History TheArtifact / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/MacGyver'' shifted its focus over time from his role as a troubleshooter for the government (and, later, the humanitarian/scientific/mercenary/whatever Phoenix Foundation) to being more of a glorified social worker with the Challenger's Club as his base of operations. As such, many things ended up becoming artifacts. The Phoenix Foundation played a vestigial role in most of the later episodes, Pete became little more than an incidental sidekick instead of a vital character, and even [=MacGyver's=] trademark improvisational inventions started requiring special attention to incorporate into the stories. If the series had continued, it probably would have eventually written out all of those elements. In the case of Pete, part of the problem was actor Dana Elcar's glaucoma. It was [[WrittenInInfirmity written into the storyline]], but eventually Pete had to be written out due to Elcar going blind. There is one scene in particular where [[EnforcedMethodActing Pete drops a pill and gropes around on the floor for it.]] [[ThrowItIn They threw it in.]]

* Potsie of ''Series/HappyDays'' suffered from this in the show's later seasons. The show started off centering around Richie and Potsie getting involved in unwise schemes and pranks. Then, after [[BreakoutCharacter Fonzie became the star]] and Richie left the series, Potsie no longer served any purpose, but that didn't stop him from making awkward token appearances in the later years.

* Ryan Howard on ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' had never been quite important enough to justify his existence as one of the main cast members, but he definitely had a role as The New Guy who would react to all the strangeness of the Office because he wasn't used to it. After the third season he actually started becoming less important than the likes of Angela, Stanley, Kevin, etc. none of whom are in the opening credits. By the later seasons, if Ryan appeared in an episode at all it's as little more than a cameo, and yet he's still there in the opening credits. In season 9, this changed and his actor left the show (only coming BackForTheFinale).

** The show in general is an example of being a last remnant of the whole "Everything is connected!" gimmick that the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' was trying to push early on. The films that make up the ''MCU'', and the television shows that combine to form the Creator/{{Netflix}} ''[[Series/TheDefenders2017 Defenders]]'' continuity, have pretty much abandoned trying to overlap with one another. However, the same can't be said about ''Agents of SHIELD''. Even though there hasn't been any major ramifications from the films that have affected the show since the HYDRA twist caused by ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', it still doesn't stop the show from making obvious references to characters and such that only appear in the films. What you're left with is a one-sided relationship within the franchise where ''Agents of SHIELD'' acts like it's part of the ''MCU'' film continuity, but said films end up completely ignoring the events that go down in the show.[[note]]Even Creator/JossWhedon, who created the series and directed the [[Film/TheAvengers2012 first]] [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron two]] Avengers films, doesn't really see his own series directly connecting to the other films anymore.[[/note]]

* ''Series/AmericanDreams''. Its original gimmick of ''Series/AmericanBandstand'' performances (and then modern-day stars doing faux-Bandstand performances) seemed more and more awkwardly included, as the show attempted to become refocused as a serious drama that just happened to take place in the 60s.

** Vampires themselves became an Artifact on the show. In the first three seasons, vampires posed a serious threat and the Big Bads of seasons 1 and 2 were vampires. However in later seasons, the Big Bads became Frankenstein's monster-esque half-human, half-demon cyborgs, evil hell gods, and the First ever evil itself. As a result vampires on the show had pretty much become little more than Mooks to be quickly dispatched to demonstrate Buffy's strength. The show was called "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" so she had to be shown slaying some vampires even if she had bigger threats to deal with. By the final season of the show 'normal' vampires were becoming rare even as mooks, with Buffy last facing one five episodes before the finale; after this point their spot was taken by the Turok-Han a related but more bestial and powerful type of vampire described as like the relationship between Neanderthals and modern humans.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'' the first season had a running gag of sorts in which many tertiary characters had an in-universe nickname based on their occupation or some personality trait. Examples include Paul the Wine Guy, Fun Bobby, Fake Monica, Young Ethan, Brian from Payroll and most famously, and by far most lasting Ugly Naked Guy. After season two the nicknames vanished altogether leaving Ugly Naked Guy as the sole 'survivor'.

** The presence of the Baratheon stag in the show's opening sequence has become this as of the sixth season, [[spoiler: since the last Baratheon branch--Stannis, Selyse, and Shireen--were killed at the end of Season Five]]. While King Tommen wears the Baratheon name and antler crown, he is (not-so) secretly Jaime Lannister's son and thus a Lannister through and through. The only still-living person with [[spoiler: Baratheon blood]] is the bastard Gendry, whom Robert didn't even know he sired (hence why he lacks the appropriate bastard surname "Waters"). He has managed to escape both Cersei's purge of Robert's bastards and Melisandre sacrificing him for her spell, but hasn't appeared in several seasons. [[spoiler: And with Tommen's suicide at the end of Season 6, House Baratheon is officially extinct.]]

