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Jumping the shark episode! (Patreon)

Published:
2026-09-03 22:45:22
Edited:
2026-09-03 22:47:28
Imported:
2026-09

Content

HELLO. Mason and I are going to do an episode on franchises (film, tv or other) that jumped the shark. Any specific suggestions would be welcome and credited appropriately and we won't make fun of your name

Files

Comments

Ethio

Happy Days I reckon

Shawn Obear

Stargate franchise it eventually wrapped up nearly most of popular mythology into it being aliens. Even the early saxon britain roots of christianity. While by definition it kept jumping the sharks in how much of human history is actually alien, it feels natural and progressful.

Jack Lewis

The bloody Weekly Planet Podcast! Haha! Got 'em!

Rike

As much as I love it, Fringe never really recovered after introducing Faux-livia

Josh

It's truly incredible how Dexter managed to jump the shark (everything after Season 4), recover (New Blood), jump the shark again (also New Blood), and then recover and be better than it ever was before (Resurrections).

Alexis Gentry

True Blood was one of the early HBO smash hits. Really fun first season, okay second, and then it fell off a cliff in the later seasons

Harris

The introduction of Sherlock's sister in Cumberlock. The show fell apart after Reichenback Falls but oof. That was horrendous.

Brian

Halloween, Highlander, Terminator

Loomy

I would probably consider the scene in the hobbit where Legolas jumps across the falling bridge as the moment where the movies fully lose the plot. The barrel scene is goofy, but at least it’s supposed to be. The Legolas scene is supposed to be cool and instead it just cements the hobbit trilogies commitment to overdoing it and thus loses all the weight the story had.

Adam Sanders

I started watching ER after enjoying The Pitt. It continues to jump bigger and bigger sharks as the seasons go along, but the most infamous is probably still when Dr Romano lost an arm to a helicopter and then was unceremoniously killed by a helicopter falling on him a couple seasons later.

Devesh Sood

Couldn't pinpoint the exact point, but the arrow verse definitely lost its way

Harris

Community: First losing Harmon, then moving to Yahoo. Yes. Yahoo tried to do streaming.

Piers Moyles

That bit in the last season of the boys when the cat lady and the dog man were sniffing each others butts. They couldn’t think of anything weirder or more gory after herogasm so put things like that in for the sake of being strange and out there. Feel like there was a lot of that in the last season

RedVIII

The Simpsons, about 20 years ago.

Chad Kroeger

Some say it's Fast and Furious going to space in F9 but I say it's the super soldiers in Hobbs and Shaw

Aaron e

The halloween movies. I know they’ve always been kinda stupid, but the cult stuff from 5 and 6 always just took me out. A plot point so stupid it resulted in a retcon, a reboot, and a second retconned timeline.

Loomy

I haven’t watched it personally but I do know it has gone through a reappraisal as of late

Choiboi_1999

Dunno if it counts, but the live action Cat in the Hat movie in its entirety was a jump the shark moment for the live action Dr. Seuss cinematic universe (aka the LADSCU). The Grinch kinda gets a pass, but Cat in the Hat can rot in Hell

Toby Martin

Haven’t watched it myself but that 9-1-1 show. Angela Bassett’s character who’s a detective previously ends up in space to stop meteors

Harris

Stranger Things: The introduction of Vecna. Might be a controversial one, but the Upside Down was way more interesting when it didn't have a Stock Villain and was more just a land of cosmic horror.

Jesse Lopez

The only one I can think of is a good example. Buffy the Vampire Slayer introduced a younger, never before heard of, sister character in season 5. They integrated her and her origin perfectly into the show and it was probably the best season of the show. A bad example would be The Flash, when they did Flashpoint. After that it was alternate universes, multiple Wells characters, everyone is a speedster, and every season was another bad guy whos faster than Barry.

Loomy

Idk if this counts as “jumping the shark” but killing Black Canary (laurel lance) in arrow was the point where so many people started to turn on the show.

Michael Froo

does The Rise of Skywalker count? "Somehow Palpatine returned", the stupid knife shaped like the death star from a specifically random part of a cliff, it's like they stopped caring entirely after the episode 8 backlash

beRn

resident evil?

Monster Man Alex

Josie and the Pussycats went to SPACE! That or Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, Oh! or Leprechaun 4...in space.

