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1->'''Bart:''' Hey, Dad. How come they're taking ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' off the air?\
2'''Homer:''' Because [[Creator/BillCosby Mr. Cosby]] wanted to stop before the quality suffered.\
3'''Bart:''' Quality, schmality! If I had a TV show, I'd run that sucker into the ground!\
4'''Homer:''' Amen, boy. Amen.
5-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', a rerun of "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E21ThreeMenAndAComicBook Three Men and a Comic Book]]" on the night that ''Series/TheCosbyShow'''s finale aired
6
7Franchises are often created with tender loving care by writers, directors, authors, game designers, ''etc''. These individuals have something specific in mind, and put a lot of life into their creations, and it really shows, especially when the creation becomes very popular.
8
9But sometimes the creation does so well that an {{executive|Meddling}}, publisher or someone else with a lot of power demands that the franchise continue. The author is told to write more books (or discovers that nothing else draws in the money). The game designer is told to make more games. The director is told to make a movie sequel. The comic book artist is told to draw more comics.
10
11Sometimes this happens when the creator really doesn't want to keep going and would rather try out different things. But the creator doesn't have much choice -- it's either do the sequel yourself or let someone else do it, perhaps less adequately (thereby tarnishing the image of the original) -- and keeps going anyway. Sometimes, the new installments manage to be well received, and the fans stay happy. But sometimes, it results in a lifeless franchise, a franchise that has had all the originality and creativity -- all the life -- sucked out of it, but keeps stumbling forward anyway. This often has the tragic effect of [[CreatorBacklash souring the creator on their own work]], sometimes preventing a more natural follow-up or continuation. If this happens, then the franchise can go on indefinitely, continued by the company long after [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun the creator has tried to put a definitive end on the series and backed away from it permanently]] -- or even [[OutlivedItsCreator after the creator has died]]. At this point, since it is effectively immortal, the phenomenon might be known as a Franchise Zombie.
12
13Of course, this can only be taken so far (about 15 or 20 years, let's say) before ComicBookTime becomes necessary in the work's universe. If things get ''really'' out of hand, a ContinuityReboot is the only way out.
14
15Increasingly common in the game industry. Modern games take such a large amount of time and money to develop compared to older games, thus making ''Smash Hit 3'' and a new intellectual property at the same time unfeasible. Some developers have remedied this by [[BTeamSequel buying or hiring other development companies to work on cash-in sequels while they work on their next big thing]]. Furthermore, with the advent of DownloadableContent, this can even happen with single games rather than series of games, i.e. by adding on more and more pay-to-access content long after the game as originally envisioned has been completed.
16
17A SubTrope of ExecutiveMeddling (and sometimes CashCowFranchise). See also TrilogyCreep, {{Sequelitis}}, and PostscriptSeason. Often results in SeasonalRot and OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight, but if the right people are given the reins these tropes can be avoided. Compare CapcomSequelStagnation (a different style of milking) and AshcanCopy (where a work containing the bare minimum aspect of a franchise is [[MoneyDearBoy quickly and cheaply produced for the sole purpose of preserving the copyright to it]]). Contrast CosmicDeadline, which is when a work is ended unexpectedly and forces the creator to come up with a messy and often unsatisfying conclusion for the story.
18
19Can frequently lead to CreatorBacklash and/or LaterInstallmentWeirdness. OutlivedItsCreator is the pinnacle of this trope. Contrast with FranchiseKiller and TorchTheFranchiseAndRun. Often a source of FanonDiscontinuity, with fans pretending that the series ''did'' end when the creator wanted it to. See also UndeadHorseTrope.
20%%
21%% Note: Unless the creator of a series wanted it to end and wasn't allowed to, it's not an example of this. You may be confusing this for the subjective entries SeasonalRot and JumpingTheShark.
22%% Likewise, establishing a new canon and performing a ContinuityReboot is not an example of this either.
