The Next Day is Always the Same

When you happen to wake up and everything is the same as it was, except for your actions.

Can also come into play if someone stops time.

Also known as "plot formula" for when *everyone's* actions are different aside from the day being the same. If the show merely *feels* like this, when in actuality it's not, that's a case of Padding Filler Z.

## Examples

### Straight

* Looped is built around this premise: two kids in a time loop where everyday is Monday.
* *Every Day the Same Dream* is a Flash game that puts this trope into effect. Unless your actions change it.
* Formulaic shows are built on this:
	+ Preschool shows that break the fourth wall and invite the audience to join in.
	+ Yu-Gi-Oh! has this method (at least for the English dub): Yugi goes to school (him going to school is not always a requirement for this trope, as shown with the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs), someone challenges him to a duel, and he wins, sending the loser to the Shadow Realm (Hell in the Japanese version). This was broken in the dub of the final arc, though the finale still had a duel regardless.
		- And its sequels (though Zexal is more story-based and duels don't happen as often as in *Duel Monsters*, *GX*, or *5Ds*).
* Beavis and Butt-head used to be this, with animation followed by them commenting on music videos. Then MTV cut the show's budget not because of low ratings, but because the music videos were getting too expensive to license.
* Block 13: A group of kids speak in Arabic, followed by a school scene, with the Kenny lookalike getting killed during the show, etc.
* The Simpsons:
	+ The animation for The Simpsons' theme song itself, at least post-season 1. Bart's chalkboard gag, Lisa's saxophone solo, and even the couch gag are a little different, but aside from that, the theme song is the same. Then again, almost every theme song reuses the opening for every episode of the series.
	+ Bart's prank calls are always the same formula: Call up Moe's, ask for a name that in context is an innuendo, Moe says the name, and after he realizes he's been pranked, he'll send a death threat to Bart and hang up. With the rise of caller ID, Bart seldom does these pranks anymore.
		- Subverted in one episode, where there actually *was* a person by that name at Moe's. Bart tells the guy it was a prank call that backfired and that he wants to bail out.
	+ Post-flanderization, almost every scene with Barney Gumble will show him drinking in some way (there were a few episodes where he sobered up, but it never lasts long).
	+ An example of "The Next *Gag* is Always the Same": While the Simpson family were in Japan, Homer will always burst through doors he's supposed to *slide* open. Even when he was freed from prison, which in the real world would earn him a trip back there for destruction of property.
	+ Homer will always get involved in something idiotic every episode, at least in the half-hour series. For example, in "Lisa Gets an A", he gets a lobster he names "Pinchy", and doesn't allow anyone to cook him. This comes back to bite him later when he accidentally did the same thing.
	+ Averted when Homer becomes a sanitation commissioner. It's set up like trash collection day in Springfield will become the same... before Mayor Quimby shows up and tells Homer his department is broke.
	+ Bart's physical pranks mostly target Springfield Elementary, but he pranks other people/places if the plot calls for it. One of his pranks was the reason Apu was able to scratch a winning ticket and get his store back.
	+ Lisa will always try to never be involved in her dad or brother's schemes, but in cases like "The Book Job", she's pulled in after she realizes that writing alone is harder than ghostwriting.
	+ The Comic Book Guy will always call something he deems awful the "Worst. Noun. Ever."; for example he deems the Everyman film the "Worst! Movie! Ever!".
	+ Concerning what Maggie's doing, in the series proper, Maggie does nothing but crawl around (unless she's being carried by another member of the Simpson family, usually Homer or Marge) and suck on her pacifier all day (there are a few episodes, such as *Coming to Homerica*, where she says her "first words", but those are few and far between; in the aforementioned episode, they were in "Ogdenvillese"). Considering what happened with Timmy, that isn't a good thing, and in one of the shorts under Ullman's wing, Marge tries to get Maggie to give up her pacifier. It doesn't work.
		- Keep in mind, this trope only applies to Maggie in the *canon* episodes. In any Treehouse of Horror episode, which avert this entirely, as well as any episode set in the future, Maggie defies this trope.
		- Lisa and her friends once covered Maggie in makeup and Maggie didn't even object, just sucking on her pacifier. In fact, all this really did was make Homer go to Moe's and show Moe his drink idea: the "Flaming Homer"/"Flaming Moe".
* Animal Crossing. Unless someone moves out or you pay off your final loan to Nook, the game series runs on this.
	+ Can also happen in *New Leaf* if you don't change ordinances.
	+ In order to prevent this, in *New Leaf* Crazy Redd does not appear every day, and won't sell you but one item per visit when he does come to town.
* *Star vs. the Forces of Evil* and *Steven Universe* both started out like this, but once the story turns darker the two shows start averting this.
* *The Fairly OddParents!*: Timmy has a problem, which can stem from parental neglect (and being left alone with Vicky), or getting various F's due to the Crocker Grading System. Timmy wishes for a quick solution to said problem. Said wish backfires, and Timmy has to undo it by the end of the episode or TV movie.
	+ Of course, seeing as there are various rules against wishing for certain things, Timmy has to use magic in a different way in some episodes such as "Nectar of the Odds" (which inspired a book based on it, "Lemonade with a Twist!").
	+ Exaggerated Just to Get a Laugh when Timmy reveals his secret wish in *Timmy's Secret Wish*- 50 years ago, he wished no one would continue to age.
* *Ed, Edd n Eddy*: Eddy thinks up something that would either help him out with his personal problems or would be at the expense of the rest of the cul-de-sac (often, a way to get rich). He enlists Ed and Edd/Double D to help him out, but somehow someone will find out and render the entire thing pointless. In some episodes, they'll be chased by everyone (in fact, that's how the finale movie started).
* *6teen*: Caitlin will never keep a job outside of The Lemon for long. Jonesy, on the other hand, can't keep a job for long *period*.

