TV shows that jumped the shark

[Something Amyss]

Stargate SG-1 jumped the shark at one point, though it's hard to put my finger on when. However, Season 9 was pretty good and Season 10 is one of my favourites. Also, Valla's the best thing to happen to the show since Teal'c first joined.

House probably jumped the shark. All I know is personally, my interest started to fade with the Tritter arc, and it just kept going.

I can't think of any more at the moment, but....

Supernatural actually had an episode titled "Jump the Shark"
although I don't consider that episode a jumping the shark moment.

It's become common to mock the "jump the shark" concept on TV. It's part of the "LOOK AT ME! I'M SELF AWARE!" Movement.

Granted, I like the elements of self-awareness in Supercallafragilisticexpialadocius.

Heroes. I used to love that show. I was so sad about how it turned out, especially at the end.

Series 1: Brilliant.
Series 2: Really good.
Series 3: Terrible.
Series 4: Almost as good as series 2.

Series 4 also ended on a massive cliffhanger and then it got cancelled just as things were looking up! I think the quality of the show was so screwed up was because of the Hollywood writers strike, but I don't know the specifics. I just miss the heyday of that show.

Heroes' Season 2 ending was heavily impacted and it further altered the way season 3 ran. While it's unfortunate for the show, I find these things fascinating in terms of how the real world impacts TV.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Arrested Development. And it was all down to Henry Winkler again...

 

[Terramax]

If you consider 'Ashes to Ashes' a continuation from the great Brit show 'Life on Mars', then I'd say 'Ashes to Ashes'. It felt more like fan service.

 

[Scrustle]

Heroes. I used to love that show. I was so sad about how it turned out, especially at the end.

Series 1: Brilliant.
Series 2: Really good.
Series 3: Terrible.
Series 4: Almost as good as series 2.

Series 4 also ended on a massive cliffhanger and then it got cancelled just as things were looking up! I think the quality of the show was so screwed up was because of the Hollywood writers strike, but I don't know the specifics. I just miss the heyday of that show.

Uh... you know there was a Season 5, right?

The season labelling was completely retarded. Where I am seasons 3 and 4 (or rather volumes 3 and 4) were put out simply as season 3.

 

[Esotera]

Heroes, True Blood, Family Guy, and controversially, I'm going to say Dexter. The whole sequence where he got a wife and kids was just ridiculous, and at least it seems to have got back to relative normality now...

 

[Soulfoodman]

Scrubs. Scrubs had an amazing ending in Season 8. Then they tried to ruin it with another season where we lost many important cast members.

 

[Something Amyss]

Pretty much any show other than M*A*S*H that had more than 5 or 6 seasons.

I thin ka lot of people would name MASH on their list of jumping the shark. Even before the internet, I was inundated with people telling me how the series became preachy and was worse in the later years.

But anyway, I think the 7 season model has worked pretty well for most shows. Well, most shows I watch, but then, it's hard for a show I don't like to jump the shark in my eyes. I can only think of a few that were really good examples (Star Trek: Voyager, Cheers, the obvious Simpsons, my previously mentioned Stargate), but my list of shows I love that lasted that long is pretty long.

The odds of a bad season do go up with the length of the show, though.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Walking Dead jumped the shark in quality after the first episode.

 

[HardkorSB]

So what are some TV shows that you watched, and maybe enjoyed that at one point really began to descend into a lesser quality than it once was?

I don't think that's what "jumping the shark" means.
I always thought that the phrase is used when something totally ridiculous happens that you weren't expecting.

So, the show that really jumped the shark for me was (here I am going old school on you people) Dynasty.
Anyone remembers that?


It was about the lives of 2 rich families. Kind of soap opera-ish but not exactly. Romance, betrayal, business, back stabbing etc, you know the drill.
Anyway, the first few seasons were just that - lives of rich people. Then, in one of the later seasons, one of the main characters gets abducted by aliens. BY ALIENS!!! IN A SOAP OPERA ABOUT RICH PEOPLE!!!