23%%
24----
25!!Example subpages:
26
27[[index]]
28* [[FranchiseZombie/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
29* FranchiseZombie/{{Literature}}
30* FranchiseZombie/LiveActionTV
31* FranchiseZombie/VideoGames
32* FranchiseZombie/WesternAnimation
33[[/index]]
34
35!!Other examples:
36
37[[foldercontrol]]
38
39!!!'''Real life:'''
40
41[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
42* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. It was intended to end after ''one season'' but continues to run to this day, though it has had its ups and downs since the original series. There's also the movies, which currently number in the twenties. Not helping matters is that the movies continued to [[StrictlyFormula mechanically follow the same formula]] over time even as the main anime's writing and animation were kicked up a notch. It says something when the retirement of main character Ash Ketchum at the end of the ''Journeys'' seasons was one of the most surprising things revealed for the franchise in years.
43* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' was supposed to wrap up at episode 57. However, the series was so wildly successful it continued for another thirty-five episodes. And then two movies were made. And two sequels. And more movies. And crossovers. And spin-offs. And reboots. And remakes. [[OverlyLongGag And]] Creator/GoNagai stated that he got offers for a Mazinger-Z live-action movie…
44* Creator/KazukiTakahashi, creator of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'', was very apprehensive about the idea of a show after ''GX'', and when he created characters and concepts for ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', it was under the condition that ''5D's'' would be the last one, and he deliberately refused to have input on it. As of this writing, there have been four shows since ''5D's'', and Takahashi's direct input on the anime ceased after ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'', with his last major contributions consisting of various art pieces and some work on the films.
45* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' got to the point where one of the movies not-too-subtly encouraged the audience to let go of it so that Creator/RumikoTakahashi could get on with her life.
46* Naoko Takeuchi intended for the manga of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' to end after the Dark Kingdom arc, but the producers for the [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] persuaded her to continue. By the time you reach the Stars arc, Takeuchi's frustration is nearly palpable. The villains are, respectively, the Sailor Guardians of the ''Milky Way Galaxy'' and the force of pure Chaos, as if Takeuchi is daring her producers [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil to tell her to "top that."]]
47* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' was originally planned to wrap up with the conclusion of the Raoh saga. However, due to its popularity, the manga was renewed for a couple more years, forcing authors Buronson and Tetsuo Hara to continue the story beyond its intended conclusion. Even Buronson admitted that it was hard for him to continue writing the manga after killing off Raoh and doesn't remember much of what happened afterward.
48* Monkey Punch originally intended for ''Manga/LupinIII'' to be another one of his adult parody manga series that only lasted a few chapters like most of his past works. However, ''Weekly Manga Action'', the magazine that serialized it, started selling like hotcakes because of this and led to him continuing the manga for five years. Afterwards, [[Franchise/LupinIII TV series, movies and specials]] have kept the franchise going continuously. Even Monkey Punch himself expressed complete surprise over the series' sudden popularity. This didn't stop him from continuing to work on it with subsequent sequel manga, though.
49* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' is a very odd example. Creator Creator/YoshiyukiTomino didn't expect it to go beyond the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', especially after it was nearly cancelled. However, its runaway success in reruns (and especially the recut movie trilogy) led to its becoming an overnight success, and for over a decade he continued to work on sequels. In 1994, fed up with ExecutiveMeddling, Tomino sold the rights to the franchise to Creator/{{Sunrise}} and went off to work on other series. Not willing to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, Sunrise started producing the Alternate Universe series (like ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]''), while occasionally dipping back into the Universal Century timeline. As of its 34th anniversary in 2013, ''Gundam'' consisted of 12 TV series, 7 {{OVA}}s, and 13 movie adaptations [[note]]only three, UC verse's ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Gundam F91]]'', and ''Gundam 00'''s ''[[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer A Wakening of the Trailblazer]]'' are original; the others are recuts[[/note]], and God only knows how many manga, video games and other media, and it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.\
50\
51It's become something of a popular fandom myth that Tomino hates ''Gundam'' and has actively tried to sink it for years, usually attributed to his reputation for killing numerous characters. In the novelization of the original series, Tomino actually kills off main character Amuro Ray; however, he explained that he was just thinking of the novels as a stand-alone story, and if he had given consideration the possibility of a sequel, he wouldn't have killed Amuro.\
52\
53This myth was reportedly debunked by [[WordOfGod the man himself]] when he momentarily returned to direct ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' and later the ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' movie trilogy. During either of these two points, Tomino all but outright admitted that ''Gundam'' was his greatest creation and that, while he has some regrets, he still takes certain pride in its development. Along that line, it should be noted that either of the two series are a dramatic switch from usual Tomino storytelling methods, with ''Turn A'' being a more lighthearted character drama and the ''Zeta'' trilogy omitting many of the darker elements of the original series, which included replacing the ending with a far happier one where [[spoiler:Kamille ''wasn't'' mentally crippled by Scirocco, the AEUG remains intact and Axis never goes to war with the Earthsphere.]] The latter even closes with an optimistic dialogue spoken by Sayla Mass[[note]]specifically leftover recordings from original seiyuu Yo Inoue, who died in 2003[[/note]].
54* ''Manga/CaseClosed'' was originally meant to end at two volumes. Since the manga is now approaching 100 volumes and the anime is a CashCowFranchise for TMS, it definitely didn't go the way the author thought it would.
55* ''Manga/KOn'' ended fairly definitively with the graduation of the original club members and the anime followed suit. However the following year (2011) a movie was released. The manga author, Kakifly, also started a new series of manga chapters (dividing the story between the original four's college experience and Azusa's role as club leader of the high school Light Music Club). The restarted manga is accused of being a zombie that only exists to feed off the movie's buzz (it was often said to be of lower quality compared to the original run, and its abrupt ending after two volumes only added credence to that notion).
56* ''Manga/Cyborg009'' was intended to only be one arc long, even killing the main character. However it proved so popular that Creator/ShotaroIshinomori retconned Joe into surviving, and was still working on the series at the time of his ''death''. His son later completed the original manga using notes he left behind, but animated adaptations, reboots, and expansions are still being made.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Automobiles]]
60* The Hillman Avenger, a sedan and stationwagon produced in the United Kingdom by Chrysler, then Rootes-Chrysler, went through three different badges in its lifetime, Hillman from 1970 to 1976, Chrysler from 1976 to 1979, and then Talbot from 1979 to 1981 (when PSA Peugeot-Citroen bought the rights to Chrysler Europe and lost the rights to the Chrysler name) and [[MarketBasedTitle Sunbeam Avenger in Scandinavia]]. Incidentally, things would come full circle when PSA Peugeot Citroen merged with Stellantis. But that's not the end of the story; in 1982, when the design was 22 years old, it continued until 1991, after Volkswagen Argentina bought the tooling and rights, badging it the Volkswagen 1500, which was [[NonIndicativeName available with a 1.5-litre and a 1.8-litre engine, and not a 1.5-litre only as the cubic capacity nameplate suggested]]. [[https://www.maronline.org.uk/a-rather-different-vw1500/More about it here]], for those interested. However, it couldn't compete with the then-new Ford Sierra, Chevrolet Monza and Toyota Corona in Argentina, which were more modern and safer to drive, and even Chrysler's own [[MarketBasedTitle Chrysler Spirit sedan]] which launched a year later, as some Volkswagen 1500s were sold into 1992 that were surplus stock.
61* Vauxhall had this problem from 2002 to 2005 when some dealers were selling grey import Opel Vectra B models imported from Egypt, which were the previous generation, at a time when they were trying to heavily promote the new-generation Vectra C. In Egypt, [[ValuesDissonance a previous generation continuing for a while isn't a bad thing for cash-strapped new car buyers in a market where there isn't as much choice for marques]], but British buyers preferred the newer car, and many ended up re-exported by Egyptian expats. In Egypt, the car continued for 3 years after production ended for the UK market.
