The Wrap, a daily entertainment news e-zine has offered a list of seven shows that should give up the ghost. The writer of the piece, Kimberly Potts says:
This is not a story about ratings. This is a story about shows that have overstayed their welcome.
Shows like “Glee,” “House” and "Grey’s Anatomy” are still pulling in respectable ratings, but are a shadow of what they once were. For every show like "Freaks and Geeks," "Sports Night" and "Party Down" -- great shows that were canceled too soon -- there are series that risk their ultimate TV legacy by staying too late at the party.
The Wrap
The Shows are:
Dexter
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| Image via Wikipedia |
I have never watched Dexter so I am unable to speak to its quality. It is, I understand, bloodier than True Blood. The Blood in TB seems laughable though.
Potts points to a tired premise and an unlikely number of serial killers living near and crossing paths with Dexter even outside his police work.
But isn't that the same with any murder-mystery show not purely involving police? With Murder She Wrote people began saying, "Notice how that woman is like the Typhoid Mary of murder?" There were other things in that show that were perfectly laughable, like the prime piece of real estate the police department sat on.
But isn't that the same with any murder-mystery show not purely involving police? With Murder She Wrote people began saying, "Notice how that woman is like the Typhoid Mary of murder?" There were other things in that show that were perfectly laughable, like the prime piece of real estate the police department sat on.
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| Hugh Laurie (Image via RottenTomatoes.com) |
House
I adore Hugh Laurie and normally would watch cardboard if he were on it, but even I have stopped watching House. The biggest problem is and has been that he never gets the diagnosis correct until he almost kills the patient.
The second is a lack of personal growth or redemption. How long can one go on being a total jerk and not get one's ass canned? I lost interest last year.
Glee
Wow! That was fast. One minute you are winning Emmy Awards and the next critics are saying you're tired and that your producers believe in their own self importance.
Again, while I enjoyed the musical sequences the show was always ludicrous to my mind. While life has changed a huge amount in the cough-mumbled-number years since I left high school, the evolutionary process pertinent to being a teen has not so these kids could not be so different from what I knew and hated.
The Simpsons
Doh! The writer here says the shows writers and jokes are funny but it is tired and we know the characters too well for them to do anything to surprise us. We have two more years for them to try as it has recently been renewed for the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth seasons. Maybe the kids could age a year.
Gossip Girl
Okay, don't shoot! I have never watched this show. Don't know what it is about and did not even know it was still on. Potts cites too much drama to the point that the stories and characters have become tedious.
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| Alec Baldwin (Image via RottenTomatoes.com) |
30 Rock
This show can be hilarious but again Potts cites the characters as too well known and too outlandish. They are the characters they are and will stay backward, or single, or deviously obtuse forever. People are not like that, are they? Alec Baldwin says he hopes it goes on forever. He doesn't add (that I saw) that it helps him pay alimony and child support.
As I said, the show is funny but, I can never figure out when it is on.
As I said, the show is funny but, I can never figure out when it is on.
Grey's Anatomy
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| Image via Wikipedia |
Is that show still on? I watched it religiously for two or three seasons, but the breakout stardom of Kathryn Heigl and the storyline resulting from it was so contrived that it was unwatchable. I wouldn't miss it. Apparently there have been a lot of cast changes, but since I stopped watching it I did not know.
What I find most interesting about Potts article is that there are a number of repeating themes to which the shark-jumpage can be attributed:
- Tired Characters we know too well,
- Tired Premises with outlandish requirements for suspension of disbelief, and
- Lack of Personal Growth in the characters.
It's hard to find balance between change and status quo. If House isn't an ass is his edge gone? If Liz Lemon were married would we want to watch? You can change things up but the public may be terribly upset or outraged by the change (think new Coke).
Tension has been shown over and over to be an important factor in maintaining TV show freshness. Look at the 1980's show Moonlighting, which gave Bruce Willis his start and jump-started Cybil Shepard's career. The characters had a huge sexual tension that kept us coming back for more. They consumated and the ratings plummeted. Familiarity also kills tension.
And, sometimes an idea, a show, runs its course.
