Yeah Family Matters was better when it was about… ya know… Family Matters.
When Steve started building fantasy machines it got really over the top stupid.
For me a show jumps the shark when the kids who started are grown up and then all of a sudden the parents have a baby. I get that this happens in real life, but it makes for boring entertainment.
One shows I felt never jumped the shark after the kids grew up was the Middle. They actually matured in a realistic way but still kept their core personalities and the show stayed great.
To be fair, they didn't have much of a choice. David Lascher (Ted) left the show in the 3rd season, when he got an offer from be a regular in a network TV show. The show was canceled after a year or so, which allowed Ted to come back to the Bar None.
Remember when someone changed the "Dude Ranch" rock display to "Nude Ranch" and a bunch of baked people started showing up??? It's the only ep I remember.
Arrested Development - the Netflix era (there’s some good gags in these; but I view it like a less successful spin-off show).
X-Files - Season after Fox Mulder left.
Northern Exposure - Season After Joel Fleischman left.
The Simpsons - Seasons after Season 12 (or so YMMV).
I loved the gag in Arrested Development where Winkler literally hops over a baby shark. Lol. That show was the best.
The Simpsons was and is my favorite childhood show. It's hard to pinpoint when it jumped, but you're probably pretty accurate in that assessment. For me, it was when the guest voices started to feel forced and dumb. Lisa Kudrow was earlier than season 12, but that moment/episode always stood out in my head.
The guys behind an old Simpsons fan site did an article for a modern site and said the problems with less rewrites are part of the equation, but they picked "Marge be not Proud" as the start of the fall. Production timelines meant there was a lot of good still there, but they pointed out "Marge be not Proud" has no satirical elements. Its funny and has good jokes, but its just a straight Christmas story.
The episode may have started as commentary on video games, but it went nowhere. Commercialism was barely touched on. A show that satirized American life and especially American television made an episode that could have been on any sitcom in the era. Once this episode slipped in, the edge was lost. Eventually, there was a season where the Simpsons get a horse for a second time and jockeys were noted to be short. Unlike Lisa's Pony which was a satire on wish fulfillment and helicopter parents, there is no commentary on American life which is a shame as the episode could have made points about class and gambling.
I think it's weird how I stopped watching The Simpsons sometime in the mid 90s, and yet every single Simpsons meme is a screenshot of an episode I recognize. It's telling that nobody references anything that has happened in the Simpsons for the last 25 years.
"**The Principal and the Pauper**" Season 9 Episode 2. It was jarring and very inconsistent with the characters involved. I started not following it shortly after as the guest stars and Flanderization of a few characters started getting noticeable.
I feel like The Nanny jumped the shark around the point that Fran and Mr.Sheffield got married. It went from kind of wacky hijinks to them being stranded on an island and shit.
CBS basically said "Have Fran and Max get married or we're canceling the show." So the crew had season 5 be where Fran and Max get married and end the show after season 6
Mulder leaving the show was a death knell. I also generally feel like they had a plan as far as the movie, and maybe in the next season after that (5?) but it was bad decline. Prob restart episode 1 tomorrow now to be sure lol.
Robert Patrick put in the work, though. Nothing would have saved it after Duchovny left, but he and what’s-her-name really softened the landing.
Edit: her name is Monica Reyes. She wasn’t in T2 so I couldn’t remember, but I didn’t want to be dismissive.
For sure, I should prob go back and rewatch some Daggett episodes. I mean more that in the first few years you were following a mythology that seems like it knew what it was doing, then it kinda scattered and lost the plot a bit.
Apparently Topher Grace was the only one of the cast to not get sucked into scientology to some degree and his departure was basically him separating himself from everyone who had.
I had read ages ago it was because he thought he was going to be a huge movie star but this makes so much more sense (and also it makes sense that Scientologists would push the him leaving to be a big star narrative)
I think both are probably true. Grace was a jerk to me and my friends in a bar one night, demanded we give up our table despite being there first. He did have the ego, but in hindsight I do give him credit for dodging the clique the rest of them fell into.
Ok now you've got my attention. That's kind of a cool (albeit unpleasant) celebrity encounter. Have you got any others to share, or was that the only one?
lol—nothing else like that, and it wasn’t bad. We’d gotten to the bar in the late afternoon and sat at a corner booth. He came in an hour later and walked toward us and rolled his eyes, then went and asked the bartender to move us. The bartender refused, so he left. As far as celerities being entitled, it was quite mild.
I think pretty much every TV series ever eventually jumps the shark when the series goes on past the original concept or source material. The final season (especially the final episode) of GOT was just egregious.
I too recently rewatched the Cosby show, and felt the same thing. Olivia was there to replace Rudy, and Cousin Pam... Well, what was she there for? But every moment where Wallace Shawn is on screen is fantastic. "You're forgetting. I'm driving the Vesuvius!"
For me, it was in Roseanne when they won the lottery. Suddenly, the one thing that made them relatable to so many people was gone. "How can we afford braces for DJ?" "I need to get a second job to help pay the bills." Things like that were the same things a lot of the viewers experienced. Then suddenly all their money woes were gone, they were meeting royalty, and the only way to keep the show moving was to have Dan and Roseanne end up fighting all the time. What a shame. Those early seasons were so fun.
I think the jump was probably when Lecy Goranson left for college—and they replaced her. It’s obviously a well known casting stunt at this point, but they should have just kept going with her only appearing occasionally when she could. Recasting a main cast member was idiotic.
John Rhys-Davies leaving to film Lord of the Rings and Sabrina Lloyd being written out was the first nail, the vibe change after the move to sci-fi was the second nail. The O'Connell brothers leaving the show was the final nail. The show quality takes a huge dive at that point.
Seasons 8 and 9 of friends are unwatchable. They redeemed themselves with season 10 tho. Entourage should've ended after season 6. Would've been the perfect series finale.
And no, Seinfeld never jumped the shark. Seasons 8 and 9 post Larry David had more zany storylines, but still featured excellent writing and great delivery from the cast.
I sometimes forget how many of those latter season episodes are really good. Ironically*, Seinfeld jumped the shark, in my mind, in the series finale.
