History Main / ZanyScheme

* Basically every show on the Disney Channel. These frequently involve elaborate disguises and poor stealth skills. Although they rarely work, [[AesopAmnesia the characters try them in every show anyway]].
** It's worth noting that the writers are beginning to {{lampshade}} it too. On ''HannahMontana'' Lilly once bemoaned a zany scheme a good five seconds before Miley dreamt it up, prompting Miley to ask her if she'd become that predictable. Lilly (and probably the bulk of the home viewing audience) both responded "Yes."
* ''Series/TopGear'': it's never just "How easy to drive is this this Ford Fiesta?" it's "Could this Fiesta evade bad guys while driving through a shopping centre? Could it do a beach assault with the Royal Marines?" The really zany schemes are just for their own sake, such as "Buy a cheap car and turn it into a boat", inevitably preceded by the words "[[CatchPhrase How hard]] [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong can it be?]]"

* ''Film/Americathon'': The plot is about a US President, played by John Ritter, trying to save the United States from ''foreclosure'' with a telethon.

* ''WebComic/EerieCuties'': This is Cessily's schtick, in her attempts to gain popularity [[AllGhoulsSchool at Charybdis.]] As noted by the cast page: [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/cast/ "she's got a million of 'em, all of them terrible".]] While Laura is noted as being "her hapless sidekick". They aren't kidding. Some of the plans they come up with are just [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/my_next_plan plain]] [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/football_field weird.]]

* Cat from ''CatAndGirl'' proposes [[http://catandgirl.com/?p=1197 this plan.]]

This trope, being over-used, is often subverted by having the character to whom the ZanyScheme is proposed simply shoot the whole thing down as ridiculous, and switch to another plot. An [[DoubleSubversion even further subversion]] occurs when the ''sensible'' plot then fails while [[CrazyEnoughToWork the zany one succeeds]].

* Amusingly played with in ''CampRock'', where Caitlin upon finding out Mitchie's ZanyScheme immediately calls her on how unbelievably stupid it is, and isn't particularly interested in hearing her explanation.

* On ''Series/{{Hyperdrive}}'', [[spoiler:Teal]] constructs an intricate plan that falls somewhere between ZanyScheme and GambitRoulete involving chocolate, knockout gas, and the purchase of a planet, [[spoiler:just so she can get a date with Commander Henderson.]]

--> '''Maeby''':...I'll walk up to my mom and say "I met this really cute guy" and she'll walk by and see us totally making out!

* Averted notably in an episode of ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', where she has some guests over for drinks, only to discover that they were expecting dinner. Rather than hatch a ZanyScheme to prepare dinner on the sly while they waited, Mary actually ''explains that there's been a misunderstanding''. For a regular sitcom viewer this plotline can come as a shock!

-->'''Jeff:''' "If we say we disapprove, we'll just drive her further into his hemp-braceleted arms. We need to be smart, we need to hatch a scheme."

* Given the NoodleImplements the player often had to work with during the heyday of AdventureGames, the solutions to many puzzles often became a ZanyScheme. ''Especially'' the more comically-minded series like ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'', ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' or ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory''.

* Generator's latest ZanyScheme in the ''WhateleyUniverse''? Using her powers to create shoulder angels to torment Phase, because Phase was peeking at Generator's roommate in the bathroom. It goes FromBadToWorse

** His EvilTwin brother Nale is little better, and devised a ZanyScheme to kill Elan that involved, among other things, Thog on rocket skates (with only a 84% chance of having [[AnvilOnHead an anvil land on him]])

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' details ZanyScheme "Operation Hidden Herald" [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20010930 here]]. It includes sub-schemes like "Operation Run-Around-Willy-Nilly" and "Operation Look-I'm-Tom-Cruise."

-->'''Torg:''' I'll seduce her (. . .) I know I don't have much of a chance of seducing Gwynn, but if I pulled it off, wouldn't I be cool?

** whenever Frank is in charge, you can bet Hawkeye is cooking up some kind of scheme.

* ''TheWorldsGreatestAthlete'' has college coaches Sam Archer and Milo Jackson catch sight of the {{Tarzan}} lookalike, and potential super athlete Nanu. Sam and Milo learn that among Nanu and Gazenga's people. When one man saves the life of another, he has become that man's protectorate for the rest of both their lives and must follow the man he saved wherever he goes. They then attempt several schemes to try and get Nanu to save Archer's life.

