Post Haste
According to Robert Fulford in the National Post, "a TV series, like the history of a nation or an art movement, falls into four periods -- primitive, classic, baroque and decadent."
This isn't quite right. There's vaguely something to it, but it's simply that when you start out, a show is fresh and you're learning what it can do. The characters aren't settled. By the second season you've figured out what's what and there's still plenty of fresh plots to be explored. By 100 episodes or so you feel like you've done everything, so you often try more outrageous variations. And sooner or later, the show will falter (if not artistically, at least in the ratings) and be canceled (though look at The Simpsons).
Perhaps the trouble with the piece is the author thought it was such a good idea that he didn't have to do proper research. For instance, he writes "to see the baroque sensibility on TV, consider the extensive ornamentation built into House, the most popular U. S. scripted series last season." Most popular? This is way off if you're talking about America, but I assume the author means Canada, where the Post originates. But, in fact, Grey's Anatomy and Criminal Minds have more viewers.
Then we get this about L. A. Law:
An annoying executive partner in McKenzie, Brackman solved everyone's problems by falling down an elevator shaft. That became a famous event in TV history but the arbitrary plotting suggested decadence and foretold early cancellation. Soon L. A. Law was no more.
In fact, Rosalind Shays' death occurred in the 5th season, when the ratings were already going down. Nevertheless, the show had 3 more seasons to go. (By the way, I know the guys who came up with the down-the-shaft idea.)
Above all, there's this basic misunderstanding:
[Another L. A. Law plot twist that also involved a partner falling a long distance] turned comedy into farce and drained reality from the character -- as Happy Days did in 1977 when Fonzie rode water skis over a Seaworld shark, making "jump the shark" a term for a program reduced to terminal silliness. (In 1997, a website, jumptheshark.com, began chronicling self-destructive TV shows.)
I'm not sure if Fulford understands what happened. You'd get the impression everyone thought the shark-jumping moment was a huge mistake, and years later a website took advantage of this belief. Actually, the shark jump was just one moment in the highly successful years of a highly successful show.
This isn't quite right. There's vaguely something to it, but it's simply that when you start out, a show is fresh and you're learning what it can do. The characters aren't settled. By the second season you've figured out what's what and there's still plenty of fresh plots to be explored. By 100 episodes or so you feel like you've done everything, so you often try more outrageous variations. And sooner or later, the show will falter (if not artistically, at least in the ratings) and be canceled (though look at The Simpsons).
Perhaps the trouble with the piece is the author thought it was such a good idea that he didn't have to do proper research. For instance, he writes "to see the baroque sensibility on TV, consider the extensive ornamentation built into House, the most popular U. S. scripted series last season." Most popular? This is way off if you're talking about America, but I assume the author means Canada, where the Post originates. But, in fact, Grey's Anatomy and Criminal Minds have more viewers.
Then we get this about L. A. Law:
An annoying executive partner in McKenzie, Brackman solved everyone's problems by falling down an elevator shaft. That became a famous event in TV history but the arbitrary plotting suggested decadence and foretold early cancellation. Soon L. A. Law was no more.
In fact, Rosalind Shays' death occurred in the 5th season, when the ratings were already going down. Nevertheless, the show had 3 more seasons to go. (By the way, I know the guys who came up with the down-the-shaft idea.)
Above all, there's this basic misunderstanding:
[Another L. A. Law plot twist that also involved a partner falling a long distance] turned comedy into farce and drained reality from the character -- as Happy Days did in 1977 when Fonzie rode water skis over a Seaworld shark, making "jump the shark" a term for a program reduced to terminal silliness. (In 1997, a website, jumptheshark.com, began chronicling self-destructive TV shows.)
I'm not sure if Fulford understands what happened. You'd get the impression everyone thought the shark-jumping moment was a huge mistake, and years later a website took advantage of this belief. Actually, the shark jump was just one moment in the highly successful years of a highly successful show.
Happy Days was reasonably popular in its first couple years, but didn't become a major hit until it made Fonzie a central character and switched in its third season to taping live. By the fourth year, they knew how big they were, and would start each season with a three-parter featuring location shooting. Season four had the Pinky Tuscedero saga, including the Malachi Brothers. Season five, the gang went out to Hollywood and, yes, Fonzie jumped over a shark. Season six had everyone on a dude ranch (and Fonzie rode a bull).
During these three seasons, most of which aired after the shark jump, the show was in the top 5. The ratings dropped significantly starting in season seven, but it's rare a show can stay on top for very long. Even then, it remained in the top 20 for three more seasons.
My long-winded point is, when the series was canceled after eleven seasons, there wasn't a widespread impression of "boy, that shark-jumping thing really ruined the show."
During these three seasons, most of which aired after the shark jump, the show was in the top 5. The ratings dropped significantly starting in season seven, but it's rare a show can stay on top for very long. Even then, it remained in the top 20 for three more seasons.
My long-winded point is, when the series was canceled after eleven seasons, there wasn't a widespread impression of "boy, that shark-jumping thing really ruined the show."
However, there were a few guys at the University of Michigan who felt this way. They started using "jump the shark" to describe the moment when a show had started on an irreversible downward trend.
I still remember when Jon Hein (one of the guys) told me about the phrase. I liked the idea (I also remember it reminded me of the SNL phrase "drop the cow," which never really caught on),
but thought they were mistaken. I told them the show had "jumped the shark" before Fonzie jumped the shark. I'd put it around the time of the Malachi Crunch, in fact. Certainly "reality" had been "drained" from the show well before the Hollywood episodes.
Later, Jon started his website, the concept seeped into popular culture, and the term gained near-universal acceptance. (It's so widely used that there's even a backlash.) So while many now believe the shark jump was the moment that changed everything, that's a long-after-the-fact explanation--Fulford, if he's going to write about TV, should know this.
I still remember when Jon Hein (one of the guys) told me about the phrase. I liked the idea (I also remember it reminded me of the SNL phrase "drop the cow," which never really caught on),
but thought they were mistaken. I told them the show had "jumped the shark" before Fonzie jumped the shark. I'd put it around the time of the Malachi Crunch, in fact. Certainly "reality" had been "drained" from the show well before the Hollywood episodes.Later, Jon started his website, the concept seeped into popular culture, and the term gained near-universal acceptance. (It's so widely used that there's even a backlash.) So while many now believe the shark jump was the moment that changed everything, that's a long-after-the-fact explanation--Fulford, if he's going to write about TV, should know this.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
"Jump the Shark" . . . Now, there's a catch phrase.
I thought "Jump the Shark" was an artistic judgment, not a judgment on the commercial performance of a TV series. Really bad (or deteriorating) shows can be tremendously popular. In fact, some of things done to make shows popular make it worse.
Of course whether a show is artistically worse or not is a matter for opinion and discussion. Pinky Tuscadero still seemed within the Happy Days paradigm, doing stunts at SeaWorld and expensive on location shots doesn't. Of course, losing the Japanese maltshop owner for the Encor pitchman was the real downturn but that doesn't sound as snappy.
I agree with Anon 2. Commercial decline is too easy to measure; artistic decline is the fun one to debate.
JTS is generally used as an artistic judgment. But my point still stands. Very few people at the time said wow, Happy Days is finished.
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