The Shark Once Jumped...

[Kaos]

I recently discovered ME-TV which airs episodes of great (in retrospect many are awful) old shows like Family Affair, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle, Love American Style (an old favorite of mine), Cannon, Mission Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Kojack, Rockford Files, Batman, That Girl, My Three Sons and a bunch of other shows that were staples of my growing up years. 

One show that I watched religiously with my grandmother was Perry Mason.  Still love the theme song. 

So a Mason episode was on the other night and as I watched it I discovered that even the great litigator Mason could jump the shark.  This may not be the only episode in which Mason leaped astride the beast of the deep, but he was certainly clinging to a dorsal fin in Episode 239 of his 271 episode run:  The Case of the Grinning Gorilla.

Della buys a package of junk at an auction and it turns out that some rich guy wants it back.  In the process of dealing with the rich guy, Mason interacts with overacting Victor Buono and deals with Captain Stubing (who is stuffed into a suit meant for somebody half his size).  There's also a rampaging gorilla trashing the room of the now-dead rich guy. Mason manages to escape the monkey and rescue a former housekeeper being terrorized by the hairy silverback by throwing a few coins on the floor and staring at the ape with his manson lamps as he walks past it.  Of course the ape isn't the killer and the story unravels from there, but the ape interaction?  Shark written all over it. 

Saw an episode of Brady Bunch recently too.  The introduction of Cousin Fuckersludge.  Little bastard looked like John Denver playing Benjamin Button.  That was very sharkish too. 

Just out of curiosity can you pinpoint other instances where a show jumped the shark and hastened its decline?

For Sopranos?  It was the moment Vito popped up from between the construction worker's legs.  Some of the greatest episodes in the series followed in the wake of that disaster of a scene, but the remainder of the series run devolved from that storyline tangent. 

[GH2001]

Funny you mentioned ME-TV. I caught it last week on the HD Antenna. Not sure where it is coming from but Petticoat Junction was on. Fan-friggin-tastic. Perry Mason (b&w, not the newer color) was on afterwards.

I used to watch Rockford Files in syndication on another network as a kid. Also with Emergency and Mannix. I thought Rockford Files was the coolest show ever. Reminds me of Hunter in the 80's which I thought was also a decent show. What does this all mean? TV shows today SUCK for the most part if middle of the pack shows from way back are better.

[Godfather]

Happy Days has a terrible jumping the shark episode.

[AUChizad]

Happy Days has a terrible jumping the shark episode.

It would seem as if this was a witty pun since the phrase "jumping the shark" has taken on its own meaning, but this is actually where the term derived.

[GH2001]

It would seem as if this was a witty pun since the phrase "jumping the shark" has taken on its own meaning, but this is actually where the term derived.

I saw that Episode as a kid and thought to myself at the time that it was terrible compared to the rest of the earlier episodes. Guess I wasn't alone in thinking that. Fonzy waterskis? Gimme a break. Horrible. He needed to stick to getting free plays on the jukebox.

[Snaggletiger]

I saw that Episode as a kid and thought to myself at the time that it was terrible compared to the rest of the earlier episodes. Guess I wasn't alone in thinking that. Fonzy waterskis? Gimme a break. Horrible. He needed to stick to getting free plays on the jukebox.

Did exactly the same thing.  I was watching thinking, oh man don't go there. 

[Kaos]

Funny you mentioned ME-TV. I caught it last week on the HD Antenna. Not sure where it is coming from but Petticoat Junction was on. Fan-friggin-tastic. Perry Mason (b&w, not the newer color) was on afterwards.

I used to watch Rockford Files in syndication on another network as a kid. Also with Emergency and Mannix. I thought Rockford Files was the coolest show ever. Reminds me of Hunter in the 80's which I thought was also a decent show. What does this all mean? TV shows today SUCK for the most part if middle of the pack shows from way back are better.

I don't know if middle of the pack are way better.  I caught an episode of Cannon.  It was laughably bad.  It was like a parody it was so awful. 

Rockford was on last night, BTW. 

[Godfather]

It would seem as if this was a witty pun since the phrase "jumping the shark" has taken on its own meaning, but this is actually where the term derived.

No shit...really.

[Kaos]

I saw that Episode as a kid and thought to myself at the time that it was terrible compared to the rest of the earlier episodes. Guess I wasn't alone in thinking that. Fonzy waterskis? Gimme a break. Horrible. He needed to stick to getting free plays on the jukebox.

