Patrick Coston's web site: Jump The Shark

Jumping the shark is that defining moment when your show reaches its peak and you know its all downhill from there.

I had never heard the expression "Jumped the Shark" until a few days before I created this web page. I was listening to the Howard Stern show and they were interviewing Henry Winkler who played the Fonz on Happy Days. Howard said "Happy days really went downhill after the episode where you jumped the shark with your motorcycle." I didn't think much of that comment until that night I was browsing the web and I happened across a site called Jump the Shark. Later that day I was watching a documentary on the Little Rascals and they were talking about when Hal Roach sold the rights to MGM and the show went downhill. I totally agreed and thought I should start my own "Jumped the Shark" web page.

Keep in mind that these are my opinions as of Dec 2002.

Action Man - never jumped
Adams Family - never jumped
Aeon Flux - never jumped
Alf - jumped day 1. I never liked that show.
All in the Family - jumped when Mike & Gloria left, Edith died and Archies niece moved in.
Ally McBeal - never jumped
The Amazing Race - never jumped. I never miss an episode.
American Gladiators - never jumped
Andy Richter Controls The Universe - never jumped
Arli$$ - never jumped
The Banana Splits - never jumped
Battlestar Galactica - never jumped (I never saw Galactica 1980 which I hear sucked)
Batman - jumped when Batgirl joined the cast.
Battlebots - never jumped. I never miss an episode although through the magic of Tivo I can fast-forward through all of the lame commentary and get to the good stuff - the carnage! They had some lame interviewers liked those twin guys but the worse commentary is from Carmen Electra. She's hot, but she's got nothing meaningful to say. I would like to see even more violence than exists now and fights to the death instead of a 3 minute limit with scoring.
Beat the Geeks - never jumped. I love to play along. I would do OK on this show.
The Bernie Mac show - never jumped
Bewitched - jumped when Tabatha was born and Dick Sargeant replaced Dick York as Darrin.
Big Brother - jumped on day 1. Not a bad concept, just poorly executed.
The Bill Cosby Show - never jumped
Boot Camp - never jumped
The Bionic Woman - jumped on day 1. A lame spin-off from the Six Million Dollar Man.
The Brady Bunch - never jumped
Charles in Charge - jumped when it moved into syndication and they replaced the Pembrooke family with another lame family.
Charley's Angels - Kate Jackson left
Cheers - almost never jumped but it did start to go downhill after Coach died.
The Chevy Chase Show - jumped on day 1
CHiPs - when Larry Wilcox (Jon) left the show and Bruce Jenner joined the cast.
The Courtship of Eddie's Father - never jumped
The Cosby Show - never jumped
Crossing Jordan - never jumped
CSI - never jumped
CSI: Miami - never jumped
Danger Mouse - never jumped
Daria - never jumped
Dark Shadows - never jumped. Around age 12 I used to come home school in the 70's and watch this show and get the bejeevers scared out me!
The Dating Game - never jumped
Dead At 21 - never jumped
The Dead Zone - never jumped
A Different World - when Lisa Bonet left the show
Diff'rent Strokes - when Sam joined the cast to be the new cute kid as the other kids aged
Doctor Who - never jumped
Doogie Howser, MD - jumped when Doogie turned 18 and moved out of his parents house.
Downtown - never jumped
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist - never jumped
Dream On - never jumped
The Dukes of Hazzard - When Tom Wopat (Luke) and John Schneider (Bo) left the show and was replaced by those other two "Coy" and "Vance"
Earth 2 - jumped after pilot episode. Too many aliens and other humans. I was looking forward to a "humans vs the elements" show but it turned into something else
The Equalizer - never jumped
Empty Nest - when Kristy McNichol left. She was the only reason I liked that show.
Everwood - never jumped
F-Troop - never jumped
The Facts of Life - when Mrs. Garret left the show and the girls grew up and were no longer cute, especially Blaire gaining weight and Tootie growing up.
