Sitcoms you hated because they 'stole' your idea

...or used characters or plots you have spent months or years developing. I've had a few I don't like because of this, the latest one being The IT Crowd, as I can't see my long going nerdcom project ever being taken up now, that greedy, hogging Linehan has gone and ruined it for me.

Also three shows at least stole my title, meaning I can never use them now.

This must be a common problem among aspiring sitcom writers, so what are your despised sitcoms for making your beloved, slaved over projects redundant and worthless?

Ooh, please tell us the titles!

Misfits

DRAMA TITLES
Lost

And a couple of others I can't remember right now

Ahh.
Yes I suppose one word titles must be trickier to keep unused.

I've said this before. But Dan Ashcroft in a different life. I couldn't believe how identical he was to the character I had in my head. Although I never pictured Julian Barrrat.

Misfits was the title of my nerdcom so I was dealt a double whammy on that one. Well and truly dead now!

Titles aren't exactly a barrier. The Office was a 1996 pilot by Steven Moffat.

Have a look through our list for some more duplicates: https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ July 10 2010, 5:56 PM BST

...or used characters or plots you have spent months or years developing. I've had a few I don't like because of this, the latest one being The IT Crowd

View original

Yeah that's really just suddenly come out of left field. And I don't mean Jim.

'The programme began on Channel 4 on 3 February 2006,'

My whole 'flatshare' thing has been ripped off left right and centre.
But I simply shifted the whole thing over to a 1950s holiday Camp.
Job done!

Quote: Marc P @ July 10 2010, 8:48 PM BST

Yeah that's really just suddenly come out of left field. And I don't mean Jim.

'The programme began on Channel 4 on 3 February 2006,'

View original

I was aware of it Mr P, do keep your hat on. The only common thread it shared really was the general nerd thing, so on I slowly went with my own (along with other projects), and didn't really want to watch IT Crowd anyway. It was only recently when I forced myself to sit through new and old episodes that I realised many of the plots and themes had been taken from my own unbroadcasted series. As a result, it is dead, pretty much, can't be bothered to revive it now. This is a hazard I am sure even you encounter. And good evening.

I once wrote a novel about a rogue cop who doesn't play by the rules. Except apparently it's already been done. If only I'd known!

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ July 10 2010, 9:48 PM BST

I was aware of it Mr P, do keep your hat on. The only common thread it shared really was the general nerd thing, so on I slowly went with my own (along with other projects), and didn't really want to watch IT Crowd anyway. It was only recently when I forced myself to sit through new and old episodes that I realised many of the plots and themes had been taken from my own unbroadcasted series. As a result, it is dead, pretty much, can't be bothered to revive it now. This is a hazard I am sure even you encounter. And good evening.

View original

Sorry Kipper I made the mistake of reading what you wrote rather than what you were thinking. Even me mind you. Superstar talented comedy writer and millionaire socialite. Puts Fez back on and lights cigar.

Quote: chipolata @ July 10 2010, 10:06 PM BST

I once wrote a novel about a rogue cop who doesn't play by the rules. Except apparently it's already been done. If only I'd known!

View original

Inspector Cluedo?

Quote: chipolata @ July 10 2010, 10:06 PM BST

I once wrote a novel about a rogue cop who doesn't play by the rules. Except apparently it's already been done. If only I'd known!

View original

But TV sitcoms are very different beasts, they are different to TV dramas even, you can have many cop based dramas and get away with it, no one analyses them too much really. You just can't get away with having many nerdcoms - sitcoms sit under a microscope because they are still the gold standard in primetime TV, they are scrutinised heavily and judged and graded and their characters, settings and themes are much more important to their success than most cop dramas.

This is why there will not be another sitcom about IT nerds for a good few years. Trying to write new sitcoms is harder than for any other genre, just one successful sitcom can saturate the market it's in because it sweeps through all the likely scenarios so quickly. The IT Crowd is effectively a monopoly sitcom, it can't really be competed with.

Of course Father Ted came out about a year after The Vicar of Dibley, and both went on to become hugely succesful sitcoms for different channels. Is Rev the first religious sitcom since either of them?

It's possible, I haven't seen too many myself since those two, only this Rev I think, which I would anyway call a comedy drama, myself, it's very different from those two cartoony sitcoms. We're all nerdcoms and kidcoms at the mo, they seem to be the latest trend in sitcomedy. Wonder what the next fashion will be?