jump the shark

[craig11152]

Many years ago I read a commentary on "The Golden age of television". The gist of the author's point was that the Golden age wasn't a time in TV history rather a time in a viewers life when TV was magical. I've never forgotten that and have realized I can have multiple "Golden age's".

[BugsyPal]

Originally Posted by Taiko

The thing is it was never about ratings but rather the show runners ran out of story ideals, so the stunt. Jumping over a fresh water shark as Fonzie becomes Evil Kenevil. And in Happy Days case the characters aged out of the premise, being teens in the 50s. So instead of rebooting or cancelling and hoping the spin off of a characters like Joanie Loves Chachi could keep the money flowing the dead, from the creative point of view Happy Days stays on the air for a few more years.

From a failed pilot which aired on Love American Style with two spinoffs and an alien comedy in a shared universe Mork and Mindy I would say money wise Happy Days done itself proud.

Exactly!


Watched Happy Days back then, and yes like many stopped watching towards the end as the show grew stale. Richie Cunningham and his crew aged out of high school and that should have been the end of things. By the time "Fonzi" jumped that shark he was getting a bit too old to be the local tough.


Still can see the scene clearly; Fonzi on jet skis wearing his usual sunglass, and so forth... It just looked so stupid.


Since then so many shows had their "jumping the shark moment". Dynasty did that whole embassy/wedding shooting or whatever.


Think reason why so many shows remained on air far longer than they should have was that syndication wasn't as strong compared to by the 1990's and onwards. Today shows seem only want to make it past the magic number of episodes that qualifies for syndication, once reached everything else is gravy, especially for the actors.

[headingtoDenver]

I personally don't think any networks have actually 'jumped the shark'. Maybe MTV has, but that was a while ago. I do think that the major networks have had cruise control on for a while and are now scrambling to come up with more hits. You have many other networks creating great shows and TV is no longer about the main networks. Just look at recent Emmy winners. Networks which 10 years ago had no business writing shows, are now winning awards for amazing shows.

[Hrw-500]

Originally Posted by craig11152

Many years ago I read a commentary on "The Golden age of television". The gist of the author's point was that the Golden age wasn't a time in TV history rather a time in a viewers life when TV was magical. I've never forgotten that and have realized I can have multiple "Golden age's".

For those who grewed with Saturday Morning Cartoons, it was a Golden Age for some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cpUDtW1cV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RryI7JJ2GHQ

[wizrap]

Originally Posted by hifijohn

the term 'jump the shark' refers to a moment when a tv show started going down hill, but is there a time in your opinion when the entire tv industry jumped the shark??

The entire TV news industry jumped the shark. The event? I just think generally as more of us depend on social media for news, the more theatrical these news shows become to try & get our attention. And with these lower ratings comes reduced ad revenues which means less money to send reporters across the globe to report on events. Cheaper to just 5 talking heads to shout opinions and yell over each other.