by: the Admiral
Jumping the Shark
The beginning of the end for a television program where the plot spins off into absurd story lines and ridiculous characterizations. The term refers to the episode of Happy Days where Fonzi literally jumped a shark.
In January of 1991 while the international community was distracted by the atrocities of Saddam Hussein and the first Persian Gulf War, the Admiral was concerned with a bigger tragedy beaming onto our television sets week after week. In my opinionation, that catastrophe was Blossom.
It didn’t take very long for Blossom to jump the shark. After in depth analysis I knew that the Jumping the Shark Moment would not be any later than Episode 2, “Blossom Blossoms,” where Blo gets her period. Upon much reflection and research I decided that this show actually jumped the shark in Season 1, Episode 1 with the introduction of the title character.
While we all liked Joey and loved Six, the travesty that is Blossom Russo ensured this show jumped the shark before its first commercial break (which in 1991, was probably for Hypercolor Tshirts).
I did not make this decision lightly and wanted to ensure an objective, not an emotional, analysis. So to ensure objectivity I played f*ck, marry, kill with Six, Blossom, and Joey. Six was the slam dunk f*ck, but when, as a straight guy, I was willing to marry Joey Lawrence just to ensure I could kill Blossom, I knew I made the right choice.
Whoa!! Blossom really sucks!!
I think that outfit what's her name is wearing is absurd enough for it's own jumping the shark moment. What adolescent child would wear such an outfit and what kind of parent would send out their kid looking like that? Absurd I say!! Absurd!! Fortunately, unlike the the dear admiral, by 1991 I had reached an age and a level of maturity that made this venerable NBC sitcom a non entity. I had moved on to inhaling bong hits and watching the Young And The Restless. That was really good TV back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI have one final thought. Who's Joey Lawrence? Was he the bratty kid that starred with Nell Carter on Gimme A Break? Maybe the season that he began to appear on that show was it's jumping the shark the moment? This can be a new area of research into the career of an actor who very appearance destroys half hour sitcoms.