For both of you old enough to remember, annoying sitcom kids are nothing new, by any means. The "Golden Age" was just as rife with snot-nosed punks as the tripe of today (let's face it--not even "Futurama" was exempt).
Sometime in the mid-80's, "Late Night with David Letterman" had a "TV Quiz" sketch, in which he asked: "If Gary Coleman and Ricky Schroeder got into a fight with baseball bats on live TV, who would win?"
A) Gary Coleman
B) Ricky Schroeder
C) The television viewing audience
Annoying kids and sitcoms are about as simpatico as--well--wacky neighbors and sitcoms. Gary Coleman and Ricky Schroeder on "Diff'rent Strokes" (1978-86) and "Silver Spoons" (1982-87)(respectively) were just two in a long line of brats we love to hate.
Among the TV sitcom kids I would like to have strangled are:
Vanessa and Rudy Huxtable from "The Cosby Show" (1984-92);
Jennifer Keaton from "Family Ties" (1982-89);
Jody and Buffy from "Family Affair" (1966-71);
pretty much the whole cast of "Eight is Enough" (1977-81), including Dick Van Patten;
Richie Petrie from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961-66);
Dennis Mitchell from "Dennis the Menace" (1959-63);
Sam from "Diff'rent Strokes"(1978-86). Sam, by the way, is the winner of the "all-time most annoying sitcom kid ever" award;
everyone from "The Facts of Life" (1979-1988);
Jonathan from "Who's the Boss" (1984-92)
Cousin Oliver from "The Brady Bunch" (1969-74). For that matter, Bobby and Cindy too;
Larry Mondello from "Leave it to Beaver" (1957-63);
Ben Seaver from "Growing Pains" (1985-92);
Steve Urkel from "Family Matters" (1989-98);
and last but not least, the entire casts from "Blossom" (1991-95), "Full House" (1987-95) and "Saved by the Bell" (1989-93) (with a special torture chamber reserved for Dustin "Screech" Diamond).
Here is an interesting page about sitcom cliches.
Another.
Anyone remember a show about sitcom cliches from a year or so ago? It was pretty funny, as I recall.