In the USA, Happy Days was an icon in TV going on forever in TV time. Before they tried to spin-off new shows like Lavern and Shirley and Joanie loves Chachie, they tried to get viewers back by having the Fonz jump a shark tank with his motorcycle.
When a show loses ratings and the writers make a desperate attempt to keep viewers, It is called "jumping the shark".

As much as I love the idea, I have always thought that going back in time was SciFi's way to jump the shark; Captain Kirk against the nazis. The other harbinger of scifi doom seems to be cloning; like Ripley in A4.

What other things in scifi make you cringe and start counting down the episodes?

I am happy to say that BSG never had a Jump the Shark moment for me. Neither did Firefly...

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No, they are not going to see this coming...

bring back the borg, no matter where you are, or what timeline you are in.. god damn it, the borg are always there.

related, easy way to write yourself out of a corner. Everything has a queen. The Borg, and yes even Aliens.. I don't think James did it for that reason, but I have never really liked the queen.

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still alive

When a "cute little kid" saves the day, and they give him/her actual duties to perform or becomes a regular character who is "really smart for their age".


It's nothing more than a desperate attempt to get more teens/pre-teens to watch a show. Even as a teenager I thought it was stupid.


Galactica 1980 had the "brilliant child scientist". I think there may have been something similar in the last season of Buck Rogers.

TNG had Wesley Crusher saving the day almost every week in the 1st season. The writers learned very quickly to back off of that theme!

By the way Joe- I remember that Happy Days episode: Fonz jumped the shark with water skis (and while wearing his leather jacket with bathing trunks).

Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Here he is in all his leather jacket and swim trunk goodness,
Fonzie jumps the shark !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDthMGtZKa4



For myself, a real killer is throwing in goofy sidekicks into a mostly serious movie.

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Scott
13

A10/TQ2.0.42142E1

LOL, watch BSG again if you think they never jumped the shark.

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WARNING: Here comes the oh-so-common "speaking of, did you guys see..." line...

Speaking of Fonzie, has anybody here seen the episode of Family Guy where Peter decides to start a religion based on Fonzie?

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Squad Leader, 58th Regt., 2nd Batt., "Morse's Marauders" - U.S.S. Azuera
Primary MOS: Rifleman
Secondary MOS: Combat Demolitions

"When the going gets tough, the tough call on the Colonial Marines."

Even though I loved the series, I still say yours was the best season three synopsis - "Everyone whines. There, you're caught up."

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General all around pain in the ass and master of the overshare.
"...a geeky kinda dorky kinda nerdy kinda gurl...and I like it!"

UKCM FOREIGN LEGION:
"DEVIANT DRAGOONS"

Uhhh, somewhere around Hellraiser 90 I think

I've been racking my brain on this one.......all I can think of is the second Fox execs said 'Hey lets make another Alien movie without Cameron or Scott directing'

On a more serious note....what if Fonzi had not made the jump.....?

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More folks woulda watched?

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PFC Tom "Kenny" Kness
A10/TQ2.0.72155E1

To be fair, there was nothing good about Glactica '80. More like a bad CHiP's spin off


And if the Fonz did not jump the shark, we would have nothing to call it, although, I believe jump the queen was done by Mel Brooks.

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Rob Slater
A08/TQ2.0.42136E1

Don't get me wrong- nothing would have saved that show. However it seemed to bury itself with another Jump The Shark criteria:

Same character, different actor. In BSG1980's case Apollo and Starbuck were "replaced" by Boxey (who grew up pretty damn quickly) and... the other blond guy.

I know this doesn't exactly fit the "same character/different actor" category, but I'm sure (back in 1980) everyone expected Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict to be back in the series.

This kinda happened to X-Files when David Duchovny left the show and was downgraded to a recurring guest. Same with Gillian Anderson, they replaced them with Dogget and... the other chick. I stopped watching the show until the last few episodes of the final season.

So a main character being written out sounds the death knell for me.

Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

When It comes to science fiction films I consider any film to have
"Jumped the Shark" when the development of special effects
take a priority over plot development, or an entire film that's
filmed in front of a blue screen. A fine example of this is

The Star Wars Prequels

Another thing I consider jumping the shark is Traveling back in
the past to correct the future. I think Star Trek did that a zillion
and a half times.

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If you accept pocket lint as a currency well I'll take it all!

or an alternate reality, over done. And soon to be seen again on the big screen

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Rob Slater
A08/TQ2.0.42136E1

what about, bring in the hot girl to save the show. (Cough) Seven of nine, (cough)

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still alive

Wow! Are you actually complaining about a hot chick?

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General all around pain in the ass and master of the overshare.
"...a geeky kinda dorky kinda nerdy kinda gurl...and I like it!"

UKCM FOREIGN LEGION:
"DEVIANT DRAGOONS"

No, but I understand it's just because the ratings slipped... She was the ultimate shark jump, she was Borg and boob all in one!

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still alive

I don't know about her being a 'shark jump' , but I do know that once they removed all the extra implants, she was extremely hot . And that's what really matters .

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Squad Leader, 58th Regt., 2nd Batt., "Morse's Marauders" - U.S.S. Azuera
Primary MOS: Rifleman
Secondary MOS: Combat Demolitions

"When the going gets tough, the tough call on the Colonial Marines."

That's because the kept the two best implants.


What.

Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Haha Kevin, haha.

Although I must say -and this is something I think Kevin will appreciate- I have gained a newfound respect and even liking for the Original Series of Star Trek. My dad borrowed some of the episodes on VHS from a friend of his. Some really good ones.

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Squad Leader, 58th Regt., 2nd Batt., "Morse's Marauders" - U.S.S. Azuera
Primary MOS: Rifleman
Secondary MOS: Combat Demolitions

"When the going gets tough, the tough call on the Colonial Marines."