Jumping The Shark
It all goes back to The Fonz. When Happy Days had Henry Winkler’s character jump over a shark while on water skis in its fifth season, they didn’t know that the scene would go on to inspire a phrase signifying the moment that a TV show goes from being enjoyable to being…not what it once was.
Sadly, a lot of TV shows succumb to this curse—and we looked back at some of our favorites to pinpoint the exact moments where it all went wrong. And beware: Spoilers abound.
Friends: Joey And Rachel
People loved Friends for its realistic take on navigating friendships and relationships in your 20s and 30s—well, realistic about everything except the extremely large NYC apartments. But when the writers had Joey and Rachel fall for each other after all the set up they’d done for Ross and Rachel, fans weren’t having it. Luckily, they made the wise decision to stop the relationship in its tracks.
Roseanne: Winning The Lottery
Roseanne was a show about family, but it was also about that family’s place in the world—and they were firmly working class. For many individuals and families of that era, winning the lottery seemed like the only ticket out. But as we all know, it’s ultimately just that: An unlikely dream. So when Roseanne had the Connors win the lottery, it turned everything fans loved about the show on its head.
While it led to some funny moments, it mostly made the show difficult to watch, and ultimately resulted in the controversial ret-conning series finale.
The Walking Dead: Negan Kills Glenn
When a show jumps the shark, it doesn’t necessarily mean they immediately lose their audience. It’s more to do with the drop in quality that then will slowly bleed fans over time. However, there’s one notable exception in The Walking Dead. When it was revealed in the season 7 premiere that Negan killed fan favorite Glenn, many people finished the episode and never watched the show again—which is not only unusual, but almost unheard of for a season premiere.
ABC, The Walking Dead (2010-2022)
Scrubs: The Overhaul
Network TV shows—especially comedies—are like bad party guests. They either dip out way too early and leave a huge hole in their wake, or stay on for way too long and grate on everyone’s nerves. That’s what happened when Scrubs refused to die, and instead underwent an entire overhaul, changing settings to another hospital and pretty much replacing the entire cast in season 9.
The Simpsons: Armin Tamzerian
When it comes to The Simpsons, there’s one question that every person has a different answer for: “What are the watchable seasons?” (The correct answer is season 2 to season 8). However, there’s one episode that many fans are united on as being the moment that The Simpsons went downhill: “The Principal and the Pauper”. It’s the episode where the town of Springfield inadvertently finds out that the man they know as Skinner is actually Armin Tamzerian, and that he stole the real Seymour Skinner’s identity following the Vietnam War.
In particular, the resolution, where the town collectively agrees to just go along with Tamzerian’s adoption of Skinner’s identity and never address it again, raised ire among the audience. The episode ended up being one of the most controversial with fans and critics in the show’s history.
Dallas: It Was All A Dream
It was the plot twist that spawned 1,000 parodies. After “killing off” Patrick Ewing, it was revealed at the end of season 9 of Dallas that everything that had happened for the entire season was a dream. Was it lazy writing or a brave experiment? While it was most likely the former, there was really no coming back from that for many teed-off fans.
Gilmore Girls: Luke’s Daughter
There’s an inherent problem in any will-they-or-won’t-they TV storyline—that once it’s decided they will, the audience will drop off in droves. In order to prolong this tension, TV writers will throw various wrenches in the works. When it came to Luke and Lorelai, there were a heck of a lot of these proverbial wrenches, mostly in the form of Rory’s father Christopher and various other Lorelai love interests.
And once those plots ran their course, the writers tried to further complicate things by giving Luke a daughter he didn’t know about. The occasionally-grating character did NOT go over well with fans and many didn’t understand why her presence caused such calamity between Luke and Lorelai.
The CW, Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
Sons Of Anarchy: Gemma Kills Tara
Not all writing rooms are created equally, and in the case of Sons of Anarchy, it felt like there were multiple points in the series where writers were just throwing weird plotlines at the wall to see what stuck. Some fans cite the trip to Ireland as the jumping-the-shark moment of the series—but, controversial opinion, we enjoyed the diversion. However, it’s pretty much universally accepted among viewers that SoA really lost its mojo at the end of season 6 when Gemma killed Tara.
While it was necessary to drive a final stake between mother and son and fulfill those Hamlet aspirations, it was extremely punishing to watch after that point.
FX, Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014)
Game Of Thrones: Jon Kills Daenerys
Game of Thrones definitely went down in quality long before its final season. Each hint that Daenerys, who had been set up as a hero from the beginning, would eventually go down a dark path, felt irksome to longtime fans. By the time things really went down in the final season, it was clear that the show hadn’t lived up to its one-time promise. Though it basically jumped the shark right in its final moments, it was nonetheless an annoying result for those who spent most of the 2010s seeing the show through and hoping for a satisfying ending.
