History Main / NotImportantToThisEpisodeCamp

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1655514484096291000 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

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->'''nicklj:''' Question: Where was Julie again? A soccer camp or something?\\
'''kostgard:''' I think she was at "Not Important to This Episode" Camp.
-->-- Website/TelevisionWithoutPity ''Series/{{Monk}}'' Forums

So, the game is afoot. The scene is set for an exciting ChaseScene or FinalBattle. Or maybe two characters just want to hang out and exchange WittyBanter.

Except, wait a minute — don't these people have kids? Where on Earth is that newborn baby we spent half of last season waiting for? What about their MouthyKid who helped save the day last week? Have they been {{Brother Chuck}}ed?

Never fear, because they are enjoying a stay at Not Important to This Episode Camp. Don't worry, they'll be back next week.

And it isn't just camp. Maybe they've gone to visit that DisappearedFather we never hear about, or being looked after by some unnamed babysitter.

Also happens when a previously valuable young character has served their purpose and is now surplus to requirements. A swift packing-off to an unnamed (and often [[FriendsRentControl way beyond the character's shown means]]) BoardingSchool is an extended version of this.

And so their parent is able to throw down everything and depart in the company of our hero on that crazy road trip or whatever. HilarityEnsues, and all without interference from Child Services.

See PutOnABus where a character is written out in a way that can easily be reversed, DeusExitMachina when a character is written out because they'd quickly resolve the conflict otherwise, and ShooOutTheClowns when the young and impressionable make a hasty exit stage right before the nasty stuff gets underway. ChuckCunninghamSyndrome is when this happens permanently without any explanation. Tangentially related to ChasteToons, which often uses the "not really the main character's kids" justification to send the kids back to Mom and Dad when the plot demands. Compare ParentalAbandonment, especially the examples where the characters have parents supposedly, but they're just never around. See also OffstageWaitingRoom. If they ''are'' important to this episode.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Journeys'' is heavily reliant on this trope:
** Ash and Goh deal with a Bulbasaur outbreak with a particular one against evolving. Never once does Ash refer to a similar plot he had with his Bulbasaur.
** The boys win a trip to Castelia City to try out desserts for free thanks to Goh's Greedent winning a food eating competition. For whatever reason, Greedent is completely absent from the episode about eating free desserts. Instead, [[SpotlightStealingSquad Lucario and Cinderace take center stage despite not being in the food eating contest.]]
** A return to Oak's lab has Ash learn that his Infernape has been training hard. After the episode is over, though, Ash never once brings it on board with his new team, not even during the many episodes promoting Sinnoh or his fight against Volkner where, again, [[SpotlightStealingSquad Lucario does most of the work]] before Pikachu wins it for Ash.
*** In that same battle, Volkner doesn't ask about Infernape or brings up Flint.
** Ash's team barely shows up in episodes set at Cerise's lab's greenhouse for no reason.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* A quite literal example from ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'', where Lisa refuses to take part in a reality show Homer's gotten onto as part of community service ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]), and is promptly shoved onto a bus by the director and taken to a camp before she can object further. She's not seen again for the rest of the issue, although Homer does eventually [[SomethingWeForgot notice she's missing]] at the very end.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* In the ''Film/TheThinMan'' series, Nora has her baby Nicky prior to movie three. He is a baby (and thus little more than a LivingProp) throughout that movie, but by movie four he is old enough to talk and involve himself with the plot a bit. For movie five, Nick and Nora visit Nick's home town and leave Nicky at home, claiming they didn't want to take him out of school, so he doesn't appear in that film.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* According to the producers of the ''Series/AlienNation'' TV movies, Baby Vessna was at daycare after every film since ''Dark Horizon'' (except when we saw her in a kind of cocoon).
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' had an extended subplot about Lucille accidentally adopting a Korean boy named Annyong towards the end of the first season, and he makes it a handful of episodes into the second before he's unceremoniously sent off to boarding school and forgotten. [[spoiler:Of course, this being ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', he turns out to be TheMole the family spends much of season three concerned about.]]
* ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'': Mitch's son Hobie would frequently be "with his mother" (who lived out of state), whenever having Hobie around would be inconvenient to the plot.
* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'': The vencidad tenants went to Acapulco for a vacation. When TheLandlord, [[MeaningfulName Señor Barriga]], learned this from El Chavo, he decided to go there as well and, taking pity from El Chavo, takes him as well. Señor Barriga's son, Ñoño, was at a boy scout camp at the moment and, aside from when his Dad mentioned this as an explanation not to take him to Acapulco, wasn't mentioned in the whole story arc.
