Jumping the Shark is the moment when an established long-running series changes in a significant manner. This can range from something relatively small like the introduction of a new gimmick, all the way up to the magnitude of a full-on Genre Shift, in an attempt to stay fresh. Ironically, it is this moment makes the viewers realize that the show has finally run out of ideas. It's reached its peak, it'll never be the same again, and it's all downhill from here. It's Ruined Forever!!!
For those not aware Jumping The Shark refers to an episode of Happy Days where Fonzi jumped over a shark on water skis. This was after he had jumpted over barrels on his motorcycle and got injured and later admitied it was a stupid thing to do. Thus negating any character development. This is generally used to refer to a moment where a show has hit its peak and from there, it's all downhill. Just as an interesting sidenote, while the link goes to Da' Tropes, the phrase pre-dates TV Tropes by many years. It even had it's own website documenting user submitted moments when shows jumped the shark.
What I am postulating is if it is possible to un=jump. Can a show, after hitting that peak, return to it? Does that ever happen, or once the jump occurs, is it pretty much doomed to be downhill from there? Discuss.
Submitted February 28, 2019 at 02:04PM by dyloniusfunk https://ift.tt/2H49pUu
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