And then Fonzie Jumped the Shark.

Ax · 06-21-2010, 02:08 PM

Okay so, one of my favorite past times is to get on google, search for one thing, and just click on links until it leads me somewhere completely different.

Today lead me to Jumping the Shark.

So...

I thought about all my favorite shows and how they did this, even discussed it with Steve a bit, and it hit me, I can name several times when certain shows did it multiple times. (Scrubs for example has about a billion, and Happy Days is listed as an example of several on that site... so....

I have determined to figure out which show "Jumped the Shark" the most and if any of these gimmicks ever worked.

A short compilation from my memory:
Scrubs
Death of Shirley
J.D. and Elliott finally getting together for the last time
Turk and Carla have a baby.
Dr. Cox and Jordan have a second baby.
Lloyd and Kieth become regular cast members.
Guest stint by Courtney Cox
Killed off Ben
Killed off Jill Tracey
Janitor gets Married
Ted gets a girlfriend
Musical Episode

Happy Days
Fonzie Jumped the Shark
Ron Howard Leaves
Chachi is seen in nearly every episode.
Ted McGinley
Race Episode

Friends
Chandler Monica wedding
Ross Rachel breakup
Ross Rachel doing it again before The Chandler Monica marriage
Rachel getting preggers
Phoebe gets married

please add your own.

OiBoyz · 06-21-2010, 06:13 PM

Ted McGinley has made a career out of putting the nails in the coffin of nearly every show he's ever been on.

**Epaphras** · 06-21-2010, 07:40 PM

I usually peg it to "the musical episode" that most shows have. I can't stand them.

The Office jumped the shark somewhere in Season 3, when they got more plot-driven and less episodic as the earlier seasons had been. I can't think of a specific episode or moment from the show right now, but I'm sure there are a few.

Ax · 06-21-2010, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epaphras

I usually peg it to "the musical episode" that most shows have. I can't stand them.

The Office jumped the shark somewhere in Season 3, when they got more plot-driven and less episodic as the earlier seasons had been. I can't think of a specific episode or moment from the show right now, but I'm sure there are a few.

Possibly when Jim and Pam Kissed at the end of season 2 and Jim moved?

Jonodude · 06-21-2010, 08:58 PM

Now, a lot of people would probably argue for some point earlier in the show's history, but for Smallville, it definitely jumped the shark when Michael Rosenbaum (as Lex) left after season... seven? or whatever.

**SupaNova** · 06-21-2010, 09:00 PM

This thread reminds me of a great joke from Community where Danny Pudi's character is trying to explain to Donald Glover's character why becoming college roommates would only force their friendship to "jump the shark" down the line. An emotional Glover retorts 'Well there was an episode of Happy Days where Fonzie literally jumped over a shark, and it was the best one!!!"

As to the topic at hand, I feel like Seinfeld jumped a couple feet over the shark somewhere during season seven or eight- whenever it was that Larry David left the show. It continued to be funny, but they definitiely wandered a ways from the 'show about nothing' concept in the later seasons.

And I know this will likely be an unpopular opinion, but as much as I hate to suggest it, I really feel like 30 Rock jumped the shark big time this year.

Kyle92 · 06-21-2010, 10:28 PM

Just about every episode of Lost.

relient nelson · 06-22-2010, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epaphras

The Office jumped the shark somewhere in Season 3, when they got more plot-driven and less episodic as the earlier seasons had been. I can't think of a specific episode or moment from the show right now, but I'm sure there are a few.

I would say The Office stayed away from sharks until season five.

conceived in fire · 06-22-2010, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyle92

Just about every episode of Lost.

I'd say sometime in season three and quite often afterward, but yeah. Technically though, wouldn't it not be jumping the shark when they had everything planned out at the beginning?

Quote:

And I know this will likely be an unpopular opinion, but as much as I hate to suggest it, I really feel like 30 Rock jumped the shark big time this year.

Nah.

The ones I can think of are That 70's Show and The X-Files, both due to important main actors/characters leaving.