Family Ties - This show jumped the shark twice. It started going downhill when Jennifer hit puberty and started gaining weight. Her character was originally a tomboy who liked baseball and soccer but when she got older, she changed into this dress wearing fat girl. The show went downhill further when Andrew was born. The kid grew a few years in one season. It didn't make any sense. Andrew was so horrible. If you watch closely, you'll see that the kid isn't paying attention and that he's cued to say his line on time. There's always someone right next to him to tap him and then he'll just say his line.
Far Out Space Nuts - jumped day 1. Gilligan in space! A rip-off of Abbot & Costello go to Mars! Too bad they never did a crossover episode with "The Lost Saucer" which also sucked.
Farscape - Jumped when Virginia Hey (she played Zhaan, the tall bald blue woman) left the show. Got worse when Scorpius joined the show. But lately its recovered and is better than it ever was.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - never jumped
The Flying Nun - never jumped
Fear Factor - never jumped
Firefly - jumped day 1. I kept watching this show hoping it would get better but it never did. The space ship scenes were awesome though.
Freaks and Geeks - never jumped
Friends - never jumped
Futurama - never jumped
Gary & Mike - never jumped
Get Smart - never jumped
Gidget - never jumped
Gilligan's Island - never jumped
Gilmore Girls - never jumped
Golden Girls - never jumped
Greatest American Hero - jumped at some point but I can't remember exactly when.
Grounded For Life - never jumped
Hee Haw - never jumped
Hogan's Heros - never jumped
Home Improvement - lost it when the kids got older and clearly couldn't act. Almost every episode had a formula it followed which got tiring after a while.
I Dream of Jeanie - when they got married
I love Lucy - when they moved to Connecticut
Jackass - never jumped
Junkyard Wars - never jumped I've been watching this show since Day 1 and have seen the many host changes and changes to format but it still holds my interest.
Just Shoot Me - never jumped
The Kids in the Hall - never jumped
Kung Fu - never jumped
Land of the Lost - the father disappears the Uncle takes his place. Even as a kid I realized how stupid this was.
Land of the Giants - never jumped
The Larry Sanders Show - never jumped
Leave it to Beaver - when Beaver got older, he was no longer cute.
Lexx - never jumped. In season two they killed off Zev (Eva Habermann) and replaced with her with Xev (Xenia Seeberg). I liked Xev better than Zev. Season three where they were stranded over the two planets Fire and Water was brilliant. And finally Season four when they go to Earth offered many possibilities. Each season ended with a great finale. This is one of those shows you either love or hate and I'm only aware of one other person who loves this show.
Little House on the Prarie -
Little Rascals - when Hal Roach sold the rights to MGM. The next 5 years were terrible. Regulars like Spanky and Alfalfa grew too old and were no longer cute. Newcomers like Froggy were just plain annoying.
Lost in Space - When the show went color. Suddenly Will and Dr. Smith were the focus of the show and Dr. Smith became a Wussy. Instead of a serious Scifi show, it became campy and almost every planet looked like the same set.
The Lost Saucer - jumped day 1. Jim Nabors and Ruth Buzzi as androids who come to Earth and pick up a couple of kids for some fun and wacky space adventures.
Malcom in the Middle - never jumped
Married ... with Children - never jumped
Maybe it's Me - never jumped
M*A*S*H - jumped when Klinger stopped dressing like a woman.
Miami Vice - when the look-n-feel of the show changed from that 80's pink-n-blue to more of a dark edgy feel.
Mission Impossible - jumped when Martin Landau and Barbara Bain left to do Space 1999.
The Mole - never jumped
Monk - never jumped
Mork & Mindy - the birth of Jonathan Winters as Mearth
The Munsters - never jumped
Night Court - never jumped
Northern Exposure - when Joel Flieschman (actor Rob Morrow) left the show and the new Doctor took his place.
Odd Couple - never jumped
The Osbournes - never jumped
Partridge Family - never jumped
The Real World - never jumped
Robotica - jumped on day 1. Not as much fun as Battlebots.
