History Main / ForgottenAnniversary

* In ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' "The Fancy Restaurant", Chris and Elise both assume the other is trying to remind him/her of their wedding anniversary. Eventually they both come clean and realize that neither of them actually remembers the date of their anniversary. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Chris declares he doesn't care because he doesn't need to wait for a certain day to show Elise how much he loves her.]]

* In a rare non-marriage example, the ''Ride/DespicableMeMinionMayhem'' ride at Ride/UniversalStudios has Margo, Edith, and Agnes briefly believing that Gru had forgotten their first anniversary together; though it turns out that Gru was only preparing his ultimate gift to the girls for the occasion.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'', one year prior, Larry had promised to never forget the wedding anniversary ever again. Guess what happens. Though getting married on Jimmy Hendrix's birthday may have had something to do with it.

* Cosmo tries to leave the fishbowl in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' when he believes Wanda is angry at him for no reason and has forgotten their anniversary. Turns out, it was the False Anger Anniversary (once every someodd years) and Wanda had remembered, but it's too late - he's gone home to his mom. They work it out anyway, only for Cosmo to forget it was their anniversary at the end of the episode.

'''Bullock:''' There it is.

* Rose's NeverLiveItDown moment in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' is her continual "Do you remember what day this is?" nagging. Apparently remembering anniversaries is SeriousBusiness compared to saving the President of the United States from execution by terrorists.

* Mung Daal from ''{{Chowder}}'' does this.

* In ''TheFlintstones'', Fred often had difficulty remembering his and Wilma's...except whenever it fell on Trash Day.

* In ''Series/BobsBurgers'' first episode, Bob forgets his and Linda's anniversary, and when Linda gets angry Bob protests that he's just not good with dates. A montage of flashbacks reveals he's also forgotten Linda's birthday (while at her party), his own birthday (while at his own party), and Linda's due date (''while holding their newborn''.)
* On ''{{Daria}},'' it's [[LovableLibby Quinn]] who points out that [[TheSnarkKnight Daria]] and [[TallDarkAndSnarky Tom]]'s six-month dating anniversary is coming up, and Daria begins to get annoyed that Tom doesn't realize it. Of course, she's also forced to admit that a) she didn't remember it either, and b) neither of them really like traditionally romantic stuff anyway. Mostly she's just projecting her insecurities about their relationship onto an unimportant issue.

* In ''BobsBurgers'' first episode, Bob forgets his and Linda's anniversary, and when Linda gets angry Bob protests that he's just not good with dates. A montage of flashbacks reveals he's also forgotten Linda's birthday (while at her party), his own birthday (while at his own party), and Linda's due date (''while holding their newborn''.)

* Rose's NeverLiveItDown moment in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' is her continued "do you remember what day this is?" nagging. Apparently remembering anniversaries is SeriousBusiness compared to saving the President of the United States from execution by terrorists.

* Spoofed in the webcomic ''Webcomic/PvP''. The author admitted (via twitter) that he'd completely forgotten about characters Jade and Brent's first anniversary, so didn't do a strip for it. The next day, he started a storyline about how Brent and Jade had ''themselves'' both forgotten the anniversary.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Francine's Flashback" had Stan forget Francine's anniversary. Roger reminds her about when he forgot last year, in which Francine gave Stan a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown so bad that it became an episode of ''{{Series/Cops}}''.

'''Bullock:''' ''(signals jackson to not say anything)''\\

* On ''{{Daria}},'' it's [[LovableLibby Quinn]] who points out that [[TheSnarkKnight Daria]] and [[TallDarkAndSnarky Tom]]'s six-month dating anniversary is coming up, and Daria begins to get annoyed that Tom doesn't realize it. Of course, she's also forced to admit that a.) she didn't remember it either, and b.) neither of them really like traditionally romantic stuff anyway. Mostly she's just projecting her insecurities about their relationship onto an unimportant issue.
** [[TakeAThirdOption Helen tells Daria that she shouldn't expect a fuss over an anniversary or else she'd be disappointed and that it matters more about how much the guy loves her, but if he does forget "show no mercy"]].

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* In the movie ''Family Man'', when the main character forgets his anniversary, he forgets it because he hasn't technically been married to his wife yet, but she doesn't know that...

* In the 1949 Milton Berle film ''Always Leave Them Laughing,'' a guy buys a watch for his wife, and she has no idea what the occasion is. He lampshades the usual nature of the trope by saying something to the effect of, "Folks, you're witnessing a historical event. Usually, it's the ''man'' who forgets the first anniversary." His wife feels bad about it for a moment, but then gives him a kiss for always being so good to her.

