Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Mission: Impossible “jumped the shark.”
This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” a feature where we examine shows and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark (coined by Jon Hein) means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there (even if, in some rare occasions, the show later course-corrected). 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?
Mission: Impossible was a long-running series detailing the adventures of The I.M.F. (Impossible Missions Force), a group of specialized agents who went on dangerous (one might even say “impossible”) missions using their unique skillsets. It ran seven seasons.
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I am going to say yes.
WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK The show lost a lot when Barbara Bain and Martin Landau left, but Leonard Nimoy was an excellent replacement for Landau, so I think it avoided shark-jumping for the first five seasons. I think the final season was pretty bad, so I think somewhere in Season 6 is where it probably jumped. I am going to choose the Season 6 episode, “Blues,” with Barney (Greg Morris) undercover as a singer…
Ooph.
Let me know what you think in the comments or on social media!
Feel free to e-mail me at brian@popculturereferences.com for suggestions for shows for us to do in future installments!
A couple of years ago, I came across an episode of MI that was just starting on TVLand. I hadn’t seen the series in at least 30 years, so I gave it a try.
The episode was called “The Contender,” an early entry from season 3. It guest starred Sugar Ray Robinson as a former boxer forced into retirement due to injuries. The bad guy of the week, the global threat to life and liberty that requires the intervention of an extra-judicial team of secret agents to defeat, was… a crooked boxing promoter.
That was pretty much it. The Impossible Mission Force was recruited to thwart a guy who fixed boxing matches. This particular Mission seemed not just Possible; it was downright Trivial. Surely the police could have handled this, or if they were too busy, just call the Nevada Gaming Commission.
So, did the IMF succeed in their crusade to bring down the naughty bookie? Beats me. It turns out this episode was the first of a two-parter, and ended on a cliffhanger. I never did see the finale, and wasn’t enthralled enough to seek it out.
I thought every season had its moments…very fine series…I used to have fantasies about Lynda Day George!
I would say the beginning of season 6 when the missions changed focus to taking on organised crime in almost every episode combined with the departure of Leonard Nimoy.