[[quoteright:217:[[Webcomic/{{Subnormality}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/owlman.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:217:Now you're just embarrassing yourself.]]

->'''T-Bone:''' "Crud! What ''is'' that thing?"\\
'''Razor:''' "[[LampshadeHanging Giant monster of the week]]?"\\
-- from the ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' episode "Unlikely Alloys".

Episodes where the characters fight a villain and the whole story is wrapped up at the end, never to be dealt with again. Can be seen as the complete antithesis of a StoryArc, or as a BigBad arc compressed into one episode.

The term (a play on Movie Of The Week) was originally coined by the writing staff of ''TheOuterLimits'' (1963), which sought to distinguish itself from its biggest competitor, ''TheTwilightZone'', by promising viewers a new monster every episode.

Variations crop up from time to time, though the most generic term is "Villain of the Week". ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'' and ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' for example are sometimes discussed in terms of the "Freak of The Week." MysteryOfTheWeek is the [[CrimeAndPunishmentSeries detective series]] version of this trope.

Sometimes, the monsters get [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever ridiculous]], especially in {{filler}}s, where they are almost always [[MonsterOfTheAesop themed after the plot of the episode.]] ''FutariWaPrettyCure'' had a giant vacuum cleaner early in its run, for example; ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', a walking garbage dump.

[[TropesAreTools This actually is not a bad thing]]. Monster of the Week can be used to establish characters or setting. Or perhaps lead to a much bigger StoryArc.

Subtrope of OneShotCharacter. Often used in collaboration with AdventureTowns, may or may not be MonogenderMonsters. See also RoBeast, MonsterOfTheAesop, and SingleSpecimenSpecies. Contrast MonsterMash, RoguesGallery.

Not to be confused with Shaenon Garrity's parody webcomic ''[[http://www.shaenon.com/monsteroftheweek/ Monster of the Week]]''
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]
* ''{{Pokemon}}'', ''SailorMoon'' and others in [[GottaCatchThemAll their]] [[MagicalGirl genres]] are well-known for this. This trope is very common in some varieties of ''{{anime}}'', and in anime it tends to take an {{egregious}} form that, after watching a few episodes, causes the audience to start asking uncomfortable questions like "Well, why don't the bad guys attack all at once instead of one at a time?" Writers usually stoop to [[HandWave handwaving]] if they deal with the question at all.
** {{Sailor Moon}} is the most famous of this, with the monsters of the week - at least 80% of the time - also being {{Monogender Monsters}}, females in this case. Also, with only one exception (Cienicienta, but not because she's strong, smart or otherwise special, just because the authors wanted to make Usagi's birthday-episode into a two-parter)none of the monsters ever survive the episode they were introduced in. While in some cases the monsters are mindless beasts (Cardians), other times they are shown to be intelligent beings capable of emotion - some not being outright evil even -, which makes it kind of odd how the Sailor Senshi never show any mercy to any of them.
*** Then again most of the monsters aren't real. In the S season they're all just objects who get converted back after being destroyed.
*** The Sailor Senshi do stop short of killing the Monster Of The Week when they're created from humans such as later in the first arc and in Sailor Moon Stars. The {{Monogender Monsters}} trope was only utilized during Sailor Moon S. Thankfully, in this case, the trope is bearable as the anime tends to develop its characters and larger story arcs alongside its Monster Of The Week stories.
** Which caused a DubInducedPlotHole in the English {{Macekre}} of ''TokyoMewMew''. If there's now an "army" of Monsters of the Week, why do we only see one at a time?
** Both parodied and played straight in ''[[PrettySammy Magical Project S]]'', which has Pixy Misa summoning a new "Love-Love Monster" in half of the episodes. The show and its characters are quite aware of both the futility of these creations (as the incantation of "Calling Mistakes" suggests) and their formulaic nature (in an episode where Misa introduces a small army of them, Sammy dryly says "I've seen all those already").
** Pokémon is well-known for this - some Pokémon get to be the MonsterOfTheWeek ''multiple times''. Within the first 24 episodes, Gastly was monster of the week ''twice'': when he was impersonating a statuified woman, and as part of the [[BigBoosHaunt Lavender Town episode]] with its evolutions.
* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'''s Kenshiro regularly faced off against villains of the week, often with some weird Nanto or Hokuto derived power that he had to overcome, moreso in the anime than in the manga, and the series varied between these and genuine story arcs.