Johanna

Even though I still love it and watched all 15 seasons (too many seasons) and have the box set, Supernatural did jump the shark after season 7 and really jumped the shark later on when they brought a certain character back from the dead 😬🙄

Nate Gonzales

The (US) Office - although it could be argued it happend earlier, I think the choice to start referencing the documentary crew and break the fourth wall in the final season felt like proof that they were out of ideas.

Daniel Richardson

When Family Matters introduced Steve Urkel's counterpart, Stefan Urkel. Was that show a thing in Australia? Do you guys know what this even is? Anyway, it was weird and dumb and felt desperate... a pure "jump the shark" moment for sure.

Harris

Hobbs and Shaw feels like an alternate universe to the mainline FFU. That movie's full on sci-fi nonsense completely unconnected to the rest of the movies.

Jonah

It was mentioned in the most recent COG, but Heroes, after a very rocky production while the writers strike was going on

TotallyNotMyles

Does Who Shot Mr. Burns Pt. 1 and 2 count? It was the first and only time The Simpsons had a two parter.

RedVIII

Roseanne is probably the worst offender, when the family won the lottery in season 9 and at the very end of the season they revealed that the whole season was a dream and Dan actually died in real life. Also, the Joey and Rachel relationship in Friends. One of the worst pairings in the show, and it basically only happened because the show was renewed for yet another season and they didn't know what to do.

Harris

I feel like there are a lot of shows that just kind of give up during their final season: Lost, True Blood, Supernatural, Stranger Things. Like nobody cares to work.

Loomy

The book of boba fett ruining the ending of season 2 of Mando in a separate show is also the point I remember people really turned on the Disney plus Star Wars shows (non-andor)

Nate Gonzales

By a certain point it just became a constant train of celebrity special guest voices and outdated pop culture jokes.

Dennis Austin

Sliders. I can't even pinpoint when they jumped the shark because they just kept doing it and the show kept going

Piltheser

If we can take the MCU, Id point to Thor: Love and Thunder as the point where they full jumped the shark. People thought it peaked at Endgame, and Covid did not help, but the movies and shows that were coming out were still considered good. Even Eternals was seen as this weird artsy swing that failed but was interesting for the attempt. Then, as soon as we got to the screaming goats in Love and Thunder, not just did that movie jump the shark, but it felt like the whole MCU did, as people started to lose interest in all the movies and only tuned in for Spider-Man and Avengers.

Jaden Hein

Season 4 of Seinfeld was the peak of the show, possibly of all sitcoms in the history of the genre. Season 5 is very good too. The show starts to go downhill at season 6 but I wouldn’t say it was actually bad until the last season(9). Some really terrible stuff in there. Kramer sunbathes in butter and Newman wants to eat him. This is just an example

Nate Gonzales

Of course who could forget (unless you have chosen to forget) when Indiana Jones survived an atom bomb by climbing into a refrigerator? Coined the term "Nuke the Fridge"

Seán Ó Raghallaigh

No matter how it turns out, bringing back Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU as Doctor Doom.

Piltheser

The star wars sequels jumped the shark as soon as someone had to say "Somehow, Palpatine has returned".

Piltheser

About the original Jumping the Shark in Happy Days, its worth talking about how, at the time, people loved that episode, and even 19 episodes later, you had the classic episode where Robin Williams had his big break playing an alien who fights the Fonz. It wasnt until decades later that people decided humpingbthe shark was the point Happy Days had changed too much from what it was originally.

Harris

They brought back two parters in the past couple of years. They did a pretty decent Fargo TV Show parody. Yeah, I still watch the show. You want to make something of it?

paulohmygod

For the record, there was an episode of Happy Days where a guy LITERALLY jumped over a shark, and it was the best one.

Nick Field

How about the episode of The Simpsons where Maude Flanders was killed off? (Official title: Alone Again, Natura-Diddily). There are a lot of episodes that could qualify for The Simpsons, but this one always felt bizarrely mean-spirited, especially as it came amid a pay dispute with voice actress Maggie Roswell. Plus, the episode aired in February 2000, so it symbolically signals the end of 1990s Simpsons

Simon Buchan

Just getting bad is easy, jumping the shark is a lot tougher... The original Star Trek movies kind of did in 5, having Kirk fight God and Uhura doing a belly dance, directed by Shatner, but then 6 got right back on track with a pretty great one (the Klingon political thriller one) I'm stumped!

