Girl of the Week: Difference between revisions
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'''Elliot:''' Dating your laptop. Thank you.|''[[Scrubs]]'', "My Half-Acre"}}
Like the [[Temporary Love Interest]], this is a way to give the hero some romance for the episode while still allowing the focus of the show to be on the plot or the arc, but the '''Girl of the Week''' (or '''Guy of the Week''') does not have to [[Cartwright Curse|die at the end]]. The girl will be [[One-Shot Character|gone by the next episode]], possibly because of a wacky misunderstanding a la the [[Three Is Company]] plotline, or a [[Minor Flaw, Major Breakup|very minor flaw]], but sometimes just not showing up again, with [[Snap Back|no explanation offered]]. This relationship will generally be rockier or less passionate than that with the [[Temporary Love Interest]], allowing its end to be less dramatic. If someone is ''noted'' for getting extremely passionate about every Girl of the Week, sincerely believing each one in turn to be the love of their life but then forgetting all about them a week later, they're a [[Serial Romeo]]. Sometimes, particularly in a [[Walking the Earth]] series, there's ''no'' relationship, but the girl is shown having an obvious interest in the hero (which may be mutual) before he inevitably moves on.
If she survives longer than her initial appearance, [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]] is likely.
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* In ''[[City Hunter]]'', Ryo Saeba accepts assignments almost exclusively from beautiful young women, most of whom are never seen again in further episodes. During the rare instances when Ryo accepts a job from a man, it would usually involve protecting a young woman.
* Subverted and gender-swapped in ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' - the guy of the week rarely sticks around once he learns who Kei and Yuri are.
* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', there are quite a few Girls of the Week during the [[Walking the Earth]] segments. Even more are added during the filler episodes. Strangely enough, Goku's wife Chi-Chi is originally introduced as a Girl of the Week and when she makes her second appearance in the manga over a hundred chapters later, there's a [[Lampshade Hanging]] where no one can remember her
* The manga ''[[Eat Man]]'' also featured many of these, most of them kinda underaged.
* ''[[Galaxy Angel (anime)|Galaxy Angel]]'' parodies this; in each of Ranpha's episodes, she falls over a new hot guy, but [[Inexplicably Identical Individuals|they all look and sound the same]].
* This theme is basically the premise of ''[[Golden Boy]]''.
* The anime series ''[[King of Bandit Jing]]'' offered this as a ''feature'', with a different pretty girl in each of the [[Adventure Towns]] the titular hero journeyed to.
* More of a ''Girl Of The Year'' than a
* Not so much
** Some of the more cohesive filler arcs during the gap between the end of Part 1 and beginning of Shippuden also brought this into play. This adds two female daimyos, a handful of kunoichi, and one girl with [[Fish People|a bad skin condition]] to Naruto's roster. Of these, exactly one has appeared as a background character since then and she was rooting for [[Hero of Another Story|Gaara]].
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]],'' subverted (Brock never has even a slim chance of actually getting the girl).
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== Film ==
* The [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] film franchise is famous for its Bond Girls, the [[Disposable Woman|disposable]] companions that Bond acquires in each of his various adventures. Bond Girls have a very high mortality rate, and, with some exceptions, never appear in more than one movie. The only exception is "Trench, Sylvia Trench" from the first two movies, who perhaps was spared for giving Bond his catchphrase (though she never "made it" with Bond, either). Unless of course we count Ms. Moneypenny (and Judi Dench's M, since the actress considers herself a "
** Vesper Lynd, in the 2006 version of ''[[Casino Royale]]'', is the only character to have a direct effect on the plot of a second film (''[[Quantum of Solace]]'', in which she casts a long shadow but appears onscreen for all of two seconds).
** Bond's murdered wife [[The Gwen Stacy|Teresa di Vicenzo]] also gets brought up every now and then, but always indirectly (possibly to hide the [[Continuity Snarl]] of Pierce Brosnan being called upon to mourn a woman George Lazenby married almost thirty years earlier), though this was the unspoken reason Bond was so pissed at Blofeld in the immediate sequel, ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]''.
*** Teresa would have appeared in the film after ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'' and be killed early in the film. Before filming of Lazenby's first film ended he had already decided not to do another, so she was killed at the end of the film.
** Maud Adams, meanwhile, has appeared as two different Bond girls: Andrea Anders in ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun]]'', and the title character in ''[[Octopussy]]''. The former doesn't make it.
