Man, I really admired how willing they were to go THERE with Rene’s character by having the obvious problem with her (that she was such a slight looking person that didn’t look like they’d ever do well in a physical fight) being, well, you know, an obvious problem.

Michael Michele’s character, Rene Shephard, was a beauty-pageant winner, and so drop-dead gorgeous that nobody took her seriously. Worse, when she made a mistake — when she got her gun snatched away — even the other women cops were looking at her sideways.

One of the best moments was when Shepard was in Lt. Giardello’s office (the late Yaphet Kotto) moping about it and told him, “I’m a woman, so you think I’m a screwup.”

Gee — who had put up with more discrimination and harassment in his career than Shepard could imagine — glowered at her (as only Yaphet Kotto could) and said, “You’re a Black woman, so I think you damn well better NOT screw up!” Then he told her to get out of his office and they would both pretend the conversation never happened.

(I kid, 7th season of HLOTS, I kid!)

I think the dropoff has to be sharper for it to really count as jumping the shark, since ALL shows gradually get worse over time, even the brilliant ones that are still amazing in their final seasons.

He took over the show SO much, as it was obvious that Fontana was pushing him as a potential new lead once Braugher left at the end of S6, and it just didn’t work at ALL. Falsone was an unsympathetic, obnoxious character who spent much of his time clashing with Kellerman, a more popular character, plus Seda was just too inexperienced to carry a show at that point.

As you say, it was still a good show, but going by the classic “Jump the Shark” definition, where you just knew the show had changed for the worse and was never quite the same show again, Falsone’s introduction was the moment.