Jumping the Shark An article by Sue Incorporating bits from www.jumptheshark.com Recently a friend loaned me a colour supplement so I could read an article about dogs. But while browsing the magazine, I noticed a headline 'Jumping the Shark: When a TV show goes bad' and, intrigued, I read on. The term relates to a web site and gets its name from a term coined by the site founder's friend. It goes back to the fifth season of 'Happy Days', the TV series starring Henry Winkler as The Fonz. In this episode, as part of the storyline, Fonzie was on water skies and jumped over a shark - literally. It was thought that it was from this point that the show began to lose its way and from that day the guy used the term 'jumping the shark' to refer to the beginning of the end of a show. The site was set up to pay homage to the term and invite comments and contributions as readers give their opinion on the time when particular shows jumped the shark - or not. Here's the FAQ from the official web site. Q. Did "jump the shark" originate from this web site, or did you create the site to capitalize on the phrase? A. This site went up December 24, 1997 and gave birth to the phrase "jump the shark." As the site continues to grow in popularity, the term has become more commonplace. The site is the chicken, the egg, and now a Catch-22. Q. What is jumping the shark? A. It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it "Jumping the Shark." From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same. The term "jump the shark" was coined by my college roommate for 4 years, Sean J. Connolly, in Ann Arbor, Michigan back in 1985. This web site, book, film, and all other material surrounding shark jumping, are hereby dedicated to "the Colonel." The aforementioned expression refers to the telltale sign of the demise of Happy Days, our favorite example, when Fonzie actually "jumped the shark." The rest is history. Jumping the shark applies not only to TV, but also music, film, even everyday life. "Did you see her boyfriend? She definitely jumped the shark." You get the idea. We have begun by chronicling the history of television. We are incorporating shows from the new season slowly but surely. Some shows are not listed...yet! We invite you to comment when any show jumped the shark. Q. Why are only certain shows listed? A. New shows are posted when visitors vote on programs we haven't listed. The site started with about 100 shows and has grown exponentially. We don't add shows on our own, we simply add the shows that you suggest! If you'd like to add a new show, vote it on! Q. Where do you get the show specifics from? A. If the program aired before 1996, chances are that we got the info from The Complete Dictionary to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. We surf for any other current show info, with the Internet Movie Database as our starting point. Q. Where do you come up with these categories? A. The original eight categories (Same Character Different Actor, Death, Birth, Live, Puberty, Singing, and of course, Ted McGinley) were just that...original, and they debuted with the site. Other categories are a combination of visitor suggestions, brainstorming, and a result of your many votes! Q. Does Ted McGinley know he's the patron saint? A. Yes, he does...and we hope Ted has a sense of humor about it. We loved him in Nerds and he's a fine actor. Remember, it's business, never personal. Q. Whose opinions are these anyway? A. The opinions and comments listed under each program have been provided by our staff and our visitors. We simply post 'em as we get 'em. If you want an "official" opinion, e-mail Jon (jon@jumptheshark.com) directly and he'll let you know what he thinks. Q. Is this site affiliated with any television network or program? A. Absolutely not, but we're listening. We seek official feedback from any show creators, actors, or PAs regarding any of the programs listed on the site. Q. Can I put a link up to your site? A. Sure. Use [this] banner...and direct the link to http://www.jumptheshark.com/ Thanks! Q. Where's the book? A. Now available at a bookstore (online or otherwise) near you. Q. And now there's a TV show? A. We have partnered with King World to develop a show based on the site. Expect a birth, death, breaking out into song and an evil twin all in the first episode. Ted McGinley will not host. Q. What happened to the Music site? A. We've parted ways with RollingStone.com and are now retooling the site. We will repost it as soon as we can. Q. When will Jump The Shark jump the shark? A. Jump The Shark action figures. Or a breakfast cereal. You decide. *** A lot of my favourite shows are covered on the site so I thought I'd include some of the choicest comments on the Star Trek page. Do check out the site for more. Or I might reprint others in a future issue. The top votes were for when Spock's brain is taken 24 Singing (Spock and the space hippies) 21 The Third Season 7 Day One 3 Tribbles 3 Black/White guy vs. White/Black guy 2 Lincoln's Head 2 though a large number of people reckoned it had NEVER jumped. And here are some comments: When the 4th guy in the landing party is a guy with a red shirt, and Kirk says "Bones, Spock, come with me. You, guy in the red shirt, go check behind that big rock." The episode with the space hippies and Spock singing was the ABSOLUTE WORST!!! Space Hippies!! AARGH!!! God dammit Jim I'm a Doctor, not a comedian. The entire