History AesopAmnesia / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'' had this for no less a personage than Cruella de Vil. For the YetAnotherChristmasCarol episode, we had a tour through her FreudianExcuse, and at the end she's being a genuinely nice person. It lasts until the beginning of the next episode because, well, she's the primary villain and StatusQuoIsGod.

* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', despite the many times his schemes had gotten him and Darwin in trouble, never seems to learn from his past mistakes and continues to implement the same schemes that got him and Darwin in trouble before. Darwin does try to talk some sense into him, but Gumball mostly ignores his warnings.
* Contrary to what he says in the page quote, in many areas Stan of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' doesn't forget certain Aesops (accepting his gay neighbors, or his ethnic Iranian ones), but like the Peter Griffin example below they have lampshaded his inability to do so in other areas.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' is ''incredibly'' bad about this, in particular about any stories surrounding the Hulk. Whether it's respecting his actual level of control on his anger, realizing that Banner and Hulk are two parts of the whole, or even just understanding that he is more than just "Hulk SMASH!", it never sticks and the lesson has to be learned again in another manner.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' is known for delivering moral lessons every episode due to its family-oriented nature, but TheHero Cricket has a tendancy to forget what was just learned. For instance, he learns it's wrong to scam in "Wishing Well", but the episodes "Flimflammed" and "Chipwrecked" have him scamming others otherwise, and he learns to think before he acts in "Cheap Snake" but acts like he never did such in "Hurt Bike".

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': Handled brutally in the season 3 finale. Diane learns she has more potential than writing shallow celebrity tweets... and ends up with a job writing for a feminist clickbait website. Princess Carolyn realizes that her job is making her miserable and quits it to concentrate on her love life... before starting a new career in a basically identical job. Only [=BoJack=] recognizes that his starring role in his rebooted sitcom is just him repeating the mistakes he always makes... which is especially sad, because he seemed a lot more sincere about it this time.

** The "team ostracizes a character, so they leave, only for everyone else to miss them and want them back" plot point actually happens multiple times to every member of the Rangers except for Chip. In fact it's often Chip who's complaining that Dale's too stupid/Monterey Jack's too hot-headed/Gadget's too scatter-brained/etc. that makes whoever it is leave.

** And let's also count how many times Eustace was warned to not do anything stupid that would inflict some ominous curse on him and/or the rest of the family and stubbornly flouts them by doing it anyway. Lucky for him, [[TheyKilledKennyAgain the show makes great use for the reset button]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DinosaurTrainAdventureIsland'': Thurston Troodon is an arrogant enemy to Mr. Conductor, who always tries to show off his latest technology and be the best. As shown in the [[WesternAnimation/DinosaurTrain television series]], he has to relearn his lesson every time, and sure enough, in the feature film ''Adventure Island'', he says mean things about the Dinosaur Train, and was too overconfident in his fancy robot dinosaurs that he didn't test them prior to opening the theme park, and they go rogue following an earthquake. Thurston lampshades that he never learns his lesson towards the end of the movie.

** Eddy lives and breathes this trope. Most of the Eds' failure in their scams are mostly his fault, and [[TheCassandra no matter how many times Edd warns him of a significant flaw, Eddy always ignores him instantly]]. It's not just the scams either. Eddy continues to taunt the likes of Sarah and Kevin even after the times each of those two characters, especially the former, have given the Eds a good beating in many occasions. Heck Edd actually lampshades this in two episodes when it came to Sarah. [[spoiler: After the kids are horribly injured thanks to another one of Eddy's scams, they attempt to run after the Eds, who attempt to escape to the amusement park to go to Eddy's brother for safety. When the kids finally confront the Eds, they witness the pain Eddy suffers in the hands of his brother and are downright distraught. After Eddy's brother is defeated thanks to Ed, Eddy finally learns that all he had to do was be himself, and the Eds finally gain acceptance from the kids.]]
** You would think that after the 50th time the kids were bilked out of their money by the Eds they'd learn not to ever give them a cent and never listen to a word they say. However, since the central premise of most episodes is based around the attempts by the Eds to scam the other kids only to be caught or otherwise fail miserably, the Cul de sac kids have to fall for the Eds' scams over and over and keep giving them their allowances almost every episode for the series to be able to work.

