FF:NZ Jumping The Shark

JUMPING THE SHARK

The board has gotten a bit quiet, so I thought I'd post this as something to maybe stimulate a bit of discussion.

Not sure if people are aware of the term "jump the shark" or not.

There is a point when writers of TV shows have exhausted all other ideas and are forced to change the show in the hopes of continuing its life on the network. "Jumping the shark" is a reference to when "Happy Days" made the change. All the good things that made "Happy Days" enjoyable ended when Fonzie jumped a shark on water skis in his leather jacket and t-shirt.

> It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it "Jumping the Shark."  From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same.

> The term "jump the shark" was coined by Sean J. Connolly, in Ann Arbor, Michigan back in 1985. The aforementioned expression refers to the telltale sign of the demise of Happy Days, our favorite example, when Fonzie actually "jumped the shark." The rest is history.

So, I propose a "Jumps The Shark" thread, to talk about when good shows go bad ...

 

Ok, I'll start ...

For me, the clasic one would be "Mad About You" A great comedy about a professional couple. No cute kids, etc. etc. And then, suddenly they introduced a baby into the plot. It was all downhill from there.

The other one, from my childhood, was the introduction of Scrappy into "Scooby Doo".

 

> The other one, from my childhood, was the introduction of Scrappy into "Scooby Doo".

I vote that one too.


See also The Great Gazoo's appearance in The Flintstones.

The point in the A-Team when they stopped making interesting weapons out of scrap metal, and made an armoured car every week.

There was also a point in Ally McBeal when it went from a refreshing, quirky, cute show into the most ridiculous piece of rubbish ever commited to screen. After Billy died, I think.

 

> The point in the A-Team when they stopped making interesting weapons out of scrap metal ...

The could be said of MacGyver ... first few series he'd make cool stuff out of scrap, blow up bridges etc., and then, as I recall, some dumb American kids got blown up trying to make a bomb, and then he grew his mullet out and started making friends, not bombs. (sigh)

 

Home Improvement, when Tim Allen became the lead character.

 

stargate when daniel jackson became some ethereal being at one with the universe.

Wilma and fred having a baby despite never sleeping in the same bed.

 

Transformers when they brought optimus prime back from the dead

Enterprise when they introduced the borg into it

 

Graal - SG1 is still watchable - though I miss it most of the time unfortunately. But yea the whole "all being thing" with Daniel is a bit "easy" to get out of some situations I've noticed.

lol @ Flinstones.

//shakes head//

 

I've got a winner:

The X-Files after Mulder left and was replaced by Dogget. It never felt the same again. What's worse was that David Duchovny left to do more films and with the exception of Evolution, he didn't exactly accomplish anything that hit the big time or rated high on the memorable stakes.

Other shows that went down in flames/in the throes of losing appeal to me:

- Dark Angel (in season two, the stupid mutants just took over the plot too much and I got to see less of Jessica Alba's fine form - then they canned it due to bad ratings without a definitive ending. I hate that.)

- Will and Grace (should be called Jack and Karen as the two subcharacters easily overshadow the leads.)

- Malcolm in the Middle (sure, it used to be pretty funny, but them kids are just snotty teens now filled with angst and the littlest one, Dewy had creepy ears.)

- ER (never recovered from the loss of George Clooney and Julia Marguiles. Used to be pretty dramatic, but seems kind contrived and grasping for plots now.)

Whereas these show have continually impressed me:

- Scrubs (this should just keeps improving and is the only thing I refuse to miss.)

- 24 (good series, the end was a bit lame but it kept a better flow than last series.)

- CSI (continually inventive with plot devices and interesting ways for people to mee their demise.)

- Smallville (sure, it's bubblegum, made for TV Superman, but it's a fresh look at an old saga and I'm obliged to watcth anything comic related.)

 

I don't think "Malcolm ..." has jumped the shark just yet, and I find Malcolm's teen-angst far more realistic than the 'Beverly Hills 90210' style. I also like the development of Francis, from obnoxious teen to semi-responsible adult.

And, of course, The X-Files. First on my list when I was _thinking_ about this thread, and then I forgot it when I was actually typing it up. The central theme of The X-Files _was_ Mulder & Scully. They should have wrapped the series up around the time of the "Fight The Future" film. And how awful was "The Lone Gunman" spin-off?

