History Main / OffTheWagon

* ''Film/HauntingInConnecticut''. Where the father starts out in recovery and later falls off.

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', Sam Malone
* ''Series/PartyOfFive'', Bailey Salinger
* ''Series/TheWestWing'', Leo [=McGarry=] (though only in a FlashBack)

* ''Series/TrueBlood'', Detective Andy Bellefleur

* ''Series/MadMen'''s Dick Phillips is a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon in Season 2's "Maidenform." While at first at least somewhat sympathetic (he fell off in the middle of a messy divorce), he becomes increasingly dickish as he slides further and further back into alcoholism. By Season 4, [[spoiler:even Peggy--who still trusted him to some degree--comes to see how much of a tremendous asshole he's become.]]

* ''FunkyWinkerbean'''s title character went through a bout of alcoholism in the '90s after the first TimeSkip, but got it under control and remained sober through the second TimeSkip as well. A 2010 strip appeared to show him finally depressed enough about his life to order a screwdriver...but subverted this trope when Funky instead vented his problems to the bar tender and left without drinking anything.

** Subverted, of all things. They were doing a civil war re-enactment of...questionable historical accuracy. Somebody offers Barney, who had previously been a raging alcoholic, a drink. He worries that he'll fall off the wagon, decides to drink it anyway...and marvels when he still feels fine.

** The dramatic "NoMoreForMe" gesture is discouraged by many doctors for this very reason. It might feel gpood at the time, but lowering your intake slowly over the course of a few weeks is much less traumatic and much easier to stick to.

* Played for laughs in ''Fable II''. After completing a quest for an npc, said npc's wife tells him to get back on the wagon. He instantly responds, "Wagon? Where? Kids, look out for the wagon!!"

* ''BreakingBad'' has Jane Margolis, who ultimately dies of a heroin overdose. Jesse, himself, got on the wagon afterwards, but he falls off of it a couple times.

* This happens all the time with professional wrestlers, particularly older veterans working the independent circuit. ScottHall and [[JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]] are amongst the more notorious examples of this, but far from the only ones.

* The most famous example is JakeRoberts' appearance at a 1999 pay per view titled Heroes of Wrestling. Prior to his match with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Jake cut a slurred, rambling, incoherent promo. When he came to the ring, he was so drunk he couldn't even stand up straight, engaged in lewd behavior with some fans at ringside, then got in the ring, held his snake up to his crotch and started stroking it. Needless to say the match didn't last long.
* Sadly many wrestlers never recover from substance abuse problems, leading to a shockingly long list of those who have died of unnatural causes before the age of 50 including [[CurtHennig Mr. Perfect]] (Accute Cocaine intoxication), EddieGuerrero (Heart attack caused by years of steroid and perscription drug abuse), The British Bulldog (Same thing), Crash Holly (Choked on alcohol induced vomit), Miss Elizabeth (Drug overdose), Bam Bam Bigelow (Drug overdose), the list goes on and on.

* At {{TNA}}'s Victory Road pay per view in 2011, JeffHardy showed up loaded for his match against Wrestler/{{Sting}}. The subsequent match ended up going less than a minute.

In any show featuring a recovering [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] (or other such drug addict), they will inevitably return to drinking at least once during the series. In fairness, this happens quite a bit to recovering alcoholics in real life as well, but it's not as inevitable as television would have us believe (although it is one reason why many RealLife programs to help with alcohol and drug addiction take pains to stress that someone is a ''recovering'' alcoholic[=/=]addict rather than a ''cured'' one, and that it is an ongoing and often lifelong process rather than something that can be quickly fixed). In a drama, this is almost always a VerySpecialEpisode. In a comedy, it can be done either as a VerySpecialEpisode or just for laughs. The relapse can be caused by trying to [[DrowningMySorrows drown sorrows.]]

Often the "Off The Wagon" will be sober again at the end of the series or movie. Most of the time the family or loved ones seem to forgive the relapse as soon as they see said character in any state other than wasted. See also NailedToTheWagon.

* Dr. Rockso of ''{{Metalocalypse}}'' gets clean in one episode. In his return episode, he falls off the wagon, gloriously.

* Subverted in, of all things, ''TheSimpsons''. They were doing a civil war re-enactment of...questionable historical accuracy. Somebody offers Barney, who had previously been a raging alchoholic, a drink. He worries that he'll fall off the wagon, decides to drink it anyway...and marvels when he still feels fine.

* [[FantasticMrFox Mr. Fox]] says this word for word when apologizing to his wife about stealing birds again, after he promised he wouldn't ever return to that profession. HilariousInHindsight as George Clooney's character in ''OceansEleven'' got in trouble for the same thing.
* A running gag in ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}} is that the resident ButtMonkey, Jared, falls off the wagon. WHAT wagon he falls off of varies; you name it, he's been addicted to it[[note]] This includes alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, and junk food[[/note]].

