Is it me or do 99% of TV shows use a single common story line at some stage? After a season or two a parent of a main character shows up, usually he's the father. He was a bad father and left when the character was very young. He treated the mother badly and is probably an alcoholic. Now there's an uncomfortable reconciliation. This is where things vary. 50% of the time they make up and the father becomes (an annoying) part of the show though 50% of the time he turns out to be unchangeable and lets the main character down yet again and disappears until the writers run out of ideas again.
I say this now because I am watching one of my all time favourite shows Chuck and my thoughts are "Here we go again".
BTW I only just started watching this excellent show so I am several years behind. No spoilers please!

you're probably right, Tony. I guess Breaking Bad might vary slightly from that theme

oh besides that one, there's also this thing that's really popular in new cop tv shows. A serial killer or something of that sort kills the main character's family, and the main character devotes the rest of the series to finding the serial killer, usually by joining with the police force or becoming some sort of detective.

If you want a different type of cop show watch Dexter. Very unusual and original.

Chuck started out pretty good for me as well, and I quite enjoyed it. Then as the seasons progressed it dissolved into a giant Subway commercial with the occasional technological equivalent of waving a magic wand with a few predictable plot twists and unsuspenseful suspenseful moments. The ending was...actually I forget, but if I recall correctly it was fitting. It was really great at the beginning though [/off-topic]