# When TV gets better **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663 "2005-07-08T21:30:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/1 "2005-07-08T21:30:50Z")
Is there a name for this? Kind of a reverse Jump the Shark. A marked point in which a TV show gets better. I admit, this doesn’t happen as often, but it does happen. Star Trek:TNG, DS9 and ENT all got better as they went along. Although I can’t really think of a specific episode to mark these. Less Than Perfect got better with the introductino of Will Sasso and Patrick Warbutron in the second season. MASH is probably the classic of this when they dropped Trapper and Blake and added the deeper characters of BJ and Potter. So… 1. Name a show where this happened and 1. Come up with a good name for the phenomenon ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/2 "2005-07-08T22:00:17Z")
I thought that **Mission: Impossible** got a lot better after they dumped Steven Hill and hired Peter Graves. I know there are others who feel differently about this, however. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/3 "2005-07-08T22:09:48Z")
One doper suggested “Felching the Cow,” based on an episode in the first season of the Paris Hilton-Nicole Ritchey show, the name of which escapes me at this moment. ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Machina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/4 "2005-07-08T22:26:24Z")
I think it improved **Friends** when the Ross character got rid of the gimmicky simian. How about “Dump the Monkey” ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/5 "2005-07-08T22:29:23Z")
Isn’t just like what happens when a show “hits its stride”? ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/6 "2005-07-08T22:34:11Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > Isn’t just like what happens when a show “hits its stride”? That would be as silly as saying a show that jumped the shark was “losing steam” ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/7 "2005-07-08T22:45:08Z")
Once **Doctor Who** switched to color. When Jay Sherman, **The Critic** met Alice. Gimme something hard to guess. Stump me on one, why doncha? [sub]Yes, I know this isn’t a challenge. I am just joking. [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Fredescu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Fredescu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredescu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/8 "2005-07-09T00:19:44Z")
I know Star Trek: Voyager isn’t very popular 'round these parts, but for mine the show really took off with the introduction of 7 of 9. Not just the perve factor 😛 I believe the humour in the Simpsons started to become more sophisticated at series five. I would say the ‘star’ of the show evolved from Bart to Homer during the first few series too. Perhaps someone can pinpoint which episode this began. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/9 "2005-07-09T00:40:21Z")
I thought that replacing Chevy Chase with Bill Murray was a real step up for “Saturday Night Live”. Of course, the show’s gone through lots of ups and downs since then. Some years were just god-awful. ---
**Author:** ![hanna\_the\_curious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@hanna\_the\_curious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hanna_the_curious)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/10 "2005-07-09T00:47:17Z")
In comics … sorry, graphic novels … this is called “finding one’s voice”, as in Neil Gaiman “found his voice” in “The Sound of Her Wings” Sandman issue 8. FWIW, my vote is Star Trek:TNG second season. After Tasha Yar departed, they found their voice. And Taxi found its voice after Bobby left & Jim Ignitowski [sp?] arrived … slowly. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tv-gets-better/311663/11 "2005-07-09T00:55:00Z")
> [@hanna the curious](#): > > In comics … sorry, graphic novels … this is called “finding one’s voice”, as in Neil Gaiman “found his voice” in “The Sound of Her Wings” Sandman issue 8. > > FWIW, my vote is Star Trek:TNG second season. After Tasha Yar departed, they found their voice. And Taxi found its voice after Bobby left & Jim Ignitowski [sp?] arrived … slowly. Slight nitipck, it was John that left when Jim showed up. Bobby stayed on for a few more years.