* Jumps the Shark!

http://selfmadepundit.blogspot.com/2003_07_27_selfmadepundit_archive.html#105939858342248192

Many fans of classic television shows are familiar with the phenomenon of jumping the shark – which refers to the defining moment of decline for a television show. The reference is to the Happy Days episode when the show’s writers revealed that they were creatively exhausted by having Fonzie actually jump over a shark while water skiing.

Looking back on this past season of The Bush Administration, I think it is clear that the show jumped the shark when its writers had Bush put on a flight suit and sit behind the controls of a fighter jet for a landing on an aircraft carrier to announce – prematurely – “Mission Accomplished.” It was at that point that the show’s writers revealed that were disposing of any pretense of keeping the characters consistent and believable. The writers had suddenly changed the character of Bush into a fighter pilot, conveniently ignoring the back story of Bush’s callow youth established in the pilot episode (no pun intended) of the show. Back in 2000 the pilot episode established that thanks to Bush’s family connections, he was able to get into the Texas Air National Guard – thus avoiding the Vietnam War – and then cavalierly did not bother to show up for required duty during his last year in the National Guard. When the writers of the Bush Administration so drastically rewrote the main character, it became obvious that they had given up on keeping the characters consistent and believable.

If there was any doubt that The Bush Administration had jumped the shark, it has been dispelled by the writers’ switching gears in mid-season from serious melodrama to broad comedy with the show’s extended homage to Abbott and Costello’s classic “who’s on first” routine. To the Bush writers credit, it was a bit of inspired casting to have Bush play the role of the befuddled Costello as he tried to make sense of what he had said. But while The Bush Administration’s running gag about how that reference to the African uranium got into the State of the Union address was comical for several episodes, it is now alienating more and more viewers. The writers’ decision to have numerous and conflicting explanations proffered by supporting characters has resulted in bogging down the Bush Administration in a confusing mess that is dissipating the popularity of the main characters.

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true, funny, and insightful

one of my favs.

Cute essay but it's bunk. Bush's aircraft carrier stunt was PR genius. If you did focus polls I think you'd discover that the three moments which gave voters the best impression of Bush thus far were: 1) his visit to the WTC just after 9/11; 2) his speech to Congress just after 9/11; 3) his landing on that aircraft carrier. If you hate Bush you might have some problem seeing this.

"The reference is to the Happy Days episode when the show’s writers revealed that they were creatively exhausted by having Fonzie actually jump over a shark while water skiing."

One small correction. The phrase "jumping the shark" does refer to "Happy Days" but this was supposed to be the last episode of the series when the show was actually funny. After that it never was. The phrase isn't about creative exhaustion so much as irrelevance (it's spent, there's nothing you can do to revive it). "Jumping the shark" refers to the desperate attempts people will go to to avoid this.

Bush has not yet "jumped the shark". Al Gore probably has. Bill Clinton probably hasn't. One can wish this on Bush but that's a different story.

I feel that the phrase "jumped the shark" has most to do with the moment that the writers have lost all idea of what to do and have to rely on spectacular stunts to revive a plot line that is falling apart.
I think that the article's author illustrates this clearly.
In other words, Happy Days was still making lots of money and stars after jumping the shark, but it would never see the good old days again with the triple crown of great shows, public acclaim, and lots of money.

Just maybe the aircraft carrier event was the stupidist thing he ever did.
The NG airforce was exactly how he avoided Vietnam.
The NG airforce was exactly what he was AWOL from for a year.
He declared a war to be over, that seems only to be starting.
By avoiding Vietnam, he avoided learning the lessons of Vietnam which we seem to be faithfully re-enacting.
Any public figure with an outlet and skill, could easily make this the burning albatross that he could never remove from his neck.
As for the 911 stuff, if he couldn't get a major bump from that he wasn't even trying.