Jumping The Shark

by Sasha Rogers

In the media, it is easy to become obsessed with sitcoms and entertaining adaptations of one’s favorite books or tales. Writers and actors of said sitcoms can also become obsessed with and attached to their own creations, not wanting to let go of a dear character they love so much. However, this is a major issue in the film industry. When shows run their course and reach a natural end, it would be assumed that the cast and crew wrap filming and tie a bow on the finale. Many of society’s favorite sitcoms from the past few decades have “jumped the shark,” which has caused the success of the show to deteriorate because it no longer meets the quality that is required. Jumping the shark is when the core intent and purpose of a creative work has been exhausted, and new ideas are being introduced that are in variance of the original motive. This term was coined from the ‘70s sitcom Happy Days, and the phenomenon is present in adored shows worldwide, some of the most notable including That ‘70s Show, The Office, and even Friends. 

Friends is an American sitcom directed by Jim Burrows based around six young men and women living in the same apartment complex trying to make it through love and life together. Many believe that it’s the classic sitcom, that it has everything. When the first episode aired in 1994, it received just about twenty-two million viewers according to IMDb. The first episode sustained comparison to Seinfeld, and just about everyone and their grandmother seemed to love the beginning of this new era of American sitcoms. However, the ending, watched by fifty-two and a half million people, was generally not as well received. Some were content with all the characters pairing up and confessing their love for one another, pledging to stay together for the rest of eternity. But, isn’t that a bit predictable? It can be argued that this was the simplest ending the directors could have chosen, making sure to tie every loose love-related end together to please the audience. Regardless, endings don’t always have to be happy. Rachel could have stayed on the plane and went for her job in Paris, leaving Ross to deal with his own problems. Phoebe could have had her own family, and Joey could have been happy on his own. Over the years, many people have come up with their own versions of the show’s finale, but there is no such thing as a perfect ending. Of course a director wants to leave their audience satisfied, but this can undo crucial character arcs that had been in development since the first season. Over the course of a show, characters must grow and improve and become better people, especially in the case of Friends. Joey’s spin off doesn’t even need to be mentioned; it jumped the shark the most of them all. 

Controversially, The Office, directed mostly by Randall Einhorn, also jumped the shark. The Office US statistically goes back and forth with Friends for being the most watched sitcom of all time. This show is set at a paper company called Dunder Mifflin and revolves around the peculiar, well-liked, and outspoken workers of said company. In comparison to other popular sitcoms, the pilot episode of The Office only received a maximum of eleven and a half million viewers on the day it aired according to Vanity Fair. Nevertheless, this point does not disregard the fact that The Office remains one of the most loved and popular shows of all time. The show still streams on cable channels, and from observation, most boys from ages twelve to eighteen would say it’s their favorite show. How much is there to love about it, though? Perhaps the goofy, lighthearted, yet captivating plot lines of each episode, or is it the hilarious genius of Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson? Maybe it’s the mundane normality of it; most Americans have regular office jobs, and this show could help office workers believe their jobs aren’t really that torturous. While The Office contains the brilliance of people like the previously stated Steve Carell, what happens when you take them out of the show? Michael Scott, played by Carell, is the boss of the company that the sitcom revolves around, and in season seven, he leaves to move to Colorado with his fiancée. So, the show should end with his departure, a bittersweet goodbye knowing that Michael is going to live a happy life starting a new family and doing what he loves. Unfortunately, though, that’s not what happened. The show goes on for two more seasons, completely absent of the most iconic and foundational character. This absence left a gaping hole in the comedic and dynamic aspects of the show, completely ridding it of the bubbly and exciting elements from the earlier seasons. In seasons eight and nine, with no Michael, the plot is completely lost, storylines are ending and starting with no warning, and new characters are thrown in to try to replace the beloved boss. While the actual finale of the show was satisfying, reasonable, and actually well liked by critics, it is difficult to understand why this finale couldn’t have taken place during the “Goodbye, Michael” episode. Many fans were outspoken about how much they loved the show and wanted to keep watching new episodes, so the directors chose not to end it. Yet another example of quantity over quality where collapse of success is present. 

