There’s a fairly long thread currently about tv shows continuing after having jumped the shark. This is quite common, really (the claims, that is).
This shows an attitude that is breathtakingly egotistical–the idea that you, and you alone, are the arbiter on when a show is no longer good. In the current thread, there’s a lot of hate for The Simpsons. And that’s not the only show, either. I’ve seen an amazing amount of hate and disdain for other good shows.
Well, I’ve got news for you–your opinion is BY FAR the minority one. Otherwise, the show would no longer be on the air. It’s pretty obvious, really, when you stop and think about it. No tv network is in the business for kicks, or for charity purposes–they’re in it to make money. As long as any given show draws enough viewers to make money, there’s a good chance it will continue. And it certainly WON’T continue once it becomes bad enough to actually drive away a majority number of viewers.
So for all of you smug, egotistical people who think that you are somehow a judge of show quality–wake up, get down from your self-appointed pedestal, and show some humility and some common sense.
I don’t think most people understand what ‘jumping the shark’ means. I already posted in one thread about this. It’s not simply the point of decline of a TV show. It requires a monumental and absurd popularity that allows for a ridiculous ‘jumping the shark’ event that cannot be topped. If you think about you’ll realize that in most cases the show wasn’t very good at all by that point anyway.
There’s that old saying about Howard Stern: the ones who like him listen for a long time; those who don’t like him listen for a longer time, so they’ll have more to complain about.
Wow, it’s almost as though enjoyment is somehow subjective and people may have differing opinions, each equally valid in their own view. Thanks for changing my entire way of seeing the world and understanding the arts.
Am I still allowed to dislike [popular burger chain], [popular music act] or [popular film]? Let me know quick, thanks.
You do understand that your opinions about a show not having jumped the shark shows a lack of humility and common sense? Why do you get to decide? Don’t be so egotistical and smug.
The old Jump the Shark website (which got bought by TV Guide and destroyed) had some categories, such as new actor, same role, characters getting married, etc.
Mmmyeah. I disagreed with several people yesterday, but that doesn’t mean I wanna call 'em out. They have their opinions, is all, with which I am free to agree or otherwise. On so subjective a thing as TELEVISION, for potato’s sake, I am NOT gonna set myself up as the One And All Arbiter Of What Is Good. And if I did, there’d be plenty screaming at the gates before long, no matter WHAT I said.
This is particularly true when discussing The Simpsons. While the quality of the recent seasons is not that of its heyday, the series still provides a mildly amusing episodes that follow the same basic formula it used in the past. There have been no “cousin Oliver,” “new Simpson baby,” or “alien from the planet Zetox” characters introduced. Neither are there any new “wacky neighbor,” “wacky boss,” or “wacky in-law” roles. The Simpsons have not moved to the West Coast, the Big City, or Iowa City. Homer does not now moonlight as a private detective, does not run a farm, nor has he has won the lottery. They have loosened and tightened the characters at times over the years, but the premise remains the same.
Jumping the shark is that moment of such incongruity that you finally realize that the series has been slowly going off the tracks for some time. The Simpsons may be going in circles, but it has remained on those tracks.
My biggest gripe about the “jumping the shark” phrase is so many people using it for what simply turns out to be a bad episode. One can’t come in the day after an episode has aired and say “this show just jumped the shark”.
Well, yeah. One bad episode does not a shark make.
But I tell you, on the day that a little green alien voiced by Harvey Korman or somebody shows up and offers to grant Homer wishes, there will certainly be a fish launching.
Unless Homer beats him to death. Preferably with the jumping shark. I could appreciate that.
A TV show doesn’t need to attract anywhere near a majority of TV viewers in order to be profitable…which is good news for the television industry, as no show does attract a majority of TV viewers. AFAIK the most popular shows today don’t attract even a quarter of all viewers. So the opinion that a particular show is not worth watching is BY FAR the majority one, no matter what show you’re talking about.
People will still watch shows of bad quality. I remember some CBS program head who said he would like to take Yes, Dear off the air, but it was too popular. But that’s not the point.
A show jumps the shark at the point where it stops being as good as it once was. That’s a pretty common occurrence for most long-running shows: it’s hard to be consistently good over long periods of time.
“Jumping the shark” is a way to pinpoint when the show went from excellent to just going through the motions. Sometimes, it’s easy to see; other times it becomes obvious in hindsight. But it boils down to “up until this point, the show was great; from then on, it wasn’t.”
I always felt kind of bad for Cousin Oliver. Or at least the actor who played him. He’s literally become a casting trope. Talk about something for which I would not want to be famous or remembered…