History StatusQuoIsGod / WesternAnimation

*** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in later seasons, though, as Clyde sheds his infatuation towards Lori. In the Season 4 episode "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS4E18SingledOutBraveTheLastDance Brave The Last Dance]]," he even gets a crush on a girl his age named Chloe.

** Perhaps the most biggest changes in status quo is in "Schooled!", where the the Loud children move up grade and age up by one year, Lily becomes potty trained and starts preschool, and Lincoln ends up in a class that's separate from his friend group.

** {{Deconstructed}} and {{Enforced}} in one episode, [[spoiler:as it turns out Timmy actually wished for rhe entire world to never age, so he'd stay 10 forever and his Fairy Godparents would never leave him.]]

* In one episode of the French cartoon ''Jamie's Got Tentacles'', the BigBad's BeleagueredAssistant leads a rebellion against him. After the General's aide successfully defeats and vapourises him, the aide puts on his old boss's hat, puts on the same voice, promotes himself to General, declares that he has the exact same evil plan as the previous General (to capture and eat Jamie) and immediately gains an aide of his own. All members of their species are completely identical, so absolutely nothing changed.

*** One notable change to the status quo that always reverts back is Donald's voice. Tony Anselmo's familiar scratchy WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck voice is normally what is used throughout the series, but there are moments where, via either magic or science, Donald is instead voiced with the BadassBaritone of Don Cheadle. Regardless of how he gets it, it never lasts to the end of the episode.

* The first crop of Franchise/{{Nicktoons}} were among the first American cartoons to avert this. WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} gets to graduate, [[WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} Chuckie]] is potty-trained and stays potty-trained, [[WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife Filbert and Dr. Hutchinson]] go steady, get married and have children and [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren and Stimpy]] dispenses with a Status Quo altogether.

** In the episode "Jake The Dad", Jake faces fatherhood with the birth of his pups with Lady Rainicorn; Jake decides to stay in Lady's house, leaving Finn and BMO. Later in the episode the pups get a PlotRelevantAgeUp due to being Rainicorns and are now old enough to live on their own. Jake then returns to the tree house.
** A long running plot thread in the show was Finn somehow losing his arm. There were many hints that this would happen, with alternate versions of himself shown to have a prosthetic of some kind. The end of the Season 6 premiere finally sees this come to pass, with Finn's arm being replaced by a flower. Four episodes later, Finn's arm is restored to normal. [[spoiler:However, Finn eventually loses his arm again in the Season 7 finale, and permanently replaces it with a robotic one.]]

** The 2015 mini-series, "Stakes", features Marceline the Vampire Queen losing her vampire curse and powers. Of course, she has them back by the end of the arc, but she does sense that a change did in fact take place inside of her. The [[ArcWords Arc Melody]] of the miniseries, "Everything Stays", can be interpreted as basically one huge lampshade of this trope, although a beautifully pulled off one.

** Though some things do change, Stan's become gradually less conservative as the series as gone on (to the point he not only accepted his gay neighbors, he tried to get Terry's homophobic dad to accept him), Steve's also gradually becoming less of a nerd, [[spoiler: and finally got a first kiss after constant YankTheDogsChain]]. Also, Hayley and Jeff got married and she stopped being a vegetarian permanently after getting a job at Sub Hub.

** The episode "Pick a Car, Any Car", in which the family car stops working and his parents start looking for a new one. Arthur is upset because he doesn't want things to change, and it seems like that's going to be the lesson for the episode. But in the end Buster gets the bright idea of calling ''Radio/CarTalk'', and they discover that the problem was that Kate had just jammed her rattle into the tailpipe. Not only does nothing change, nothing is learned, except maybe to call ''Car Talk'' if you're having problems your mechanic can't fix.
** In "Sue Ellen Chickens Out", the kids' favourite dining hangout, the Sugar Bowl, is being sold to a fast-food chicken franchise. Sue Ellen attempts to stage a protest to stop it from happening, but is unsuccessful in drawing enough attention to her cause. In the end, the Sugar Bowl's owner spontaneously decides not to sell and everything stays the same (even the nuts on the sundaes are changed back from pecans to walnuts).