** In ''Happy and Glorious'' (which was made especially for the 2012 London Olympics), Her Royal Majesty, Queen [[Elizabeth II]] appeared [[As Herself]] opposite James Bond (played by Daniel Craig). If Judi Dench's M is a Bond Girl, then so is the Sovereign by the same reasoning.
* ''[[Austin Powers]]''. As a Bond spoof, it, too, has its own Bond Girls.
** In the first film, Vanessa Kensington was a [[Love Interest]] with a full back story that made her complex and sympathetic. Because Mike Myers only intended the film to do modestly, Austin learned [[An Aesop]] about how life as a [[Casanova]] was far less satisfying in [[The Nineties]], and underwent significant [[Character Development]] to be with her. After the character became a phenomenon and sequels were planned, the franchise underwent [[Flanderization]] from a quirky, sentimental comedy into [[Denser and Wackier]] [[Farce]]. Vanessa was [[Retcon
{{quote|'''Austin:''' I can't believe Vanessa, my bride, my one true love, [[Lampshade Hanging|the woman who taught me the beauty of monogamy]], {{spoiler|was a fembot all along.}} Wait a tick, that means I'm single again! [[Catch Phrase|Oh behave!]] }}
* ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' had several:
** Original: Mme.
** ''Shot'': Maria Gambrelli
** ''Inspector Clouseau'': Lisa Morrell
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** There's also a line that justifies why it was played straight in the first three films. Indiana tells the love interest that it didn't last with any of the other girls because they all had the same problem: "They weren't you."
*** Not to mention the fact that when they meet [[Raiders of the Lost Ark|in the first movie]], they've already had a past relationship, {{spoiler|making "Kingdom" the third and final(?) time they hook up!"}}
* The original ''Batman'' films. ''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]'' had Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), ''[[Batman Returns]]'' had Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and ''[[Batman Forever]]'' had Chase Meridian ([[Nicole Kidman]]).
** ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'' had Julie Madison (Elle Macpherson). And that just proves how pivotal she is to the plot.
*** Although, both Vicki and Catwoman are given an explanation as to where they went. Bruce told Selina that Vicki couldn't handle his double life, and {{spoiler|as far as Batman knows Catwoman is dead}}.
**** A earlier draft of the script for ''Batman and Robin'' had {{spoiler|Poison Ivy killing Julie Madison}}
== Literature ==
* [[Fritz Leiber]]'s ''[[Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser]]'' series employed this trope. At least one of the women ''left her people'' to join Fafhrd, but where is she in the next book?...
** She's there just long enough to suffer [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]], as I recall.
** Then, there is a story where they set out, full of vim, certain that they would bump into someone from their old
** Though The Twain both end up more or less as faithful (''more or less'') married husbands in the last stories, set on Rime Isle.
* The [[Gor]] novels (when Tarl isn't pining for Talena or Vella) tend to have a Slave Girl Of The Book, who Tarl teaches to love her slavery. By the next book she's either in his slave harem and (almost) never mentioned again or sold off to someone who is her "ideal master."
* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] does not always get a girl. But when he does, she vanishes without a trace before the next story.
** Justified in that there are huge gaps in time between many stories, and that they weren't written in chronological order. Conan had several lengthy relationships, and eventually married. Also before his marriage Conan is specified to run out of money a lot.
* Thomas Lewellyn, of Will Thomas's Barker and Lewellyn Victorian-era mysteries, will fall in love at least once a book, but it never works out. (Then again, it never gets far- twice he's warned off by the young lady's father or guardian and immediately gives up on the matte and twice it turns out she's seeing someone else and lied about it. The one time he manages to entertain serious thoughts of a relationship until the end of the book? Turns out {{spoiler|she's the [[Big Bad]]}}. Oops.)
* ''[[The Laundry Series|The Jennifer Morgue]]'' discusses, lampshades, and generally plays hell with this trope: the opposition is using a Hero-trap geas, meaning that all efforts to oppose him will be funneled into the [[Theory of Narrative Causality]]; since he cast himself as the villain, he can only be successfully resisted by a [[James Bond]] archetype, which is played by [[The Hero|Bob]]. He is quickly paired up with a female [[Eagle Land|Black Chamber]] agent, making her a Bond girl. {{spoiler|And then the trope is turned completely upside down: it turns out that [[The Chessmaster|Angleton]] was able to successfully end-run the geas by making Bob's girlfriend, Mo, the true Bond-figure in the geas, meaning that ''Bob'' is the [[
* Bernie Rhodenbarr, Lawrence Block's [[Gentleman Thief]] protagonist, sleeps with at least one female love interest per novel, and none of them reappear or are mentioned again after that. The closest person in Bernie's life is Carolyn Kaiser, a lesbian pet-groomer who describes herself as his "minion", and is [[Platonic Life Partners]] with him.
