So, everyone is likely familiar with the term “jumping the shark,” the point at which a story or series is commonly agreed-upon to go from good to bad. Is there a term for the opposite point in a series – the point at which one goes from merely watching it to being actively “into” it? I was trying to think of a good term for this earlier this morning, but “beheads the Ned” is the best I can come up with at the moment.
Can you think of any series that famously “get good” at a specific, commonly agreed-upon point?
As ab extension, Wes…to me…is a much more seriously taken character when he gets his uniform. Pity he left when he did. The brash young ensign contrasted with Picard in his final regular ep is nice.
The Big Bang Theory really came alive in the second season. As TV Guide’s Matt Roush put it “There’s comedic gold on The Big Bang Theory, and that gold is Jim Parson’s portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Cooper.”
Now, sadly I’ve never watched Happy Days, but I think it would be nice and symmetrical, particularly in honor of Garry Marshall’s passing, to find the moment when Happy Days hit its stride and use that.
Just using this as an example, not disagreeing with you on any solid basis:
That may be a case where it took the public time to find out about the show, as with some of the other shows mentioned. I can’t say that for sure, I don’t recall that much about the first two seasons. I think BBT really took off when Amy joined the crew in order to round the relationship quest that the other main characters were on.
Anyway, that’s just my observation of BBT, but I think there’s something more to whatever the opposite of ‘jumping the shark’ is than increased ratings in a show as the word spreads. There can be a point where shows get much better in some way, writing, new characters, etc.
The only expressions I can think of would apply to any situation in which you finally get something figured out. “Finding its groove” or “Hitting its stride” would be the two expressions that seem most appropriate here. “Getting its second wind” might also be appropriate for some shows that have a few weak seasons in the middle and end strong.
I saw an article in the past day or two that discussed something similar to this. I can’t find the exact article, but I found another article that looks like it might have been a precursor article: http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/23/9381509/netflix-hooked-tv-episode-analysis. Apparently, Netflix knows which episodes attracts 70% of a show’s viewers.
I don’t know if everyone considers shark jumping to be more than simply going to far, there’s an element of hubris based on success there. The complete opposite would be a show that improved knowing that they needed do so. More like ‘stepping up’ than just ‘hitting it’s stride’.
I’ve heard “growing the beard” myself before. The scripts in the first season of ST:TNG were mostly considered pretty awful. They improved significantly in the second season. Coincidentally, Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander Riker, had grown a beard that season, where he had been clean shaven in the first season. It’s a kind of shorthand, just like Fonzie’s shark jump on Happy Days is shorthand for a series going over the top to bring in higher ratings.
I was going to say the banal “hitting its stride”. The example that first came to mind was Parks & Recreation when the main character went from somewhat ditzy to somewhat hypercompetent.
Reading about Happy Days on wikipedia, turns out that the Shark Jumping episode was made in reference to a two parter episode of season three, Fearles Fonzarelli. In that episode, the Fonz tried to jump over fourteen garbage cans with his bike.
The interesting part is that he doesn’t completely succeed. He crashes on a chicken stand and breaks his leg. Interesting piece of realism for a sitcom.
So the perfect equivalent would be “Jumping the trash cans” or maybe “Crashing the coop”.
“Hitting its’ stride” to me means a good series that got better. The beard thing would apply to a show that had a rocky start and then found it’s legs (whoops, there’s another one).
