*Bones *with a baby. I really, really can’t watch it any more. If they would let the fucking bambino fade into the background, and get back to the crime solving, that would be fine. But they don’t seem interested in that. Hasta la vista, Baby!
If that’s the case, then don’t you have to wait until people stop using the phrase “jumped the shark” before determining whether it has indeed jumped the shark?
Laughed out loud.
There’s a very interesting piece here by Fred Fox Jr who wrote the “jump the shark” episode. I provides some interesting background and he disputes that it was the right point to pick:
*Which brings us to the question: Was the “Hollywood 3” episode of “Happy Days” deserving of its fate?
No, it wasn’t. All successful shows eventually start to decline, but this was not “Happy Days’” time. Consider: It was the 91st episode and the fifth season. If this was really the beginning of a downward spiral, why did the show stay on the air for six more seasons and shoot an additional 164 episodes? Why did we rank among the Top 25 in five of those six seasons?*
Because there were only five channels back then?
Do you have a citation for the claim that “jump the shark” originally followed a rule that allowed it only to apply to shows that were already cancelled?
Even if you do, I think you’re being needlessly pedantic here. Obviously, if you can say a show jumped the shark at episode X after it is cancelled, then you can, before the show is cancelled, predict that it will be considered to have jumped the shark at episode X once you’ve seen episode X. And what better way to make that prediction than by saying, at episode X, that the series “has jumped the shark”?
I’d have to agree that the phrase has become meaningless - if it had meaning in the first place.
So if in season 3 you state that on episode 6 of season 2 “Favorite Show” jumped the shark, how would I go about disputing that?
If it runs for five more seasons and is at the top of the ratings do I win?
If it airs a single episode later on that we agree was good will you agree I’m right?
Or does it have to be a whole season?
Mostly people seem to use it to mean I didn’t like that story arc. Which I’d say is probably true of its use for Happy Days too.
Bones. Baby.
Mythbusters. They ran out of actual urban legends to test sometime around 2008, and since then they’ve just been testing ridiculous “myths” based on stunts from action movies that nobody ever believed were feasible in the real world anyway, Youtube videos which nobody ever believed weren’t digitally edited anyway, and I swear they’ve done at least fifty more episodes based on the “No, seriously, we’re totally gonna light a boat on fire with mirrors this time” concept.
Second season was markedly worse than the first.
I’d say Glee jumped around the Madonna episode.
In another related thing about the show, are the kids ever actually shown to take any lessons?
I agree. I’d probably watch a spin off series about the further adventures of Sam Axe, especially if Barry were his sidekick, but I think I’ve had it with Michael, Fiona and Maddy.
The last season, maybe the last two, of Desperate Housewives. Absolutely painful to sit through, it was like they brought in all new - BAD - writers and made it into a totally different show from what it started out as. I loved the actors and I watched because that’s what I did on Sunday nights, but it just wasn’t good. But that’s what happens with long running shows, they run out of steam (see the last seasons of Northern Exposure and Andromeda).
This. 90% of the posts in this thread are just about shows getting lamer. “Jumping the shark” is more specific. The classic example, besides the Happy Days one which started the term, is the killer clown episode of Little House on the Prairie.
I’m about THIS close to saying that Sons Of Anarchy has jumped the shark. The whole Clay story line just keeps repeating itself and it’s really getting tiresome.
I don’t think Scandal has jumped, but Shonda’s other shows have. I still watch Grey’s but that show hasn’t been truly good since Burke left. Ghost sex should’ve killed it. Now it’s my guiltiest pleasure…because no one should really watch that show anymore.
BN is a perfect example of how most shows are a victim of their own format, ultimately. Few are able to reinvent themselves successfully once the plots start to get retreaded and/or the core mythology plot has played itself out (as has happened with BN with the sniping death of Anson which simply revealed Yet…Another…Conspiracy! hidden behind all the other ones). I missed the season opener last week but will catch tonite’s new one, so I shall see…
Supernatural has gotten very close over the years.
Heck, they have an episode titled “Jump the Shark” that introduced a previously unseen brother. That was years ago, too.
However, I think the show gets the motorcycle reved up, but never fully jumps the shark, something I give them credit for. They find a way to keep the tension and drama there and I still think it is high quality.
Same for Fringe. If it hadn’t ended this year(uh, will end anyway), it would have jumped the shark, I think.
Fringe. The interaction between the two universes was fascinating. Now it’s just another bland “fight the evil overlords” show. The Observers aren’t even interesting villains, especially compared to Walternate and Fauxlivia or Bolivia or whatever.
Glee is another one.
Tuesday’s episode did precisely that. No baby. No relationship stuff. Just a great episode. Frankly, I was stunned that it was so good. They prolly hired those writers for just one episode. I have a Bones thread on this page somewhere.
I enjoyed the “jumped the shark” discussion far more than I’ve enjoyed either Grey’s or Big Bang Theory lately.