In 1977 the show Happy Days had a 3 part season premiere. In this premiere Fonzi's bravery was questioned by... someone, I'm not sure because Happy Days was not my thing. What did the Fonz do? He put on his super short Jack Ritter swim trunks (Three's Company is always and forever my man short shorts watermark. Everything was either pre-Three's Company or after it), and he obviously kept his leather jacket on, got on some water skis and literally jumped a shark. It will forever be known as one of the most infamous and absolutely abusrd television moments of all time, and has become a watermark for how ridiculous shows can get.
As ludicrous as jumping the shark is, in theory it is a very useful television tool. When your viewership begins to drop there you are left with two options: 1. Stay the course and hope they come back. Hold that integrity and go do what you wanted to do before your show got famous. 2. Jump the shark to hopefully expand the creative boundaries of your show and give yourself more options. Usually if you have a television show and have to have that conversation then you know the end is close at hand.
Option 1 never works, because usually once a viewer abandons ship they don't come back. So jumping the shark is not always a bad thing, you do what has to be done to keep interest alive. Everybody jumps the shark. There are a handful of shows that jumped the shark early and even in the first season, just to get it out of the way and then thrive because their viewers have no idea what to expect week to week. These are often the best shows (Lost, House, Rescue Me, 24). The difference is when you jump the shark after 3 or 4 seasons people cease to see it as expanding the creative boundaries of your show, and see it as ridiculous stunts for viewership. In the words of the great Denzel Washington in Training Day (click the link, I have been waiting to quote that for so long), and the proof is in the pudding, when the times got tough your show sold out and went with the audience.
Weeds jumped the shark in season 4, when they left Agrestic and moved to Ren Mar, and have been on the run ever since. The first three seasons set up a near pattern for the show, Nancy sells weed, Andy smokes it and gets laid (and is usually hilarious... greatest clip ever). Shane is weird, and Silas finds girlfriends everywhere and whines (one was even an Olsen twin!). Since the end of season 4 it has been one ridiculous plotline after another: a murder by a family member, a marriage, an underground tunnel to Mexico, an engagement, multiple armed hold ups, heavy Mexican mob ties, a lion, and a crazy high school teacher.
If Weed jumped the shark a bit earlier (Season 2 maybe) then viewers like me would not be so quick to criticize. On the other hand, the show is still absolutely hilarious and I watched every episode this season. Couple that with the fact that Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) is somehow getting hotter and hotter every season. I think that this show probably has a max of 2 seasons left (especially after how this season ends), and I will watch every episode.
Season 6 Overall Rating: 6.5/10 Good, pretty funny, definitely not great.
No comments:
Post a Comment