Immature writers plagiarize; mature writers steal. And television writers of all maturity levels steal from the TV Tropes Wiki, a collection of "devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations." Looking for a saleable plot? Check this list, helpfully alphabetized from Achilles in His Tent (it worked for Homer; it could work for The Simpsons) to The Zany Scheme (sub-categories: The Counter Zany and The Zany Scheme Chicken). Mix in a device--say, Amnesiac Dissonance or Coincidental Broadcast or Put Me in Coach (not about airline seating options, you may be surprised to learn, but rather about the twist in which "the underdog competitor wins a competition, sparks a Miracle Rally for the team, or puts in the final score to help win a competition"). Then start developing characters--a hero, a love interest, a trickster, and, for good measure, a public domain character like Robin Hood. Don't forget to generously sprinkle tropes such as the Deadpan Snarker, "a supporting character given to gnomic, sarcastic, sometimes bitter, occasionally whimsical asides," and the Woobie, "that character you want to wrap in a blanket and feed soup to when he suffers so very beautifully."
All that's left is to figure out what to say when you collect your Emmy. For that we await the Show Business Award Speech Wiki, still a figment of my imagination.
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