Television Plot Lines.

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Are you thinking of writing scripts for a new TV show. You have the characters and setting but can't think of plot lines. Do you write scipts for a TV show but are running out of ideas. Below are some plot lines. As you can see they can be used for any genre or setting.
1. Ten Little Indians.
This is an episode set in an isolated area and the characters keep getting killed off or disappearing.
Series Episode
The Facts of Life Seven Little Indians
Highlander 10 Little Indians
Remington Steele Steele Trap
The Avengers The Superlative Seven
Lost in Space The Space Creature
Get Smart Hoo Done It
Laverne & Shirley Haunted House
The Monkees Monkee See, Monkee Die
Link to Norm and Company's Stickman Murder Mystery Page
2. Fight the Nazis!
Regardless of the setting many TV shows manage to have an episode where the cast fights against the Nazis:
Series Episode Series Episode
Star Trek Patterns of Force Star Trek Voyager The Killing Game Part 1 & 2
Designing Women I'll Be Seeing You Galactica 1980 Galactica Discovers Earth (2)
The Name of the Game The Inquiry Green Acres Wings Over Hooterville
Angel Why We Fight Sanford & Son Sergeant Gork
The Time Tunnel Invasion The Lone Gunmen Eine Kleine Frohike
Highlander Return of Amanda The Simpsons The Curse of the Flying Hellfish
Time Cop Rocket Science Get Smart The Not-so-Great-Escape
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Death from the Past McHale's Navy McHale and His Schweinhunds*
* McHale's Navy Changed its setting to Italy in its last season. However in this episode the PT73 and its crew were in the South Pacific.
3. mYou're in the Army Now.
There's an episode where at least one of the main characters is in the military, or pretends they are in the military.
Series Episode Series Episode
It Takes A Thief Hans Across The Border (Parts 1 & 2) Dinosaurs Nuts to War (Parts 1 & 2)
The Second Hundred Years San Juan Hill Married With Children T*R*A*S*H
Malcom in the Middle Reeese Joins the Army Laverene and Shirley You're in the Army, Now
I Dream of Jeannie G.I. Jeannie The Name of the Game The Prisoner Within
The Dick van Dyke Show Body and Sol The Simpsons Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song
Happy Days ROTC Futurama War is the N-Word
The Avengers Esprit De Corps Mork & Mindy The Mork Syndrone
Charlie's Angels Bullseye Here's Lucy Lucy Joins the Air Force Academy (Pt 1 & 2)
21 Jump Street Honor Bound    
4. Paint Ball Episode
There is the episode where there is mock combat. Paint ball is currently the most popular form but there are other variations of it.
5. Gothic Episode.
!Many shows manage to have an episode with a vampire, werewolf, or other gothic character.
Series Episode Character Series Episode Character
Barney Miller Werewolf Werewolf Star Trek: The Next Generation Sub Rosa Vampire
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Space Vampire Vampire Star Trek A Wolf in the Fold Jack the Ripper
Babylon 5 Comes the Inquisitor Jack the Ripper Benson Ghost Story Ghost
Get Smart Weekend Vampire Vampire
The Parkers Mummmy's the Word The Mummy
Dinosaurs Little Boy Boo Werewolf
Family Guy Death is a Bitch The Grim Reaper
Highlander The Vampire Vampire
Futurama The Honking Werwolf
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The Very Important Zombie Affair Zombies
Gilligan's Island Up at Bat Vampire
Lost in Space The Space Croppers Werwolf
Son of the Beach Hamm Stroker's Suck My Bloat Vampire
Smallville Thirst Vampire
The Monkees I was a Teenage Monster Frankenstein
F-Troop Visit From a Vampire Vampire
Green Acres The Ballad of Molly Turgis Ghost

