Patterns in Sitcoms

The Waitress: What do you want, Charlie?
Charlie: I like your bracelet.
The Waitress: Great.
Charlie: That’s one of those, uh, Lance Armstrong, “Race for the Cure”… “Live Strong” kind of things.
The Waitress: Yeahhh.
Charlie: Cool. That’s very cool. You must be a very compassionate person—
The Waitress: I’m not.
Charlie: Uh—
The Waitress: Did you want something from me, or…
Charlie: What time are— are you getting off work? It’s not a… thing to walk away about. Whatever.

One of the primary characteristics of the sitcom genre is repetition and cyclical action. These repetitions are usually linked to patterns of behavior of the characters in the sitcom, as certain characters usually have something they do regularly over many episodes, such as Homer Simpson frequenting Moe's Tavern, or Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia flirting unsuccessfully with "The Waitress" character. Usually these types of actions can be instrumental in episode plots, or, as masterfully done in the series Arrested Development, can become running jokes that span over many episodes, rewarding viewers devoted to the show.

Charlie Kelly's infatuation with the Waitress is a good example of a pattern that serves both of these purposes within It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. There are multiple episodes where Charlie tries to charm the Waitress, with differing levels of success (that all ultimately end up in failure). He tries to impress her by volunteering to become a ref in a children's basketball league, gain her pity by feigning cancer, among many other half-baked, doomed attempts to win her affection. The humor in the relationship between these characters is the irony that we, the audience, know that Charlie will always fail because the waitress hates him (and is actually attracted to Dennis, Charlie's "friend"), although this does nothing to stop Charlie's repeated, comically hopeless efforts.


Above:

http://itsalwayssunny.tumblr.com/post/213311084/the-waitress-what-do-you-want-charlie-charlie