History AbortedArc / LiveActionTV

* In ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'', there was a lot of buildup about Diana's relationship with her father: in the first episode, she calls him when she thinks Earth is about to be destroyed, but he doesn't pick up. Later, she tells Tom that she wishes her father was as good to her as he was to Kyle, and at one point she comments "when you lose your trust in a person, especially a parent, you can never get it back." This arc is promptly dropped. In fact, in one episode where the characters all see people from their pasts, she sees an ex-fiance she's never mentioned before, while ''Tom'' sees his father, who had also never been talked about.

* ''Series/HannahMontana'': One episode is dedicated to introducing the brother's unconditional love of sweets, to the point that he eats ice cream some girl dropped in the sand. After the episode (which ends with him eating more healthily but still hearing the voices of chocolate bunnies calling to him) his love of sweets, which was made ''such'' a big deal out of, is ''never mentioned again. Ever''.

* The fourth season of ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' where Phoebe becomes impregnated with the [[TheAntichrist Son of the Source of All Evil]] had such potential for exploring the morality of killing a child (albeit a [[FetusTerrible psychopathic killer baby]], which is such an awesome plot point in itself: imagine them attending school) to prevent future evil, or even an [[AnAesop Aesop]] about redemption (or lack thereof). Instead the child is disowned, {{retcon}}ed into a surrogate child, casually dispatched and never mentioned again -- all within the last few minutes of the penultimate episode of the season. It could have been such a cool BigBad.

** Scorpina was a major villain in Season 1, who (thanks to Japanese stock footage, mostly) seemed to be a close friend or romantic interest of Goldar's.[[note]]In the [[Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger Japanese show]] they're married.[[/note]] She appeared in a single Season 2 episode, at the end of which she swore she would return... and then she was never seen or mentioned again, even in "Countdown to Destruction."

** The third SeasonFinale ended with Quinn and Maggie getting separated from the others, and sliding into a city of big glowy [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas crystal-like buildings]] and flying cars. "I think we just slid into the future!" exclaims Quinn. The entire "future" concept is never even referenced again.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' ended its second season with Lister (a male character) falling pregnant to his female AlternateUniverse counterpart. The writers had planned to spend an episode on it, but found their proposed script was misogynistic and -- more damningly -- not very funny. Season 3 wrapped up the storyline with a ''Franchise/StarWars''-style text opening that scrolled so quickly it was unreadable unless viewed in slow motion on tape/DVD. This text also halfheartedly explained the sudden recasting of the characters Holly and Kryten. (Neither case was inconspicuous: the former gave himself a [[GenderBender sex change]]; the latter was an obscure one-off character "rebuilt" into to a permanent cast member, acquiring a new look and personality in the process.) This gave the distinct impression of missing several episodes of major {{character development}}s; perhaps even a season.

** The First Doctor drops a heavy hint in one story that he doesn't ''really'' [[HumanAliens look like a human being]]. This was ignored forever after. Unless the Doctor meant his [[BizarreAlienBiology Time Lord organs and organ systems]], which are vastly different than those of a human's, and are unable to be seen beyond his exterior.

*** In the last third of the season, Prince Gasket and Archerina, two new villains, take over the Machine Empire. They're driven away just before the finale by the returned King Mondo. After this, they're never seen or mentioned again and their fate remains unknown.

* The disjointed, episodic nature of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' made it easy for them to follow up good ideas or drop bad ones with each new reality. They could even tease an interesting idea by giving a glimpse of it in an upcoming world or one our heroes just escaped, but never have to flesh out the details. Many abortive arcs came from [[ExecutiveMeddling the network shooting down]] creator Tracy Torme's attempts to inject continuity into the show -- and being [[ScrewedByTheNetwork shown out of order]], they lost what little continuity they had.\\\
One episode suggested that Professor Arturo had been replaced by his EvilTwin, but this was never followed up on. It was teased at in a couple episodes, but nothing even approaching a definitive answer was never given [[spoiler: before he was unceremoniously killed off]]. Arturo's terminal illness from another episode was mentioned once again and then forgotten. Quinn's evil female double in another episode was meant to be a recurring character, but was never seen again. A new member of the group was added in the first-season finale and then written out in a single line at the start of season 2. The Kromaggs were dropped after their initial appearance and not revisited until the show moved to the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] two seasons later (and they were heavily retooled there from their original form, less monsters and more [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Nazis]]). The third SeasonFinale ended with Quinn and Maggie getting separated from the others, and sliding into a city of big glowy [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas crystal-like buildings]] and flying cars. "I think we just slid into the future!" exclaims Quinn. The entire "future" concept is never even referenced again.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]], Captain Jack ruminates on years of his life that were presumably deleted from his memory by the Time Agents. These were initially intended to be explored in a hypothetical Season 2, which would have kept Jack on as a companion, but when Creator/ChristopherEccleston decided to drop the role it was decided that Creator/DavidTennant should establish his version of the character without having to compete with another strong male lead more established than him. As a result, Jack's missing years, involving the Time Agents, are explored via ExpandedUniverse material.

