Clichés aren't copyrightable, and rightly so. It would be unjust and inconvenient to deprive the populace of the right to express an inoffensive idea (even an over-used and unoriginal idea) that has been in common use for generations.
Clichés are sayings that are true or may be received wisdom, but they have been repeated so often that there is no freshness or surprise to them. They are an intellectually lazy form of expression... unless twisted into the premise for a "fractured fairy tale", or a country song with clever "bent phrasing".
Examples of Fractured Fairy Tales for children. There are also adult fairy tales with a twist. Some are very fine indeed, but you will need to find links for yourself.
"He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones is a fine example of a twisted Country trope or Country cliché.
One of my "go to" --or favorite-- legal blogs is the Incontestable Blog. This last week, legal blogger Jenevieve J. Maerker of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP discusses the lack of copyrightability of a word such as "rock star" in the titles of musical works.
The Fifth Circuit, at least, will not count a similar song as presumptively copyright-infringing unless it meets the level of "strikingly similar", in other words, so similar that the similarities cannot be explained except by copying. More leeway would be given if the plaintiff could produce photographic proof that the defendents had access and opportunity.
The Incontenstable article is well worth reading in full. I tried to avoid spilling all the beans.
I wonder how the Circuit would have reacted to "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine".
Clichés that annoy me in television advertisements include "Game-changer". Watch out for the phrase. It suggests to me (but of course, I could be mistaken) that the same lazy-minded employee at an advertising company sold the same verbiage to different clients.
If you are able to master the Comments process, I'd love to know if there are cliches in TV adverts that annoy you. It seems that, in order to comment, you may be "Anonymous", but if you are anon, the moderators have to approve your remarks as being specific to the topic and not blatant self promotion; or you can give your name and your url; or you can be logged in to a Google account.
All the best,
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