History MacGuffin / LiveActionTV

** The pieces of the Six Leaf Ice Crystal which in times past have been given to various immortal tribes for savekeeping. Capabable of SuperEmpowering and other feats even on their own, the pieces are sought after by both the Ice and Fire Tribes and repeatedly the cause of conflict.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': The eponymous brooch of the episode "The Blue Butterfly". It drives the plot of both the modern-day murder and the murders in the 1940s that drove it to be hidden in the first place. Lots of {{Shout Out}}s to "The Maltese Falcon" [[spoiler:including the fact that the Blue Butterfly is made of fake diamonds.]]

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': {{Subverted|Trope}} with the music box, which seems like one at first -- it drives the arc after the first six episodes, and apparently serves no purpose other than the fact that [[DirtyCop Fowler]] wants it.
Later, however, it is revealed to contain information (through music) for a fractal pattern that leads them to the real bad guy, and which has a purpose that they will also reveal. Certainly, it still didn't need to necessarily be a music box, but it is no longer just any object, but has specific information with a purpose that is being revealed.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Subverted Trope: During the last few episodes of Season 4, The List (of the members of the Burned Spies Organization) basically serves as a [=MacGuffin=]: people fight over it, but nobody uses it. By the time Season 5 starts, it has been used: the members of the organization are either incarcerated or dead (and we get to see Michael take care of the last two guys). [[spoiler:But there's this one guy whose name was never on the list...a rather mild-mannered fellow named [[BigBad Anson Fullerton]].]]

** Comically [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] in "The Big Goodbye." Everyone in the [[Film/TheMalteseFalcon1941 Maltese Falcon]]esque [[ShowWithinAShow Dixon Hill]] story is chasing "a certain object" known as "the item," which is never ascribed any properties whatsoever.
** The Romulans' secret mission in "The Enemy." While Patahk is still alive and in the ''Enterprise's'' custody, Picard refuses to return him to Commander Tomalak until furnished with an explanation of why, exactly, a Romulan shuttle crashed on a planet so deep in Federation territory. Tomalak's refusal continues the shipboard conflict of Worf refusing to donate blood to a Romulan until Patahk dies of his injuries, which enrages Tomalak. On the planet, the secret mission prevents Bochra from cooperating with Geordi in finding the rescue beacon until Geordi [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks if it's actually worth sacrificing his life for]]. Once they're beamed aboard the ''Enterprise'', no further mention of Bocrha and Patahk's mission is made--Bochra's safe return defuses the conflict between Picard and Tomalak, and Picard returns Bochra without even raising the subject of Romulan trespassing.

** The Iconian gateway (and the Jem'hadar rebels holding it) in "To the Death." The plot is really an episode to showcase the culture of the Jem'hadar and how different these {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s are from even Klingons. We never get any characterization for the rebels and the gateway isn't mentioned again.

** Parodied in "Improbable Cause". Just before Odo and [[KnowledgeBroker Garak]] go on a dangerous journey, [[TheMedic Bashir]], who's spent three years trying to work out if [[MysteriousPast Garak]] is a [[TheSpymaster spy]] or not, asks Garak if there's anything he can do for him while he's away. Garak looks around furtively to see if they're alone and then anxiously tells Bashir that if he's not back within 3 days, to go into his quarters and locate a datarod that's hidden behind a false panel. This sounds like the set up to the usual sort of plot where the good guys will later get out of danger by bargaining the fate of some important piece of information that could fall into the wrong hands if they die. And then Garak tells the wide-eyed Bashir to [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower eat the rod]]. At that point, Bashir (and the audience) realises Garak's [[DeadpanSnarker just cracking a joke]] at Bashir's expense.

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'':
** The music box, which drives the arc after the first six episodes, and serves no purpose other than the fact that [[CorruptCop Fowler]] wants it.
** SubvertedTrope. It seemed like one at first, but has since been revealed to contain information (through music) for a fractal pattern that lead them to the real bad guy, and which has a purpose that they will also reveal. Certainly, it still didn't need to necessarily be a music box, but it is no longer just any object, but has specific information with a purpose that is being revealed.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': The show loved this trope. Almost every season would feature at least one object--often of [[{{Superman}} Kryptonian]] origin--that various characters would be jockeying for control of, due to the perception that it would either grant them power or help them solve some mystery. Season 4's plot was especially centered around this trope, as Lex, Lionel, Genevieve Teague, Jason Teague, Lana, Lana's undead witch ancestor Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, Dr. Swann's foundation, and even a rogue unit of Chinese soldiers all start plotting and feuding with each other and tripping all over themselves to track down the Stones of Power, which combine to form [[spoiler: the Fortress of Solitude]]. Clark is [[{{RefusedTheCall}} reluctant]] to jump into the middle of this, as [[{{IJustWantToBeNormal}} his life now has some semblance of normalcy]] for once, but [[{{ResignedToTheCall}} circumstances and Jor-El essentially force him to hunt down the Stones himself]], because--in Jor-El's words--if any of these factions unite the Stones before he does, they could very well be overwhelmed by the temptation to misuse the Fortress's power. Jor-El fears that this would lead to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* ''Into The Labyrinth'', a UK Children's TV series from the early 1980's, had 2 rival wizards, the good Rothko and the evil Belor, travelling through time to find the mysterious "Nidas". Most episodes ended with Belor's catchphrase "I deny you the Nidas!", causing a magic lightning bolt to move it again.

* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': Done to the point of extreme irritation as it's obvious by the end of Season 2 that the writers can't come up with a satisfactory explanation for the prophet Rambaldi but are still going to drag out one tired [=MacGuffin=] for the rest of the series.

* ''Series/APBio'': The last episode follows the journey Jack's prized Harvard-branded pen takes after a student borrows it. Jack spends months trying to find it, only for it to get nearly destroyed by the students after being used as a prop in a web series they're making. The students do their best to restore its functionality, and in the final scene Jack uses it to sign Stef's baby's birth certificate.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Comically [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] in "The Big Goodbye." Everyone in the [[Film/TheMalteseFalcon1941 Maltese Falcon]]esque [[ShowWithinAShow Dixon Hill]] story is chasing "a certain object" known as "the item," which is never ascribed any properties whatsoever.

* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': Done to the point of extreme irritation as it's obvious by the end of season two that the writers can't come up with a satisfactory explanation for the prophet Rambaldi but are still going to drag out one tired [=MacGuffin=] for the rest of the series.

** The season 4 episode Advanced Documentary Filmmaking, the episode is building up to a visit by a psychological research institute, appropriately titled the "[[LampshadeHanging MacGuffin Institute]]".