** In the episode "Castles in the Sky", the treehouse hangout collapses after a heavy snowfall, and Arthur and his friends spend the episode thinking up many different designs for a new treehouse. At the end of the episode they decide to build it exactly the same as the old one.

** In "The Last Day", Mr. Ratburn's class is about to enter the fourth grade after sixteen seasons, with Arthur and Buster campaigning to be in a cool new teacher's class. At the end it turns out everyone is going to the same class and Mr. Ratburn will be teaching them again. [[SnapBack Later episodes had everyone back in third grade without explanation too]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheCatInTheHatKnowsALotAboutThat'', Nick rips his shirt in the center in "Cotton Patch" and get a diamond-shaped patch to cover it up. This is, of course, never seen again in any future installments.

* Both invoked and averted in WesternAnimation/TheClangers. In many episodes a creature or object arrives on the Clanger's planet, causes havoc and then either leaves or is sent back into space. When the Iron Chicken first appears, it seems as if she's also following this pattern. However, she makes appearances in later episodes and she also gives Tiny Clanger an egg which has effects in following episodes[[note]]It hatches to reveal some musical notes, most of which are eaten by the Soup Dragon. However, the remaining two notes are planted and grow into Music Trees. Tiny Clanger later uses notes from the Music Trees to power her flying boat, which puts an end to Major Clanger's unsuccessful attempts at building a flying machine.[[/note]]

** On that subject, The Hacker himself trying to successfully conqueror Cyberspace. Early on in the series, The Hacker was a constant threat who's plans nearly come close to taking down Motherboard (as he was actually [[TheBadGuyWins successful]] in doing so in a few episodes). He is also often the one that tries to stop the Cybergang from using the Encryptor Chip to cure Motherboard of his virus knowing if she is cured, he could no longer succeed in his goal. However, even when he wins, The Hacker always gets stopped by the heroes at the end of the day. As of the later seasons, The Hacker when through a lot of VillainDecay as no one, not the Cybergang, Motherboard, or even ordinary citizens views him as a threat to Cyberspace anymore due to his plans constantly being foiled. As a result, it's very likely that The Hacker will never conquer Cyberchase just as the Cybergang being able to cure Motherboard of her virus.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': A harsh one of this was the original GrandFinale of the series, "Last But Not Beast". Dexter and his family had fully united to destroy the beast that Dexter accidentally awoke from its slumber and everyone was happy. However, Dad remembers about Dexter's titular lab and Dexter's quick to remove that information from both Mom and Dad, even making them forget the fact that ''they saved the world together!'' When Monkey's mask is torn off and Dexter discovers ''his'' identity, Monkey uses the gun to remove everything from that point from his mind, allowing Mandark to declare that he had destroyed the monster, leaving a despondent Dexter to bemoan that he should have destroyed it. Dee-Dee, the only member of the family that remembers the fight, waves goodbye to the audience as the (original run of the) show comes to a close.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DragonHunters'', like the ''Manga/GetBackers'', never do lasting profits, despite all of Gwizdo's schemes toward this end. Sometimes they do get to fly home with the reward money, but by the start of next episode they will invariably be broke.

** Most writers will callback to previous stories they created but will ignore the ones made by others so as not to mess with anyone's long-term story plans. The exception is Creator/DonRosa, who considers all Creator/CarlBarks stories canon to his own show and has written several sequels to Barks tales.
** [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017 The 2017 reboot]] averts this on a regular basis, with the last moments of the very first episode showing that there will be an overarching mystery, and many large changes happen over the course of the series. [[spoiler: The show not only breaks the status quo of its own series, but it also breaks the entire Disney Duck status quo quite drastically. This is the first time in animated series that the nephews' mother, Della Duck, is introduced as a character, and the first time in general that she was made into a mainstay character halfway through Season 2.]] That being said, while the status quo is regularly changed, there are some factors that are always kept.

** Subverted in the movie where the kids give up trying to get the [[spoiler: Eds for their WORST SCAM EVER to save them from Eddy's brother's torment]] because [[EvilerThanThou it was far worse than anything they could think of doing.]]

** ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'' uses and subverts this in a few ways. He uses this as a loophole to keep his fairies, act like a child and refuse to grow up (not even leaving the 4th grade, or his parents home) but [[spoiler: when he does finally Timmy is given an exemption clause that lets him keep Cosmo, Wanda and Poof as his fairies even as an adult]].

** In "He’s Too Sexy for His Fat", Peter gets plastic surgery, resulting in a fit, handsome guy. This being ''Family Guy'', the episode ended with him falling into a vat of lard and having to eat his way out, becoming fat again. Even worse was the episode where Lois gains a lot of weight after Peter's vasectomy. In the end she has quickie liposuction and surgery and ends up looking exactly as though she had never gained the weight at all. Peter in his episode lampshades the trope by proudly stating he didn't learn his lesson.[[note]]The cast and writer commentary stated that they had no idea on how to end the episode, so they settled with Peter learning jack shit.[[/note]]

** How many times has Joe regained the use of his legs only to lose them again at the end of the episode? Played especially darkly in one episode. Joe gets his legs permanently fixed and start being too aggressive and active for his more sedentary buddies to keep up with to the point where he's disgusted with them. They decide they want the old Joe back, hatching a plan to ''break his back again to put him back in the chair.'' [[spoiler:It doesn't work because Joe completely outclasses them in a stand-up fight, though eventually Bonnie comes in with a gun to cripple him... or at least put several holes in him attempting to, before [[CrossesTheLineTwice he tells her to give him the gun and let him cripple himself]].]]

** The trope gets lampshaded by Brian in part 1 of "Stewie Kills Lois". After Stewie complains about Lois leaving him for a cruise and how he would do bad things to her, Brian points out that Stewie will just bitch, cry for his mommy, hug her when she comes home, have apple juice, poop, and then fall asleep. Stewie realizes Brian is right and tries to fight against the status quo by going out to the cruise ship and killing her, but it is maintained in the end anyway with the reveal the entire two-parter after Brian's comment was a simulation. The final minute or so is dedicated to lampshading the hell out of this and how people react to it.

** Any time Meg, Chris, Stewie, Brian or Quagmire has a {{love interest|s}} don't expect it to last beyond the episode, or in some cases before the episode is even over (particularly with Meg). The latter four tend to mess things up or pull a IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy, while Meg suffers from sheer misfortune. In general, if someone appears to actually like Meg, expect them to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim die]], suddenly dump her (often because she's "[[InformedDeformity ugly]]"), end up with someone else or just simply never be mentioned again.

** Whenever Brian or Meg leave the Griffin household don't expect it to last beyond the episode for the latter, or two or three episodes at most for the former. Especially jarring in Meg's case because she's angrily pointed out how she [[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E2SeahorseSeashellParty doesn't want to be there]] and either gets [[YankTheDogsChain dragged back]] or ([[Recap/FamilyGuyS18E18BetterOffMeg in one case]]) chose to go back for no real reason other than to maintain the status quo.

** The trope is lampshaded, deconstructed, and parodied in the episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E12WhenAliensAttack When Aliens Attack]]". When the main cast is forced to reshoot the finale of ''[[Series/AllyMcBeal Single Female Lawyer]]'' to prevent an alien invasion, Leela (as the titular character) decides to propose marriage. Fry is angry, as he states that you don't do that on television because people only watch TV because of this very trope. Right on cue, this angers the aliens, who proceed with their invasion until Fry improvises an ending that would result in her character remaining single, placating the aliens. (The fact that real-life shows often destroy the status quo during the finale is ignored). The aliens are satisfied with this ending, and leave peacefully. With everything back to normal, Fry has a short monologue (serving as a SpoofAesop) about how things should always go back to normal at the end of an episode. The Camera then cuts to a devastated New New York, most of it having been destroyed during the episode. The status quo is restored by the next episode, so it's a DoubleSubversion.

