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Strictly Formula: Difference between revisions
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* Movies set in the Roman Empire (or societies obviously patterned after the Roman Empire) can be expected to feature one or more of the following:
** The Roman Empire as a metaphor for Nazis
** [[The
** A chariot race and/or gladiator fight
** [[A Party - Also Known As an Orgy]]
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* ''[[Burn Notice]]'': The standard week-to-week plots are this; the overarching [[Myth Arc]] isn't. In the standard plots, someone comes to Michael who needs...extralegal assistance. Mike will usually have to go through plans A through C, with a little bit of [[Indy Ploy]], before saving the Client Of The Week, often while having to work around the client's good-intentioned "assistance". The [[Myth Arc]] tends to be a lot more chaotic, usually merging with the usual plot in the season finales.
* ''[[Fringe]]''. There's a cold open with some gruesome event happening to a random character, Walter makes some discovery while examining the body, the FBI takes the bad guy into custody, and the bad guy is then killed by other bad guys or the mole. Insert Walter and Peter arguing and references to John Scott as needed.
* ''[[Murder She Wrote]]'' always followed the same formula. There's a murder, and the victim had [[Asshole Victim|several possible enemies]]. One of the suspects is Jessica's niece, nephew, long-lost friend or love interest of the same, and the police always zero in on that person. Jessica must then catch the real killer, usually by [[Engineered Public Confession]] or by using [[I Never Said It Was Poison|something only the killer would know]]. If the murderer's story is [[Sympathetic Murderer|particularly tragic]], it ends with Jessica shaking her head sadly, otherwise there's a [[Mood Whiplash]] cut to the [["Everybody Laughs" Ending]]. The pacing was also always the same. Expect the body to fall at about the 20 minute mark, and the wrongful arrest of the obvious suspect at the 40. On the rare occasion there was a dead body before 15 minutes, there's going to be a second death in the show later.
* ''[[Mission Impossible]]''. Nearly every episode begins with Jim finding the tape and getting the mission, picking out the photos of the team he's using and then explaining part of the plan to the team in his house while they sit around testing the gadgets they're going to use.
* ''[[
** The new series formula: The Doctor turns up to identify the location, the TARDIS may go wrong, companion complains, baddie appears, someone dies, companion gets kidnapped or something, Doctor does something badass and hammy, and delivers the baddie an ultimatum, baddie doesn't listen and the Doctor saves the day. Cue hugs and celebration if the deaths are not multiple.
** The old series formula: Doctor, Barbera, Susan and Ian leave TARDIS. TARDIS access gets blocked off somehow. Susan hurts herself, probably while yelling "Grandfather, Grandfather!". Barbera stays behind to take care of her while Ian does something manly and the Doctor does something clever. Baddie appears. Dramatic cliffhanger.
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Scooby Doo]]''. Every episode will involve a trap that they have to bribe Scooby with Scooby Snacks for, and it will go horribly awry but succeed in getting the [[Monster of the Week]] anyway [[Despite the Plan]]. [[Scooby
** And the solution is explained in each episode using clues that weren't revealed to the audience until the end.
** Subsequent movies and revival series departed from this formula by featuring ''actual'' monsters.
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** Ralph Wolf trying to catch Sam Sheepdog's charges, only to find himself stopped by Sam in ridiculous ways.
** Different directors also often created opposing formulas for particular characters, for example Bob Clampett enterpreted [[Daffy Duck]] as a [[Screwy Squirrel]], Chuck Jones recreated him as a [[Fake Ultimate Hero]] in various genre parodies, Friz Freleng made him a show biz fanatic (usually in bitter rivalry with [[Bugs Bunny]]) while Robert Mc Kimson often utilized him as a [[Loveable Rogue]].
* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]''. Gadget receives a classified assignment in the form of an exploding message from the chief of police. The message blows up in the chief's face after Gadget is done reading it. His niece, Penny, and dog, Brain, secretly get involved in the mission. Brain tries to keep Gadget alive from the assassins out to get Gadget, who in turn mistakes Brain for a criminal, while helping the villain agents he thinks are doing innocent civilian deeds. Meanwhile, Penny snoops around, gets in danger or captured and tied up, gets rescued or free, and ultimately solves the case. Gadget receives credit for the case that his niece had solved. A dumb joke is made, and we get an [["Everybody Laughs" Ending]]. Repeat {{smallcaps| [[We Will Meet Again|Next time, Gadget!]]}}. Finish with the [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]] epilogue.
* ''[[Super Why]]'' is extremely formulaic even for an [[Edutainment Show]] aimed at little kids. In every episode: One of the kids will have a (mundane) problem; the Super Readers gather in the clubhouse to discuss it; they (magically) choose a book to find the answer; they enter it in their "Y-Flyers"; they read the story and decide to help its characters; they do it in the SAME order (first Alpha Pig, then Wonder Red and/or Princess Presto, and finally Super Why, each one giving a spelling/reading lesson in the process with the help of "Super You" -the audience) and then solve the story by changing its ending (by swapping a word in the text); they then return to the clubhouse, where, with the 'Super Letters' they gathered in their Super Duper Computer along the way, they spell a phrase that gives the answer to their problem as well. And then they dance the same victory dance. It's so repetitive that they use the same animation and catchphrases all the time!
** To be fair, one or two episodes vary some elements of the above... but not by much.
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[[Category:Consistency]]
[[Category:Strictly Formula]]
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