History Main / StatusQuoGameShow

* One ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' story had Dilton answer every question on a game show right... except the final one, "How many innings are in a baseball game," which was accidentally ''easy''. He got a consolation prize of a lifetime supply of sporting equipment.

* One story in Franchise/ArchieComics has Reggie on a thinly veiled parody of ''Series/LoveConnection''. He says he has a good time, but his date calls him a stuck-up, self-centered dick. His consolation prize is a board-game version of the show, and he's noticeably choking slightly as he accepts it. The last panel is everyone in the main cast, even his longtime rival Archie, feeling sorry for him for being humiliated on national TV. Even the ''reader'' is sorry for him.

--> '''Producer''': We're a tv show, we give the people someone they can look up to and someone to root for... [[BreakTheHaughty and nobody is going to root for you.]]
* On ''Mama's Family'', Mama winds up on ''Jeopardy''. At first she does horribly, but some lucky answers get her to the final round with a decent amount of cash. In a subversion, she wins second place, a trip to Hawaii -thereby setting up a story arc.

See also CrackDefeat. Compare FailureIsTheOnlyOption.

When a show's main characters [[GameShowAppearance participate in a game show]], you can expect them to come home defeated. Because StatusQuoIsGod, winning the grand prize or a large windfall would change the characters' situation and alter the course of the plot. This also applies to non-televised contests. [[InversedTrope Inversions]] may happen when significant prizes are ''not'' at stake.

* ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}''
** Rocky's wife says this exact line to him in ''Film/RockyIV'', trying to convince him not to box his Russian challenger.
** Mason Dixon's manager says it in ''Film/RockyBalboa'', pointing out that if he wins, he beat up a 60-year-old... and if he loses, a 60-year-old beat the crap out of him.
*** Surprisingly enough, it may have actually been played completely straight. [[spoiler:He barely managed a split decision win, and there's a pretty good chance that it didn't do squat for his career or the sport of boxing. His half-hearted victory gesture said it all.]]
*** It's implied it's going to help Mason's career; because of his padded record and soft fights, he was thought as a paper champion due to having never been through a grueling fight. When [[spoiler: he defeats the legendary Rocky who still had some gas in the tank and does so with a broken hand that opened the window for another Rocky comeback]], he finally dispels that notion as he too gets an ovation from the crowd and the respect of ol' Rock.

When a show's main characters go on a GameShowAppearance, most of the time, you can expect them to come home defeated, because StatusQuoIsGod. Can sometimes be extended to other contests. Note that exceptions tend to happen when significant prizes are ''not'' at stake.

And if they ''do'' win, expect them to be [[EasyComeEasyGo quickly hit by financial trouble that their winnings will be]] ''[[OnTheMoney just]]'' [[OnTheMoney enough to cover]].

** [[InvincibleHero Ken Jennings]], [[FunnyAneurysmMoment anyone]]?

* ''Series/LateNight with Creator/JimmyFallon'' had a sketch called "Wheel of Game Shows", a SpinOff of the equally-bizarre [[{{Calvinball}} Wheel of Carpet Samples]] where contestants have to play bizarre minigames that are poorly explained or otherwise impossible to win, with one episode featuring a "spot the difference" game where Fallon denied the existence of the answer, a game of "Find the Red Tissue" having the red tissue be [[MoonLogicPuzzle on the bottom of the tissue box instead of inside it]], a rebus puzzle having the UnexpectedlyObscureAnswer "Play my sports" (rejecting the contestant's guess of "[[BallsGag Tickle my balls]]"), and Fallon assuming they know how to play "Brownie Points" (you're supposed to stack them, ''not'' eat them). Inevitably no one actually wins, so they all receive consolation prizes instead. Other episodes included such exciting games as "Remember That Episode Of ''Series/FullHouse''?", "''Series/{{iCarly}}'' Trivia vs. The Roots", "Tarantula Bonanza", and "You Can't Possibly Win!" Plus if you land on the picture of Creator/SteveGuttenberg, you lose ''and'' owe the show $75.

* ''Series/LateNight with Creator/JimmyFallon'' had a sketch called "Wheel of Game Shows", a SpinOff of the equally-bizarre [[{{Calvinball}} Wheel of Carpet Samples]] where contestants have to play bizarre minigames that are poorly explained or otherwise impossible to win, with one episode featuring a "spot the difference" game where Fallon denied the existence of the answer, a game of "Find the Red Tissue" having the red tissue be [[MoonLogicPuzzle on the bottom of the tissue box instead of inside it]], a rebus puzzle having the UnexpectedlyObscureAnswer "Play my sports" (rejecting the contestant's guess of "[[BallsGag Tickle my balls]]"), and Fallon assumes people know how to play "Brownie Points" (you're supposed to stack them, ''not'' eat them). Inevitably no one actually wins, so they all receive consolation prizes instead. Other episodes included such exciting games as "Remember That Episode Of ''Series/FullHouse''?", "''Series/{{iCarly}}'' Trivia vs. The Roots", "Tarantula Bonanza", and "You Can't Possibly Win!" Plus if you land on the picture of Creator/SteveGuttenberg, you lose ''and'' owe the show $75.

* ''Series/LateNight with Creator/JimmyFallon'' had a sketch called "Wheel of Game Shows", where (as a SpinOff of [[{{Calvinball}} Wheel of Carpet Samples]]) audience members are subject to minigames that are outright impossible to win. From a recent episode, a "spot the difference" game was rigged to have a very obvious difference that Fallon ultimately denied the existence of, the red tissue someone asked to find was [[MoonLogicPuzzle on the bottom of the tissue box instead of inside it]], a rebus puzzle has an UnexpectedlyObscureAnswer ("Play My Sports" instead of "[[AccidentalInnuendo Tickle My Balls]]"), and Fallon assumes people know how to play "Brownie Points" (you stack them, not eat them. They're allegedly laced with [[{{Squick}} PCP]]). Other episodes featured such exciting games as "Remember That Episode Of ''Series/FullHouse''?", "''Series/{{iCarly}}'' Trivia vs. The Roots", "Tarantula Bonanza", and "You Can't Possibly Win!"