* ''Series/SiliconValley'': The first season makes a lot of references to Peter Gregory and Gavin Belson being former friends, with the implication that Pied Piper's fate will become a highly personal proxy war between two rival billionaires who will ultimately be forced to reexamine their relationship. Due to the actor's death, Peter Gregory is written out and replaced by a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute who has no prior relationship with Gavin, so Peter and Gavin's falling out goes unexplored and Gavin becomes a more straightforward villain motivated by greed.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]], Captain Jack ruminates on years of his life that were presumably deleted from his memory by the Time Agents. These were initially intended to be explored in a hypothetical Season 2, which would have kept Jack on as a companion, but when Creator/ChristopherEccleston decided to drop the role it was decided that Creator/DavidTennant should establish his version of the character without having to compete with another strong male lead more established than him. As a result, Jack's missing years are never explored, not even in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''... [[WordOfGod yet.]]

** In ''Double'', it seemed that Foundation X was being hyped up as a major antagonist for the Neo-Heisei era Riders. However, they weren't used in ''OOO'' and made one last appearance in the ''Movie Wars'' crossover with ''OOO'' and ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' before being forgotten.

* Season 2 of ''Series/{{Rome}}'' has something halfway between an Aborted Arc and RedHerringTwist. Vorenus and Pullo's friend and gang colleague, Mascius, builds up visible resentment over the course of the mid-season, annoyed that he remains junior to them despite putting in more work and sacrifice. This appears to happen to explain why, when Vorenus and Pullo realise that there is a mole in their gang betraying them to a rival gang, they suspect Mascius. But the mole is not Mascius, but Vorenus' daughter Vorena (which the viewer knew all along), and Vorenus only briefly suspects Mascius before realising this. The next time we see Mascius, all his resentment appears to have mysteriously gone.

* During Season 6-7 of ''Series/TheXFiles'', the Syndicate was destroyed at the hands of the Alien Rebels. The writers at the time spoke of their plans for a new Syndicate, headed by Alex Krycek and Marita Covarrubias, which was essentially set up in Season 7 finale "Requiem" (Krycek and Covarrubias deliberately disobey CSM's orders and eventually try to kill him) but never resurfaced. Covarrubias disappeared, and Krycek [[spoiler:was killed in Season 8]].

* A Season 1 episode of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' featured a gravity device created by a scientist named Franklin Hall. Hall was eventually sucked into the machine, and the last scene revealed that he was still alive inside of it. In the ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' comics, Hall is a superpowered villain named Graviton, which is what the show seemed to be building towards. Despite this, he never appeared again.

** Famously, Behrooz Araz disappears three-quarters of the way through the fourth season after his mother is executed by Marwan (and after having a majority of the season focused on his survival under ridiculous circumstances). His fate is resolved in a deleted scene - he's rescued by Curtis before Marwan's men execute him (and learns about his mother's fate) - but most viewers likely wondered where he went during the original television airings.

* From ''Series/TheBill'': Very near to the end of Paul Marquess' time as executive producer of the series (2005), there is an episode where PC Kapoor and PC Valentine work together to uncover the corruption of a uniformed Sergeant over at Barton Street nick. The episode even ends with a SequelHook, with PC Valentine informing her that he'll support her if she chooses to follow-through with her allegation, although it will likely drag both of them through the mud (coppers who grass on other coppers, even ones who are genuinely in the wrong, tend to be looked on very unfavorably by their colleagues). Given the heavily serialized nature of the program at that stage, you might have expected this storyline to be followed up in further episodes, exploring the fallout of this affair. But it wasn't. It was dropped completely. The (off screen) outcome did get a belated mention in PC Kapoor's final episode three years later, though.