** In one movie, Timmy states that he secretly wished for the entire earth to not age. It took 50 years for them to find out what had happened. Apparently after those 50 years he had gained absolutely nothing of value; no knowledge, no experience. All that time he didn't even bother to wish to find out if and how he would be caught so as to avoid it. He still doesn't bother to add two bits of sense into any wish.

** There are at least THREE times that Peter Griffin has learned to love and appreciate his daughter and promptly forgotten it by next episode. Twice it happened before the episode was even over.

** Mabel Pines had to learn several times over the course of one summer that she should not always put her wants above the needs of others, and that she should think more selflessly. Even though "Sock Opera" seemed to be written specifically to address this, towards the end of the series she [[spoiler:was still willing to make a deal to place the entire town under a temporary bubble where time did not move foreward after having a bad day where she learned the horrors of growing up and was met with the possibility of her brother not being there with her.]]
** Invoked and parodied in [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E7SocietyOfTheBlindEye Society of Blind Eye]], where Blind Ivan feels a little bad when the negative repercussion of his amnesia ray are pointed out... only to zap himself with the ray to forget all about it.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'' Characters will often forget lessons learned in previous episodes. The most prominent example of this is [[spoiler: Orko. On several occasions, he runs away because he feels his friends don't want him around, whether because they yell at him for screwing up, or just ignoring him at times. At the end of every episode, there is a PSA about it, but since nobody in the show actually watches it, they all forget about it. Once, the Sorceress of Grayskull shows Orko how sad everyone will be in a year if he leaves. This doesn't prevent her having to save him in a later episode, unfortunately. Of course, Orko is not the only one with Aesop Amnesia. The other characters should probably realize that if one of their friends has the habit of running off at the slightest upset, they should probably walk on eggshells around said friend.]]

** The ChainedHeat episode "Bonding" showed Kim and [[AlphaBitch Bonnie]] getting handcuffed together and learning more about one another in the process. Kim learns about Bonnie's family life, specifically her two sisters who [[FreudianExcuse belittle her at every opportunity]]. By the end of the episode, the two are getting along somewhat better, though by Bonnie's next appearance, she's just as shallow and mean as ever. This pattern pretty much repeats every time they're forced in a situation where they have to work together, and yet, never learn to get along.

---->"OK, look, listen to me. In the future you will change your hair and become a babe magnet. '''Keep that look!'''"

** Just in general early on, Korra would often forget that she needs the help of her friends and family to be the hero she is, not to mention avoiding letting her status as the avatar go to her head. In Book 4, she cut herself off of the people she cared about, and Toph even points this out.
** Actually averted with Tenzin. While the guy remains stiff and humorless throughout the series, he learns very, very quickly that Korra won't respond to rigid and studious teaching and that to be her mentor he has to bend a little. This lesson sticks with him throughout the series, and Korra consistently turns to him for advice when needed. He did attempt being overly-strict in Season 3 when teaching the new Airbenders, but that was because of bad advice.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' has this in ''spades''. If the characters learn a lesson in an episode (e.g. [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugMarinetteDupainCheng Marinette Dupain-Cheng]] learning she shouldn't let her crush on Adrien run her life, [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugAdrienAgreste Adrien Agreste]] learning to stand up for himself, [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugChloeBourgeois Chloé Bourgeois]]; learning to be less of an AlphaBitch, etc.), nine times out of ten they'll forget that lesson by the next episode and have to learn it all over again.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': {{Zig Zagging|Trope}}. [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] wants to be able to do magic more then anything, but her impatience leads to her always trying to skip past the boring learning part, which ''always'' ends in disaster. Yet, time and again, she goes back to looking for a shortcut instead of realizing that, for her to really do magic, she needs to learn the old-fashioned way by just studying and slowly growing her talents. On the other hand, she and Eda are making up her education regiment as they go along since she lacks a magic bile sac and Eda can't see the glyphs that Luz can. It's natural that Luz keeps trying to see if the next adventure has the answer.

* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'': Otto Rocket. Oh boy! Where do we even get started on this arrogant kid? Well to put it short, of all the times he disobeyed any authority figure's demands and warnings not to do anything that would get him into major trouble (such as snowboarding off the big jump and sneaking into the back bowl that is off limits), it's a wonder why Raymundo didn't revoke his skating privileges for a while.