 

[Fappy]

24 has my vote. They stretched the concept way too far. It became impossible to take the show seriously.

Also... Prison Break....

Why the fuck is your show called Prison Break when they aren't even in prison for half of the show.

 

[Snowbell]

In Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Jhonny literally jumped the shark - and then the whole programme did as soon as he was dead.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Arrested Development.

But seriously, Prison Break. The first season was incredible, but... it sort of trailed off.

 

[goldberg2]

The Office.

The EXACT moment when Steve Carrell left the show.

Actually it was more like the EXACT moment America tried, once again, to remake a British comedy. America really just ruins original T.V shows with crappy remakes

 

[kortin]

The Office.

The EXACT moment when Steve Carrell left the show.

Actually it was more like the EXACT moment America tried, once again, to remake a British comedy. America really just ruins original T.V shows with crappy remakes

No, it was a good show. Hell, better than the british version, even if they had Ricky Gervais.

 

[Alcamonic]

How come no one has mentioned Mythbusters yet? Now days it's just "hurr durr, bigger bang!" combined with seriously flawed testing or at least mentions of things they tried out of camera.

 

[tkioz]

So very very many...

Buffy - Season 6... other then the singing episode God that was depressing.

NCIS - Around season 7 I think, just go soooo dull.

Criminal Minds - About season 2...

Supernatural - Season 6, should have ended in at Season 5, would have been perfect... I mean where do you go after you BEAT SATAN?

Smallville - err God... season 4/5?

Dark Angel - Once they started bringing mutants into the show (hello you can make super-soliders that look just like normal people so why are you making mermaids?)

Bones - When it stopped being about an expect flying around the country helping out law enforcement and started being about the crime of the week... so Season 2?

I'll stop here I think, but I could go on all day.

 

[Furbyz]

<--- buffy after season 5. while there were some ok episodes in 6 and 7, series 5 finished the show very well

Well, when season 5 ended, the show had been officially canceled at that point. Although, I'm frankly kind of shocked at how many people really just hate season 7. I for one really enjoyed the desperation and dark atmosphere of actually losing the war at nearly every turn straining the scooby relationship to the point of breaking. It was honestly one of my favorite seasons.

I do understand why people don't like 6 though. There are some great episodes(Once More with Feeling, Seeing Red, Tabula Rasa) in it, but the overall season was weak. Especially if someone can't stomach the Spuffy.

 

[RustlessPotato]

Misfits. I found the first series hilarious. Then I don't know what the hell happened in season two. A Milk Magneto ? Seriously ? Haven't bothered to watch the third series.

 

[Trucken]

Well, I can't think of any shows that jumped the shark, but there are a lot of shows that just declined badly.

Family Guy: I maintain to this very day that the first three seasons of Family Guy is some of the funniest stuff ever put on TV. When it was reborn it was still kinda good, but nowhere near the earlier seasons in quality. But the decline was extremely rapid and today I can't even watch it. It still has some funny jokes, hell, it still has some BRILLIANT jokes, but there's so much shit and rushed storytelling in every episode that I just can't be bothered to watch it.

American Dad: This one pains me, 'cause I used to absolutely love AD. It was almost like watching the old Family Guy, but with a lot of political jokes. Unfortunately AD has started to look a lot more like FG with random/weird jokes and poor storytelling. I'll give it a shot when it starts again in a few weeks, but if it doesn't pick up I'll probably stop watching.

Heroes: I gave up about 8 episodes into season 2. Loved the first season, but the second one felt like it was just dragging on forever.

My Name Is Earl: First two seasons were great. Season 3 started out pretty good, but it went downhill fast when Earl ended up in a coma. Season 4 was kinda good but suffered from making too many 'wink wink nudge nudge'-jokes to the audience. The show started feeling a lot less real and more like the characters knew they were just characters in a sitcom.