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:Comic Books]]
65* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': The most successful comic book series in the Dutch-speaking world started off in 1945. Quality wise the first twenty years were the best stories. In 1972 the original creator, Willy Vandersteen, left the series in hands of his successors, who failed to duplicate the quality of the originals, but nevertheless the stories kept on selling. After Vandersteen's death in 1990 the creative control vanished and the series itself quickly went downhill. As of today, new stories are still published, but apart from the main characters it has deviated enormously from the original concept. The main reason it still sells today is because of the sheer volume of work and the enthusiastic collectors who keep buying every issue. Virtually every ''Suske en Wiske'' fan agrees: it's not what it used to be at all.
66* ''ComicBook/XMen2019'': Hickman changed the status quo of the X-Men franchise, moving the cast from Xavier's mansion to the living island of Krakoa, and forming their own mutant nation. This came with many changes, such as working with their former enemies, more political intrigue, [[BackFromTheDead Resurrections Protocols]] to bring back the dead, and mutants succeeding instead of being hunted to extinction. Originally, the Krakoa era was meant to be a temporary thing, and only expanded if the idea proved popular, with Hickman having a planned story to tell. Seeds were already planted for various ways to end the era and reset the status quo, as well as plot points that were going to be expanded to move the overall narrative forward. However, the Krakoa era ended up being so popular with fans and writers that Hickman's plans had to be changed to accommodate the extended stay. The era would go on to outlast its creator, who would leave three years after coming aboard, rushing a conclusion that also threw in some things that were ''very clearly'' meant to be set up later.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
70* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' is on its ''fourteenth'' installment (and Creator/DonBluth was only involved with the first). The first movie is widely regarded as a classic. The second movie, and every movie thereafter, was pretty obviously a cash-grab. That makes 13 straight movies of pure zombie, and the only reason they've so far stopped there is because Universal pulled the plug on their animation department.
71* After the ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' franchise's original [[GrandFinale finale film]] ''WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch'' aired in 2006, the franchise has managed to receive two more SpinOff TV shows, both of which take place in the countries where those shows are produced after the events of the original franchise and see Stitch get separated from Lilo to become besties with other human girls. Then in 2020, this further included a manga SpinOff where Stitch ends up in feudal Japan and befriends an adult male warlord instead, and by the following year, Disney rebranded the franchise to have it revolve all around Stitch due to his WolverinePublicity, to the point where only a handful of characters other than him get regular merchandise, and the other characters are more often included with him instead of being on their own. [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Original film]] writer-director (and Stitch's creator and original voice actor) Creator/ChrisSanders had no involvement with the franchise after he left Creator/{{Disney}} in 2007, and even then, he only did voice acting work in the sequel films, ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', and other SpinOff media (including crossover Disney projects made after he left the company); he had no intention of making anything else past the one film. Meanwhile, audiences who did see the Asian spin-offs were put off by Stitch being without Lilo--though both shows did get their share of fans.
72[[/folder]]
73
74[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
75* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' is a prime example of this trope. While Jim Davis, the creator of the comic, maintains creative control and signs the strips, he now only does the writing and rough sketches while his assistants do the inking and coloring. This is due to the fact that Jim Davis now spends most of his time supervising production and merchandising his characters through his company Paws, Inc. And as of 2016 he is currently an adjunct professor at Ball State University, his alma mater, meaning that he will most likely devote less time to his strip he created forty years ago.
76* ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS'' is a victim of this. Hank Ketcham debuted the strip in 1951, and in 1994 he retired and handed it off to Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton. Since then, the character has become the TropeNamer for MenaceDecay. Where Dennis was once a hyperactive terror with a mean streak who adults genuinely disliked (and for good reason!), the current iteration of the character has more in common with the kids in ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus''.