Red Mammoth (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-05 16:00 Definitely The Fast & Furious movies. 1st movie - Street Racing and Crime 2nd movie - less street racing, more crime 3rd movie - more street racing, less crime 4th movie - single street race, some crime, beginning of dom having superpowers 5th movie - big heist, all crime no brakes 6th movie - VS mode against evil crew trying to make an emp bomb or something, dom is superhuman, tank, longest runway in the world, dophin headbutt, gal gadot disappears and is never seen again, madness ensues
2026-09-03 23:27 Definitely The Fast & Furious movies. 1st movie - Street Racing and Crime 2nd movie - less street racing, more crime 3rd movie - more street racing, less crime 4th movie - single street race, some crime, beginning of dom having superpowers 5th movie - big heist, all crime no brakes 6th movie - VS mode against evil crew trying to make an emp bomb or something, dom is superhuman, tank, longest runway in the world, dophin headbutt, gal gadot disappears and is never seen again, madness ensues

Definitely The Fast & Furious movies. 1st movie - Street Racing and Crime 2nd movie - less street racing, more crime 3rd movie - more street racing, less crime 4th movie - single street race, some crime, beginning of dom having superpowers 5th movie - big heist, all crime no brakes 6th movie - VS mode against evil crew trying to make an emp bomb or something, dom is superhuman, tank, longest runway in the world, dophin headbutt, gal gadot disappears and is never seen again, madness ensues

Piltheser

I think youre the first person to use the phrase "jumping the shark" right.

vintcern

BOBF ruining Mando is definitely it for me

Fritz Sullivan

Westworld. I enjoyed the show overall and am a little sad not to get a conclusion. However, if "jumping the stark" is about a gimmick to regain audiences, then I think the last season with all it's "twists" definitely counts.

Rusch Rosenberger

Married with children, Growing Pains, The Brady bunch. Its the classic add a kid formula.

Brad

I've seen some funny stuff in the new episodes. I think it's a bit unfair to say that the show completely died at season 10 or whatever the latest consensus is.

Ryan Norcross

I always felt Peter Jackson just wanted a bunch of Legolas kills the Elephant (I know it is called something else but don't want to look up the spelling.) scenes. It was less a Battle of 5 Armies and more a Battle of 100 Wacky Situations.

J. Michael White

Supernatural, 15 seasons, literally had an episode called Jump the Shark where they introduced the Winchesters' secret third half brother!

Ryan Norcross

The Rookie when the Rookie stopped being the Rookie.

Jonathan Stine

Wandavision starts out as such a wholesome, family friendly, low-stakes sitcom set in the real world. Then all of a sudden there’s real witches flying around? The government is threatening the mom? The dad turns out to be some kind of robot?? And the kids never even existed??? I’ve never see such a normal show jump the shark so hard

Ryan Norcross

Family Matters when Steve Urkel became swauve Stephan Urkél.

Patrick Lewis

For me, I think WandaVision’s jump back into a status quo MCU story and non-use of the Quicksilver when the multiverse happened anyway.

J. Michael White

Fast and Furious franchise. From street racing culture to super spies racing down dams and flying through space or something.

TotallyNotMyles

There's definitely a noticable trend down post season 10 but the last 4 seasons have been really great I think. A Serious Flanders from season 33 was something completely different. And seeing now it's also a 2 partern so I've already contradicted my original comment 😅

J. Michael White

The Joey and Rachel relationship on Friends. No, Mason, just no!

J. Michael White

Dexter season with the lady who is a psychologist but also his mother or something.

Matthew Ambrose

This is so not Weekly Planet-coded, but Grey's Anatomy jumped the shark from a bomb in the hospital nearly killing Meredith, to a wild gunman running around killing tons of random extras, to a plane crash that basically killed half the cast, then finally to Meredith getting covid and halucinating (or maybe she literally went to heaven for a bit, it's very unclear) that she reunited with all the dead cast members. Mind you, that was all seasons 1-16, they're now on 22 and after the second instance of main character being killed by a bus I had to stop watching. (Still highly rec the show though!)

Robert

How about just talking about how people don’t know what “jumping the shark” actually means lol people apparently think it means when they personally stopped liking a show or film franchise lol

Harris

In recent years (and it's been on so long recent years could mean the past 10 years), the show has kind of refound some footing. It's not as good as Golden Age Simpsons, which even rewatching now is some of the best TV comedy ever written, but it still has some moments. For the most part, they moved away from the eras of Guest Voice Every Week and every episode needing an action scene. Homer is more overall more thoughtful and competent. Characters feel more humanized. It's not great, but it's more than watchable.