* [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Bertie Wooster]] runs through love interests quickly and frequently ends up engaged (often against his will), but never actually gets married because [[Status Quo Is God]].
== Live Action TV ==
* Virtually every [[Dom Com]] with teen-aged characters has or has had stories where one of the male or female teen-aged characters would become involved in a (almost always, temporary) relationship. The catalyst to the relationship's
** Other times, the date would be successful,
* The Girl of the Week was frequently used on ''[[Magnum, P.I.]]''. In fact, when they weren't Girl of the Week episodes, they were probably [[Temporary Love Interest]] episodes.
** Pretty much a staple of PI series from the 50's to the 80's (e.g. ''Vegas'')
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* ''[[Seinfeld]]'' also often used Girl of the Week. Though the [[Minor Flaw, Major Breakup|increasingly petty reasons those relationships ended]] (liking a certain commercial, eating peas one at a time, having "man hands," etc.) could be considered [[Lampshade Hanging]].
** They actually did hang a lampshade in one episode where Elaine asked Jerry, who is worrying about his new girlfriend, "What are you worried about? You're dating a new girl, like, every week."
* In the first season of ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'', many episodes focused on Brandon's
** Sometimes this would flirt with "[[Very Special Episode]]" territory, since most of the girls Brandon hooked up with had some kind of "issue" connected to them, eg., the girl with the baby, the [[Unfortunate Implications|black girl]], the racist
* ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' - Steve Austin made out with a lot more women than just Jamie Sommers and Farrah Fawcett....
* The repeated use of Girls of the Week in later seasons of ''[[Sliders]]'' was criticized by fans, although they were usually [[Temporary Love Interest|temporary love interests]] since most of the time they [[Cartwright Curse|died tragically at the end of the episode]].
* ''[[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]].'' featured several Girls of the Week. Brisco got kissed by many beautiful women, but his heart always belonged to Dixie Cousins.
* Most early seasons of ''[[Frasier]]'' rarely had Frasier Crane with a girlfriend who stayed around longer than an episode; sometimes they didn't even break up, she simply wasn't there any more an episode later. In later seasons, the girlfriend might stay for a mini-arc but would likely be gone after. Often a focus of [[Lampshade Hanging]] as Frasier obsessed about his inability to commit. In one memorable episode, most of the former love interests made a cameo in a [[Dream Sequence]] on the subject.
* All of the main male characters of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' spinoffs (even including
** Lies! Chekov once got a girl. She didn't even die.
** Scotty once got a girl too. Really, the only regular male character on TOS who ''never'' got a
*** [[Ascended Meme|Oh]] [[
** This was such a common event that characters who keep getting the
** This specific example was hilariously lampshaded in the [[In Living Color]] skit ''The Wrath of Farrakhan''. The line that had me crying with laughter? ''
* ''[[The Saint]]'', especially during Ian Ogilvy's time as the hero.
* ''Bergerac'' (the detective from the island of Jersey, not Cyrano) was a more constant type of chap. He went through a girlfriend per season.
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' loved this trope - justifying it in that Sam's scrambled brain would pick up on the feelings of the person he replaced and that his pursuit would set the GOTW and the person Sam leapt into "on the right path".
** Besides which, unless it was a two-parter Sam would be forcibly "leaped" out of the situation, therefore he ''couldn't'' have an ongoing relationship with any of them. {{spoiler|(He had a wife in his "present" but didn't remember her. She decided that was for the best: because if he knew, she knew he'd feel obliged not to pursue any GOTW no matter how right it would be for the person he leaped in to.)}}
* A common trope on ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]''. In the first season, the female characters had important roles in the episodes' plots; by the fourth season, they usually had walk-on roles at the end of the episodes solely to be Girls of the Week.
* ''[[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]]'' often had a token female love interest for one of the guys (but mostly for the cute heartthrob and [[Chick Magnet]], Davy Jones.)