*in the Alanis sense of the word.
X-Files. The obvious shark jumping was season 8 when Duchovny checked out and they had to introduce Doggett.
The shark jump Im not willing to admit is a shark jump was the move to LA from Vancouver even though as a teen I loved seasons 6 and most of 7
Also the fact that Scully was the sceptic all through the years, then Mulder is gone and *suddenly* she is the designated torch carrier for the 'FBI's least wanted'?? Dude, no!
The best episode of the 'Mulderless' seasons was Improbable, but that's simply thanks to Mr Burt.
Also, the second movie!? Why? Why would you have it focus on a garden-variety creep, when you have the entire X-Files mythology to use? Afterwards Carter was surprised that people wanted to have another alien movie.. well, duh!
Honestly, looking back, I prefer the monster of the week or light alien/conspiracy plot episodes most.
The full blown alien/colony plots are just feel like they didn't know how to get from A to B to C and beyond. They have their A and C but the connecting work, and what happens next were just sort of thrown together from scrabs like a little kid telling a story that gets more and more outlandish as they go along.
So help me, I actually liked the pairing of Doggett and Reyes, and probably would have enjoyed watching them keep the torch. That said, given that that was season 9 (? 10?), the show had certainly already run a long time and was probably overdue to check out.
I would agree that the change of location was a bummer but I'm not sure that the writing got any worse, I think it just lost the atmosphere. There are plenty of good S6 & 7 episodes. Even S8 but that's probably more debatable
That's because it's super easy to make things look spooky and creepy in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. You just can't get the same vibe out of southern California and a sound stage.
I think they all did when the cast changes happened and/or everyone had obviously grown up to the point where you had to change the show too much in terms of storylines, and that's something that went wrong with "The Cosby Show." Not so much Olivia, but when they brought in Pam and started focusing on her, her boyfriend, her friends...that was pretty much the signal that show was over.
I don't know what my favorite shows were back in the day, but with the reruns I watch and the old shows I love now? "Designing Women," "The Golden Girls," "A Different World," "The Cosby Show," "Growing Pains" probably at the front? DW, booting Delta Burke--that was over. GG never completely went off track, I'd say--I actually think the first season might have been the worst. "A Different World"--when Dwayne and Whitley finally get together, that show becomes more and more intolerable/boring until they finally get married and they focus on Jada Pinkett and that little crew. I cannot with the last season of ADW. I am now turning the channel when that season comes on TV. "Growing Pains"--when Mike graduates from high school/Chrissy comes along.
Golden Girls had a couple of notable spin off attempts like the much maligned Empty Nest back door ep, and Golden Palace (which I’m struggling to even watch. I think I got to episode four and stopped.)
But yeah, I think their shark remained unjumped.
I watched the show through a few years ago and this is absolutely it. Especially regarding Miles, after having spent the previous few seasons building up his relationship with Corky.
Battlestar Galactica (the syfy reboot) jumped the shark when the ship landed on some random planet, and the next scene had the caption “2 years later.”
"And they have a plan."
If only Ronald D. Moore actually had one. He, Robert Jordan, and George R. R. Martin are three creators who look like they know where they're going at first; eventually, though, it becomes painfully obvious they have no idea what their endgame even is.
I usually start the episodes over when Pam says, "What up *212*?!" because, while confident and inoffensive, I always hear it as so out of character that I can't get past it. And I love all of her growth arcs, even the ones that aren't typical or toward Jim. It just sounds like a needless Mindy Kaling line.
Same… I pretty much stopped watching after that. It wasnt a conscious decision. I just lost lost interest. Nevertheless the series up until that point remains one of my favorite shows. I still watch it.
Naw man, season 6 is where it fell apart. The season with Dawn and Glory was great.
Not that I want to stand up for Joss Whedon since it turns out he was pretty awful, but leaving Marti Noxon in charge of the show was a big mistake.
I kept watching intermittently. My love was gone though. Later on I like Jonathan, and I feel like it comes back together for Glory. I enjoyed her. I've just never taken the time to finish the series watching consecutively. My BFF stuck through it, and I saw a lot of it from hanging out with her. I love the musical episode too.
Adam tested my patience too. Maybe the reality is that the middle is a bad rough spot.
I love the entire series but Adam (Buffy with Riley) was where I get annoyed, even though season 4 has some great episodes. The first time i watched it all the way through as a teenager, I hated Dawn and the whole key thing. I’m currently rewatching with my own teenager and I find I have a lot more patience for Dawn…. But that could just be I’m used to all the teenage dramatics 🙃 I’ve never read the comics that continue the series so I’m planning on doing that with my kid when we’re done.
She is New Becky. She's the personification of Brenda leaving 90210. The worst. I never got past it. The way she sings in Once More with Feeling is criminal.
"Busha see, I'm 15..."
This is why _Firefly_ ending when it did was a GOOD thing. We see what happens when Whedon runs out of ideas, and let’s be honest—even with just fourteen episodes, some were weak. And we got a major motion picture out of the deal, where Whedon _had_ to tied up the threads (destruction of earth, Reaver home world, major character death, etc) and had the budget to do it right.
That was about the time they all broke down and everyone started talking all nervous and shy and cutesy like Willow saying everything made them feel "all squidgy" etc. Tara was already pushing it with her discount Neve Campbell acting and scared puppy faces.
I love what I love about that show but it took some nosedives.
I had coworkers who kept watching and I would hear them say "But Dawn is the key!" over and over trying to figure out the plot and guess what happens next. No thank you.
Happy Days - When the Fonz water skied and did a jump... [over a shark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF8KfM0T6Ts).
e: Yes. I am aware that this is the origin of the expression. 😑
Dude… that’s the origin of the idiom. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark#:~:text=The%20idiom%20%22jumping%20the%20shark,exaggeration%20of%2C%20its%20original%20purpose.
The last 2 seasons were crap.
"Let's give him a brother! Now let's give him a kid! Now let's give him a mother figure!"... like... they did every stupid "insert random family member we've never seen before" schtick.
