Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Mom “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 award-winning sitcom, Mom, about a mother and daughter who are both dealing with alcoholism and decide to both start Alcoholics Anonymous together as they slowly repair their relationship and help their fellow recovering addicts.
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I don’t think so.
WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK I don’t think it did, but I’d be up for opposing positions!
Let me know what you think in the comments or on social media1
Feel free to e-mail me at brian@popculturereferences.com for suggestions for shows for us to do in future installments!
Day One. Unwatchable dreck from the get go. Unpleasant characters doing awful things. How anyone can watch more than a few minutes is beyond me.
I don’t think it ever did jump the shark. The show got some time to get going – the first season or so weren’t great – but as it started focusing more on the group of women who went to AA together and less on Christy’s kids, it improved. TBH, even losing Anna Faris for what became the final season didn’t seem to hurt the show as much as other main characters leaving other shows has, I think because there was enough juice with the other women in the group, and it still felt fairly creatively strong. It helped that these women were growing and changing every season, so there was momentum. It honestly felt like there might have been a couple of more seasons left in the show, and while 8 seasons is a fantastic run, I do wish we’d gotten a couple more.