Matthew Cronin

The episode of Supernatural where Sam, Dean, and Castiel were sucked into the tv by a ghost and teamed up with Scooby Doo. Which I loved btw.

J. Michael White

Recent: Star Trek Strange New Worlds But They're All Puppets Now episode.

Anna Metzger

The X-Files. One can argue it jumped the shark after the first movie and the move to LA but the revival seasons just go off the deep end. Bringing back Mulder and Scully's son (spoilers) as some sort of stranger thing, return of the Cigarette Smoking Man so he can die 2 more times, New World Order and Vaccine conspiracies. Jeff Winger Alex Jones. The episode "Babylon" being racist and also terrible with magic mushroom telepathy. I could go on.

mantis toboggan

I say it does. I'm so mad last jedi will never get a sequel

Danny Clark Jones

Community is probably the best example of a show jumping the shark in a good way. Something like the paintball episode would be ridiculous in every other sitcom but gave Community it's own identity.

SummerTimeTony

I think the James Bond jumped the shark right at the end of the Roger Moore era but was able to bounce back from some of the uber camp and goofiness.

Thomasin Ham

halloween franchise has a few strong contenders, but i think the most egregious was when busta rhymes kung fu’d michael myers in halloween 6

Danny Clark Jones

A good way to jump the shark in a show is to Introduce a musical episode! Even if it's good and makes sense in the shows cannon, you can't take back an episode where your characters sing and dance Broadway style. It's always fun to find out which actor can sing surprisingly well and which actor didn't sign up for this and is keeping up with a prayer.

Mo

The office seasons after Michael Scott left should be studied

RedVIII

Yeah, I loved that show. Unfortunately it basically started to go downhill once John Rhys Davis left.

Richard D

First thing that came to mind was the show “The 100” . It had a really solid first couple of seasons. They send 100 teenagers who’ve committed crimes down from The ark to reclaim earth and see if it’s habitable after past nuclear war. Slowly just started adding crazy elements of sci-fi like time travel, consciousness transfer and new planets. It got pretty crazy.

Glen Quarless

Fast and furious went from low budget car jacking and lame point breaking to people flying through the air to land on moving cars, cars in space and vin diesel pretending to be a 35 and have one chin Just to note fats and flatulence was always rubbish Jurassic franchise, dinosaur theme park to clone kids and evil bugs

Michael Cohen

The walking dead! - could argue that quality dropped off in season 9-10 after Rick's departure but there is also a case for a drop in quality after season 1 when Frank Darabont left before season 2 leading to a longer slower paced show set on one location, the difference between seasons 1 and 2 is huge

jb7

James bond has done it several times. The whole Roger Moore era, which i love, is an example. But I think the biggest one is when they made blofeld bonds brother in spectre. That made me actually laugh in the threatre when I saw it

Alfie Powell

That whole community season?

Dion Evans

Maybe go for the MCU - they just went all in after Covid and didn’t stop to think if it was working

Dean Cooley

Does introducing a Poochie count as jumping the shark? I feel like a lot of shows introduce new characters to shake things up, but that doesn’t always work. The Fairly OddParents introduced a fairy baby, then a fairy dog, then a second godchild, but they all faded from importance by the next season/series.

Dean Cooley

Also Rugrats, a show about babies, managed to introduce a new baby brother who was so young that he couldn’t talk or interact with the other babies.

Adam Sanders

Meant more that there is no reaction from the rest of the cast in the show. They don't even learn he died that episode and when they do next episode they're just like "oh well, it happens. He was a jerk anyway'

Daniel Richardson

This is true! It started out as a pretty straightforward version of its premise, good sci-fi mystery, and high stakes... people you thought might be safe were NOT safe! But it definitely went off the deep end, and went heavy in the CW'fictation of it all, teen romance blah blah.

Rich E

Arrow, when they fast tracked the Felicity romance

Rich E

Fringe, when they introduced the shapeshifter.

Rich E

I agree if we're talking about the Kyle Chandler episode. A character dies but a bunch of them are all smiles because the regulars are ok. I'm pretty sure that episode opens with a goofy shower scene. IIRC it came on after the Superbowl so the writers decided to "go big"

Andrew Behm

Hell yeah, the Fonz jumping over a shark while on water skis is sick as hell