### Parodied/Variants

* Webkinz uses this formula, except for a few differences.
* South Park has a variant where Kenny died every episode until season 5. Now he only gets killed sparingly.
	+ Parodied in "Cancelled", though subverted... especially once the main characters get abducted.
	+ "Stick of Truth": No matter how late your player character (Dohvokiin) is to bed on nights 1 and 2, his mother will still tuck him in despite what happened, and he will still be allowed to play with his friends the next day. The only difference is that he *isn't* allowed to speak with them about that day. Maybe his dad decided it was best if they only punished him for the rest of the night, because he and his wife were the ones who wanted Dohvokiin to make friends in the first place.
* Pixel Chix: The Pixel Chix want you to play with them (no matter what you do with them), every day. If you don't, eventually they move out and the game ends.
* Jewelpet: The first season had a formula consisting of Rinko and Ruby finding the other pets, with magical girl scenes in between.
* Magical girl shows often include transformations in almost all episodes (Kill la Kill was the first to subvert this trope), especially in the case of Sailor Moon.
	+ Subverted for Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
* Station X parodies this, though that's due to it using the Jack's Giant Music Show trope.
* Doraemon: Something bad happens to Noby. Doraemon notices Noby was tortured, bullied, or otherwise miserable, so he gets out a gadget. Things don't work as planned (it's even lampshaded in the English opening), due to either Noby's friends or his parents finding out about the gadget.
	+ Averted in the very first episode of the dub, where Noby first met Doraemon; the formula wasn't set up in-universe by this point.
	+ Also averted in another episode where it's *Dorami* giving Doraemon the gadget.
	+ And Noby sometimes finds gadgets on his own, averting this entirely save for things not working out as planned.
	+ If the bad stuff happening to Noby involves schoolwork, Doraemon will initially refuse, then later cave in and give Noby a gadget related to the episode's plot.
* "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Skipper Dan" is about a tour guide going through the exact same thing *every day* instead of his original goal of being an actor.

### Subverted

* The Garfield Show: Garfield was afraid of this trope. He fixed it, though...
* The Simpsons, at least for everyone *but* Maggie.

TBA.