History Main / OffTheWagon

* Doc Delaney, in William Inge's ''Come Back, Little Sheba''.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening''. One of the characters is a man who was once deep into the bottle and manages to hold throughout the series - despite, as the main character points out, having numerous opportunities to smuggle in some booze.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'', Rumisiel tries to spend more time off the wagon than on it; he is getting better though.

* In ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'', the iKnow device gives its wearer [[InstantExpert instant access to all knowledge]] while leaving them susceptible to [[BigBad Zenith]]'s [[MindControlDevice mind control.]] [[TeenGenius Fortiscue]] [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/03/27/one-more-cant-hurt/ only lasts a few minutes before trying to stick his back on.]]

* 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]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'':
** The titular Horseman not only has a bad habit of falling off the wagon but getting ''others'' to do so as well, such as in the case of accidentally getting Corduroy to fall off the EroticAsphyxiation wagon. [[spoiler:Even in the finale, where he's been sober for a year thanks to being in jail, [=BoJack's=] not confident he can stay on the wagon once he gets out.]]
** Sarah Lynn got sober with the full intention of falling off the wagon, as she was beginning to build a tolerance for the drugs and alcohol she was addicted to, and hoped being sober long enough would give her the highs she desired once she used again. [[spoiler:[=BoJack=] convinces her to go on a bender with him, but sadly she ends up overdosing and dying in [=BoJack's=] arms as they watched a planetarium presentation.]]
-->'''Sarah Lynn:''' [as she goes to cross off the '9 Months Sober' benchmark] Sober so good! [phone rings] [=BoJack=]?\\
'''[=BoJack=]:''' Hey Sarah Lynn! You wanna party?\\
'''Sarah Lynn:''' Oh thank God. ''Yes.'' [rips off calendar to reveal liquor, grabs a bottle]

* Subverted in the ''Series/MySoCalledLife'' ep appropriately titled "On the Wagon". Patty suspects Rayanne has fallen off, but it turns out she hasn't. Then it's DoubleSubverted at the end of the episode when Angela and Rayanne are on line at the movies and Angela sees Rayanne taking a drink. In the episode "Betrayal", when Rayanne goes off the wagon again, she ends up sleeping with Jordan, driving a wedge between her and Angela.

* Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie from ''Series/{{JAG}}'', after her [[RomanticFalseLead ex-boyfriend]] dies in her arms. She's also [[StalkerWithACrush being stalked]] by a DirtyCop.
* On ''Series/NYPDBlue'', rehabbed alcoholic Andy Sipowicz started [[DrowningMySorrows drowning his sorrows]] hard after his patrolman son was killed on duty.
* In ''Series/{{House}}'', Dr. Gregory House kicks his Vicodin habit by going into rehab at the end of season 5. He manages to stay clean throughout season 6, but has a slip midway through season 7 [[spoiler:which results in the end of his relationship with Lisa Cuddy]], and that in turn pushes him completely off the wagon, apparently for good.
* Done hilariously in ''Series/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.
* ''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.]]
* In ''Series/{{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 ''Series/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.

* ''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.
* Happens to a boyfriend of Elaine's in ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', leading to a discussion between Jerry and George whether the relapse is termed being "off the wagon" or "on" it.
* On ''Series/ShamelessUS'', Jody is a recovering sex addict. None of the other characters take this seriously and convince him that some "adventurous" sex with Sheila (who has a [[AssShove pegging fetish]]) will not hurt him. Jody quickly goes off the wagon and starts engaging in more and more extreme sexual acts. Sheila stages an intervention and in the end Jody is chained to a bed and forced to go cold turkey.
** By 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.