** Averted for the most part. Eliza's brother becomes a Mutate for instance and remains that way, a process that takes place over several episodes; later episodes deal with Talon's impromptu clan and responsibilities. Broadway shoots Eliza by accident and develops a series-long [[DoesntLikeGuns hatred for firearms]]. The eventual reveal of the Gargoyles to the world at large springs the Quarrymen into the forefront. And so on.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': No matter how many times Ron Stoppable learns to use [[IKnowKarate Mystical Monkey Power Kung Fu]], learn to deal with his fears of monkeys and Camp Wannaweep or [[IJustWantToBeSpecial has become special for just anything]], he will revert back to his status quo in the end of the episode or before the next. He did stay on the football team, leaving his mascot days behind. And he kept dating Kim. And kept his job. All which took place in the PostScriptSeason...

** Hank Hill is never going to be a manager. The one time he ''did'' become a manager he managed to blow it... in 10 freaking seconds (and it wasn't even near the end of the episode).
** Also Bill is never going to have a lasting relationship, it always goes wrong or he messes up. Enforced with his relationship with Kahn's mother Laoma; WordOfGod says the only reason why she's never seen again is because they prefer Bill single and miserable.
** Strangely, what with the above examples, there was a bit of continuity. In one episode Peggy and Dale end up blowing Hank's shed up (long story), 8 episodes later in [[spoiler:"Death Picks Cotton"]] Hank's busy rebuilding it. When he finally does finish it in the end of the episode Dale destroys it again [[spoiler:which was Cotton's dying wish]].
** Any episode that shows Bobby doing something or having an interest in something which Hank freaks out, worrying what Bobby is doing is not manly enough in his eyes. By the episode's end, Bobby either stops having interest in whatever caught his attention or Hank begrudgingly accepts what Bobby wants, then the show repeats the scenario again in a future episode.
** Similar to Hank and Bobby is Kahn's strictness and pushiness towards Connie's education or her violin playing. By the episode's end he'll have relented somewhat but he'll be right back to being overbearing in future episodes. Interestingly, in the series finale he does the opposite and encourages her to take a break.

** The show also {{Zig Zag|gingTrope}}s often. There are often a few episodes in which a new character is introduced, or some big change happens in someone's life such as Bill or Bobby getting in a romance, yet a lot of the time they seem to vanish the next episode with little to no justification. Despite this, there were plenty of aversions in which a continuity ''was'' established. (Joseph entering puberty, Bobby and Connie's relationship ending, Nancy ending her affair with John Redcorn, Luanne meeting Lucky).

* Downplayed with ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'': With the exception of a few episodes designed for setup, all of the changes in the show's continuity occurs in the two-parter episodes. That being said, there is a pretty blatant case: The Season 2 finale "[[Recap/LittlestPetShop2012S2E26TheExpoFactorPart2 The Expo Factor Part 2]]" ends with the Biskit family's loyal butler [=LeGrande=] disgusted with the family's attitude and quits, only to be re-hired back in "[[Recap/LittlestPetShop2012S3E14WinterWonderWha Winter Wonder Wha...?]]" because family patriarch Fisher promised him double pay.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug:'' The actual status quo becomes less and less godly with each season, but one thing has thus far remained true: if it looks like the [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle Two-Person Love Square]] is in the process of being resolved, it will quickly un-resolve itself.

** "Cat Blanc": Our heroes learn each others' identities and realize they've been in love with each other all along, and happily get together. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong [[spoiler:It starts [[ForWantOfANail a chain of events]] leading to ''[[ApocalypseHow all of Paris being destroyed and everyone in it being killed]]'', and has to be undone with time travel.]]

** A different relationship involving Marinette is also broken up in this manner when [[spoiler:she hooks up with Luka, whom has feelings for her and is the wielder of the aforementioned Snake Miraculous, at the end of the third season. But rather than any time being reset, she finds herself unable to trust him with her secret identity as Ladybug, which is why she keeps leaving their dates. She calls off their relationship at the start of the fourth season as a result]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' presents a possible subversion. It took ''ten'' episodes (out of the third season's 13) before we saw anything of the aftermath of the major events of the second season's finale, "Nature", where CheerfulChild Orel [[CallingTheOldManOut calls out]] his father. However, the reason for this is because all those episodes take place before and/or during "Nature".