* Throughout the run of ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'', fewer and fewer plots directly involved ''[[ShowWithinAShow TGS]]'', leaving much of the supporting cast (''especially'' Josh and [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute later Danny]]) with little to do. Additionally, Pete was originally intended to be Liz's confidante and support system, but this role was increasingly co-opted by Jack, who was originally intended to be semi-villainous. Thus, Pete was slowly repurposed into a miserable JadedWashout, but still spent much of the later seasons OutOfFocus.
* ''Series/MacGyver'' shifted its focus over time from his role as a troubleshooter for the government (and, later, the humanitarian/scientific/mercenary/whatever Phoenix Foundation) to being more of a glorified social worker with the Challenger's Club as his base of operations. As such, many things ended up becoming artifacts. The Phoenix Foundation played a vestigial role in most of the later episodes, Pete became little more than an incidental sidekick instead of a vital character, and even [=MacGyver's=] trademark improvisational inventions started requiring special attention to incorporate into the stories. If the series had continued, it probably would have eventually written out all of those elements.
** In the case of Pete, part of the problem was actor Dana Elcar's glaucoma. It was [[WrittenInInfirmity written into the storyline]], but eventually Pete had to be written out due to Elcar going blind. There is one scene in particular where [[EnforcedMethodActing Pete drops a pill and gropes around on the floor for it.]] [[ThrowItIn They threw it in.]]

* From the Franchise/SuperSentai franchise:

* ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' ran headlong into this as a result of being adapted from three different Franchise/SuperSentai shows. The first season was based solely on ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', so things worked just fine. But for the second season, rather than adopting Super Sentai's tradition of making a completely new show and storyline every year, Saban chose to take the [[MonstersOfTheWeek monsters]] and [[HumongousMecha robots]] from ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'' while retaining the Zyuranger suits for the heroes and keeping the same main villains. The same thing was done for the third season with ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'', though in this instance the Kakuranger suits were used for a another team of Rangers. Overall this results in quite a few oddities, since the motifs of the three Sentai teams did not match: while the animal robots and suits in Zyuranger were based on prehistoric beasts, the ones in Dairanger were based on Chinese mythology and the ones in Kakuranger were based on Japanese mythology. The ranger roster and colors also did not match: while all three teams had their respective red, blue and yellow rangers, Dairanger had a "regular" green ranger instead of black and a white sixth (which resulted in the Black Ranger piloting a green-colored lion robot and Tommy being forced to switch suits and powers in the middle of Season 2), while Kakuranger had a female white ranger instead of pink and no sixth (forcing the White and Pink Rangers to share the same Shogunzord). This also holds true for the villains, as the character of Rita Repulsa and her minions stayed on the show for a total of six seasons despite the fact that their Sentai counterparts (Bandora the Witch and her gang) were sealed away at the end of ''Zyuranger''. The most stand-out case is Finster, who was the villains' monster-maker and MadScientist, but had his role greatly reduced in the second and third seasons when [[AlwaysABiggerFish new]] {{Big Bad}}s with the power to make their own monsters were introduced.

* The TitleSequence of ''{{Series/Misfits}}'' has a few animated bits where silhouettes of the main cast display their powers (for example, the [[{{Invisibility}} invisible]] Simon has no shadow while [[{{Telepathy}} mind reader]] Kelly is the only one with eyes). Starting with season 3 the cast gets new powers that don’t match the opening. More obviously, the silhouettes also remain the same after cast members leave, which becomes very noticeable in the final season where all the original members are gone.

** Archie was part of the main cast in Season 1 but only appeared in ten episodes. He fit with the original intent of the show - which was to have more procedural storylines in the Storybrooke portions. As the fantasy elements were emphasised, Archie as the therapist became pretty redundant and he was left a recurring character in subsequent seasons.

--->'''Miss Brooks''' (in greeting): Why, Stretch.
--->'''Stretch Snodgrass''': [[LiteralMinded I don't know. That's what everybody calls me.]]

** The series had this problem a lot; understandable, when the series shifted from focusing on characters in one location to following characters who'd scattered across America - by which point they no longer had a prison to break out of. During season 2, some awkward attempts were made to fold Artifact characters into the series' MythArc (though there were some successful attempts too), while others, like MagnificentBastard T-Bag, ended up getting huge chunks of solo screentime that ultimately contributed nothing to the main arc of the series. The [[PostScriptSeason third and fourth seasons]] did a much better job of giving everyone a role.

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' has Shawn's psychic pretense 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. His ability is also an in-universe artifact, as the only reason he's allowed to work with the police in the first place is how powerful his "psychic" abilities are. Of course, years later, his track record is pretty much proven and he could probably drop it and still work on his merits. The case in question much have already been settled by now. Juliet [[spoiler: was still very displeased when she found out.]]