** Sometimes, it was one of the Monkees themselves who acted as the
* Most of the episodes of ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]'', mainly because most of the duo's songs are love songs. Mel is the only regular female character, and she's a stalker that they cannot stand. The only recurring girlfriends are Sally (3 episodes) and Coco (2).
** Possibly [[Lampshaded]] with the song "Carol Brown", in which Jemaine imagines being sung at by a choir of his ex-girlfriends...all of whom we've never seen before.
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* ''[[MacGyver]]'', especially in the early seasons.
* ''[[Time Trax]]'' had very few episodes without one of these.
* A very commonly used trope in [[The Sixties]] spy series ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' (befitting the series's status as a [[James Bond]] knockoff). Usually the
* In the early seasons of ''[[Monk]]'', the title character's assistant, Sharona, would often have a Guy of the Week. He was usually revealed to be either the murderer or some other criminal.
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' is filled with this. Ascended Ancients, non-ascended Ancients, Princesses, Female Starship Captains, etc etc.
* Likewise, ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' had its fair share, including one episode where O'Neill
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]''. How many candidates have we had for the mother, now? A few dozen? And let's not even get into Barney's numerous conquests.
* ''[[30
* Fans of ''[[Forever Knight]]'' referred to this phenomenon as "Neck of the Week."
* In ''[[The Adventures of Pete and Pete]]'', Big Pete had several Girls Of The Week, especially in the last season.
* Milked for all it was worth in an episode of ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' where everyone is thrilled that [[Hollywood Nerd]] Justin is dating someone, and he rattles off a list of
* Frequently used in [[Disney Channel]] shows.
* Any of Zack's love interests on ''[[Saved by the Bell]]'' that wasn't Kelly, Tori, or Stacy. Including Lisa, even though she was a main character for the entire run of the series, Slater's sister (never seen before or after), and the homeless girl that moved into his house with her father.
* Little Joe on ''[[Bonanza]]'' was an early example of this.
* ''[[Supernatural]]'' being a [[Walking the Earth]] series has quite a lot of this
* The cast of ''[[Buffy]]'' has a handful of these for both genders: Buffy's one date with Owen, who she has to dump because living in her world would get him killed; Cordelia has several of these in seasons 1 and 2. Not to mention Xander's tendency to have possible love interests turn out to be demons trying to kill him - one of the few instances where
* ''[[The A-Team]]'' had tons of these, and they almost always ended up with [[Handsome Lech|Face]], except for a handful of times when they ended up with [[
* In the last couple of series of the original run of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', Ace seemed to find a new young female best friend to hang out with almost everywhere (and everywhen) they went. The level of [[Ho Yay|subtext]] varied, but was [[Word of Gay|later confirmed]] to be deliberate with at least some of them.
* Really? ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'' anyone? Girl of the week is probably an understatement, seeing how Charlie has even had more than 1 per day.
* A few characters on ''[[Babylon 5]]'' had partners-of-the-week, generally justified by a mix of the characters being career military or politicians, or by the space station being a major travel junction.
** Jeffrey Sinclair, the first commander, had Carolyn Sykes in [[The Pilot]], with Catharine Sakai being another on-again-off-again girlfriend in the series proper<ref>
*** Catherine Sakai doesn't meet the strict definition of a Girl of the Week, as she appeared in 3 episodes and their story was continued in a novel.
** Dr. Stephen Franklin had several one-off romantic interests, though it is implied that at least a few of these relationships continued [[Out of Focus]] after they were no longer important to the plot.
** Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari not only had a
* Carmen on ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'' averted this in that most of her boyfriends lasted for two episodes or more, and the break-up was usually explained.
* For the first few seasons, Shawn from ''Boy Meets World'' had this. Even in episodes where they tried to establish a back story of a serious relationship, you only saw the girl for one episode. Eventually they lampshaded it in the episode where he finally takes a permanent girlfriend who sticks around for most of the rest of the series.
* Averted ''hard'' with ''[[Peter Gunn]]''. Pete had a steady girlfriend in Edie, the [[Glamorous Wartime Singer|local nightclub singer]].
== Radio ==
* At least the radio show of ''[[Have Gun — Will Travel]]'' has the main character Paladin returning from his adventures to a new
* Harry Lime almost always had one of these (generally some girl he was attempting to scam) in ''The Many Lives Of Harry Lime''.
