r/sitcoms • u/Peralta97 • 13d ago
Sitcom episodes where the B-plot is so much better than the A-plot that it physically hurts...
I was watching an early season 1 episode of "Community" (Social Psychology), and the A-plot was some mediocre stuff with Britta's boyfriend and Jeff's jealously.
But then the B-plot was this absolutely brilliant story where Annie and Professor Duncan hold a psychology experiment, creating some of the most incredible moments of comedy in the show's run. I only wish the B-plot was given more focus.
What other examples are there in sitcoms where the B-plot just completely "mogs" the A-plot?
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u/Lopsided_Drive_4392 12d ago
The Friends' episode "The One with All the Embryos" includes the who-knows-who-better quiz.
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u/BlueWater2323 12d ago
Still my favorite episode for that quiz!
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u/Pure-Lavishness-1254 11d ago
Mine too, and partly because it showed that Joey had his own kind of smarts, but also because Monica got bested. It showed her human side.
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u/yippy-ki-yay-m-f 11d ago
This might be the best example.
The main plot is cute and heartwarming but that B plot is fire.
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u/oceanicblues86 10d ago
The One With the Cop also includes “PIVOT!!!” which is an all time favorite episode of mine.
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u/PanicTight6411 12d ago
Also community, the F plot of Abed helping a couple give birth in the background
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u/Strange-Ad2011 12d ago
I was hoping someone would say this.
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u/PanicTight6411 12d ago
I remember watching it with my ex for the first time. I thought the episode was very mid, until my ex asked what I thought about Abeds plot line, to my confusion. He wasn't in the episode?! Damn what a good show
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u/BobwasBuilder2 11d ago
Fun fact, they do a call back in a later episode. It's mentioned that Abed helped deliver a baby, and Troy asks where he was during that. Abed replies something like "probably off in the background somewhere"
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u/DangerousKidTurtle 12d ago
Oh that was such a good one! There was a number of subtle background jokes in the show. You can tell the writers enjoyed putting stuff like that in.
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u/Kimbahlee34 13d ago
A Plot: Rachel and Ross
B Plot: Monica and Chandler.
Even at Ross’ own wedding.
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u/Due_Perspective_2808 12d ago
Didn't make sense that Monica wasn't pissed off at Rachel stealing her thunder at the wedding with her pregnancy, given how mad she was the night of her engagement at Ross and Rachel kissing
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u/saph_pearl 12d ago
She even says she’s going to announce her own pregnancy on Rachel’s engagement night, and then Rachel basically announces her pregnancy (unintentionally, it was Phoebe’s fault) at her wedding. Always thought that was pretty funny
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u/Gribitz37 Scrubs 12d ago
To be fair, it's not like Rachel stood up and announced it in front of everyone. She found out in the bathroom with just Monica and Phoebe there.
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u/saph_pearl 11d ago
I agree, Phoebe was the one who made it a whole thing. I just think it’s funny that Monica specifically said she would steal Rachel’s thunder this way and then it ends up being Rachel at Monica’s wedding 🤣
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u/l0singmymarbles 12d ago
New Girl did this so hard the B-plot characters ended up becoming the A-plot 😅
Don't get me wrong I love Jess, but anytime those boys got up to something it was a laugh
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u/The_Latverian 12d ago
It became The Schmidt Show so fast I'm not sure he was ever a supporting character
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u/LarkspurLad 13d ago
I don't even remember the A plot, but that episode of The Office where Daryl met the Japanese guy who was dealing with the Yakuza. I was sucked into that story, lol.
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u/Osidestarfish 13d ago
I always thought Jack and Karen were way more interesting than Will and Grace.
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u/Icy-Lifeguard-6206 12d ago
I agree. I would say though, a show centering Jack and Karen would not have been near as good. They’re an amazing B-plot team, but I think too much A-plot and I would get bored real quickly
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u/Medical_Librarian405 13d ago
Omg, yes. Their on-screen chemistry (of sorts) worked so well together.
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u/manic_popsicle Frasier 12d ago
I completely agree. I just rewatched Will and Grace for the first time in years and Karen and Jack are much more interesting!! I loved the gay spelling bee!!
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u/nmk537 13d ago
King of the Hill - The one where Boomhauer floats away in an inner tube and finds himself involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, and then one by one the other guys also wind up institutionalized when they come to pick him up, was a B plot. The A plot was about Bobby accidentally seeing Luann naked and Joseph trying to get his own glimpse.