* ''Series/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 Creator/{{ABC}}, which, unlike the Creator/{{NBC}} version, had a permanent host in the form of Howard Cosell, whom, at the time, was also serving as a color commentator on ''Series/MondayNightFootball'', and also aired in prime time instead of late night, so the show was called ''NBC's Saturday Night'' during its first season. Ironically, after the ABC version was cancelled, cast members Creator/BillMurray, Creator/BrianDoyleMurray, and Creator/ChristopherGuest and associate producer Jean Doumanian all later worked on the NBC show at different times, and Doumanian, in fact, later replaced ''SNL'' creator Creator/LorneMichaels as producer when the latter left to work for Creator/{{Paramount}}.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'':

** Another Artifact is Teal'c's staff weapon. When Teal'c was first introduced, it made sense for him to favor and keep using a staff weapon--he had no experience with Earth weapons. Over the years, Teal'c was shown more and more at ease with using normal guns, but his default weapon when leaving on a mission remained a staff weapon despite the fact that guns are deadlier and that his strength let him go GunsAkimbo. After the loss of his symbiote and the growth of hair, the staff and the gold marking was essentially all that remained of Teal'c's early "alien" days.
** Staff weapons themselves became harder to justify with the increasing prominence of zats, which were far smaller, less unwieldy, and more reliable. A later justification was that staff weapons were designed more for instilling fear into the primitive humans than actual combat, but that didn't explain their use by supposedly EliteMooks out in the field.
*** Part of the staff's continued relevance was handwaved in later episodes by it also being an effective melee weapon and all staff-like weapons being integral to Jaffa martial arts.

*** ''Continuum,'' which ends up being the GrandFinale though more had been planned at the time, ends up featuring the Gate about as much as the early seasons did, though not to the degree of the intended grand finales that went out of their way to feature it in a big way. The final round against Baal has all the hallmarks of any major Goa'uld battle - including the gates that remain their preferred method of getting around.

** The show in general is an example of being a last remnant of the whole "Everything is connected!" gimmick that the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' was trying to push early on. The films that make up the ''MCU'', and the television shows that combine to form the Creator/{{Netflix}} ''[[Series/TheDefenders2017 Defenders]]'' continuity, have pretty much abandoned trying to overlap with one another. However, the same can't be said about ''Agents of SHIELD''. Even though there hasn't been any major ramifications from the films that have affected the show since the HYDRA twist caused by ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', it still doesn't stop the show from making obvious references to characters and such that only appear in the films. What you're left with is a one-sided relationship within the franchise where ''Agents of SHIELD'' acts like it's part of the ''MCU'' film continuity, but said films end up completely ignoring the events that go down in the show.

* Creator/{{FX|Networks}} and its sister networks FXX and FX Movie Channel now only share a relationship with the Creator/{{Fox}} network by name (FX originally stood for '''F'''ox E'''x'''tended), as Fox sold the networks along with their film and television studios to Creator/{{Disney}}. However, FX had been developing its own identity in recent years by venturing into more avant garde fare that would otherwise be inapproprite for Fox, so its association with the network is no longer emphasized as much as it was in the past.

** Pretty much everything about its portrayal of a pre-Superman Clark Kent became this after a while. More and more of his allies and rogues gallery were showing up, and by the end, it may as well have been a Superman series. He'd worked with the [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]], the [[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]], and the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, seen the arrival of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and the creation of ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, was working at the Daily Planet alongside ComicBook/LoisLane, with whom he's had a full RelationshipUpgrade and who knows he's Superman (excuse us, ''[[{{Narm}} the red-blue blur]]''), and had faced ComicBook/LexLuthor, ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, General Zod, and the minions of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. ''Everything'' you think of when you think of Superman was in place, but the creators were still hanging onto it being a prequel, so he doesn't have his costume, doesn't have the name, and hasn't learned to fly yet, long past the point where it had stopped making sense and become a source of derision.

** Pretty much everything about its portrayal of a pre-Superman Clark Kent became this after a while. More and more of his allies and rogues gallery were showing up, and by the end, it may as well have been a Superman series. He'd worked with the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, and the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, was working at the Daily Planet alongside ComicBook/LoisLane, with whom he's had a full RelationshipUpgrade and she knows he's Superman (excuse us, ''the red-blue blur''), and had faced ComicBook/LexLuthor, ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, General Zod, and the minions of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. ''Everything'' you think of when you think of Superman was in place, but the creators were still hanging onto it being a prequel, so he doesn't have his costume, doesn't have the name, and hasn't learned to fly yet, long past the point where it had stopped making sense and become a source of derision.

