Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that The Girls “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 acclaimed HBO comedy-drama, Girls.
So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I think it definitely got worse as it went along, but I don’t think it ever quite jumped the shark.
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!
Season 2, Episode 5: “One Man’s Trash”
It was dicey when the show took some flack for a lack of diversity and Donald Glover showed up to have sex with Hannah. It sort of pierced the bubble of sad-com reality a little, but it wasn’t a full Shark Jump.
Guest Star Patrick Wilson was a bridge too far. It was hard not to read the episode as Lena Dunham acting out her own fantasies, which (while fine) is the equivalent of Fonzie using his cool powers to jump a shark.
The distinction between a gradual decline and a single turning point is useful here. For an episode like “One Man’s Trash,” raised in the other comment, would a divisive standalone experiment count as jumping the shark if the following episodes returned to the show’s usual approach? I would separate an episode that divides viewers from a lasting change in the storytelling. What later pattern would make that episode the turning point rather than an exception?