** In "Happy Birthday, Isabella", this trope is actually ''averted'', by having Stacy find out about Perry's secret identity and ''not lose her memory of the knowledge''. But, this is more of a case of LoopholeAbuse; technically, the status quo dictates that ''Perry' s host family'' cannot find out his secret.

** Oh yeah, whenever the city is in ruins, it's back to normal the next episode. Few things remain destroyed, an example being a bridge in a nearby city.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' plays this straight near the end "Rick Potion No. 9", as Rick seems to have found a tidy solution to a world-altering problem. This is then {{subverted|Trope}} explosively. The titular duo has dissonant attitudes: as far as Rick is concerned everything is back to normal, while from Morty's perspective nothing will be normal again. It is a turning point for the show, as we see through Morty's horrified eyes what seems the status quo but is not.

** Season 15 ''did'' this. After the DramaBomb episode, "[[Recap/SouthParkS15E7YoureGettingOld You're Getting Old]]", it looked like there was going to be some sort of change in terms of the boys' relationships (Mainly in Stan's cynicism is affecting his life). [[HeterosexualLifePartners Kyle and Stan]] have a falling out, Kyle and Cartman are shown being together of their own volition and getting along. The episode ends with Randy and Sharon[[note]]With Sharon [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall realized this during their talk about their future relationship]][[/note]] separating and moving from the Marsh family home into an apartment. When the next episode, "Ass Burgers", features a SnapBack, this is invoked in end. As just Stan is about to embrace the new changes, the status quo comes back with Randy & Sharon getting back together off-screen, Kyle & Cartman bickering once again, and Stan going back to the life he once had, though he now secretly drinks to keep off his cynical levels. Sharon even says that [[{{Anvilicious}} sometimes it's best to stick with what you know]].

** Episode "Tsst" has Cartman's mom go to extreme lengths to get him to behave. When she finally succeeds, Cartman's mom is ecstatic that Cartman is a well behaved boy, but once she finds out that the person who helped her left her because he has other clients to tend to (also she wanted to have a romantic relationship with him and he wasn't interested), she completely undoes all the changes by spoiling Cartman so that she won't feel like she is alone. However, she does start disciplining him more often.

** The second time, in "201", after the main events of the plot is resolved, the mayor announces, "Alright, people, let's start rebuilding our town! ...for the 39th time."
** A straight example happens when it is discovered that the City Wok owner is the psychotic, murderous ''Caucasian'' Dr. Janus. Since he's the only Asian restaurant owner left in town after the Japanese sushi chef whom he harassed killed himself after this reveal, the police lets him go.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsStepsIntoShadow , "Steps Into Shadow"]]: After having it for one episode (though there ''was'' a 6-month TimeSkip between this and the last), Ezra gets the Sith holocron confiscated. [[SubvertedTrope Too bad the damage is already done]], because the Presence taught Ezra enough that he's at risk of falling to the Dark Side. And it turns out they have to get it back in the next episode, but as the Season 3 trailer hints, it's a DoubleSubversion and the thing will have a major impact on the season.

** Played very much straight with Steven's TV, which has been destroyed multiple time throughout the show but is somehow in perfect working condition at the start of each episode.