* ''Series/CobraKai:'' Daniel’s son, Anthony, didn't do much during the first season other then eat, play video games, and mouth off at his family. In the second, he appeared in just two episodes and was explicitly stated to be at summer camp the rest of the time.
* ''Series/TheConners'' does this a lot with Harris and Mark. In the latter case, particularly in Season 3, it's a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot due to his actor living on the East Coast and the travel restrictions of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic.
* In ''Series/DansUneGalaxiePresDeChezVous'', any crew members that don't show up for an episode (particularly Pétrolia, [[TheBabyOfTheBunch the youngest one]] who joins in season 2) are typically in a regenerescence sleeping process. Captain Charles Patenaude is the exception, as he appears in every episode.
* The ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' kids get this ''a lot''. If one of them is involved in a storyline with a parent, suddenly any siblings they might have are completely forgotten. Especially odd in Lynette's case, where her character is "the one with all the kids," yet we barely see most of them all season while the chosen kid gets all the storylines. This is ''especially'' bad in season five. You would think the time skip would give the now older children more opportunities to be more involved with the storylines, but oh no... And it appears in spades in season six as well - MJ, whose older sister was attacked in the season premiere, has only appeared significantly in one episode (understandable, since the character is six), and Ana, who was brought on to give Gabby a hard time, has been put aside so that Gabby can instead suffer the 'joy' of homeschooling her own daughter.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' can't watch the kids and murder people at the same time. The stepchildren get PutOnABus to live with their grandparents after Rita becomes incapable of taking care of them. Dexter buys the adjacent apartment for the babysitter so baby Harrison can be put away with ease without making him appear negligent.
* Richie Petrie on ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'', once hilariously described on an older Nick At Nite promo as "Richie Petrie: low-maintenance boy".
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven "Death in Heaven"]], Clara is given a child to look after. It is a temporary arrangement (she is asked to find the child's real parents) but nevertheless the child is absent with no explanation by the next story, [[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas "Last Christmas"]].
* Happens to Ben and later Emma a lot in ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Justified with Ben, since Carol and Susan are his primary caregivers. However, Emma is always explained as being at somebody else's house.
* Gigi on ''Series/GilmoreGirls.'' After she served her convenient function of breaking up Christopher and Lorelai/making Lorelai angst in seasons 2 & 3, she was always conveniently at Grandma's or whatnot. This was especially glaring in season 7 when Lorelai and Christopher moved in together and got ''married'' - and Gigi was still being shuttled off to Grandma's/Paris/etc.
* This became the ''permanent'' fate of Ralph's son on ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero''. After featuring prominently in the first couple of episodes, he began disappearing increasingly frequently during the first season, until he and the custody battle over him [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished altogether with no explanation]]. We're left to assume that the mom got custody and Ralph got no visitation, which is pretty weird considering his status as a squeaky-clean school teacher.
* Molly on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' gets sent off to stay with the mother of one of her temporary foster fathers between seasons 2 and 3, and stays gone aside from an appearance in an alternate timeline, the comics, and ''Series/HeroesReborn2015''. Her exact destination seems to be a bit of a {{retcon}}, since Mohinder starts talking about going back to India himself right after sending her there as an unaccompanied minor on what would have been a 24-hour flight. It seems like her exact destination might have been undecided before being resolved in the comics.
** Claire's younger brother Lyle tends to disappear a bit more often than can reasonably be explained and early on totally stopped being relevant to anything.
* On ''Series/{{Homeland}}'', Frannie, [[spoiler: Carrie's child with Brody,]] ends up here a lot. This becomes a minor plot point as her mother has left the baby in the care of her sister, who is disappointed with the mother's neglect of the baby.
* On ''Series/ILoveLucy'', the Ricardos could always depend on Mrs. Trumbull to watch Little Ricky at a moment's notice (it's even explicitly stated that she babysits for free). During the first half of the Hollywood arc and the entire Europe arc, Lucy's mother stayed with him in New York.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': Sharona frequently sent her kid off to her sister Gail, despite the fact that she was shown [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry to hate her]]. Natalie has so far preferred the ubiquitous babysitter, or the TropeNamer camp.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': The science fiction sketch about killer blancmanges has the camera passing a couple the narrator says is not relevant to the story. At the conclusion, it turns out the couple ''was'' relevant--they eat killer blancmanges.