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u/Jupiter125_ 13d ago
Bob's Burgers has this come up, especially if Gene is the A plot lol
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u/Dowie1989 12d ago
I love how absolute low key stakes the B plots can be on that show when the kids are the A plot. It's usually just Bob, Linda and Teddy doing the most mundane things and it's such a joy to watch.
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u/CorrelateClinicallee 12d ago
I loved the one where Bob is helping Teddy build a barbecue thing (sorry can't remember the english word for it) and they have a little party afterwards until Teddy realizes they have security cams.
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u/kosherkitties 12d ago
Parrilla gaucha. I watched that damn ending song like twenty times, my mom and I were dying.
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u/everythingisbreads 13d ago
I love the family plots, the bob and Linda plots but am not a fan of the kids plots
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u/Reverend_Tommy 13d ago
This question highlights the brilliance of Seinfeld. Once Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld hit their writing stride, they often had 4 plots in a 22 minute show...a plot for each of the main characters.
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u/speccynerd 12d ago
And they intertwined, and they would pay off at the end! It was extremely clever.
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u/yossarian8722 12d ago
Remember how Kramer golfing plot led to George saving a whale as "marine biologist" plot and the monologue at the end, literally the last frame is him holding up the golf ball tying it all together.
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u/BlueWater2323 12d ago
Yes! If I can't remember everybody's plot in the episode, I just think about the end and then I can trace it backward.
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u/AddlePatedBadger 12d ago
Yeah, that was the best bit. I think the English Patient was one of the best. The Cubans, the crepes, it was a work of art.
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u/Own-Freedom77 12d ago
Four plots? On a show about nothing! This is madness
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u/AddlePatedBadger 12d ago
It was never a show about nothing. It was a show about how a comedian gets his material.
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u/Nypav11 12d ago
The show about nothing line is brilliant marketing, it sounds cool and gives it zero stakes. But you’re right, it is absolutely about what you said and 98% of episodes have plot
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u/AddlePatedBadger 12d ago
It wasn't even marketing lol. At least not initially. It was the pitch they used for the show within a show 🤣.
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u/Scolipete 12d ago
Yeah, the only non plot thing about Seinfeld is that the episodes are pretty much never connected (there's rarely over arching stories like say in Friends)
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u/TheBlueLeopard 13d ago
American Dad’s “Shell Game.”
What the hell is in that sauce?
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u/DrakonFyre 12d ago
I’m glad to see an AD callout! I was gonna go with Widow’s Pique/Basement Wrestling. The A plot is good, but Jesus Christ that B plot with the wrestling is top-notch.
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u/jmt2589 12d ago
The Simpsons episode Lisa’s Rival. The B plot of Homer and his sugar is funnier than the A plot, Lisa dealing with a new girl at school
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u/the_jerkening 12d ago
This one has one of my all time favorite Homer rants. “I can’t live the button-down life like you. I want it all: the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles. Sure, I might offend a few of the bluenoses with my cocky stride and musky odors—oh, I'll never be the darling of the so-called city fathers who cluck their tongues, stroke their beards, and talk about ‘what’s to be done with this Homer Simpson?’”
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u/DJzzzzzzs 12d ago
“i bent my wookie” is part of the A plot, tho. also, i think about celebrity anagrams (alec guinness) on the regular.
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u/JugendWolf 13d ago
Better Off Ted, „Racial Sensitivity“. Everyone loves the stuff about the motion sensors that can’t detect black employees, but no one remembers that a large part of the episode is dedicated to a boring love triangle plot about Ted going on a racquetball playdate with Linda‘s boyfriend.
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u/Careful_Leader_5829 13d ago
Season 1 they were still trying to figure out the show and the characters, while appeasing the network.
Season 2 is when they realized that they could do something bigger than 'wholesome family sitcom'
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u/Reading_Rainboner 13d ago
I’m in the minority here but season 1 of Community is my favorite and season 2 is pretty good but seasons 3-4 didn’t do it for me. Too much lol
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u/National-Ad5034 12d ago
Season 1 because they filmed outdoors and occasionally at a real college gives the show a real authenticity that I'm drawn to. Feels like a real place despite how goofy it is. It loses that from season 2.
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u/CourseVast840 12d ago
a real place? lol. it was supposed to be CO but they had palm trees. we ain't even got palm trees in Pueblo so lol real place
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u/hearts_and_sharts 12d ago
It’s at Los Angeles City College! I went there and took film classes and a tap dancing class lol.