** One plot involved Baloo being granted a large, specific sum of money. Various hijinks ensue as he tries to get this money to Rebecca to buy back his plane, but by the end he finds himself being forced to pay for the damages caused by his adventure, which just happen to come to the EXACT AMOUNT he had received at the start. Amazingly, this happened more than once.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'': Oh God, every single episode that was not a part of the story arc (Like [[spoiler: Robin becoming Slade's apprentice, the whole Terra storyline, Cyborg with Brother Blood, Raven with the prophecy of ending the world, and all of Season 5, which focused on the Brotherhood of Evil and a lot of characters we have never heard of before unless we read [[Comicbook/TeenTitans the original comics]]]]). Even with [[spoiler: Terra]], after the Titans [[spoiler: were convinced to let her become a member of the Titans]], she only made a split-second appearance in the next episode. The episode after that had to do with her though but of course the events of that episode restores the team's status quo. Most episodes will always end where it began, but there are a few exceptions.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' series was like this for the first two seasons. Then TheMovie came out in 1986. Once Season 3 starts we have an all new cast, with the original characters making cameos, and the Quintessons are introduced. About the only thing that snaps back is Optimus Prime coming back to life and returning to his job as leader of the Autobots at the end of the third season. Bumblebee becomes a more prominent character during the season finale when Prime comes back, but it's as Goldbug, an upgraded form he needed after taking heavy damage fighting a berserk Superion, as well as to shill the new Goldbug toy, because the series, after all, was MerchandiseDriven.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}}'': Jonesy gets a new job at the start of every episode and loses it at the end.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 The Legend of Zelda]]'' cartoon takes this to its logical extreme. Ganon and all his minions are magically tied to a giant jar type device. Every time they're defeated, they're just sent back to it for some undetermined (but obviously very short) period of time. It doesn't help that neither Ganon nor the heroes are competent enough to simply end the whole thing (in fact, Ganon's minions came the closest after they rebelled).
** Link did destroy the jar once, but it was back for the next episode.

*** Her crush on [[LoveInterest Jimmy Jr.]] also never goes anywhere to the point it's lampshaded by other characters in later episodes. Any time he ''does'' show interest in her, it's always undone by the end of the episode or ignored by the beginning of the next.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/SuperFriends Challenge of the Superfriends]]'', every episode would end with the Legion of Doom incapacitated by the Superfriends. However, ComicBook/LexLuthor always pulls out a device that turns whatever the Legion is sitting on into a spaceship, which flies away slowly while Superman and Green Lantern forget that they have superpowers (a common occurrence on this show). [[VillainExitStageLeft Thus, the Legion always successfully escapes]] [[WeWillMeetAgain so they can come up with another evil plan for the next episode.]] In one episode, all of the Super Friends ''die'' one by one -- but in the end, it turns out that they were merely their android duplicates and they were all alive and well.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Talespin}}'' is fiercly protective of its status quo, wherein Baloo bregrudgingly works for Rebecca's air cargo service so he can earn enough money to buy back his beloved plane, the Sea Duck, which she bought after the bank foreclosed on him. Baloo actually manages to buy, win, or otherwise regain ownership of the Duck several times, but Rebecca always gets it back by the end of the episode.

** Though some things do change, Stan's become gradually less conservative as the series as gone on (to the point he not only accepted his gay neighbors, he tried to get Terry's homophobic dad to accept him), Steve's also gradually becoming less of a nerd, [[spoiler: and finally got a first kiss after constant YankTheDogsChain]].

** Tina, like Meg, is the show's ButtMonkey and a large source of humor stems from her loneliness. One episode ends with Tina finally meeting a boy who shows some romantic interest in her, so naturally, he's neither seen nor mentioned again by the time the next episode begins. In a minor subversion he ''does'' show up again (much) later, but it's ultimately also retains the status quo [[ShipSinking since both he and Tina]] only see each other as being JustFriends.

** Tina, like Meg, is the show's ButtMonkey and a large source of humor stems from her loneliness. One episode ends with Tina finally meeting a boy who shows some romantic interest in her, so naturally, he's neither seen nor mentioned again by the time the next episode begins. In a minor subversion he ''does'' show up again (much) later, but it's ultimately also retains the status quo [[ShipSinking since both he and Tina]] only see each other as JustFriends.

** Tina, like Meg, is the show's ButtMonkey and a large source of humor stems from her loneliness. One episode ends with Tina finally meeting a boy who shows some romantic interest in her, so naturally, he's neither seen nor mentioned again by the time the next episode begins. In a minor subversion he ''does'' show up again (much) later, but it's ultimately also to retain the status quo [[ShipSinking since both he and Tina]] see each other as JustFriends.

** Tina, like Meg, is the show's ButtMonkey and a large source of humor stems from her loneliness. One episode ends with Tina finally meeting a boy who shows some romantic interest in her, so naturally, he's neither seen nor mentioned again by the time the next episode begins. In a minor subversion he ''does'' show up again (much) later, but it's ultimately also to retain the status quo [[ShipSinking since both he and Tina see each other as]] JustFriends.