6. Cross Dressing Episode.
Picture one of the characters dressing up as a member of the opposite sex then write an episode around it:
Series Episode Series Episode
Dinosaurs Nuts to War, Part 2 The Lucy Show Lucy Plays Cleopatra
The Critic Sherman of Arabia The Honeymooners Halloween Party
The Simpsons Whacking Day
Young Blades Invincible Sword
The Persuaders! A Death in the Family
The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. The U.N.C.L.E. Samurai Affair
7. There is the Vacation Episode:
Series Episode Vacation Spot
Star Trek Shore Leave An "uninhabited" Planet
Married With Children Poppy's By the Tree (1 & 2) Dump Water, Florida
Series Episode Series Episode
    MacGyver Last Stand
Laverne & Shirley Honeymoon Hotel Bewitched Witch or Wife
Futurama A Flight to Remember Green Acres A Pin in a Poke
I dream of Jeannie Greatest Con Artist in the World    
The Adventures of Superman The Evil Three Happy Days Hollywood
Full House Sea Cruise Malcolm in the Middle Casino
You've gotten your initial six episodes in the can but you still need an idea:
8. The Defiant Ones.
There is the episode where two characters that don't like each otheunderr are trapped together.
Series Episode Series Episode
Night Court The Blizzard Benson Cold Storage
Dinosaurs Driving Miss Ethyl All in the Family The Elevator Story
Planet of the Apes The Trap    
9. A Variation is the Stuck in a cave episode. This is where a main character is stuck in a cave without the Defiant Ones nexus.
Series Episode
The Six Million Dollar Man Doomesday and Counting
10. Another Variation is where one or more characters are stuck in the middle of nowhere.
11. mm The Body Double.
This is the episode where there is someone who looks just like a main character impersonates that character, or the other way around.
series episode series episode
The Adventures of Superman The Face and the Voice Bensen The President's Double
I Dream fo Jeannie Too Many Tonys Star Trek The Next Generation Datalore
The Dukes of Hazzard Baa, Baa, White Sheep Get Smart Too Many Chiefs
The Six Million Dollar Man Look Alike The Incredible Hulk Broken Image
Bewitched Which Witch is Which? Star Trek The Enemy Within
Gilligan's Island Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up? The Wild Wild West The Night of the Big Blast
The Time Tunnel Reign of Terror Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea The Cyborg
Batman Hi Diddle Riddle Highlander Counterfeit (2)
McHale's Navy The Great Impersonation Lost in Space West of Mars
Alies Search & Rescue Futurama The Lesser of Two Evils
12. k There is always the episode involving space aliens. The aliens can be real or fake.
Series Episode Aliens
Logan's Run The Collectors Real
Married With Children Married ... with Aliens Real
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea The Sky is Falling Real
The Dick Van Dyke Show UHNYUFTS Dream
The Green Hornet Invasion From Outer Space Fake
The Beverly Hillbillies The Flying Saucer Fake
The Dukes of Hazzard Strange Visitor to Hazzard Fake
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The Take Me To Your Leader Affair Fake
The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. The UFO Affair Fake
The Time Tunnel Visitors from Beyond the Stars Real
The Six Million Dollar Man Straight on 'til Morning Real
13. There is the camping trip episode.
Series Episode Series Episode
Knight Rider Good Day at White Rock Nanny and the Professor Back to Nature
The Simpsons The Call of the Simpsons Dallas The Dove Hunt
Married With Children The Camping Show Alf On the Road Again
That 70s Show Hunting The Persuaders Chain of Events
King of the Hill The Order of the Straight Arrow Highlander Mountain Men
I Love Lucy The Camping Trip Benson Snowbound
Get a Life Camping 2000 Futurama Spanish Fry
Lost in Space The Hungry Sea    
14. There is the Casino episode
15. Pick another TV series and make an episode out of it.
Series Episode Old series
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XIV "Reaper Madness" Benny Hill
ALF Somewhere Over the Rerun (a.k.a.) The Ballad of Gilligan's Island Gilligan's Island
Family Guy North by North Quahog  
George Lopez Leave it to Lopez  
Here's Lucy Lucy's Impossible Mission Mission Impossible
Futurama A Bicyclops Built for Two Married With Children
Star Trek: The Next Generation The Naked Now Star Trek
16. TIf you still need plot lines there is always the Christmas Special. A familiar plot line is a takeoff on a Christmas Classic.
