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

I think there were two or three, maybe some on Hercules, too. They did both pop songs and original material.

 

I think you misspelled 'Buffy' there.

 

From what I understand, Dick Sargent was the original choice for Darren but he wasn't available at the time. I do know that the show seemed different when Sargent took over (he played role in a more relaxed manner than York [who seemed just on the edge of panic at times]), but not just because of him but because of other things that were going on (such as historical figures appearing and Tabitha becoming more of the focus of the show).

 

Great insight here.

In the '70s, I think the producers loved it when a show became about a gimmick -- it then just gave them angle to milk to the umpteenth degree for popularity (even at the expense of the actual quality of the show).

In regard to "Happy Days," I think one could make the argument that the show "jumped the shark" the moment Fonzie started wearing a leather jacket, and the show became "What inane storyline can we write around Fonzie saying "Ayyy!" and being predictable?"

So, this show could have "jumped the shark" before Fonzie actually jumped the shark! "Whoa -- That's time travel, man!"

 

I'm convinced that site was bought by "Hollywood" just to hobble it and render it useless!

 

Hmmm. I'd say either right after the divorce or when he started Sirius. Or when Jackie left.

When he was on regular radio he had to be clever and careful not to use certain words. With the freedom came a decrease in quality.

 

I listened a lot during and after the OJ trial. The daily news was often hysterical. Jackie puppet and Gary puppet were great. Sometimes you could feel the tension.

 

TV Guide was originally owned by media magnate Walter Annenberg (one of the richest men in America), and he had sold it to Gemstar, a technology corporation (who also owned VCR+Plus and Macrovision, among other things) in 1999. That was right around the time of the internet bubble. Jon Hein sold the Jump the Shark website in 2006 for reportedly $2 million, and it's a good question why Gemstar (and the later TV Guide owners) opted to dismantle the site and trash all the content.

But it wasn't "Hollywood" per se. One key problem with all these opinion websites is: how do you commoditize them? How do you convince advertisers to give you banner ads, when the majority of the content is created by armchair critics who want to slam the hell out of popular network TV shows? I think this was a problem they couldn't crack, so it was easier to shut it down rather than spend more money on it. I'm surprised Hein didn't try to revive the site in another form; there is reportedly a "Nuke the Refrigerator" site (named for the classic Indiana Jones scene) that basically does the same thing for movies.

 

wrong. Annenberg sold it to Rupert Murdock in 1989. I worked there when it happened. The guys he put in at the top were amoral pigs, they helped to run it in the ground. I got out at the beginning of the exodus. They turned over roughly 75% of the employees in 18 months, thought that was great until............

 

Interesting, but I would think advertisers are just concerned about traffic at the site. If, say, thousands of folks are just going to the site each day to write about their worst Ted McGinley experience, wouldn't just getting a banner ad in front of all of those folks be worth it?

 

Wait...what!?!?

 

Sisters was a good show, probably jumped at the very beginning of the 2nd season. Those first few shows were great and it never was as good again.

 

Speaking of Good Times:

 

Apparently not.

 

Interesting. I knew he was annoyed over the JJ character, but I just thought he quit, in order to take on Kunta Kinte.

Well, perhaps, who knows. But guests at the end was their own input. They were tired of the show as-is and wanted more creative control. They had become the real band by then and were full of themselves, and wanted the show to go in a different direction. That's what got them cancelled. NBC wanted to do a third season, but the group wanted to do it their way. NBC told them that's it then. Done.

 

Last weeks 'Big Bang...' was possibly the worst I've ever seen.
Sheldon wants to be a rail engineer, the girls go 'danseeen', Raj and Stuart bicker over baby duties.
Do some of the cast really get $1m an episode? Sheesh.

 

Ferrari originally declined to provide cars to MV, so the producers commissioned two black Daytona Spyder kit cars built on Corvette chassis. There is one scene in the pilot that uses a "real" Spyder. When the show became a huge hit Ferrari provided two Testarossas (originally black, later painted white) in exchange for MV promising to destroy the replica Spyders. A stunt Testarossa (built on a De Tomaso Pantera chassis) was also used in seasons 3-5.

 

I fully agree with you about this. I enjoyed Frank for a while, but his whining became too annoying.

 

I haven't watched this show since the moment it jumped the shark for me.
It was an episode where Sheldon needed a new computer. The whole show was basically a 30 minute advertisement for Alienware. It was shameful.

 

It very nearly did. The last two episodes of the series are abysmal. If they had actually moved the show to D.C., I think it would have been a horrible drop off. Especially since the show worked so well because of the actors in it, and Rue and Conrad would have been gone. Actually, all of season 6 is a bit of a step down from the rest, but not quite jump the shark territory, even though the episode where Maude sees a UFO (not a Halloween episode) is absolutely ridiculous.