jumping the shark

**devnull** · 07-28-2003, 05:04 AM

after reading joe use this phrase in another thread to refer to a show going downhill, i looked up its origins and found a link to this site: http://www.jumptheshark.com

where i promptly lost an hour or so looking around. maybe you all know about this already? if not... to quote from wordorigins.com, jumping the shark is the defining moment when you know your favorite TV show will never be the same again. (the phrase refers to an episode of happy days where the fonz jumps a shark tank on waterskis). the site has huge database of tv series and polls fans for the moment the show "jumped the shark." so i wasted lots of time wandering through the dusty vaults of my favorite 80s and 90s tv and finally treated myself to the buffy page:

http://www.jumptheshark.com/b/buffy.htm

where i lost at least another hour reading all the commentary. looks like they started the commentary rolling somewhere in season 2 or 3, so you can watch opinions on things change as the series progressed.

lots of the people posting are apparently on crack (many had big issues with willow going gay) so prepare yourself for some major morons. but besides the dipshit comments, which are the minority, i thought it was really fun to read now after so much time (and plot) has passed. some of the moments that people hated when the episodes first aired are now widely agreed to be highlights of the series (buffy/angel, tara, etc).

anyway thought yall might enjoy it. (thanks joe

)

Emperor Penguin · 07-28-2003, 03:25 PM

Yeah it's funny because the phrase has such a specific meaning, yet fans and critics can hardly ever agree totally on at what point a show has indeed jumped the shark.

Myra's Girls · 07-28-2003, 04:03 PM

Right now the majority vote is Buffy never jumped the shark! Followed closely by the death of Tara.

So Buffy forumzers, when (if) do you think Buffy jumped the shark?

I say never. I loved the show just as much as ever right up to the end. But if I had to pick a downhill point I'd say it was SIT's (which, strangely enough aren't listed on the jump the shark site).

Chrysta

chrissytina · 07-28-2003, 04:25 PM

i agree with you Chrysta. i don't really think it ever jumped the shark, but if i had to choose, no doubt the whole SIT thang. although they were necessary for the final battle and the whole girl power thing. but then again, had they known more about the amulet, spike could have just saved the day himself. but then, that would have been too simple, eh?

Emperor Penguin · 07-28-2003, 04:55 PM

Not surprisingly, I place the "jumped the shark" point squarely at "Samshed" when Buffy and Spike first had sex.

Yes, there were still some good episodes after that, but that was the moment where it all changed for me.

Of course that's where I run into the problem of S6 and S7 for me. I think S6 had consistently well made episodes even if i thought the storylines were lacking. S7, however, was lacking in story and execution.

So, speaking objectively, yeah the SITs would be a fine "jump" point.

Myra's Girls · 07-28-2003, 05:14 PM

I think the SIT's brought in too many additional characters that couldn't be properly explored and also took away valuable time from the rest of the main characters. They were more distracting than anything and no one could really keep up with the names and fake accents.

I did like how the SIT's were important to the end telling of the Buffy story, that we (girls) all have the potential and how the SIT's all became slayers in the end. But mostly their presence took away from the show more than it gave.

Chrysta

Emperor Penguin · 07-28-2003, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myra's Girls

I did like how the SIT's were important to the end telling of the Buffy story, that we (girls) all have the potential and how the SIT's all became slayers in the end. But mostly their presence took away from the show more than it gave.

Chrysta

Exactly. And when viewed through the lens of the resolution in "Chosen," the presence of the SITs was a necessary evil. Buffy couldn't have arrived at the conclusion she did without dealing with the SITs at some point. Still, one would hope it could have been handled more effectively during the meat of the season than it was.

**devnull** · 07-30-2003, 05:16 PM

right now i agree with you, that it jumped with the SIT mess. i think they tied that up really nicely at the end, but it didn't compensate for the chaos that "non-character" introduced to the series. however i suspect that i might feel differently when i watch all the episodes from s7 back to back on a dvd set or a set of downloads. the pacing might not be so devastatingly slow and meandering.