-->'''Captain Stacy''': This isn't the first time the Bugle got it wrong when a copycat dressed up as the webslinger. Now do you really want to embarrass yourself and your paper... '''again'''?
** The above version of Jameson nails the comics Jameson perfectly in that regard. In the comics he'll accuse Spider-Man of either being in cahoots with the current villain or BEING the current villain, as well as fall for the copycat Spidey routine time and time again, and he never learns and keeps doing it, even brushing off those who try to remind him what happened last time he did that.

* The reboot, ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriendsAllEnginesGo'', plays this straight up until "Thomas and Percy's Eggscelent Adventure", when Thomas asks to deliver eggs and other fragile ingredients. Gordon is reluctant to entrust this delivery to Thomas, because of his previous failures that he has done, listing examples (alongside Percy) from previous episodes. He entrusts the task to Thomas anyway, but asks Percy to go with him.

** In the episode "Song of the Petalars," young {{Lilliputian|s}} Emrick (questing to restore his people to their homeland) impulsively confronts a bird so large he's outmatched and protagonist Lion-O must save him. Lion-O complains of his teenaged stupidity. Later, Lion-O (questing to save his people and their homeland), in his teenaged stupidity, impulsively leads his [=ThunderCats=] to confront enemy forces so large he's outmatched and a DeusExMachina must save them. When Lion-O attempts yet another LeeroyJenkins in "Old Friends," his new mentor Panthro quickly [[LampshadeHanging loses his patience]].

** There were also alot of episodes in the first season that revolved around Sari recklessly using her Allspark key and having to learn that Allspark energy is not a toy. Thankfully, she did get much better about this by the time season 2 rolled around.

** Just like ''Animated'' Bumblebee, Miko from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' also has to learn (and forget) a lesson every other episode. Which is: rushing headfirst into trouble can, well, '''lead to trouble'''. In fact this has been the basis of so many episodes in the first season, some fans tend to chant "Oh, it's one of ''those'' episodes ''again''..." when they see her doing something reckless.

* ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' has a bit of an unusual case. While lessons generally seem to stick from episode-to-episode, they often seem to take a while to sink in within a particular episode. For example, in "You Are Special," O has to hear several times "''I like you / I like you / I like you / Just the way you are''" before he stops trying to do stuff to be like the other characters to be special.
* On ''WesternAnimation/ToddWorld'', the show's prevailing aesop can be summed up as "everyone is different and it's important to understand, respect and celebrate those differences." Yet in many episodes this will be forgotten. Stella is the usual offender, but it can hit just about any of the main characters.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', this is pretty clear from season 1 to season 2, as the headstrong Korra once again disregards the advice of her patient mentor to work for fast results with a {{Manipulative Bastard}} [[spoiler:who turns out to be totally amoral]]. As with her enemies, an elderly Toph even lampshades that an important lesson Korra often lets slip by is that nearly each of them had good ideas, but let them go too far. Toph even goes further to point out that Korra not learning her lesson is why she can't deal with newer enemies.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'''s main protagonist, Lincoln, seems to suffer frequently from this as he ends up relearning the same lesson again and again. For example, after "No Such Luck", you'd have thought he'd stop telling lies for his own selfish needs, but "What Wood Lincoln Do?" came along and it shows him taking credit for other people's work, which is also cheating. What's the bet he'll forget that lesson again?

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' has this in ''spades''. If the characters learn a lesson in an episode (e.g. Marinette learning she shouldn't let her crush on Adrien run her life, Adrien learning to stand up for himself, Chloé learning to be less of an AlphaBitch, etc.), nine times out of ten they'll forget that lesson by the next episode and have to learn it all over again.

