Once the acting talent in the show start demanding to write and direct…it’s going down.
Good point.
Eventually producers panic and try to do things to extend the life, like adding characters, changing locations, etc…
I think these thing hasten the end rather than extend the life though.
Signs to look out for when a TV Show is heading for the dumpster:-
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Attempts in the plot to allow characters to ‘move on’, often at the insistance of the actor. Usually means ruining the balance of the programme that made it a success in the first place.
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Actor becomes a star and starts acting like one. Their personal life starts impacting on the character they’re performing and the difference between the two becomes harder to tell in the public mind.
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Guest stars. Actors start insisting their buddies get an appearance. See above reason.
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Actor gets paid more than entire cast & crew put together. Demand writing, directing and production credits. Team that made the show a success in the first place either get relegated or see the writing on the wall and leave.
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Show decides to save the world. Episodes start to feature one or other ‘message’ depending on fickle cause of the moment. This message usually completely at odds with concerns or actions in same show a month later.
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Retredding of old plot lines. Yes they’re together, no they’re not, yes they are, nope, apart again, hang on, together, no, awww who cares anymore?
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Introduction of topically-hip, one-note characters. Sure sign of running out of ideas and desperation of writers. Means show looks dated within a year.
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Existing characters have drastic personality overhaul in order to help plot along. Often occurs without any comment by the other characters. Another sign of desperation from writers.
Too add to your second last point. A minor character catches on and suddenly becomes the focus of the writing and the show. See the change in premise of Happy Days, Good times, and Will and Grace even the original Star Trek.
Fonzie, J.J., Jack and even Mr. Spock were all originally supposed to be minor supporting characters… you can actually watch as the public reaction changed the shows focus from Richie, Florida Evans, Will and Grace, and even Captain Kirk. Watch as suddenly you see more of the also staring actors until entire episodes focus on their antics. Those changes create friction with teh Stars and eventually the heavy exposure of these one note characters can become tiresome for the audience leading to Death of a series.
Another cause is us, the audience. A show will be running along doing okay. Suddenly for no particluar reason, it will be “discovered”. The people that are watching it will tell their friends of this great new show that’s different than all the other crap that’s on TV. The show will gain new viewers who will tell other people about it and the show becomes a hit. The wave of publicity takes it to the top.
But meanwhile, the backlash has begun. People who have been enjoying the show look around and realize everyone else is watching “their” show. They decide it’s sold out and emails are sent around complaining how the show has “jumped the shark”. The crowd goes off to find a new shiny object.
They showed this about Three’s Company in a film this week. It seemed one of the cast wanted a bit too much money.
otto3883 – Thanks so much for the link. That’s exactly what I was looking for in the way of evidence that recasting causes a show to decline. Although I would not count all of those cases as negative. JumptheShark lists all shows where someone listed a recast as the cause of the decline, whether or not that was the verdict of the majority. For instance, changes in who played various villains on Batman are included on the list, but the majority vote says that the show itself never jumped the shark. And the single person who claimed that Seinfeld jumped the shark when Morty was recast doesn’t stack up well against the 462 votes saying the show never jumped. Still, it’s nice to have a more comprehensive list of recasts to evaluate.
I believe that T.V. shows simply have a shelf-life. Sooner or later, they all go stale.
Agreed with spooje. It tends to happen with shows with limited settings. For instance, the British “Last of the Summer Wine” was a very pleasant character comedy about a three eccentric old Yorkshiremen pottering about their small town. The decline began because this realistic scenario was ultimately very limited, so the scripts soon started turning toward bizarre adventures: home-made hang-gliders, roller-skating down hills, a motorized bathtub on wheels, drilling for oil, etc.