Once Per Episode: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Shh.. It's the episode where he learns a life lesson and writes about it in his journal!"''|'''[[Real Life Comics]]''', on ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]''}}
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|'''[[Real Life Comics]]''', on ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]''}}
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{{quote|''"Ohh yeah, right. I remember now, it's like from... [[Medium Awareness|every other episode]]..."''|Kronk reacting to a [[Running Gag]] in '''[[The Emperor's New School|The Emperors New School]]'''}}
{{quote|''"Shh.. It's the episode where he learns a life lesson and writes about it in his journal!"''|'''[[Real Life Comics]]''', on ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]''}}
|Kronk reacting to a [[Running Gag]] in '''[[The Emperor's New School|The Emperors New School]]'''}}
 
{{quote|''"Ohh yeah, right. I remember now, it's like from... [[Medium Awareness|every other episode]]..."''|Kronk reacting to a [[Running Gag]] in '''[[The Emperor's New School|The Emperors New School]]'''}}
 
A relative of the [[Running Gag]]. This is an event that, instead of happening several times in one episode, happens one time in just about every episode of a show.
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Also compare [[Once a Season]], where a certain plotline or character story gets a yearly invite. May also overlap with [[Different in Every Episode]] if the series follows a specific formula for its references and plots.
 
{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Kanon]]'': Ayu runs into Yuuichi, [[Crash Into Hello|literally or not]], in every episode except for the ends of the other girls' arcs.
* ''[[Trigun]]'' features a cat skittering across the screen every episode, some times more obviously than others.
* ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'': [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]]s have to transform once an episode, but in ''Tokyo Mew Mew'', it got bad enough to be an in-joke with fans -- heyfans—hey, there aren't even ''monsters'' around! What's Mew Ichigo doing exactly?
* Nishizawa of ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' eats something while (after her introduction in episode 12) thinking wistfully of Hayate. (She still appears doing it even before her official introduction.)
* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'': The opening [[Aspect Montage]]. Showing Lain on the street outside her house where the shadows aren't quite right.
* ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'': After Fuko's arc of concludes, she makes random appearances in accordance with this trope.
* There's a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[.hack|.hack//Legend of the Twilight]]'' about Shugo getting bashed in the face and losing a tooth every episode. Fortunately for his dentistry the damage isn't permanent or cumulative, since he is in virtual form when it happens. The gag is dropped in the last few episodes which take a more serious turn.
* In every episode of most ''[[Cutey Honey]]'' incarnations (except the recent ''The Live'' TV series) someone would ask Honey who she is, to which she would laugh, list her different costumes for the episode (usually three) and finish by "but the truth is... Honey Flash!" (cue transformation sequence) "Cutey Honey! The Warrior of Love!"
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** "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Averages once an episode. There are episodes where they don't blast off at all (like the first-season episode where Ash got the Thunderbadge, for example), but on the other hand, there are also episodes where they blast off twice, so it all evens out. In addition, Wobbuffet had been seen, or its cry was heard, in every episode since his introduction save two of them.
** Brock meets a cute girl, immediately proposes to her, and is then dragged off by Misty/Max/Croagunk/whoever. On rare occasions, however, this would turn the other way - the odd episode had Misty gushing over a Water Pokémon (or something related to a water-type) and Brock would drag her away, and one occasion had the cute girl of the week proposing to Brock, leaving him completely dumbfounded.
*** ''Both'' are now gone as of ''Best Wishes'', as Brock was finally [[Put on a Bus]], and Team Rocket [[Took a Level Inin Badass]] and now only blast off of their own will....on ''jetpacks''.
* In ''[[Zatch Bell]]'', before Ponygon was introduced as a character, he would often be shown walking across the screen for no explicable reason once an episode.
* On ''[[The Noozles]]'', Osgood the lizard pops up out of nowhere at least once an episode to comment on what is going on.
* Once per [[Story Arc]] variation in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': The major battle near the end of an incident will be capped off with [[Finishing Move|Starlight Breaker]]. As ''[[Time Skip|Sound Stage X]]'' showed when {{spoiler|Teana}} did it, this rule is followed even if Nanoha is absent.
* In ''[[Maicchingu Machiko Sensei]]'', Machiko's panties are shown without fail throughout all 95 episodes, not to mention that she will be disrobed at least partially.
* ''[[Ranma Abridged|Ranma ½: The Abridged Chronicles]]'' has several once-per-episode gags, [[Word of God|as stated by the creators.]] This list includes a scene with Genma as a panda with flashing yellow text exclaiming something about the panda, a [[The Frantics|boot to the head]], a musical interlude (usually to draw out fight scenes), someone exclaiming "Son of a bitch," and of course, Ranma getting turned into a girl, usually without a top on. While not all of these happen each episode, they occur enough to qualify.
