• ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️



    Film & Television

    Welcome Guest


    ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
  • ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
    Forum Rules Film Chit-Chat
    Recently Watched Best Documentaries
    ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

tv: what shows have 'jumped the shark'?

I argued my point perfectly well. You just didn't agree with me, so you attacked me instead of addressing my points. I think you are rude and disrespectful and obnoxious. You could have disagreed with me in a respectful way, but you chose not to. If you think that makes you a good debater, then you are delusional.

You are an administrator of the site. Such pettiness is disappointing. Did our disagreement upset you that much that you had to wake up today and take an unprovoked dig at me after the issue was basically dead?
 
Would you just drop it already, Fjones? If you can't stick to the topic at hand, you will be warned.
 
HisNameIsFrank said:
Would you just drop it already, Fjones? If you can't stick to the topic at hand, you will be warned.
Click to expand...

Would I drop it? FINDER continued this with the last line of the post immeditely prior to the one I wrote. Why don't you warn him? If someone attacks me I am entitled to defend myself, which I did, in a relatively inoffensive manner.


Edit ^^^^^ and also the below post : My apologies. I will stay on topic and avoid the counterproductive hate wars and name calling.
 
Last edited:
FINDER can warn himself. This goes for everyone: It's ok to have heated discussions, to a certain extent. The name-calling and insults, however, will result in a warning. This is not debatable, so let's not have anymore of this he said/she said bullshit. Please. STICK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND.
 
Are you fucking serious?
Click to expand...

Yes I am. The songs are still okay from time to time, but they are obviously really struggling for plot-lines... which all three of them (including the guy who plays Murray) have stated in interviews.

definition of jumping the shark said:
the plot veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations
Click to expand...

The Prime Minister of New Zealand episodes and particuarly the Art Garfunkle episode are great examples of this.

The first three episodes of season 2 were good and it's been rapidly going downhill since then. I'm glad they're not planning on doing a third season.
 
Here's another one: South Park. The last 9 or 10 episodes have been utterly terrible (for South Park standards).

The Jonas Brothers episode was a new low for them. I don't think I smiled once throughout the entire episode. It's become such obvious, repititious crap that relies (like a Jay Leno monologue) on taking easy pot shots and what's "in" at the current time.

High School Musical, Guitar Hero and now the Jonas Brothers?

Fuck that.

Pretty soon they're going to end up like The Simpsons, with only one or two decent episodes a year.
 
TheDeceased said:

Yes I am. The songs are still okay from time to time, but they are obviously really struggling for plot-lines... which all three of them (including the guy who plays Murray) have stated in interviews.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand episodes and particuarly the Art Garfunkle episode are great examples of this.

The first three episodes of season 2 were good and it's been rapidly going downhill since then. I'm glad they're not planning on doing a third season.
Click to expand...

YOU DON'T NEED A GOOD PLOT FOR A GREAT COMEDY!

You Need:

(1) Great writing (CHECK)

(2) Great comic acting (CHECK)

(BONUS POINTS FOR) Originality (MUSIC) (CHECK)

That's it.

The great tv-thirty-minute-comedies (Honeymooners, Odd Couple, All In The Family, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, et al)weren't great because they had great PLOTS (they rarely did) - but rather because the writing and the acting were top-notch (bonus points for originality).

This is not drama - the plot is beside the point.
 
The plot isn't beside the point. It's in the definition of 'jumping the shark'. I didn't say Flight of the Conchords isn't "GREAT COMEDY" (which it isn't and nice use of capitals by the way). I said it had jumped the shark, which it clearly has (or is in the process of doing anyway).

The bonus points you awarded should go to The Mighty Boosh, which deserves far more recognition, aired 3 years before Conchords and follows the same "original" structure. The main difference between Boosh and Conchords is that the former doesn't rely on the repeated use of jokes (Germaine: present, Bret: present, Murray: present), racial stereotypes or one-dimensional characters.

Drama isn't the only genre that should concern itself with fresh and interesting plot lines.

Your list of "the great tv-thirty-minute-comedies" is a bit weird (most of them are US sitcoms from the 1950s to 1970s). Regardless, Flight of the Conchords doesn't have the quality of writing that Frasier/Cheers did.. nor the quality of acting. Arj Barker, for example (the guy who plays 'Dave') is and always has been a terrible actor. Bret McKenzie isn't much better.
 
Last edited:
This is still a good thread idea btw.

BSG - oh around 1.5/2.0 - After the whole, we'll find Earth story arch gets brought to the fore
its still good TV after that point, but it just got weird.

X-files is the classic example, the whole physical move from Vancouver...the Gibson episode, the FPS one...

Millenium anyone? :p

I don't know if shows like Outer Limits, Twin Peaks are immediately exempt from sharkness because they've jumped it from the first episode or by the very nature of the show itself.