77* ''ComicStrip/JudgeParker'' fell victim to this in the last decade or so. While it always had a rather unrealistic focus on crime fighting it was still at heart a legal drama focusing on the titular Judge Parker and later attorney Sam Driver. The current writer (introduced in 2016) has no working knowledge of the legal system and refuses to write courtroom scenes because, as he said in an NPR interview, quote, “courtroom scenes are boring,” unquote. ''In a legal drama.''
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Toys]]
81* ''Super Soaker'' has been this ever since Hasbro disbanded Larami in 2002 and put its Nerf team in charge of the Super Soaker brand.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Visual Novels]]
85* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise was originally intended by Shu Takumi to end with the third entry, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]'' back in 2004. As of this writing, there has since been three mainline entries and several spin-offs following it and the franchise shows no signs of stopping in the near future. The games after ''Trials and Tribulations'', while not regarded to be ''bad'', are largely regarded as being inferior to the original trilogy by many fans and critics.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Web Animation]]
89* ''WebAnimation/NeuroticallyYours'' started in 2003 and for 8 years, the series was about Germaine struggling with her life and her own self while Foamy belittled her for being stupid and ranted on about the current idiotic problems in the world. The series was starting to show it was becoming stale after a while, but the creator was making money off of the show and needed the show to keep running since he had to make a living somehow. Rather than keep the show strictly formula, the creator decided to give the series a reboot to introduce new storylines and new characters in order to keep the series fresh.
90* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' is a complicated case, given what was just 6 episodes became 10, then a 19 episode season, which just kept going, all on the creator's choosing; Creator/RoosterTeeth have stated that as long as people want and watch the show, it will continue (neatly summed up by [[http://areyoumakingmoreredvsblue.com/ areyoumakingmoreredvsblue.com]]). Creator Burnie Burns concluded the ongoing plot on Season 10, while having already decided to let one of the season's writers, Creator/MilesLuna, become the new showrunner. Miles was responsible for a new and popular story arc, ''[[WebAnimation/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy The Chorus Trilogy]]'', that ended with such a GrandFinale that he couldn't find a way to properly follow that, leading to instead supervise [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlueSeason14 an anthology season]] that would also serve to find who would continue the story. The chosen one, Joe Nicolosi, wrote two divisive seasons, that still led to a well-liked arc closer, ''Singularity'', under another writer and other directors. But then came a point where what could just be another PassingTheTorch instead made fans think it was not the same show they followed, as amid restructurings at Rooster Teeth, where Burnie and Miles left, and co-founder Creator/JoelHeyman, who also voiced the show's most popular character, was fired, the old characters were mostly ditched (only three appear) by the crew who took on season 18, ''[[WebAnimation/RedVsBlueZero Zero]]'', which to make matters worse was [[SeasonalRot very poorly received, often considered the worst season]].
91[[/folder]]
92
93[[folder:Webcomics]]
94* ''[[{{Webcomic/Subnormality}} Abnormality]]'' talks about "The Zombie Years" that TV shows that go on for too long enter into in [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18696_the-lifespan-every-tv-show-ever-5Bcomic5D.html "The Complete Series: The Lifespan of a TV Show"]]:
95-->'''''Beyond the 7th Season: The Zombie Years'''''\
96- ''Should it continue to air, the show will degenerate into a frightful, shambling corpse -- a mocking funhouse mirror reflection of what it once was, existing only to ghoulishly maintain the careers/merchandising empire of its sinister creators.''\
97- ''The characters are almost unrecognizable from their original incarnations, now merely grotesque, unthinking husks -- their personalities long since removed for easier manipulation.''\
98- ''Each season beyond the 7th cancels out one of the earlier good seasons in terms of the show's overall legacy -- 14 or more seasons rendering a show essentially '''undead'''.''\
99- ''If a given show is not gracefully canceled or otherwise brought to rest when its lifespan has clearly expired, the best thing to do is get a group of friends together, arm yourselves to the teeth with shotguns and chainsaws, and corner the offending production staff in a parking garage where they can be messily dispatched for the good of civilization. Either that or stop watching the show.''
