History TheArtifact / LiveActionTV

** The design of the Enterprise-D and other Galaxy-class starships on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. It was designed the way it because it was thought that its saucer separation abilities would arise frequently, but it took too long, and it was used only three times on the show: the pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint", "The Arsenal of Freedom" (also from season 1), and "The Best of Both Worlds: Part II" from season 4, before being used for the last time in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. It didn't help that except for the last time, when the battle section was ''destroyed'', there really wasn't a reason to use this capability. The first time, the ship was in danger and Picard wanted to get the civilians out of the way, only the ship is very frequently in danger and always has civilians on board, so either you do the saucer separation every time things get hairy, or you just live with the risk. And in the battle with the Borg...it was hard to see an actual point. They could attack from two directions, but that didn't do the fleet much good, and the uniform design of the Borg cube meant that an attack from on direction was like an attack from any other.

* Though at the start of ''Series/TheSopranos'', Tony's sessions with Dr. Melfi were central to the plot but as time went on they became less and less central with Dr. Melfi not even appearing in some episodes. By the final season she's mostly relegated to being an audience surrogate.

** Cookie Monster's ExtremeOmnivore tendencies is mostly due to not originally being established as Cookie Monster when first appears on the show. Instead he was a nameless, voracious monster whose main trait was to devour nearly everything in sight. Even long after he's been established as "Cookie" the extreme omnivorous aspect still stands.

* Harriet Winslow of ''FamilyMatters'' would ultimately end up as this by the latter seasons after it became clear that Urkel was the undisputed main character. The irony about this is that the show started off as a spinoff of '''''her''''' character and her family. But after Urkel-mania became big, the show started to focus more on the members of the Winslow family who actually had dynamic and comedic relationships with Urkel (Carl, Laura, and Eddie). Harriet ended up being the last hold over who never got written out of the show. Though even then, Harriet's actress realized this and left the show, and the character was recast with a new actress for the last few episodes of the series.

** Also in very early episodes, in the first half of the show Fry directs questions to specific panelists, then in the "general ignorance" section questions are open to all. Very soon all questions became open to all, so the "general ignorance" section is no different from the rest of the show, yet its start is still announced every episode.

* When Oliver Queen in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' dressed up as ComicBook/GreenArrow, his costume included a computerized voice modifier that lowered his voice, helping to preserve his secret idenity. Early in Season 10, Queen revealed his dual identity at a press conference. Yet anytime he became Green Arrow after that, he still had the voice modifier on even though it's no longer necessary.
* Though at the start of ''TheSopranos'', Tony's sessions with Dr. Melfi were central to the plot but as time went on they became less and less central with Dr. Melfi not even appearing in some episodes. By the final season she's mostly relegated to being an audience surrogate.

* On ''SoRandom'', the performers still go by the character names from when it was a ShowWithinAShow on ''SonnyWithAChance''.

* ''{{Psych}}'' has Shawn's psychic pretence as something of an artifact. While it's occasionally important, most of the time they don't even bother with him hiding how he figured everything out.

* The original idea for ''QI'' was that there be two teams, Clever, led by Stephen Fry, and Stupid, led by Alan Davies, and the show hosted by Michael Palin. When Palin decided not to take the gig, Stephen was made host instead, and the idea of Teams was abandoned. Alan was kept as permanent panelist, though, with pretty much the same job, to make sure that obvious answers were given.

** This does say something for his lawyers as the clause for including the word "Family" in the title and giving ''700'' a time slot, along with a lengthy {{Telethon}} on the last Sunday in January is required to be reproduced in every sale of the station. Not even {{Disney}} could worm out of it.

** He's in the main credits because the actor who plays him is also one of the producers, not because of the importance of his character.

* When Oliver Queen in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' dressed up as GreenArrow, his costume included a computerized voice modifier that lowered his voice, helping to preserve his secret idenity. Early in Season 10, Queen revealed his dual identity at a press conference. Yet anytime he became Green Arrow after that, he still had the voice modifier on even though it's no longer necessary.