* ''Series/OrphanBlack'' puts Kira on the bus for pretty much all of season 3 after the previous season's central conflict revolved around her.
* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'': Juniper and Dagwood, the twin children of [[spoiler: Polly Cooper and Jason Blossom]] only show up onscreen when the plot calls for them. [[spoiler: they’re even mostly offscreen ''during the death and funeral of their mother.'']]
* This happened to just about every kid on any ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series, with the exception of [[CreatorsPet Wesley Crusher]], and possibly [[TheScrappy Naomi Wildman]]. It was especially noticeable on [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]], where Sisko could come home and find anyone but his son Jake sitting on the couch. [=DS9=] however managed to justify it pretty well; Jake was a fairly responsible teenager and wouldn't necessarily need much adult supervision, though on one or two occasions he ''did'' get up to mischief while hanging around with Nog and caused his father a bit of grief, and the series made a point of addressing the fact that Ben's job took up a lot of his time and made it hard to raise his son single-handed. Eventually the trope stopped applying altogether when Jake turned 18 and moved into his own place.
** O'Brien often had his children staying over with another family on the station (with Keiko at one point joking that Molly liked it over there better than her own home) and the entire family away on Bajor for one reason or another. In a bit of a twist, this was also used as a justification at times for some event happening to them that Miles remained unaware of until the start of an episode (most notably Keiko becoming pregnant or being possessed by a Pah Wraith).
** The trope is strangely zig-zagged on ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'' in regards to Alexander. When Worf gets custody of him following his mother's death, his first instinct is to shuttle him off to live with his adoptive parents on Earth. While this seems to work for a while, it isn't long before his parents show up and explain that they're too old to keep up with a little boy, and Worf has to take care of Alexander himself. After that it's pretty much even money on if Alexander will be present in episodes related to his dad or not; half the time he's either explained to be visiting his grandparents or just conspicuously absent with no excuse.
** The episode when Alexander finally showed up on ''[=DS9=]'' lampshaded and rather mercilessly deconstructed this trope; he had some pretty major abandonment issues and was justifiably pissed off with his dad while [[WellDoneSonGuy still trying desperately to earn his approval]].
* This becomes a very dark plot point on ''Series/WandaVision'' when [[ComicBook/TheVision Vision]] starts to wonder [[HideYourChildren where all the children]] in [[StepfordSuburbia Westview]] are, causing [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda]] to bring them all out for the HalloweenEpisode. [[spoiler:After Agatha temporarily frees all of the inhabitants of Westview from their brainwashing, Dottie (whose real name is Sarah) begs Wanda to "write" a storyline involving her daughter just so she could be with her again. Here, we learn that Wanda keeps all the kids locked in their rooms, because they're not needed for the story.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Despite its intent to bring the entire surviving crew of the ''Normandy'' back for one last hurrah, Dr. Chakwas had to sit the ''Citadel'' DLC of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' out, with Specialist Traynor mentioning that the doctor is attending an emergency medical consul. She ''did'' drop off some liquor for the party, though; if only Shepard had been early enough to try some! Kelly Chambers likewise does not attend, but between her crippling case of PTSD regarding the ''Normandy'' and taking care of refugees in the Wards, she has her hands quite full.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' seemed to be [[AvertedTrope trying to avoid this]] in regards to Finn and Jake for whatever reason, as they have appeared in every episode for the first four seasons regardless of how important they are to its plot. Even if they're not the central characters, they have been given some sort of in-person appearance, even if it's very brief. However, since the fifth season, they seem to be absent in a few episodes:
** Finn and Jake don't appear at all in "Bad Little Boy", which was a Fionna and Cake episode, and the only central characters to appear were Ice King and Marceline.
** They don't appear in "The Prince Who Wanted Everything" (another Fionna and Cake episode), "Princess Day", "Evergreen", "Friends Forever", "Be Sweet", "Orgalorg" and "Varmints".
** Jake has been absent in season 5 episodes "Rattleballs", "The Red Throne" and the Lemonhope two-parter episode.
** Finn is absent in "The Diary".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'':
** Anne and the main Plantar family do not appear in episodes focusing on Sasha and Grime ("Prison Break", "Toadcatcher", "Barrel's Warhammer"), justified due to the aforementioned focus on Sasha and Grime. They appear very briefly at the beginning of "Turning Point", though Anne's voice is heard later in the episode.
** Averted and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "Maddie and Marcy", which is ADayInTheLimelight episode for the titular supporting characters. Hop Pop gets mistaken for a corpse at one point, Polly appears but does not speak in an angry mob, and Anne and Sprig are watching an episode of a series where its respective main characters do not appear, delivering only one line each.
