The worst "jump the shark" moments in TV

[kwanfan1818]

I think "Sex and the City" jumped the shark when they made Baryshnikov's character such a train wreck that Big seemed better by comparison.

"Days of Our Lives" jumped the shark with the "Marlena Possessed by the Devil" storyline. It didn't even have the comic relief of the Cassadines threatening to freeze the Earth if the Earth didn't pay a giant ransom or the of Elizabeth Taylor as a Cassadine.

[michiruwater]

I don't even watch the show, but I'm pretty sure the general consensus was that Grey's Anatomy jumped the shark when Izzie started seeing that dead guy (Denny?) all over the place. I remember everyone I knew crabbing about it, and then they all stopped watching the show.

[Lanie]

I loved House until it turned into a show with a soap opera feel after Amber died. Blah.

[allezfred]

I much preferred the Russian to Whiney Berger in Sex and the City.

And Carrie's character was pretty much self-centred from the start of the series. That was the point innit.

I actually preferred the final series to the weird half series they did when SJP got preggers. Although I'm willing to forgive any TV show where a scene begins with "I'm dating a guy with the funkiest tasting

Spoiler

spunk

."

[misskarne]

I loved House until it turned into a show with a soap opera feel after Amber died. Blah.

House jumped the shark when they ditched the original three fellows IMO.

I'm desperately, desperately, desperately hoping that House Husbands doesn't jump the shark. But I fear it will. The numer of times per episode Justin makes me facepalm and go "Don't do that! It won't help!" is steadily increasing and the introduction of Kane's "clucky" side and Tom's reluctance to go along with that is potentially shark-inducing (especially when not two episodes ago Tom was freaking out about raising his niece and only just come to terms with parenting HER, let alone another baby).

[l'etoile]

Friends. When Joey and Rachel fell for each other.

[Wyliefan]

I loved House until it turned into a show with a soap opera feel after Amber died. Blah.

I finally gave up on "House" after House told Cuddy that he was so happy with her that he didn't care whether he was a good doctor any more. I didn't mind that they were together or that he was happy -- what I minded was the idea that House could ever stop caring about being a good doctor, no matter what happened. That was the very core of who he was, and to even suggest otherwise meant that the shark was well and truly jumped.

I did come back for the series finale, though, just for old times' sake.

[Rogue]

I think Gray's Anatomy may have just jumped the shark this season as a result of that stupid plane crash - killing off Matt and Lexie and cutting off Arizona's leg, and ruining the hand of the brilliant surgeon Dr. McDreamy. It's all so miserable - throwing the lives of the majority of the cast into free fall - I'm not sure I want to continue watching. As a matter of fact, I skipped it last week.

Ruining Dr. McDreamy's hand is also a rehash of Dr. Burke's ruined hand in the earlier seasons, when Christina was covering for him until George found out.

[Bostonfan]

I much preferred the Russian to Whiney Berger in Sex and the City.

But the Berger plot served to give us the episode where he broke up with her on a Post-It, which I thought was when she encounters Bergers friends in a bar.

And thinking about it, Sex & the City never really jumped the shark IMO. They had some cringeworthy moments, but all shows do. They never tanked to the point that it continued to decline (the Sex in the City 2 movie notwithstanding). Samantha's reveal of breast cancer in the cab ride to Carrie was one of the more effective and powerful scenes in the entire series, and that came in the final season.

[Latte]

I think the worse I ever saw was when Mork and Mindy had a baby and it was a 60 or 70 year old Johnathon Winters.
Of course the show was cancelled after that season.
I wonder why.

[duane]

To go back some years:

Three Stooges
Still hilarious after Curly left, but after Shemp left, all of the Curly-knockoffs (especially Curly Joe)--ugh!

Our Gang/Little Rascals
When the kids got too old, they were replaced. But fortunately, they were replaced with equally talented kids. But when the series moved to MGM, not only did the series change to being preachy, annoying goodness, but annoying kids (Froggy, Micky, Janet to name a few) with little acting talent were added.

Leave It To Beaver
Duh. Once the Beav got older and his voice changed, the show lost its appeal.