* 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 ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum'', [[NunTooHoly Sister Jude]] during Nor'easter as a result of The Devil's manipulations.
* ''Series/FrontierCircus'': In "The Depths of Fear", Casey hires a washed-up drunk lion tamer as a wagon driver on the understanding that he sobers up. After he is humiliated by the circus's current lion tamer, he finds a bottle in Casey's wagon and gets drunk.
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Booth's gambling addiction is triggered by very bad experiences. Ironically what causes him to apparently fall off the wagon wasn't the recent horrible experiences of [[spoiler: getting shot, having his close friend Sweets die in his arms, and spending months in prison]] but the happy news that [[spoiler: learning he's going to be a father again]] (very happy experiences can be triggers too). Sadly everyone ''thinks'' he's fine (they all saw him turn down a big bet to arrest a suspect on camera).
* ''Series/{{Sisters}}''. Second-oldest sister Teddy was a recovering alcoholic who struggled with her sobriety at key points during the show--her ex marrying her sister, her miscarriage, her daughter's rape. But the straw that broke the camel's back was when her new husband was killed only months after their wedding. Not until she almost kills her nephew while driving drunk does she get her act together and she never drinks again in the series run.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'':
** In "The Creeper", the first VictimOfTheWeek is an alcoholic writer (played by Creator/RikMayall) who falls off the wagon when his asshole publisher (and former friend) rejects his book idea, and then hands him a bottle of 65-year-old brandy. He gets drunk, and several humiliations follow, ending in his murder.
** In "Night of the Stag", the fanatical leader of the local {{Dry Crusader}}s is a recovering alcoholic. He falls off the wagon hard when the local HillbillyMoonshiner leaves him a jar of the local hooch: an exceptionally powerful brew known as 'the Beast'.
* After 55 years without drinking blood, this happens to Hal in Series 4 of ''Series/BeingHumanUK'', causing him to have to be [[NailedToTheWagon nailed to it.]]
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** Quentin Lance spent Season 2 and most of Season 3 sober. However after learning [[spoiler: that his daughter Sara was dead, and his other daughter Laurel hid this from him for a time (both out of worry over his heart issues and this trope)]] he starts drinking again. Laurel calls him on this in the Season 3 finale, and when he protests that its "just two drinks a day", she fires back that they are both alcoholics and there is no such thing as "just two drinks". He starts drinking ''again'' in Season 5, believing that after [[spoiler: being fired from his job, Laurel being murdered (specifically to [[RevengeByProxy punish him no less]]), and his girlfriend breaking up with him]], he has no reason not to.
-->'''Quentin:''' Alcoholics need a reason ''not'' to drink. And I'm fresh out.
** Notably averted with Laurel who remains committed to her sobriety [[spoiler:until her death]], even when her father (bitter over what she didn't tell him) quite literally [[KickTheDog shoves a bottle of liquor into her hands]]. At one point after being in a car crash, she even comments that she can't take any pain medication.
* ''Series/ChicagoHope'''s Jack [=McNeil=] was a gambling addict who frequently relapsed when stressed out.
* In ''Series/ThisCountry'', this turns out to be the reason why the vicar's son Jacob has had to leave the big city behind for a while and spend some time back in their remote little village. This attempt to kick the booze and drugs fails spectacularly:
-->'''Kurtan:''' I had no idea! I just thought he liked to party!