** "Sasha's Angels" is the first episode to have Anne appear without the Plantars, as it mostly focused on Anne, Sasha, and the Wartwood Resistance.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': The 63rd episode is the only one of the entire series in which the Warner siblings do not appear at all (outside of the opening sequence).
** ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'': Episode 26 is the first episode to not have Pinky and the Brain appear outside the opening sequence.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** Excluding the ones that he made an appearance in the introduction ("Poor Muffy" for example), Arthur [[https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_episodes_in_which_Arthur_does_not_appear does not appear in several episodes]][[note]]Including the ones where he only appears in the title cards[[/note]] , which includes "Prunella Sees the Light", "Fern Fern and the Secret of Moose Mountain", "Thanks a Lot, Binky!", "Big Horns George", "My Fair Tommy", and "World Girls".
** In the episodes "Sue Ellen Gets Her Goose Cooked" and "Best of the Nest", Jane and David Read do not appear, which is odd, seeing as how they’ve appeared in most episodes featuring Arthur and DW.
* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Zuko Alone" is the only episode that doesn't feature any member of the Gaang at all.
** In the SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Asami Sato tends to disappear for a while and then reappear with no explanation, especially bad in the second season, though in the last two seasons, the number of episodes she was absent decreased.
* Each of Tasha and Austin from ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' is absent from at least 40% of all episodes. Tyrone is missing from five episodes, and Pablo is missing from one. Uniqua is the only character to appear in all eighty episodes.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' when [[TheMentor Bruce Wayne]] would be mentioned to be in some foreign country whenever the writers needed Terry to handle things on his own.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Neither Huey or Riley appear in "Freedom Ride or Die".
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'':
** "See Mr. Peanutbutter Run" (the fourth season premiere) is notable because it doesn't feature [=BoJack=] at all (similarly, the season 4 trailer only features him at the end). Conversely, "Free Churro" from the following season features only [=BoJack=].
** "Time's Arrow" is ADayInTheLimelight episode for [[spoiler:Beatrice Horseman]], and as such [[spoiler:[=BoJack=]]] is the only main character present in the episode.
* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo''[[note]]as well as his two friends Raj and Clam logically[[/note]] is completely absent in some episodes (or at least Demoted to Extra). These include "Spacemates" (which was about Squirrel Scout Nina and the Dung Beetles) and Miss Fru Fru (a Squirrel Scouts episode)
* Amanda is in no way involved in the ''WesternAnimation/BunsenIsABeast'' episode "Split Decision".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'': A number of episodes that don't feature the whole family will focus on a specific set of characters, meaning there's no one character to appear in every episode. For example, "Uptown Funk" doesn't have an appearance from Adelaide's older sister Sid, nor Ronnie Anne (the first episode where it's such a case).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'':
** Mung's absence is lampshaded in "A Faire to Remember", then subverted as he appears with a couple of lines just before the episode ends.
** Parodied in one episode when Truffles pops up out of nowhere asking if she can help solve a problem, Chowder's response below causes her [[PuffOfLogic disappear into a poof]]:
-->'''Chowder''': No. You're not in this episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': Dexter doesn't appear in "Paper Route Bout" and "Surf, Sun and Science", which instead [[ADayInTheLimelight focus on Dee Dee and Mandark, respectively]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': In spite of living at Scrooge's mansion, Webby, Mrs. Beakley and Duckworth are absent in multiple episodes taking place mostly or partly "at home":
** Webby's inexplicably absent in "The Uncrashable Hindentanic", "The Bride Wore Stripes" and "Nothing to Fear" among others.
** Mrs. Beakley is likewise nowhere to be found in "Nothing to Fear". She's also mysteriously absent in "Armstrong", "Bubba's Big Brainstorm", "Luck o' the Ducks" and "Time Teasers" to name a few.
** Duckworth also takes off "Luck o' the Ducks", the loyal butler isn't around for the home scenes in "A Whale of a Bad Time" or to visit Scrooge in "Duckman of Aquatraz".
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' No character has appeared in every episode. In a few episode or two, they don't even get ''mentioned'':
