Shakespeare was kinda like the Dan Curtis of his time, if I follow the above correctly?
Umm, no. I was merely pointing out that one of the most culturally revered writers could easily be accused of being unoriginal if your criteria for originality involved new storylines and characters.
Curtis employed techniques that all writers/creators/producers, including Shakespeare use, which Nancy noted above in reference to the formulaic storylines that are reworked.
(This is obviously not the forum for it, but I generally take issue with the extremely high pedestal upon which WS has been placed based on reading other writers from the period whose work is as good, if not better. Same holds true with the notion that Chaucer is apparently the only Middle English poet for some people.)