* Cory and Shawn on ''BoyMeetsWorld'' were fond of coming up with these, though this diminished in the later seasons as the characters grew up and the show [[CerebusSyndrome got more serious]].

* Frequently played with on ''TheDrewCareyShow'', where Lewis and Oswald eventually lost any chance of convincing Drew to go along with their plans ("Okay, we'll call that plan, 'The Idiot Plan,'" "If by any chance my plan fails, ''don't do your plan''").
* ''Series/ICarly'': Not [[{{Zoey101}} relied]] on as much as [[HannahMontana other]] [[DrakeAndJosh shows]] in its [[SitCom genre]]. One however, was [[JerkAss Sam]] and [[ButtMonkey Freddie]] rescheduling Carly's interview with a private school headmistress to her apartment, setting up a mini-golf course inside Spencer's apartment, inviting 2 dozen kids over, and getting the kids to think she had a prize hidden on her, done to sabotage Carly's chances of being admitted to the school so Carly wouldn't leave them.
** The episode ''iHave My Principals''. After having Principal Franklin guest in iCarly which resulted him to be fired, two of the [[SadistTeacher meanest teachers]] take his place. After the new co-principals create a reign of terror at the school, the iCarly gang connives with all the students. They hatch a plan to have an all-out schoolwide rebellion in order to prove to the school superintendent that their previous principal is much better than the new ones.
** Subverted in ''iScream on Halloween'' where Carly explains a complicated scheme to gain access to the locked door of Apartment 13-B, but Sam just picked the lock.
*** Not too complicated, from what she said it sounded like the old distract them long enough to get the necessity scheme.
** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] in ''iWant My Website Back''. Mandy comes up with a plan to get iCarly.com back from Nevel. As soon as she mentions it involving three zebras, Sam shuts her up.
* Subverted in ''{{Blackadder}}'':

** By and large, Baldrick's "cunning plans" are too stupid to even count as zany, especially since Blackadder usually dismisses them out of hand. The most notable exceptions are his plan to Edmund out of marrying the Spanish Infanta by [[MistakenForGay pretending to be gay]] in ''The Black Adder'', and the SwappedRoles scheme in ''{{Blackadder}} The Third''.
* Lois and Hal from ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' actually have a standard protocol for when Hal ends up doing something complicated and stupid. The rules, established when Hal and Craig enter a competition involving a game that is ''so very clearly not VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' and rapidly become obsessed, include freezing the joint bank account and the provisions that Hal still has to go to work and can not, under any circumstances, involve their sons.

* An episode of ''TheBigBangTheory'' has Sheldon coming up with a fake cousin, including creating a blog and Facebook page and hiring an actor to play him, to [[FawltyTowersPlot cover a small lie]] Leonard told Penny.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' did this one episode. When the Asurans held the city, [=McKay=] had the team plant C4 explosives in the shield generators, supposedly so that when the shield activated it would essentially take itself down. However, he blabbed the whole plan to Woolsey, who can't resist the Asuran mind probe.[[spoiler:Here's the good part. That was actually part of the plan. The real plan was to have the Asurans find the C4, and thus overlook the crystals that turned the entire shield into a giant anti-replicator wave of doom that saved them all. I call this one ''ZanyScheme'' and ''BatmanGambit'' in one.]]

* ''TopGear'': it's never just "How easy to drive is this this Ford Fiesta?" it's "Could this Fiesta evade bad guys while driving through a shopping centre? Could it do a beach assault with the Royal Marines?" The really zany schemes are just for their own sake, such as "Buy a cheap car and turn it into a boat", inevitably preceded by the words "[[CatchPhrase How hard]] [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong can it be?]]"