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Web Original]]
103* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's Creator/DougWalker ended his long running web series in order to finally begin his next major project: WebVideo/DemoReel. As he felt it was his "dream project", Doug invested every dime he had into production only for it to [[ToughActToFollow fail in view counts]]. Website/ChannelAwesome struggled with the loss of viewers who stopped visiting the website with Critic gone. Demo Reel was then recast as a purgatory type state of being that would bring the Nostalgia Critic back. In his "Review Must Go On" commentary, Doug talked about how making Donnie Critic was to piss off demanding fans, reboot Critic has been literally called a zombie twice, and WebVideo/{{Welshy}} used his farewell to call out Doug for bowing down.
104* Invoked by WebSite/SFDebris during his review of the infamous ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "A Night In Sickbay": "And yet it's still coming! It won't stop! '''How do you kill a Star Trek show that's already dead?!'''"
105* WebVideo/EpicMealTime has various spin offs run by the members of the crew just so it isn't stale (and [[MoneyDearBoy to be fair, they always said they were in it for the money]]). Despite the departure of the beloved Muscles Glasses and fans complaining it isn't as fun as it used to be, the show still goes on.
106%% ZCE * Asalieri2 satirizes this in his video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ixirVjAEcI "Death of a Youtuber"]]
107[[/folder]]
108
109!!!'''In-universe:'''
110
111[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
112* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'' has the ''Nightfall'' series, a thinly-veiled parody of the ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga''. Thanks to a constant succession of authors using the same pen name (and the same sentient pen), it's been going for [[LongRunners 120 years]] at a rate of three books per year. While it's still pretty popular, the most recent books have attracted enough criticism that the twelfth and current writer — Annabel Crème — has decided to quit the series (at least, until Lotte motivates her to come back to it), though even she opts to pass the torch to Lotte rather than end ''Nightfall'' entirely.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Comic Books]]
116* In ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'', the Robert E. Howard knockoff plots to kill off his creation once and for all. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:his creation comes to life and abducts him]].
117* In ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'', the Gentry use the power of the Anti-Death Equation to keep Nix Uotan alive so they can corrupt him, a likely allusion to companies refusing to let go of concepts they can squeeze profit out of.
118* ''[[Magazine/{{MAD}} MAD Magazine]]'' had its "instant movie reviews", where by taking letters from the name they managed to spell out a brief review. [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime Th]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime E]]''' [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime La]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime N]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime d Bef]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime O]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime re Time IV: J]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime OU]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime rney Throu]]'''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime GH]]''' [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime The Mist]] gives us "ENOUGH". Since said movie is on ''number fourteen and counting'', it's pretty evident they didn't listen.
119[[/folder]]
120
121[[folder:Fan Works]]
122* In ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'' [[spoiler:Admiral]] claims that the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' films kept trying to reinvent themselves to stay current with changes in AI technology but largely failed and stopped being any good be M4, two thousand years after the original.
123* ''Webcomic/SquareRootOfMinusGarfield'''s the "Garfield in 2053" series imagines a future in which the comic is still continuing long after Jim Davis is dead, but the current editor refuses to put any effort into it, letting it devolve into a Cut and Paste Comic in which recycled strips are reinterpreted with a single image of Garfield.
124[[/folder]]
125
126[[folder:Visual Novels]]
127* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has this as a major late-game reveal: [[spoiler:within the world of ''V3'', the previous installments in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' franchise were the first of a ''very'' long series which [[MetaSequel transitioned from completely fictional]] to using real people with their memories manipulated. It turns out that ''V3'' is a stylistic way of writing "53", with the current installment being the fifty-third in the franchise. The endgame boils down to stopping this from going on any longer than it already has.]]
128[[/folder]]
129----
130''[[TheStinger Financial Gaaaaaiinnss....]]''

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