Worst Shark Jumps

**BrendaBat** · 05-22-2005, 01:57 AM

-Roseanne: In its early seasons this show was, hands down, one of the best things to ever air on television. The realistic way it dealt with family life and the fact that Roseanne actually looked like a middle-aged mother (most sit-coms cast women who don’t look a day over 30 to be the mother of teenagers) made this show relateable. It was funny as hell to boot.
Most people think this show jumped when the Conners won the lottery. But, in my opinion, the show jumped when toward the end of the series when half the cast suddenly turned gay! I have no problem with gay characters; but I have a hard time believing that Landford, Illinois would suddenly become the San Francisco of the Mid West.

It seemed like they were just adding gay characters for the sole purpose of stirring up controversy.
The show tried to fix the lottery nonsense by saying all the post-lottery episodes were just a fantasy Roseanne wrote to cope with Dan dying. That would have been an okay way to end the show. Except it also said that the ENTIRE show was part of Roseanne’s novel and, in “reality” Jackie was gay and never had a baby, Darline married Mark, and Becky married David. This felt like a slap in the face to everyone who grew up with those characters.

I could think of other shows, but Roseanne is the one that stands out the most to me. For the longest time, it was hard to watch even the early episodes because I knew how the series would end.

So, what do you guys think are the worst shark jumps?

**Michael24** · 05-22-2005, 02:06 AM

I can't really think of some of the worst at the moment, but I agree with what you said about ROSEANNE. I love the early seasons, up to about Season 5 or so, maybe 6. The episode in the final season that had Roseanne taking on terrorists on a train (complete with a Steven Seagal cameo) was a real head-scratcher.

**Jave** · 05-22-2005, 03:38 AM

Charmed has one of the worst shark jumps I've ever seen. The instant Rose McGowan (Paige) joined the series it was all downhill after that. There are still some good moments, but now the series is so desperate for ideas they've gone to the level of stealing stuff from other sources. Those writers seriously need to stop reading Harry Potter.

Honorable mention goes to The King of Queens. Somewhere around season 3 Carrie became such an annoying, unlikable character that the show is not enjoyable anymore.

**Sailor V** · 05-22-2005, 02:52 PM

All That Season +7 I hated how they screwed up the show!

**Leaping Larry Jojo** · 05-22-2005, 03:08 PM

I don't watch a lot of King of Queens but what I have seen, which were probably new episodes, Carrie seems okay to me.

The Simpsons: Most people agree it was around season 10 where the crap really hit the fan. I point to the episode where Homer killed Maude with that makeshift cannon, and he felt absolutely zero guilt about it. This is when Homer officially made his transition from endearing loser to jerk.

Buffy (I know this is my opinion only): I felt the show lost a bit of energy after she graduated from high school, but the real clincher for me was the Riley nonsense. I couldn't buy the lame science fiction of that season and then, of course, turning Spike from an awesome villain to a member of the Annoying Team in subsequent seasons. This was about the 4th season.

X-Files: In truth this show began sliding because they never ever resolved anything. This gimmick got tired around the 5th or 6th season, but I think when Mulder and Scully started shuffling in and out of the show, it never recovered.

Melrose Place: This show hit its peak period around its 4th or 5th season, when it was the ultimate sleaze show on Fox. I would point out the real Jump occurred when Sidney got killed by a careening car. After that the show just started repeating itself over and over and over...

Beverly Hills 90210: When Shannon Doherty left. That was only the 3rd or 4th season, too.

Dawson's Creek: I can't quite place the exact episode, but somewhere around the 3rd or 4th season, there was a direction that didn't quite pan out. It came with the arrival of Andy and her gay brother, two characters I did like at first.

**sag_2002** · 05-22-2005, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Sailor V

All That Season +7 I hated how they screwed up the show!

Agreed. I still miss Kenan & Kel, and this season's Vital Information dude is nowhere near the combined level of Lori Beth and Danny.

**Style** · 05-22-2005, 03:38 PM

Smallville season 2 finale/season 3 premier. Cast-away Lex and willingly-Red-Kryptonite-biker-Clark = That show's down fall. Because up to that point, Season 2 had been impressing me.

**Caffeine King** · 05-22-2005, 04:00 PM

I've only seen Roseanne in the reruns but the ones I saw after they won the lottery I thought were awful too. There was one that was the stupidest thing...it was a parody of Rosemary's Baby.

that train episode sounds dreadful too.

I've read about the finale. what an awful way to end an almost perfect series.

Other shows that "jumped the shark" All That, The Simpsons

those are all that i can think of right now

**Michael24** · 05-22-2005, 05:08 PM

^ In the final days of ROSEANNE, they also did GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and a LEAVE IT TO BEAVER-style episodes.

ER was more of a gradual shark jumping show. As the final original cast members departed, I started losing interest. None of the new characters were at all interesting. To me, the show finally official jumped the shark when they chose to kill of Dr. Romano by dropping a helicopter on him. (If it had been dropped on Dr. Weaver, then I might have stuck around for awhile longer.

)

**BrendaBat** · 05-22-2005, 07:32 PM

Another shark jump that ruined a series I loved was when Lois and Clark got together in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The writers of that show just didn't seem to know what to do with them as a couple. They lost all their chemistry and turned into one of those vomit-inducing couples that just make out and say stuff like "I wuv you so much my snookie wookie soulmate". Like, GAG me with a spoon! >_<
And I won't even get into all the wierd crap with H.G. Wells.