** Once more, with feeling: in Season 2, the Anointed One - a prepubescent child who'd been made a vampire in the first season - was meant to be the main villain of the season. The problem was, while vampires don't age, the actor playing the role had had something of a growth spurt and clearly wouldn't be able to hold up as a immortal, ageless vampire. As a result, his story line was scrapped and he was killed off rather anticlimactically - if satisfyingly - by Spike three episodes into the season.
* Season 2 of ''Series/BurnNotice'' had, in the first half, a mystery as to what the mysterious organization was having Michael do (personal shopper for [[spoiler:a sniper]]), then what that guy was doing ([[spoiler:killing someone]]). Then at the midseason finale, everyone dies and Michael gets half blowed up. And we never hear about this plot again. Kind of justified in that, by the end of the season, the people involved are dead and the organization has abandoned Michael. And Michael's handler might have been acting on her own, without the blessing of Management, for that mission.

** Originally it was planned that Zoe created an avatar of Ben as well as herself. (It was in fact the double-wham of this reveal and the fact that Zoe was still inside the Cylon that won a lot of people over when only the script for the pilot was available). The scene was filmed, and is included on the DVD, but essentially nothing in it is canon: Lacy didn't tell Clarice about Zoe-A right away and there was no avatar of Ben. Furthermore the scene ends when Lacy hears her cellphone ringing in the real world and takes her holoband off; it's dramatically revealed later on that holoband users don't receive sensory input like that from the real world.

* Over the years, ''Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'' has had a string of abandoned {{plot hole}}s that have never been resolved or acknowledged at whatsoever, but the most infamous arc up to date is Clare's internship job at the Toronto Interpreter in Season 12. Several episodes in the first half followed her trying to please her boss, Asher Shostak, by editing a good story for the Toronto newspaper and one episode has her being sexually assaulted by Asher in his car. That became one of the most jaw-dropping moments of Degrassi history. In the first half finale, Clare is confronted by Asher's former intern, who admits that she was also sexually assaulted by him and convinces her that they should both go to the police together about Asher. The whole storyline was completely dropped from the twelfth season and we never really find out if she did went to the police about it or not.
** Another one often referenced is from the Season 7 episode "Talking in Your Sleep". Paige ends up [[spoiler: sleeping with]] Griffin. Later she finds out he [[spoiler: has HIV. She gets tested and is told by doctors that she won't know the results for 6 months.]] Griffin unceremoniously disappears from the show shortly after this revelation when Paige reveals she is moving out, and there is never any follow-up on Paige's results. Actress Lauren Collins who played Paige has referenced this plothole jokingly a few times on her Twitter.

* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has some.

** The end of Season 6 dropped some heavy hints that Louis knew about Dexter being a serial killer and that he was the next big threat on the horizon. [[spoiler:In Season 7, Louis is shown to not actually know about Dexter being a serial killer, and he is a best a nuisance to Dexter for a couple of episodes, before he is quite unceremoniously killed by TheMafiya, the actual main villains of the Season]]. The fact that Louis' actor, Josh Cooke, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot had landed a gig in a major Broadway production between seasons]] is the most likely reason for this.
** Deb realizing she has romantic feelings for Dexter in season six was mostly dropped in the next season after intensely negative fan reaction. The arc that replaced it -- Deb finding out Dex's secret -- turns their entire relationship upside down. The person Deb loved essentially never existed, so by the time the season six arc is finally brought up again, it's a moot point.