Bosom Buddies only had two seasons. The first season was about trying to move up the corporate ladder while also trying not to get caught as men in the women's only apartment. Brilliant.
Second season, they started their own company, hired their old boss, hired all the women they lived with, didn't need to disguise themselves anymore cause everyone knew. They destroyed every single facet of the premise. And no more cross dressing. With zero conflicts left, every single episode was about how Tom Hanks and the blonde guy got into a furious argument and then by the end of the episode they make up because they realize they are best friends. Every single episode.
I watched Blacklist for months but then Liz Keen exited the show, and James Spader doesn't quite carry the show on his solitary back. You can't have just the salt without the pepper.
Golden Girls jumped the shark when they did the one season of Golden Palace after the original show ended. There was one episode I either didn't see or blocked out where >! Rose breaks up with Miles!< that I saw on YouTube a few years back
I think had Golden Palace not been a spinoff it probably would have come off a lot better, the humor was fun and I liked Betty White’s step into a more definitive lead. Just so hard to do anything in that universe to match up to GG’s, I have never rewatched Empty Nest I am curious how that holds up.
I used to love Empty Nest. Their jump the shark moment was when Cristy McNichol left the show. Then they experienced a renaissance when Dinah Manoff took on a bigger role then it really jumped the shark the last season when they added Marsha Warfield and Estelle Getty to the cast.
Just checked and it isn’t streaming anywhere, 7 seasons was a great run for a spinoff show that’s for sure! It was nice they had Cristy come back for the final episode I remember that being a big deal. Marsha Warfield will always be Roz from Night Court to me, wild to think she was in 50 episodes of Empty Nest, tv seasons used to be so different back then.
Oh wow 50 episodes?? So Marsha was on empty nest for 2 seasons! The show took an interesting turn when Harry moved his practice to a low income area of Miami. It must’ve stuck with me because I can remember It as a kid. But back then I think I liked things like the updated more upbeat theme song rather than the quality of the shows.
Frasier’s one of my favorite shows ever and I think it happened after season 7 when Niles and Daphne got married. It removed one of the best comedy points of the show (Niles’ secret infatuation). There’s still some good episodes in the later seasons but nothing compared to the first 6ish.
I’ve still never gotten around to watching the reboot though. I’ve been burned too many times on things like that.
When Hank Azaria stopped doing the “Apu” voice bc “it might be offensive”….. the Indian community was nearly unanimous in their support of that voice. I have a lot of Indian friends and they were actually pissed off that he stopped doing it.
I recently rewatched it, and I had to stop after around season 11 or 12…then realized I think i originally stopped watching around the same time/when I graduated hs in ‘02
If I remember correctly, Harry Scherer (the voice of principal Skinner) went to the writers of that episode to suggest that the premise of pulling the rug out from under the audience for a pretty beloved character wasn’t a good idea. That it was kinda nonsensically cruel for a cheap plot device and that it would be poorly received.
And, yeah, that choice is where a lot of folks say the shark got jumped.
I know it’s accepted that seasons 1-10 are golden era, so choosing something after season 10 almost feels like cheating. But when they did the Ke$ha Tick Tock couch gag, it hurt my soul.
My God, seasons 2-9 of that show were so good it’s unbelievable. No other show has ever stated that good for so long.
I do think season 9 started to show the slightest hint of cracks. Seasons 10-12 were still very good but you could tell the feel of the show was shifting. After Homer got raped by a panda in season 12 it was a different show.
I agree with you, 100%. I would def say that ep is when I got sad about the decline. I remember watching it as a youngin' and being like WHYYYY is this happening on THE SIMPSONS?
It's kind of nebulous for me, but when the celebrity guest voices became so obvious and forced. The Lisa Kudrow appearance sticks out in my mind as a moment I rolled my eyes. It's a big shark, but somewhere between seasons 10 and 12 I'd say.
It’s also my favorite show. I don’t think I’ve seen many episodes past season 14. Pretty sure that’s about when I stopped watching. Haven’t seen the movie either.
But I did recently watch the relatively recent episode where they go to Costa Rica, and that one was pretty ok.
I would say 12-14 was when I watched less and less myself. I have seen a handful of great later episodes recommended to me by r/Simpsons, including a Christmas one, but I didn't save the episode numbers. :( I remember watching a fantasy AU one with my dad, who is also a big fan, and when it was finished, we just kinda sat there like oh wow that was unspeakably bad lol.
Was it A Serious Flanders? If so that one has gotten a lot of good press but seems iffy to me.
I gave up my Disney+ subscription so I’m stuck with seasons 1-10 on dvds. Could be a lot worse haha
Anybody watch The 100?
It went from a gritty scifi version of Lord of The Flies to some weird time travel show with aliens who could demon possess / body steal, and then certain heroes had magical blood that gave them immortality.
It got weird, FAST.
When Roseanne Barr started getting more control over “Roseanne” around season 6-7. Episodes started popping up that had no real bearing on the continuing story of the season. Weird flights of fancy that featured Roseanne.
Any sitcom/family show where they win the lottery. That's not just shark-jumping, that's betraying the trust of their audience and misinforming them of the phenomenal unlikelihood of winning.
1/3 of adults plan on [winning the lottery to retire](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/lottery-win-is-retirement-plan-for-34-of-poll-respondents-1.2517046)^(2). They're more likely to [be killed in a plane crash](https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/personal-finance/17-things-more-likely-to-happen-to-you-than-winning-the-lottery-181005/)^(1). On the bright side, either outcome would solve their retirement woes. However, neither of them will likely happen to do so.
[1] Revised. Was "crushed by a meteorite" but that seemed sus. So I double checked with more reputable sources. While sources give estimates that [vary](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/160209-meteorite-death-india-probability-odds) [pretty](https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Spacebound/2016/0209/How-likely-are-you-to-get-hit-by-a-meteor) [wildly](https://www.lottoland.co.uk/magazine/meteor-strikes-what-are-the-odds-.html) from 1:250k to 1:800M, there are [no _confirmed_ modern cases of death by meteorite](https://www.astronomy.com/science/unlucky-unconfirmed-tales-of-people-killed-by-meteorites/). Plenty of recorded injuries though. Also, there are lots in the historical record however, depending on how much credibility we give the sources.