* Leena in ''Series/Warehouse13'' steadily became this, rarely contributing to the episodic plots let alone the MythArc, but always hanging around and aiding the Agents because she's the owner of the inn they live in. Best signified by the fact that we got the fairly extensive backstories for all of the cast ''except'' Leena. The writers had originally intended her to be more important and play a big role in the plot, but ExecutiveMeddling struck and resulted in her being DemotedToExtra. Eventually the writers caught on that she was becoming pointless, so they ended her Artifact nature permanently by [[spoiler: having the Evil Artie kill her as a SacrificialLion in order to further raise the stakes in an already intense WhamEpisode arc.]]

* The end credits of ''TwinPeaks'' continued to use the photo of Laura Palmer as a background, long after her murder was solved and a new plot arc was picked up.

* In ''TheVampireDiaries'' the fact that most of the characters are high school students has turned into this, as the focus of the show moved away from teen drama (with vampires) towards supernatural power struggle. Even scenes of the characters talking in the halls have become rare, and the usual mechanic for getting the cast in one place is an all-ages town event. Once the need for it passed Stefan simply dropped out, but since the rest of them are real teenagers they don't have the option. As of season five, only Jeremy is still in high school and that is because the other characters will not allow him to drop out. He even lampshades this as, when berated for his poor performance, he points out that he has legitimately bigger problems to worry about and can hardly ask for an absence to be excused because Travelers are plotting against the good guys.

* Mike and Tina on ''Series/{{Glee}}''. In Season 1, Tina had a fake stutter and was dating Artie. Mike danced with [[ThoseTwoGuys his friend Matt.]] Between seasons one and two, Tina dumped Artie for Mike, and Mike got a bigger role, Tina's dropped dramatically, and Artie [[EnsembleDarkhorse became a fan favorite]]. Now Mike exists to do cool dance routines and Tina exists to cry while she sings.

** Arguably, the show's {{White Male Lead}}s Will and Finn became this as well, as both characters lost purpose as the show went on:

** Arguably, the show's {{White Male Lead}s Will and Finn became this as well, as both characters lost purpose as the show went on:

** Arguably, the show's WhiteMaleLeads Will and Finn became this as well, as both characters lost purpose as the show went on:
*** Will was the teacher/mentor of New Directions, and his personal life--such as his tumultuous first marriage with Terri--was often plot points. But by the third season, Will had begun a long-term relationship with Emma, and the kids were able to carry the bulk of the episodes by themselves. In the fourth season, he was even PutOnABus temporarily to allow for actor Matthew Morrison to take on a Broadway play, and the show got by just fine without him. Once he got back, and finally married Emma, his role was mostly relegated to mentor figure.
*** Finn's Artifactness is more tragic since actor Actor/CoryMonteith passed away in 2013 and TheCharacterDiedWithHim, but it was still obvious. In the first two seasons he was the central teen character, the star quarterback who's secretly a good singer, and much of the show focused on his conflicting interests and a LoveTriangle between AlphaBitch Quinn and New Directions' female lead Rachel. But by the third season, it had become clear that he was ''not'' the best male singer in the group, and other boys like Kurt and Artie often had the lead roles. Plus, the other kids' conflicts began to draw more story focus as Finn had become comfortable in the club and his relationship with Rachel stabilized. It actually became a plot point; he was devastated that he lost the football scholarship to Ohio State, because he was clearly not a good enough singer for a performing arts college, and without football either, he had no direction in life. In the fourth season he filled in for Will due to his above-mentioned sabbatical, but even then, his contribution to the plot was minimal and his relationship with Rachel was going nowhere. While being the standing mentor for New Directions did inspire Finn to go to college for teaching, his relationship with Rachel became increasingly unlikely to survive her new life in New York and his own newfound career path (teachers tend to move to where the work is), but the writers couldn't just break them up since they were the Main Couple. As difficult as it is to say this, Cory Monteith's death freed the writers to move on with the show without having to figure out how to fit Finn into it.