* ''Series/AllMyChildren'''s Hayley Vaughn becomes an alcoholic and slips up several times before finally remaining sober. Her sister Skye has a similar pattern.
* ''Series/GeneralHospital'''s AJ Quartermaine had this happen so often that he eventually gave up and resigned himself to being a FunctionalAddict.
* ''Series/MidnightCaller'': Jack almost relapses into smoking in "Based on a True Story." He puts a cigarette in his mouth and raises the lighter, pauses for a moment, then mutters "Nah," and spits the cigarette out.
* ''Series/OneDayAtATime2017'', [[spoiler:Schneider in season three.]]
* Jim Lahey from ''Series/TrailerParkBoys'' is known to be an alcoholic and is mocked for it by most of the cast. He claims to have quit in Season 5, but Ray sees through the facade of him drinking water when in reality, it was vodka. He claims that the alcohol made him think clearly, and it does... for a while. He finally gets sober in the sixth season but falls off once more upon being reinstated as a police officer, which extends into the next season.
* ''Series/YediYuz'': Mete downs a glass of rakı at the end of "Büyük Günahlar", ending his meticulously-maintained sobriety in the face of the episode's events.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': Bree Van de Kamp's drinking problem escalated and was resolved in season two, but she did have two notable instances of this trope:
** Season Five: [[spoiler:It was revealed in flashbacks that she had fallen off the wagon during the time jump some time after her husband went to prison and her surrogate son was taken away. She began "having a glass of wine now and then" in private until it escalated enough for her work to suffer, leading Katherine to take notice and intervene.]]
** Season Eight: After [[spoiler:covering up the murder of Gabrielle's abusive stepfather]], the core group turns on Bree, leaving her isolated and depressed. She falls off the wagon pretty hard, eventually attempting suicide. She is just barely stopped by Renee, but keeps drinking and falls into a spiral of one-night stands, mostly played for laughs. Her friends attempt an intervention to no avail, and she finally kicks the habit after her ex rescues her from a close call with an aggressive bar patron.
* ''Series/{{Dallas}}'': Most everyone in the Ewings' orbit was a heavy drinker, but Sue Ellen Ewing clocked the most time hopping on and off the wagon. She quit in season three after the "Who Shot JR" shenanigans but fell off in season six after finding JR cheating on her. This relapse culminated in getting Lucy's boyfriend killed and Sue Ellen herself nearly dying in a fire, which got her sober again for about a year and a half until she fell off once again near the end of season eight. This round was particularly unforgiving, in part because it left Sue Ellen drinking on the street and getting robbed, but mostly because by the time she finally did make it to rehab it was season nine, AKA [[spoiler:[[AllADream The Dream Season]].]] That meant things were reset in the premiere and she had to kick the habit all over again for season ten.
** The reboot featured a somewhat deconstructed version, again with Sue Ellen, after [[spoiler:JR died.]]
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'': A subplot of season one involved Veronica tracking down her runaway alcoholic mom Lianne and getting her into rehab. In the finale, [[spoiler:it's revealed she had lied and dropped out of rehab, forfeiting Veronica's college fund as payment, and started drinking again. Veronica kicks Lianne out, but can't stop her from lifting Keith's $50,000 settlement check on the way out the door. [[BadassCreed "The people you love let you down"]] indeed]].
** In the SpinOff [[Literature/VeronicaMars novel]] ''[[Literature/VeronicaMars The Thousand Dollar Tan Line]]'', [[spoiler:it's revealed Lianne has finally gotten sober and has a new family. Veronica still hasn't forgiven her, but she learns to accept having her back]].
* ''Series/{{Charite}}'': Doctor Behring willingly jumps off the wagon and takes Laudanum again -- to get rid of his withdrawal symptoms (shaky hands, sweat, malaise) and function as a surgeon so he can save the life of a woman in a problematic childbirth.
* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': One of the series primary focuses is Sherlock Holmes' problems with addiction. He stays sober for the first three seasons but prolonged interaction with a "[[ToxicFriendInfluence friend]]" from his using days leads to him relapsing at the end of the third season. He gets clean during the hiatus and is determined to keep his sobriety intact. In the series finale, he reveals that he relapsed again during a TimeSkip where he was in hiding after faking his own death.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'': Leo [=McGarry=] is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. While he's firmly on the wagon during the present day of the series, a flashback to the early days of the Bartlet campaign reveals he briefly relapsed after being offered scotch while meeting with some potential campaign donors. As he explains the incident to his lawyer he notes that people are often less sympathetic if someone relapses, especially if it happens more than once.
-->'''Leo:''' I went to rehab. My friends embraced me when I got out. You relapse, it's not like that. "Get away from me" - that's what it's like.
* ''Series/FeelGood'': After visiting George in the hospital and seeing the oxycodone she's received for pain, Mae (who's a cocaine addict) takes some. In Season 2 she's seen going into treatment for it again.
* ''Series/{{Hightown}}'': Jackie, who's gotten sober at that point, goes on a drug and alcohol binge along with her dad over Thanksgiving in Season 2. Afterward she's intent on going clean once again.
* ''Series/SingleDrunkFemale'':
** Early on, after Sam is court-ordered to go through AA and has gotten briefly sober she quite soon gets drunk with her friend and runs into a nearby vehicle in her car when driving out, getting her into even more trouble.
** James also later drinks again after over two years of being sober, to Sam's dismay.
* ''Series/{{Deputy}}'': In "10-8 Bulletproof" Hollister has to stop Cade from having a drink (as he's a [[RecoveredAddict recovering alcoholic]]) after [[DrowningMySorrows losing custody of his adoptive kids]].

