Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Seinfeld “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?
The classic sitcom, Seinfeld, about a standup comedian and his friends in New York City, had basically two plots throughout the series. One was finding the insanity within the mundane (like getting lost in a parking garage or waiting too long to eat at a Chinese restaurant) and the other was tackling insane situations with rather mundane reactions (like Kramer turning his apartment into The Merv Griffin Show or Elaine meeting the nice doppelgangers of Jerry, George and Kramer). With those two simple plot set-ups, though, the show achieved greatness.
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I don’t believe it did.
WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK Again, I don’t believe that it did. You can make a very good argument that the show suffered when co-creator Larry David left the series, but while it was never QUITE as good as it was during the David years, it was still really good. The last season, in particular, was starting to show SOME signs of aging, but in general, it was still a very high quality comedy right until its finale (now, you might suggest that the finale was a bit too odd in of itself, but I don’t know that you can “jump the shark” in your final episode).
Let me know what you think in the comments or on social media!
Feel free to e-mail me at brian@poprefs.com for suggestions for shows to do in future installments!
If the series finale doesn’t count, then I would have to say that Seinfeld never jumped the shark.