Jumping the shark

WHILE presumably it has to be justifiable from a business perspective why popular shows are renewed season on season – from a viewer’s perspective it’s not always quite so clear why tired franchises are taking up shelf–space despite being way past their sell–by date.

Of course it was an attempt to try and revive flagging ratings for Happy Days that gave rise to the phrase “jumping the shark” referring to the episode in which Fonzie, resplendent in trademark black leather jacket, quiff unscathed, water–ski jumped over a shark.

Tom Cruise’s “I love her” antics on Oprah saw the shark phrase subsequently updated for a new generation – to “jumping the couch.”

And thus it came to pass that two of my favourite TV shows finally drew to a dignified close.

Monk, a man after my own OCD heart, finally got closure on Trudy’s death. Hardly guilty of having jumped the shark, never having strayed from its “Here’s how it happened” formula, each episode, much like the show’s entire eight seasons, was never about the outcome but about the getting there.

The end of Lost’s sixth season was also its final finale. Having arguably jumped the shark itself at times, the show’s ending drew 13.5 million viewers and was generally received as emotionally satisfying. “Every question that’s still lingering – and there are quite a few – is inconsequential. None of the actual events matter – it was only the journey that mattered,” wrote Vanity Fair’s Mike Ryan.

To close with a quote from the season one finale of another of my favourite shows, Glee!, “Who cares what happens when we get there, when the getting there has been so much fun?” Will Schuester asks.

A heartfelt thanks for making my four years back with Television Asia Plus such an enjoyable journey, and hey, we’ve all got to jump a few sharks in our time.