Actually, "Don't Thank Me" didn't follow that cliche. Rather than characters B and C (in this case, George and Ursula) becoming Ape's servants after he saves their lives, they begin competing with each other on who can come up with the best, most elaborate way of thanking him. Later on Magnolia gets in on it as well, on the reasoning that "everybody's doing it" and so it must be trendy.
Old premise, new twist.