Joe F · 06-22-2010, 12:09 PM

Probably "before your time" for a lot of you, but one of the kings of Jumping the Shark come from the old show Dallas.

Patrick Duffy's character "Bobby Ewing" was killed off as a season ending cliffhanger. This story line continued for the entire following season. When they decided to return him and his character to the show in the next season, the season where he was dead was attributed to being just a bad dream by his wife..

YouTube - Dallas: Bobby dies

YouTube - Dallas: Pam explains her dream to Bobby

relient nelson · 06-22-2010, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe F

Probably "before your time" for a lot of you, but one of the kings of Jumping the Shark come from the old show Dallas.

Patrick Duffy's character "Bobby Ewing" was killed off as a season ending cliffhanger. This story line continued for the entire following season. When they decided to return him and his character to the show in the next season, the season where he was dead was attributed to being just a bad dream by his wife..

YouTube - Dallas: Bobby dies

YouTube - Dallas: Pam explains her dream to Bobby

Wow! That is a huuuuuge shark!

Jeffrey · 06-22-2010, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ax

I thought about all my favorite shows and how they did this, even discussed it with Steve a bit, and it hit me, I can name several times when certain shows did it multiple times. (Scrubs for example has about a billion, and Happy Days is listed as an example of several on that site... so....

No offense intended to anyone here, but I think you all and the various TV Tropers that haunt that Shark site have greatly missed the original meaning of "jump the shark."

I'm all for ideas evolving, but in expanding "jump the shark" to mean a myriad of moments, we lose what made the term clever and useful for examining a show.

The moment a TV show "jumps the shark" is when they do some major gimmick (new lead actor, "a very special episode," dramatic shift in tone in a new episode) that is clearly a major step outside of the show's general feel and/or smacks of rating appeals, and then from that point on the show has noticeably degrading quality.

Thus, Fonzie jumping the shark on an episode of Happy Days. There were seven more seasons, and cast members started dropping off, plotlines were regurgitated, etc.

Another example is the appearance of "Stefan Urquelle" in Family Matters. Steve had been featured more and more, to the general praise of the audience, but in one fifth season episode he used his established scientific ability to construct a machine that would give him "cool" genes. The blatant absurdity and bizarre soft science fiction of the episode, as well as its purpose of letting Jaleel White showcase his normal, suave self, soon led to a greater focus on Steve and more bizarre science fantasy experiments while minor cast members left, were replaced, or were featured less and less.

So a show really cannot have multiple shark-jumping moments unless its history is neatly divided into multiple eras. For instance, each incarnation of the Dr. Who franchise can have a "shark-jump" moment within its own series. Mystery Science Theater 3000 got a new host that the majority of fans liked just as much, leading folks to divide the show into the "Joel" (first host) and "Mike" (second host) eras. Likewise, one talks about The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn vs. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or divides the SNL eras into major cast groupings, with each era having either a slow decline with a shark moment or no such decline.

***Art*** · 06-22-2010, 07:06 PM

I totally agree with Jeffrey. In fact, I was thinking of posting something similar, until I saw his post.

Ax · 06-22-2010, 08:13 PM

The way I have always taken it to mean is when they do a change to pump life into a dying tv show, like a defibrillator and the show was never the same after. Many a T.V. show, like scrubs, can bee seen going down hill quick and even last a long time after they've jumped the shark. That show was changed so often, I guess to keep it fresh, that later seasons almost seem like a spinoff.

For example, in later episodes they REALLY harped on the J.D. being effeminate to the point it was nauseating. People like me ignored it at the time and watched it religiously but if you watch early seasons compared to late, they just got sillier and sillier. The first couple seasons were almost as much of a drama as a sitcom, but somewhere around when Turk and Carla got married, probably later season 3 it lost the drama and became just a silly comedy.

Jonodude · 06-22-2010, 09:14 PM

I'm pretty sure there are multiple "jump the shark" moments for certain programs because not everybody is going to agree on one definite moment.

Regarding Lost--No. Just no. But, even as a die-hard fan till the end (and beyond), its "jumping" moment could probably be pinned as the finale of season four. The show was definitely very different from that point onward.