** Tina, like Meg, is the show's ButtMonkey and a large source of humor stems from her loneliness. One episode ends with Tina finally meeting a boy who shows some romantic interest in her, so naturally, he's neither seen nor mentioned again by the time the next episode begins.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda'' cartoon takes this to its logical extreme. Ganon and all his minions are magically tied to a giant jar type device. Every time they're defeated, they're just sent back to it for some undetermined (but obviously very short) period of time. It doesn't help that neither Ganon nor the heroes are competent enough to simply end the whole thing (in fact, Ganon's minions came the closest after they rebelled).

*** Her crush on Jimmy Jr. also never goes anywhere to the point it's lampshaded by other characters in later episodes. Any time he ''does'' show interest in her, it's always undone by the end of the episode or ignored by the beginning of the next.

*** Her crush on Jimmy Jr. also never goes anywhere to the point it's lampshaded by other characters in later episodes. Any time he does show interest in her, it's always undone by the end of the episode or ignored by the beginning of the next.

*** WordOfGod stated that the Hercules parody character Storkules [[WhatCouldHaveBeen would've actually stayed Donald's roomate]] at the end of the episode ''Storkules in Duckburg!'' Unfortunately, due to the large amount of problems Storkules would cause to many plots (not only would he be too accessible and too overpowered to make most conflicts have any logical tension, [[spoiler: but Della would also be joining the main cast the very same season, which would make Storkules's AscendedExtra status make the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters already large main cast]] feel too bloated]]), they decided to ultimately make Storkules becoming Donald's roommate a one-episode plot, and Donald would just help him go find an apartment instead. Even ''that'' didn't hold up since we see him back in Ithiquack in the Season 2 finale. As it turns out, just having a demigod in Duckburg would make the problem too easy to fix.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', with a few exceptions.
** This pretty much happens anytime there's a major change to the main cast. Did Bart become more intelligent or active in his school work for a time? He'll be back to the lazy BookDumb boy causing mischief for giggles. Did Lisa suddenly gain popularity? She'll be back to being unpopular by the end of the episode.
** Played with in some of the few episodes which avert this trope; many of them feature endings that make it seem like the status quo will once again be restored, only to change it up on the viewer at the last second. The classic example is "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E6AMilhouseDivided A Milhouse Divided]]"; the episode ends with Kirk singing a romantic song for Luann in a last-ditch attempt to win her back. It looks like we're in for a heartwarming reunion, until Kirk asks her to come back to him and she replies "Oh ''God no!''" They DID eventually get back together, but that was ten seasons later.
** When Lisa [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E5LisaTheVegetarian became a vegetarian]], she stayed a vegetarian. (Only because Music/PaulMcCartney wouldn't do the show otherwise.) She also remained a Buddhist after converting in "She of Little Faith".
** Also [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E14AloneAgainNaturaDiddily when Maude Flanders died]], [[KilledOffForReal she stayed dead]], since [[RealLifeWritesThePlot her voice actor had left the show]].
** Principal Skinner and Edna Krabappel have had an on-and-off relationship since Season 8. Twelve seasons later, Edna married Ned Flanders. This lasted until Edna's death two seasons afterwards.
** Apu [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E7TheTwoMrsNahasapeemapetilons got married]] in Season 9; in Season 13 [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E19TheSweetestApu he cheated]], and ever since then every appearance by him or his wife references it, usually by having them [[CringeComedy act frustrated or angry at one another]].
** Sometimes the status quo changes gradually -- for example, Lenny and Carl have replaced Barney as Homer's best friend. However, they just hang out with him for kicks. This is made evident in the same episode where Barney decides to be sober.
** Speaking of Barney, he stopped drinking in the eleventh season episode "Days of Wine and D'oheses" and remained a sober, clean-cut compulsive coffee drinker after the end of the episode and for several seasons. Like the Luanne and Kirk example, he reverted to his original state in Season 14's "I'm Spelling As Fast as I Can". Later on he would have fewer roles, aside from being passed out on the ground.
