# What TV lasted the longest after having jumped the shark? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132 "2015-10-01T14:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/61 "2015-10-02T04:10:38Z")
Well, If you consider ‘Star Trek’ going from TNG through DS9, Voyager and Enterprise as “A SHOW”, then that is 13 years of Voyager and Enterprise. (right? I really didn’t watch those much) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/62 "2015-10-02T04:23:40Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Now here is one that will surprise you: Gunsmoke! One of my favorite shows of all time. I won’t go so far as to say it jumped the shark, but it was appalling when they started ripping off plots from other shows and movies. Most “Gunsmoke” fans, from what I’ve heard, feel the show dropped off sharply when it went from a half hour to full hour in 1961. That was six years into the show, and many claim that the plots were far too padded and slow moving. Plus, the subsequent shift from a Marshal Dillon/Miss Kitty focus to emphasis on guest stars didn’t help, nor replacing Chester with Festus. Then again some swear the TV version was a neutered version of the radio version… ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/63 "2015-10-02T05:10:03Z")
_All in the Family_ when it became \*Archie Bunker’s Place. \* Could argue it jumped the shark in 1976 when Mike and Gloria moved out and they got Theresa Betancourt, a Puerto Rican border. Can you really see Archie Bunker of 1971 letting her live there? Four seasons if you count just _Archie Bunker’s Place_. Seven seasons if you count from 1976-1983. Not a long run, bit still worth a mention: _Bewitched_, after 1969, when Dick York left. Some of the later episodes were the same as earlier episodes, with the character’s names being changed. How often can we see Darren being changed into some animal/object? Three seasons, 1969-1972. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/64 "2015-10-02T06:02:10Z")
I understand that “Spongebob Squarepants” is still producing new episodes. I’ve seen some recent ones, and they are AWFUL, especially the ones where Spongebob is a peripheral character. The worst ones of all are the ones starring Pearl. “Lost” went on way too long as well, or at least it did for me. I completely lost all interest in it when I figured out who was going to get off the island alive. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/65 "2015-10-02T09:20:43Z")
I liked ER when it first hit the air in 1994, watched it every week. By 1996 I grew tired of it. It continued through 2009. It may have jumped the shark with the '95 episode “Hell and High Water” or maybe my tastes changed, but do I remember saying at one point “holy crap, that show is still on?” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/66 "2015-10-02T11:02:05Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > No contest. **Saturday Night Live**. > Once a relevant, edgy show that took chances, broke barriers and featured musical acts that weren’t well known or popular but talented and unique. SNL was an alternative to the safe, standard prime time variety show. Since the 80’s it’s been nothing more than a standard, safe variety show. In the early 1960s there was a popular show that broke the rules, presenting edgy comedy, “blackout” sketches, a fake news report satirizing the events of the week, and the music of Tom Lehrer. It was called **That Was the Week That Was**. In the later 1960s there was a popular show that broke the rules, presenting edgy humor, “blackout” sketches, a fake news show satirizing the week’s events, and cameo guest stars. It was called **Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In** In the mid 1970s there were two shows that took over the virtually vacant slot occupied by _The Saturday Tonight Show_, which ran reruns of Tonight Show episodes. One of these was a popular show that broke all the rules, presenting edgy humor, sketches, a fake news show satirizing events of the week, musical acts and guest stars. It was called **Saturday Night Live** , and it’s been running ever since. They could get rid of it, but I guarantee it’ll be replaced by a popular show that Breaks the Rules, features comedy sketches, comedy and musical guests, and (even in the age of The Daily Show and John Oliver) a hack news show satirizing events of the week. Any individual show may eventually “jump the shark”, but the basic mold of the show is sort of obvious and timeless, so it’ll be back. The other show that replaced The Saturday Tonight Show? It was **Weekend** , with Lloyd Dobbins and Linda Ellerbee. It was a REAL news show that covered offbeat topics and weird segments. I hated when they dumped it in favor of only SNL, and would’ve loved to have it back. (We later got Linda Ellerbee on the also-departed **Overnight** ) It was like _60 Minutes_ on acid, covering current controversial topics with an acerbic bite. WE got that back with Jon Stewart’s tenure on The Daily Show (I’ll have to see how the new guy is doing) and with John Oliver’s _Last week Tonight_. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/67 "2015-10-02T15:18:52Z")
“Two and a Half Men” last for 7 years after it stopped being funny. I personally believe that they kept it going after the Charlie Sheen debacle just because Chuck Lorne wanted to piss off Sheen. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/68 "2015-10-02T17:34:13Z")