Show Episode Plot Line
Dallas Conundrum It's a Wonderful Life
The Simpsons Tis the Fifteenth Season The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
Highlander To Be & Not To Be (2 episodes) It's a Wonderful Life
Moonlighting It's a Wonderful Job It's a Wonderful Life
Mork and Mindy It's a Wonderful Mork It's a Wonderful Life
The Odd Couple Scrooge Gets an Oscar A Christmas Carol
Highway to Heaven Another Song for Christmas A Christmas Carol

17. There is the Holiday Besides Christmas episode. The Simpsons started out as a Christmas Special but is now famous for its annual Halloween Special.
Series Holiday Episode
That 70's Show Thanksgiving Thanksgiving
18. The Phoney Holiday Episode
You aren't done with holidays yet. There is always the episode about a holiday that doesn't exist.
Series Holiday
Dinosaurs Hurling Day - The day dinosaurs get to throw their mother-in-laws into the tar pits.
19. There is the Tradition episode.
This is an episode that involves some kind of a tradition within the cast's universe.
20. 6The Out of Time Episode
There is the episode we the characters are in a different time than the normal setting.
Series Episode Time Period
Highway to Heaven Going Home, Going Home nbsp;
The Name of the Game Los Angeles 2017 50 years in the future
I Dream of Jeannie My Hero The time of the Arabian Knights
The Adventures of Superman Through the Time Barrier Stone Age
Star Trek: The Next Generation The Big Goodbye 1940 USA
Moonlighting The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice 1946
22. Sometimes it's an out of time setting, but not necessarily. The Wild West episode is very popular.
23. BThe Homecoming Episode
This is the episode where a main character returns to their childhood home.
Series Episode Series Episode
The Time Tunnel The Day the Sky Fell In The Name of the Game A Love to Remember
Taxi High School Reunion Lost in Space Return From Outer Space
24. The When We First Met Episode
This is when the some of the main characters flash back to when they first met, or when they got married, or some other turning point before the series' started.
All in the Family Flashback: Mike Meets Archie
The Simpsons The Way We Was
25. @The Clip Show
You should have enough now to make a show that involves using clips from previous episodes.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Shades of Gray All in the Family The Best of All in the Family
Married With Children Best of Bundy Alf Try to Remember (Part 1 & 2)
The Simpsons So It Has Come To This: The Simpsons Clip Show Ugly Betty The Beautiful World of Ugly Betty
Dinosaurs The Clip Show Dancing With the Stars 100th Episode
Malcolm in the Middle Clip Show
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A Blast for Buck
26. The it was all a dream episode
This is an expisode where strange things happen and ends when a character wakes.
27. The Afterlife
There is always the episode that shows a view of the afterlife.

28. The Robot episode
There is always the episode that has a robot
Logan's Run The Innocent Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea The Indestructable Man
Get Smart Back to the Old Drawing Board Mork and Mindy Dr. Morkenstein
The Six Million Dollar Man Day of the Robot    
29. Here Come The Judge
30. There is the courtrooom episode
All in the Family Edith Has Jury Duty
31. pMurder most foul
There is the episode where a major character is accused of murder or attempted murder.
32. The Godfather episode
This episode plot predates The Godfather.
The Monkees Monkees a'La Carte
33. The Gladiator episode
There is the episode that revolves around a gladitorial type combat. It need not be to the death or in a Roman venue.
Series Episode
Planet of the Apes The Gladiators
Star Trek: The Next Generation Code of Honor
34. The Boxing Ring episode.
It could be a wrestling ring or any other type of martial arts contest.
Highway to Heaven The Return of the Masked Rider
35. The Movie Rip-off episode
Which so many movies this is fertile ground.
That 70s show Too Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young to Die Parodied the Hitchcock thrillers: North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds
Highlander: The Raven Dead On Arrival Similar plot line to the movie Dead on Arrival
36. The Amnesia Episode
This is the episode where a main character forgets who they are.