{{quote|''Ranma:'' Stupid one-topless-scene-per-episode contract!}}
** In the original [[Ranma ½]], Ranma's [[Gender Bender|transformation]] initially is this, but is increasingly [[Averted]] or implied to happen offscreen. At the very beginning, the threat of it being revealed was once an episode. [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|They didn't so much waste a perfectly good plot, more one of their best gags,]] not to mention plenty of [[Shameless Fanservice Girl|perfectly good]] [[Fan Service]] [[Clothing Damage|opportunities]].
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* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'': The pre-duel sequences. Sure, duelling for the Rose Bride is the point of the show, but to recycle a lengthy animation sequence and some remix of "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku" ''every single time''? Yes, she has to climb stairs to the duel arena (except in the last 13 episodes, when she takes a "gondola"/elevator). We ''get'' it already. Stock footage is used quite a lot in the show, partly because of the low budget and partly for emphasis.
** Additionally, the [[Greek Chorus|Shadowplay Girls]] show up in nearly every episode and comment on every duel.
* ''[[Natsu no Arashi]]'': At least [[Once Per Episode]], sometimes more, there's an anonymous chap in the back calmly asking for salt. A few episodes he comes close, to salt and happiness, only to [[Yank the Dog's Chain|have it whisked away not unlike Charlie Brown's football]].
* In the first half of ''[[Final Fantasy Unlimited]]'', Kaze pulls out his Magun summon weapon, and saves the day. In the second half of the series, he pulls out the Magun and it malfunctions.
* In every episode of ''[[Nerima Daikon Brothers]]'', someone in the band needs to take out a loan, and the band goes to the Rental Shop to get a [[Plot Coupon]] from [[Nabeshin|the director]].
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* ''[[The Idolmaster (anime)|THE iDOLM@STER]]'' - The shot of the front of the 765Pro Office.
* Tsukimiya from ''[[Bloody Cross]]'' gets groped in almost every chapter.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* During Mark Waid's run on ''The Flash'', every issue started with the lines "I'm Wally West--the fastest man alive," or some variation thereof. On rare occasion, especially when Wally or a member of his family needs to deliver a speech with emotional punch, other writers still riff on this.
* Every issue of ''Spider-Girl'' opens with "Your name is May "Mayday" Parker, and you are the daughter of Spider-Man," or some variation of it.
 
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' has many, due to the formulaic nature of the films.
** Every film has the phrase, "I've got a bad feeling about this." Much [[Expanded Universe]] material homages this practice.
** Every movie includes the [[Wilhelm Scream]], a stock sound effect famous enough to have its own trope page. But then, pretty much every action movie features the Wilhelm Scream -- aScream—a lot of them as a shout out to ''Star Wars''.
** Every single film contains a [[Big No]], some bigger than others.
** All films begin with the opening narration scrolling against a starry sky. When the narration ends, the camera pans to a ship flying through space.
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** The Tannen family really hates manure.
* Every ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' film will include Indy fighting a [[Giant Mook|big strong henchman]] (in the first three, played by the same actor) who'll end up being killed in an extraordinarily violent fashion.
** On the other hand, the [[Big Bad]] himself is always killed by his own greed or hubris while Indy watches.
* ''[[American Pie]]'': The three main movies feature Stifler coming into unwanted contact with one kind of human excreta or other, Jim getting caught masturbating in a ridiculous way, and Finch having sex with Stifler's Mom. Averted in the fourth movie, American Reunion somewhat, while Jim still gets caught masturbating, Stifler makes someone else come into unwanted contact with his feces, and he has sex with Finch's mom.
* Almost every official [[Marvel Comics]] movie has a [[Creator Cameo]] by [[Stan Lee]].
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*** Every Marvel movie featuring the Hulk has him say only [[The Silent Bob|two words.]] In [[Hulk (film)|Hulk]] he says, "Puny human". In [[The Incredible Hulk (film)|The Incredible Hulk]] he says, "Hulk smash". Finally, in [[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]] he says {{spoiler|"puny god".}}
* The ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' films capping off with a [[Linkin Park]] song.
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
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* Game shows:
** ''[[Family Feud]]'': During the Steve Harvey era, utterance of a part of the male and/or female anatomy or a bodily function. Invariably, a question will be written to elict such a response, with most of the "humor" coming from Harvey's reaction and claiming that it won't be long before the show is canceled for its off-color humor.
** ''[[Match Game]]'': The show that set the standard for double-entendre and utterance of anatomical parts, most commonly "boobs" (or other euphamisms for the word "breast").
* Klinger's attempts to get a section 8 on ''[[M*A*S*H (television)]]''. Despite this being a warzone, Klinger had a new dress/frilly female outfit every week. Jamie Farr once recalled the bizarre feeling it gave him walking into the wardrobe department. All of the costumes were on racks assigned to specific actors. Walk past Mike Farrell's rack, there's an army uniform. Walk past Alan Alda's rack, there's a uniform, bathrobe, and maybe a Hawaiian shirt. Get to Jamie's rack(s) and there are just endless frocks, dresses, skirts and bonnets. He maintained the tartan plaid skirt was the most comfortable of them all.
