Jumping the Shark
Are you familiar with the term, "Jumping the Shark?" If not, I will tell you. It refers to a rather famous episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie literally jumped over a shark. It conveys the message of when a television has "jumped the shark" or reached its peak.
I have way too many shows that I follow and keep up with to list them all. So I will just mention a few. Desperate Housewives continues to be outrageous, devious, delicious and always makes me LOL. Perhaps though, with Gabby's daughter being switched at birth, they have. Grey's Anatomy addressed a very real issue with hospitals and stories of revenge in their season finale and opener. I was glued to my seat with that one. Its sister show Private Practice, is testing the shark infested waters as they killed one of their own last season. I mean was that really necessary? But then, they didn't throw him under a bus! Ooops. Maybe Grey's has jumped.
Lost and 24 completed their series last May. Lost was slated for 6 seasons and unless you watched them all you would have no clue if they jumped a shark or a polar bear. Jack Bauer would not jump the shark. He would wrestle it into submission, torture it for answers and then shoot it.
Brothers and Sisters has entered dangerous waters I think. Last season ended with a horrible accident involving the Walker clan. Rob Lowe's character was killed and Patricia Wettig's character is suffering from...wait for it....amnesia. Now while I am impressed with Wettig's acting as well as those around her as they are affected by her confusion, dementia, and "Swiss cheese" memory; as I watched on Sunday, I couldn't help but feel I was watching a day time soap opera. Yes, I realize this is a night time
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Anyway, I still love Desperate Housewives. I think it's one of the best written shows. I don't watch many more than that but the first episode of Glee was a bummer for me and it has been since, so for me, they have jumped.
PS You watch as much tv as I do. I like that.
And the whole evening soap opera thing? Made me laugh. How true that is. I don't like drama shows, I like comedy. Guess that is why I don't watch a lot of television, they are mostly dramas.