Discusses various TV series and when they became uninteresting or charicatures of themselves. (I think the name comes from Happy Days when Fonzie jumped over the shark tank on his motorcycle…there was no going back after that event.) Thought this might be a good topic for discussion in the Cafe’.
What recent series have “jumped the shark” lately?
My vote goes to Friends…I used to watch it religiously every week, loved the situations and characters, but I think 2 events of late have caused it to Jump:
Chandler and Monica getting married
Rachel pregnant by Ross (yuck!!!)
To me, it’s become too incestuous. They are supposed to be friends for pete’s sake, I don’t want to see them all sleeping together! What’s next, Joey and Phoebe get it on? I’m done with them, it’s time for them to hang it up.
I think Friends jumped the shark two seasons ago, with the engagement. They may even have done it with Phoebe’s pregnancy, but the line “My sister’s gonna have my baby!” saved them.
ER jumped the shark a long time ago. It was either widescreen, Clooney leaving, the attack on Dr. Green, or Carter’s addiction. Sorry to be so vague!
Will & Grace jumped it for me with Jack having a child. I don’t watch anymore, so that plot may have disintegrated.
When I first saw the title, Led Zeppelin came to mind…oh well.
I wonder whether the writers of Friends will forget which 2 are siblings, write in the last possible combination for an affair, and we end up with a 3 eyed Gellar baby by mistake. Seinfeld jumped the shark sometime in the penultimate season, I can’t remember the episode, but I just remember realising that suddenly, it didn’t seem so funny any more.
The final season went beyond just jumping the shark…they were popping wheelies around the sucker…
For me, it was when nobody told Homer that Grandpa’s silver dollars were worth much more than a dollar. Surely Lisa, or possibly even Marge, could have told him that!
Others have stated elsewhere on the SDMB that the jump occoured when it essentially became “The Homer Simpson Show”.
Dude, it might be worth using the search engine before you post. There have been a few threads before about this page.
Anyway, I also think the Simpsons jumped the shark.
Many of the writers left, leaving only Al Jean and Jon Swartzwelder as the only big original writers. Swartzwelder writes many of the eps. and he is losing his touch.
I’m often surprised that big Simpsons’ fans don’t know who writes the shows. When I ask people about the great “writer exodus” that happened maybe three seasons ago, most fans say, “Huh?”
The show changed drasticaly around the end of 1997, early 1998. Many of the writers and voice actors wanted more money and Fox wasn’t going to give any more. Most writers left, but the voice actors got more money.
After this, the show began to suck. Homer got too dumb(yes, it can happen). Bart began to dumb down as well, like Homer. Minor charachters begin to play too large of roles.
The Simpson spinoff episode is the first clear sign that the show was going down. It’s as if they had gotten too smug about how smart they were. Their mythical world got too detailed as well. This kinda happened to Kevin Smith with Jay and Silent Bob as well.
They are too smug about having a complicated world and make too many references to previous eps.
Anyway, I still watch once in awhile and I laugh once or twice an ep. It’s really slid, though.
Jef Olson Said:
“For me, it was when nobody told Homer that Grandpa’s silver dollars were worth much more than a dollar. Surely Lisa, or possibly even Marge, could have told him that!”
umm…that was a joke. perhaps the writers just started writing over the heads of some of the viewers.
