Jumping the Shark Trivia

1. This show was pretty successful until it added just one more kid: cousin Oliver; which show was then on the way out?

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: The Brady Bunch

"The Brady Bunch" originally aired from 1969 through 1974 and was the first sitcom to amicably "blend" two families. Of course, besides Mike and Carol, (and Alice) there were the 6 kids: Greg, Marcia (Marcia, Marcia), Peter, Bobby and Cindy...let's see, who did I leave out.. and, of course Jan! They had the typical neat and tidy problems which would always be resolved by the show's end. Then cousin Oliver (played by Robbie Rist) arrived in the middle of season 5, to cater to a younger demographic, but all it did was signal the beginning of the end. This is often referred to as 'Cousin Oliver Syndrome' and inevitably leads to 'jumping the shark' and cancellation.

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: None immediately, "Happy Days" ran for six more seasons

"Happy Days" ran for eleven seasons on US television between 1973-1984. During its fourth season (1976-1977) the show was the highest rated show in the US. "Happy Days" was a situation comedy that focused on the coming of age of "Ritchie Cunningham" played by Ron Howard, his friends and family. The show was set in Milwaukee Wisconsin in the 1950s. "Happy Days" was a family show intended to invoke the nostalgia of the "Baby Boomers" high school days. Henry Winkler played a character named Arthur Fonzarelli. Fonzie as he was called by the younger characters of the show, was the "leader of the pack" stereotype who wore a leather jacket, dropped out of high school, rode a motorcycle and could charm any girl simply by looking at them. Intended to be a minor character Winkler's charm as the bad boy with a good heart soon became the central driving character. The challenge of all episodic televisions is generally how to sustain the interest and relevancy of the characters. In "Happy Days" three part fifth season opening episodes, the writers took the cast to Hollywood where as part of an elaborate plot device, Fonzie was challenged to use a water ski to jump over a tiger shark to prove he was not afraid. In the climactic scene clad in a leather jacket Fonzie literally "jumped the shark". While the episode was seen as the turning point when "Happy Days" started to decline creatively, it did not mean the show was immediately less popular. The fifth season saw "Happy Days" end up the number two show on US television and it was number three rated show in its sixth season. It was not until the eleventh and last season that "Happy Days" fell out of the top 20 US rated shows.

From Quiz Jumping The Shark

Answer: "Happy Days"

The incident in question occurred during a multi-part arc of "Happy Days", when The Fonz (Henry Winkler) ends up jumping over a shark in a water-skiing competition. According to Hein and many fans of the series, this is when the show began its downhill slide into oblivion.

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Elliott

Elliott (played by Michael Angarano) was Jack's son...the result of a sperm bank donation when Jack was a teenager so he could get the money to buy a leather jacket. This was the use of the "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" (see question one) at its very worst. The hit show began fading in the ratings and, somewhere around season 5, Jack learned about both his father's death and the existence of his biological 'sperm-bank baby'. Although Elliot only made occasional guest appearances and the show lasted another 3 years (1998-2006), the bell started tolling and people stopped watching.

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: Fawlty Towers

"Fawlty Towers" was a comedy starring Cleese, his then wife Connie Booth, Prunella Scales and Andrew Sachs which ran for six episodes in 1975. Cleese played Basil Fawlty, the rude and cranky owner of a seaside hotel who had to navigate between his surly wife and odd guests. The show was so popular that despite the fact that he and Booth were in the middle of a divorce, Cleese created six more episodes for viewing in 1979. Despite having completed only twelve episodes the show is nonetheless at the top if any list of the UK best television shows. Cleese's decision to walk away from the iconic character is a model of the "leave them wanting more" school of television.

From Quiz Jumping The Shark

Answer: Damon Evans

In a switch reminescent of the Great Dick Switch (Sargent for York) on ABC's "Bewitched", "The Jeffersons" had the Great Lionel Switchback. Mike Evans, who played the role of Lionel Jefferson on "All In The Family", moved on up with Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford when "The Jeffersons" spun off. He stayed on the series during its first season (1975), then was replaced by Damon Evans (no relation and no resemblance). Damon stayed in the role through 1978, when Mike came back for two more seasons.

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: Murphy Brown

Ms. Tomlin stepped in as a replacement for the departed executive producer Miles. It simply didn't work and the show sunk.

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Adam

Adam Stephens was 'born' on the 6th season of "Bewitched" in 1969 and the 'buzz' around him was to determine if he was a mortal or a warlock; this took two seasons to resolve itself but the answer was never really clear. What was clear was the fact that Adam Stephens did not help boost the ratings as expected and, by the end, nobody really cared whether or not he had supernatural powers (or was perhaps assisted by his grandfather Maurice). Besides, they never addressed the fact the Samantha Stevens had two children by different Darrins!