Vanessa and I _love_ "Scrubs". (She's a doctor.) It just gets funnier and funnier ...

The Simpsons ... can't decide. It has definately passed its heyday (probably series 4 & 5 for me), but is still one of the most consistently funny things on TV. I do wonder just how many more capers they contrive though.

And, of course, the biggie ... did Star Wars jump the shark with the advent of the prequal trilogy and the arrival of Jar Jar?

 

RE: Scrubs. Yeah, it's continually inventive and the characters are great. Plus the fact that Elliot is hot in that dopey kind of way is alluring.

And you can't beat a show that has a stuffed dog as a semi-regular cast member.

"Bad Rodwy!!"

 

Have you guys been to www.jumptheshark.com? Great site ... I go there when I start getting worried about a show.

The Simpsons I feel has definitely jumped. They should have quit while they were at the top, but now it's gone really weird. There was always that balance between satire and sincerity - at the start, it was more sincere, and they gradually leaned more towards the satire - at some stage, it was just the right balance, but now it's too far in the other direction.

 

Yep, that happened after "Who Shot Mr Burns?" part 1 and 2.

There are still a lot of good episodes after that but I think that's about when the show reached its prime.

 

My vote would go to Roswell, from the episode where they killed off Alex Whitman. Up until then (with a decent writer) it was still salvagable.

 

The problem with Roswell lay in the ratings. About halfway through the third series, it was canned by the network showing it and they had to tie up what had been planned for at least another two seasons in about eight or so episodes.

The show ended on a rather lame note which is a pity but it was deliberately left open (with the kids escaping the town and running away)in the hopes that the show might be salvaged later on.

Skulking through a couple of reliable fan sites, I have read that there has been progress made in a new series being contemplated but it would only feature at least three of the main characters (Max, Liz and Michael with possible appearances by Isobel later on) as the majority of the other cast has made committments to other projects.

Defintely jumped the shark after the end of the second series though.

 

Simpsons is better than ever now.

I mean, when you're little you don't get half the jokes (now watching the re-runs you do). But this current new series is so - OUT THERE is great!

Did you catch the one where Homer left Marge the other week? MAW GAWD IT WAS HALARIOUS!

:^0

 

Growing Pains - When the had the new baby and when Leonardo DiCaprio entered the show.

Family Ties - When they had the baby, Brian Bonsal.

Cosby Show - When they brought in little Raven Simone who was Lisa Bonet's step daughter. Because Rudy was too old to get any laughs at this point.

Do you see a trend here? Bring in a little kid and maybe the ratings will go up!

 

shortland st, when they had that episode with ghosts, i think it was in its first year....

 

The real question is whether Shortland St was ever very good in the first place.....or is any good now......

 

I can't stand soap operas, so I'm bias against it.

Although, I guess some would argue that Star Wars is one big soap opera.

 

Shortland Street ...

I am happy to admit that it;s crap, however, I find it totally addicitve and have rarely missed an episode in the last few years. And ... err ... for anyone else who watches it, Li Mei is a friend of mine. (She's also the keyboard player and co-vocalist in a band called The Tokey Tones, of whom my friend Scott is the main songwriter.)

Someone mentioned the ghost subplot. I don't remember that, but have always thought it would be rgeat for Shortland Street to introduce a completely off the wall subplot, run with it for a few weeks, drop it and never mention it again. Like, have someone come into the hospital who has been abducted by aliens.

Back to Shark jumping ... it's funny how many shows screwed up when they introduced a "cute kid" into the formula. Remember that episode of The Simpsons where they introduced Poochy into "The Itchy and Scratchy Show"? (best line ever ... 'I'm a kung-fu hippy, from gangsta city, I'm a rappin' surfer, you da fool I pity') The same episode also featured Roy, a teenage boy who suddenly appeared as a member of The Simpson family.

I'd argue that The Cosby Show and the other examples mentioned were pretty much crap to begin with. However, one (IMHO) quality show which was ruined by a baby was "Mad About You". It went from classy to crap in one season.

 

So on the the money re:Mad About You - it used to be such a great show about the malarky of being in modern age late 20's/early 30's marriage.....

Then, Jamie got pregnant and it all went downhill. Paul Reiser never seemed to recover after that.....

 

the terminator franchise when t-3 came out

 

tisk tisk tisk.