* A failed escape attempt in ''[[Gilligan's Island]]''.
* The [[End-of-Episode Silliness|uncle jokes]] from ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]''.
* The avalanche of ping-pong balls on ''[[Captain Kangaroo]]''.
* The [[This Page Will Self-Destruct|message self-destructing]] after being played at the start of every mission on ''[[Mission: Impossible]].''
** Except on occasions when Jim is instructed to dispose of it himself "in the usual manner".
* The inevitable sliming of -- andof—and dumping water on -- aton—at least one cast member of ''[[You Can't Do That on Television]]'', as well as the Opposites series of sketches and the Barth's Diner's [[Catch Phrase]] "What (or Who) do you think's in the burger?", followed by Barth's traditional reply "I ''heard'' that!" (The vomiting that the question derived was only once every other episode, usually.)
* ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]''
** A character mistakes Vince for a woman.
** In the first series, each episode featured at least one character that had part of their costume shaped like a polo mint.
** The subject of conversation turns to Vince's hair at least once an episode, and in every episode Howard utters the line "... I'm Howard Moon."
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** This was parodied in the ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' episode that featured [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|them and several other unlikely characters racing]] where he pressed the turbo and KITT responded, "I can only use the turbo once per episode". [[Did Not Do the Research|It's not true,]] but that'd [[Rule of Funny|ruin the joke]].
** The final season utilized "Super Pursuit Mode" at least [[Once an Episode]]. (Though it was three times in the season premiere, just to drive the point home) This was also useful as a time-eating [[Transformation Sequence]].
* Every episode of ''[[Homicide: Life Onon the Street]]'' involves the detectives lying to a suspect or witness to get them to confess/roll over on an accomplice/provide some pertinent information. This tactic is almost uniformly successful, leading to several characters to comment over the course of the series that "crime makes you stupid."
* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' ended each episode, for the first several seasons anyway, with a climactic sword fight, decapitation, and lightning storm. Reaching this scene was often the whole point of the show -- aftershow—after all, it was the only way an Immortal villain could be stopped. But the writers deserve credit for including it no matter what, even in the occasional [[Very Special Episode]] that tackled real-world problems like sexual harassment.
** Also, if you pick any three episodes, chances are that at least two of them will have an immortal whose name begins with a K sound. Sometimes it's the last name, sometimes the first name, sometimes it's a Q.
* The medical team in ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' somehow manages to suspect lupus in every case. In the first season 4 episode, where House didn't have a team (at the end of Season 3, one was fired and the other two quit), a nearby janitor ''still'' managed to suggest a diagnosis of lupus, commenting after a brief stunned silence that his grandmother had it.
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*** What about "Hey, remember that House episode where he's stymied and goes to do something totally unrelated to the case, during which an innocuous comment or action causes House to have an epiphany about the case which invariably turns out to be right?"
* Someone dies at the beginning of every episode of ''[[Six Feet Under]]''
* ''[[Funky Squad]]'': The Australian series parodied this trope -- inevitablytrope—inevitably, there would be a brief zooming shot of the Funky Squad as they turned to face the camera, and most (if not all) episodes reminded the viewer that Ponch (apparently played by an actor who couldn't speak English -- inEnglish—in reality Tom Gleisner, who speaks it fluently) couldn't speak as he had "taken a bullet to the tongue."
* ''[[Monk]]'' does a ''[[The Summation]]'' every episode, often including the phrase "If I'm right... which... I am" and always including the phrase "Here's what happened" to the point that other characters state their desire to say "Here's what happened."
** Subverted when a garbage strike had driven Monk (more) insane. He proceeded to rattle off an explanation of why Alice Cooper killed the mayor to steal his high backed chair, based solely on Cooper sitting in a high back chair in a poster and him being a "dirty hippy", done in the same black and white footage as the usual real events. Everyone just looks at him in stunned silence, until Randy asks "Should I be writing this down?"
** ''Petrocelli'' had this too. In every episode, his client was wrongly accused on the grounds of seemingly conclusive proof. Once in court, the accusation would narrate the supposed events and then (and only then) he would offer his own version of what had happened. Invariably, this was the truth, and his client was declared not guilty.
* [[Mork and Mindy|"Mork, what Earth concept have you misunderstood this week?"]] (an actual [[Lampshade Hanging]] from the show.)
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' -- except—except on the somewhat rare occasions when the Rangers use their own [[Finishing Move]], the monster [[Make My Monster Grow|gets city-sized]], and the rangers have to use their [[Humongous Mecha|zords]] to defeat it. Interestingly, it never seems to matter how badly the monster gets beaten/shot/exploded/melted/punctured/vaporised/redecorated when it's human sized, it will ''always'' become perfectly healthy again when it's bigger.