* In one episode of Series/ThirtyRock'', Liz accidentally gets her ex-boyfriend Floyd, who is a recovering alcoholic, drunk when the fish she ordered was served with a sauce made from Jack Daniels. The alcohol was supposed to cook out, but since Floyd ordered the sauce on the side, it wasn't cooked.

* In one episode of ThirtyRock, Liz accidentally gets her ex-boyfriend Floyd, who is a recovering alcoholic, drunk when the fish she ordered was served with a sauce made from Jack Daniels. The alcohol was supposed to cook out, but since Floyd ordered the sauce on the side, it wasn't cooked.

* ''Series/Borgen'''s resident TeamMom, journalist Hanne Holm, shows up drunk to a press conference after her estranged daughter fails to show up for a birthday lunch.

* ''Series/MadMen'''s Duck Phillips is a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon in Season 2's "Maidenform." While at first at least somewhat sympathetic (he fell off in the middle of a messy divorce), he becomes increasingly dickish as he slides further and further back into alcoholism. By Season 4, [[spoiler:even Peggy--who still trusted him to some degree--comes to see how much of a tremendous asshole he's become.]]

* Averted in ''Series/AfterYoureGone'' where Jimmy is a recovering alcoholic. In one episode, he has a very important appointment, but has spilled a drink on himself. His friends, trying to protect him, lock him in an empty room. He finally gets them to release him. He tells them he left something in the room and would they get it for him. They do, and he locks them in.
* ''Series/MadMen''[='s=] Duck Phillips is a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon in Season 2's "Maidenform." While at first at least somewhat sympathetic (he fell off in the middle of a messy divorce), he becomes increasingly dickish as he slides further and further back into alcoholism. By Season 4, [[spoiler:even Peggy--who still trusted him to some degree--comes to see how much of a tremendous asshole he's become.]]

** Played straight with SVU's Sonya Paxton, though, who fell off the wagon and came to court drunk, causing a mistrial and her going to rehab. She was never on the wagon, but was playing the FunctionalAddict.

* ''Series/NewTricks'', [[spoiler:Brian Lane, built up to over the whole of the most recent series.]]

* ''Series/{{Life}}'' had an episode, "Powerless," where Dani Reese is forced at gunpoint to start downing vodka shots. Of course, Reese had spent the beginning of the episode at a bar before going to her AA meeting.
** She was technically going to the meetings to get over her drug addiction, not her alcoholism-- which doesn't really make it any better, but does explain why the guy holding her at gunpoint didn't have the advantage he thought he had.

* ''NewTricks'', [[spoiler:Brian Lane, built up to over the whole of the most recent series.]]
* ''{{Cheers}}'', Sam Malone

* ''LawAndOrder'', Lenny Briscoe hits the bottle, and it leads (somewhat indirectly) to the death of a major character.
* ''[[Series/BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', Michael Garibaldi relapsed on two occasions: first, when [[spoiler:he was framed for an assassination plot and on the run]], and second, when [[spoiler:he learned that he was physically incapable of killing the SmugSnake Psi Cop Al Bester, who [[MindRape mind-raped]] him and forced him to betray his friends.]]
* Subverted in the ''[[MySoCalledLife MSCL]]'' ep appropriately titled "On the Wagon". Patty suspects Rayanne has fallen off, but it turns out she hasn't.

* ''KitchenConfidential'' had Jack Bordain take a sip of champagne, but spit it back into the glass.
* ''{{Life}}'' had an episode, "Powerless," where Dani Reese is forced at gunpoint to start downing vodka shots. Of course, Reese had spent the beginning of the episode at a bar before going to her AA meeting.

* Averted (so far) with ''LawAndOrder / [[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU's]]'' Capt. Don Cragen, who has been known to keep a bottle of vodka in his office and serve others from it.
** Played straight with SVU's Sonya Paxton, though, who fell off the wagon and came to court drunk, causing a mistrial and her going to rehab.
*** Actually, she was never on the wagon, but was playing the FunctionalAddict.

* Subverted in an episode of of the sitcom ''{{Titus}}'': The title character's father, habitual drinker Ken Titus, goes on the wagon, and his relatives find his sober behavior so insufferable that within two weeks they have an intervention to urge him to start drinking again.

* Played with in ''{{ER}}'', when recovering prescription drug addict Dr. John Carter finds an unaccounted-for bottle of Vicodin in a patient's room, pockets it, and takes two of the pills. Averted in that he almost immediately forces himself to vomit up the pills, before they can take effect. This is still treated as a (minor) relapse by his evaluator, Dr. Kerry Weaver; and his monitoring period is extended as a result.