Bewitched
Dick Sergent was no Dick York.

I Dream of Jeannie
When Tony and Jeannie got married.

All In The Family
When Gloria and Mike moved out of the house and had a kid.

Moonlighting
When the two characters finally got together. But the sexual tension between the Willis/Shepard characters is what made the show.

I agree with the posts that Golden Girls didn't have a shark moment! Hilarious from beginning to end! Same with Gilligan's Island (but it didn't stay on long enough).

[lulu]

ITA about Leave it to Beaver. When the entire premise of your show is based upon the antics of cute little kid and his interaction with his family & world around him, then you're going to be SOL once said kid is no longer little or cute.

[Karina1974]

To go back some years:

Three Stooges
but after Shemp left,

Shemp didn't leave the act in the 1950's (as opposed to the 1930's, when he got tired of Ted Healy's drunken binges) - he died from IIRC a heart attack.

[Rob]

I loved House until it turned into a show with a soap opera feel after Amber died. Blah.

For me, it started going downhill in Season 3 when the David Morse character was trying to take House down. I watched Season 4 and part of 5, then stopped.

[duane]

Shemp didn't leave the act in the 1950's (as opposed to the 1930's, when he got tired of Ted Healy's drunken binges) - he died from IIRC a heart attack.

Yes, and Curly had a stoke

[BaileyCatts]

Totally agree with everyone about Roseanne. The Lottery was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back for me. The first few after that were meh-to-okay, but I tanked on that show once it got so ridiculous after they won. Then turned in for the finale and was like WTF?!!

I watch the old Roseanne reruns all the time, and those first few seasons up until about the 1994 season are hysterical. Then the show started to turn bitter and lost me little by little as it went on.

[Jenny]

Another one: when some eville person made it snow in Port Charles in July on General Hospital in the early 80s. Before that, it was your typical soap, but it tried to venture into James Bond territory and got really weird.

The soap I watched for about 30 years on and off was the Young and the Restless - I could always catch up somehow, and there was a period a few years ago when it was really character focused and quite good IMO. Then they had a series of changes in producers and writers, and kept reversing storylines and overhauling characters until you didn't know them any more.

For me, it wasn't a jump the shark moment as much as a piling up of sharks that I could no longer climb over - too many plastic surgeries to look like other characters, too many invalid or doctored DNA tests, too many people suddenly being related (and then unrelated with the next round of writers), too many characters doing a complete turnaround and becoming different people, too much history and past storylines completely ignored.

[Grannyfan]

To go back some years:

Three Stooges
Still hilarious after Curly left, but after Shemp left, all of the Curly-knockoffs (especially Curly Joe)--ugh!


Moonlighting
When the two characters finally got together. But the sexual tension between the Willis/Shepard characters is what made the show.

Same with Gilligan's Island (but it didn't stay on long enough).

Another trip to long ago TV land, I Love Lucy I think jumped the shark when they moved to the country.

I always preferred Shemp to any Curly. And Moonlighting is the best example I can think of for this topic. I loved that show. Everyone wanted Dave and Maddie to get together, but it killed the show.

I never found anything funny in Gilligan's Island, not even when I was a kid, and have never understood its popularity.

A couple of other shows that never seemed to lose their spark for me were the old Dick Van Dyke Show and later the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

[Alixana]

The soap I watched for about 30 years on and off was the Young and the Restless - I could always catch up somehow, and there was a period a few years ago when it was really character focused and quite good IMO. Then they had a series of changes in producers and writers, and kept reversing storylines and overhauling characters until you didn't know them any more.

For me, it wasn't a jump the shark moment as much as a piling up of sharks that I could no longer climb over - too many plastic surgeries to look like other characters, too many invalid or doctored DNA tests, too many people suddenly being related (and then unrelated with the next round of writers), too many characters doing a complete turnaround and becoming different people, too much history and past storylines completely ignored.

Word .. I mean, how many times could you play the "I love you so I'll lock you in my basement till you fall in love with me" card?

[orbitz]

The Brady Bunch - when cousin Olivier joined the cast.

Charlie Angel - when Shelley Hack joined.

Three's Company - when Jennily Harrison joined.