The final episode was one of the biggest WTF moments I've ever had while watching television. It revolved around them wanting a baby and finding out they couldn't have one. Then, in the final scene, a baby wrapped in a blanket with the Superman symbol on it is found on their doorstep. No big fight scene, no saving the universe. Just a #$% super-baby!

I swear, after the show jumped, Dean Cain's hotness was the only thing that kept me tuning in week after week.

**oldgreypole** · 05-22-2005, 08:13 PM

One of the biggest shark jumpers of them all is "Sesame Street." It jumped the shark in so many different ways. One major jump that took place was when they changed the format somewhere in the later 1990's. This was after I stopped watching the show, though.

**Joker85** · 05-22-2005, 08:22 PM

ER: Started jumping when a lot of episodes revolved around Abby's family. Then Mark getting a brain tumor. Finally, the helicopter falling on poor Dr. Romano was the final nail in the coffin.

The X-Files: When Mulder left the show and only appeared in a recurring manor, in seasons 8 and 9. Season 9 had a lot of jump the shark moments as well.

Married...With Children: When they brought on Ted McGinely as Jefferson D'Arcy and some little kid who was supposed to be a cousin of the Bundy's. They also had a 'this season was a dream' thing going on when Peg and Marcy got pregnant.

Frasier: When Niles and Daphne got together

Friends: The 3rd or 4th time Ross and Rachel got together, broke up, got together, broke up, etc.

Will and Grace: When a week didn't go by without some famous guest star, somewhere around the fourth or fifth season.

The Cosby Show: When all the kids grew up and the brought on Olivia to replace them.

**Elven Moon** · 05-22-2005, 08:38 PM

Sesame Street - Giving Elmo top priority and most of the main focus. It just isn't the same anymore.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch - When Harvey found out Sabrina was a witch and the show was moved to the WB. We really didn't need to see her college years. It got even worse when, for reasons unknown to me, Hilda and Zelda disappeared and she moved into the old house with her roommates. Didn't she get married, too?

**GregX** · 05-22-2005, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by Joker85

Married...With Children: When they brought on Ted McGinely as Jefferson D'Arcy and some little kid who was supposed to be a cousin of the Bundy's. They also had a 'this season was a dream' thing going on when Peg and Marcy got pregnant.

About that last one. Kate Sagal was pregnant the season that they did that, and she had a miscarriage. The producers felt it would be more respectful to her after her tragedy to erase Peg's pregnancy rather than have her character give birth right after she lost her own baby.

**Lord Dalek** · 05-22-2005, 10:01 PM

The Colin Baker years of Doctor Who.

**Temple Fugate** · 05-22-2005, 10:47 PM

Sliders: I'm tempted to say it jumped when John Rhys-Davies left the show, but things really started to...ahem...slide when the show was picked up by Sci-Fi. The whole "Quinn is from another world and he has a brother" thing just came out of nowhere. Jerry O'Connell probably saw where the show was going and jumped ship, resulting in an even worse season that I can't bear to re-watch. This is one of the few times I wish a show HADN'T been saved from cancellation.

West Wing: Jumped at Bartlet's re-election. Instead of making an intriguing and suspenseful election campaign, Sorkin chose to parody Bush. "Game On" was a great episode, with Bartlet totally schooling Gov. Richie, but everyone and their mother saw the win coming. If they had built up someone who was an intellectual equal to Bartlet, we would have seen some amazing on-air banter (which I'm positive Sorkin could have pulled off). Following the re-election and Rob Lowe's regretable but understandable departure, we get a VP sex scandal and Zoe's kidnapping, and then two years of crap with a third on the way. A real shame for a show once lauded by critics as the best drama on television.

**ZephyrSamba** · 05-23-2005, 10:24 AM

This is rather an oldie but I'll mention it anyway -

Murphy Brown: I really enjoyed this show until the whole "she's having a baby" thing hit - I don't think the baby plot itself is what ruined the show, but it seemed like right around that time the writers just got tired of the whole thing as the plots were no longer all that funny, the characters became charactures of themselves ... ugh, and then when Miles and Corky got married and eventually Miles left altogether ... I'd stopped watching by that point but I've since caught a few of those episodes in reruns and ... well ... they just ain't good =P

**Leaping Larry Jojo** · 05-23-2005, 11:39 AM

I thought Jefferson D'arcy was a worthy replacement for Steve on Married...with Childen. I agree that perhaps the show jumped when they put in "Seven" though. Stupid cute kid.

Also, "Ellen" kinda jumped when, heh, Ellen "came out" on her show. Then it was gay jokes all the time. Glad to see that she's doing well on her new talk show though.

**Knightmare** · 05-23-2005, 02:08 PM

With Rosanne, I thought that the lotto episode should have been the finale, becuase they'd struggled for so many years and their be a hppay ending then.

To me 90210 really jumped the shark when Jason Prisetly left, the show was about two kids from the midwest coming out to Califorina and learning how to fit in, when Shanon left then we still had Brandon and see his adventures but once he left, it just felt flat.