** That's one of the things that changes each season... some seasons the [[Big Bad]] makes the monster grow when he/she desires, or the monster does it ''itself,'' but in some seasons, the customary reaction to the human-sized monster's total destruction is to reassemble it into giant form (this is more common in the magic-based series.) Still, you get instances like Kilobyte, a [[The Dragon|Dragon]] in ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]:'' we see him blown into [[Ludicrous Gibs|Ludicrous (Robot) Gibs]]... and immediately cut to him falling on the ground ''intact,'' standing up, and angrily saying the growth command.
** It was [[Lampshaded]] in one episode of ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm]]''. When one of the members of the [[Terrible Trio]] asked the [[Big Bad]] what should they do, he answers something among the lines of: "Make him grow up, of course! How many times have we done that? Didn't you catch it up yet? The rangers destroy the monster, we make the monster grow!"
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*** I think that was every episode of the 1950s Adventures of Superman, too...
** Especially in the first season, the show seems particularly fond of having car crashes/accidents each episode.
* ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]''
** The [[Hard Work Montage]].
** Something will be destroyed. Ranges from "having a frozen turkey dropped on it" to "hit with a car" to "scattered across a two hundred metre radius" to "requires the FBI's supervision, a truck full of TNT and a one-mile radius clearance around the blast zone".
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** And how could we forget the guest start of the episode getting killed in some gruesome way before the actual start of the episode?
** Not to mention the written and verbal reading of the title being completely different to each episode.
** And the literal freeze at the end of the episode.
** Or the villain of the week joining all the criminals caught in the previous episodes in jail. And each of them will be named.
* In ''[[Psych]]'', just about every episode features a [[Fundamentally Funny Fruit|pineapple]], to the point where the advertisements for some episodes advertise a sweepstakes: Find the pineapple.
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* ''Twice'' per episode of ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'', David Banner would transform into the, er, [[Incredible Hulk]]. It always happened about twenty minutes in, and then again right near the end of the episode.
* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'': Desi Arnaz's singing.
* ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' episodes often had Wilson imparting some words of wisdom to Tim, who then tries to repeat it to another character but mangles it into complete nonsense in the process. Some later episodes would have the other character respond along the lines of, "You've been talking to Wilson, haven't you?"
** Don't forget Al: [[Deadpan Snarker|I don't think so, Tim]].
* ''[[Cheers]]'' -- "Norm!"
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** Someone mentioning the painting of ''ze Fallen Madonna wiz ze Big Boobies'' by Van Clomp.
** The elaboration of a near-incomprehensible plan/retelling of the plot so far, involving multiple copies of multiple paintings to be kept by multiple people to sell after the war, various hidden secrets and affairs, and lots of innuendo.
* ''[[Top Gear]]'':
** Crazy ideas with the precursor, "How hard can it be?". Afterwards: "That's not gone well".
** Jeremy Clarkson ending every episode with "...and on that bombshell..." As well as some variation of "The most powerful/fastest/biggest etc... ''in the world.''
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* ''[[Made in Canada]]'' (syndicated globally as ''The Industry'') would have one of the main characters making an aside statement of "[[Blatant Lies|I think that went well]]" or "This is not good" to end every show. [[Running Gag|Every. Last. Show.]] For six seasons.
* ''[[The X-Files]]'': Scully and Mulder-centric episodes feature Mulder suggesting something supernatural is going on, Scully responding with [[Arbitrary Skepticism]], and proving it's absurd "scientifically." Mulder is almost always right. Scully never admits it. Mulder actually lampshades this in season 6's "Field Trip".
** Also, Mulder doing/saying something that makes Scully feel uncomfortable.
** Mulder asking Scully to do something and her responding with "What are you going to do?"
** Especially from season five onward, somebody making the assumption that Mulder and Scully are romantically involved.
* On the New Zealand show ''7 Days'' they make a string of jokes about this with ''[[Married... with Children]]'' star David Faustino.
{{quote|'''Ben''': My favourite episode was the one where Bud was gonna have sex with a really hot girl and then it didn't work out in the end.
'''David''': I think that was episode... 50, 75, 80...
'''Will''': I really missed that episode because I was watching that episode of ''[[House MD|House]]'' where they couldn't figure out what the disease was.<br />
'''David''': I was watching the episode of ''[[Three's Company]]'' where they thought they heard something different.<br />
'''Ben''': I'm on the episode of ''[[McLeod's Daughters]]'' where a handsome stranger comes to town. }}
** Then:
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* The "Brainstorming" song shows up at least once an epsiode on "Imagination Movers"
* ''[[CSI: Miami]]'': Horatio Crane puts on his [[Cool Shades]], does the [[Quip to Black]] and bam, we get the [[Metal Scream]] by [[The Who]].