** During the first season only Dewey appeared in every episode, and one episode featured him in a silent cameo. Huey, Louie and Scrooge each missed 2 episodes, Webby missed 3, Launchpad missed 6, Donald missed 12 and Mrs. Beakley missed 13. The episode "The Great Dime Chase!" features Dewey and Louie, but not Huey, making it the first time that not all of the triplets have appeared in the same episode.
** During the second season episode "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!", none of the main cast appeared with the exception of a small cameo by Scrooge at the beginning. "Friendship Hates Magic!" in the same season is notable for (apart from a small cameo by Mrs Quackfaster) featuring no characters from the original cartoons or comics, featuring just Webby, Launchpad and Mrs Beakley who were all created for the original ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987''. Louie also missed five episodes ''in a row'', and Donald was absent for most of the second half of the season due to [[spoiler:being stranded on first the Moon and then a desert island]].
** Huey and Launchpad (the latter in only a small cameo) are the only main characters to appear in the third season episode "Astro BOYD!". The later third season episode "Beaks in the Shell!" featured just Huey and Louie, again the latter in only a small cameo. Launchpad has also missed much of the latter half of the third season after "Let's Get Dangerous!"
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** Although they don't appear in every episode, Nazz, Rolf, Jonny, Kevin, Sarah and Jimmy were not seen or mentioned in "Nagged to Ed" and "O-Ed Eleven", which were the only episodes where none of the kids appeared.
** [[spoiler:Subverted with]] the Eds themselves, as they didn't appear in "See No Ed" [[spoiler:until the end of the episode]], with the plot revolving around the other kids not knowing how to react to their appearent disapperance.
** Parodied in one episode, where Double D remarks that "[[BreakingTheFourthWall Kevin wasn't in this episode]]" when Eddy tries to blame him for their current dilemma.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** As of now, every character has been absent for an episode that focuses on one group of the family, but not the other: Chris in "I Take Thee Quagmire"[[note]]although [[WhatCouldHaveBeen a deleted scene]] showed that he was meant to appear in a CutawayGag[[/note]], "Three Kings", "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair", "Brian's a Bad Father", and "Scammed Yankees", Meg in "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air", "Stewie is Enceinte", and "Brokeback Swanson", Peter and Lois in "Brian and Stewie", Brian in "Into Harmony's Way"[[note]]he ''is'' featured in the alternate canon version of this episode, but not in the original, as it was at the time of his death[[/note]], " Dr. C & The Women" and "Candy Quahog Marshmallow!", and Stewie in "Welcome Back, Carter" and the aforementioned "Candy Quahog Marshmallow!".
** Peter, Lois, Meg, and Chris are all absent from "Send in Stewie, Please", as it focuses on Stewie.
** Meg, Chris, Stewie, and Brian are absent in "Tales Of Former Sports Glory", as it focuses on Peter and Lois.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Farnsworth's cloned son Cubert was originally intended to be a series regular, but he only appeared sporadically after his initial appearance. "The Route of All Evil" explains his absence by establishing that he goes to boarding school along with Hermes and [=LaBarbara=]'s son Dwight.
** Children are conspicuously absent from "The Beast With a Billion Backs," by design of the writers since the plot involves a randy interdimensional PhysicalGod [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext molesting every sapient human and alien in the universe with millions of]] NaughtyTentacles. This gets even weirder at the point where everyone decides to move to an alternate dimension to collectively marry the being in question, including Farnsworth and the Conrads, with no explanation as to the whereabouts of their school-aged children.
** After Farnsworth's famous [[MemeticMutation "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"]] moment in "A Clockwork Origin," he ''does'' relocate to another planet, leaving the crew—who are helping him move—asking what he did with Cubert. It turns out he left him in the care of his godfather, Doctor Zoidberg, [[ParentalAbandonment indefinitely]]. Naturally, Farnsworth has taken the kid off Zoidberg's claws again by the end of the episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Not all of the mane characters will appear every episode. Twilight Sparkle did appear in every episode of Season 1, but she was absent from a handful of episodes per season, beginning with "Sisterhooves Social" in Season 2. Justified, as of "Lesson Zero" Twilight was exempt from sending a friendship report to Celestia every week, and now her friends have to write her a letter each time they learn something about friendship.
** Specific episodes also only have Twilight appear in the cold open, "Pinkie Apple Pie", "Spice Up Your Life" and "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" being examples.
** Lampshaded in "Look Before You Sleep" as Twilight mentions Spike is absent because he was in Canterlot on "royal business".
** None of the mane six appear in the following episodes: "On Your Marks", "Hard to Say Anything", "Marks and Recreation", "The Break Up Break Down" (which focus on the Cutie Mark Crusaders)", . "To Change a Changeling", "Student Counsel" (which focus on Starlight Glimmer), and "Frenemies" (which focuses on the villains, although Chrysalis turns into Twilight in one scene to mock her).
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', Optimus Prime mentions that Sari and Bumblebee have gone on "an important fact-finding mission this morning. To someplace called... 'Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom'."
* The writers of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' mention multiple times on the DVD commentaries [[ConversedTrope that they're constantly having to resist the temptation write out Hank and Dean]]. After they plot out what happens with Doctor Venture and Brock Samson, they struggle to figure out what stupid thing the boys will get up to in their subplot.
[[/folder]]
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* Amanda is in no way involved in the ''WesternAnimation/BunsenIsABeast'' episode "Split Decision"

