Basic Trope: A Show Within a Show that only seems to have one joke, or is otherwise only about one other subject matter.
- Straight: Alice and Bob's favorite show is "Crap", a show in which the characters do nothing but crap all over each other.
- Exaggerated:
- "Crap" consists of literally the exact same thing in every episode: A character craps on another character, and then they laugh. It's somehow a major success and has lasted for over 20 seasons so far.
- There are multiple fictional shows, all of which are about the exact same thing in every episode and are Exactly What It Says on the Tin - "Dog Stuck in a Fence", "Zombie Stares at the TV", "The Duh Show", and more are just a few examples.
- Downplayed:
- "Crap" does have a few different jokes, but it's entirely based on Toilet Humor.
- "Crap" may feature characters crapping on each other in every episode, but each episode has a difference in how the character(s) crap on each other.
- Justified:
- Alice and Bob are really easily amused.
- The producers of "Crap" are lazy and believe a one-joke show would be hilarious.
- Inverted: "Crap" actually has a very different plot in every episode.
- Subverted: "Crap" seems to only have one plot, but this is because Alice and Bob were only watching the same episode repeatedly.
- Double Subverted: When they do watch other episodes, however, they find that the plot is the same.
- Parodied:
- "Crap" somehow wins Emmies and many other awards.
- Charlie thinks "Crap" is about the exact same thing in every episode, but it's only because he hates the show.
- Zig-Zagged: Whether or not "Crap" is about the same thing or not seems to vary.
- Averted:
- There's no Show Within a Show.
- Any fictional shows have different episodes.
- Enforced: The show writers didn't want to put any effort into a Show Within a Show, so they just had the show repeat the same joke.
- Lampshaded: "Is it just me, or is this show always about the same thing?"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: The producers of "Crap" think that making a show about the same thing in every episode would be lazy, so they switch up the plots.
- Discussed: "I wonder why the producers of the show just have the exact same joke repeated." "I mean, it is a pretty good joke..."
- Conversed: "How in the world is that show still going when it only has the one joke?"
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