TV shows that jumped the shark

[CManator]

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!!!

Close. It's a reference to happy days where everyone was losing interest so Fonzie tried to out-cool himself by jumping a shark. Instead of being cool it just came across as cheesy and over the top ridiculous, and basically sealed the show's fate. So yeah it's a combination of your definition and the OP's, which your example seems to fit anyway. (Never saw it though)

OT I'd say Friends. It stayed funny for its entire run, but it became too much like a daytime soap opera towards the end. Ross and Rachel's on again off again again and again relationship just stopped being interesting and got even more ridicuous when they had a kid. It was really just a case of running out of ideas but it was too popular to just quit while it was ahead. The series finale was actually a relief, if completely unsurprising.

 

[Proeliator]

Firefly of course. I mean things started to go downhill when they had that ridiculous storyline where they go into the formal ball (like they could have gotten in there without massive coincidence) then things just got silly with the whole 'ooh he fake married a companion who's actually evil' and after the whole psychic thing came out I just couldn't take it seriously again! I felt like the nadir of the show was that godawful episode defending a whorehouse from cowboys. In a fucking sci-fi show! Jesus Christ it ran for far too long.

Not sure if serious or intentially inducing fan ire... just like to mention a lot of people thought it didn't go on long enough.

*twitch* must repress urges to defend... *twitch* show...
Plenty of sci-fi uses psychic themes! just look at- *WHUMP*

So SO not serious.

Firefly was and is the best show ever made, it did more with 13 episodes than most shows can do with 100. There isn't a single word of dialogue out of place in the entire run, and every character can be remembered easily while still retaining more depth than a stream.

not sure if baiting me or...
JK. I should have guessed you were making intelligent sarcasm, and not bashing, based on your remarks on the other shows. And the fact you like castle.
Have to make sure sometimes, one of my friends said, and I kid you not, "It looks like a show about cowboys in space. Which is stupid." D: my face was stuck like that for a few minutes while I tried blabbering about how the cast had great chemistry and it was incredibly enjoyable to watch.

 

[DJjaffacake]

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.

This. Life on Mars was awesome, Ashes to Ashes was spectacularly mediocre.

Doctor Who as well, although I'd say it's more tripped over the shark, since it's been gradually declining in quality since Stephen Moffat took over.

 

[Goofguy]

Going to have to go with Heroes, too. The show could have stayed amazing if it had just stopped focusing on the same people all the time. Why does the normal guy need to gain powers after a few seasons of not having them? The superpowered guy lost his abilities? Fine, leave it that way and move on. The show got stale when they created nonsense for the same characters over and over.

 

[NeoShinGundam]

From Batman: The Brave and the Bold
^_^

 

[The_Darkness]

Everybody is mentioning Heroes, but I'm going to call it a bit earlier than most. Heroes jumped the shark when the finale reduced the Peter vs Sylar face-off to a punch-up. These two are the most powerful beings on the planet. They can both do Telekinesis, fly, Pete can pause time, Sylar can melt anything metal, can throw out freeze blasts... Need I go on?

 

[gideonkain]

INB4 Battlestar Galactica:

I'd have to say Lost. The first season was fantastic, a story about a bunch of complicated mysterious people who all shared the fate of crash landing on a desert island and faced with the struggle of survival. In the background, there is a mysterious, ominous presence on the island which complicates the issue of survival and leads to confrontation between different groups of survivors.

After half of season 2... What the fuck happened??

Needless to say I stopped watching because the premise of the first season was apparently thrown away, pissing on the tone and context of the story thus far. It was like the main creators had completely abandoned ship and left the story up to a bunch of people who had absolutely no idea what to do with the characters but were forced to drag out it out and milk the franchise for as long as possible.

Holy crap. If your saying you have never watched the show past Season 2.5 yet still say that it sucks...your deductive reasoning is simply astounding.

That's exactly what happened to the show: Mr. Echo dies and tough-as-nails Latina shoots rich-white-girl and after that 4 more years of total bullsquat.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Heroes. Season one was amazing but it started to rapidly go downhill after that.
The Mighty Boosh lost it's magic after the second season.