Finally, and arguably the most devastating, is That ‘70s Show directed by David Trainer. The show started off as a retro style situation comedy about a divergent group of teens in Wisconsin, dealing with the reality of their teen years ending. Eric Forman stands at the forefront of this show acting as a nerdy, Star Wars-obsessed seventeen year old. Eric and his friends go through their last years of high school together, supporting each other through relationship, parental, and other illegal issues. Being a fresh, new sitcom with extraordinary actors set in the ‘70s, people believed this would be a hit. However, it was not nearly as successful as the aforementioned sitcoms. That ‘70s Show was drenched in racist jokes towards one of the main characters, nicknamed Fez, and sexist jokes towards Jackie Burkhart. Mila Kunis, who played the absurdly witty and excellent Jackie, was only fourteen when the show began filming. While this show had many horrific aspects that were brushed under the rug at the time, it was definitely a nostalgia based hard-hitter for people who grew up in the ‘70s. Now, how did this show go so wrong? Similarly to The Office, Eric Forman was written out of the show in season seven. His character was said to be backpacking in Africa, and all the characters who stayed in Wisconsin went on to paint Eric as a horrible person. It can be argued that the writers did this because of how Topher Grace, who played Eric Forman, attempted to leave the show, or it could be simply another case of success taking over the quality of a good show. After Eric leaves, he breaks up with his longtime girlfriend, Donna, over the phone and is gone for a whole season. To make matters even worse, Ashton Kutcher, who played Michael Kelso, also left the show around the same time all this was happening. His character, after breaking up with Jackie, moved away after finding out he had a baby with someone else in season seven. In reality, just like Topher Grace, Ashton Kutcher was truly just tired of the direction the show was going in and had other opportunities to be a part of. Also rarely mentioned is the departure of Eric’s sister Laurie, played by Lisa Robin Kelly, all the way back in season three; her role was replaced in later seasons by Christina Moore, but was never formally addressed. While Eric and Kelso return for one or two episodes throughout the final season, the remainder was truly nothing without these core characters. Eric was the main character, and in season eight, the writers attempted to replace him by giving Donna a new boyfriend. The sitcom only continues to decline after Jackie and her then boyfriend Hyde break up, when they were in reality the best couple in the whole show. The messy ending of this once cherished show was devastating to fans, including Eric returning from Africa just to share a confusing kiss with Donna that leaves the audience to deal with more loose ends. To offer an unpopular opinion, the show would have been well rounded if its conclusion happened at the end of season six, before the ‘70s ended and it was mystifyingly closer to That ‘80s Show for a brief moment. 

To reiterate, these iconic sitcoms seem to have declined in quality so soon after their peak of popularity, but a show can also be powerful and underrated when it is ended at the right time. A few examples of this rarity include Arrested Development, Kroll Show, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. All of these outstanding shows ran their course and were directed and written by smart people who knew how to wrap up a show correctly. To begin, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an incredible example of a team that had a full, thought-out idea for a show with a planned ending. In comparison, most sitcoms are written with no solid conclusion, because many shows each year don’t get picked up for a second season, let alone for a first one. Avatar is a great animated action-fantasy show that was on Nickelodeon in the early 2000s. The series was divided into three chapters and was about a world split into four nations - the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Characters were beautifully developed, becoming more wise and just generally better people throughout the series. At the natural end of the story, creators decided that the show wouldn’t continue, because they had achieved what they had intended to with their planned conclusion. Surely Nickelodeon would have provided the show with more seasons, but it would have been unnecessary for the plot. Likewise, Nick Kroll’s Kroll Show is an artistic sketch comedy show. Every episode provides a good laugh and proves Nick Kroll’s comedic genius. In similar fashion to Avatar, Kroll decided to end the show after three seasons. He declined multiple offers to continue the show for more seasons because all the characters had reached their time to depart, and the show truly just had no other place to go. Conversely, there are shows like Arrested Development that should have continued production rather than stopping when they did. Arrested Development, an absurdist humor sitcom about a man running his father’s family real estate business, was canceled after three seasons. By this statement, some could assume that it was a terrible show, disliked by critics and viewers and gladly taken off of television. After watching the show, though, it is obvious that the show is an incomparably unique sitcom. Many popular names grace the cast of this show, and it is simply a very captivating show that was canceled due to apparent low ratings. Surprisingly, the show was resurrected by the streaming giant, Netflix, in 2012 for an additional two decent seasons. The sitcom has received Emmys and a Golden Globe Award, as well as declarations to be the best TV show of all time by publications like Rolling Stone, Time, and Entertainment Weekly. 

So, what makes a good, entertaining show? Is it the perfect, timely ending, or is it simply just a strong plot structure? It’s difficult to say what exactly makes a great show, because everyone has different opinions about media. All shows listed are sublime works of art that took so many people and so much time to create, each with astonishing outcomes. That doesn’t change the fact that any ending could have left a viewer unsatisfied or even confused. A good show is based on personal preference, opinions, and humor. No two people will ever believe that a show failed or succeeded with their conclusions in the same way. If one thing is for sure, when making a show, try not to be like Fonzie and avoid jumping the shark.