}}'' is still not thought of as a great movie, and ''TheRescuersDownUnder'' has gained a cult following but isn't anywhere near mainstream).
* Similar to the Disney example, [[DreamWorksAnimation DreamWorks Animation]] has also been accused of enforcing this trope in most of their CGI-animated movies during the 2000s: in the beginning, the main character is an outcast (or at the very least is "different"). Throughout the film he becomes a better person. In the end, he saves the day and everyone accepts him for who he is. Add bonus points for pop culture references, fart jokes and the occasional DreamWorksFace, and you're good to go.

* The cutscenes in MutantRampageBodySlam save for the intro and ending have the same basic dialogue structure, almost as if it was written in a madlib program. The [[StockFootage recycled animation]] doesn't help much.

[[/folder]]

* While ''TheSimpsons'' isn't a strictly formula show, there a pattern in many episodes. The creators have a lot of material to work off of with their CastOfCharacters, so what usually happens is that a member of the Simpsons family (usually Bart or Homer) purposefully or inadvertently destroy the life of a secondary character and are then driven by guilt to help them, though it isn't always the fault of the family. Sometimes the character will even end up staying at the Simpson's home until their life is put back in order.

** [[ArchEnemy Bowser]] [[DamselInDistress kidnaps the princess]], [[SaveThePrincess go save her]]. Eight worlds. Starts with a [[GreenHillZone grass world]], then usually a [[ShiftingSandLand desert world]] and a [[UnderTheSea water themed world]]. Various other stock location themes in the middle, such as [[SlippeySlideyIceWorld ice]], [[BubblyClouds sky]], and [[UndergroundLevel underground]]. Ends in [[Mordor a volcanic world]], fight through [[SupervillainLair Bowser's Castle]], [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin defeat Bowser]], [[SaveThePrincess save princess]]. And in each world, expect to find a fortress guarded by a MiniBoss, as well as a Castle housing the local Boss at the end.

** Bowser kidnaps the princess, go save her. Eight worlds. Starts with a grass world, then usually a desert world and a water themed world. Various other stock location themes in the middle, such as ice and sky. Ends in {{Mordor}}, fight through Bowser's Castle, defeat Bowser, save princess. And in each world, expect to find a fortress guarded by a MiniBoss, as well as a Castle housing the local boss at the end.

** Scream effectively combines the slasher film with the romantic suspense formula(heroine tormented by anonymous fiend --could it be the mysterious man in her life? Nah. But the something happens to make him seem the culprit only to be revealed as innocent in the end, or sometimes not)

* Similar to the Disney example, [[DreamWorksAnimation DreamWorks Animation]] has also been accused of enforcing this trope in most of their CGI-animated movies during the 2000s: in the beginning, the main character is an outcast (or at the very least is "different"). Throughout the film he becomes a better person. In the end, he saves the day and everyone accepts him for who he is. Add bonus points for pop culture references, fart jokes and characters making the DreamWorksFace, and you're good to go.

* Similar to the Disney example, [[DreamWorksAnimation DreamWorks Animation]] has also been accused of enforcing this trope in most of their CGI-animated movies during the 2000s: in the beginning, the main character is an outcast. Throughout the film he becomes a better person. In the end, he saves the day and everyone accepts him for who he is. Add bonus points for pop culture references, fart jokes and characters making the DreamWorksFace, and you're good to go.

->'''Fry''': Married? [[StatusQuoIsGod Jenny can't get married.]]\\
'''Leela''': Why not? It's clever; it's unexpected.\\
'''Fry''': But that's not why [[LowestCommonDenominator people]] watch TV. [[ViewersAreMorons Clever things make people feel stupid, and unexpected things make them feel scared.]]
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

* ''Series/{{House}}'' has the main character go through almost the exact same pattern every episode to find the solutions everybody else misses. This was much truer of ''House'' in seasons one through three. After the mass firing at the end of season three, things were mixed up just a bit for a while, returned to normal, but went off the rails (in a VERY good way) once House started seeing dead people. Many episodes still fit into the basic formula of the show from before, but they have also done others that completely break the mold. House's [[EurekaMoment moment of realization]] was even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in a recent episode, when House stopped talking in the middle of a conversation and the other party said, "You're about to run out of here, aren't you?" He did. It was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] another time when Cuddy asked him how he was going to come up with the diagnosis, and House said he'd go and talk to Wilson about something completely unrelated.