** The Glee Club itself became an Artifact in the fourth season, when the show started to divide its attention between New Directions in Ohio and the graduates who moved to New York--originally just Rachel, who was later joined by Kurt and Santana. While the New York storylines were new, dynamic, and proof that life ''can'' get better for an outcast after high school, the Ohio storylines felt like an obligation at best and an afterthought at worst. The writers eventually realized this, and [=McKinley=] High was dropped altogether in favor of New York, with fan favorites Sam, Artie, Blaine, and Mercedes moving there to join the aforementioned trio.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' had two Artifacts: {{White Male Lead}}s Will Schuster and Finn Hudson:
** Will was the teacher/mentor/head of New Directions, and his personal life--such as his tumultuous first marriage with Terri--was often featured. But by the third season, Will had begun a long-term relationship with Emma, and the kids were able to carry the bulk of the episodes by themselves. In the fourth season, he was even PutOnABus temporarily to allow for actor Matthew Morrison to take on a Broadway play, and the show got by just fine without him. Once he got back, and finally married Emma, his role was mostly relegated to mentor figure.
** Finn's Artifactness is more tragic since actor Actor/CoryMonteith passed away in 2013 and TheCharacterDiedWithHim. In the first two seasons he was the central teen character, the star quarterback who's secretly a good singer, and much of the show focused on his conflicting interests and a LoveTriangle between AlphaBitch Quinn and New Directions' female lead Rachel. But by the third season, it had become clear that he was ''not'' the best male singer in the group, and other boys like Kurt and Artie often had the lead roles. Plus, the other kids' conflicts began to draw more story focus as Finn had become comfortable in the club and his relationship with Rachel stabilized. It actually became a plot point; he was devastated that he lost the football scholarship to Ohio State, because he was clearly not a good enough singer for a performing arts college, and without football he had no direction in life. In the fourth season he filled in for Will due to his above-mentioned sabbatical, but even then, his contribution to the plot was minimal and his relationship with Rachel was going nowhere, yet the writers couldn't just break them up since they were the Main Couple. While being the standing mentor for New Directions did inspire Finn to go to college for teaching, his relationship with Rachel became increasingly unlikely to survive her new life in New York. As difficult as it is to say this, Corey Monteith's death freed the writers to move on with the show without having to figure out how to fit Finn into it.

** Will was the teacher/mentor/head of New Directions, and his personal life--such as his tumultuous first marriage with Terri--were often featured. But by the third season, Will had begun a long-term relationship with Emma, and the kids were able to carry the bulk of the episodes by themselves. In the fourth season, he was even PutOnABus temporarily to allow for actor Matthew Morrison to take on a Broadway play, and the show got by just fine without him. Once he got back, and finally married Emma, his role was mostly relegated to mentor figure.
** Finn's Artifactness is more tragic since actor Actor/CoryMonteith passed away in 2013 and TheCharacterDiedWIthHim. In the first two seasons he was the central teen character, the star quarterback who's secretly a good singer, and much of the show focused on his conflicting interests and a LoveTriangle between AlphaBitch Quinn and New Directions' female lead Rachel. But by the third season, it had become clear that he was ''not'' the best male singer in the group, and other boys like Kurt and Artie often had the lead roles. Plus, the other kids' conflicts began to draw more story focus as Finn had become comfortable in the club and his relationship with Rachel stabilized. It actually became a plot point; he was devastated that he lost the football scholarship to Ohio State, because he was clearly not a good enough singer for a performing arts college, and without football he had no direction in life. In the fourth season he filled in for Will due to his above-mentioned sabbatical, but even then, his contribution to the plot was minimal and his relationship with Rachel was going nowhere, yet the writers couldn't just break them up since they were the Main Couple. While being the standing mentor for New Directions did inspire Finn to go to college for teaching, his relationship with Rachel became increasingly unlikely to survive her new life in New York. As difficult as it is to say this, Corey Monteith's death freed the writers to move on with the show without having to figure out how to fit Finn into it.

