Still being bitter over what I felt was “Lost”'s horrible end, I’m crossing my fingers that “The Closer” and “Breaking Bad” can avoid shark jumping. Help me here- which long running tv shows, or whatever genre, did not screw their history and/or viewers before the end?
If I’m remembering correctly, *Magnum P.I. *was one of the few shows voted “never jumped” on the old JumpedTheShark site.
I felt that Stargate SG-1 showed a fairly consistent development throughout its ten-year run, spawning several movies & spinoff series along the way, without any particular feeling of betrayal or insensitivity I normally associate with shark-jumping efforts (except for the publishing company’s end-of-credits animation showing a shark on a bicycle which jumps onto an anvil, but I don’t think that counts). I haven’t watched all of Atlantis or any of Universe, so I don’t know how well they stack up in the long run, but if you’re looking for a full-run TV series on DVD that remains consistently entertaining through to the end, I nominate SG-1.
Seinfeld and Cheers didn’t, really, although the final episode of the former was pretty bad.
Cheers was the first that popped into my mind as well. It had some lulls during the series but never a terminal decline.
60 Minutes?
OK, not the right kind of show. How about The Dick Van Dyke Show? I never felt that had “jumped the shark”. I don’t know what the JTS site ever said about it.
Did Lassie ever Jump the Shark? I never watched it, but it ran forever. Same with Bonanza.
I don’t think Friends did, although they came close in the last season when they toyed with pairing up Joey and Rachel. You know the writers are running out of ideas when they start thinking “Okay, now who hasn’t slept with whom yet?”
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Friends* jumped so many times they pulled a groin muscle!
Cheers was the first that popped into my mind as well. It had some lulls during the series but never a terminal decline. I was a little young to appreciate MASH but I think it lasted until the end as well.
Fraiser ended it’s run without going too far off of the rails, although the actual “final episode” (actually 2 separate 1/2 hour “To Be Continued” episodes) was pretty lame.
The King Of Queens (a show I never watched a single second of until it started running in syndication, a few years after it wrapped up on CBS) stayed about the same in quality (mostly mediocre with some really funny episodes occasionally sprinkled in) from what I can tell, although I probably haven’t seen each & every single episode.
I liked MASH, even to the end, but Alan Alda was both the skier jumping the shark *and *the guy driving the speed boat.
Star Trek: TNG progressively unjumped the shark, I believe.
Deadwood and The Wire would also have my vote.
I think most fans would say that, while there may have been some ups and downs, neither Buffy nor Angel had a significant downturn in quality.
Also, though ‘long-running’ is perhaps to weak a description, few people are arguing a drop off in Doctor Who, either as a whole or just considering the modern series.
You think most Buffy fans would say that seasons six and seven weren’t terrible? I like them personally, but I know I am in the minority.
Season five of Angel was its best season, though. I’ll give you that.
Dexter?
Frasier?! Once Niles and Daphne got together, that show was over. I quit watching almost immediately, but I’ve seen some of the later episodes in reruns, and they are painful to watch.
I remember that the original Jump the Shark website also cited The Odd Couple as a show that avoided the shark.
Happy Days never jumped the shark.
Mr Roger’s Neighborhood? 
Sesame Street? Though that period where Oscar the Grouch was dealing meth was pushing it.