OK, this is totally a silly toy, but it can be a neat idea spark. I made a little page to generate random cliche pitches.
http://www.barnaclepress.com/pta.php
Just keep hitting "refresh" to generate new pitches!
Holmes!
Nice work!
90% of generated combos may be useless, but you'll hit on some combinations that really set something off in your head instantly -- "Heroes" meets "West Side Story?" Super-powered street gangs! "Welcome Back, Kotter" meets "Network?"
An anchorman returns to his hometown TV station after being forced into retirement in a major market.
Then, it's also a fun excercise to try and resolve some of the more way out combos. How would "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" meets "Night of the Living Dead" play out? Well, maybe a children's show host struggles with how to reassure his viewers in a world where zombies outbreaks are happening all over. He has to balance ensuring his own survival with what he feels is his duty to children...
I've put up both a random pitch generator and a random protagonist generator at Abulafia.
Pitch generator (http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Primetime_Adventures_Pitch_Generator)
Protag generator (http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Primetime_Adventures_Protagonist_Generator)
So far they're both turning out to be more fun than I had any right to expect.