* AesopAmnesia/KingOfTheHill
* AesopAmnesia/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic
* AesopAmnesia/TheSimpsons

* At several points in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', [[TheHero Adora]] is beaten about the head with the lessons that [[HeroComplex it is okay to be imperfect and she can be valued for more than what she can do for others]]. The difficulty Adora has internalizing this is a subtle sign that [[AbusiveParents Shadow Weaver's]] [[DefectorFromDecadence prized ward]] is at the end of the day a ''badly'' damaged young woman.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'':

* The members of the ''WesternAnimation/SushiPack'' frequently have to relearn [[AnAesop Aesops]] about being a team. Like every other episode frequently.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''

* Any episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' that focuses on Mr. Krabs' incredible greed. One could guess that love (of money in this case) conquers all.
** Also, Squidward has learned to be less grouchy and to appreciate [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick‘s kindness, only to forget it by the end of the episode (or next episode at the latest), far too many times to count. Possibly justified to some extent by the fact that [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick never seemed to learn that brazenly intruding into someone's life and ignoring their requests to be left alone is '''NOT''' an appropriate way to express kindness.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': The sheer number of times Ben has learned lessons about being nicer to Gwen, using the Omnitrix smarter not harder, and respecting other people, only to promptly discard them by the next episode is truly staggering. It's even lampshaded on occasion, with one of the movies (''WesternAnimation/Ben10DestroyAllAliens'') having Gwen quip that Ben is probably just going to forget the lesson he just spent the entire runtime re-learning again.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': You know, for someone who's supposed to be a boy genius, it never seems to cross Jimmy's oversized mind that using his own genius for his own good has its share of consequences or exactly how many times his own inventions had backfired on him in the past. His arrogance and lack of common sense only pushes him further towards this trope.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' instead of solving her problems on her own, she goes to the Spooky Jar (A Cookie Jar that contains a genie-like entity who is actually a JerkassGenie) to solve her problems, only to create much much worse problems in their places. Despite this, she still uses it in several other episodes.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' runs on this trope.
** Unless you're an actual calculator, you've probably lost count of the number of times Hank has learned to accept Bobby's athletic limitations and appreciate his other skills. Maybe it's genetic, as Hank has earned the grudging respect of his father, Cotton, on several occasions, and that never sticks, either.
*** Not to mention that no matter how many times Hank learns to loosen up, [[YoyoPlotPoint this still happens a lot]]:
--> '''Bobby''': Hey Dad, guess what! I joined the (insert incredibly effeminate and/or non-traditional activity here)!
--> '''Hank''': [[BigNo BWAAAHHH!!!]]
** Hank also constantly forgets that Bobby is good at some sports, like shooting, football, and wrestling.
** Can we get a count of how many times Bill's gotten over his depression and found something meaningful in his life, including another woman, only to have it completely forgotten by the next episode?
** Kahn and Minh quite frequently learn to respect their redneck neighbors and then forget.
** More quintessential to the trope is perhaps Buck Strickland, who consistently fails to learn that his illegal schemes will always put his business at risk. Strangely, however, Hank for some reason doesn't even get an Aesop that his boss is an amoral bastard and that he'll always get in trouble for trying to clean up after Buck's mess.
*** In Hank's case, a number of episodes imply that Hank is fully aware of how bad Buck is, but sticks around out of a misplaced sense of gratitude and loyalty and/or an equally misplaced hope that Buck might at some point revert back to the hard-working man he was when Hank first met him (which he nearly did in one episode); both are played as Hank's having found a better father in Buck than he had in Cotton.
** The numerous examples where Peggy should have learned that her perceived abilities and appearance don't match up to reality. At times, she learns to accept her limitations, but goes right back to her old self in the next episode.
** In Season 4, the RunningGag of Nancy and John Redcorn's affair ends when they finally begin feeling bad about betraying Dale's trust (which is an [[ConspiracyTheorist incredibly rare commodity]]) and part ways amicably. Then in Season 11, Redcorn attempts to restart the affair, and though Nancy is tempted[[note]]Especially since she starts losing her hair due to stress and believes that getting back together with Redcorn will make things better[[/note]], she ultimately stands by her man.