* The ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "The Deep Dark Woods" centers around Edward "Ned" Calloway, who is addicted to being a themed costumed {{Mook}}. His repeated efforts to pull himself out of the criminal lifestyle are stymied by the lure of being a dapper gangster.
* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': Dylan Prescott has a number of issues he's just learning to manage without alcohol so he can try to live a more fulfilling life. Unfortunately, his problems are suddenly exacerbated by contact with Noctura whose drug-like meta-human ability mixes very poorly with his psych meds. He grabs a bottle of alcohol instead of his pills after spending two days hallucinating.
* Priam Agrivar from ''ComicBook/ForgottenRealms'' is a recovering alcoholic. He spends most of the series sober and in control of himself, but then he angers the god Labelas Enoreth, who punishes Priam by magically amplifying and worsening his addiction. Priam spends the next half-dozen issues as a barely functional wreck who can't go two pages without asking for a drink, and it isn't until the very last issue that he finally starts to get his act back together.

* Happens to [[Manga/DeathNote Matt]] ''several'' times during the course of the ''It Matters'' series, as a result of his ongoing struggle with opioid addiction. Each time usually ends with him GoingColdTurkey, and Mello ''trying'' to support him through the withdrawal.
* In the fanfic, ''Fanfic/LayingWasteToHalloween'', [[spoiler: while recovering, Annabeth relapses a few times, but never gets into it as much as she did before and always regrets it afterwards.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': In "The Wind," Bolt's girlfriend Mary slides back into her former [[DrugsAreBad addictive behavior]], becoming increasingly indiscriminate about the things she'll ingest to get high. She even runs away from her new farmhouse home to the city because her owners discover Mary's pilfering and lock up any possible offending substances.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

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

* A similar line in ''Film/IndependenceDay'' is probably a ShoutOut.

* ''Film/SilentMovie'': Mel Funn is precariously on the wagon for the first part of the movie - everyone knows he has a problem, but he manages to keep away from the drink. Then he finds out his lady love Vilma Kaplan is a mole sent to pretend to love him and sabotage his film, and he falls off HARD. [[spoiler: Of course, she actually is in love with him and wants to help him, so they sober him up with ThePowerOfLove and lots of coffee.]]
* Thea in ''Applause'' does well for a time with the drinking, but does give in to drink and becomes confrontational toward her ex-husband.
* In ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'', Andy hasn't had a drink for sixteen years but returns to drinking at pub no.4 by downing five pub measures of spirits. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It helps that he had been fighting aliens minutes earlier.]]

* Averted in ''Film/RachelGettingMarried''. Despite coming straight of rehab to her dysfunctional family on the weekend of her sister's wedding, and being shown in situations that imply she's sneaking off to drink or use, Kym stays clean and sober throughout the film.
* In ''Film/TheCountryGirl'', Frank's already shaky sobriety turns into a full-on bender after Georgie leaves town.
* ''Film/PrairieFever'': After sobering up during the trip from Clearwater to Carson City, Preston briefly relapses after seeing Octavia put in the same situation that killed his wife and being unable to act.
* In ''Film/TheOccupant'', Tomas is a recovering alcoholic. Part of Javier's plan is to make it look like he fell off the wagon. By the end of the film, he has.
* ''Film/AScoreToSettle'': When Joey meets Frankie outside the prison, he tells his father that he is no longer doing drugs. Later, he storms out after a blazing argument with his father. Frankie tracks him down to a drug den where he has just shot up.
* In ''Film/TheOverTheHillGangRidesAgain'', the Baltimore Kid falls off the wagon when he learns that Katie has just been using him in an attempt to get away with the loot from the Wells-Fargo robbery.
* ''Film/KissOfTheDamned'':
** Djuna, a VegetarianVampire, gives in and feeds on Paolo. She also later kills Paolo's agent this way.
** Her leader Xenia also does this (after forty years) since Maia dangles temptation before her.
* ''Film/{{Hummingbird}}'': Having cleaned himself up, Joey falls off wagon after [[spoiler:he kills Max Forrester]], and is lying in the street drunk outside the Covent Garden Opera House. He is seen still swigging from a bottle of vodka as he staggers through the streets of London in the final scene.