** The entire CSI franchise has [[Red Herring|Red Herrings]]s every single episode.
<!-- %% If the redlink to RedHerrings was intentional, please feel free to put it back. -->
* On ''[[CSI]]'' the original, DB will mention his wife. And he'll either call her or she'll call him.
* ''[[CSI: NY]]'' Danny will say "Boom!"
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** [[Overly Long Gag|Gorden cusses his bleedin head off, changes his shirt and cusses his bleedin' head off.]]
* ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'': Luke and Sarah Jane are separated by some force beyond their control, and this will [[Mama Bear|piss Sarah Jane off]]. Sometime in the last ten minutes, they will be reunited with an incredibly [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarming hug]], and Sarah Jane will tell whoever tried to mess with him something along the lines of "Go to Hell before I send you there myself."<ref>It should probably be noted that this is, in fact, once every ''two'' episodes, as every episode is half of a two-part story, but the point stands.</ref>
* [[David Mitchell]] will launch into a [[Character Filibuster]] on ''[[Would I Lie to You?]]'' (more often than not with the provocation of Lee Mack).
* Just about every single episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' contains at least one reference to ''[[Superman]]''.
* ''[[The Hard Times of RJ Berger]]'' has an animated sequence in nearly every episode, the majority of them being flashbacks.
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** [[Mysterious Watcher|The Observer]], his appearances are often [[Freeze-Frame Bonus|Freeze Frame Bonuses]].
** Also, there's always a specific phrase, or object, background prop, etc that [[Foreshadowing|foreshadows]] something in the next episode. Sometimes they are so specific that the hint only gets clear after watching the next episode.
* In the [[Britcom]] ''Chance In A Million'' the [[Contrived Coincidence|coincidence-prone]] title character Tom Chance (Simon Callow) drinks an entire pint of lager in one go, usually in mid-sentence. Sometimes this happens more than once per episode, on at least one occasion twice in rapid succession, and once together with a guest cast member. (Actually they used trick glasses holding much less than a full pint).
* [[Saturday Night Live|"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"]] Also ''Weekend Update''.
* ''Hill Street Blues'' would open every episode with the daily briefing by the Desk Sergeant, inevitably closed with him telling the officers, "...and hey! Be careful out there!"
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** Ilsa gets brainwashed by the enemy and attacks at least one of the good guys.
** Hitler escapes from the team by [[Stock Footage|leaping through a glass window]].
* On ''Laverne & Shirley'', David Lander (Squiggy) got so sick of having to say 'Hello' over and over that he refused to say it anymore. The producers reached a deal with him in which the writers were only allowed to have him say it [[Once Per Episode]].
* The same thing happened on ''Hunter'' with the title character's [[Tagline]] "works for me."
* [[Harvey Korman]] appeared briefly as a Soviet bureaucrat at the end of every episode of the 1976 [[Sitcom]] ''[[Ivan the Terrible (TV series)|Ivan the Terrible]]''.
 
 
== Literature ==
* Death turning up in [[Discworld]]. He has at least one cameo in every book. Except for "Wee Free Men" the one book that is actually all about bereavement. Go figure.
* ''[[Animorphs]]'' There will be a meeting in Cassie's barn
 
 
== Music ==
* Old Crow Medicine Show seems contractually obliged to record at least one [[Ode to Intoxication|song about drugs]] per album.
* [[Metallica]], [[Dragon Force (video game)]] and quite a few other Metal artists seem to have a "one ballad per album" rule.
* [[Type O Negative]] had at least one [[Cover Version]] per album on every album apart from Slow Deep And Hard and Dead Again. (the rerelease of Slow Deep And Hard features their cover of [[Jimi Hendrix|Hey Joe]] (Called Hey Pete) as a bonus track, however)
* [[Iron Maiden]] had one or two epics per album until they decided to make every song on the album an epic from ''A Matter Of Life And Death'' onwards. They would also make sure to have at least one historical song named after a war film.
* [[Fun -Lovin' Criminals]] admit they have to include at least one 'stoner jam' on each album (the song they were referring to was Rewind from Classic Fantastic)
* Crowded House claimed to have included a reference to a kitchen on every album.
* All of [[The Beatles]] albums have a track where [[George Harrison]] sings lead (mostly the ones he wrote) and all but two have one track allowing [[Ringo Starr]] to [[Step Up to the Microphone]].
* All the [[Garbage]] albums [[Downer Ending|end with a depressing ballad]].
 
 
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Little Nemo]]'': Nemo wakes and falls out of bed in the last panel of each of [[Winsor McCay]]'s ''Little Nemo's Adventures in Slumberland'' comic strips.
* ''[[Krazy Kat]]'': Ignatz Mouse attempts (with varying degrees of success) to acquire a brick and hurl it at Krazy Kat. (Okay, this only happens in maybe 75% of the strips, so maybe it should go under [[Running Gag]].)