third season was crap because Gene Roddenberry was pushed out of the producer role and the show became Paramount's dumping ground for directors who weren't doing anything that week. But if I had to pick one episode as the turning point for its descent into stupidity, it would be the one where Spock sang with the space hippies. The original Startrek definitely jumped when they had Kirk and the gang do a shootput with Wyatt Earp at the OK corral in an 1880's Western show. Are we watching sci-fi or Gunsmoke? What's next: John Wayne in outer space? It's not Gene Roddenberry's fault. It's the network corporate types who run the world based only on statistics. When the resolution of a plot ("The Omega Glory") was Captain Kirk's reciting the Constitution of the United States to a group of savages. It was bad enough that half the episodes were resolved by Kirk's talking to an over-powerful computer until it destroyed itself. When Kirk started destroying *people* by talking to them, it was time to go. Spock's brain...if the brain was talking telepathically, why was the "voice" identical to Spocks real voice? I was and am a Trek fan, but that episode was truly awful. People, there are several references to Spock singing with the space hippies. He never sang in that episode. All he did was have a jam session, playing some sort of guitar/hub-cap/fishing-line hybrid instrument while one hippie also played an equally confusing axe. Spock only sang in the episode where the telekinetic toga people screwed around with the murderous munchkin. Notice how after Bones put Spocks Brain back in his head, not a hair was out of place. He must be a member of the Hair Club for Men. Okay, it was ALWAYS preachy, but for heavy-handedness and utter stupidity, the black and white guy versus the white and black guy episode is just too preachy to ignore. I know "subtlety" and "Shatner" don't mix, but this one is just too obvious and (what's worse) not very entertaining. Probably jumped when Kirk talked the third or fourth computer to death with his relentless logic. The whole third season was a downhill slide. The last episode, where Kirk's body is taken over by a woman was the worst. What Happened to the Klingons? They go from having a fu- man-chu beard to having a turtle impaled on their head. What's up with that? I have to say, I grew up on this show. Not the originals, but the re-runs. My dad would pick us up from the babysitters, we'd drive home, and he'd fix dinner just in time to all sit down and watch Star Trek at 6:00 on channel 41. To say this show never jumped is true in a sense; this show never really had a high point to slide down from. There were up episodes and down episodes, but the entire show transcends the normal TV genre, rising above being merely a science fiction show to something else entirely. To say that Star Trek was sharked would be to say the shark attacked some prehistoric behemoth floating around off the Madagascar coast; the shark will come away limping, but the beast trundles on.... Don't get me wrong--I love Star Trek! As far as I'm concerned, this show jumped when they came out with the Next Generation. Talk about overacting, I have a lot of respect for the talented and versatile Patrick Stewart, but he tried way too hard.... Never jumped the Shark. The 3rd season had a few bad episodes...........but the show was always of a high quality. This show ruled. It never jumped. Sure, it had some pretty odd episodes, but hey, look at the era the show was made in! Great program that spawned so many others... Easily the worst episode ever--"It's his braiiiin, Jim!" All over after that. Killed by NBC bouncing it around on the schedule. The...Third...Season...Kirk wearing a girdle and an OBVIOUS toupee; kirk mccoy and spock being the only characters on camera; spock's eye shadow gets heavier...the uniforms go from nice to polyester...the plots turn ugly (gunfights, space hippies, dead presidents, sex changes and you name it, it happened)...Even the color of the credits changed from yellow to an ugly blue (yes kids, that's how you know it has a 60% chance of being a stinkeroo, if the credits are blue. You heard it hear first); Spock gets more dramatic and literal (978.436 light years more literal) and nobody cared. Fred Freiberger took over as producer, as he did for the Final Season of at least two other T.V. shows (man from atlantis, space 1999)..he and ted mcginley should make a team. Unlike the spin-offs, in which the middle or later seasons are better than the first seasons, Star Trek started strong and faded in the third season. The show made too many episodes that never should have left a writers' conference. Trouble With Tribbles. Trouble with Tribbles jumped the shark when the ship was invaded by Tribbles. It looked like Kirk and Spock were in a fun house filled with fake stuffed animals. Why is it that Kirk's shirts were so flimsy? Any other crew member could be beaten to within an inch of his/her life, and his/her shirt would have barely a speck of dirt or a wrinkle. If Kirk so much as had his face slapped, his shirt was torn down to his out-of-shape waist, and he had a bleeding gash on his hairless chest. I love the show, too, but Shatner was overly- dramatic to the point of nausea. And, by the way, the dumbest scene by far was the one where Kirk & Spock sang "I'm Tweedle-Dee, he's Tweedle-Dum, closely followed by Spock's "bitter dregs" folk ballad. A double-whammy! - o -