* On ''{{Hyperdrive}}'', [[spoiler:Teal]] constructs an intricate plan that falls somewhere between ZanyScheme and GambitRoulete involving chocolate, knockout gas, and the purchase of a planet, [[spoiler:just so she can get a date with Commander Henderson.]]
* Happens a lot in ''OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. Likely most episodes in fact, although some, like the 'Peckham Spring' episode pretty much come to mind here.
* In the Brazilian TV series, ''CityOfMen'', our protagonists use schemes for everything from getting our main character's sister and a gang leader together using notes and candy to avoiding the wrath of gang members by making a map of the favela. These plans often backfire.
* Incredibly common on ''DesperateHousewives'', from all four leads.

* [[OnceAnEpisode Twice an episode]] in ''KenanAndKel''--once during the main body of the show, and again in the closing with a short list of NoodleImplements.
* When in episode 2.02 of ''WhiteCollar'', "Need to Know," Neal Caffrey requires $10,000 in cash on short notice, his associate Mozzie accesses one of Neal's secret caches through a pre-arranged zany scheme that involves various NoodleImplements which Mozzie acquires from FBI Peter Burke, refusing to explain their purpose until each is deployed.

* Averted notably in an episode of ''TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', where she has some guests over for drinks, only to discover that they were expecting dinner. Rather than hatch a ZanyScheme to prepare dinner on the sly while they waited, Mary actually ''explains that there's been a misunderstanding''. For a regular sitcom viewer this plotline can come as a shock!

* This trope combined with IndyPloy is pretty much standard operating procedure for Crichton on ''{{Farscape}}''.
* {{Zany Scheme}}s pop up all over the place on ''{{Chuck}}''. Pretty much ''everything'' Lester does to boost sales or just plain slack off qualifies. Even the much more serious Sarah and Casey are NotSoAboveItAll.

--> '''Sarah:''' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Chuck, are you about to disarm a nuclear bomb with a box of fruit juice?"]]

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'' has a ton of them. A few examples:

* Louis Stevens breathed this trope on EvenStevens. a few of them involved trying to buy hot sneakers from a shady salesman, making the neighbor kid look like a genius so he could meet his favorite news anchor and rent out his house as a bed and breakfast while his parents were away in order to afford to go skiing for a weekend his best friend Alan Twitty was almost certainly expected to be involved.

* Used and sometimes {{lampshaded}} on every episode of ''KenanAndKel''.

** "Altruists" of ''Adult Party Cartoon'', to some extent. [[Film/TheThreeStooges Despite the whole plot]] [[ShoutOut being]] [[OutOfCharacter very unusal for the duo]], they attempt to break into a house to steal money and various other things from a rich family. Their plan included distracting the angry duck guarding the house with Stimpy disguised as a duck-woman, willing for a one night stand, beating the couple's kids with a blackjack, and stealing a painting of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Mexican Elvis, Mexa Canelves]]. Of course, the couple they rob is the afromentioned one.

* The selling point of ''{{Olsen-banden}}'' series is combining Zany Scheme with TheCaper plot. When the creators became aware of that, number of schemes per movie increased.

Sometimes they pull it off by the skin of their teeth. More often it all comes crashing down right at the end. Sometimes another character launches a CounterZany, which may escalate into a ZanySchemeChicken. This trope can sometimes be similar to a small-scale GambitRoulette.

** A soldier wants a nose job. The deam of doctors sets up an elaborate scheme to get him the operation without anyone getting in trouble rather than just pretending he broke his nose.

* Several of the chapters in ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' revolve around these, most notably Rabbit's plans to kidnap Roo and "unbounce" Tigger.

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* Oh so very often on ''TheGoonShow'', which - thanks to being written by SpikeMilligan - was able to make ''perfect sense'' ([[ItMakesSenseInContext within the context of the show, anyway]]) of a plan to drain a Scottish loch by making Ned Seagoon believe it granted immortality.

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* {{MASH}} has a ton of them. A few examples:

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** A soldier wants a nose job. The deam of doctors sets up an elaborate scheme to get him the operation without anyone getting in trouble rather than just pretending he broke his nose.
** A nurse's husband is visiting, but she's in trouble, so they create an elaborate scheme that creates more potential for being caught than doing something simpler and more straight-forward.

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* Several of the chapters in ''WinnieThePooh'' revolve around these, most notably Rabbit's plans to kidnap Roo and "unbounce" Tigger.