* ''Anime/GoLion'', the 1980s paragon of the trope.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and its sequels -''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer''- are considered the 19''70s'' paragon in spite of they actually ''subverted'' the trope. Dr. Hell often sent two, three or even more Mechanical Beasts at a time as well. And the original manga averted it completely. The monsters gang up on Mazinger more often than not. It also was subverted in ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}'', where Dr. Hell sends a large number of monsters at once against Z and GreatMazinger, and ''wins''.
** Averted in ''Anime/ShinMazinger'', probably because it sticked more closely to the original manga. Dr. Hell ''never'' just sends one monster out into battle, and usually [[CrazyPrepared has backup plans should his monsters fail.]]
* ''SamuraiPizzaCats''. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one episode, where the Big Cheese introduced the robot menace he'd prepared for this episode with "Monster of the week, please enter and sign in."
* Nightmare in ''KirbyOfTheStars'' would provide King Dedede with a new monster with which to try to kill Kirby every episode. Naturally, Dedede is just too cheap to buy more than one at any one time. He did go into debt buying them. Nightmare actually had to send a monster to collect the debt without him realizing (At first). Still was defeated though.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' played this for the first volume before going into the main plot (which it would keep through the entire series); interestingly it was still only one of the chapters of the first volume that didn't affect the story in any way.
** Likewise, some early episodes of [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist the 2003 anime adaptation]] had a version of this: if there's a plot important character in the episode we have not seen before, he is probably the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain Of The Week]]. The main exception to this rule is Rose. 'Course, a fair share of these episodes turned out to be important to the plot later.
* Played with and used straight by ''RahXephon''. The Dolems mainly show up on a one-a-week basis, although some of them survive their initial appearance and go on to reappear later.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' arguably boils down to this... except it's "villain for the next month and a half", due to the length of the fights.
** The series didn't adopt this format until Part 3 began and Stands were introduced, as Parts 1 & 2 were arc based. Interestingly enough, this format helped the popularity of the series, as the fights were unique and the Stand users diverse.
* For about the first half of ''SpeedGrapher'', Suietengu's plan to recapture Kagura is to have his henchmen sic a different Euphoric on Saiga. They never live more than two episodes after being introduced.
* Early chapters of ''Manga/YuGiOh'' generally featured a "Bully Of The Week." His role was typically to scam or beat up Yugi's friends, at which point Yugi would challenge him to a CookingDuel or the local equivalent. Most notably, TheRival Kaiba started out like this, [[EnsembleDarkhorse but]] [[BreakoutCharacter then...]]
** The anime based on the manga, and its spin-offs, have a Duelist of the Week who pops up with a new deck gimmick and quirky personality to challenge the hero. With very, very few exceptions, these characters will be defeated in a single episode and will never appear again. If they're lucky, they'll get a two-part episode before they vanish.
* Every season of ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' starts out this way as the new characters learn the ropes and the viewers learn the new characters (and in some seasons, new universe.)
** In the case of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' this is generally held to be what killed the show's american ratings as a true big bad was not introduced until the trip to the digiworld 24 episodes in. Save maybe season 4 where it states that most all monsters are sub races of digimon, save a few, from the start.
* The anime ''{{Dai-Guard}}'' [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade on this one]] by having scientists predict that the conditions necessary for the alien giant monster invaders to appear will repeat themselves roughly once every week.
* ''{{Figure17}}'' plays this completely straight, although there is strong continuity as well. By the end of the series the monsters don't even look different from each other- they just get slightly upgraded powers.
** This does become less prominent as the plot goes on, however, as emphasis shifts toward Tsubasa and Hikaru's relationship, with some episodes not featuring a Maguar at all, and others being dedicated to particularly large and important, multi-episode fights.
* ''WitchHunterRobin'' got a new witch every week for the first half. Then things changed rather abruptly...
* ''HellGirl'' sends one soul to Hell almost every week.
* ''MobileSuitGundam'', while extremely arc-based, still managed to introduce a lot of new enemy mobile suits in a monster-of-the-week fashion.
** ''GGundam'' is THE best example in Gundam, because this was the entire ''point'' behind the series, to draw on the MonsterOfTheWeek fan base, or more specifically the robot of the week fanbase, because that was how most robot shows were done prior to Gundam.
* Played straight in ''GaoGaiGar'' with the Zonders, though taking things in canon time passage it could more likely be considered the "Monster-of-the-half-a-week".
* {{Bizenghast}} did this a lot until book 6.
