This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
from YKTTW...
Idle Dandy: I don't see anything for this staple Threes Company, The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy device: character A finds out character B has been scheming in some fashion. Instead of confronting B, A enlists others to help "teach him a lesson he won't soon forget." A wacky scheme ensues. I was thinking Teach Him A Lesson, but I want to make sure it's not already here somewhere. Also, does it go in plots or tropes?
Dark Sasami: I'd go for Tropes, as it's a sort of sub-trope that happens when the plot is Zany Scheme. It's always struck me that the counterattack is usually at least as harebrained as the original scheme. How about the Counter Zany?
Ununnilium: I like it. `.`v
Idle Dandy: Me too. I'm doing it.
Tabby: I just have to say, I think the phrase "Zany Scheme Chicken" is one of the best descriptors ever.
Idle Dandy: Me too. It may even be a subtrope.
Idle Dandy: I went ahead and did Zany Scheme Chicken, so I clipped this: "In Friends, "The One Where Everyone Finds Out", Phoebe and Rachel's Zany Scheme is countered by Chandler and Monica's Counter Zany, which is countered by Phoebe and Rachel's counter counter zany, until the whole thing has essentially become a game of Zany Scheme Chicken."
stuntcock: I wrote up another Counter Zany entry, but I can't figure out the syntax. Could someone please fix the formatting and add this?
- South Park: the boys' parent launch a Zany Scheme in which actors pretend to be the boys' time-traveling future selves, with the aim of scaring the boys away from drugs and alcohol. After discovering the truth, Stan attempts to fight the zany scheme with logic but gets nowhere. Butters, with the help of Cartman, launches a Counter Zany to get revenge on his parents (by smearing feces all over their house). Needless to say, the Zany-Counter Zany collision results in a standard Anvilicious message about communication and honesty.