* Vimes falls off the wagon in ''Literature/MenAtArms''. In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', the next book he appears in, he pretends to fall off again, as part of a scheme to make the person who's trying to frame him for murder look foolish.
* The title character's (tragically inevitable) fall off the wagon he climbed onto in the first chapter is one of the key plot points of ''Literature/TheMayorOfCasterbridge''.
* ''Literature/MayasNotebook'': While hiding out in Chiloé Island, Maya falls in love with a handsome backpacker named Daniel Goodrich. They stay in contact for a while after he returns to his home in the U.S. Eventually he [[DearJohn writes to tell her that they are better off as friends]]. Despite the time spent in rehab before coming to the island, Maya gets drunk and trashes her surroundings.
* Happens in ''[[Creator/MarianKeyes Rachel's Vacation]]''.

* Jack rants about the so-called wagon at one point while knocking back imaginary martinis in the Overlook's bar in ''Literature/TheShining''. To hear him tell it, the wagon appears to be such a wonderful thing when you're not on it, "the biggest and the best float in the whole parade". But once you're actually on said wagon, your perspective changes. The seats are uncomfortable, the women are dressed like schoolmarms (as opposed to the sexy majorettes leading the wagon), and you're forced to sing hymns all day long. This turns out to be a prelude to when the spirit of the hotel gets him off that wagon for real, in order to take control of him and kill Wendy and Danny.
* Creator/PeterBenchley's novel ''Rummies'', in the last chapter, Duke Bailey and Scott Preston are released after four weeks in rehab for their alcoholism. Duke immediately heads for the nearest bar and reminds Scott that he'd never intended to really quit, just to learn what he could handle and what he couldn't. Averted with Scott, who actually learned his lesson from his time in rehab and refuses to join him in the bar.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Haymitch is kept from alcohol for several months in District 13, which is strictly dry and forces him into rehab. Once the war is won and he returns to District 12, he goes back to drinking.

%%* ''Series/NewTricks'', [[spoiler:Brian Lane.]]

* ''Series/PartyOfFive'', Bailey Salinger becomes an alcoholic in Season 3 thanks to the stresses of college life along with the responsibilities he has with his family (also, though he doesn't know at first, he's an example of HistoryRepeats, as his father was an alcoholic). After hitting RockBottom when he nearly kills Sarah in a car accident, he decides to get sober, but when he had nothing to do while waiting for Claudia to finish playing a concert, Bailey relapsed until finally quitting by the end of the season. He relapses in Season 6 and nearly kills himself in a car accident (where he has a dream about an alternate reality where his parents lived), which inspires him to sober up again.
%%A series name and a character name is not a proper example. How do these characters fit this trope?

* ''Series/BabylonFive'', 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.]]

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' Saul Tigh does this at least once an episode, to the resignedness of his commanding officer. His wife, Ellen, simply never gets ON the wagon in the first place and is probably mainly responsible for Saul's drinking: [[spoiler: because I'd drink too, if I had to kill my wife for being a suspected Cylon collaborator and then find out that oops, I'm a Cylon myself]].
* ''Series/KitchenConfidential'' had Jack Bordain take a sip of champagne, but spit it back into the glass.
* ''Series/{{Life|2007}}'' 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.
* In flashbacks in the ''Series/{{Lost}}'' episode "A Tale of Two Cities," Jack gives his sober father, Christian, a good shove off the wagon, which ultimately leads Christian to lose his job, go on a bender, and die.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'':
** Played with in an episode, 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.
** Played straight with Abby at least twice.

* ''Series/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.
* ''Series/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 ''Series/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.
* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' "The Bottle Job" Nathan falls off the wagon. And stays off.

