Write What You Know

A character writes a play, TV show episode, book, or similar based on their real life, and their friends are offended by how they're portrayed.

The Bob Newhart Show

Appearances

• The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 1, episode 16, "The Curious Thing About Women" (1962). Rob is annoyed that Laura opens his mail, and he writes a sketch about it for the Alan Brady show. Laura sees the sketch and is upset because it makes her look bad.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 6, episode 16, "Group on a Hot Tin Roof" (1978). Mr. Plager writes a play with characters based on the other members of Bob's group therapy group, and when they watch a rehearsal, they're all offended by how they're depicted, so Plager re-writes the play based on their feedback, and it bombs.
• ALF: Season 1, episode 14, "A Little Bit of Soap" (1987). Alf writes an episode of a soap opera based on the Tanner family's conflict with Kate's mother, Dorothy, and both Kate and Dorothy are offended by the dialogue.
• Newhart: Season 7, episode 21, "Murder at The Stratley" (1989). Dick writes a murder mystery novel set at a historic New England inn called "The Stratley" that bears a strong resemblance to the Stratford, and all the characters bear striking resemblances to the staff and townspeople, so much so that the whole town starts to think Dick murdered Joanna in real life.
• Dream On: Season 1, episode 5, "Angst for the Memories" (1990). Martin decides to get back into writing, and he writes a play based on his life with Judith. When Judith reads it, she's offended by how she's portrayed, but it's nothing compared to her and Martin's embarrassment when a local theater agrees to put it on and turns it into a pretentious musical.
• Dream On: Season 2, episode 14, "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh" (1991). Martin's old friend, Bonnie, moves to New York to try to be a comedian, but she bombs at her first amateur night, so Martin tells her she should write about her real life, so she does a whole routine making fun of Martin, and everyone cracks up except him.
• Murphy Brown: Season 3, episode 16, "The Novel" (1991). Jim writes a novel about a secret agent who's just like him, and everyone's shocked to discover the character has an affair with a woman who's clearly based on Murphy.
• Frasier: Season 3, episode 13, "The Episode Where Diane Comes Back" (1996). Diane shows up in Seattle and tells Frasier that a theater is putting on a play she wrote. Frasier watches a rehearsal and realizes the play is about her time at Cheers, and it makes him look like a pompous windbag who doesn't care at all that she jilted him at the altar.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun: Season 2, episode 11, "Dick Jokes" (1996). Dick is emceeing a fundraiser Mary is holding, but he doesn't know how to be funny, so he consults a local standup comic, who makes jokes about his mother's flabby arms. Dick takes a cue from him and decides to make fun of Mary's arms at the fundraiser.
• Spin City: Season 2, episode 8, "My Life is a Soap Opera" (1997). Mike dates a soap opera writer, and she creates a character based on him. Mike is thrilled until, the day after they have sex for the first time, when the character based on her said Mike's character was "not great."
• Dharma & Greg: Season 4, episode 19, "Kitty Dearest" (2001). While Kitty and Greg are on the outs, Kitty becomes close David, a friend of Dharma's. When all the Montgomerys go to see David's one-man show, they're surprised to find that whole show is about Kitty, and he performs it as her.
• The Muppets.: Episode 5, "Walk the Swine" (2015). Fozzie has some new material for his comedy act. The only problem is, they're all insulting cracks about his girlfriend, Becky, and her sweating. Becky teaches him a lesson by going to the office and telling all his friends about how he shakes off after a shower and cries whenever he hears "True Colors."
• The Goldbergs: Season 4, episode 5, "Stefan" (2016). Adam becomes obsessed with Stephen King and decides to write a horror story, and since the scariest thing he can think of is his mom, he writes about a horrible monster that's just like her. Clueless Beverly finds his story and thinks it's so good that she shares it with her book club, who notice the similarities right away. When Beverly realizes she's the monster, she forces Adam to re-write it, Misery style