Everyone knows that primetime TV is a stronghold of stock characters, gender stereotypes, and cheap jokes. All of which is, ahem, half the reason we love it so much. No matter how far our society seems to advance, stereotypes sell, so they keep popping up on the small screen — even, we’ve noticed, pushing the boundaries of how offensive they can get. Just for analyzation purposes, we’ve picked out ten of the character tropes on modern television, from the epic nerd to the hot girl, that we seem to keep seeing over and over again, for better or for worse. Click through to see our list, and if we’ve missed any of your favorite stock characters, be sure to let us know in the comments!

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TV sitcoms are all about family. Even if the characters aren’t related by blood, friends and enemies alike still form bonds on the small screen for our viewing pleasure. They’re a tribe. Network shows provide someone for families to identify with, gawk at, and be envious of — all in the comfort of their own home. While technology has certainly made it possible to watch your favorite TV shows from just about anywhere, most families who loaf together with a little boob tube do so in their living room (or as it is sometimes aptly dubbed, the family room). Over the years there have been many famous TV living rooms where we watched our favorite characters grow up, share valuable life lessons, make us laugh, and more. Click through to revisit some of television’s most iconic living rooms, and recall what made them special. Who would you add to the list?

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The results of this year’s “Where We Are On TV” report — GLAAD’s 16th annual review of scripted LGBT primetime characters in the 2011-2012 season — are in, and we think that you might be surprised by some of the findings; namely, the fact that Fox is “the most inclusive” of the broadcast television networks, a title that had gone to ABC for six years running. Just four years ago, there were absolutely no gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender series regulars on Fox, but as of this year, the number has risen to 6.8 percent. That’s compared to a 2.9 percent average across all TV networks– an unfortunate decrease from last year’s average of 3.9 percent.

“While the number of LGBT characters is down, some of the most popular shows with critics and viewers, such as Glee, True Blood and The Good Wife, weave storylines about gay and lesbian characters into the fabric of the show,” GLAAD Acting President Mike Thompson said in a statement. “Whether it’s the growing household of Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family or the recent wedding of Callie and Arizona on Grey’s Anatomy, Americans expect to see the diversity of our country represented in their favorite programs and that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.” Do you agree with Thompson’s glass half-full outlook, or do you think we should be worried by this recent dip? [via Deadline]

Hot off an insane haul at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, Modern Family kicks off its third season tonight with a special one-hour premiere — a family vacation episode filmed at a dude ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In honor of everyone’s favorite comedy trading the soundstage for the real world, here are ten other TV vacation episodes that were shot on location. Did we miss your favorite? Leave it in the comments.

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We didn’t even realize there was such a thing, but according to Deadline, Downton Abbey — the incredible miniseries that we’ve been obsessing over since its stateside debut on PBS earlier this year — has set the Guinness World Record for “Highest Critical Review Ratings For A TV Show,” an honor that has previously gone to such favorites as Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, and Modern Family. The British costume dramas is also up for 11 Emmys. The second installment the show premieres in the UK this Sunday night, and will air in the US beginning this winter; if you haven’t checked it out already, we’ve got the exciting (but spoiler-heavy) trailer for the first episode of season two after the jump.

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The summer’s long break from network TV has given us plenty of time to over-analyze our favorite shows. One thing we’ve noticed while longing for new episodes of everything from Parks and Recreation to Mad Men is that the characters we miss most — and the ones we find most fascinating — aren’t always the show’s principals. With this in mind, we realized that there are plenty of minor players on TV who merit their own spin-off. We suggest ten after the jump. Let us know who you would add in the comments.

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1. According to Nielsen SoundScan’s midyear sales report, music sales are actually up for the first time since 2004. [via ArtsBeat]

2. It’s a cruel, cruel world: The producers of Modern Family are reportedly looking to recast the role of Lily. “Lily will definitely be more prominent in season three,” explains series star Jesse Tyler Ferguson. “It’s interesting with children because we can’t force this 2 and a half-year-old child to start speaking, and we don’t know if the twins who play Lily are inclined toward acting, so maybe we’ll cast another older child who can talk and who wants to be an actress to play Lily.” [via Aol TV]

3. If you need a distraction from counting down the days until July 15th and you don’t mind spoilers, you can watch eight new clips from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 here.

4. ABC has sold the online rights to its canceled soaps All My Children and One Life to Live, and the shows are now expected to live on with the same casts and crews on a currently unnamed, Hulu-like site. We’re wondering if this could be the start of a new trend. [via Vulture]

5. This first teaser for The Iron Lady makes us wonder if Meryl Streep made the right choice in taking on the role of Margaret Thatcher — but maybe it’s just the prosthetic teeth that are throwing us off. What do you think? [via The Playlist]

Bonus link: How 8 Acquitted Defendants Spent the Rest of Their Lives

Ah, summer. For all its good qualities — the sunshine, the free concerts, the easily obtained popsicles — it does have its downsides. Read: notoriously limited TV options. And strangely, we’ve found that what we’ve really been missing isn’t the intrigue, the musical numbers or even our favorite heroes, but all the witty one liners and cranky back talk of all our favorite TV grumps. Granted, it may be more efficient just to have Ed O’Neill move in with us, but since that’s not an option (call us, Ed!), we’ve created this little roundup. Click through for our list of some of our favorite grouchy, sarcastic and ornery TV characters of all time, with a few quotes to hold you over until fall, and let us know which of your favorites we’ve missed in the comments!

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1. To the surprise of no one, Twilight won big at last night’s MTV Movie Awards: Eclipse won the popcorn for Best Movie, while Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart took home the night’s big acting trophies. Oh, and at some point Pattinson and Taylor Lautner made out or something. [via MTV]

2. Meanwhile, on the weekend’s other awards ceremony, Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards, Jennifer Aniston was honored for her Decade of Hotness. The show will air on Spike this Friday, June 10th. [via PopEater]

3. The Italy-based fourth season Jersey Shore has set its premiere date: August 4th. Honestly, between reports about Ronnie and The Situation‘s fight and the news of Snooki smashing into a police car, we feel like we’ve already seen it. [via WSJ]

4. The nominees for the first Critics Choice Television Awards were announced earlier this morning. Modern Family leads the pack at six nods, with Mad Men close behind at five. Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, The Good Wife, and Justified are also well represented. See a full list of nominees at The Wrap.

5. Kanye West has finally released the video for “Monster,” which leaked all the way back in December. This time, it comes with a disclaimer: “The following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative towards any group of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such.” Huh. Watch it at Vulture.

Bonus link: Watch Brian Eno interviewed on Al Jazeera

First, the good news: It’s summer — a time for outdoor concerts and beaches and picnics and drinking under the stars! The only downside? The warm weather means a hiatus for many of our favorite TV shows. We know we’ll survive until September, thanks to a promising summer line-up (and, you know, our sincere desire to actually spend lots of time outside while it’s nice). But before we move on from a TV season where we both discovered lots of great, new series and said goodbye to some wonderful shows, it’s time to honor our favorites. Flavorpill’s take on the best television of 2010-11 is after the jump.

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