[2] e: citation added.
For many sitcoms it was when they brought in the cute kid. Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch (reruns), Andy on Family Ties, Olivia on The Cosby Show, Chrissy on Growing Pains and that kid who was briefly on Who's the Boss.
Haven't watched the last season(s) as an adult, but I'm pretty sure Dr. Joel Fleischman leaves Cicely, AK in "Northern Exposure" and is replaced for at least the last season. If you watched/enjoyed that show at all, you'll likely agree that swapping out ANY one of those characters woulda been a death knell.. no bueno.
When the second set of main characters starts dating. Happens in most shows that run too long. Eventually all the main characters date another main character at some point. Just lazy writing and uninteresting.
Friends was a huge culprit. The original Ross and Rachel story made perfect sense. It was well written and had proper build up so it had weight to it and really paid off.
By the time they almost randomly have Chandler and Monica hook up and start dating the world just shrank. Now the cast becomes so insular and the stories just get more whacky to compensate for the lack of new love interests to keep things fresh.
Finally you get a whole Joey loves Rachel thing. Rachel Dating Ross' girlfriends Dad etc. Joel lives with Elle McPherson who he's in love with. Joey loves Ross' other girlfriend. Rachel and Ross still live each other. Janice comes back like ten times etc.
Don't they know how big NYC is?
That 70s show was another culprit with all the Hyde and Jackie shit at the end.
Wasn't my favorite show or anything close, but surprised nobody is mentioning Lost. Specifically when the black smoke cloud made its first appearance. Totally checked out at that moment.
When Steve Carell left the Office. I'll admit I enjoyed James Spader's Robert California, but it felt like the show was coming to an end at that point.
Family Matters with the whole Stefan thing
"Where's Judy at? Where the fuck is Judy? Where's Judy, Carl? Carl! Where the fuck is Judy? Huh? Carl?!"
Yeah Family Matters was better when it was about… ya know… Family Matters. When Steve started building fantasy machines it got really over the top stupid.
That was the first one I thought of too. Stefan was kind of insufferable.
Or when Urkel built a time machine.
Yeah, that's around the time I stopped watching it
For me a show jumps the shark when the kids who started are grown up and then all of a sudden the parents have a baby. I get that this happens in real life, but it makes for boring entertainment.
Or they start adopting stray kids.
Leo DiCaprio was one of these strays I think.
I think that was growing pains. I like their they sold the house to Mark cooper, so they could use the same set o a different show
They even moved the house from Long Island to Oakland!
Yeah, didn’t they find him in the literal dumpster? Or did I make that up lol
He was 💯 a stray
That happened constantly on Little House on the Prairie.
Yeah like on Family Ties
And Fresh Prince. And The Brady Bunch. And I’m sure there are more that I don’t watch or remember. Classic tv trope
One shows I felt never jumped the shark after the kids grew up was the Middle. They actually matured in a realistic way but still kept their core personalities and the show stayed great.
Well they didn't add a kid which is probably why the show worked. Also Brick was so hilarious any kid that came after him wouldn't stand a chance.
I hated when they did this on Black-ish. They already had 4 kids. They couldn't possibly have been running out of kid-related storylines!
And it took them what, two episodes to figure out adding a kid didn't work so we pretty much never saw him.
When Jake and Kyle joined the Hey Dude cast.
To be fair, they didn't have much of a choice. David Lascher (Ted) left the show in the 3rd season, when he got an offer from be a regular in a network TV show. The show was canceled after a year or so, which allowed Ted to come back to the Bar None.
Are we talking about that cowboy show from the 1990’s?
[Better watch out for those man eating jackrabbits and that killer Cati.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AaiQVAG0gQ&)
I always thought David Lascher would have a bigger career. I don’t remember seeing him on anything else except this show and Blossom.
Funny, I was recently reminiscing about Hey Dude just the other day. I crushed on Christine Taylor so hard that she’s forever Melody in my mind
I always had a thing for Brad. Kelly Brown was Patient Zero for my crush template
Remember when someone changed the "Dude Ranch" rock display to "Nude Ranch" and a bunch of baked people started showing up??? It's the only ep I remember.
Singin' yippy-kai-aie-ay!
Yippy-kai-aie-what?
I liked Jake. But I have zero memories of Kyle. haha
Arrested Development - the Netflix era (there’s some good gags in these; but I view it like a less successful spin-off show). X-Files - Season after Fox Mulder left. Northern Exposure - Season After Joel Fleischman left. The Simpsons - Seasons after Season 12 (or so YMMV).
I loved the gag in Arrested Development where Winkler literally hops over a baby shark. Lol. That show was the best. The Simpsons was and is my favorite childhood show. It's hard to pinpoint when it jumped, but you're probably pretty accurate in that assessment. For me, it was when the guest voices started to feel forced and dumb. Lisa Kudrow was earlier than season 12, but that moment/episode always stood out in my head.
It seems to me if it's "hard to pinpoint," a show didn't really jump the shark. Shows can go down in quality without having a defining moment.
The guys behind an old Simpsons fan site did an article for a modern site and said the problems with less rewrites are part of the equation, but they picked "Marge be not Proud" as the start of the fall. Production timelines meant there was a lot of good still there, but they pointed out "Marge be not Proud" has no satirical elements. Its funny and has good jokes, but its just a straight Christmas story. The episode may have started as commentary on video games, but it went nowhere. Commercialism was barely touched on. A show that satirized American life and especially American television made an episode that could have been on any sitcom in the era. Once this episode slipped in, the edge was lost. Eventually, there was a season where the Simpsons get a horse for a second time and jockeys were noted to be short. Unlike Lisa's Pony which was a satire on wish fulfillment and helicopter parents, there is no commentary on American life which is a shame as the episode could have made points about class and gambling.
I think it's weird how I stopped watching The Simpsons sometime in the mid 90s, and yet every single Simpsons meme is a screenshot of an episode I recognize. It's telling that nobody references anything that has happened in the Simpsons for the last 25 years.
