History Main / MandatoryLine

** In one "Treehouse of Horror" episode, involving the ghosts of the past versions of The Simpsons cast, Past!Lisa is probably this (or TheVoiceless if present!Lisa was the one who spoke "Yeah, Bart.") as she only has one line out of the other past!Simpsons members near the end of the final segment.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [=SpongeBob=] himself usually has a major role in every single episode, but even in later episodes that otherwise don't involve him, he shows up for a single line or two. He has a couple silent background appearances before showing up near the end to deliver a one-liner in "Mall Girl Pearl", in "Whale Watching" he only laughs and doesn't speak in his two scenes, and "Lockdown for Love" gives him his smallest role yet as he only briefly appears in one scene where he makes panting noises and doesn't speak.

-->'''Picard:''' Mr. [=LaForge=], status report!\\

-->'''Daichi/Bastion:''' Well, [[ItMakesSenseInContext it]] is... ''sort of'' [[LoveMakesYouCrazy romantic...]]

* Many ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' movies (especially later ones) have [[GoldfishPoopGang the Team Rocket trio]] make token appearances where they bumble around, make [[SmallNameBigEgo airheaded]] plans to capture the {{Olympus Mon|s}} of the movie (which they ''very'' rarely act on), never meet or interact with the cast or title Pokémon, and generally make no serious impact on the plot. One could excise their scenes entirely and usually not miss anything vital to the story. Noticeably {{averted|Trope}} in the earlier movies (where they tended to at least get their own subplots) and ''Anime/PokemonKyuremVsTheSwordOfJustice'' (which has them [[AbsenteeActor make no appearance]] up until a brief scene in the credits).

*** Perhaps the worse example was in "Phases"--the episode was Oz-centric, and about werewolves, of all things. Angel did nothing but pop up with a new coat of badass guyliner, turn some random girl into a vampire, and stir up a bunch of old tensions between Buffy and Xander.

** It is also why Seth Green left the series--he was tired of Oz just having his mandatory line appearances in most episodes.

* {{Discussed}} in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's "Least Awful Disney Sequels" list--one flaw with these movies is that they bring back all the main characters from the first movie, but don't have much for them to do. The worst case, in her estimation, was the Genie in the ''{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}'' sequels.

** The character who's affected by this the most is Lisa, who tends to be reduced to a mandatory line when the plot isn't focused on her. For example, in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy "Homer's Enemy"]] she has three lines, two of which are single words. One episode had Lisa's only line be an utterance of "Santa?" from offscreen--the commentary mentioned that it was added in upon the realization that Lisa had no speaking lines otherwise in that episode. In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"]], this is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] multiple times in the commentary, but there is actually a reason InUniverse: the third spin-off (the one featuring the Simpson family) includes a joke where [[TheOtherDarrin Lisa is replaced.]] Lisa's only line, as a result, is during the ''first'' spin-off, which focuses on Chief Wiggum.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [=SpongeBob=] himself usually has a major role in every single episode, but even in later episodes that otherwise don't involve him, he shows up for a single line or two. He has a couple silent background appearances before showing up near the end to deliver a line about [[ItMakesSenseInContext giving Beatrice her hand back]] in "Mall Girl Pearl", while in "Whale Watching" he only laughs and doesn't speak in his two scenes.

** In the BTVS Musical Number "Once More, with Feeling", Willow only sings one line in the big all-cast number at the end: "I think this line's mostly filler". While she does have a few singing lines throughout the episode, they are very few and far between - "her" song is sung entirely to her by Tara.
*** That's because Creator/AlysonHannigan is song-shy and she asked Creator/JossWhedon to leave her out of the singing as much as possible.

** After Wesley became estranged from the rest of the group, several episodes had him appearing only to have a bunch of sex with Lilah and not do anything relevant to the plot.
*** Which is a pretty good consolation prize.

* Wilson on ''Series/{{House}}'' has this from time to time. There are many episodes where he has a single scene with House (or one of the rest of the cast) that is, ultimately, pretty pointless and only serves to put him in the episode. The most blatent example of this is in the Season 6 premier, in which he is the only regular cast member to appear (other than House himself) and his appearance consists of a single, 30 second, completely plot-irrelevant phone call.

* Many ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' movies (especially recent ones) have [[GoldfishPoopGang the Team Rocket trio]] make token appearances where they bumble around, make [[SmallNameBigEgo airheaded]] plans to capture the {{Olympus Mon|s}} of the movie (which they ''very'' rarely act on), never meet or interact with the cast or title Pokémon, and generally make no serious impact on the plot. One could excise their scenes entirely and usually not miss anything vital to the story. Noticeably {{averted|Trope}} in the earlier movies (where they tended to at least get their own subplots) and ''Anime/PokemonKyuremVsTheSwordOfJustice'' (which has them [[AbsenteeActor make no appearance]] up until a brief scene in the credits).

-->'''Zoidberg:''' Hello, robot! Looks like everyone gets a turn to say something. This concludes my turn.

** Kang and Kodos appear in every "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror." While sometimes they're the focus of a segment, of they're just a shoehorned [[TheCameo cameo]], and at other times they're just the focus of the opening or end credits. In one of the latter cases they're actually complaining about not being in the episode.

-->'''Klaus:''' Ahaha! I made it into the episode! ''Pay me, bitches!''
-->'''Hayley:''' Haha, me too!

-->'''Bart''': I think we should look at her research before we condemn her completely.
-->''(everyone stares at Bart, shocked)''
-->'''Bart''': I haven't said anything for a while.