 

[The Funslinger]

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

Yeah, I came here to mention Supernatural.

It's an oddity in that it really should have jumped the shark by now, going beyond the five season arc it was built around, but it's stayed good.

OT: Scrubs: Med School.

God damn.

 

[Signa]

INB4 Battlestar Galactica:

I'd have to say Lost. The first season was fantastic, a story about a bunch of complicated mysterious people who all shared the fate of crash landing on a desert island and faced with the struggle of survival. In the background, there is a mysterious, ominous presence on the island which complicates the issue of survival and leads to confrontation between different groups of survivors.

After half of season 2... What the fuck happened??

Needless to say I stopped watching because the premise of the first season was apparently thrown away, pissing on the tone and context of the story thus far. It was like the main creators had completely abandoned ship and left the story up to a bunch of people who had absolutely no idea what to do with the characters but were forced to drag out it out and milk the franchise for as long as possible.

Don't get me started on BSG.

And BSG never jumped the shark. It fell into the tank, and was violently and bloodily ripped asunder, all the while the cameras were still rolling.

I can't think of any shows right now that are still running that would meet my definition of jumping the shark. Some movie series though, yes. Star Wars would be a great example with this new cartoon show coming out. I have no idea of the quality of the 4th movie, but the fact that there are now 4 Bourne movies bothers me, and I was one of the people that enjoyed them.

 

[The Funslinger]

The Simpsons. Circa, Season 9? 10? Somewhere around there. Still somewhat watchable (the episodes are hit and miss for me) but it really lost some magic along the way.

Additionally, I know we said TV, but I'm worried Pixar have jumped the shark. I hope I'm wrong.

I know how you feel. I don't mind watching the new Simpsons episodes, but occasionally I think "where's Troy McClure? Where's Doctor Nick?

"Awwww..."

Also, they had an episode where Homer becomes best buds with Chief Wiggum, and then one where he does the same with Fat Tony, about a season later, which just seems weird.

As for Pixar, let's not make assumptions based on Brave (I still thought it was good)

Let's see what Wreck It Ralph gives us!

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Firefly of course. I mean things started to go downhill when they had that ridiculous storyline where they go into the formal ball (like they could have gotten in there without massive coincidence) then things just got silly with the whole 'ooh he fake married a companion who's actually evil' and after the whole psychic thing came out I just couldn't take it seriously again! I felt like the nadir of the show was that godawful episode defending a whorehouse from cowboys. In a fucking sci-fi show! Jesus Christ it ran for far too long.

I kinda think Chuck went a bit wrong somewhere, but I can't put my finger on where. I still enjoyed the fourth series (haven't quite got around to watching the whole fifth series) but it just felt like something was off about the whole thing. Of course, this was a show that got really screwed around by the network. First it was cancelled then it was uncancelled then they extended one of the seasons instead of cancelling it so they had to drag things out.

I really (really really) hope Castle isn't going this way. Some of the 'big conspiracy' storylines are starting to feel really over the top. It can still work, but the fourth season had a bit in the middle where I got really worried about the direction the show was going. And the fourth season ending was (aside from one or two great moments) a bit weak. It was really well acted and all, but the writing, the pacing, the direction all just felt a little poor.

I salute you my friend, it's a rare moment when I find someone who dislies that show as much as I do.

*edit - Oh nevermind you were being facetious...

 

[Relish in Chaos]

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.

The "lactokinesis" episode was probably one of the best in Season 2, which I actually preferred to Season 1 because it really got into its stride. I mean, yes, a ?Milk Magneto? is a silly idea for an antagonist, but the entire premise of the show is silly. But Season 3 admittedly dipped a bit, especially with the season finale. They're doing a Season 4, which I'll watch, but I don't know what it'll be like.

Snip

Seth MacFarlane has given up on Family Guy. Check out his logic.

He wants to cancel the show because he belives that it has had it's day and he wants it to go out on a high note. However Fox would not let him cancel the show so he has been puting no effot into the show in order to get Fox to cancel it, making the shows quality drop, meaning that if the show is canceled now it will be going out on a low note. He is trying to get the show canceled by doing the very thing he wants to avoide by canceling the show? It is not just me, is it? That makes no fucking sense right?