"**The Principal and the Pauper**" Season 9 Episode 2. It was jarring and very inconsistent with the characters involved. I started not following it shortly after as the guest stars and Flanderization of a few characters started getting noticeable.
Heros - anything after season 1
That show was killed by the writer's strike.
I was really hoping the comeback series would be good, but somehow the special effects were worse. NBC really jacked that up badly.
This one... ugh. Season one was intense!
I feel like The Nanny jumped the shark around the point that Fran and Mr.Sheffield got married. It went from kind of wacky hijinks to them being stranded on an island and shit.
CBS basically said "Have Fran and Max get married or we're canceling the show." So the crew had season 5 be where Fran and Max get married and end the show after season 6
The X-Files, when they went south.
Mulder leaving the show was a death knell. I also generally feel like they had a plan as far as the movie, and maybe in the next season after that (5?) but it was bad decline. Prob restart episode 1 tomorrow now to be sure lol.
Robert Patrick put in the work, though. Nothing would have saved it after Duchovny left, but he and what’s-her-name really softened the landing. Edit: her name is Monica Reyes. She wasn’t in T2 so I couldn’t remember, but I didn’t want to be dismissive.
For sure, I should prob go back and rewatch some Daggett episodes. I mean more that in the first few years you were following a mythology that seems like it knew what it was doing, then it kinda scattered and lost the plot a bit.
It was pretty self aware of it though, they had Jump the Shark ax an episode title
That 70s Show, when Eric moves away or whatever (I had stopped watching by that point). I think it counts as a 90s show, as it started in 98...
Apparently Topher Grace was the only one of the cast to not get sucked into scientology to some degree and his departure was basically him separating himself from everyone who had.
I had read ages ago it was because he thought he was going to be a huge movie star but this makes so much more sense (and also it makes sense that Scientologists would push the him leaving to be a big star narrative)
I think both are probably true. Grace was a jerk to me and my friends in a bar one night, demanded we give up our table despite being there first. He did have the ego, but in hindsight I do give him credit for dodging the clique the rest of them fell into.
Ok now you've got my attention. That's kind of a cool (albeit unpleasant) celebrity encounter. Have you got any others to share, or was that the only one?
lol—nothing else like that, and it wasn’t bad. We’d gotten to the bar in the late afternoon and sat at a corner booth. He came in an hour later and walked toward us and rolled his eyes, then went and asked the bartender to move us. The bartender refused, so he left. As far as celerities being entitled, it was quite mild.
When Felicity got her hair cut.
It’s amazing that she later _time traveled_ but the haircut was absolutely what did it in.
I watched Felicity for the first time a couple years ago on Hulu. I had no idea about the time travel plot and it was absolutely bonkers!
I think pretty much every TV series ever eventually jumps the shark when the series goes on past the original concept or source material. The final season (especially the final episode) of GOT was just egregious.
I too recently rewatched the Cosby show, and felt the same thing. Olivia was there to replace Rudy, and Cousin Pam... Well, what was she there for? But every moment where Wallace Shawn is on screen is fantastic. "You're forgetting. I'm driving the Vesuvius!" For me, it was in Roseanne when they won the lottery. Suddenly, the one thing that made them relatable to so many people was gone. "How can we afford braces for DJ?" "I need to get a second job to help pay the bills." Things like that were the same things a lot of the viewers experienced. Then suddenly all their money woes were gone, they were meeting royalty, and the only way to keep the show moving was to have Dan and Roseanne end up fighting all the time. What a shame. Those early seasons were so fun.
That was the last season. They were just like fuck it by that point I think.
I think the jump was probably when Lecy Goranson left for college—and they replaced her. It’s obviously a well known casting stunt at this point, but they should have just kept going with her only appearing occasionally when she could. Recasting a main cast member was idiotic.
Sliders: during season 3-4 when the original cast members started to leave, and they moved to sci-fi.
John Rhys-Davies leaving to film Lord of the Rings and Sabrina Lloyd being written out was the first nail, the vibe change after the move to sci-fi was the second nail. The O'Connell brothers leaving the show was the final nail. The show quality takes a huge dive at that point.
100%. When they killed off the professor, it was the beginning of the end. Then the two Quinns merging into one. Awful.
Seasons 8 and 9 of friends are unwatchable. They redeemed themselves with season 10 tho. Entourage should've ended after season 6. Would've been the perfect series finale. And no, Seinfeld never jumped the shark. Seasons 8 and 9 post Larry David had more zany storylines, but still featured excellent writing and great delivery from the cast.
I sometimes forget how many of those latter season episodes are really good. Ironically*, Seinfeld jumped the shark, in my mind, in the series finale. *in the Alanis sense of the word.
Don’t you think?
Yeah, I really do think.
It's like raaaaaaaaain on your wedding day
Entourage is the best show that never should’ve been made and was almost immediately irrelevant.
it was definitely of the time lol
X-Files. The obvious shark jumping was season 8 when Duchovny checked out and they had to introduce Doggett. The shark jump Im not willing to admit is a shark jump was the move to LA from Vancouver even though as a teen I loved seasons 6 and most of 7
Also the fact that Scully was the sceptic all through the years, then Mulder is gone and *suddenly* she is the designated torch carrier for the 'FBI's least wanted'?? Dude, no! The best episode of the 'Mulderless' seasons was Improbable, but that's simply thanks to Mr Burt. Also, the second movie!? Why? Why would you have it focus on a garden-variety creep, when you have the entire X-Files mythology to use? Afterwards Carter was surprised that people wanted to have another alien movie.. well, duh!
So much truth in this comment and the second movie was so bad I pretend I do not see the dvd on my shelf lol
Honestly, looking back, I prefer the monster of the week or light alien/conspiracy plot episodes most. The full blown alien/colony plots are just feel like they didn't know how to get from A to B to C and beyond. They have their A and C but the connecting work, and what happens next were just sort of thrown together from scrabs like a little kid telling a story that gets more and more outlandish as they go along.
