Dan Harmon, creator of Community and some other great stuff, refers to this as a "Story Circle": http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Ba

Dan Harmon, creator of Community and some other great stuff, refers to this as a "Story Circle": http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_... He's become somewhat famous for this, having produced several "how-to" videos of varying levels of seriousness about sitcom writing. His writers on Community have even slipped references to this into the background of episodes, where set decorations (e.g., drawings on the study room whiteboard) sometimes subtly acknowledge which part of a character's story circle a scene depicts.