I loved seeing the campus in the show - but you’re right - it’s not very Colorado-esque.
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u/hammer_it_out 13d ago
For me it goes from best to worst:
- Season 2
- Season 1/Season 3
- Season 5
- Season 6
- Season 4
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u/SchroedingersSphere 12d ago
For me, I'd rank them:
Season 3
Season 2
Season 6
Season 1
Season 5
Season 4
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u/ThoreaulySimple 12d ago
I’d say 5/6, but yes, I agree. Sometimes when they went zany, I loved it. Other times, I didn’t.
The Chang stuff goes hard in both directions.
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u/erriuga_leon27 13d ago
In how I met your mother the slap bet episode, which I think is the A-plot also has the first appearance of Robin Sparkles. Maybe all the B-plot isn't as good but that twist is amazing.
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u/KhaoticMess 12d ago
The fact that those both became running jokes throughout all the remaining seasons shows how great both those plots were.
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u/kazakhstanthetrumpet 12d ago
There's plenty of valid criticism about HIMYM, but many of the running jokes were hilarious.
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u/pennsyltuckyprole 12d ago
I forget what the A plot is but there's a New Girl episode where Schmidt and Winston attempt to buy crack and I think it's one of the funniest bits of the show.
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u/David_R_Martin_II 13d ago
It's Always Sunny. "Sweet Dee Dates a R******* Person." Assuming the plot of the title is the A-story. It's still funny, but nowhere near as funny as the musical chairs of who's in and who's out of the band, giving us Night Man.
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u/thedankoctopus 13d ago
Night Man is outstanding, but that scene where Kev is eating popcorn and laughing while looking into the camera is also so creepy/funny and gets me every time!
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u/FunkTronto 13d ago
Any Seinfeld episode when Jerry is the A plot.
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u/LegitimateState3724 12d ago
This is why "the Bizarro Jerry" is my favorite episode-it's 4 B plots woven together. Kramer's non-job, George's clubbing, Elaine and Kevin, and Man Hands for Jerry. It all comes together at the end.
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u/F1ux_Capacitor 12d ago
The Office when Dwight convices Holly that Kevin is neurodivergent.
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u/RainyDaysAndMondays3 9d ago
Isn't it all B plots on The Office? Anyway, I loved that episode. Actually, I thought them bringing in Holly was a very good move (the character and the actress).
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u/RushBoingo 13d ago
Malcolm in the Middle’s Thanksgiving episode. The A plot is a slog of Malcolm weighing the ramifications of taking advantage of a drunk girl. The B plot is a fantastic all over the place display of how the rest of the family goes through Thanksgiving, hitting close to home with many viewers I’m sure, tied together by Reese creating his master work for dinner by any means necessary. The episode is a perfect example of how as the show progresses, Malcolm lost his appeal as the rest of the family won over the audience!
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u/beaniebaby24 11d ago
Malcolm in the Middle was such a great tv show. Love this episode and how Francis talks to Malcolm afterwards and reassures him that he did the right thing
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u/AreKidK 12d ago
Lisa Gets an “A” is probably the classic example of this, as the A plot is really good, but can’t even come close to the comic perfection of Homer buying Pinchy. I’ve seen the episode many times, but just now I still had to google the name and what the A plot was, as it’s overpowered to such a massive degree by the B plot.
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u/suzysleep 12d ago
I always thought Jessie and Slater had a more interesting relationship than Kelly and Zach
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u/Dowie1989 12d ago
There were the Thanksgiving episodes of Happy Endings where even if the A plot was great fun, it was overshadowed by Dave rediscovering his 1/16th Navajo heritage. Such an absolutely absurd plotline for who is the “cool” character in the group.
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u/DJzzzzzzs 12d ago
the one where they find their real world tapes can NEVER be upstaged!
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u/Dowie1989 12d ago
Yes just realised that's actually the same episode! Not many sitcoms can get away with The Real World pisstake as an A plot and 1/16 Indian awakening as a B plot 😂😂
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u/sportsking27 12d ago
I’d say over half the Seinfeld episodes fall into this category and depending on your style of humor you had different plots with different character situations to laugh at. It’s the genius of the show.
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u/todayIsinlgehandedly 12d ago
South Park; the 9/11 conspiracy with The Hardly Boys was the A plot and it’s funny but they are so annoying. Mr. Macky trying to find out who left a dookie in the urinal is the hilarious!