I'd say any "serious" TV show that reaches the point of self-analysis/irony/comedy - essentially when they are taking the piss of themselves, its over. You're basically writing for the fans at that point. And most shows will do this after a few seasons.

If I'm to understand this as well, Law and Order was over when Lennie died?

There are a few TV shows that have never jumped the shark as it were imho. NYPD Blue, DaVinci's InQuest, maybe a few others but nothing else comes to mind.
 
Last edited:
Fuck my hatered for Family Guy is delicious. I just watched the OJ Simpson episode on HULU. Peter tries to distract Louis from the fact he left Stewie on the roof by cutting to country singer Conway Twitty.........for over 3 fucking minutes! Not a cartoon version of him either. Over 3 minutes of this bullshit! That's not including Peter walking around for a minute and a half to Dust in the Wind.

This show does the exact opposite of jumping the shark. It doesn't even try. I wouldn't have even known who the hell Conway Twitty is if not for my dad playing that crap when I was a kid. The first couple of seasons were funny. My favorite episode being the one about the FCC. Now, it just reminds me of the kid in school who gets a laugh from something he says and says it every fucking day after that.
 
^ I agree.

I think what they're trying to do is fit in as many cultural references in one show as they can, much like South Park does. Except SP does one cultural reference and stretches it out over one show, FG does 32435 of them per show since they have 98734 different cut/paste scenes per show.

Simpsons did it right.
 
jpgrdnr said:
This is still a good thread idea btw.
Click to expand...
agreed.
jpgrdnr said:
There are a few TV shows that have never jumped the shark as it were imho. NYPD Blue, DaVinci's InQuest, maybe a few others but nothing else comes to mind.
Click to expand...
i think there are a great many shows which have not jumped the shark compared to those that have. two of my favourite shows of all time come to mind: the west wing & hill street blues.

a lot of great british tv comedy never jumped the shark. i think of shows like faulty towers, young ones, blackadder, which generally tend to kill themselves before they go down that road.

notable mention - 'extras' satirised the whole jumping the shark concept in the chris martin episode in season 2 and it was as excruciatingly wonderful as only gervais comedy can be.

alasdair
 
^British shows are well known for "going out on a high note" which pretty much makes jumping the shark impossible. The Office being another that comes to mind.
 
Fuck my hatred for Family Guy is delicious.
Click to expand...

The OJ simpson episode is perhaps the worst thing I have ever seen on television. It's incredibly bad. Almost worth watching out of sheer curiosity sake to see how low the show has gotten. It was like watching an old friend die horribly in a car accident.

I really don't understand how anyone could possibly let it get to air, let alone writers, producers and McFarlane himself. What's he trying to do? Commit career suicide? Because I'm starting to really dislike the guy.

Is there anyone who gives a shit about the upcoming Cleveland show?
 
Family Guy has been shit shortly after it came back from the dead show bin. South Park's lampoon of their show is spot on. I had forgotten all about that Cleveland show...is it really still coming out? Is it possible to have negative interest in a show?
 
HisNameIsFrank said:
Fuck my hatered for Family Guy is delicious. I just watched the OJ Simpson episode on HULU. Peter tries to distract Louis from the fact he left Stewie on the roof by cutting to country singer Conway Twitty.........for over 3 fucking minutes! Not a cartoon version of him either. Over 3 minutes of this bullshit! That's not including Peter walking around for a minute and a half to Dust in the Wind.
Click to expand...

hah yeah, I actually skipped back to see how long the conway twitty section was. 15% of the show. the OJ humour was so old and irrelevant and trying to pass it off with that "lost episode" faux disclaimer at the start is a bit of an insult.

TheDeceased said:
The OJ simpson episode is perhaps the worst thing I have ever seen on television. It's incredibly bad. Almost worth watching out of sheer curiosity sake to see how low the show has gotten. It was like watching an old friend die horribly in a car accident.
Click to expand...

well put. it's been pretty bad for a while now but this has to be a low point.

Finder said:
South Park's lampoon of their show is spot on. I had forgotten all about that Cleveland show...is it really still coming out?
Click to expand...

i like to think that manatees are somewhat more creative and yeah cleveland show is still coming out

Clevelandshow.jpg


the joke is that he's black and therefore hilarious and his neighbours are bears and english people.
 
Wow. That looks stupid as hell. Cleveland is one of the most boring, monotone characters on that miserable show. That's like taking Eddie the dog from Fraiser and giving him his own show.

No wait. It's nothing like that. Fraiser's funny while Family Guy gets more why the fuck with each episode.

His neighbors are bears and english people? Really? That seems like one of their excruciating, "Yeah. That's like that time we" jokes strung out over 22 minutes instead of the usual 2minutes, which feels like an hour.

Give Stewie and Brian their own show and get rid of Family Guy and this Cleveland bullshit. They're the only two characters even remotely funny to come out of the brain of Seth McFarlan. I'd even settle for a Quagmire spin-off. Screw Cleveland and his horrible foot odor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top