I'll need a source for that, since as far as I knew, he had no plans of cancelling the show.

 

[TheLiham]

I would say Dr. Who, but my experience is very limited in that regard (mostly to the 4th and 5th Doctors, which I watched on WTTW growing up).

But I will say that there is at least one moment from what little new Dr Who I've watched. Namely, in The Last of the Time Lords.

What was the moment?

Spoiler: Obvious Spoilers, you have been warned

When The Master used his Sonic Screwdriver Magic Wand to cause the Doctor to Hyper-Break-Dance so fast, that he got turned into a midget gremlin and put in a bird cage.

The whole sequence of him rapid-break dancing had me laughing uproariously. It was supposed to be a moment of serious tension and despair, but it just looked fucking HILARIOUS.

The whole sequence was The Master aging the Doctor's body without killing him, essentially making him weak and useless. Looked funny, but whatever. Drama.

Then later, The Master does it a second time to the Doctor while he's already old, and it turns him into a bad CGI midget thing.

But the part that makes this all worse is how they reverse the process.
Essentially, they do the Peter Pan method of "Clap your hands and help him out", and it restores the Doctor.

It's as ridiculous as it is stupid. Fucking looney tunes level of bad.
Honestly, it's shit like that that makes me question why Dr. Who is as revered as it is.

You think that's bad? It isn't half as bad as...

Spoiler

The Cybermen episode in season 6 in which James Corden resists the Cybermens conversion process of removing his emotions and proceeds to destroy all the Cybermen... with his undying love for his son.

 

[Tropicaz]

I'm worried community will go downhill. They're doing a 4th season but Dan Harmon has been fired so the stories may be completely different :/
As previously mentioned the last series of scrubs was an absolute mess. The latest family guys also.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Super Sinp

Ok my bad I was half right. that will teach me to lisern to my sister. She is always wrong about this stuff. Just google Seth McF's name along with giving up family guy and you will get a lot of results linking to an interview he gave where he said that he thinks the best thing, from a creative point of view, for the show would be to end it while it is good and then do a movie every few years. The part about him putting in no effot is just rumour.

 

[Lieju]

I'd have to say Lost.

I'll agree with pretty much everything you said. Lost was pretty up and down throughout. The first season is still freaking amazing and a great example of how you make a damn interesting TV show. Most of the other seasons serve as an example of how you fuck up a great premise. Now some of the later seasons were better than others. I remember quite liking Season 3 though I don't remember what happened in it at all now. But none of them ever managed to live up to the promise Season 1 had, and I can't quite place where they went wrong aside from not having a plan as they went forward. You could probably argue they explained too much as well and ruined the mystery, but I think they actually explained too little and so poorly explained other things that it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Plus, you know, the ending.

Lost came to my mind too. But then I thought about it, and I don't think it ever really jumped the shark, it just ran out of steam and I figured out the writers had no idea what was going on either, so I lost interest.

 

[Scarim Coral]

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.

Same here althought I didn't like season 4 at all. I think one of the reason why it didn't feel good anymore was that they no longer stranger to each other and also the fact that they killed half of the cast away by the end of it!

 

[Scrustle]

Same here althought I didn't like season 4 at all. I think one of the reason why it didn't feel good anymore was that they no longer stranger to each other and also the fact that they killed half of the cast away by the end of it!

Yeah, I really missed Isaac from the first series. He was so cool and his power was really interesting. What's worse is they just completely ignored the power when Sylar gained it. He used it once, maybe twice, and then they just forgot it! I really liked how they were trying to work out his paintings throughout the series. It created a really interesting sub-plot.

Series 4 had some pacing problems, but it had a lot of really great episodes. I especially liked the episode (or was it two, or even more?) where Sylar and Peter were trapped inside Matt's mind. Or, I think it was him. It's been a long time since I saw the show. Either way, some really trippy stuff happens in there and it has some great character development.