Point of Shark Jump: When Did Any Given Television Show Jump?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by S. P. Honeybunch, Oct 11, 2016.

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  1. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

    Magnum PI dying for real and dumb fans crying about..
    The series was so suppose to end when he walked off in the sunset..
    The last year was bad..
     
  2. bluejeanbaby

    bluejeanbaby Forum Resident

    Location:
    NW Indiana
    @Mirrorblade.1 Say what? Fans protesting brought him back? I hadn't a clue.
     
  3. skydropco

    skydropco Rock 'n Roll Nurse

    Reminds me of that classic SCTV skit with Martin Short 'Oh That Rusty'

     
  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I worked on the last season and Tom Selleck was a very nice and gracious man. The final episode was a serious episode where they almost revealed the identity of "Robin Masters," but nobody died in it. As far as I know, they never did a follow-up movie or anything to explain it. The finale did reveal that Magnum had a daughter, and there is talk of reviving a sequel series that will be about Magnum's daughter as a new private investigator:

    ‘Magnum P.I.’ Sequel About His Daughter In Works At ABC From John Rogers & Eva Longoria »

    What is true is that they almost had John Hillerman admit he was Masters in the finale (which was a pivotal secret), but at the last minute they changed the scene and left that up in the air. Note that the finale was a 2-hour episode directed by Selleck, and I thought he did a very good job with it.
     
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  5. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney Thread Starter

    Magnum "died" or "appeared to be dead" in the season finale of the penultimate season. Then the final season aired with normal alive Magnum.
     
  6. Juggsnelson

    Juggsnelson Senior Member

    Location:
    Long Island
    Vidiot, I would love to read a book on your thoughts of every actor and project you worked on! You always disclose lots of great tidbits here:)
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    Hollywood, USA
    Tom Selleck was unrecognizable -- he had shaved the mustache and had a considerably different look, since the show was shot 6 weeks before it aired. But I swear, every secretary in the building found an excuse to come in the room for a minute or two during the few days we worked on those two final episodes. Very nice man, surprisingly good as a director, and knew what he wanted very specifically. That was an extremely dark episode (literally, not a lot of light).
     
  8. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    The above comment reminds me of the last season of Babylon 5. The series was supposed to be cancelled at the end of Season 4 but it was renewed at the last moment. From what I understand, the series was planned for 5 years, but when they were going to cancel it early they had to rush the story to end it.
     
  9. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    Sinatra said publically that Selleck would make a great movie villain. I agree.
     
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  10. tomhayes

    tomhayes Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca
    A little off topic, but i realized this alst week:
    Blue Bloods has been on the air for the same amount of time that Magnum PI was on the air. So it'll be his longest running role on TV - which doesn't seem right.

    And for a spin off, I'd love to see Seleck as Lance White again - maybe they can get Richie Brockelman on there too!
     
  11. skydropco

    skydropco Rock 'n Roll Nurse

    I don't think Maude ever jumped the shark.
     
  12. skydropco

    skydropco Rock 'n Roll Nurse

    I just saw that episode on tv the other day. The old Hawkeye would've stayed on that bus. For me, it came close to seriously jumping after they lost Henry and Frank.
     
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  13. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I have a friend who worked as writer and showrunner on "Blue Bloods". Knowing him the way I do, there was no way that show didn't suck (he also wrote a bunch for L&O: SVU).
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2016
  14. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    I don't think that Batgirl caused the show to jump the shark but factors that did appeared when she joined the show. I think a factor that came with Batgirl is that the show went from two episodes each week (the first episode set up a cliffhanger and was resolved in the second episode of the week) to one episode each week . It changed the structure of the show by eliminating the cliffhanger. Another factor is that they had to reduce the number of characters in each episode.

    According to The Official Batman Batbook by Joel Eisner (on page 61), they were limited to 13 characters each week. To quote the book:

    "So, after Batman, Robin, Batgirl and their alter-egos of Bruce, Dick and Barbara (who each count as a separate character), Alfred, Chief O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon, there was only room for the villain and a couple of henchmen."​
     
  15. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    Yes, those 6. As a big WKRP fan, I was happy to see it get that recognition.
     
  16. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas

    When Samantha got a new Darren.
     
  17. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney Thread Starter

    I'm not sure if the Jump the Shark site listed that one. I don't remember it. Some voters on Bone the Fish mention the abortion episode (for a fifty year old woman) as a drop off point.
     
  18. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    As far as MASH goes, I'm starting to see a trend. It seems the ones written by Alan Alda are the most cringeworthy.
    He seems to write Hawkeye out of character. The two that come to mind are the one (Fallen Idol) where he tells off Radar and the one (in love and war) where he falls in love with a local woman.
     
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  19. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    In that regard, WKRP had the unfortunate problem of being pulled off the air too early. There was easily more great seasons to come, but WKRP had the advantage in hindsight of never having had the chance to jump the shark.

    Barney Miller was impressive in that it lasted a long time and stayed great the whole time, and probably went out just before the shark would have been jumped.
     
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  20. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Major cast changes are a huge problem, particularly when they step into a role made famous by another actor. What can surprisingly work well are when old characters are written out and brand-new characters are written in; the best examples I can think of are M*A*S*H and Cheers, shows which ordinarily might have only gone 5 or 6 years, but wound up doing 11 seasons each, which is a remarkably long run that has rarely been equalled.

    Jon Hein of Jump the Shark had an interesting list of story and character points that inevitably signaled the creative demise of a show:

    • a character suddenly gets married
    • a character has a baby
    • the entire cast goes to Hawaii (or wherever) on vacation
    • a new character suddenly shows up to permanently live with the family (aka "The Cousin Oliver Syndrome")
    • one of the cast members is hospitalized and is near death, and all the other characters reminisce about their lives via flashbacks (aka "The Clip Show")
    • the "all-musical" episode, where suddenly everybody sings like it's an opera or musical
    • the "It's a Wonderful Life" show, where an actor is knocked out and dreams a completely alternate reality with the cast turning into completely different versions of themselves

    There are always exceptions. For example, in the case of I Love Lucy, they did a few of these things and -- maybe because sitcoms were so new -- they weren't yet cliches, so the show idea was unique and very entertaining. (I really like the episodes of Lucy where they were in Hollywood for 6 months, and the show where Lucy gives birth was very funny and actually pretty heartwarming.)
     
  21. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    As a musical comedy fan, I love these. The best ones were on Xena:Warrior Princess.
     
  22. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    "You're in The Picture" never recovered from its terrible first episode :nyah:
     
  23. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I actually worked on a couple of seasons of Xena, and I never saw any of the musical shows -- but I don't doubt they exist. What's definitely true is that there are very talented performers on a lot of shows who can do more than just act; I know that Deborah Messing on Will & Grace welcomed any opportunity to sing on that show (as one example).
     
  24. :yikes:I think Bewitched jumped the shark in the pilot episode! Just awful tv right from the go.
     
  25. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    I think the Monkees were on the verge of jumping. Having guests at the end was cool but it detracted.
     
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