* From ''Series/{{Glee}}'', {{White Male Lead}}s Will Schuster and Finn Hudson became this later in the show's run. Will was the teacher/mentor/head of New Directions, and his personal life--such as his tumultuous first marriage with Terri--were often featured. But by the third season, Will had begun a long-term relationship with Emma, and the kids were able to carry the bulk of the episodes by themselves. In the fourth season, he was even PutOnABus temporarily to allow for actor Matthew Morrison to take on a Broadway play, and the show got by just fine without him. Once he got back, and finally married Emma, his role was mostly relegated to mentor figure.
//Finn's Artifactness is more tragic since actor Actor/CoryMonteith passed away in 2013 and TheCharacterDiedWIthHim. In the first two seasons he was the central teen character, the star quarterback who's secretly a good singer, and much of the show focused on his conflicting interests and a LoveTriangle between AlphaBitch Quinn and New Directions' female lead Rachel. But by the third season, it had become clear that he was ''not'' the best male singer in the group, and other boys like Kurt and Artie often had the lead roles. Plus, the other kids' conflicts began to draw more story focus as Finn had become comfortable in the club and his relationship with Rachel stabilized. It actually became a plot point; he was devastated that he lost the football scholarship to Ohio State, because he was clearly not a good enough singer for a performing arts college, and without football he had no direction in life. In the fourth season he filled in for Will due to his above-mentioned sabbatical, but even then, his contribution to the plot was minimal and his relationship with Rachel was going nowhere, yet the writers couldn't just break them up since they were the Main Couple. While being the standing mentor for New Directions did inspire Finn to go to college for teaching, his relationship with Rachel became increasingly unlikely to survive her new life in New York. As difficult as it is to say this, Corey Monteith's death freed the writers to move on with the show without having to figure out how to fit Finn into it.

* The motorcycles in the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series. Initially, the hero's character designs were based loosely upon bikers. However as each newer season moved thematically further and further away from this, the bikes are kept in, just to make sense of the "Rider" in the title. They'll sometimes be introduced and never seen again. This gave rise to the fan criticism, "It's called 'Kamen '''Rider'''', not 'Kamen Walk-All-Over-the-F@$king-place'!"
** Some series, such as ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' and ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' have tried to avert this by using the bikes much more prominently; Double's bike can convert into a watercraft or jet and is used to fight giant monsters, while his ally Accel ''turns into'' a motorcycle. At the very least, they'll still use a signature motorcycle to get around, if nothing else.
** Eventually they bit the bullet with ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' and did away with the bike entirely, giving Drive a CoolCar instead. Motorcycles are still present, but they belong to TheRival Mashin Chaser and Drive's ally Mach instead, [[spoiler: and even then, their motorcycles can combine into a vaguely car-like vehicle]]. The car theme was even a marketing point.
-->This Rider is a driver!

* In "ParksAndRecreation", the concept of the mockumentary film style has slowly dropped into complete irrelevance. Things which have absolutely no conceivable reason for being filmed inexplicably are; characters are shown conversing in their homes on completely ordinary evenings or mornings, and cameramen happen to already be in locations where the main cast has only just arrived, such as inside every house the P&R department visit, even if it belongs to a complete stranger. Nobody in-universe reacts to the cameramen's presence anymore, no matter the circumstances. For a particularly ironic example, in one episode Ron attempts to go completely "off the grid," attempting to scrub the evidence of his existence from every surface of the universe, yet has no qualms with a documentary crew following him around as he does so. Finally, the cameramen are allowed places they realistically never would, such as in hospitals, with no questions asked.

* Originally, ''ThePriceIsRight'' was all about the replication of an auction: trying to get a good deal on something through multiple rounds of bidding as close to the actual price, without going over. Which contestant returned each week was based around who got the best "deals" through their bidding; big prizes such as houses, shares of stock, and small business franchises weren't unheard of. With the new version, the "pricing games" are really the central concept of the show, with the biggest prizes, and the auctioneering aspects of the show are more formalities than anything.

* ''SaturdayNightLive'''s catchphrase "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!", came about because when it first premiered, there was already a television program called ''Saturday Night Live'' that aired on ABC, so the show was called ''NBC's Saturday Night'' during its first season.
* In an intentional example, Hooper's Store on ''Series/SesameStreet'' retains its name long after its original owner has departed.

** That's because the show was originally designed as a "youth" vehicle and Trevor Bannister and Wendy Richard were to play the main characters. The producers' mistake was in assembling a stellar and highly professional cast in the shape of Frank Thornton, Mollie Sugden, John Inman and Arthur Brough, who outshone the "stars" of the piece. Eventually Trevor Bannister left, because he had been promised a starring role and he kept getting upstaged by a bunch of old pantomime and "Carry-On" left-overs.