The Sitcom is a staple of English-language TV, so much so that it has a distinctive body of tropes associated with it. Subgenres can be found on the Sitcom page itself. See also Episodes for other tropes that can happen in sitcoms.
Subindex of Comedy Tropes.
Tropes commonly found in sitcoms:
Stock Characters- 24-Hour Party People: Living props who appear in party/dance scenes.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: A younger sibling who annoys their older sibling(s).
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: A selfish, whiny teenaged daughter.
- Bumbling Dad: This family man is kind of a moron.
- Cousin Oliver: A young character brought in to liven up an aging cast.
- Drop-In Character: A friend of The Hero who frequently pays visits to their house to hang out.
- Drop-In Landlord: Landlord as a device to insert a wacky older character into a younger ensemble cast.
- Dumbass Teenage Son: A stupid teenage son.
- Dysfunctional Family: This family only shares blood and mutual enmity.
- Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: In married couples, Women Are Wiser and Men Are Childish.
- Henpecked Husband: The woman in the relationship calls the shots.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: The In-Laws are not friendly people.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: The boss is incompetent and irrational.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: A Main Character dislikes and constantly squabbles with another person.
- Sitcom Character Archetypes: A list of stock character archetypes found in sitcoms.
- Token Black Friend: The Token Black friend of The Hero.
- Token White: Predominantly diverse cast has a mandatory white person.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Gorgeous woman is married to an unattractive man.
- Weasel Co-Worker: An unreliable coworker avoids punishment because they are eloquent.
Settings
- Awful Wedded Life: A miserable marriage full of bickering and passive-aggression.
- The Couch: The main cast often sits together in a large coach.
- "Friends" Rent Control: The cast's housing space is implausibly large for their financial means.
- Pottery Barn Poor: Even poor households have fancy interior design.
- Standard Office Setting: Stock white-collar workplace with stationery and various employees laboring in the same room.
- Standardized Sitcom Housing: Stock open-plan, two-story house.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: A work's setting is never pinned down, and may change as the plot sees fit.
Production and Genre Conventions
- Establishing Shot: Wide shots of scenery meant to provide context.
- Expository Theme Tune: A theme song whose lyrics describe the show.
- Half-Hour Comedy: Comedy show airs in a half-hour format.
- Laugh Track: Synthesized laughter used to denote the parts the creators think you should laugh at.
- Social Semi-Circle: Characters always face the camera when sitting around a table.
- Strictly Formula: Main plotline of every episode is basically the same.
- Studio Audience: Audience present while filming a show.
- Three Cameras: A show is shot with three simultaneous cameras. Studio Audience optional.
Plots
- Abuse of Return Policy: Purchased item is returned to the store after using it to avoid payment.
- Aesop Amnesia: Characters learn an important lesson, and then forget it to maintain the status quo.
- Broken Treasure: A character breaks someone else's treasured possession and then tries to fix it before the other person notices.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Any form of rule-breaking is Tempting Fate.
- Caught Up in a Robbery: A character is unexpectedly caught in the middle of a robbery.
- Caught Coming Home Late: A character is caught upon return after sneaking out at night.
- Continuity Creep: A series with no continuity gradually gets one.
- Counter Zany: Retaliating from a Zany Scheme with another zany scheme.
- Dead Pet Sketch: Someone is asked to take care of a pet. Pet dies. Said someone gets a Replacement Goldfish to cover up. It fails.
- Dinner and a Show: Sitcom family gets together for dinner. Hilarity Ensues.
- Dinner with the Boss: The boss comes over for dinner.
- Doomed Autographed Item: Autographed items are prone to being lost or destroyed.
- Escalating War: Cycle of Revenge but Played for Laughs and with Disproportionate Retributions.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: A lie gets held up by more lies and eventually implodes.
- Forgot to Pay the Bill: A utility or other service is shut off because payment has not been received.
- George Jetson Job Security: No job security whatsoever; you can get fired for any (or no) reason at all.
- Hellistics: Unrelated events turn out to be connected with each other just to screw over the character(s).
- Just One Extra Ticket: A character has one extra ticket for an event, so they must choose who to invite.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Frequent job changes by a character to fill a plot purpose.
- "Not Really Married" Plot: A married couple finds out that due to technicalities, they are not legally married.
- One-Hour Work Week: A character supposedly has a full-time job. We rarely ever see them actually go to it.
- Office Sports: People in a Standard Office Setting engage in horseplay utilizing nearby items.
- Relationship Labeling Problems: Characters have some sort of romantic/sexual relationship going on, but can't figure out what to call it.
- Shower of Awkward: A character awkwardly walks in on another character in the shower. Cringe Hilarity Ensues.
- A Simple Plan: Plans never go as smoothly as you thought they would.
- Snap Back: Events return to the status quo between episodes, without any explanation as to why.
- Stock Sitcom Grand Finale: Sitcoms end with the main cast gathering to reminisce about the good times. Split-up optional.
- Storm in a Teacup: A character fails to get an apparently urgent task done in time. It turns out it wasn't necessary.
- Soul-Crushing Desk Job: A character has a menial job that pays well enough, but loathes it very much.
- Status Quo Is God: Almost everything stays the same about the series, no matter what.
- Swivel-Chair Antics: Chairs that swivel are fun to mess around with.
- Two-Timer Date: A character runs back and forth from one date to another.
- Very Special Episode: An unusual episode in a light-entertainment series that suddenly tackles a serious issue.
- We Want Our Idiot Back!: The characters want the idiot among their group to be back.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: The cast liked someone more when they were a jerk.
- Wild Teen Party: With their parent(s) away, teenagers arrange a secret party which typically gets out of hand.
- Your Door Was Open: No one questions someone who just walks into a stranger's house.
- Zany Scheme: The character(s) go through with a ridiculously convoluted plan.
- Zany Scheme Chicken: A Zany Scheme gets hatched and countered, and then someone else counters it, etc.
Other
- Aside Glance: A take of a fictional character looking at the Fourth Wall.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: An episode ends with everyone laughing.
- Funny Flashback Haircut: A flashback shows that a character had silly-looking hair.
- "Lesson of the Day" Speech: A moment where An Aesop is delivered, possibly with Glurge.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: A detailed conversation about mundane things.
- Subverted Sitcom: A work uses the wholesome classic sitcom aesthetic before revealing dark or surreal material.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Two or more plots are interwoven into one story.