** Barry Letts had been planning to reveal the identity of the Master in the Third Doctor's final episode - the intention was that he would be the [[EnemyWithout metaphysical embodiment of the Doctor's dark side]] who would have done a HeroicSacrifice to save the Doctor. There isn't much {{Foreshadowing}}, but an exchange does remain in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster "The Time Monster"]], the last Master script written with Barry Letts' input, clearly intended to imply this relationship between them. When Roger Delgado [[ActorExistenceFailure died in a shock accident]], the storyline was abandoned, as was the character. When he returned, he had been [[SameCharacterButDifferent drastically overhauled offscreen]] and was now clearly just an evil Time Lord. The reason for the Master's turning towards evil was left a RiddleForTheAges for the rest of the Classic run to [[FanDislikedExplanation avoid disappointment]] (although both the ExpandedUniverse and the New Series attempted explanations), and due to PromotedFanboy influence the concept of the Doctor having a dark metaphysical projection played a large part in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis "Logopolis"]], the final story of the Fourth Doctor, and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe "The Ultimate Foe"]], the final story of the Sixth Doctor.

** The Nebari are built up to be huge threats - one of their "standard host vessels" (since the Nebari have highly Orwellian overtones, that might just be an unusual euphemism for a warship) took out the Peacekeepers' strongest Command Carrier; their "Establishment" deals with contentious citizens by infecting them with a sexually transmitted virus that will throw worlds into chaos and them sending them into the galaxy at large; they're apparently capable of blowing up planets; and they [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wear lots of eyeliner]]. And we never hear of them again after "A Clockwork Nebari". Though it's later implied that the Nebari aren't really interested in anyone who doesn't get in the way of their forced utopia and the ones we see are just out tiding up loose ends.

** FBI Agent Amy Jessup is brought in during the Season 2 opening and looked to be bringing in some religious interpretations to the Fringe cases. She appeared in two episodes then was dropped without a word of explanation. This is probably because she was invented by the writers as a temporary fill in for Agent Dunham for the whole of season 2 original but test audiences want to see more of Dunham.

** The producers have revealed that they had a intricate four season arc planned for Eko, until the actor decided to leave. Parts were given to other characters, but the main thrust of it--the conflict between Eko and Locke for the position of "spiritual leader of the Island"--was lost. That said, given the conflict between Eko's Catholicism and Locke's shamanism, it's not hard to see how [[spoiler: Locke and Ben's arc in season five]] was rejiggered to take the place of the arc, with [[spoiler: Eko as the seemingly-messianic Jesus figure and Locke as the spurned believer who murders his "god" in a fit of jealous rage]], meaning it wasn't totally abandoned.

** The producers have also said that Walt will only be seen again in a DVD-exclusive. Indeed, many hinted at arcs from earlier seasons have been forgotten in favor of Jacob and MIB.

** The multi-part Season 3 premiere served as a BackdoorPilot for another Saban action show, ''Series/MaskedRider'', and ended with that show's villains and hero heading to Earth. This episode was referenced exactly once later in the season and then forgotten about, with no further crossovers or indications of what happened - and even on ''Masked Rider'', this episode was non-canon.

** Averted with the episode Year of Hell. They ''wanted'' it to be an entire season, but the network refused. So they made it a stand alone episode, which ended with a literal ResetButton.

** At the end of [[Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture the first movie]], Scully talks about the vaccine which saved her, saying that it could cure people from the alien [[TheVirus virus]]. It would seriously messed up with the upcoming alien invasion and might help to save mankind. Sigh, rather than trying to retrieve the conspiracy's research on this or trying to develop the vaccine at the FBI labs, the agents decided to pursue other things. Somewhat justified because they were ReassignedToAntarctica.

** Averted with the episode Year of Hell. They ''wanted'' it to be an entire season, but the network refused. So they made it a stand alone episode.

One episode suggested that Professor Arturo had been replaced by his EvilTwin, but this was never followed up on. Arturo's terminal illness from another episode was mentioned once again and then forgotten. Quinn's evil female double in another episode was meant to be a recurring character, but was never seen again. A new member of the group was added in the first-season finale and then written out in a single line at the start of season 2. The Kromaggs were dropped after their initial appearance and not revisited until the show moved to the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] two seasons later (and they were heavily retooled there from their original form, less monsters and more [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Nazis]]). The third SeasonFinale ended with Quinn and Maggie getting separated from the others, and sliding into a city of big glowy [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas crystal-like buildings]] and flying cars. "I think we just slid into the future!" exclaims Quinn. The entire "future" concept is never even referenced again.