* The majority of MartialArtsAndCrafts opponents in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' ended up like this, from the [[RuleOfFunny comical and ridiculous]] (Sentaro Daimonji of the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony School, Picolet Chardin of [[BigEater La Belle France School]]) to the [[MoodWhiplash serious and dramatic]] ([[KiAttacks Prince Herb]], [[TheDrifter Ryu Kumon]], [[AGodAmI Saffron]].) Then the anime took it above and beyond with outlandish Rivals of the Week who used toys, eggs, calligraphy, or even ''crepes''. Only rivals who had preexisting relationships with the cast, such as Ryouga, Mousse, and Ukyou, were given the chance to stick around and become regular characters.
* Played straight by ''GenesisOfAquarion'', though at first the monsters were just regular Cherubim Soldiers with some kind of new ability that the team had to find a way to overcome by using lessons from earlier in the episode to unlock a new attack.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' started out like this, with Ichigo fighting a different hollow each chapter. Though after Rukia got taken back to Soul Society, it became more StoryArc focused.
** Even during StoryArcs, his duels with Lieutenants, Captains, Arrancars, etc, all count as part of this trope. Duel of the Week, perhaps?
* ''{{InuYasha}}'' was this for nearly every episode outside the last anime story arc. Once the manga got past the point of the anime ending, it changed up a little bit.
* ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' started out like this, then [[IncrediblyLamePun Fate intervened.]]
** Even before that she collected some [[LostTechnology Jewel Seeds]] off-screen and several per episode
* Often overlooked, but ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' also started like this. From the 13th angel's attack on though, even though each monster's still gone at the end of the episode that introduced it, the mental scars its attack leaves behind on the main characters remain...and build up over time. Evangelion's cast is on its last legs by the time the 17th angel kicks the bucket. [[FromBadToWorse Cue]] EndOfEvangelion.
* ''LightNovel/KazeNoStigma''. See Shana above.
* The ''RosarioToVampire'' manga started as a pretty typical UnwantedHarem MonsterOfTheWeek manga, but it [[GrowingTheBeard soon became focused]] on longer and more serious and involved story arcs. Did the anime do the same thing? NO!
* ''HokenshitsuNoShinigami'' plays it completely straight with a few small arcs scattered here and there.
* ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' started out this way with the appearance of the Orphans. Then the various [[AncientConspiracy Ancient Conspiracies]] started [[GambitPileup executing their plans one after another]] and [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore Nothing Was The Same Anymore]].
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' starts out like this. The format gets dropped before the halfway mark.
* The {{Getter Robo}} series did this a lot. The original, G, Go, and to an extent New all used this trope. Even the crossover movies were Monster of the Week.
* In SonicX, the first 26 episodes of the first series had Dr. Eggman's randomly-deployed robots, each one with an E-(insert number here) as their serial number, and the first 11 episodes of the first half of the second series had random Metarex encountered by Sonic and co. along their journey to save the universe from the Metarex.
* {{Kekkaishi}} follows this trope, with a strange new Ayakashi or two attacking the Karasumori site every night. But it's {{justified|Trope}} through the actual behavior of the ayakashi, the motives of more dangerous ones, and the steady plans of the Kokuboro.
* TengenToppaGurrenLagann plays this straight. In the first episode, the Lagann is introduced as well as a minor enemy. Next episode introduces some more mecha, including the Gunzan (later Gurren). Third episode introduces the first actually recurring villain, who's more of an anti-hero. By episode 6, the show actually starts straying becoming more serialized rather than episodic, but maintains its MonsterOfTheWeek standard until episode 15, where the MOTW is actually the first BigBad. The second half reversed this, by having the good guys introduce more and more powerful mecha to kick the enemy's ass, most notably after Team Dai-Gurren goes to space.
* ''{{Kinnikuman}}'' first began this way, Monster Extermination arc, before it became the ProfessionalWrestling series it became famous for.
* ''KimbaTheWhiteLion'' alternates between this trope and a BigBadEnsemble.
* ''GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' has two types of episode: [[ThemeNaming "Stand-Alone"]] episodes that deal with a one-shot villain or case, and "Complex" episodes that advance the overall StoryArc of the season.
* With the exception of the series' recurring antagonist [[BigBad Vicious]], most ''CowboyBebop'' episodes centered around a single villain or group of villains that was never heard from again after the end of the episode (some were two-parters).
* This is the basic structure of ''Manga/{{Rinne}}'' so far, albeit longer than most of the examples on this page -- most cases take two or three chapters to solve.
* For a while in ''Manga/PopcornAvatar'', this is how many of the Asura and their avatars appear in front of Kurando.