* 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 identity. 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.
** Pretty much everything about its portrayal of a pre-Superman Clark Kent becomes this after a while. More and more of his allies and rogues gallery have shown up and by the end, it may as well be a Superman series. He'd worked with the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, and the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, was working at the Daily Planet alongside ComicBook/LoisLane, with whom he's had a full RelationshipUpgrade and she knows he's Superman (excuse us, ''the red-blue blur''), and had faced ComicBook/LexLuthor, ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, General Zod, and the minions of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. ''Everything'' you think of when you think of Superman was in place, but the creators were still hanging onto it being a prequel, so he doesn't have his costume, doesn't have the name, and hasn't learned to fly yet, long past the point where it had stopped making sense and become a source of derision.

** Pretty much everything about its portrayal of a pre-Superman Clark Kent becomes this after a while. More and more of his allies and rogues gallery have shown up and by the end, it may as well be a Superman series. He'd worked with the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, and the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, was working at the Daily Planet alongside ComicBook/LoisLane, with whom he's had a full RelationshipUpgrade and she knows he's Superman (excuse us, ''the red-blue blur''), and had faced ComicBook/LexLuthor, ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, General Zod, and the minions of ComicBook/Darkseid. ''Everything'' you think of when you think of Superman was in place, but the creators were still hanging onto it being a prequel, so he doesn't have his costume, doesn't have the name, and hasn't learned to fly yet, long past the point where it had stopped making sense and become a source of derision.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'''s lead character John Reese eventually became this. He stops driving the story midway through season 2, and as the Machine and the characters surrounding it becoming increasingly relevant, he eventually began to cede focus to characters like Root and Shaw.

** 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 and it serves a more of a "quick-fire" questions round.

** At the start of the series, 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.
*** Ironically, Lorraine Bracco maintains her second billing in the opening credits throughout the series, despite her appearances becoming rarer as the series goes on.
** Uncle Junior, despite being a central character early on and the primary antagonist to Tony in season 1, became less and less essential to the point that in the final batch of episodes he only appears 2 or 3 times.
*** Being under house arrest after season one somewhat justified his less central role.
** Characters such as Rosalie and Angie (wives of mobsters who died quite early on in the series) arguably count.

* Vanna White, the LovelyAssistant on ''Series/WheelOfFortune''. In 1997, the show traded out its mechanical puzzle board for a set of video monitors, thus making Vanna's job redundant (she touches the letters now instead of turning them, but the board is run remotely for filling in the answer instantly when a puzzle is solved and, since 2000, revealing letters randomly in Toss-Ups). However, she's become such a pop culture icon that removing her would cause an outcry.

** 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. However, the show did return to Lima in the final season.

*** Finn was one of the central teen characters in the first two seasons, the quarterback who's secretly a good singer, and much of the show focused on his conflicting interests. But by the third season, it had become clear that he was ''not'' the best male singer in the group and more song leads went to Kurt and Artie. Plus, the other kids' issues began to draw more focus since Finn had become comfortable in the club and his relationship with Rachel had stabilized. It actually became a plot point that he was SoOkayItsAverage at every venture he pursued, causing him to return to Lima after graduation to fill in for Will due to his aforementioned sabbatical. But even then, his contribution to the plot was minimal and his relationship with Rachel felt increasingly forced. Corey Monteith's death--[[TheCharacterDiedWithHim and Finn's along with him]]--was tragic and untimely, but it allowed the show to move on without having to figure out how Finn fit into things.

* Creator/{{FX}} and its sister networks FXX and FX Movie Channel now only share a relationship with the Creator/{{Fox}} network by name (FX originally stood for '''F'''ox E'''x'''tended), as Fox sold the networks along with their film and television studios to Creator/{{Disney}}. However, FX had been developing its own identity in recent years by venturing into more avant garde fare that would otherwise be inapproprite for Fox, so its association with the network is no longer emphasized as much as it was in the past.

-->'''Miss Brooks''' (in greeting): Why, Stretch.
-->'''Stretch Snodgrass''': [[LiteralMinded I don't know. That's what everybody calls me.]]

** First of all, the motorcycles. 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.

* Harriet Winslow of ''Series/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 holdover who never got written out of the show. 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.

** Vampires themselves became an Artifact on the show. In the first three seasons, vampires posed a serious threat and the Big Bads of seasons 1 and 2 were vampires. However in later seasons, the Big Bads became Frankenstein's monster-esque half-human, half-demon cyborgs, evil hell gods, and the First ever evil itself. As a result vampires on the show had pretty much become little more than Mooks to be quickly dispatched to demonstrate Buffy's strength. The show was called "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" so she had to be shown slaying some vampires even if she had bigger threats to deal with.

** 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 one direction was like an attack from any other.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'' the first season had a running gag of sorts in which many tertiary characters had an in-universe nickname based on their occupation or some personality trait. Examples include Paul the Wine Guy, Fun Bobby, Fake Monica, Young Ethan, Brian from Payroll and most famously, and by far most lasting Fat Ugly Naked Guy. After season two the nicknames vanished altogether leaving Fat Ugly Naked Guy as the sole 'survivor'.