* ''WhiteCollar'': In the pilot, Peter has an embarrassed moment when Neal remembers his anniversary before he does. He then spends the rest of the episode desperately trying to think of a gift for his wife that will make up for having forgotten last year.
* Invoked the ''StudioC'' sketch, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqAHgny3lQA Celebirthsary]]" where the wife has deliberately decorated as ambiguously as possible so that her husband has to figure out what was special about the day. [[spoiler: In actuality, there was nothing to celebrate, since it was a test to see if the husband really did remember everything.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'', one year prior, Larry had promised to never forget the wedding anniversary ever again. Guess what happens.

* In the ''Series/FawltyTowers'' episode "The Anniversary," Basil Fawlty plans a surprise anniversary party for Sybil, but she assumes he has forgotten and storms off, leaving him to try and maintain a facade of normality in front of the party guests.
* In ''Series/ILoveLucy'', Lucy thinks Ricky gave her a [[PrettyInMink mink coat]], and says she thinks it's an anniversary gift. At the end, this was subverted when it turns out she lies about that, to the point of forgetting their real anniversary date, in order to get things from him.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' had Nate get in trouble with Sophie when he claimed they met eight years ago, while she said it was ten. It later turned out, that they'd first ''seen'' each other ten years ago, when she was stealing art and he was chasing her, but he considered the first time they ''met'' to be two years later when they first spoke. Unfortunately he also screwed up the location of an event which means she's still got something to hold over his head.

* Rose's NeverLiveItDown moment in ''MetalGearSolid2'' is her continued "do you remember what day this is?" nagging. Apparently remembering anniversaries is SeriousBusiness compared to saving the President of the United States from execution by terrorists.

* One of them forgets, and is embarrassed in front of a third party who was considerate enough to remember.

* In ''BobsBurgers'' first episode, Bob forgets his and Linda's anniversary, and when Linda gets angry Bob protests that he's just not good with dates. A montage of flashbacks reveals he's also forgotten Linda's birthday, his own birthday, and Linda's due date.

* Mentioned in the ''Straight No Chaser'' Christmas medley "Nutcracker": "I'm watching the game but something's wrong/In walks in my wife, her face looks long/The look on her face says it's me/It's not our anniversary/I've got no clue/What did I do?/And then she says to me."

* A double example in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':

'''Stan:''' Yeah, I'm, uh, laying low. Today is the anniversary of a huge fight me and Francine got into last year.\\

Usually (but not always) played for comedy.

--> ''(Guile shows up at home with a bouquet, but Jane's extremely pissed)''
--> '''Guile:''' Happy anniver--
--> '''Jane:''' Couch.
--> '''Guile:''' I brought you flowers--
--> '''Jane:''' Couch. ''(walks off, leaving a defeated Guile with his head hanging low)''

* One scene in ''TheSixthSense'' looks like this, with Bruce Willis showing up late to an anniversary dinner with his wife at a fancy restaurant; she barely acknowledges him before leaving. [[spoiler: Subverted, though, because he's actually a ghost and she can't even see or hear him.]]

* In ''AtlasShrugged'', the fact that James Taggart can't remember his wedding anniversary contributes to his VillainousBreakdown.

* Nearly all TV sitcoms involving a married couple will fall back on this at least once in the run of a show. And it is by far more common for the husband to be one who either forgets or is pretending to forget.
* In the ''FawltyTowers'' episode "The Anniversary," Basil Fawlty plans a surprise anniversary party for Sybil, but she assumes he has forgotten and storms off, leaving him to try and maintain a facade of normality in front of the party guests.
* In ''ILoveLucy'', Lucy thinks Ricky gave her a [[PrettyInMink mink coat]], and says she thinks it's an anniversary gift. At the end, this was subverted when it turns out she lies about that, to the point of forgetting their real anniversary date, in order to get things from him.
* Leo [=McGarry=] does this very early in ''TheWestWing''. The forgotten anniversary is used to [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establish]] that he's MarriedToTheJob with an intensity that clearly leads one to believe that he's [[AddictionDisplacement using work as a substitute]] for [[TheAlcoholic booze]]; it leads to his divorce.
* Sorkin likes this one. It's played with in one of the first season episodes of ''SportsNight'': Dan is pissed off at Casey for forgetting their "anniversary" (the date of their first show together).

* The subject of the "Anniversary Song" by DaYoopers. The wife asks her husband if he remembers what day it is, and he guesses "trout season?" and later her uncle Ernie's funeral, where she got sick. In the second verse, she fills in the details a bit, but the only thing he remembers is someone in the congregation passing gas.

May lead to some ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping. For a non-marriage example, see ForgottenBirthday.