HBO, Game of Thrones (2011-2019) Riverdale: Gryphons & Gargoyles
There’s probably a moment in almost every episode of Riverdale, post-season 1, where it jumped the shark just a little. As time wore on on the series, it seemed as though the writers struggled to resolve pretty much every plotline they had started, including the identity of the Black Hood. However, when they brought in the D&D-inspired Gryphons & Gargoyles game, and blended in tropes about cults, 80s-style Satanic panic, and a confused mish-mash of sci-fi and horror elements, it really lost the plot.
The OC: Dear Sister
The OC was a teen soap opera—but even that genre has its limits. In the “Dear Sister” episode where Marissa shoots Ryan’s brother Trey, the over-the-top melodrama combined with the sounds of Imogen Heap’s song “Hide and Seek” was borderline unwatchable, and for many fans, became the moment when the show jumped the shark—while others of us stopped watching when they killed off Marissa.
The upside to it all? The scene was so overwrought it inspired a Saturday Night Live parody sketch that’s still funny to this day.
Prison Break: They Break Out Of Prison
This one doesn’t require a long explanation. The show all about breaking out of prison lost its appeal once they’d broken out of prison. Were the writers tired of the central premise or was the network unwilling to let go of a cash cow? Either way, that was the moment where the appeal of Prison Break withered on the vine.
Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon Reveal
For many shows, the pivotal shark jumping moment comes at a time when the show is already going downhill. For other shows, the decline in quality comes right after a creative and artistic zenith. BSG’s Cylon reveal moment is an example of the latter, sadly.
Sci-Fi, Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009)
That 70s Show: Eric Leaves
Few shows can survive the departure of one of their lead actors. And while That 70s Show was technically an ensemble, it had always centered around Eric, played by Topher Grace, and his friends and family. After all, most of it took place in the Forman house. When Grace left the show and the writers opted to write Eric off as going to Africa to teach—which came out of left field as a choice for the character, to be honest—it was the beginning of the end.
FOX, That '70s Show (1998-2006)
Scandal: Olivia Pope’s Kidnapping
Scandal was at one time a critical darling and ratings hit. But it faced a similar problem to The X-Files, of all things—balancing “monster of the week” episodes (in Scandal’s case, “case of the week” episodes), and episodes about the overarching mythology of the show—the behind-the-curtains goings-on of Fitz’s presidency and various nefarious secret agencies. The early appeal of the show really did lay in how Olivia dealt with case-of-the-week crises, and as those got left behind in favor of B613 plotlines, it stopped being as fun.
The final nail in the coffin was the plotline where Olivia was kidnapped, and watching on after that was as torturous for the audience as it was for Olivia.
Downton Abbey: Losing Matthew Crawley
Yes, Downton Abbey was about the Crawleys, and their servants, and the dynamics between those two groups, and the relationships between the characters…but really, from the very first moments of the first episode, it was set up that one of the most important plot points in the show would be who the prickly and picky Lady Mary finally falls for.
The fans followed as she finally got her happily ever after with her one true love—only to kill him off. While Lady Mary was able to move on and find love again, not everyone in the audience was willing to go along with it.
ITV, Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
Westworld: Leaving Westworld
It might be a controversial opinion for fans who followed all seasons of Westworld. But many die-hards agree that when the show left the Westworld setting at the end of season 1, that was the end.
Beverly Hills, 90210: The Final Walsh Departs
Another existential crisis to any show? What do you do when your high school-set show’s characters graduate? The OG 90210 followed them through college, and saw a chance at character development for many of the cast, and even seamlessly brought in some new additions. However, from the beginning, the show had really centered around the Walsh family.
While it survived after Brenda (Shannen Doherty) left, and had to push Brandon out of the nest by pushing his parents off the show (making them move to Hong Kong), there was a definite change in tone after Brandon (Jason Priestly) left. The show got dark—among other plot lines, Kelly gets assaulted and shoots her assailant. While the primetime soap had flirted with more adult storylines before, there was a definite shift and drop in quality after Brandon departed.
FOX, Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-2000)
Community: “Advanced Introduction To Finality”
Community was one of the most creative, clever, and ahead-of-its-time comedies NBC has ever aired. However, it was plagued by some pretty serious behind-the-scenes drama that eventually bled over into what we saw on screen. When the show floundered, it often returned back to the things that had brought it critical acclaim in the first place: the Christmas, Halloween, and paintball episodes.
But when it brought back its “Darkest Timeline” concept during the season 4 finale, it didn’t work—and just made it clear that the show had perhaps run its course.
The Office: Michael Leaves
Fans are divided when it comes to the moment when The Office jumped the shark. For some, it was when Jim and Pam got married. After all, the show before that moment had really been about the will-they-won’t-they of it all. But for us, it was when Michael left Scranton to start a new life with Holly. While it was nice that he got a happy ending, things were never quite the same afterward.
You May Also Like
The Weirdest Episodes Of Beloved TV Shows