* For a show that runs on Aesops, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has ''quite'' a few of these.
** The Cutie Mark Crusaders play with this trope as a RunningGag. The lesson "You can't make your cutie mark appear; you just have to wait for it" comes up in several episodes, but they refuse to learn it or wind up ComicallyMissingThePoint. Done most egregiously in "The Cutie Pox", where Apple Bloom states the Aesop herself, only to declare that [[{{Determinator}} she's waited long enough roughly ten seconds later.]] Ironically, it actually sticks a lot better that time, and by season 3, the "we're going to get our cutie marks in X" plots largely fade into the background.
** The Mane Six zig-zag this trope. They often learn lessons related to their personalities, and then sometimes fall back into old habits. However, over the course of the series they have also shown signs of positive CharacterDevelopment. Twilight has come to appreciate friendship more and has demonstrated more patience, calmness, and rational thought (traits which prove useful when she becomes a princess). Rainbow Dash {{took a level in kindness}} in Season 2 that has in general persisted, and Fluttershy has demonstrated ever-increasing traits of assertiveness and tough love, as well as more self-confidence in her flight capabilities. Applejack also dialed back on the pride permanently; in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 The Super-Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]", she has no problem accepting her friends' help, and at the end of the episode, she even explicitly points out that she knew that already. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E9AppleFamilyReunion Apple Family Reunion]]", she actually plans for and goes to them for help.
** Some lessons that stay learned are by the citizens of Ponyville at large, as they have learned to accept [[FantasticRacism Zecora]] and [[HeelFaceTurn Princess Luna]]. Zecora makes a crack about the ponies of Ponyville seeming to forget their lesson and hide from her again in "The Cutie Pox", but they're actually hiding from Apple Bloom.
** At least once a season, there'll be an episode to teach Spike his place in the group. Considering his status as a ButtMonkey, this might be needed.
** In several episodes, the characters forget that Princess Celestia is a kind, nurturing mother figure to her subjects and think she is a stiff who would punish someone for making a simple mistake. Twilight Sparkle goes through this the most.
** In the Season 1 episode "Griffon the Brush Off," Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie take caution not to prank Fluttershy due to her sensitive nature, and it's a plot point that Gilda doesn't have that kind of restraint and gets Fluttershy upset. In the Season 6 episode "28 Pranks Later," Rainbow Dash not only has to relearn "You don't just prank anyone you see" (and even pranks Spike in an incredibly similar way), but she loses that inhibition in the meantime and pranks Fluttershy during the ColdOpen.
** After her HeelFaceTurn, Starlight Glimmer repeatedly tries to use magic to solve mundane problems instead of talking through them, which usually makes things worse.
** This was lampshaded in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E14FameAndMisfortune Fame and Misfortune]]" where a group of {{Loony Fan}}s accuse Fluttershy of having to re-learn confidence over and over. Fluttershy responds that someone's personality doesn't just completely change because of one event; they may need to be reminded a few times.
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E20TheWashouts The Washouts]]" delivers a slight variation of this trope, with the Aesop being forgotten by the character who ''taught'' it rather than the one who learned it. Back in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E5FlightToTheFinish Flight to the Finish]]", Rainbow Dash helped Scootaloo learn that even if she can't fly, she's still special in other ways. In this episode, Scootaloo is offered a spot on the titular stunt team (which would make great use of said "other ways", specifically her signature scooter skills), to which Rainbow Dash objects. While Rainbow does express legitimate safety concerns, she makes it obvious that she is motivated at least as much by not wanting Scootaloo to look up to anyone other than herself, and heavily implies that she was expecting Scootaloo to follow her into the Wonderbolts, despite there being [[Main/DreamCrushingHandicap essentially no realistic hope]] of that actually happening.