* In ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'', Nube has to exorcise or help a youkai almost every chapter.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: Comics ]]

* In the old ComicBook/TheDandy comic strip, JackSilver, the villianous Captain Zapp had a device known as a Duplicator, which could create a living, breathing copy of any picture that was fed into it. Every week, he would use the strange creatures the machine produced to commit crimes, before being stopped by Jack Silver and his gadget of the week.
* Many comics tend to have a story with a one-shot villain every now and then. It would be easier to list comic books and comic strips that DON'T utilize the MonsterOfTheWeek trope.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fanfics ]]
* Most chapters of ''Fanfic/MyLittleUnicorn'' deal with the good guys blowing up Titan's recently created monster.
* ''Fanfic/GoJyuSentaiGigaranger'' sometimes follows this format, with [[Fanfic/MyLittleUnicorn Starfleet]] having their own personal monsters.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The ''DocSavage'' novels are always this [[spoiler: except one]] because Doc is so good at [[TechnicalPacifist what]] he does [[spoiler: (lobotomies)]].
* In the books of the ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', earlier-written ones in particular, the vast majority of villains are only there for the book or trilogy, and books set later or earlier completely forget that these villains ever existed. Odd, considering that they tend to be Imperial forces. The exceptions are AaronAllston's run on the ''XWingSeries'', which had the campaign against [[TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia Warlord Zsinj]]; the Coruscant Nights trilogy, which had one-book guest appearances by [[ShadowsOfTheEmpire Prince Xizor]] and Aurra Sing; and roughly anything TimothyZahn writes.
** The villain usually had a new superweapon, too: The Death Star But Better sums up all of them. [[MarvelStarWars The Tarkin]] was the Second Death Star [[HilariousInHindsight Before]] The Writers Knew About [[ReturnOfTheJedi The Real Second Death Star]], [[DarkEmpire World Devastators]] are The Death Star But [[MightyGlacier Slow]] And [[MookMaker Productive]], the [[TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia Nightcloak]] was The Death Star But With [[TheNightThatNeverEnds Climate Change]], [[TheCallistaTrilogy Darksaber]] was The Death Star But [[GlassCannon Minimalistic,]] the [[DarkEmpire Eclipse]] was The Death Star But Also The [[CoolStarship Executor,]] the [[DarkEmpire Galaxy Gun]] was The Death Star But With [[NukeEm Really Long Range Nukes]], [[Literature/TheCorellianTrilogy Centerpoint Station]] was The Death Star But Also Long Range, and the [[JediAcademyTrilogy Sun Crusher]] was The Death Star But GodModeSue. As you can guess, people who prefer the Death Star as an ultimate weapon [[TheScrappy hate every single one of them.]] Particularly since about half of these have characters popping up to exclaim that this superweapon is worse than the Death Star, omg!
** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' has a different horror or threat for each book. The first six can all be traced back to the MadScientist BigBad, who had a lot of projects going. The others are mostly unrelated.
* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series, whenever Visser Three (BigBad of the series who possesses the same shape-shifting abilities as the titular heroes) would personally participate in a battle, he would do so by assuming the form of a new exotic alien creature [[CurbStompBattle that clearly outmatched the Earth animals that the Animorphs themselves had taken the forms of]]. Subverted by the fact that it is the same character every time, only in a different form.
** Played straight in later books with one-shot antagonists like [[TheCaligula Queen Soco]] and [[SmugSuper the Inspector]].
* This trope is actually OlderThanSteam. ''JourneyToTheWest'' is lately made up of monster of the week encounters, or in this case monster of the chapter.
* In the ''TrixieBelden'' series, there's almost always a new villain in every book.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' goes this way after about the third series. To their credit, the crew is pretty genre-savvy about it, especially in Series 6. For example, Rimmer explains to one monster that everybody they'd met to that point has tried to kill them. It also swings the other direction in Series 7 & 8, having the storylines cover multiple episodes. (Although they are still self-contained.)
* Practically every SuperSentai series (and by extension, every ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' series). There's no point in listing them all, just click the link to see them. Plenty of lampshading. "Just send them all" has in fact been tried before. If it's a small number the Rangers have a hell of a time with them. If it's a large number, ConservationOfNinjitsu kicks in and they go down as easily as {{Elite Mooks}}. Except for the time they had to kill Zordon...
