Quote Originally Posted by BCR View Post
I recall Happy Days episode where Fonzie was supposed to get married but your plot happens, right down to distinctive laugh.

thats first one that popped into head
Nice. I haven't seen that episode, but that makes it the earliest known example. IMDB says that that Happy Days episode was written by Garry Marshall, Lowell Ganz, and Mark Rothman. None of those guys ever wrote for Family Matters, according to IMDB, which is one of the shows that used this plot. Weird.

I guess this could just be a tradition of people blatantly ripping off Happy Days, but why just that one episode in particular?