Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Once Upon a Time “jumped the shark.”
This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” a feature where we examine shows that launched in 2006 or later and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there. Not every show DOES jump the shark. Some shows just remain good all the way through. And some shows are terrible all the way through. What we’re looking for are moments where a show that you otherwise enjoyed hit a point where it took a noticeable nose dive after that time and if so, what moment was that?
The great Jon Hein had a website devoted to this topic, but he sold it off in 2006 and after being maintained for a couple of years it was then merged into TV Guide in 2009, so I figured it’d be fun to look at shows that launched after the sale and see what we all think about whether they jumped the shark and, if so, when did it happen? Here is the archive of the show’s we have done far and what the judgments were for those shows.
Today, we look at the fantasy drama series, Once Upon a Time, about a world with fairy tale characters interacting with “real” people.
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I think so, yes.
WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK I believe the major cast reshuffling before the final season was the time it jumped the shark, but maybe others think it was earlier!
Feel free to e-mail me at brian@popculturereferences.com for suggestions for shows for us to do in future installments!
It definitly jumped the shark and I would say it was earlier than final season. I mean, it was a great concept and I liked that we get a cool fantasy-background for the different characters, tieing the flashbacks and the main plot of the episode.
But the series had a few issues from the beginning. I´d say the show jumped the shark in the fifth season – the moment would either be Mr. Gold revealing he´s totally the Dark One again (sigh) or Hook being allowed by Zeus to return to life despite we´re being told that is totally impossible but yeah, we need Hook (sigh). That is when some of the issues – screwing up character developing and making death more and more meaningless were brought in ridicolous spaces. And more and more stupid plots followed.