---> '''Rainbow Dash''': I just want to make sure you don't get hurt. That way, you can follow in my hoofsteps. Every pony's dream, right!
---> '''Scootaloo''': More like, "Follow your wingflaps".
---> '''Rainbow Dash''': Same difference.
---> '''Scootaloo''': [[Main/SarcasmMode Thanks, super-talented flier. For clearing up what I should do]]!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** As with all NegativeContinuity tropes, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' uses this one a lot. Often they'll just go ahead and lampshade, and at least one episode ends with Lisa concluding there was no moral to learn, "just some things that happened". With the supporting characters, it's even more pronounced; Barney goes from "clean and sober" to "hopeless alcoholic" depending on the mood of the writer, Mr. Burns has learned to love his fellow man ''dozens'' of times, and even though he's learned to stand up for himself in every episode he's a featured player in, Principal Skinner never manages to move out of his mother's house.
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d at least once in Mr. Burns's case:
---> '''Burns''': For me? Bobo? Smithers, I'm so happy. Something amazing has happened, I'm actually happy. Take a note! From now on, I'm only going to be good and kind to everyone.
--->'''Smithers''': I'm sorry sir, I don't have a pencil.\\
'''Burns''': Ehh, don't worry, I'm sure I'll remember it.
** Multiple episodes (way too many to list) go as follows: Homer does something especially [[IdiotBall stupid]] and/or [[JerkassBall selfish]]. Marge gets so upset as to give both Homer and the audience the impression that she's wondering what she ever saw in him. Homer performs some GrandRomanticGesture to make up for whatever it is. Marge learns that she genuinely loves Homer despite his faults, and Homer learns to put more effort into being a good husband... for a while.
** In one episode Mr. Burns describes himself as having "characteristic changes of heart". This leads to him befriending Homer and being a good person for much of the episode, then going right back to being evil at the end. As Homer notes, "I guess some people never change. Or, they quickly change and then quickly change back."
** Also lampshaded in "Homer Loves Flanders" where Homer came to genuinely like Ned Flanders. At the end of the episode Bart asks Lisa where the expected last-minute FaceHeelTurn event is that would reset the situation back to status quo. Lisa is stumped. Then comes one last scene with "one week later" caption where Homer suddenly loathes Flanders again, and Bart and Lisa give a content "things are back the way they should be" smile.
** Played for somewhat grimmer humor in "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", where the family gets a MagicalNanny who teaches them to be polite, to keep house, and to enjoy work. Her efforts are initially successful, but the moment she tries to leave, the family quickly shifts back to their old ways, and she has to work even harder to try and right things. Eventually, they simply tell her that they're happy the way they are and they probably won't ever change, to which she declares them a lost cause and quits her job with relief.
** "Homer Goes to College" has a lot of fun with Homer's complete refusal to learn the lesson that he shouldn't treat college like an endless stream of WackyFratboyHijinx. This culminates in the end of the episode, where he throws out several different morals, before Marge tells him to go back to college because he clearly learned nothing--to which Homer responds by declaring his intent to spend the next year partying and playing pranks as much as ever.
** The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E7BartsGirlfriend Bart's Girlfriend]]", Reverend Lovejoy never really learns to discipline his daughter, and all Jessica learns is that she can manipulate boys into doing what she wants. Bart subverted this, by seemingly being suckered in again by Jessica into doing her chores, only planning to do a bad job to get Jessica in trouble.
** In "Duffless", he also repeatedly failed to learn the lesson "the cupcake is wired up to electricity, and if you touch it you will get a shock". Thereby proving that yes, he was dumber than a hamster.
** In "Krusty Gets Kancelled", when Krusty loses his show, he's destitute because he never saved for this kind of situation. After getting his show back, he buys a ruby to use as a clown nose.