* ''RescueMe'' plays with this quite a bit in Tommy Gavin's case. After spending most of Season 1 in various stages of drunkenness, he goes on the wagon in Season 2. The audience is occasionally shown a scene of Tommy descending into drunkenness after something particularly tragic happens to him, only for it to be revealed that it was just in his head and he's still sober, albeit miserable.
* In the sixth season of ''GreysAnatomy'' [[spoiler:Chief Webber]] falls off the wagon. [[spoiler: He ]] was subtly shown drinking and dropping hints for several episodes before the show called attention to it.

* On ''NYPDBlue'', rehabbed alcoholic Andy Sipowicz started [[DrowningMySorrows drowning his sorrows]] hard after his patrolman son was killed on duty.
* Done hilariously in ''FatherTed''. While the parochial house is entertaining a former television personality, Mrs. Doyle persuades (i.e. forces) him to have a bit of sherry. He quickly degenerates into a drunken wreck who destroys their living room, rants about his dismissal from the BBC (which was because of his alcoholism) scares off ''Father Jack'', and then jumps out the window. At the end of the episode, he decides to have another drink of sherry (having been convinced that he could hold his drink) and a single sup is enough to have him ranting and jumping through the window again.
* Averted in ''After You're Gone'' where Jimmy is a recovering alcoholic. In one episode, he has a very important appointment, but has spilled a drink on himself. His friends, trying to protect him, lock him in an empty room. He finally gets them to release him. He tells them he left something in the room and would they get it for him. They do, and he locks them in.
* ''MadMen''[='s=] Duck Phillips is a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon in Season 2's "Maidenform." While at first at least somewhat sympathetic (he fell off in the middle of a messy divorce), he becomes increasingly dickish as he slides further and further back into alcoholism. By Season 4, [[spoiler:even Peggy--who still trusted him to some degree--comes to see how much of a tremendous asshole he's become.]]
* In ''{{Eastenders}}'', Phil Mitchell seems to fall off the wagon on average every six months. And now he's a recovering crack addict as well, what's the bet there won't be a relapse at some point?
* In the GagDub ''SoupyNorman'', the titular Soupy is regularly mentioned as having been a former drink and drug addict, but has now been sober for over a year ( [[MemeticMutation that's nearly 12 months!]] ). However, every time he appears in the show he is so drunk that he can barely stand up or speak coherently, and regularly tries to start fights with the character Jack, who answers the door. What makes this funnier is that Jack makes the comments about Soupy being sober for so long just AFTER he's kicked Soupy out for being drunk. Of course, Jack's whole character is based around the fact he never remembers anything, even if it happened a few seconds before.
* {{Warehouse13}} has a interesting case when the six-year sober Pete goes through a un-itentional FreakyFridayFlip with his female partner Myka... who was at her High School Reunion and had just downed three vodka martinis. Oops.

* Played straight in ''Film/{{Hamlet 2}}'', where Dana Marschz, the main character, during goes on a drinking binge as part of his HeroicBSOD[=/=] DarkestHour sequence.

* ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking..."

* Played straight in ''{{Hamlet 2}}'', where Dana Marschz, the main character, during goes on a drinking binge as part of his HeroicBSOD/DarkestHour sequence.

* "Film/{{Airplane}}'' Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking..."

* "Film/{{Airplane}} Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking..."

* ''Haunting in Connecticut''. Where the father starts out in recovery and later falls off.
* "[[{{Airplane}} Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking...]]"
** A similar line in ''Film/IndependenceDay'' is probably a ShoutOut.

In any show featuring a recovering [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] (or other such drug addict), they will inevitably return to drinking at least once during the series. In fairness, this happens quite a bit to recovering alcoholics in real life as well, but it's not as inevitable as television would have us believe (although it is one reason why many RealLife programs to help with alcohol and drug addiction take pains to stress that someone is a ''recovering'' alcoholic / addict rather than a ''cured'' one, and that it is an ongoing and often lifelong process rather than something that can be quickly fixed). In a drama, this is almost always a VerySpecialEpisode. In a comedy, it can be done either as a VerySpecialEpisode or just for laughs. The relapse can be caused by trying to [[DrowningMySorrows drown sorrows.]]

* [[MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics]]' IronMan has fallen off the wagon more than once. In fact, he has tried to help fellow superhero Ms. Marvel/Binary/Warbird in her own battle with alcoholism. In ''FearItself'' he ''sacrifices'' his sobriety to Odin in order to get the god's attention.

* [[MarvelUniverse Marvel Comics]]' IronMan has fallen off the wagon more than once. In fact, he has tried to help fellow superhero Ms. Marvel/Binary/Warbird in her own battle with alcoholism.

** In contrast Frank is able to stay sober for periods of time but he is never "on the wagon". He always plans to start drinking again and his sobriety is just part of some scheme he is hatching.

* Happens in ''[[MarianKeyes Rachel's Vacation]]''.