 
 
== Radio ==
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{{quote|'''Humph''': When music experts hear Colin's compositions, they say he could have been another Berlin, Porter, or anybody else employed by the German State Railway.}}
* In ''[[Old Harry's Game]]'' the majority of episodes will have the Professor and Satan making a bet, most commonly about morality and something bad would happen to Thomas.
 
 
== Video Games ==
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** There will be [[Shout-Out|a pair of characters named]] [[Star Wars|Biggs and Wedge]].
** [[Horse of a Different Color|Giant, flightless yellow birds]] will always be the animal mount of choice.
* ''[[BioshockBioShock (series)]]'' has a single dead cat in every room. The sequel has continued the tradition.
* ''[[Monkey Island]]'': Guybrush Threepwood always seems to come across The Voodoo Lady right when he needs her, and Stan right when he doesn't.
* The ''[[God of War]]'' series has A) Kratos getting sent to Hades, B) a [[Hot Coffee Minigame]], and C) Kratos [[Say My Name|screaming someone's name]] (usually his enemy's) at the top of his lungs.
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** Every ''Call of Duty'' game developed by Infinity Ward [[Identical Grandson|includes a Captain Price]]. The [[Anachronic Order]] present by virtue of having multiple games set during World War 2 means they can do this even though Price ''died'' in the first game.
* Every game in the ''[[Saints Row]]'' series has at least one named ally die over the course of the game, with the player having the ability to [[Everything's Deader with Zombies|bring them back as a zombie later on]].
* Every ''[[Mass Effect]]'' game has a [[Point of No Return]] event disguised as a seemingly unimportant or easily accomplished request given to you.
 
 
== Web Comics ==
* A failed version of this is in ''[[Concerned]]''. According to the [http://hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-06-29 notes of the artist], he was planning to "have a bunch [of barrels] around in every comic after Frohman mistakenly ordered them." Unfortunately, he stopped doing so [http://hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-07-06 three comics later.]
* Moru from ''[http://godmode.keenspot.com/ God Mode]'' used to wear a different video games related hat every page... until Adis ruined it...
* In every story arc of ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' something very big will crash into Bob's roof, producing vertical block letters spelling "BOOM!"
 
 
== Web Original ==
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* Parodied in ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', where Strong Bad specifically says that [[Once an Episode]] of ''[[Show Within a Show|Sweet Cuppin' Cakes]]'', Eh! Steve! shows up to deliver his [[Catch Phrase]].
{{quote|'''Eh! Steve!''': "Eh! Steve!"}}
 
 
== Western Animation ==
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** The semi-faux-moralising summation from one of the kids, starting with: "You know, I think I've learned something today..."
* ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]''
** Every episode has a [[Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?]] exchange, and ended with "What are we gonna do tomorrow night, Brain?" "Same thing we do every night, Pinky... try to take over the world!"<br /><br />They hung a lampshade on both of these several times. In one instance, Pinky asks Brain if he has ''ever'' been pondering what Brain is pondering, and decides that no, he never has (Which, in fact, was ''exaactly'' what Brain was thinking), and in several instances, Brain's plan was to "Find a better hiding place", "Take over Chia-World", and "Take over the Globe...theater."
::They hung a lampshade on both of these several times. In one instance, Pinky asks Brain if he has ''ever'' been pondering what Brain is pondering, and decides that no, he never has (Which, in fact, was ''exaactly'' what Brain was thinking), and in several instances, Brain's plan was to "Find a better hiding place", "Take over Chia-World", and "Take over the Globe...theater."
** ''Pinky And The Brain'' Lampshades the Once Per Episode escape attempts on ''[[Gilligan's Island]]''.
{{quote|'''Pinky''': I've seen every episode of Gilligan's Island!
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* ''[[The Legend of Zelda (animation)|The Legend of Zelda]]'':
** Link's [[Catch Phrase]] "[[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!]]!" in the cartoon. In this case, it's at least ''twice'' per episode, three times if you count the opening.
** Link's dogged attempts to get a kiss, which Zelda always found a different excuse to reject. (Anyone else wonder why she couldn't just say "No?" Judging from the way she treated him the rest of the time, she certainly wasn't worried about hurting his feelings.)<br /><br />She actually ''did'' accept when she DID realize Link was a ghost, causing him to go right ''through'' her.
::She actually ''did'' accept when she ''did'' realize Link was a ghost, causing him to go right ''through'' her.
*** Then when she truly accepted during a picnic trip, they were interrupted by a [[Moment Killer|monster attack]].
* ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars]]'': Waspinator [[The Chew Toy|being beaten and battered, usually in a slapstick manner]]. In multi-part episodes such as "The Agenda", this would happen ''in each part.''