The Six Million Dollar Man Stranger in Broken Fork
Gilligan's Island Forget me not
Charlie's Angels Angel on my Mind
37. The Gun Grief Episode
This is the episode where someone who doesn't have a gun gets one. Their acquisition proves to be a mistake.
Series Episode
Married With Children But I Didn't Shoot the Deputy
The Simpsons The Cartridge Family
Roc Terence Got Hit Gun
American Dad Stannie Ger Your Gun
38. Visiting Relative Episode
The is the episode where a relative, who is not a regular, comes by for a visit. It's usually unexpected.
Series Episode Series Episode
Smallville Prodigal The Monkees The Success Story
Green Acres Furniture, Furniture, Who's Got the Furnature?
McHale's Navy The Mothers of PT-73
The Facts of Life Overachieving
Highlander Family Tree
That 70's Show Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Full House The Return of Grandma
39. The kidnaping episode
This is where a character gets kidnapped.
The Adventures of Superman Night of Terror
Highlander: The Raven War and Peace
40. Death in the Family Episode
It doesn't have to be a real relative.
Malcolm in the Middle Funeral Star Trek: The Next Generation Skin of Evil
41. The sort of death of a main character.
This is where a main character dies but gets better.
The Simpsons Bart Gets Hit by a Car
42. The old age episode
There is the episode when the main characters are made up to look elderly.
43. FThe spin off episode
By now you should be thinking of a spin off. This is an opportunity for another episode. Introduce a new character, or showcase a support character. The idea is to see if the character highlighted is popular enough to have a show of their own. The best and, arguably, worst example of this is Highlander: The Series. In it's final season there were plans for a spin off. The question was who would star in the spin off. They showcased four characters in four episodes to see which one would be the spin off character. None were chosen. The spin off series, Highlander: The Raven, lasted a year.
44. The Election
There is the episode where a main character either runs for office or becomes politically active during an election campaign.
Gilligan's Island President Gilligan
45. The Wedding
One of the most versitile episodes is the wedding episode. This is where someone is supposed to get married. There are numerous options as to what actually happens.
Series Episode What happened
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Escape from Wedded Bliss No wedding took place
Star Trek: The Next Generation Haven No wedding took place
46. The 1960s throwback episode.
There seems to be a love affair with the 1960s. Shows started doing this throwback since before it was a throwback. During the 1960s television series often had an episode involving hippies.
47. The gone evil episode.
This is the episode where one of the main characters becomes evil.
48. ``The in jail episode.
This is the episode where one of the main characters ends up in jail.
49. The He Said, She Said episode.
This is an episode done with flashback showing the same incident from different characters' point of view. It isn't necessarily the point of view of a man and a woman.
50. The Fall From Grace episode.
This is where a main character's life takes a bad turn. Usually it's lost job.
51. The You're Not the First episode.
This is the episode where a main character or believes, or the audience has reason to believe, is the first, isn't.
52. Looses job.
There is the episode where a main character looses his or her job. Rest assured the'll get it back at the end of the episode, or the next one if it's a two parter.
53. The awards episode.
This the episode where a character gets an award.
54. The Spy episode.
This is the episodes that involves a 007 type plot.
55. Cause of the Week episode. Some shows make a series ouf of this.
Whatever is the latest political cause, environment, free wherever, etc. makes for an episode.
Now if you recycle the above ideas that will give you over 100 episodes worth of plots. You don't think you can get away with it? These shows did:
The Body Double Episode
The Girl From U.N.C.L.E The Carpathian Caper Affair † The Prisoner of Zalamar Affair
The Avengers They Keep Killing Steed † Man With Two Shadows
The Six Million Dollar Man Return of the Robot Maker † Look Alike
The Gothic Episode
The Adventures of Superman The Tomb of Zahara (Mummy) † The Ghost Wolf (Werewolf)
The Vacation Episode
The Simpsons Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington † The Regina Monologues (England)
The Robot Episode
The Adventures of Superman The Gentle Monster † The Runaway Robot
The Clip show
Charlie's Angles Let Our Angel Live † Angels Remembered
The Kidnap Episode
The Six Million Dollar Man Dr. Wells is Missing † Run Steve Run
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