formulaic

Closely following a formula or predictable pattern, as:

a formulaic greeting

Homeric Greeks valued clichés because not only the poets but the entire oral noetic world or thought world relied upon the formulaic constitution of thought.

Closely following a formula or predictable pattern, as:

That TV series has become awfully formulaic in the last couple of seasons.

Neoimpressionism quickly divided viewers: did it herald an abstract future or was it a dry, formulaic dead end?