* ''[[Transformers]]'', in every episode that Starscream appears in, he attempts to overthrow Megatron, and fails.
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{{quote|'''Dukey''': I know ''I know''! You 'didn't see that coming' either!}}
* ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'': "I hate that hedgehog!"
* [[Birdman]]'s catchphrase on the show of the same name: "Biiirdman!", worked in two or three times per seven-minute episode. To add "Birdman is captured by the villain and saved by Avenger" and "Birdman is caught in the dark and deprived of his powers" to the list would be only mild exaggerations.
** And in "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law", "I'll take the case!" was uttered in every episode.
*** Did you get that thing I sent you?
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** Candace threatening to tell mom about Phineas and Ferb's latest crazy project.
** Dr. Doofenshmirtz shouting "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" after being thwarted.
*** Which was inverted in "Hail Doofania!", just like every other [[Once Per Episode]] occurrence.
{{quote|Perry sneezes.
'''Phineas''': Bless you, Perry the Platypus! }}
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** Perry is always caught within seconds of arriving on the scene of Doofenshmirtz' latest plan.
** Doofenshmirtz will always explain the reasoning behind his latest device soon after, which usually involves [[Law of Disproportionate Response|some petty grievance]], frequently from [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood|his youth]].
* You can bet on two things in any ''[[Eek! theThe Cat]]'' episode. 1) Eek will always say "It never hurts to help." 2) [[Amusing Injuries|It will always hurt to help]].
** Also in the sub-cartoon "The Terrible Thunderlizards", Bill will say "When does the hurting stop?"
** Also in the ''Thunder-Lizards'', one of the Lizards themselves, if not someone else, will make a reference to the Bad Things Category. Most memorable example, in a flashback to their school years: "Yes, Cutter. I'd say having our little friend's head ripped off by the Principal would definitely fall into the Bad Things Category."
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** "I'll get you next time, Gadget! [[Large Ham|Nneexxtt Ttiimmee]]!"
* At least once per episode sometime bad will happen to Eustice at the end of each episode of ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]''; he will either get killed, locked up, or severely injured.
* Jonesy acquires, and is fired from, a new job in just about every episode of ''[[Sixteen|6teen]]''.
* Near the beginning of every ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode, Kim gets a page from (or, more rarely, pages) Wade on her Kimmunicator. Usually accompanied by the words [[Catch Phrase|"What's the sitch?"]]
* ''[[Woody Woodpecker]]'': Woody's laugh. Subverted in that occassionally someone else performs it, usually to mock Woody (cf. "Well Oiled", "The Coo-Coo Bird"). If Woody loses he will sometimes do a pathetic whining variant (as in "The Clip Joint").
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* ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids]]'': Elvis somehow finding his way into the briefing room and triggering Mr Socrates' [[Sneeze of Doom]].
* In just about every episode of the ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' the television ends up destroyed.
* ''[[Lilo and& Stitch: The Series]]''. The fat bald guy never quite gets to enjoy his mint chocolate chip ice cream.
* ''[[Ka BlamKaBlam!]]!'' had ''tons'' of these. One includes Henry and June dancing during the opening number (except one episode due to a longer commercial break) and then jumping up to the top comic panel, while Henry or June says, "Howdy KaBlamoids!" or "Welcome back cartoon crammers!" and then the duo would introduce themselves.
** Another one would be June pulling some sort of prank on Henry. From mimicing him, randomly bleeping out what he's trying to say, ect.
** Another would be in ''Life with Loopy'' where Larry would say, "Hi, I'm Larry. This is my sister Loopy, and this is (insert main idea of episode)". Starting season two, he'll say, "Hi, I'm Larry. (Insert main idea of episode)".
** Also, in ''Prometheus and Bob'', Prometheus will try to teach Bob something, but the monkey will always mess him up.
** ''[[Action League NOW]]'' had a bunch of these, too (not surprising as it's a ''[[Ka BlamKaBlam!]]!'' spin-off. One would be Meltman always getting hurt.
*** Or The Cheif saying, "Blast it!" and sometimes "Blasted!".
*** And Bill the Lab Guy saying "There's nothing I can do." or "Oh, no. I was afraid of this!".
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* This is actually very common in [[Pixar]] films. Here are some of the most notable examples:
** [[Pixar Regulars|John Ratzenberger]] is the only voice actor to appear in every single Pixar film. Here are all of the characters Ratzenberger has voiced:
*** The ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' series films: Hamm the piggy bank
*** ''[[A Bug's Life|A Bugs Life]]'': P. T. Flea
*** ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'': [[Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti|Yeti the Abominable Snoman]]
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*** ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'': Tom the foreman
*** ''[[Brave]]'': ???
** [[Toy Story (franchise)||The "Pizza Planet" truck]], a rusty, beaten-up yellow pickup truck that appears in every single Pixar film, even in ''[[The Incredibles]]''. Here are all of the truck's appearances:
*** ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'': The truck's debut. Serves as Woody and Buzz Lightyear's tranportation to [[Suck E. Cheese's|the Pizza Planet restaurant.]]