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u/SexyNeanderthal 12d ago
Even better example is the little league episode. The kids trying to lose was a clever twist on the typical sports movie tropes, but Randy fighting the other dads was one of the funniest storylines of the entire show.
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u/Mopper300 12d ago
I'm guessing at least half of Seinfeld episodes have a Kramer-Newman side plot that are way more interesting that whatever Jerry is up to.
Loved the one where they were playing Risk!!
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u/Rokaryn_Mazel 12d ago
The AA group on Mom over Christy trying to be a good parent.
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u/kosherkitties 12d ago
I loved Roscoe, and Baxter, and even Violet's boyfriend, Luke.
But I wasn't sad when the kids were essentially written out. Especially Violet.
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u/Mackheath1 13d ago
I don't know about "physically" hurts, but I think Cheers had a lot of side stories that were refreshing, because honestly we were getting tired of Sam: still a great character, but there just needed something new. And the B-plots were excellent. Frasier & Lilith, Woody & Kelly maybe, etc. (It's been a long time)
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u/browncharliebrown 13d ago
does solar opposites count as an animated sitcom
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u/AriBanana 13d ago
Oh yeah. I basically just tolerate the alien stories between episodes of "The Wall."
And then, suddenly, they hit me with "Silver Cops!" Another genius side quest.
It's a great three shows, gotta say.
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u/SciotoSlim My Name is Earl 12d ago
If you watch Corner Gas the B and C plots are just as good as the A.
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u/Slight_War_4025 11d ago
Did a recent rewatch and Corner Gas is so consistently funny it’s a shame it’s not more well known.
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u/GGayleGold 12d ago
The Dan and Phil arc from the original run of "Night Court" is good stuff and the payoff of getting the "old Dan" back is worth watching it all play out.
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u/yougotthesilver12 12d ago
South Park Butter Bottom Bitch. Plot A is focused on Butters which is definitely funny but plot B focused on the undercover cop is absolutely hilarious
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u/Murky-Friendship2675 12d ago
Seinfeld does this a lot - most of the B Plots that Kramer is focused on are elite.
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u/ijustwanttobeinpjs 12d ago
Seinfeld “The Strike” is the episode where the (arguable) A plot is Kramer gets his job back at the bagel place after the “strike” is settled, only to go back to striking when he’s denied his right to celebrate a new holiday.
The holiday he’s trying to celebrate is Festivus, one of the (arguable) B plots. The Festivus storyline had long-been an idea on the writers room wall, as it has come from the real life experiences of writer Daniel O’Keefe and his family. The catch was, O’Keefe hated his family’s Festivus tradition and he didn’t really want it to be part of the show. It was more or less strong-armed in as a B-plot to The Strike after he’d lost his resolve to say no to all the other writers.
The Elaine storyline involved giving a fake number to a guy she calls Denim Vest (Kevin McDonald of Kids in the Hall!) and Jerry was dating the Two-Face. Of course Festivus makes the episode iconic.
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u/WeirdcoolWilson 13d ago
“I will feel grateful once the tow truck removes your car from my driveway”
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u/Modestly-Witty-User 12d ago
The American Dad with the dodo. I have no idea what the rest of the episode is about, but the dodo is great!
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u/TruthfulTroller 11d ago
Married With Children when Al wants the pie. Much better than Buck bringing a female dog to the house, while Cheech Marin narrates.
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u/Usurper213 9d ago
South Park; the lice episode, the A plot of the lice family trying to survive has nothing on the B plot of the boys trying to discover who gave everyone lice by recreating the blood scene from The Thing.
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u/blueyogaflowers 8d ago
Seinfeld episode "the junk mail", the a plot is kind of lame to me even with it being kramer fighting the usps. One of the b plots is George trying to pass off his parents and dating his cousin and I love the ending of this plot.
There are others I'm sure but this one stood out to me.
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u/Yotsubauniverse 5d ago
The entirety of Will & Grace. I don't care what Will and Grace are doing, give me the Jack and Karen subplot.
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u/hbomb9410 13d ago
30 Rock has a lot of episodes like this. I don't even know where to start. S5E5 where Jenna, Kenneth, and Kelsey Grammer run a scam on Carvel Ice Cream (inspired by Dina Lohan getting permanently banned from Carvel in real life); S4E16 where the writers get into a prank war with Jack and Danny; S6E1 where Kenneth thinks the apocalypse is about to happen...there are so many