History Main / BowlingForRatings

* ''Series/{{Knuckles}}'': The B-plot of the miniseries has Wade teaching Knuckles bowling and participating in a bowling tournament in Reno against Wade's relative, "Pistol" Pete.
** Knuckles is flabbergasted by the concept during his first visit to a bowling alley.
-->'''Knuckles:''' What devilry is this?

* ''Series/{{Hunter}}''. At the end of one episode Dee Dee [=McCall=] has ended up in the hospital and her partner turns up with a gift. A bowling ball.
-->'''Hunter:''' Welcome to the world of bowling.
-->'''[=McCall=]:''' You are very strange.

* ''[[Series/Knuckles2024 Knuckles]]'': The B-plot of the miniseries has Wade teaching Knuckles bowling and participating in a bowling tournament in Reno against Wade's relative, "Pistol" Pete.

%%* Series/LaverneAndShirley

Sometimes, a [[CanadaEh Canadian]] series will have that country's distinctive five pin variant: five pins with rubber rings around the wide bottom and smaller balls with no finger holes. But neither Canada nor the United States will ''ever'' show any other type of bowling (sorry, candlepin and duckpin lovers).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainFlamingo'' episode "Ten Pin Peril", Ruth-Ann is trapped in bowling machinery at the bowling alley after she mistakenly wears bowling shoes that are not the size of her feet. Milo and Lizbeth must save her while trying to expose Wendell as a cheater at bowling.

** Apparently, bowling features prominently in classic {{noir}} films, reaching DeadHorseTrope status with the original [[1962 version of Cape Fear Film/CapeFear1962]]. Of course the Coen brothers would include bowling in their loving homage to the genre.

** Apparently, bowling features prominently in classic FilmNoirs, reaching DeadHorseTrope status with the original [[1962 version of Cape Fear Film/CapeFear1962]]. Of course the Coen brothers would include bowling in their loving homage to the genre.

** Apparently, bowling features prominently in classic FilmNoirs, reaching DeadHorseTrope status with the original [[1962 version of Cape Fear Film/CapeFear1962]]. Of course the Coen brothers would include bowling in a loving homage to the genre.

** Apparently, bowling features prominently in classic FilmNoir|s, reaching DeadHorseTrope status by the time the original [[1962 version of Cape Fear Film/CapeFear1962]] was released. Of course the Coen brothers would include bowling in a loving homage to the genre.

* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'': One "Donald's Dynamite" short has Donald at the bowling alley. He first tries to bowl with a regular bowling ball, but when it seems like he's going to get a strike, [[EpicFail the ball stops right in front of the first pin and rolls into the gutter]]. Donald then tries to get a spare, but accidentally picks up a bomb instead of a bowling ball, which he tries desperately to get off his hand when it gets stuck. When he does manage to get rid of the bomb, it rolls into the pins and explodes, giving Donald a spare [[spoiler:or so it would seem, as the seventh and ten pins land perfectly upright, giving him a split]].

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': In [[Recap/MarriedWithChildrenS4E17PeggyTurns300 "Peggy Turns 300"]], Al goes bowling in an attempt to beat the alley record of 256. He succeeds by bowling a 257 but is then upstaged by Peg bowling a perfect game.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'', one of the events presented is bowling. The pins all turn into Jikochuus.
* In Episode 15 of ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', Love takes her friends to a bowling alley, during which Setsuna tries to make her suspicious of her.
* In Episode 29 of ''Anime/SmilePrecure'', one of the challenges is bowling against Akaoni, which Cure Peace takes on gleefully. However, the Akanbe pins make it very difficult for her, leading to her using [[ShockAndAwe Peace Thunder]] to score a strike.

* ''VideoGame/MarioParty'':
** One 1-vs.-3 mini-game that debuts in [[VideoGame/MarioParty1 the first game]] is "Bowl Over". One player is armed with a Koopa shell, and the other three players are turned into sentient bowling pins. The goal of the player with the Koopa shell is to knock down the three players-turned-bowling pins, while the goal of the three players-turned-bowling pins is to avoid being knocked down.
** ''VideoGame/MarioParty9'' features a minigame called Goomba Bowling that plays similar to other bowling video games, with players able to both move and aim left and right before throwing a Koopa shell. Instead of aiming at ten pins, however, the targets are twenty Goombas that waddle back and forth throughout the lane in a straight line. The idea is to angle and time your throw so the shell hits one Goomba after another as it travels throughout the lane.

* One occurs in the BatmanColdOpen for an episode of WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold. The Sportsmaster crashes it to mock the organisers for thinking that bowling is a sport… [[{{Hypocrite}} before deciding to try and win the cash]] [[FairPlayVillain according to the rules]]. Nought he adds the caveat that the organisers and competitions are the skittles, and the ball he uses is a bomb.

** "Fertilized Megg" begins with the Griffin children at the bowling alley. To Meg's surprise, she finds Peter and his friends bowling in one lane. During his game, Peter insists that he cannot bowl without mimicking [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flinstone's]] twinkle toes move.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' 1000 years in the future, bowling seems unchanged.

* ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam:''

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesCartoons'': In "Unlucky Strikes", Porky takes his nephew, Cicero, to the bowling alley, to teach him how to bowl, even though Cicero would much rather play his video game. When Porky gets flung into the ball return and comes out looking like a bowling ball, Cicero [[BeTheBall uses him to bowl]] and begins to enjoy it, getting continuous strikes and eventually winning a trophy for getting the perfect score.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': In "[[Recap/TheLooneyTunesShowS1E13ToBowlOrNotToBowl To Bowl or Not to Bowl]]", Daffy has a bowling team consisting with his old gang of high school losers Porky (who [[FutureLoser was]] the school [[JerkJock jock and Daffy's bully]]), Marvin the Martian, and Pete Puma to spite a rival team. When Porky gets horribly injured, Bugs takes his place on the team.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': ''Skips Strikes.'' In typical RS fashion, the game's stakes are taken ridiculously high thanks to Rigby betting the team's souls in a bowling match against [[TheGrimReaper Death]] and his accomplices. All for a soul-filled bowling ball to rub in people's faces. Everyone gets a chance to beat on him for it.

* WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry had two bowling episodes. "Bowling Alley Cat" (1942 theatrical cartoon) was a standard T&J confrontation in a bowling alley, while "Super Bowler" (1975 made for TV episode) had the two competing against each other in a tournament (some of Tom's bowling movements were rotoscoped from "Bowling Alley Cat").