*** ''[[A Bug's Life|A Bugs Life]]'': Can be seen being parked outside of a trailer home.
*** ''[[Toy Story (franchise)||Toy Story 2]]'': Can be seen being stolen by Andy's toys as an attempt for them all to get to an airport.
*** ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'': See the ''A Bug's Life'' example above.
*** ''[[Finding Nemo]]'': Can be seen driving by at the end of the film during the scene where the Tank Gang finally succeed in escaping from the dentist's fish tank.
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*** ''[[Brave]]'': Yes, they actually confirmed that the truck will appear in this movie [[Anachronism Stew|despite taking place in medieval Scotland.]]
** Also, A113 constantly appears in the backgrounds of all of the films (A113 is actually the name of the classroom most of the Pixar staff worked at at the California Institute of Art and Technology). Here are all of the appearances of A113:
*** ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'': The license plate on Mrs. Davis' minivan.
*** ''[[A Bug's Life|A Bugs Life]]'': The barcode number on the cereal box used for a building for the insect city Flik visits in the film.
*** ''[[Toy Story (franchise)||Toy Story 2]]'': A call number for LassetAir (a possible reference to [[Pixar Regulars|John Lasseter)]] A113 is mentioned during the airport scene. Also, the aforementioned A113 license place makes a reappearance in the film.
*** ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'': A sign on the wall in the background during the scene where Sulley thinks that Boo got crushed to death in the trash compactor.
*** ''[[Finding Nemo]]'': The model code on the camera the scuba divers used to stun Marlin just right after capturing Nemo
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*** ''[[Cars]]'': Mater's license plate. Also, the number on Trev Diesel (the locomotive that almost hit Lightning McQueen on his way to Radiator Springs)'s headlights and running boards.
*** ''[[Ratatouille]]'': The tag on Git the lab rat's ear.
*** ''[[WALL-E]]'': Directive A113. Also, [[Stealth Pun|WALL-E's name.]]<ref> It's actually A113 written in [[Leet Speak]], but with a "W" added to the front</ref>
*** ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'': The sign in front of the courtroom Carl Friedrickson's trial was held for hitting a foreman attempting to demolish his house.
*** ''[[Toy Story 3]]'': The A113 license place returns, but it's now on a hatchback instead of a minivan.
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*** ''[[Ratatouille]]'': [[Up (animation)|Dug the dog.]]
*** ''[[Pixar Shorts|Your Friend, the Rat]]'': [[WALL-E]].
*** ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'' [[Toy Story (franchise)||Lotso Bear.]]
*** ''[[Toy Story 3]]'': [[Cars|Finn McMissile]].
*** ''[[Cars|Cars 2]]'': [[Brave|Queen Eleanor, Princess Merida, King Fergus, and the Royal Triplets]] ''[[Mind Screw|as cars...]]''
*** ''[[Pixar Shorts|Air Mater]]'': [[Planes|Skipper and Sparky]] (Not technically a Pixar film, but under Lasseter's watch).
* ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'': The plot for every episode since mid-season two/season three to season six, with a few exceptions, can be summed up by one plan:
** Step One: Timmy sees a recurring problem in his life.
** Step Two: Timmy goes to Cosmo and Wanda and does a mini-rant, comes up with a "solution" that has to be be done with magic or would take too long and or he'd be too lazy to do, so then he makes the wish.
** Step Three: Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda see how great the wish turns out for him or everybody(sometimes Wanda or Cosmo questions this, only to be shrugged off by the other two),
** Step Four: The wish backfires. Timmy "has got to find Cosmo and Wanda to unwish that wish", but for some reason they are ether doing something of equal importance, or they can't undo it for some reason. can't unwish it,
** Step Five: Timmy goes on a quest to unwish the wish. The wish gets undone,
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** In the second season, [[Memetic Bystander|Derpy Hooves]] has a [[Where's Waldo]] type cameo in every episode.
** Not quite ''every'' episode, but every episode in which Rarity has an appearance, the writers strive to ruin her perfect coiffure at least once.
* The [[Disney Princess|Disney Princesses]]es actually cried at least once in their films:
** ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'': When Snow White gets lost in the woods.
** ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'': When the Ugly Stepsisters [[Kick the Dog|tear up Cinderella's pink dress]].
** ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'': When Aurora hears about her [[Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday|16th birthday]] from the fairies.
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** ''[[Tangled]]'': During Flynn's [[Disney Death|"death."]]
* Name one ''[[Good Vibes]]'' episode that ''doesn't'' include an instance of peeing and/or pooping.
* ''[[Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines|]]'': STOP THAT PIGEON!!]]
 
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