** It took him 2 episodes to really accept his gay neighbors considering he tried to kidnap their baby from them.

* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. The title character never learns his lesson about being a better person, which makes him highly and reasonably disliked among his peers. However, a major recurring issue for Archer in this trope is that he ''is'' repeatedly made aware of his faults, and oftentimes ''doesn't'' simply blow them off or ignore them, but his efforts to truly change are often stymied as much by his dysfunctional coworkers and family as they are by himself; essentially, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome any progress he tries to make tends to get shot down]] because he continues to interact with people who directly feed his issues in the first place. Archer himself aptly sums it up in the Season 11 finale:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': {{Zig Zagging|Trope}}. Luz Noceda wants to be able to do magic more then anything, but her impatience leads to her always trying to skip past the boring learning part, which ''always'' ends in disaster. Yet, time and again, she goes back to looking for a shortcut instead of realizing that, for her to really do magic, she needs to learn the old-fashioned way by just studying and slowly growing her talents. On the other hand, she and Eda are making up her education regiment as they go along since she lacks a magic bile sac and Eda can't see the glyphs that Luz can. It's natural that Luz keeps trying to see if the next adventure has the answer.

** The Mane Six zig-zag this trope. They often learn lessons related to their personalities, and then sometimes fall back into old habits. However, over the course of the series they have also shown signs of positive CharacterDevelopment. Twilight has come to appreciate friendship more and has demonstrated more patience, calmness, and rational thought (traits which prove useful when she [[spoiler:becomes a princess]]). Rainbow Dash {{took a level in kindness}} in Season 2 that has in general persisted, and Fluttershy has demonstrated ever-increasing traits of assertiveness and tough love, as well as more self-confidence in her flight capabilities. Applejack also dialed back on the pride permanently; in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 The Super-Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]", she has no problem accepting her friends' help, and at the end of the episode, she even explicitly points out that she knew that already. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E9AppleFamilyReunion Apple Family Reunion]]", she actually plans for and goes to them for help.

* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. The title character never learns his lesson about becoming a better person, which makes him reasonably and intensely disliked by his peers.
** Of course they're all exactly the same, which is probably why they don't associate with anyone but each other.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' episode "De-Based", Fred clicks a link in an obvious 404Scam e-mail, which downloads a virus to Basemax. A few episodes later, he gets captured by Noodle Burger Boy when he misses every red flag in an obvious fake e-mail saying he won a contest he never entered. This is lampshaded when he says he's learned a valuable lesson, and Go-Go snarks that it feels more like a repeat lesson.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigHeroSixTheSeries'' episode "De-Based", Fred clicks a link in an obvious 404Scam e-mail, which downloads a virus to Basemax. A few episodes later, he gets captured by Noodle Burger Boy when he misses every red flag in an obvious fake e-mail saying he won a contest he never entered. This is lampshaded when he says he's learned a valuable lesson, and Go-Go snarks that it feels more like a repeat lesson.

* Kuzco on ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' has "learned" again and again (and again) that it's not [[ItsAllAboutMe all about him]].
** This show is a particularly absurd example. It's a series based off of the movie, where Kuzco spends the entire time learning that he isn't the center of the universe, and by the end, has become a genuinely nice person who treats other people as equals. Cue the series, where he has apparently forgotten all of the events of the movie and once again has to "learn" that the world doesn't revolve around him. Multiple times.
** He seems to have gotten better by the sequel movie, ''Kronk's New Groove'', where he mentions he loves being the spotlight in the beginning, but it's time for him to step aside. And then he makes another appearance by the end, where he's actually trying to help Kronk, who was an antagonist for most of the first movie and the series.
** Slightly justified in that the opening scenes of ''Emperor's New Groove'' show Kuzco having been spoiled since he was in diapers. He's literally having to rewrite the habits of years. [[note]]Yzma 'practically raised him', by her own statement. Kuzco's lucky he didn't turn out ''worse''.[[/note]]

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine Thomas and Friends]]'', after the 5th season, Thomas and Duncan become especially prone to this. In fact, Thomas's character up to the 5th season was built on Aesops from past experiences in the earlier seasons. Suddenly, when season 6 debuted, he was a perfect schoolboy type. With the debut of season 8, he seemingly ''forgot every lesson he ever learned''.[[note]]However, this is likely because this was the point where the show had been sold to a new company.[[/note]] It's even worse when he forgets the Aesop of patience by the very episode after he learned it. James is quite bad for this too, but it may be justified considering [[JerkAss his personality]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' instead of solving her problems on her own, she goes to the Spooky Jar (A Cookie Jar that contains a genie-like entity who is actually a JerkassGenie) to solve her problems, only to create much much worse problems in their places. Despite this, she still uses it every episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': The sheer number of times Ben has learned lessons about being nicer to Gwen, using the Omnitrix smarter not harder, and respecting other people, only to promptly discard them by the next episode is truly staggering.
** The 2nd Lucky Girl episode has Gwen also guilty of this, as the episode opens with her telling Ben, "You should be grateful for what you've got; I only got to be Lucky Girl for a few hours." And later, while they're talking about a new charm she found, we get a flashback to Gwen destroying the other charms ''of her own volition'', while ignoring why she did this: to [[BeYourself Be Herself]], and also ''keep them out of Hex's evil hands''. It's an actually positive use of the trope because the original moral was nonsensically saying that having powers was stopping Gwen from 'being herself' in the face of Ben who uses the Omnitrix all the time with no issue. In this case the aesop is forgotten because well... it's worth forgetting.

** Also, Squidward has learned to be less grouchy and to appreciate [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick‘s kindness, only to forget it by the end of the episode (or next episode at the latest), far too many times to count.