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*** Lampshaded in Elena's first encounter with Drake and Chloe in ''Among Thieves''. "Elena Fisher, last year's model."
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' has this played straight and averted, depending on the continuity.
** In the ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series, Sonic had a new love interest every other episode. Averted on the rare occasion when his job was to set the
** He also hooked up a former
** Completely averted in [[Sonic the Hedgehog|SEGA's Sonic]] for obvious reasons, where he has best-friend of the week instead.
* Solid Snake had a different potential love interest in the earlier ''[[Metal Gear]]'' games which culminated with Meryl in ''MGS1'' (the previous ones being Diane in ''MG1'' and Holly in ''MG2''). This was subverted in subsequent installments , with Snake having no real love interest in ''MGS2'' (going as far as to dismiss Olga as a potential love interest by claiming that he's "tired of tomboys") and in ''MGS4'' he loses Meryl to Akiba of all people ([[Die for Our Ship|which upset quite a few Snake/Meryl fans]]). He still got quite a few ladies after him in the non-canon games, if you count Chris Jenner, Teliko Friedman, and Venus. Out of all these girls, the only ones whose affections are truly reciprocated are Meryl, Chris and (depending on [[Implied Love Interest|how you interpret]] [[Sergeant Rock|their]] [[Action Girl|relationship]]) Teliko - Diane won't admit she admires Snake, Venus flirts with Snake but Snake turns her down, and while Snake agrees to go out with Holly he loses interest in her pretty much immediately afterwards and dumps her.
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== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Zuko, or better yet Sokka, has multiple love interests. {{spoiler|However, Zuko ends up with Mai, and Sokka with Suki.}}
** The abridged series has Sokka proudly declare "I got hos in different area codes" when this is brought up.
** Interestingly enough, {{spoiler|Suki}} was originally intended to be this, but was brought back and made a permanent love interest [[Ensemble Darkhorse|due to fandom demand.]]
** Suki is an example of [[First Girl Wins]] while Mai is an example of [[Victorious Childhood Friend]].
* Tammy the squirrel and Foxglove the bat in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]''. There were others too, including Sparky, a rare example of a "Boy of the week", for Gadget. It was a fairly regular trope in the show.
* Irene, for Terry in ''[[Batman Beyond]]''. [[Dating Catwoman|Melanie]] comes off as this in her initial appearance, but came back a few times.
* On ''[[Daria]],'' Quinn could basically have a new boyfriend every week, along with her usual harem, the Three J's. Daria herself had one Boy of the Week in [[Ditzy Genius|Ted Dewitt-Clinton]], though it was more of just an [[Odd Friendship]] with rather obvious [[Ship Tease]]. Jane had one in Nathan the retrophile.
* On ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Bart and Lisa have occasional love interests, or at least someone romantically interested in them. In Lisa's case, for example, there's Nelson Muntz, Colin from ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'', Thelonious from "Trilogy of Error" ("The esoteric appeal is worth the beatings"), and even [[The Ditz]].
** The same is true for Brian, Stewie, Chris, and even [[Hollywood Dateless|Meg]] of ''[[Family Guy]]'', and Fry and Leela of ''[[Futurama]]'', although Fry and Leela have been in an on-again/off-again relationship since the post-movie seasons started (the on-again/off-again part was [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] at one point).
* The episode "That Sinking Feeling" from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' features Baljeet and his childhood friend Mishti. The titular brothers attempt to create romance for the two during the episode ([[Toy Ship|even though Isabella mistakenly thinks it's for her]]), and it looks like it worked at the end (kinda). Too bad she's never seen again.
** Candace got one in "A Hard Day's Knight." Interestingly, he looked almost identical to her usual [[Love Interest]], Jeremy; since that episode takes place while the family is on vacation the writers presumably just realized they needed a replacement.
** [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] with Vanessa's boyfriend Johnny, who seemed like this at first but was revealed to be [[Official Couple|officially dating]] Vanessa a season and a half later. Stacy has also had Chad and Coltrane, though the latter is implied to be her on-and-off boyfriend.
* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' gives us [[Robot Me|Schmeloise]] and [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Areanna]], both to Jimmy. Justified in that Areanna ran off as soon as she escaped her tower while Schmeloise ended up exploding after [[Mad Scientist|Heloise]] reprogrammed her.
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[[Category:Love Interests]]
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[[Category:One-Shot Character]]
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