** Notable ''Sentai'' MOTW include [[HimitsuSentaiGoranger Baseball Mask]], who managed to show up ''twice'' for [[KaizokuSentaiGokaiger the 35th anniversary]], and [[SamuraiSentaiShinkenger Chinomanako]], who managed to [[KamenRiderDecade become Kamen Rider Diend and nearly cause the end of the World of Shinkenger.]]
* ''TheXFiles'' almost always had a weekly monster. ''TheXFiles'' is also famous for not quite wrapping up a [=MOTW=] and closing with a TheEndOrIsIt ending.
** Unusually, while most fandoms considers [=MOTWs=] to be fillers, a large group of TheXFiles fans considered the weekly monster episodes to be superior to the MythArc episodes, especially in later seasons... mostly because the latter were [[TheChrisCarterEffect made up as they went along.]]
* ''{{Fringe}}'' started out as primarily a monster of the week show, and it still has them, but now they're either in service of or as a distraction to the MythArc.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' interspersed MonsterOfTheWeek episodes with StoryArc episodes, especially toward the beginning of the season. This became less common in later seasons.
* Just under half of the episodes of ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'' were like this. Several episodes would focus on a specific person out of the forty-four hundred people who had disappeared and been returned (and, later on, [[spoiler: people who had taken the Promicin shots handed out by Jordan Collier)]], what sort of supernatural power they had developed, and a problem they had created (either willingly or otherwise) that would be resolved by the end of the episode. As stated above, it could in this case perhaps be more accurately called something like 'Freak of the Week', as the people in focus weren't always deliberately antagonistic.
* In SF author David Gerrold's book about writing the ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episode "The Trouble With Tribbles", he recounts seeing the first episode broadcast, which featured a creature that sucked all of the salt out of people's bodies, thereby killing them. He hoped ''Star Trek'' wasn't going to turn out to be a MonsterOfTheWeek show, which ironically for him, it did.
** While later series rarely had weekly ''monsters'', ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and especially ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' had [[NegativeSpaceWedgie stellar anomalies]] of the week that were always solved by a healthy amount of {{Technobabble}}.
** The first season of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' started to become a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien ''god-like alien'']] of the week show, but fortunately found sturdier footing in subsequent seasons.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' was originally supposed to be an edutainment program... until the Daleks showed up, whereupon it careened irreversibly into MonsterOfTheWeek territory.
** Notably, the old series was made up of serials, usually three or four parts...making it more like monster of the ''month''. Though, the new series follows this trope straight, while also including more {{Story Arc}}s.
** They even lampshade this trope in "The Eleventh Hour", during Matt Smith's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome epic speech]]: "'cause you're not the first to have come here, oh, there have been ''so'' many!"
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''...at least, the first two series. After the successful switch to "mini-series focused on a single threat" of ''Children of Earth'', RTD decided to drop the MOTW format altogether.
* ''KolchakTheNightStalker'' could be considered the ultimate archetype. It was, in fact, even mockingly dismissed by some as "Kolchak's Monster of the Week" when its transfer from a pair of movies to a TV series ended up not quite panning out.
* The [[SecondSeasonDownfall second season]] of ''DarkAngel'' is a good example of this trope.
* In the ''{{Tremors}}'' series, monsters of the week were produced by a chemical compound called "Mix Master" which, once released into the valley, randomly scrambled together the DNA of all living things except humans. This created monstrosities ranging from acid-shooting plants to giant shrimp.
** And one of them was defeated by the resident monster, El Blanco.
* Almost every episode of ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'', ''LostInSpace'', and several other 60s SF shows produced by Irwin Allen.
* Common in {{Toku}}, especially ''KamenRider'', ''SuperSentai'' (and by extension, ''Franchise/PowerRangers'') and the ''UltraSeries''. This isn't terribly surprising, as the action and fights are the main draw of these shows. Indeed, ''Super Sentai'' has multiple-stage monster of the week fights, culminating in a [[SuperRobot robot]] vs. [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever daikaiju]] showdown.
** ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' may well be your average Westerner's introduction to the very concept.
** The 51 Undead in ''KamenRiderBlade'' are actually in conflict with one another to see which will be the dominant species on Earth (the human Undead was the winner of the last such competition, hence ''us''). It can probably be assumed most of them are simply laying low and gathering their strength at the beginning of the series.
** Parodied in one episode of ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm''. [[BigBad Lothor]] tries to send six giant monsters at once against the heroes, only for his device to fail citing a "memory error". His general informs him that they did not pay for the memory upgrade, so they can only enlarge one monster at a time. Lothor curses at this complaining that as future ruler of the world "''I need big monsters!'''" and settles for enlarging one and making the rest fight while small.
** ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'' and ''KamenRiderDouble'' are a slight variation on this, as almost every episode is a two-parter (or more); therefore, almost every MonsterOfTheWeek actually lasts at least two weeks - and for the former show, that's not counting the ones that were just slightly rebranded and reused, or those [[spoiler:revived to serve as the BigBad's army in the GrandFinale]].
*** It seems to be the way of things for good, by this point. Every series from Den-O onwards had has the Monster of the Fortnight. However, the ''first'' series to take place in two-episode arcs was ''KamenRiderV3,'' though they abandoned the format midseries (and picked it up again near the tail end.) However, monsters came in twos as well and you were never quite sure when the second one would pop up.
** Except for ''Metalder'' and 'Jiraiya'' every other MetalHero (except the Rescue Police trilogy) show followed this, even TokusouRoboJanperson had a 'Cyborg of The Week' along with actual monsters.
*** ''ChoujinkiMetalder'' deserves special notice. In the first episode, ''every monster ever'' can be seen in the BigBad's lair. There are four groups of monsters, each with its own general, and each has his or her own rank. Most are just in the background until it's their turn at being MOTW, but there are monsters who live to tell the tale and come back to fight another day ''multiple'' times, and some who rise to become major characters even if not "Victorious Saint" (general) rank.
** Even an Adult-oriented Toku like {{Garo}} Has MonsterOfTheWeek episode, spliced in with StoryArc episodes, even on several occasions the MOTW was relevant to the arc.
* The escaped souls from ''{{Reaper}}''
* Those in ''{{Brimstone}}''.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' usually has actual monsters, more so in the first two seasons.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' is normally entirely serialized, but volume three would often put the arc in the background for a one-off evolved human. Examples include the man who could create wormholes and the Haitian's brother.
* ''BigWolfOnCampus''. Since it's technically a MonsterMash, that's [[JustifiedTrope reasonable enough]].
* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' utilized this, although it became less prevalent in later seasons.
* ''{{Primeval}}'', just what will come through the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Anomaly]] this week? Gorgonopsid? Mammoth? Velociraptor? Future predator? KnightInShiningArmor? The show also has a StoryArc that ran parallel, with the heroes battling human villains while still handling the Monsters Of The Week, who filed both sides under "dinner".
* ''{{Smallville}}'' has [[GreenRocks Meteor Freak of the Week]], mutants created by kryptonite. Season 6 also gave us the Phantom Zone escapees-of-the-week. As the series has progressed, it has much more of a StoryArc, but of keeps the Monster of the Week format.
** It also had an interesting variation starting in Season 4: ''Hero'' of the Week. Every season would have about two or three episodes where a superhero or two from the comics would guest star, run amuck, get on Clark's bad side, then ultimately they'd make their peace and help each other out before leaving in a manner that some could interpret as a PoorlyDisguisedPilot. The CW's second superhero show ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' seemed to play with this method when it introduced Huntress: At first she seemed like she was going to be a Hero Of The Week, then her second episode has her declare she'd rather practice revenge, not justice, then her third has her cross the MoralEventHorizon, turning her into a villain-of-the-week.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has a new case almost every week (through at least season 3)- usually dealing with the type of people you could call 'monsters'.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' started by following this trope, but the format was discarded in favor of an [[StoryArc arc-based]] one. ExecutiveMeddling in season 5 brought it back full circle.
* ''ThePrisoner'' had the No. 2 Of The Week, who tried the Scheme Of The Week to attempt to break No. 6. (There were a couple of returning No. 2's with new schemes.)
* ''{{Mystery Science Theater 3000}}'' is this trope.
* ''ToCatchAPredator'' from Dateline generally featured Pedophiles of the Week.
* ''{{Space 1999}}''. One of the most common fan complaints about the second season was that it dropped the metaphysical and psychodrama aspects in favour of more MonsterOfTheWeek action-oriented stories.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' had monsters of the week interspersed with the StoryArc episodes throughout the series.
* ''{{Warehouse13}}'' revolves around the Artifact of the Week, which can range from purely a MacGuffin all the way up to an actual Monster.
* ''Series/{{Haven}}'' revolves around Supernatural Mystery Disaster of the Week. The town seems to attract people who are "troubled" and have supernatural abilities.
* LostTapes on AnimalPlanet features a different monster tormenting the PointOfView character(s) each week.