** The character who's affected by this the most is Lisa, who tends to be reduced to a mandatory line when the plot isn't focused on her. For example, in [[TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy "Homer's Enemy"]] she has three lines, two of which are single words. One episode had Lisa's only line be an utterance of "Santa?" from offscreen--the commentary mentioned that it was added in upon the realization that Lisa had no speaking lines otherwise in that episode. In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"]], this is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] multiple times in the commentary, but there is actually a reason InUniverse: the third spin-off (the one featuring the Simpson family) includes a joke where [[TheOtherDarrin Lisa is replaced.]] Lisa's only line, as a result, is during the ''first'' spin-off, which focuses on Chief Wiggum.

** In one ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode, involving the ghosts of the past versions of The Simpsons cast, Past!Lisa is probably this (or TheVoiceless if present!Lisa was the one who spoke "Yeah, Bart.") as she only has one line out of the other past!Simpsons members near the end of the final segment.

** The character who's affected by this the most is Lisa, who tends to be reduced to a mandatory line when the plot isn't focused on her. For example, in [[TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy "Homer's Enemy" she has three lines, two of which are single words. One episode had Lisa's only line be an utterance of "Santa?" from offscreen--the commentary mentioned that it was added in upon the realization that Lisa had no speaking lines otherwise in that episode. In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"]], this is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] multiple times in the commentary, but there is actually a reason InUniverse: the third spin-off (the one featuring the Simpson family) includes a joke where [[TheOtherDarrin Lisa is replaced.]] Lisa's only line, as a result, is during the ''first'' spin-off, which focuses on Chief Wiggum.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Simpson Safari" plays with this in the scene where it's revealed that Doctor Bushwell is using the monkeys to run a diamond mine:

** One episode had Lisa's only line an utterance of "Santa?" from offscreen--the commentary mentioned that it was added in upon the realization that Lisa had no speaking lines otherwise in that episode.
*** Ditto in ''The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase'', where not only is this [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] multiple times in the commentary, but there is actually a reason InUniverse: the third spin-off (the one featuring the Simpson family) includes a joke where [[TheOtherDarrin Lisa is replaced.]] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint At least Lisa's one line is onscreen, and contains a few more words...]]

** LeVar Burton ''gleefully'' admitted to this practice during a DragonCon panel. He said unless Geordi had a big part in that week's episode, he'd usually go over his scripts like "Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, my line, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, my line..."

* Parodied in ''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner]]' with the ShowWithinAShow ''Sweet Cuppin' Cakes''. No matter what the plot of the episode is about, sooner or later Eh! Steve! -- [[InformedAttribute stated to be]] an in-universe EnsembleDarkhorse -- has to show up to deliver his catchphrase ("Eh! Steve!"), even if he's otherwise incidental to the plot.

* In ''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner]]'':
** Parodied in with the ShowWithinAShow ''Sweet Cuppin' Cakes''. No matter what the plot of the episode is about, sooner or later Eh! Steve! -- an in-universe EnsembleDarkhorse -- has to show up to deliver his catchphrase ("Eh! Steve!"), even if he's otherwise incidental to the plot.
** Played straight with very conspicuous talk of "DNA evidence" in conversations in six consecutive WebAnimation/{{Strong Bad Email}}s, starting with "strong badathlon", to lead up to another short. In the last of these, doubling with RunningGagged, Homestar just boredly sits in a dark room, sighs, and says "DNA evidence" to get the obligatory mention out of the way.

* Parodied with [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Sweet Cuppin' Cakes]]. No matter what the plot of the episode is about, sooner or later [[EnsembleDarkhorse Eh! Steve!]] has to show up to deliver his catchphrase ("Eh! Steve!"), even if he's otherwise incidental to the plot.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/InvaderZim}}'' actually does have some episodes without [[VillainProtagonist Zim]] or [[MinionWithAnFInEvil GIR]][[note]]"Battle Dib," "Game Slave 2" and "The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot"[[/note]], but in "Gaz, Taster of Pork" they show up for one scene pretty much just to fulfill this trope. (GIR also had a silent cameo earlier.) In the commentary, GIR's actor expresses joy that he got paid a whole episode's salary just to say "[[CloudCuckoolander I got monkeys in me!]]"

* Happens once with Daichi/Bastion Misawa in Season 1 of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' and may have been a early sign of [[DemotedToExtra what was to come.]] Over the course of two episodes, he only had ONE LINE:

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Radio]]

** In "Times Squared", Dr. Pulaski is paged to the shuttlebay. She shows up with O'Brien, for no other reason than so that Creator/ColmMeaney would have something to do that week.

* Kaguya appears in every single chapter of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', though chapters 43 and 65 only have her show up at the very last panel to deliver a single line (highlighting her loneliness in the former, and wondering where everyone is in the latter).

** Klaus has been pretty much reduced to this. Lampshaded at least once where he snuck in the shot when the camera lingered and proudly stated he managed to get a line in.

* ''''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh! The Other Abridged Movie]]''''
** Lampshaded in ''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh! The Other Abridged Movie]]'':
-->'''Tea:''' I'm just here to look pretty!d

Alternatively, if we're having a LowerDeckEpisode, or a MauveShirt is getting a DayInTheLimelight, the rest of the regular cast will get the Mandatory Line instead - either one by one through the episode, or providing some sort of framing device or fluff [[BStory B plot.]]