So help me, I actually liked the pairing of Doggett and Reyes, and probably would have enjoyed watching them keep the torch. That said, given that that was season 9 (? 10?), the show had certainly already run a long time and was probably overdue to check out.
I too enjoyed Doggett & Reyes, but maybe they'd have been better served on a spin-off show
I think that's exactly right.
I would agree that the change of location was a bummer but I'm not sure that the writing got any worse, I think it just lost the atmosphere. There are plenty of good S6 & 7 episodes. Even S8 but that's probably more debatable
That's because it's super easy to make things look spooky and creepy in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. You just can't get the same vibe out of southern California and a sound stage.
I think they all did when the cast changes happened and/or everyone had obviously grown up to the point where you had to change the show too much in terms of storylines, and that's something that went wrong with "The Cosby Show." Not so much Olivia, but when they brought in Pam and started focusing on her, her boyfriend, her friends...that was pretty much the signal that show was over. I don't know what my favorite shows were back in the day, but with the reruns I watch and the old shows I love now? "Designing Women," "The Golden Girls," "A Different World," "The Cosby Show," "Growing Pains" probably at the front? DW, booting Delta Burke--that was over. GG never completely went off track, I'd say--I actually think the first season might have been the worst. "A Different World"--when Dwayne and Whitley finally get together, that show becomes more and more intolerable/boring until they finally get married and they focus on Jada Pinkett and that little crew. I cannot with the last season of ADW. I am now turning the channel when that season comes on TV. "Growing Pains"--when Mike graduates from high school/Chrissy comes along.
Golden Girls had a couple of notable spin off attempts like the much maligned Empty Nest back door ep, and Golden Palace (which I’m struggling to even watch. I think I got to episode four and stopped.) But yeah, I think their shark remained unjumped.
Moonlighting - David & Maddie actually hooking up
Murphy Brown jumped the shark when she got on the table and did the macarena
Murphy jumped for me when eldin and miles left
I watched the show through a few years ago and this is absolutely it. Especially regarding Miles, after having spent the previous few seasons building up his relationship with Corky.
Battlestar Galactica (the syfy reboot) jumped the shark when the ship landed on some random planet, and the next scene had the caption “2 years later.”
For me it was, Starbuck returns because of ‘All Along the Watchtower’.
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"And they have a plan." If only Ronald D. Moore actually had one. He, Robert Jordan, and George R. R. Martin are three creators who look like they know where they're going at first; eventually, though, it becomes painfully obvious they have no idea what their endgame even is.
Morgan Freeman voice over: “They did not, in fact, have a plan.”
In all fairness that show (like a lot of shows of the time) was hurt by writers strike
I feel like the Office had multiple Jump the Sharks moments, but for me it was the Jim / Pam wedding.
I usually start the episodes over when Pam says, "What up *212*?!" because, while confident and inoffensive, I always hear it as so out of character that I can't get past it. And I love all of her growth arcs, even the ones that aren't typical or toward Jim. It just sounds like a needless Mindy Kaling line.
It’s def one of the most cringy lines from the series
To further irritate you, Pratt Institute is located in Brooklyn which has an area code of “718” a
I stopped caring for the office after Jim and Pam found out they were having a baby. Sweet moment but then the show just faded for me.
Same… I pretty much stopped watching after that. It wasnt a conscious decision. I just lost lost interest. Nevertheless the series up until that point remains one of my favorite shows. I still watch it.
When Buffy's sister appeared out of nowhere and is "the key." I still don't get it, guys. I have tried to care and I don't.
Naw man, season 6 is where it fell apart. The season with Dawn and Glory was great. Not that I want to stand up for Joss Whedon since it turns out he was pretty awful, but leaving Marti Noxon in charge of the show was a big mistake.
But they get it together in Season 6! Spuffy romance! Evil Willow! The Trio!
I kept watching intermittently. My love was gone though. Later on I like Jonathan, and I feel like it comes back together for Glory. I enjoyed her. I've just never taken the time to finish the series watching consecutively. My BFF stuck through it, and I saw a lot of it from hanging out with her. I love the musical episode too. Adam tested my patience too. Maybe the reality is that the middle is a bad rough spot.
I love the entire series but Adam (Buffy with Riley) was where I get annoyed, even though season 4 has some great episodes. The first time i watched it all the way through as a teenager, I hated Dawn and the whole key thing. I’m currently rewatching with my own teenager and I find I have a lot more patience for Dawn…. But that could just be I’m used to all the teenage dramatics 🙃 I’ve never read the comics that continue the series so I’m planning on doing that with my kid when we’re done.
Dawn was the worst! I cried so hard when Buffy died.
Dawn was so annoying I almost stopped watching. That story arch made no sense.
She is New Becky. She's the personification of Brenda leaving 90210. The worst. I never got past it. The way she sings in Once More with Feeling is criminal. "Busha see, I'm 15..."
This is why _Firefly_ ending when it did was a GOOD thing. We see what happens when Whedon runs out of ideas, and let’s be honest—even with just fourteen episodes, some were weak. And we got a major motion picture out of the deal, where Whedon _had_ to tied up the threads (destruction of earth, Reaver home world, major character death, etc) and had the budget to do it right.
This point is why I never cry when a show ends too soon. I would rather have the rug pulled than watch it dissolve into medicore ridiculousness.
This comment slays if you read it in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s voice.
I literally stopped watching when this happened. That actress was horrible and the story line made zero sense.
That was about the time they all broke down and everyone started talking all nervous and shy and cutesy like Willow saying everything made them feel "all squidgy" etc. Tara was already pushing it with her discount Neve Campbell acting and scared puppy faces. I love what I love about that show but it took some nosedives. I had coworkers who kept watching and I would hear them say "But Dawn is the key!" over and over trying to figure out the plot and guess what happens next. No thank you.
Everybody always talked that way in Buffy, since the first season. TV Tropes even calls this habit "Buffy Speak."
I didn't like Tara's character either, but found her tolerable compared to Dawn.
90210 after Brenda left.
She was the main character!
Agree, the best episodes were in the Brenda seasons. I don't watch the reruns from the other seasons.