* ''TheWestWing'' does this metaphorically, with Political Crisis Of The Week, caused by Idiot Politician Of The Week (in fact, many episodes are around one week long).
* ''Series/DarkShadows'' often had season-long arcs like this with one supernatural villain.
* This was a big part of the first series of ''Series/{{Merlin}}'', and the BigBad only appeared in 4 of the 13 episodes. From series 2 onwards the writers concentrated more on a singular villain ([[spoiler:Morgause, Morgana and Agravaine]], though occasionally a one-off monster will appear for a {{Filler}} episode.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had these from time to time, most often in the first two seasons, with StoryArc episodes mixed in and becoming more common as the show continued. By the third season, such episodes became very rare as the plot began to reach critical mass.
* Nickelodeon's ''TheTroop'' is built around this trope.
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' often had an Evil Immortal of the Week, due to the need to have a sword duel OnceAnEpisode.
* The first half of the first series of ''{{Grimm}}'' follows this to a tee. The second half of the series featured more character arcs and ongoing plotlines but it still largely stuck with one case every week, whether certain cases feeded into a previous one or not.
* ''Series/LostGirl'' on Syfy channel usually features a MonsterOfTheWeek.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]
* Although a different medium, episodic RPG campaigns also fall into this pattern, as gaming groups usually get together to play once a week.
* The aptly-named ''TabletopGame/MonsterOfTheWeek'' game (based on ''TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld'''s system) is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* The game ''{{TabletopGame/Monsterhearts}}'' (also based on ''TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld'''s rules) can run on this trope, if one of the players is using the Chosen skin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* The monthly Full Moon Shadows that the party fights in ''{{Persona 3}}'' at first seem to fall into this category; however, later on, it is revealed that [[spoiler: they are all actually fragments of a single Shadow, [[TheGrimReaper Death]], who is the [[EnigmaticMinion herald]] of [[CosmicHorror Nyx]], the one destined to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].
** The true Monster of the Week was typically whichever [[BeefGate Tartarus Boss]] your party was ready to fight on that night's run.
* The ''Fire Emblem'' series uses this for bosses in the game chapters.
* A ''literal'' example in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' for the DS: each week of the Reaper's Game is presided over by a "game master". These are especially powerful reapers who, what do you know, transform into monstrous versions of themselves when you get to fight them.
* The sets of [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit 8 Robot masters]] in the Classic ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' series easily fall into this. The Game Boy spin-offs do this with the Mega Man Hunters ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Quint]]) and the Stardroids as well, while the sole Genesis game in the series (''Wily Wars'') had the Genesis Unit. Then, there's the [[spoiler:[[DiscOneFinalBoss fake]]]] major villains replacing Dr. Wily...
* The recent SonicTheHedgehog games, starting from VideoGame/SonicAdventure generally have one as the final boss.
* A large amount of ''{{Kirby}}'' games' plot follow this, each game being based on one big bad at a time. Of these include ''Kirby's Adventure'' with [[spoiler: Nightmare]], ''{{Kirby Super Star}}'' with Dedede, Dyna Blade, [[spoiler: Wham Bam Rock]], Metaknight, and [[spoiler: Marx]] in their respective games, ''Kirby & the Amazing Mirror'' with [[spoiler: Dark Mind]], ''Kirby: Canvas Curse'' with Drawcia, ''Kirby: Squeak Squad'' with Daroach (later being [[spoiler: Dark Nebula]]), ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' with Yin Yarn, ''Kirby: Mass Attack'' with Necrodius, and ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' with [[spoiler: Magolor]].
* Taken [[UpToEleven up a notch]] in the ''SuperRobotWars'' franchise. Not only do the heroes have to deal with most (if not all) of the villains and monsters from their respective series (including those mentioned above), but there's ''also'' a new latest threat to stop on top of everything else.
* Every single game in the MegaManBattleNetwork series has you fight a Monster of the Week as the final boss.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]
* ''GorgeousPrincessCreamyBeamy'' parodies and plays this straight ([[ScheduleSlip albeit, in an arc-based way]]) with its Instant Monsters ,[[MagicalGirl for obvious reasons]]. So far, three of them have been defeated, with the former two being sentient everyday objects, and the third being human (however, the side effects of the potion on him were unintended).
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]
* The web fiction serial ''DimensionHeroes'' often has the Dimensional Guardians fighting a new monster in every chapter, though it must be pointed out the fights still help to advance the story arc.
* ''NewYorkMagician'': Not many (as there aren't that many stories, all told), but they definitely have this vibe.