Meh. Will Ferrell wouldn’t have lasted two episodes against Belushi, Aykroyd, Chase, and the other monsters of comedy. SNL started out as a radical experiment, and now it’s the institution. …which is why shows like this have to die periodically. It makes room for newer fresher stuff. In other news, I have had arguments as to whether _Monty Python’s Flying Circus j_umped the shark or not after John Cleese left in the last season. I think it suffered, but I’m not sure I’d say it was ruined; the remaining cast carried it off rather nicely. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/69 "2015-10-02T17:44:24Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Most “Gunsmoke” fans, from what I’ve heard, feel the show dropped off sharply when it went from a half hour to full hour in 1961. Naw. Everything was fine until about 1972 or so. They started stealing the plots of other western shows and movies. The most obvious was the rip off of “The Comancheros”. It really went down from there. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/70 "2015-10-02T18:00:46Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Naw. Everything was fine until about 1972 or so. They started stealing the plots of other western shows and movies. The most obvious was the rip off of “The Comancheros”. It really went down from there. Well, by all rights, by then, between the radio show and the years of previous _Gunsmoke_, I would imagine that plots were getting kind of hard to come by… hell, I’d think that by then, even the Evil Twin gambit would start to look good. And now that I think about it, I seem to remember that Festus had an evil twin, didn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/71 "2015-10-02T18:10:08Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > Meh. Will Ferrell wouldn’t have lasted two episodes against Belushi, Aykroyd, Chase, and the other monsters of comedy. SNL started out as a radical experiment, and now it’s the institution. I’m going to take a wild guess that you were in your formative years when SNL first hit the airwaves. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/72 "2015-10-02T18:14:49Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I’m going to take a wild guess that you were in your formative years when SNL first hit the airwaves. How’d you guess? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/73 "2015-10-04T19:20:56Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > And now that I think about it, I seem to remember that Festus had an evil twin, didn’t he? He had a twin brother who was only mentioned in one episode. Don’t know if he was evil. There was an episode where Festus is mistaken for an outlaw who looked just like him. Almost sent Festus to the gallows over it. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/74 "2015-10-04T20:40:20Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > He had a twin brother who was only mentioned in one episode. Don’t know if he was evil. > > There was an episode where Festus is mistaken for an outlaw who looked just like him. Almost sent Festus to the gallows over it. Maybe that’s the one I’m remembering. _Gunsmoke_ must have used every plot accessible to a Western and then some, at some point over its run… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/75 "2015-10-04T22:08:12Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > If you need to know one of defining “Jumped the Shark” moment for The Simpsons, some people have replaced “Jumping the Shark” with “Raped by a Panda” IIRC, that episode was particularly tedious for me. Merry Fishmas. Clever, but not funny. Also, not clever. I don’t get the hate for that episode. “My eye! I’m not supposed to get pudding in it!” should all by itself be redeeming. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/76 "2015-10-05T05:49:46Z")
I see Saturday Night Live as several series that simply share a name and general format, with some good ones and some terrible ones (1980-1981, most of the late 1990s). To me the best SNLs are the early 1975-1979 seasons and the 1988-1993 seasons, each of which stands as a distinct series in my memory. For a while in the early 1980s, SNL might as well have been named “The Eddie Murphy Show.” Likewise, for a few years in the 2000s, it was essentially a prequel of “30 Rock.” ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/77 "2015-10-05T06:04:16Z")
I had no idea Happy Days lingered through 1984. I was a fairly avid TV fan at the time, and I have no memory of Happy Days as a first-run show in the 1980s (I only remember 1970s reruns in syndication). “Three’s Company”- which to me is the most quintessentially 1970s TV show- lingered far longer into the 1980s. It’s last incarnation, “Three’s a Crowd” (1984-1985) finally sold out to the Reagan era by making Jack Tripper a married family man. Also, “The Facts of Life” (1979-1988) seemed to be a permanent fixture. I don’t know if it jumped the shark, as it was silly to begin with - aside from its “high school” characters entering middle age by the end of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/78 "2015-10-05T07:10:58Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > Also, “The Facts of Life” (1979-1988) seemed to be a permanent fixture. I don’t know if it jumped the shark, as it was silly to begin with - aside from its “high school” characters entering middle age by the end of the series. Yeah…I forgot about this one. Was there really any point after they graduated high school It should have been called _How Can We Keep Mrs. Garrett on the Show After We Graduate High School_. And then it continued on for two more seasons after she left! ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/79 "2015-10-05T08:52:02Z")
I don’t really understand the common belief that MASH declined after Alda took over the show because it was his show from the get go. Pierce was holding the ball and scepter early in the first season and voiced his anti-war sentiments during the first season. The show was always a different beast than the movie although the comedy declined after a few of the principals left. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132/80 "2015-10-05T09:28:40Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Well, > > If you consider ‘Star Trek’ going from TNG through DS9, Voyager and Enterprise as “A SHOW”, then that is 13 years of Voyager and Enterprise. (right? I really didn’t watch those much) Naw, even as a single show this seems forced. “Jump the shark” doesn’t merely mean declining in quality; it means desperate pandering to audiences to the point where the show will inevitably lose all integrity. For example, in the case of the simpsons I’ve seen the larry grimes episode mentioned as possibly the point the show jumped the shark, _even though it’s an excellent episode_. Because that was the point they started to roll out “jerk-ass” Homer, and, being where the show was still at its peak, could arguably be called the start of the decline. I don’t think star trek has really done that, beyond the occasional dumb episode (of which all of the treks have their share). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-lasted-the-longest-after-having-jumped-the-shark/733132.md?page=5)