Repetition In Sitcoms

I've been reading some of the scripts from Extras and it struck me how the Patrick Stewart idea was exactly the same as the one with the pen but with Stephen Merchant doing the lines. They only did 12 episodes! Couldn't they think of another idea? Also the thing with Maggie being ignored by Andy before he realised he was being unfair in the pen episode, was used again in the Christmas one.

I can forgive a lot of the US shows who do 24 a season for coming up with a similar story in say episodes #3 and #86 like maybe The Simpsons does, but when you're only doing 12/13 it's a bit poor.

Anyone think of other shows who've kinda repeated the same plot?

I think most sitcoms establish a forumala and stick with it. Ricky Gervais is a good example because most of his shows involve Ricky saying or doing something embarrassing, followed by a minute's awkward silence in which everybody looks at each other or at their feet.

I was thinking more in the ideas department, chip, rather than the overall theme. They've got to episode 12 and thought 'We'll do that Patrick Stewart thing again.' Also some of the stuff Keith Chegwin said was developed and then given to Ian McKellen.

I stand corrected (insert own orthopedic shoe joke here). I think the idea that's often repeated, and I find most annoying, is when a character in an American sitcom has a baby. It's like they've run out of other ideas and they think, "Let's make Ros/Phoebe/Scrubs Nurse pregnant!" And then, once they've had the baby, it's never seen or mentioned ever again.

The structure of a sitcom is often repeated each episode - you can see this if you watch three or four episodes in a row.