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: ER

One of the essential characteristic of a television show that has "jumped the shark" is the longevity sufficient to allow the writers to exhaust creative and rational plots. "ER" was the engaging story of the trauma and drama of life in a teaching hospital in Chicago Illinois. "ER" ran on US television for 15 years. During the first eight seasons "ER" was either the first, second or third highest rated show in the US and spawned global careers for stars such as George Clooney, Julianna Margulies and Noah Wylie. However in season nine many people started to see the water ski being hoisted over the shark tank when the hospital chief of staff, Dr. Romano, lost an arm to a helicopter blade on the roof of the building. For most people the show took an inevitable sharp decline when the same character, who had developed a healthy fear of helicopters, overcame his phobia to save a patient only to fall victim to a freakish windstorm that plunged a flaming helicopter onto his head.

From Quiz Jumping The Shark

Answer: One season

When "I Dream of Jeannie" premiered in 1965, Captain Nelson (as he was known then) was on top of the world, engaged to marry a general's daughter and ready to make history as a Mercury astronaut. But when his space capsule went off course and had to make an emergency landing, he found Jeannie and his life was never the same. "Jeannie" ended after the 1969-70 season, its sexual tension lost in wedded bliss.

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: Will And Grace

Jack's son showing up was pushing it. Will and Grace deciding to procreate pushed it way over the edge. The show, one I like still, seems to be losing the charm of all the friendships and trying gimmicks.

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Friends

If the baby's name didn't give it away, then you may never have watched "Friends". Ross and Rachel finally had that relationship that everyone was waiting for...until nobody cared. You know how sometimes you wait so long for something to happen, that when it finally does you've moved on. We waited after Ross and Carol (with Ben) split; we watched Ross and Rachel's passionate kiss (finally); we shrugged our shoulders when they were on "a break"; our hearts broke a little when Ross married Emily, but there was his second divorce; we questioned Rachel's relationships which never seemed to work with Barry and Tad and Joey? And then we just stopped, even with Emma's birth...

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: Judd Apatow

"Freaks & Geeks" is perhaps the best example of a "minnow" a show that was canceled in its first season that in hindsight deserved more episodes. A young Judd Apatow produced this situation comedy about high school outsiders in the Detroit, Michigan suburbs. Amazingly the cast of this show included Seth Rogen, Jason Siegel, Linda Cardellini, James Franco and Busy Phillips, all actors who have since become hugely successful. "Freaks and Geeks" lasted only twelve episodes (three more were shown later as part of a campaign by cult fans) before it was canceled. Apatow and friends from "Freaks & Geeks" have gone on to create such hit movies as "Pineapple Express", "Anchorman", "40 Year old Virgin", and "Knocked Up".

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: St. Elsewhere

Doctor Auschlander almost got hit. The show was stretching credibility big time by then. The shark was dead by the time they determined that the whole series was the fantasy of an autistic child.

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Patty Petersen

Interesting that Trisha was adopted but looked just like her step-brother, Jeff Stone, played by Paul Petersen (coincidence, I think not!). It seems Shelly Fabares (Mary Stone) got too old or too popular (from singing "Johnny Angel"), so what did the writers do? They brought in a younger replacement... "Cousin Oliver" all over again. Tricia was just sugary sweet and cute as a button (required requisites) and it doesn't matter that she was Paul Petersen's real-life sister nor did it help that no one taught Patty Petersen to act; Donna Stone just had to have two kids, so along came Patty from 1963 -1966, but you just knew the light was beginning to fade.

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: Roseanne

"Roseanne" was based on the stand up comedy of star Roseanne Barr that ran on US television for nine seasons between 1988-1997. The show followed the exploits of the sarcastic Roseanne Conner, played by Barr, and her husband and children amidst various friends and other relatives. The show was a huge hit and ranked in the top five of US shows for each of its first six seasons. "Roseanne" survived as few shows have with the aging and changing circumstances of the family members as well as cast changes and additions. However, by the ninth year of the show the creative energies of all involved seemed to have run dry. The "jump the shark" moment seemed to occur when the lower middle class Roseanne won a mega-lottery instantly making the family wealthy. This in turn led to the father played by John Goodman to opt out of the marriage (and the show). Declining ratings forced the show to be cancelled but the final nail was a bizarre last episode where it was revealed that most of the story for the past nine years had been a figment of "writer" Roseanne's imagination to cushion rather depressing "real" events in the fictional characters life.

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: The Golden Girls

All of a sudden Rose's boyfriend, Miles, was exposed as an accountant for a mobster. Never mind that he was a tenured college professor with a family that Rose actually met. What was THAT about?