* ''Series/ILoveLucy'': Lucy wins a $300 prize when one of her dollar bills matches a bill's serial number announced on the radio, but she loses the bill and her subsequent attempts to get it back end up costing $299. In another episode, Lucy schemes to win a Hawaiian vacation on a game show, but Ricky shows up as a guest on the same program and deliberately sabotages her in the most humiliating manner possible.

** He did save a glass elephant. Which Stu promptly broke.

** Subverted in some cases: if all players ended up with $0, anyone with less than four Whammys got to come back and try again.

** In another episode the townspeople put all of their savings onto a single roulette bet - and win [[strike:a ridiculous amount of money]] ''as much as they needed to return to the status quo and then a little bit extra left over''. But then they let it ride and lose it all on the next spin.

* A ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' cartoon had Stimpy enter a contest that allowed him to win 47 million dollars and a chance to meet his idol, Muddy Mudskipper. Stimpy ends up winning and goes to Hollywood, leaving Ren, who had thought the whole thing was a scam, behind. However, Stimpy gets majorly homesick and decides to quit and return to Ren. What makes it this trope? When he returns home, Ren asks about the money and Stimpy gleefully says he gave it all away.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' episode "Hands on a Big Mixer" Chower, Mung and a bunch of other people enter a contest where they have to keep their hand on a giant mixer and whoever is the last one to let go will win it. In the end, Chowder supposedly wins and lets go, only for it to turn out there was another contestant with their hand still on it: Chestnut, who is so tiny that nobody saw him until the reveal.
-->'''Chowder:''' I hate when these episodes have a twist ending.

* ''Film/NationalLampoonsEuropeanVacation'' opens with the Griswolds on a game show called "Pig In A Poke". They win by accident and the prize is a trip to Europe, setting up the movie's plot.

* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "I Take Thee Quagmire" began with Peter on ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', where he wins the bonus round (despite somehow picking Z, 4, three Q's, and the Franchise/{{Batman}} logo as his letters). One of the prizes he won was a week of maid service -- which sets up the plot for the rest of the episode.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' actually begins with Peter on ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', winning the prize and setting up the plot for the rest of the episode. No setup for how he got on the show, he was just there, won, and the episode proceeded as normal.
** Though it was using the antiquated rules for ''Wheel of Fortune'' where all money won on the game show had to be spent there too for various services or goods.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Arthur and the Big Riddle", Arthur loses on a game show called ''Riddle Quest'', but only because he threw the match. Why? Because during the last question, he imagines a scenario where he's still on the show as an old man. What, did he think he'd be forced to live in the studio if he kept winning? And, more importantly, ''since when do kids think like this?''

[[caption-width-right:350:She ''owes'' Trebek money.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' has Barney take Fred's place on a prehistoric version of the Cullen-era ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', and win a new boat, which (various hijinks later) sinks to the bottom of the sea.
** Creator/HannaBarbera would send up ''Price'' again in 1993 on ''TwoStupidDogs''. The dogs appear on "Let's Make A Right Price," where Little Dog just wants the doggie treats but he and Big Dog keep winning the big prizes instead.

** Canon also implies they did spend it all immediately, either; Ron's parents buy him a brand-new broom in ''Literature/OrderOfThePhoenix'', with the only reaction being at the thought that Ron might want a top-of-the-range broom (Ron asked for a cheaper, though still just released broom) while in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', they worried about being able to afford everyone's supplies. The difference in supplies wasn't that much less (figure about $160 difference, or about 32 galleons). A broom is likely something around 500-1000 galleons, if not more. Ergo, they have more money from somewhere. They don't take charity, so it can't be from Dumbledore. The twins hadn't set up Weasley's Wizard Wheezies yet, so the money couldn't have come from there, either (also, at about $5 to the galleon, they won around $50k. A trip to Egypt from the UK would be roughly 1K at most). Ergo, most of the winnings were probably saved.

* A B plot on an episode of ''Series/LasVegas'' featured a girl celebrating her 21st birthday in the casino and pulling the handle on the slot machine at the stroke of midnight and hitting the jackpot. Unfortunately, the clock inside the machine still said 23:59, invalidating her win. At the end of the episode, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming she is offered a check for that same amount to do a commercial for the casino reminding people to wait until they are 21 to gamble]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Fry participates in the quiz show, "Who Dares to Be a Millionaire?" hosted by Morbo. Stupid as Fry is, he quickly left after failing the $1 question thinking that the tool to use to hammer a nail is a another nail which he will actually do later in the episode.

** There's another episode that's a {{Crossover}} with ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', with the twist that Dorothy, [[ArrogantKungFuGuy shown to do extremely well during the trials and]] [[CompressedVice grow extremely haughty and swell-headed as a result,]] ''doesn't even get on the show.''
--> '''Producer''': We're a tv show, we give the people someone they can look up to and someone to root for... [[YouSuck and nobody is going to root for you.]]

** HannaBarbera would send up ''Price'' again in 1993 on ''TwoStupidDogs''. The dogs appear on "Let's Make A Right Price," where Little Dog just wants the doggie treats but he and Big Dog keep winning the big prizes instead.

** There's another episode that's a {{Crossover}} with ''{{Jeopardy}}'', with the twist that Dorothy, [[ArrogantKungFuGuy shown to do extremely well during the trials and]] [[CompressedVice grow extremely haughty and swell-headed as a result,]] ''doesn't even get on the show.''