1 post tagged “great tv”
Which TV show never "jumped the shark"?
Submitted by healthypanda.
Yesterday was a busy day (and I got to go home really early...which totally didn't have anything to do with me skipping a blog post...not at all...). But I never promised to post every day, so I don't feel that bad...except for that neurotic part of me that can't help but wince at the fact that I let yesterday slip by. Of course, I'll also be on vacation next week, so I'll just have to get over it one way or another (unless I use my sister's new pink laptop to write stuff...but then she might be able to follow the link and read my blog, which is simply unacceptable).
Anyway, while I hate the phrase "jumped the shark," I will say that it is a rare show that stays on its tracks at all throughout its entire run (Urkel-Bot, I'm staring at you...). And indeed, it's even rarer to find a show that maintains a high level of quality throughout its entire run (as opposed to shows that have a good season, followed by a terrible season, followed by a mediocre season that just looks good in comparison to the prior wretched season). But here are some select shows that seem to have walked that fine line between keeping it fresh and not becoming a pale imitation of its once glorious self (in no particular order):
Arrested Development: I was astounded that this show actually maintained the stellar level of quality that it did throughout its too-brief three-season run. Given the fact that there was usually at least one not-enough-breath-to-sustain-the-belly-laugh joke in each episode, I was continually impressed they kept hitting and raising the bar of quality. While some people still cry into their pillows and cut themselves because this show was canceled, I'm just grateful that it never had a chance to crash and burn...something tells me that if Arrested Development went south, it would have actually been painful to watch....
Cheers: Sure, it didn't reinvent the sitcom or break new narrative ground, but Cheers was a damn solid show that was consistently funny over the course of 11 seasons. Plus, it gets extra points by surviving (and thriving from) a major cast change with the departure of Diane and the arrival of Rebecca. In a way, this show earns even more praise from the fact that it even spawned a superior spin-off in the form of Frasier (a testament to the quality of the original character)...and while Frasier almost made this list on its own (another 11 seasons of high-class comedy), it wouldn't have existed without Cheers (and Daphne got awfully shrill by the end of Frasier's run).
South Park: I was going to include this on a list of shows that probably never jumped the shark, but for one reason or another, I didn't want to include it in the main list...but you know what? It's a pretty great show. I'm not sure if I can count shows that are still airing, but after 11 seasons, it doesn't look like it's going to change too much. Some episodes are kind of awful, but not shark-jumpingly so, and they usually have something that redeems them (or is just so bizarre that one has to laugh...oh, Crab People, I love you, even if no one else does [except maybe Mark]).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A controversial choice (for nerds). With a show as well-loved and hotly debated as Buffy, particularly by such a specific group of internet-dwelling uber-fans, there are many different moments during the series that caused the outcry of shark-jumping: "The move to UPN!" "Buffy doing Spike!" "The seventh season being boring!" "That time Buffy killed that vampire!" Etc. But having purchased the Complete Series set a year or two ago and having watched all the episodes back to back (after having seen them the first time through their individual season box sets), I have to say that, in my opinion, the series never jumped the shark. It could be frustrating, baffling, uncomfortable, even unpleasant, but I don't think that any TV show (or any movie, for that matter) needs to be perfect to be great. And while I do agree that the behind-the-scenes difficulties that bled through to the show were unfortunate, all in all, the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a marvelous piece of entertainment, with emotional lows and highs rather than "good episodes" and "bad episodes."
Futurama: I guess it remains to be seen how the direct-to-video "movies" fare, but in terms of the series itself, Futurama often surpassed its fellow creation The Simpsons in terms of humor and pathos (NOTE: when I say that Futurama surpassed The Simpsons, I mean that season 2 episodes of Futurama surpassed season 11 episodes of The Simpsons...give me "A Flight to Remember" over "Bart to the Future" any day...The Simpsons itself, unfortunately, can never be on this list, as it has sucked for the last nine or ten years). Funny from beginning to end and left me wanting more.
Scrubs: This one is tricky, as it's still airing (well, dependent on the Writer's Strike and all...), and indeed, Scrubs has had plenty of episodes that have at least climbed up on the shark and demonstrated what it would be like if it did finally jump it. However, even the worst episode of Scrubs is funnier and more entertaining than 90% of what's on TV right now. Unless they decide to rape and murder a major character and spend the rest of the series showing each of the remaining characters taking a 22-minute piss on the slowly-decaying corpse, I believe this show will gain access to television Valhalla. Plus, it's one of the rare shows that I can literally watch over and over again and still laugh and want more; it's televised heroin.
The Office (BBC and NBC versions): It's pretty much accepted as fact that the BBC version of The Office is brilliant (and with only 10 episodes and an hour-long conclusion episode, there was little time for them to even consider jumping the shark). Of course, what's becoming more and more apparent is that the NBC version of The Office is pretty fucking awesome. Sure, it's had some bumps in its road (PLEASE never do hour-long episodes again...or at least only do one per season), but it's the rare show right now that causes Arrested Development-style heaving laughter coupled with actual character development (Scrubs comes in second place in this respect).
Those are some of my choices. One other show that I would probably put up there would be The Wonder Years, but given that I haven't even seen the show for about a decade, it's difficult to remember whether or not it ever took an extreme wrong turn here or there...but I don't think it did. Also, The Adventures of Pete and Pete: a little too lightweight to elevate to such critical heights, but I have a big soft spot for it. Oh, and The Critic: so good, but it didn't really have enough time to jump any sharks.
All right, I could go on all day like this (Strangers With Candy is pretty excellent...but I almost hate the Cults two-parter and, honestly, after six to eight episodes, it gets repetitive...also, divorced from all the hype and bizarre trends [what was so great about her hairstyle?], Friends was a good, comfortable show...except that damn Joey/Rachel storyline and the knowledge that they were all making $1 million per episode kind of deflated a little bit of the fun...). But for now, that's my long answer to a short question.