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the show itself in the infamous episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E2ThePrincipalAndThePauper The Principal and the Pauper]]". To those who don't know, [[spoiler: Principal Skinner is revealed to be a person named Armin Tamzarian when the Real Seymour Skinner appears out of nowhere. At the end of the episode, he's [[PutOnABus tied to a train and is never heard from again]] and the judge rules that [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain no one is to speak of this or else they'll be subjected to torture]]]]. This is later followed by an episode where Snowball 2 gets run over and replaced. Twice. Both replacements die, and a cat that looks exactly the same is given to Lisa by the Cat Lady.
--->'''Lisa:''' I'm keeping you! You're Snowball 5! But to save money on new dish, we'll just call you Snowball 2 and pretend this whole thing never happened.\\
'''Skinner:''' That's really a cheat, isn't it?\\
'''Lisa:''' I guess you're right, [[spoiler: [[BrickJoke Principal Tamzarian]]]].
** At the end of "C.E.D'oh", Homer has his "[[LampshadeHanging 305th Everything Is Back to Normal BBQ]]." This was the 306th episode; this only accounts for one change to that point.
** Other lampshades pop up with the page quote, another from Principal Skinner ("Well I guess we all learned something important today... there's no thing like the status quo!") and a Season 22 episode, that ends with Marge (after [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption once again failing]] to get a social life outside of the house) reading a book called "The Joy of the Status Quo".
** The situation used to replace Snowball 2 with an identical-but-different cat is also applied to Fat Tony in another episode. [[spoiler: Fat Tony dies from a heart attack while Homer is working as an undercover agent infiltrating his organization. Afterwards, we're introduced to "Fit Tony"; Fat Tony's identical-sounding cousin and a fitness buff. He decides to step in for his deceased cousin but while working as the mob don, he begins to fall out of shape and resemble Fat Tony. Eventually, he ends up being referred to as "Fat Tony", thus restoring the status quo despite the fact Fat Tony himself was KilledOffForReal.]]
** [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E3BartVsLisaVsTheThirdGrade The episode where Lisa and Bart are placed in the same third grade class]]. At the end of the episode, Bart is promoted back to fourth grade, and Lisa is given the choice to either stay in third grade or return to her old class. [[LampshadeHanging The characters start]] ''[[LampshadeHanging chanting]]'' [[LampshadeHanging for the status quo to be restored at the end]].
** There was even an episode where Lisa got to write an episode for a TV show. After making big sweeping changes that didn't go over too well, Homer [[EnforcedTrope tells her that the number one rule of television]] is that everything must go back to normal at the end of the episode.
** A subtle lampshading: When informed that half his wages will be paid to Bart, who's just been emancipated, Homer protests, "Half already goes to my Vegas wife!" He references a major change in a past episode that has had no apparent effect on present episodes -- the family's standard of living seems no lower than before.
** Since Season 25, Bart's classroom was rarely seen due to [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim the death of Mrs. Krabappel]]. There were [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E7BlazedAndConfused two]] [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS27E11TeenageMutantMilkCausedHurdles episodes]] revolving around Bart getting a new teacher, but they were {{One Shot Character}}s. Every other time Bart's class was seen, we see Principal Skinner running it (with occasional help from Superintendent Chalmers). Finally, the Season 29 episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E19LeftBehind Left Behind]]" had Ned Flanders lose the Leftorium to online shopping, and [[FailureMontage after struggling to hold a job]], he takes his neighbors' advice and follows Jesus's footsteps by becoming a teacher, thus taking over Bart's class.

** "Desperada": Adrien confesses to Ladybug that he's actually Cat Noir and [[LoveAtFirstSight has been madly in love with her since they first met]]. [[spoiler:This is almost immediately undone by the SaveScumming power of the Snake Miraculous, and Adrien only confessed because he knew she would not remember.]]

** "Ephemeral": [[spoiler:Similarly to "Cat Blanc", the heroes learn each other's secret identities, and time travel has to undo it to prevent a catastrophe]].