* ''Film/{{Hummingbird}}'': Having cleaned himself up, Joey falls off wagon after [[spoiler:he kills Max Forrester]], and islying in the street drunk outside the Covent Garden Opera House. He is seen still swigging from a bottle of vodka as he staggers through the streets of London.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'':
** The titular Horseman not only has a bad habit of falling off the wagon but getting ''others'' to do so as well, such as in the case of accidentally getting Corduroy to fall off the EroticAsphyxiation wagon. [[spoiler:Even in the finale, where he's been sober for a year thanks to being in jail, Bojack's not confident he can stay on the wagon once he gets out.]]
** Sarah Lynn got sober with the full intention of falling off the wagon, as she was beginning to build a tolerance for the drugs and alcohol she was addicted to, and hoped being sober long enough would give her the highs she desired once she used again. [[spoiler:Bojack convinces her to go on a bender with him, but sadly she ends up overdosing and dying in Bojack's arms as they watched a planetarium presentation.]]
-->'''Sarah Lynn:''' [as she goes to cross off the '9 Months Sober' benchmark] Sober so good! [phone rings] Bojack?\\
'''Bojack:''' Hey Sarah Lynn! You wanna party?\\

* ComicBook/IronMan has fallen off the wagon more than once. In fact, he has tried to help fellow superhero ComicBook/CarolDanvers in her own battle with alcoholism. In ''ComicBook/FearItself'' he ''sacrifices'' his sobriety to Odin in order to get the god's attention. In ''ComicBook/{{AXIS}}'', [[FaceHeelTurn Inverted]] Tony is shown holding a glass of wine in promo artwork, indicating that he's reverted to the hedonist he was before becoming Iron Man.

* ComicBook/CarolDanvers from ''Fanfic/APrizeForThreeEmpires'' falls off the wagon once, unable to resist the temptation of drinking beer while waiting for a friend in a bar. Fortunately she manages to stay clean afterwards.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Dylan Prescott has a number of issues he's just learning to manage without alcohol so he can try to live a more fulfilling life. Unfortunately, his problems are suddenly exacerbated by contact with Noctura whose drug-like meta-human ability mixes very poorly with his psych meds. He grabs a bottle of alcohol instead of his pills after spending two days hallucinating.

* Subverted in the ''Series/MySoCalledLife'' ep appropriately titled "On the Wagon". Patty suspects Rayanne has fallen off, but it turns out she hasn't.

%%* ''Series/PartyOfFive'', Bailey Salinger.

%%* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', Sam Malone.

* ''Series/TheWestWing'': Leo [=McGarry=] is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. While he's firmly on the wagon during the present day of the series, a flashback to the early days of the Bartlet campaign reveals he briefly relapsed after being offered scotch while meeting with some potential campaign donors. As he explains the incident to his lawyer he indicates that it wasn't the first time he fell off the wagon and notes that people are often less sympathetic if someone relapses more than once.

-->-- '''VideoGame/MaxPayne'''

In any show featuring a [[RecoveredAddict recovering addict]], they will inevitably return to their substance of choice at least once during the series. 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 due to a stressful life event.]]

In any show featuring a [[RecoveredAddict recovering addict]], they will inevitably return to their substance of choice at least once during the series. 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.]]

* ''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.

In any show featuring a [[RecoveredAddict recovering addict]], they will inevitably return to their substance of choice at least once during the series. 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. 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.]]

** Quentin Lance spent Season 2 and most of Season 3 sober. However after learning [[spoiler: that his daughter Sara was dead, and his other daughter Laurel hid this from him for a time (both out of worry over his heart issues and this trope)]] he starts drinking again. Laurel calls him on this in the Season 3 finale, and when he protests that its "just two drinks a day", she fires back that they are both alcoholics and there is no such thing as "just two drinks". He starts drinking ''again'' in Season 5, believing that after [[spoiler: being fired from his job, Laurel being murdered (specifically to [[StuffedIntoTheFridge punish him no less]]), and his girlfriend breaking up with him]], he has no reason not to.

** Later on in the same arc, [[Dominatrix Sister]] confronts him, shows off her commemorative coin for ten years of abstinence... before also crushing it and proceeding to torture him.

** [[spoiler:Later on in the same arc, [[Dominatrix Sister]] confronts him, shows off her commemorative coin for ten years of abstinence... before also crushing it and proceeding to torture him]].

** [[spoiler:Later on in the same arc, [[Dominatrix Sister]] confronts him, shows off her commemorative coin for ten years of abstinence... before also crushing it and proceeding to torture him.