The 500th episode special tonight reminded of what the show once was, looking back at episodes about Chris Farley, Michael J. Fox and Mackenzie Phillips, people who’ve had real hard luck stories. But it also reminded of why I stopped watching when they included the fucking Kardashians in their Top 10 THS moments.
Back in the day they had some pretty interesting shows on subjects like John Belushi, Marilyn Monroe and the Manson murders. Hell, I can say, without a twinge of guilt, that their episode on John Holmes was two of the most interesting hours outside “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” that I’ve seen on television over the past 10 years.
But shows on, say, the Bad Girls of Reality TV - well that just makes me want to pick up the remote.
Truth be told they started jumping the shark years ago with episodes on Jesse Ventura and Joe Piscopo. But at least those people had had years long careers and been fairly successful in their fields. And to be fair, those shows, considering their subject matter, were still fairly interesting.
But they full on hit the pier with the two-hour Jenna Jameson episode in 2004. That’s the one that had her showing off her tattoos, followed on her on a shopping trip and concluded with a discussion of whether or not she thought she could get into heaven. The psychedelic sequence of her at a nightclub made me want to throw up.
Then they started doing shows on people who weren’t even in the entertainment business at all like Laci Peterson and Mary Kay Letourneau.
This all makes me pine for the days of THS: Saved by the Bell.
Anyway does anyone here still watch the show? When do you think it jumped the shark?