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Mabel

Was Mabel the 'baby shark' that doomed this long-running sitcom? "Mad About You" aired from 1992 through 1999 and was a wonderful sitcom about the relationship between a newly married couple (sans kids) and their friends and family. It was modern, urbane, witty and the chemistry between the leads, Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser, could not have been better. Then, in 1997, Mabel was born to Paul and Jaimie. Mabel stood for 'Mothers Always Bring Extra Love" (really!), and how gag-inducing is that?! Well, as you know, the birth of a child changes everything and so it did; and the rest is history.

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: Claire Danes

Claire Danes starred as the high school girl whose diary-like narration anchored the coming of age US television show "My So Called Life". Danes has since go on to star in movies and the hugely popular series "Homeland". "My So Called Life" was a big favorite of critics but performed only average in the ratings as it faced nearly insurmountable odds being shown at the same time as the top rated "Friends". After the first season, which ended in a "cliff-hanger" the show was not renewed for a second season. The show was notable for not conforming to the idea that teen years were filled with light-hearted issues and that any problem could be resolved in a thirty or sixty minute episode. "My So Called Life" predated and became a model similar shows such as "Dawson's Creek" and "Felicity".

From Quiz Jumping The Shark

Answer: California

The Stivics' move out of the house - and for Sally Struthers, to her own spinoff--set the stage for another "All In The Family" shark jump, the addition of the cute kid. In this case, it was Danielle Brisbois, who came on to play the role of little Stephanie Mills, as "All In The Family" morphed into "Archie Bunker's Place".

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: Bewitched

Dick York became Dick Sargent in no time flat! I remember, as a kid, wondering if I had missed something!

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Brian Bonsall

All appeared on the show: with Michael Gross playing the father Steven Keaton; Scott Valentine as Nick Moore (Mallory's boyfriend) and Marc Price as 'Skippy' Handelman, but it was Brian Bonsall who played Andy Keaton, cute and precocious, as all these 'later-in-life' children seem to be. Brian went on to play Alexander Rozhenko, son of Worf on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Unfortunately, his future claim to fame was an arrest in Colorado on an assault charge. This is no longer just under "jump the shark" but, rather the 'Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan, Shia LaBeouf Syndrome'.

From Quiz Jumping The Shark

Answer: Nancy Reagan

The First Lady made her special guest appearance in an episode called "The Reporter", first aired on March 19, 1983. She was hardly a stranger to the camera, though, having appeared in many movies and TV series prior to that.

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: Soap

Bert gets absconded by otherworldly things and Corrine gets impregnated by the devil. Puh-leez!

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Diff'rent Strokes

To help sagging ratings and the fact that "What you talkin' about, Willis" was wearing very thin, the writers, in their infinite wisdom, added Dixie Carter (later Julia Sugarbaker of "Designing Women") as Maggie McKinney, a newly divorced aerobics instructor and Sam, her whiny son. In the 7th season, Mr. Drummond wound up marrying Maggie...didn't help; in the 8th season they replaced Dixie Carter with Mary Ann Mobley. There WAS no season 9! It may have taken a couple of seasons to 'jump the shark', but they were swimming in shark-infested waters for quite a while.

From Quiz Sharks & Minnows

Answer: Wonderfalls

"Wonderfalls" was a unique, quirky, well written, innovative and therefore totally unsuccessful program on US television in 2004. The show was created and written by Brian Fuller, starred a young, mostly unknown, cast including the lovely Canadian actress Caroline Dhavernas as Jaye Tyler, a recent college graduate who avoided her overachieving family and perky friends by working at a small tourist oriented gift shop. However the inanimate animals on sale in the gift store began to talk to her and offer both life advice and cryptic passages that forced Jaye to seek out and help people. Only four episodes were shown on US television before the program was canceled while another nine were made available online and in DVD. "Wonderfalls" creator Brian Fuller came back to US television with an even more innovative and quirky show in 2007 called "Pushing Daisies", that was a combination homage to pies, love story, detective procedural, where the lead character could bring dead people (objects) back to life with a touch and kill them instantly with a second touch.

From Quiz "Jump The Shark"

Answer: Dynasty

That was about it for the hit prime time soap. Moldavians came in to a wedding reception and shot up the whole party of cast members. The idea, I guess, was to create a cliffhanger. Instead they only jumped the shark.

From Quiz Jumping 'Baby' Sharks

Answer: Jerry Garcia Conner

To be fair, it wasn't just Jerry Garcia Conner - the show was jumping a bunch of sharks at the same time, e.g., they won the lottery; they didn't win the lottery,; Dan had a heart attack; Dan died of a heart attack; Jackie was a lesbian; it was all a book Roseanne was writing. It was season 9 and no one was watching and the death knell was tolling too loudly to be ignored. Yes, Jerry Garcia, we hardly knew ye! R.I.P.

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