Happy Days - When the Fonz water skied and did a jump... [over a shark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF8KfM0T6Ts). e: Yes. I am aware that this is the origin of the expression. 😑
Then he did it again on Arrested Development.
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https://preview.redd.it/tc1slhdwcx9d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05173464b60d74050c1f9a89745e65765be13ad6
There was an episode of Happy Days where a guy literally jumped over a shark. And it was the best one!
r/unexpectedcommunity
Nah, I came here specifically for that comment.
Dude… that’s the origin of the idiom. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark#:~:text=The%20idiom%20%22jumping%20the%20shark,exaggeration%20of%2C%20its%20original%20purpose.
Gilmore Girls when Lorelei started dating Rory’s dad again.
Dexter, final season generally but the finale absolutely.
The last 2 seasons were crap. "Let's give him a brother! Now let's give him a kid! Now let's give him a mother figure!"... like... they did every stupid "insert random family member we've never seen before" schtick.
One that I haven't seen mentioned yet - when J.D. and Elliot left Scrubs.
When they introduced new Becky.
Bosom Buddies only had two seasons. The first season was about trying to move up the corporate ladder while also trying not to get caught as men in the women's only apartment. Brilliant. Second season, they started their own company, hired their old boss, hired all the women they lived with, didn't need to disguise themselves anymore cause everyone knew. They destroyed every single facet of the premise. And no more cross dressing. With zero conflicts left, every single episode was about how Tom Hanks and the blonde guy got into a furious argument and then by the end of the episode they make up because they realize they are best friends. Every single episode.
I watched Blacklist for months but then Liz Keen exited the show, and James Spader doesn't quite carry the show on his solitary back. You can't have just the salt without the pepper.
Did something happen with the actress? I stopped watching as to me it looked like she was broken and stopped putting any effort into acting
Don't know, guess she thought she could get a better career elsewhere.
I guess so. I didnt get up to the point of her leaving
Golden Girls jumped the shark when they did the one season of Golden Palace after the original show ended. There was one episode I either didn't see or blocked out where >! Rose breaks up with Miles!< that I saw on YouTube a few years back
I think had Golden Palace not been a spinoff it probably would have come off a lot better, the humor was fun and I liked Betty White’s step into a more definitive lead. Just so hard to do anything in that universe to match up to GG’s, I have never rewatched Empty Nest I am curious how that holds up.
Empty Nest, now there's a show I haven't seen in years. I remember it being not as good as Golden Girls, but I still enjoyed it for what it was.
I used to love Empty Nest. Their jump the shark moment was when Cristy McNichol left the show. Then they experienced a renaissance when Dinah Manoff took on a bigger role then it really jumped the shark the last season when they added Marsha Warfield and Estelle Getty to the cast.
Just checked and it isn’t streaming anywhere, 7 seasons was a great run for a spinoff show that’s for sure! It was nice they had Cristy come back for the final episode I remember that being a big deal. Marsha Warfield will always be Roz from Night Court to me, wild to think she was in 50 episodes of Empty Nest, tv seasons used to be so different back then.
Oh wow 50 episodes?? So Marsha was on empty nest for 2 seasons! The show took an interesting turn when Harry moved his practice to a low income area of Miami. It must’ve stuck with me because I can remember It as a kid. But back then I think I liked things like the updated more upbeat theme song rather than the quality of the shows.
The Cheeseman arc was the shark jump for me. Seasons 1-5 are quality, timeless television, then Terry Hughes left and it kind of came apart.
I like Golden Palace! Cheech and Don Cheadle were awesome additions.
Frasier when they brought it back in the 2020's.
Frasier’s one of my favorite shows ever and I think it happened after season 7 when Niles and Daphne got married. It removed one of the best comedy points of the show (Niles’ secret infatuation). There’s still some good episodes in the later seasons but nothing compared to the first 6ish. I’ve still never gotten around to watching the reboot though. I’ve been burned too many times on things like that.
i watched 10 minutes of the first episode of new Fraiser and turned it off. I just couldn't stand it and I love original fraiser
I could've wrote that. I loved the original and was excited for the new one. Watched about half the first episode and was done
I can't think of many shows that have benefited from resolving the romantic tension between characters, unless it was done in the last few episodes.
When Leo Dicaprio became a regular on "Growing Pains". I have never been a fan of his.
Fucking A-Team gets straight up WEIRD in the final two seasons. Couldn’t even watch past s05e02 because YECH
Seriously, like it became some guy centric version of Charlie's Angels. The formula wasn't broken so it just boggles the mind.
Not a show but when the Sci Fi channel became the Syfy channel. That’s a no for me dawg.
Charmed when Kaley Cuoco shows up.
Nip/ Tuck- when they moved to L.A. (specifically when Sean became a mime)
That was his son that became a mime. When I saw that I was like “WTF?”
My favorite show is the Simpsons. I don't know where to even start!
Armin Tanzarian or the death of Maude are probably the two that stick out in my mind as definitive “jumped the shark” moments.
For me it was that Florida episode in 2000. It took me about seven years to get back into the show.
When Hank Azaria stopped doing the “Apu” voice bc “it might be offensive”….. the Indian community was nearly unanimous in their support of that voice. I have a lot of Indian friends and they were actually pissed off that he stopped doing it.
Add Homer getting defiled by a panda to the list.
I recently rewatched it, and I had to stop after around season 11 or 12…then realized I think i originally stopped watching around the same time/when I graduated hs in ‘02
The Principal Skinner being an imposter episode is where it nosedives for me
If I remember correctly, Harry Scherer (the voice of principal Skinner) went to the writers of that episode to suggest that the premise of pulling the rug out from under the audience for a pretty beloved character wasn’t a good idea. That it was kinda nonsensically cruel for a cheap plot device and that it would be poorly received. And, yeah, that choice is where a lot of folks say the shark got jumped.
I know it’s accepted that seasons 1-10 are golden era, so choosing something after season 10 almost feels like cheating. But when they did the Ke$ha Tick Tock couch gag, it hurt my soul.
