The Simpsons is quite (in)famous for its reliance on Status Quo Is God (a plot point it frequently lampshades), especially in the later seasons.
- 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 Book Dumb 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 "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 became a vegetarian, she stayed a vegetarian. (Only because Paul McCartney wouldn't do the show otherwise.) She also remained a Buddhist after converting in "She of Little Faith".
- Also when Maude Flanders died, she stayed dead, since 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 got married in Season 9; in Season 13 he cheated, and ever since then every appearance by him or his wife references it, usually by having them 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.
- Lampshaded in the show itself in the infamous episode "The Principal and the Pauper". To those who don't know, 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 tied to a train and is never heard from again and the judge rules that 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, Principal Tamzarian. - At the end of "C.E.D'oh", Homer has his "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 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. 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 Killed Off for Real.
- 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. The characters start chanting 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 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 the death of Mrs. Krabappel. There were two episodes revolving around Bart getting a new teacher, but they were One Shot Characters. 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 "Left Behind" had Ned Flanders lose the Leftorium to online shopping, and 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.
- Moe has many episodes focusing on him bettering his business, getting into a relationship or finding great success in another line of work. He always blows it, but at least ends up back where he started.
- In "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun", Superintendent Chalmers teams up with Homer to brew their own beer brand, and his career as an educator is thrown into jeopardy when teens from a party Shauna was attending steal the beer and Lisa notifies the police (out of spite for Shauna abandoning their friendship for popularity). It was only by Homer forgetting to put yeast in the beer (thus rendering the beer non-alcoholic) that Chalmers remains a superintendent to this day.
