History Main / JumpingTheShark

* ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay''. After making two episodes independently, they were picked up by the Machinima Youtube channel. They referenced this "selling out" in their next video, ''DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', by having Kong physically jump over a shark enemy.

[[caption-width-right:315:The [[VisualPun distinctive pattern]] often becomes noticeable only in hindsight.]]

* A [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular character]] is [[PutOnABus removed from the show]], or even {{killed off| for real}}. Especially true if the method of removal is [[DeathIsDramatic unsatisfying]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim mean-spirited]]. This can be considered a single-character form of TheFireflyEffect. The standard candidate for this treatment is {{The Heart}}/{{The Chick}}, who will usually also be an introverted, quiet, and relatively pacifistic character; who the executives will want to replace with a character who is HotterAndSexier and easier for the writers to develop ideas for, and probably also an actor who has [[{{TheCastShowoff}} greater artistic ability]]. Examples where this has happened include ''{{Star Trek Voyager}}'', ''{{Stargate Atlantis}},'' and ''{{Warehouse 13}}'', and in the case of Atlantis, it produced a sufficiently [[{{FanDumb}} enraged]] subsection of the [[{{BrokenBase}} fanbase]] that the franchise's next series, ''{{Stargate Universe}}'', was actually destroyed by them as a result.

** The professional raiding guilds which existed prior to the first expansion, tended to agree that the shark was cleared by around Tier 5, during the ''Burning Crusade.'' The more mainstream opinion would probably be that the shark was flown over by Deathwing with the release of ''Cataclysm.'' It was during the ''Cataclysm'' expansion that ''World of Warcraft'''s numbers really began to fall.

** The professional raiding guilds which existed prior to the first expansion, tended to agree that WoW's shark was cleared by around Tier 5, during the ''Burning Crusade.'' The more mainstream opinion would probably be that the shark was flown over by Deathwing with the release of ''Cataclysm.'' It was during the ''Cataclysm'' expansion that ''World of Warcraft'''s numbers really began to fall.

* TheMovie of the series is released, after which the creativity level of the actual show starts to wane.

* A [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular character]] is [[PutOnABus removed from the show]], or even {{killed off| for real}}. Especially true if the method of removal is [[DeathIsDramatic unsatisfying]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim mean-spirited]]. This can be considered a single-character form of TheFireflyEffect. The standard candidate for this treatment is {{The Heart}}/{{The Chick}}, who will usually also be an introverted, quiet, and relatively pacifistic character; who the executives will want to replace with a character who is HotterAndSexier and easier for the writers to develop ideas for, and probably also an actor who has [[{{TheCastShowoff}} greater artistic ability]]. Examples where this has happened include ''{{Star Trek Voyager}}'', ''{{Stargate Atlantis}},'' and ''{{Warehouse 13}}'', and in the case of Atlantis, it produced a sufficiently [[{{FanDumb}} enraged]] subsection of the [[{{BrokenBase}} fanbase]] that the franchise's next series, Universe, was actually destroyed by them as a result.

* A [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular character]] is [[PutOnABus removed from the show]], or even {{killed off| for real}}. Especially true if the method of removal is [[DeathIsDramatic unsatisfying]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim mean-spirited]]. This can be considered a single-character form of TheFireflyEffect. The standard candidate for this treatment is TheHeart/TheChick, who will usually also be an introverted, quiet, and relatively pacifistic character; who the executives will want to replace with a character who is HotterAndSexier and easier for the writers to develop ideas for, and probably also an actor who has [[{{TheCastShowoff}} greater artistic ability]]. Examples where this has happened include ''{{Star Trek Voyager}}'', ''{{Stargate Atlantis}},'' and ''{{Warehouse 13}}'', and in the case of Atlantis, it produced a sufficiently [[{{FanDumb}} enraged]] subsection of the [[{{BrokenBase}} fanbase]] that the franchise's next series, Universe, was actually destroyed by them as a result.