** Then there was the Cartmel Masterplan that was supposed to introduce more mysteries about the Doctor's origin and nature. The Old Series was cancelled before anything could come from it, but the ExpandedUniverse saved some plotlines. (It is, however, debatable just how much of a Masterplan there was; some fans say that the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' based on it were ''exactly'' what it was going to be like, especially ''Lungbarrow'', but the TV version of "Lungbarrow" had already been abandoned and turned into [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight "Ghost Light"]]. Cartmel himself never said he had a Masterplan and Marc Platt, who was heavily involved in Cartmel's vision of the series called it "more of a mood and direction".)

*** Averted: it was planned for the Shanti Virus to be released in the middle of Season 2. When the WGA strike cut the season short, the show runners decided that they didn't want to leave the virus arc unresolved. The ending of episode 11 was reshot to have Peter destroy the virus, and the cliffhanger ending was changed from [[spoiler:Nathan collapsing from the virus during a speech thanking the people of Odessa for having the courage to quarantine themselves]] to [[spoiler:Nathan getting shot during a speech intended to reveal the existence of super powers just before he was going to say that he can fly]].
---->'''Aron Coleite:''' ... So we're going to have to find another way to rescue Caitlin from a future that doesn't even exist anymore.

** Proof that [[TropesAreTools even this trope is not always bad]]: Deb realizing she has romantic feelings for Dexter in season six was mostly dropped in the next season after intensely negative fan reaction. This one is also {{justified|Trope}}, since the arc that replaced it -- Deb finding out Dex's secret -- turned their entire relationship upside down. The person Deb loved essentially never existed, so by the time the season six arc is finally brought up again, it's a moot point.

** The latter half of Season 3 was going to have a story arc about the Sagitarrons. The [[WordOfGod story goes]] that [[spoiler:during the New Caprica arc, the rest of the colonials had run low on food, but the Sagitarrons, being close-to-nature, had grown enough. The Colonial government made the decision to seize their food in order to feed everyone, a kind of reverse ant-grasshopper parable]]. The only remnants of this arc are: the episode ''The Woman King'', and [[spoiler:Baltar whispering to Gaeta during Baltar's imprisonment, which was supposed to tie into this arc]]. The latter was repurposed for the minisodes ''Face of the Enemy''. It might also explain what Tyrol was protesting immediately after the TimeSkip -- and given a hint to the decision made by [[spoiler:Apollo in the finale]].

** The series made a big deal out of the integration of the Maquis and Starfleet crew early on, but the network insisted on the show adopting a MonsterOfTheWeek format a la TNG rather than DS9's complex plot arcs. This lead to only a single episode being devoted to the subject and Chakotay acting like a Starfleet officer as soon as the third episode with no transition (though he was previously a Starfleet Commander).

** Series 7 kickstarted a storyline where the TARDIS refused to cooperate with Clara Oswald. When quizzed in 2014, Steven Moffat teased, "It's almost like it's all building to something... Oh! What's this I'm writing today?" The last we heard of it would be a throwaway line in Series 8's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]]. Moffat finally explained this away in a ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' Q & A column in 2017 when a fan brought it up: The TARDIS was sour with her because, being able to see all of time at once, [[spoiler: she knew Clara and the Doctor were the Hybrid and that he would suffer greatly for their relationship]]. This references the Series 9 StoryArc. As Moffat and company did not initially plan for the Series 9 to involve Clara ''at all'', it's a {{Retcon}}, not something he had in mind from the the start.

** Series 7 kickstarted a storyline where the TARDIS refused to co-operate with Clara Oswald. When quizzed in 2014, Steven Moffat teased, "It's almost like it's all building to something... Oh! What's this I'm writing today?" The last we heard of it would be a throwaway line in Series 8's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]]. Moffat finally explained this away in a ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' Q & A column in 2017 when a fan brought it up by saying that the TARDIS didn't initially cooperate with her because [[spoiler: it knew that she and the Doctor were the Hybrid and he would suffer greatly for their relationship]]. Because the StoryArc this explanation involves didn't turn up until Series 9, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen which originally wasn't going to feature Clara]], this is a complete {{Retcon}}.

** Series 7 kickstarted a storyline where the TARDIS refused to co-operate with Clara Oswald. When quizzed in 2014, Steven Moffat teased, "It's almost like it's all building to something... Oh! What's this I'm writing today?" The last we heard of it would be a throwaway line in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]].