resolved immediately if the people involved were not idiots (which makes them boring for a lot of the audience).
Seems to me *idiot plots* are the basis for the world's great literature.
*Hamlet* is an idiot plot. *Romeo & Juliet* Oedipus Rex. The Iliad. The Great Gatsby. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Faulkner said the greatest of all conflicts is the human heart in conflict with itself.
What makes these idiot plots compelling is that the main characters are not idiots -- except in that one way that makes the story.
Why doesn't Hamlet just kill Claudius and be done with it? What did Jay Gatsby see in that silly Daisy anyway? Or Paris in Helen? Didn't Oedipus notice that these folks kind of looked like him? Why didn't Odysseus just stop and ask for directions? MORONS!
What's fascinating about the Seinfeld cast is that these people SHOULD be able to make their lives work better -- but for some reason they can't.
Idiot plots involving real idiots wouldn't be compelling at all.