* A [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular character]] is [[PutOnABus removed from the show]], or even {{killed off| for real}}. Especially true if the method of removal is [[DeathIsDramatic unsatisfying]] or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim mean-spirited]].

Generally caused by ExecutiveMeddling and/or being ScrewedByTheNetwork. Too many shark-jumping moments in a row can spell SeasonalRot.

* ''M*A*S*H'' fans have had some pretty heated debates over when or if ever the show actually suffered this: for some the series jumped the shark when MacLean Stevenson (Henry Black), Wayne Rogers (Trapper John) and Larry Linville (Frank Burns) all left, while others felt the show didn't truly jump until after Gary Burghoff (Radar) left. Another set felt that the series suffered due to Alan Alda (Hawkeye) getting more involved in the creative decisions (he wrote and directed quite a few episodes after all), undermining the humor in favor of drama - soap opera or otherwise.

* The [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0542.html 542nd strip]] of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is named "[[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou In Azure City, Shark Jumps You!]]". In addition to the obvious [[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou Russian Reversal]], this is also an actual description of the strip's contents.

* ''WebSoup'' host Chris Hardwick used this phrase when a video in their [[NightmareFuel Things You Can't]] [[BrainBleach Un-See]] segment was legitimately disgusting and [[NauseaFuel nauseating]]. [[spoiler:It was a gaping foot wound, which was crawling with live maggots.]]

* They do a musical episode.

* In the self-referential 200th episode, Marty responds to the suggestion of doing the ''[[ShowWithinAShow Wormhole X-Treme!]]'' [[TheMovie movie]] with ''{{Thunderbirds}}''-style puppets by sarcastically suggesting that they have Puppet O'Neill jump over a puppet shark on a scale motorcycle.

* The fifth-season premiere of ''Series/Reno911'', entitled "Jumping the Shark", featured Lt. Dangle actually attempting to jump over a normal fish tank containing a small shark. Naturally, he doesn't quite make it over, and HilarityEnsues. Incidentally, it was the first new episode to be aired after the release of TheMovie, which can also be a major shark-jumping point for some shows.

* The fifth-season premiere of ''Reno911'', entitled "Jumping the Shark", featured Lt. Dangle actually attempting to jump over a normal fish tank containing a small shark. Naturally, he doesn't quite make it over, and HilarityEnsues. Incidentally, it was the first new episode to be aired after the release of TheMovie, which can also be a major shark-jumping point for some shows.
* An episode of ''That70sShow'' in which Fez, imagining how cool it would be to be the Fonzie, has a daydream of himself performing the original jump. Hyde comments that this was the worst moment in television history, and Fez confesses that he stopped watching the show after that. It's interesting, because [[AnachronismStew this is more of a modern perspective rather than one commonly held at the time it aired]]... like pretty much everything on ''That '70s Show''.

* The OfficialCouple resolves their {{UST}} too early and [[ShippingBedDeath shippers start to lose interest in the show]].

* During the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode where the Titans chased Control Freak into [[TrappedInTVLand TV land]], Robin finds himself on some kind of action challenge show being forced by a [[CrocodileHunter suspiciously familiar looking host with a funny accent]] to waterski off a ramp, at which point a shark leaps out of the water underneath him.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has a daily quest in Krasarang Wilds called Jumping the Shark. In which your character, with his or her bare hands, jumps on a shark and beats the daylights out of it.

* Parodied in one of ''[[CollegeHumor College Humor's]]'' NextTimeOn ''Bear Shark'' segments in which the shark jumps a pen full of Fonzies while on water skis.

* ''FarCry3BloodDragon'' features a scene where Rex launches a car over a shark...well, a {{Sharktopus}}, to be more exact. HUD even describes the objective as simply "Jump the shark".

* The penultimate episode of ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'' is titled "Jump the Shark". In it, TheLoneGunmen--the quirky trio of conspiracy theorists that had lasted the show's entire run and gotten their own failed spin off--end up thwarting a terrorist's plot to use a neurotoxin made from sharks (somehow). [[spoiler:Unfortunately, they died in the process.]]