** Averted and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "Maddie and Marcy", which is ADayInTheLimelight episode for the titular supporting characters. Hop Pop gets mistaken for a corpse at one point, Polly appears but does not speak in an angry mob, and Anne and Sprig are watching an episode of a series where its respective main characters do not appear, delivering only one line each
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': The 63rd episode is the only one of the entire series in which the Warner siblings do not appear at all (outside of the opening sequence)

** Averted and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "Maddie and Marcy", which is A Day in the Limelight episode for the titular supporting characters. Hop Pop gets mistaken for a corpse at one point, Polly appears but does not speak in an angry mob, and Anne and Sprig are watching an episode of a series where its respective main characters do not appear, delivering only one line each
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}: The 63rd episode is the only one of the entire series in which the Warner siblings do not appear at all (outside of the opening sequence)

[[/folder]]

* In ''Series/DansUneGalaxiePresDeChezVous'', any crew members that don't show up for an episode (particularly Pétrolia, [[BabyOfTheBunch the youngest one]] who joins in season 2) are typically in a regenerescence sleeping process. Captain Charles Patenaude is the exception, as he appears in every episode.

* In ''Series/DansUneGalaxiePresDeChezVous'', any crew members that don't show up for an episode are typically in a regenerescence sleeping process. Captain Charles Patenaude is the exception, as he appears in every episode.

** "See Mr. Peanutbutter Run" (the fourth season premiere) is notable because it doesn't feature BoJack at all (similarly, the season 4 trailer only features him at the end). Conversely, "Free Churro" from the following season features only BoJack.
** "Time's Arrow" is ADayInTheLimelight episode for [[spoiler:Beatrice Horseman]], and as such [[spoiler:BoJack]] is the only main character present in the episode.

** During the second season episode "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!", none of the main cast appeared with the exception of a small cameo by Scrooge at the beginning. "Friendship Hates Magic!" in the same season is notable for (apart from a small cameo by Mrs Quackfaster) featuring no characters from the original cartoons or comics, featuring just Webby, Launchpad and Mrs Beakley who were all created for the original DuckTales. Louie also missed five episodes in a row, and Donald was absent for most of the second half of the season due to being stranded on first the Moon and then a desert island.

* Nearly all major characters from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' have an episode or two where they don't even get mentioned.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': "See Mr. Peanutbutter Run" (the fourth season premiere) is notable because it doesn't feature BoJack at all (similarly, the season 4 trailer only features him at the end). Conversely, "Free Churro" from the following season features only BoJack.