Then it took the shark and fucked it in the gills when aliens from Ork started showing up.  And Chachi.  Fuck Chachi. 

Even Gunsmoke apparently jumped the shark.  Today's episode?

A midget shows up in Dodge City claiming he'll turn into an elephant at midnight. 

Yes.  That's the storyline. 

[GH2001]

Then it took the shark and fucked it in the gills when aliens from Ork started showing up.  And Chachi.  Fuck Chachi. 

Even Gunsmoke apparently jumped the shark.  Today's episode?

A midget shows up in Dodge City claiming he'll turn into an elephant at midnight. 

Yes.  That's the storyline. 

Gunsmoke was bound to. They only had over 500 episodes or something. I think they are the longest running show (fiction) ever.

[AUChizad]

Gunsmoke was bound to. They only had over 500 episodes or something. I think they are the longest running show (fiction) ever.

Simpsons.

[AUChizad]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons

The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series.

[GH2001]

Simpsons.

Ok, until recently then.

Not trying to knock the simpsons or anything because I like it, but keeping a real live cast together as long as Gunsmoke did is amazing. Animation is no walk in the park either, but what GS did for that long was just nuts. There aren't too many shows now that will reach that magic 200 episode mark.

[Kaos]

Simpsons.

Difference is nobody's watched that show since 1994.  It may still be on but nobody knows it.

[wesfau2]

What does this all mean? TV shows today SUCK for the most part if middle of the pack shows from way back are better.

No, it means that nostalgia has you believing that those old shows are that much better.  Network tv has always been mostly garbage.


Side Note:  HUGE props to GF for the new avatar.  The man gots mad skillz, yo.  So far I've been Terry Bowden, Alan from The Hangover and Danny Noonan.  Kudos, sir.

[GH2001]

No, it means that nostalgia has you believing that those old shows are that much better.  Network tv has always been mostly garbage.


Side Note:  HUGE props to GF for the new avatar.  The man gots mad skillz, yo.  So far I've been Terry Bowden, Alan from The Hangover and Danny Noonan.  Kudos, sir.

Well, if it isn't Sigmund Freud telling me why I think what I do.

Surely, you don't think the "ahead of it's time" writing on Andy Griffith and the chemistry/dialogue between its characters was "garbage".

Back then, half the shows were junk. Now, 99% of them are junk. That's the difference. Better humor, better writing, better acting (although it wasn't great on many old shows either).

[wesfau2]

Surely, you don't think the "ahead of it's time" writing on Andy Griffith and the chemistry/dialogue between its characters was "garbage".

No.  What I said was: 

Network tv has always been mostly garbage.

Then you said:

(although it wasn't great on many old shows either).

So, essentially we're saying the same fucking thing, Cochise.

[AUChizad]

Well, if it isn't Sigmund Freud telling me why I think what I do.

Surely, you don't think the "ahead of it's time" writing on Andy Griffith and the chemistry/dialogue between its characters was "garbage".

Back then, half the shows were junk. Now, 99% of them are junk. That's the difference. Better humor, better writing, better acting (although it wasn't great on many old shows either).

I can't watch a full episode of Andy Griffith without falling asleep.

Give me American Horror Story, Eastbound & Down, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, and at least a dozen other shows currently on the air a thousand times before an episode of Andy Griffith.

Wes is right. Nostalgia is kinder than time.

[GH2001]

No.  What I said was: 

Then you said:
So, essentially we're saying the same fucking thing, Cochise.

I was speaking of the acting actually. Some of it was horrid. Gilligans Island and Green Acres are two prime example. I'd rather smell hot vomit mixed with Pabst Blue Ribbon than to watch either of those.

And how dare you use racial slurs. Bigot!

[GH2001]

I can't watch a full episode of Andy Griffith without falling asleep.

Give me American Horror Story, Eastbound & Down, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, and at least a dozen other shows currently on the air a thousand times before an episode of Andy Griffith.

Wes is right. Nostalgia is kinder than time.

Also remember that you may be using today's metrics to judge a show from 1960. Andy was way ahead of its time for 1960. Especially if you look around that time period at the other shows and compare. Light years ahead of everything else, including Lucy, Beaver, Hillbillies, etc.