* ''QuirkyMisadventuresOfSoldineTheCyborg'': the first three mini-movies follow this format. The fourth one contains NightOfTheLivingMooks and a QuirkyMinibossSquad, but the fifth one returns to the classic format.
* ''DSBTInsaniT'' has a different monster showing up in every episode with varying threat levels. Koden even references this trope in 'The Camping Webisode'.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* The various varieties of ''ScoobyDoo'' usually had a Guy In A Monster Suit Of The Week.
** Some incarnations even occasionally fought actual monsters!
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' lives on this. Considering the strange and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment varied varieties]] of trouble that tend to occur wherever Ben goes, one feels sorry for this kid's hometown if summer vacation ends.
** [[DoomedHometown Yeah, it gets toasted.]]
** Sometimes inverted in a few seasons, where the Monster Of The Week wasn't just what Ben faced, but what he ''became''.
* ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries'': the titular pair try to find a peaceful place for each monster to live.
** Then there's Rufus from the ''KimPossible'' crossover.
* ''TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' has Spider-Man fight a {{Supervillain}} of the week.
** Though a lot of these were the result of the machinations of one or more of the show's three {{Big Bad}}s - Tombstone, Doc Ock, or [[spoiler: Norman Osborn]], rather than isolated encounters. What's really interesting is the show's justification for why there are so many supervillains running around: The Big Bads had them created to keep Spider-Man busy and thus unable to interfere with their standard criminal operations.
* ''MegasXLR'' practically lives off this, along with a fair bit of lampshade hanging. "Cool. Lets go see what kinda monster I get to beat up this week!"
* The various ghosts of both ''TheRealGhostbusters'' & ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' fit neatly into this trope. So do the ghosts of ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters''.
* On ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'', this phenomenon also cropped up as the "Missile of the Week" used to deal with the current problem at hand.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' usually follows this rule, with the monster somehow spawning out of Shake or Carl's short-sighted actions or [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere out of nowhere]].
* When not facing their RoguesGallery, the PowerpuffGirls mostly just take on different monsters.
* Spoofed in ''Sev Trek: Puss in Boots'' (an Australian parody of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'').
-->'''Lt. Barf:''' Captain, we are being hailed. I recommend we go to RedAlert!\\
'''Captain Pinchhard:''' We haven't even met them! Isn't that a little premature?\\
'''Lt. Barf:''' Every week we encounter aliens who try to destroy or take over the ship. It would save a lot of time if we assumed the worst now.
* ''MartinMorning'' demonstrates this, with the odd twist of the protagonist being the new monster each episode.
* The whole point of ''MartinMystery''.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "The Underdwellers", spotlighted a villain called the Sewer King who never appeared again. He was sufficiently creepy for a Batman villain, but it's just as well he never returned, since he was really only good for one story (that is, showcasing the evils of child slavery).
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' seems to be establishing itself as one of these; but you'd probably prefer to call it "Weird Crap of the Week."
* Courage faces this all of the time in ''CourageTheCowardlyDog''. In one episode, [[LegionOfDoom they get together]] to try and beat the "stupid dog".
* The Mutraddi Beasts of ''SymBionicTitan''.
* WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}} often fights one of these (usually an alien) when he isn't fighting Simon Bar Sinister or Riff Raff.
* WesternAnimation/TeenTitans have a couple of villains who are MonsterOfTheWeek (Besides of the ones where [[spoiler:the Brotherhood of Evil reunites them]]). Some villains were lucky to have two appearances.
* The Divinos of ''ComboNinos''.
* Dr. Claw of ''InspectorGadget'' had a new special MAD agent almost every week, who would never be seen again after the episode they appeared in. ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis'' did the same, but also had some one-time villains with no connection to M.A.D. or Dr. Claw whatsoever.
* ''WesternAnimation/MonsterForce''.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' has a handful of baddies that only took one episode to defeat.
* ''GodzillaTheSeries'' has a new creatures of some sort in every episode. However, most of these monsters are actually pretty good, and they range from a petroleum-eating [[GrayGoo goo blob]], to a swarm of ants big enough to uproot and carry a tree.
* The Crime Grimes of ''CreepyCrawlers''.
* The User's player characters in ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}''.
* ''DinoSquad'' had a somewhat interesting variation on this. While we did have a main villain mutating normal animals into prehistoric creatures, and doing so was part of his master plan to take over the world, he only did so to gather scientific data. Almost always, the mutants weren't created to facilitate some ''other'' plan.
[[/folder]]
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