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Introducing a new character who is then inexplicably ignored for a few episodes. Often the result of a clumsy Debut Queue setup.

Alternatively, a common use of Lampshade Hanging to explain why a cast member useful to the plot isn't around. This can be to exclude a character who would make a plot end too early or because the writers want to focus on specific characters.

Poorly used, this will introduce a character who is used for a single arc and then forgotten for long periods of time. The kind of writer prone to this is also liable to keep doing it.

Not to be confused with shows shot in a green room.

Examples of Green Rooming include:


Anime & Manga[]

  • A skillful usage of this technique is in Love Hina, where Motoko (along with her "groupies") is introduced in the first minutes of the first episode, but she immediately leaves on a training excursion, thus freeing up screen time for introductions of the other characters before she gets her turn to take center stage in the third episode. Shinobu is also seen in the first episode, but not really introduced until the second.
  • In Kämpfer, Mikoto is seen in the first few episodes via postcards to her childhood friend Natsuru. She's seen again at the end of episode 5, but Mikoto doesn't see Natsuru till episode 6. She remains part of the cast after she returns home.


Live-Action TV[]

  • In Doctor Who, Robot Buddy K-9 is introduced in "The Invisible Enemy", then promptly breaks down for the duration of "The Image of the Fendahl", whose script was written before K-9 was added to the cast.
    • Also, Robot Buddy Kamelion is introduced in "The King's Demons" and then disappears for almost an entire season, reappearing only in order to be written out. This was because the complicated and expensive Kamelion prop actually did break down, and the only person who knew how it worked had died.
      • Script editor Eric Saward said in an interview in Doctor Who Magazine that Mike Powers' death wasn't the cause of Kameleon getting sidelined. The robot prop hadn't worked right from the beginning, and the character had been created based on the operators' exaggerated claims of its capabilities. Powers' death provided an easy explanation that didn't lay blame on anyone.
  • Happened quite a bit in Code Name: Eternity due to the episodes being aired out of order. The two main characters meet a sidekick early in the season, followed by a replacement sidekick in what should have been about halfway through the season; but instead, the sidekicks seem to appear and disappear at random.


Video Games[]


Western Animation[]