Roseanne - when they won the lottery and Dan left the show.
Quantum Leap - never jumped
Quark - never jumped
Quincy, ME - jumped when Quincy got married
Red Dwarf - never jumped
Saturday Night Live - never jumped but my love for the show varies according to the who cast is. The death of Chris Farley was a huge loss. Phil Hartman also died but he left the show before that, another big loss. Mike Meyers leaving was huge. Will Farrel left and he was carrying the show. But they keep finding fresh talent and every week at least one or two skits are absolutely hilarious. Plus I love the musical guests sometimes.
Scooby Doo - when Scrappy Doo joins the cast. First of all, Scooby Doo didn't talk. He kind of barked talked. That, at least, was semi-realistic. There were no talking animals on the show. Scooby was special. Then suddenly Scrappy Doo comes along and he can speak in full sentences??? What the hell!?
Scrubs - never jumped
Seinfeld - never jumped
Sex and the City - never jumped
Silver Spoons - jumped when Ricky hit puberty and they started calling him Rick
The Six Million Dollar Man - jumped when it got ridiculous with Sasquatch and the aliens from space
The Simpsons - never jumped
Sliders - jumped three times - the Death of Professor Arturo, introduction of Kromaggs and Jerry O'Connel Leaving the show - started out good but got monotonous over time.
Smallville - never jumped. Keeps getting better.
Smush - jumped on day 1. The concept just didn't work and I didn't like the host. The best thing about the show was the female co-host who was incredibly hot and had a great personality to match.
Son of the Beach - jumped on day 1. I realize you either love or hate this show. I hate it.
South Park - never jumped
Space 1999 - jumped when Maya joined the cast.
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast - never jumped
Speed Racer - never jumped. Japanese cartoon that thrilled me as a child and I still enjoy it today.
Square Pegs - never jumped. I freakin' loved this show and was blown away when it got cancelled.
The Starlost - never jumped. Although I loved this show when I was a little kid, but I when rented all of the episodes at the local video store when I was older, I realized what crap this show was. If this shown were on today, I'd rate it as jumped after episode one which was actually pretty good. This was a low budget Canadian SciFi TV series that ripped off the movie Silent Running. It was filmed on video tape which gave it a even more cheap look. I still find the concept of a huge arc floating through space a pretty cool idea.
Star Gate SG-1 - jumped on day 1. I never liked this show.
Star Trek - never jumped
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -
Star Trek: The Next Generation - When Wesley started saving the Enterprise every episode and Riker (Number 1) grew a beard.
Star Trek: Enterprise - never jumped
Survivor - never jumped
Taxi - never jumped
That 70's Show - never jumped
That 80's Show - jumped day 1 - I gave this show a chance and watched it for quite a while but it started lame never got good.
3rd Rock from the Sun - never jumped
Three's Company - jumped when Chrissy left
The Tic - never jumped. One of the funniest shows ever.
3 South - never jumped
Twilight Zone - jumped when they started having one hour episodes. 30 minutes was already too long! The shows were great but they could have been pulled off in 15 minutes.
Tracey Ullman Show - never jumped
Twin Peaks - jumped on day 1. I disliked that show more and more after each episode. I've had it with David Lynch. His stuff is just way too bizarre for me. Eraserhead is the most extreme followed by Wild at Heart followed by Blue Velvet followed by Lost Highway. Ick.
Undeclared - never jumped
underGrads - never jumped
Warren Miller TV - never jumped
Welcome Back Kotter - never jumped
Wild Survival - never jumped
WKRP in Cincinnati - never jumped
The Wonder Years - The first episode blew me away but the concept couldn't last for long. It eventually got old and Kevin and Winnie grew up and stopped being cute, similarly what happened with Leave it to Beaver or the Little Rascals.
Zoom - never jumped

TV Shows that "Jumped The Shark"