Protozaius
Chief Defender of Faith
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2005
- Messages
- 4,136
- Reaction score
- 7
I was surprised to find a listing for Buffy in the "Jump the Shark" book by Jon Hein.
According to him, the moment when Buffy "jumped the shark" was with the Riley and the Initiative storyline. Here's the book's quote:
Buffy creators aren't afraid to tempt the shark in different ways, and succeeded early on in steering clear of the fin. But we spotted shark bait when the Scooby gang graduated high school at the end of the third season.
Trying to recover from losing Angel, Buffy enters college and meets up with Riley and the Initiative. This mysterious underground lab beneath the college streets catapulted the Slayer right over the shark. Spike's chip, Willow ditching Oz and his wolfman side for Tara (not that there's anything wrong with that), and Faith's body switch were too much for us to handle.
Our fears were confirmed the following season when, like Ralph Macchio on Eight is Enough, Buffy's mysterious sister Dawn, showed up. Granted, there have been some brilliantly written episodes since the destruction of the Initiative. Buffy has sung, danced, died, and come back again. But regardless of the power it may possess and its ability to repeatedly avoid the shark, no program could survive a move to UPN anyway.
Does anyone agree with this? I sure don't. The whole idea of jumping the shark is when a show (preferrably a good one) does something that shakes the integrity of the show's premise. In an attempt to refreshen up a show that has gone creatively stale, the writer's cross the line of believability. When the Mighty Gazoo joined the Flinstones is a perfect example. Sure, Buffy had some growing pains after graduation... it was hard to top that season ender! But there wasn't a SINGLE moment that I thought, that Buffy showed ANY signs of feeling stale. I don't think that Joss and Co EVER destroyed the intregity of the show's premise.
I'm sure there are people out there that think the first three seasons of Buffy were the best of the series. I also believe that they were strong as well. But I was always curious as to what the writers had in store for Buffy AFTER high school. Personally, I don't usually like a show that has high school as a setting... no matter how good they are. That period of maturation and shows that examine it doesn't really interest me. So I couldn't wait for Buiffy to graduate. So I enjoyed the storylines that were explored after high school. It seemed to deepen the character. Did Buffy really have a future when most slayer don't? I found it all compelling.
In fact, I thought the creation of Buffy's sister Dawn was on some level a sly spoof on those shows that DO jump the shark. At that time the show was on long enough to execute such a joke. Only Joss and company make her the "Key" to the whole season plot arc.
Your thoughts?
According to him, the moment when Buffy "jumped the shark" was with the Riley and the Initiative storyline. Here's the book's quote:
Buffy creators aren't afraid to tempt the shark in different ways, and succeeded early on in steering clear of the fin. But we spotted shark bait when the Scooby gang graduated high school at the end of the third season.
Trying to recover from losing Angel, Buffy enters college and meets up with Riley and the Initiative. This mysterious underground lab beneath the college streets catapulted the Slayer right over the shark. Spike's chip, Willow ditching Oz and his wolfman side for Tara (not that there's anything wrong with that), and Faith's body switch were too much for us to handle.
Our fears were confirmed the following season when, like Ralph Macchio on Eight is Enough, Buffy's mysterious sister Dawn, showed up. Granted, there have been some brilliantly written episodes since the destruction of the Initiative. Buffy has sung, danced, died, and come back again. But regardless of the power it may possess and its ability to repeatedly avoid the shark, no program could survive a move to UPN anyway.
Does anyone agree with this? I sure don't. The whole idea of jumping the shark is when a show (preferrably a good one) does something that shakes the integrity of the show's premise. In an attempt to refreshen up a show that has gone creatively stale, the writer's cross the line of believability. When the Mighty Gazoo joined the Flinstones is a perfect example. Sure, Buffy had some growing pains after graduation... it was hard to top that season ender! But there wasn't a SINGLE moment that I thought, that Buffy showed ANY signs of feeling stale. I don't think that Joss and Co EVER destroyed the intregity of the show's premise.
I'm sure there are people out there that think the first three seasons of Buffy were the best of the series. I also believe that they were strong as well. But I was always curious as to what the writers had in store for Buffy AFTER high school. Personally, I don't usually like a show that has high school as a setting... no matter how good they are. That period of maturation and shows that examine it doesn't really interest me. So I couldn't wait for Buiffy to graduate. So I enjoyed the storylines that were explored after high school. It seemed to deepen the character. Did Buffy really have a future when most slayer don't? I found it all compelling.
In fact, I thought the creation of Buffy's sister Dawn was on some level a sly spoof on those shows that DO jump the shark. At that time the show was on long enough to execute such a joke. Only Joss and company make her the "Key" to the whole season plot arc.
Your thoughts?
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