History Main / WunzaPlot

See also InAWorld. Compare and contrast with Odd Couple, BuddyPicture. A necessary ingredient (especially when combined with CopAndScientist) for TheyFightCrime Not to be confused with KudzuPlot.

* ''Series/BloodTies:'' She's a Canadian police detective who is slowly losing her sight. He's a vampire, son of a king, who writes bodice-rippers. They fight crime!

* ''ComicBook/AngelAndTheApe'' ('60s comic book with revivals in the '80s and '00s): She's a gorgeous [[GreatDetective super-sleuth]] who speaks thirteen languages [[ActionGirl and knows karate]]. He's a comic book artist who [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys happens to be a talking gorilla]]. TheyFightCrime!

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hit-Monkey}}''. One’s a Japanese snow monkey with a bad temper, the other is the ghost of an American hitman who doesn’t know when to shut up. Together, they seek vengeance in the crime-ridden streets of Tokyo.

Many TV shows are based around a HighConcept -- a simple, intriguing premise that can be explained in one or two sentences -- a "hook" which attracts the interest of everyone from producers to advertisers to viewers. One very common way to get a build a high concept is to take two characters who are very different from each other, quirky, or somehow odd, and then team them up to accomplish some objective. In 'the Biz' this is called a "Wunza plot". So-named by Creator/RogerEbert, a Wunza Plot is "One's a [X]; one's a [Y]. Together they [Objective Z]" [[note]]Hence, the name: "One's a" = "Wunza"[[/note]]

* ''Series/AlienNation'': One's an everyday human cop, one's an alien refugee cop. Naturally, TheyFightCrime!

* ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'': [[ComicBook/LukeCageHeroForHire A (black) Harlem street fighter who's bullet-proof]] and [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist a (white) multi-millionaire who's been classically trained in Kung-Fu]]. Together, TheyFightCrime (for hire)!

* ''WebVideo/AgentsOfCracked''. One's a [[ManChild mentally-unfortunate]], [[CrazyAwesome possibly magic]], [[AnythingThatMoves pansexual]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer judge]] with HammerSpace, the other is... [[OnlySaneMan pretty]] [[TheChewToy much]] [[ButtMonkey Charlie Brown]]. Together, ''[[MundaneMadeAwesome They Write Jokes!]]''

See also InAWorld. Compare and contrast with OddCouple. A necessary ingredient (especially when combined with CopAndScientist) for TheyFightCrime Not to be confused with KudzuPlot.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' featured the example of 'Mac & Cheese' (Joey's starring role)- one's a hard-boiled detective, one's a robot. They fight crime.

* ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'': A nerdy werewolf, a charismatic vampire and a sexy ghost are roomates. They try to have a normal life.

Also known as [[PunnyName "One's a..."]] [[{{Mondegreen}} Plot]].

* ''Series/BloodTies:'' She's a Canadian police detective who is slowly losing her sight. He's a vampire. They fight crime!

* From ''Film/KentuckyFriedMovie'': "She was six feet of Black dynamite. He was a short, Hasidic Jew... Samuel L Bronkowitz presents Cleopatra Schwartz..."

* ''WebVideo/AgentsOfCracked''. One's a [[ManChild mentally-unfortunate]], [[CrazyAwesome possibly magic]], [[AnythingThatMoves pansexual]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer judge]] with HammerSpace, the other is... [[OnlySaneMan pretty]] [[TheChewToy much]] [[ButtMonkey Charlie]] [[{{Adorkable}} Brown]]. Together, ''[[MundaneMadeAwesome They Write Jokes!]]''

Many TV shows are based around a HighConcept -- a simple, intriguing premise that can be explained in one or two sentences -- a "hook" which attracts the interest of everyone from producers to advertisers to viewers. One very common way to get a build a high concept is to take two characters who are very different from each other, quirky, or somehow odd, and then team them up to accomplish some objective. In 'the Biz' this is called a "Wunza plot". Put in its simplest form, a Wunza Plot is "One's a [X]; one's a [Y]. Together they [Objective Z]" [[note]]Hence, the name: "One's a" = "Wunza"[[/note]]

See also InAWorld. Compare and contrast with OddCouple. A necessary ingredient of TheyFightCrime. Not to be confused with KudzuPlot.

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': A devious young man with uncanny detective skills ''pretends to be psychic'' in order to solve mysteries. With his [[BlackAndNerdy nerdy]], put-upon BlackBestFriend.

* ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'': She's a bold rabbit police officer who wants to prove herself. He's a cunning fox ConArtist. Together, they solve a mystery of a missing otter and later [[spoiler: thwart a conspiracy intent on inflaming historic tensions between predator and prey for political power.]]

* The Gotrek and Felix novels, set in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' world, began life in very much this way. One's a massively-muscled, shaven-headed, axe-wielding Dwarf in search of a glorious death, the other's a ne'er-do-well poet, minor political agitator and the son of an Altdorf wool merchant. Together they fight... well, anything and everything they can really - glorious deaths are hard to find when you're as good at fighting as Gotrek Gurnisson. The only thing keeping them together, or so Felix says, is a drunken oath Felix swore many years ago to record Gotrek's doom in an epic poem (and Dwarfs take both oathing and drinking very, very seriously). In fact Felix often muses on the situation he's found himself in, and wonders whether he really could go back to a different life if Gotrek did eventually meet his doom, so long have they been adventuring together.

* ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'': A (black) Harlem street fighter who's bullet-proof and a (white) multi-millionaire who's been classically trained in Kung-Fu. Together, TheyFightCrime (for hire)!

* The original concept of ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' was: One's an irredeemable FairFolk {{Trickster}} the other is an obsessive MadArtist GadgeteerGenius they are [[DrowningMySorrows drowning their sorrows]] together. Later: They share the same apartment.