My God, seasons 2-9 of that show were so good it’s unbelievable. No other show has ever stated that good for so long. I do think season 9 started to show the slightest hint of cracks. Seasons 10-12 were still very good but you could tell the feel of the show was shifting. After Homer got raped by a panda in season 12 it was a different show.
I agree with you, 100%. I would def say that ep is when I got sad about the decline. I remember watching it as a youngin' and being like WHYYYY is this happening on THE SIMPSONS?
Simpson Safari (Season 12, Episode 17) is the scientifically proven moment where it jumped the shark.
It's kind of nebulous for me, but when the celebrity guest voices became so obvious and forced. The Lisa Kudrow appearance sticks out in my mind as a moment I rolled my eyes. It's a big shark, but somewhere between seasons 10 and 12 I'd say.
It’s also my favorite show. I don’t think I’ve seen many episodes past season 14. Pretty sure that’s about when I stopped watching. Haven’t seen the movie either. But I did recently watch the relatively recent episode where they go to Costa Rica, and that one was pretty ok.
I would say 12-14 was when I watched less and less myself. I have seen a handful of great later episodes recommended to me by r/Simpsons, including a Christmas one, but I didn't save the episode numbers. :( I remember watching a fantasy AU one with my dad, who is also a big fan, and when it was finished, we just kinda sat there like oh wow that was unspeakably bad lol.
Was it A Serious Flanders? If so that one has gotten a lot of good press but seems iffy to me. I gave up my Disney+ subscription so I’m stuck with seasons 1-10 on dvds. Could be a lot worse haha
Anyone here see “the 100”? Season one, fantastic, season two also great. Then whoa, wtf? I have no idea if there are further seasons
Anybody watch The 100? It went from a gritty scifi version of Lord of The Flies to some weird time travel show with aliens who could demon possess / body steal, and then certain heroes had magical blood that gave them immortality. It got weird, FAST.
Married with Children, when they introduced Seven. Wasn’t a fan after that
Happy Days jumped the shark when the main character went upstairs with his basketball and never returned. Show was never the same.
The Rugrats, Dill.
When Roseanne Barr started getting more control over “Roseanne” around season 6-7. Episodes started popping up that had no real bearing on the continuing story of the season. Weird flights of fancy that featured Roseanne.
When Jessie and Kelly mysteriously disappeared from "Saved by the Bell" to be replaced by Tori for like half a season.
Any sitcom/family show where they win the lottery. That's not just shark-jumping, that's betraying the trust of their audience and misinforming them of the phenomenal unlikelihood of winning. 1/3 of adults plan on [winning the lottery to retire](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/lottery-win-is-retirement-plan-for-34-of-poll-respondents-1.2517046)^(2). They're more likely to [be killed in a plane crash](https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/personal-finance/17-things-more-likely-to-happen-to-you-than-winning-the-lottery-181005/)^(1). On the bright side, either outcome would solve their retirement woes. However, neither of them will likely happen to do so. [1] Revised. Was "crushed by a meteorite" but that seemed sus. So I double checked with more reputable sources. While sources give estimates that [vary](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/160209-meteorite-death-india-probability-odds) [pretty](https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Spacebound/2016/0209/How-likely-are-you-to-get-hit-by-a-meteor) [wildly](https://www.lottoland.co.uk/magazine/meteor-strikes-what-are-the-odds-.html) from 1:250k to 1:800M, there are [no _confirmed_ modern cases of death by meteorite](https://www.astronomy.com/science/unlucky-unconfirmed-tales-of-people-killed-by-meteorites/). Plenty of recorded injuries though. Also, there are lots in the historical record however, depending on how much credibility we give the sources. [2] e: citation added.
Did any show besides Roseanne have this storyline?
33% of adults are not planning on winning the lottery to retire.
The season 4 episode of Miami Vice that had aliens.
Olivia's addition was fine. Cousin Pam definitely jumped the shark. Different World was the better show by then.
For many sitcoms it was when they brought in the cute kid. Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch (reruns), Andy on Family Ties, Olivia on The Cosby Show, Chrissy on Growing Pains and that kid who was briefly on Who's the Boss.
Haven't watched the last season(s) as an adult, but I'm pretty sure Dr. Joel Fleischman leaves Cicely, AK in "Northern Exposure" and is replaced for at least the last season. If you watched/enjoyed that show at all, you'll likely agree that swapping out ANY one of those characters woulda been a death knell.. no bueno.
Supernatural after season 5. Season three or four was also meh.
LA Law when an obnoxious character died falling down an elevator shaft.
When the second set of main characters starts dating. Happens in most shows that run too long. Eventually all the main characters date another main character at some point. Just lazy writing and uninteresting. Friends was a huge culprit. The original Ross and Rachel story made perfect sense. It was well written and had proper build up so it had weight to it and really paid off. By the time they almost randomly have Chandler and Monica hook up and start dating the world just shrank. Now the cast becomes so insular and the stories just get more whacky to compensate for the lack of new love interests to keep things fresh. Finally you get a whole Joey loves Rachel thing. Rachel Dating Ross' girlfriends Dad etc. Joel lives with Elle McPherson who he's in love with. Joey loves Ross' other girlfriend. Rachel and Ross still live each other. Janice comes back like ten times etc. Don't they know how big NYC is? That 70s show was another culprit with all the Hyde and Jackie shit at the end.
X files episode actually titled "jump the shark"
Wasn't my favorite show or anything close, but surprised nobody is mentioning Lost. Specifically when the black smoke cloud made its first appearance. Totally checked out at that moment.
When Steve Carell left the Office. I'll admit I enjoyed James Spader's Robert California, but it felt like the show was coming to an end at that point.
Stargate: SG1 when Richard Dean Anderson and Don S. Davis leave, and we are introduced to the Ori. I fucking hate the Ori ಠ_ಠ They're insufferable.
Happy Days the episode when Fonzie jumped the shark
Season 5 of The A-Team when they finally got caught and was working for the Government
Well, this one is early 2000s but the last season of Gilmore Girls was a hot mess and the updated show "A year with GG Girls," was also a hot mess.
Whenever the ghost of Cousin Oliver showed up, you knew it was time to wrap it up.