Has "Jump The Shark" Seen the Leprechaun?

On his blog, The Conversation, Jonathan Potts had this comment regarding my recent Law and Order post:

This blogger really likes "Law & Order", probably more than he should, but he thinks the show may be close to jumping the shark. (Do people still say that?)

Being thin-skinned, my visceral reaction was to take issue at his last comment. BUT, after I recovered, it occurred to me that his question was a good one: do people still say "jump the shark?"

My survey of friends would indicate that the term is still in use. But, of course, that's unscientific.

A quick Google search found a December 2007 article by Johnathon Snook, a web designer and developer, titled: "Web 2.0 has jumped the shark." Well, HE still uses the term. But again, this is hardly conclusive.

In case you don't know what "jump the shark" means, here's what Wikipedia has to say about it (my guess is that if you about Wikipedia, you know what "JTS" is too):

...The phrase refers to a scene in a three-part episode of the American TV series, Happy Days, first broadcast on September 20, 1977. In the "Hollywood" episode, Fonzie (Henry Winkler), wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket, jumps over a penned-in shark while water skiing.

...[JTS] has become a colloquialism used by U.S. TV critics and fans to denote the point at which the characters or plot of a TV series veer into a ridiculous, out-of-the-ordinary storyline. Such a show is typically deemed to have passed its peak. Once a show has "jumped the shark" fans sense a noticeable decline in quality or feel the show has undergone too many changes to retain its original charm...

Interestingly, Wikipedia also describes a 1963 episode of Bonanza, "Hoss and the Leprechauns," in which Hoss meets, no surprise, a leprechaun. From that episode the term "seeing the leprechaun" was coined which was a precursor to the "jumping the shark" phenomenon.

This lead me to wonder if, perhaps, a new term to explain the dynamic could be adopted.

Because "jumping the shark" is such a pop-culture idea, pop-culture touchstone Star Trek seemed a natural choice to inspire a new JTS euphemism.

I came up with three ideas based on the successful sci-fi franchise.

Dumped the Velour (Star Trek)

Most critics view Star Trek's first season on television as it's best. Because NBC had all but given up on the expensive show when it grudgingly approved a third season in a horrid time slot, the low energy level and mediocre to bad quality of stories was quite evident.

In his book The Making of Star Trek, Stephen E. Whitfield reports that the costume people were having shrinkage problems with the velour tunics worn by Kirk, Spock and the rest of the regulars. Apparently, they shrank after each washing. As a result, by the start of third season, they had switched to polyester fabric for the uniforms.

Today, I can quickly decide if I want to watch or avoid a Star Trek episode to avoid based upon the presence or lack thereof of velour on the crew.

Shaved the Captain (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

If Star Trek (and Star Trek: The Next Generation) was, as Gene Roddenberry's has said, envisioned as "Wagon Train to the Stars," the third Star Trek series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, with it's creatively self-inflicted limitation to a single setting (an alien space station), is more like Gunsmoke.

In working with that ONE location, the show was initially a satisfying, more cerebral departure from the typical shoot-em up conflicts that were more common in the story lines of first two iterations.

At the helm of this Federation outpost was the calm, steady hand of Caption Sisko (Avery Brooks). Sisko was a strong soft-spoken, family man who brought a new dimension of authority to the role that didn't rely on Kirk's gratuitous shoulder roles or Picard's self-righteous, Shakespearean soliloquies.

Perhaps discovering that the one-set limitation was too, well, limiting, the show attempted to broaden it's scope by adding a continuously docked star ship to the space station's inventory. This made it easier for the writer's to more credibly create situations that involved space travel and, of course, space battles.

Included in this metamorphosis was a makeover for Sisko that involved shaving off the hair on his head and adding a goatee. Perhaps deliberately, this made Brooks look more like Hawk the tough, no nonsense character he played on Spencer for Hire and his own spin-off, Hawk.

Seven of Nined (Star Trek: Voyager)

In a blatant attempt to bolster ratings for the fourth Trek outing, Star Trek: Voyager, a new character was introduced.

Jeri Ryan played "Seven of Nine" a dislocated Borg who was introduced in Season 4. It seems that to successfully separate Seven from the Borg "collective" requires her to don a skin tight, lycra uniform. Clearly the Trekkers who William Shatner encouraged to "get a life" were the target market for this early prototype of "Number Six" (played by the timelessly HOT Tricia Helfer) on Battlestar Galactica.

To round out the list, I've outlined some other possible non-Trek options.

Knocked Up Murphy (Murphy Brown)

Dan Quayle jokes aside, once Murphy Brown (Candice Bergman) brought her illegitimate baby home, a perceptible amount of wind had been taken out of the show's sit-com sails.

Chopped the Doc (ER)

How many hospitals do you know of that have been blown up MORE than once?

The hospital drama that was once a bastien of brutal realism, ER descended into a tailspin of escalating protechniques which culminated into gratuitous, borderline camp when Dr. Robert Romano (Paul McCrane) had his arm cut off by a rescue helicopter.

For me, it's never recovered.

Capped the Chief (Rescue Me)

I'm still mad at Rescue Me for allowing one of it's strongest characters, long suffering Chief Jerry Reilly, to commit suicide in Season 4.

Jumped the Balcony (Deadwood)

Speaking of "rescues," many would disagree with me, but the producers of Deadwood softened Al Swearengen's (Ian McShane) character too much when he turned into "Action Al" and jumped off his second story balcony to save a damsel in distress on the muddy, mean streets below. Ironically, the woman he saved was the wife of the man Al had arranged to have a mining "accident" in the first, and best, season of the series.

It was almost as if the creative team blinked at the idea of keeping an evil character like Swearengen, a throat slitting, whore beating, claim jumper, as one of the major leads of the show. So, they tried to take some of the edge off of him.

I fold.

Moved the Shop (American Chopper)

Driven by the success of the Discovery Channel documentary, American Chopper, Orange County Choppers outgrew their facility and had to move to new digs. Once embarrassed by their on camera antics, the Teutels now often seem embarrassingly self-aware of the fourth wall when they mug for the people at home.

Killed Larry or Lost a Kidney (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

What was once a down to earth, "day in the life" portrayal of less than lovable Larry David, went over the top when Larry had an out of body experience during a botched operation to donate a kidney to fellow funnyman Richard Lewis.

Finally...

Saw Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)

For the record, I'M NOT SAYING THAT BATTLESTAR GALACTICA has "jumped" (unless you mean activating it's "faster then light" engine). For my money, it's the best show on television today.

BUT, at the end of the last season, Apollo (Jamie Bamber) had a vision of Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) who we saw killed off a number of episodes previously. They also dropped the bombshell that a number of show regulars are really Cylons (to the tune of All Along the Watchtower no less).

It's been a LONG hiatus, and I'm hoping the payoff will be worth it.