SuperBatMan

Angel- Cordy/Connor or the crew taking over W&H.
Smallville- Killing off Jonathan in exchange for Lana, and pairing up Lana/Lex.

Rypro 525

i think the 2 hour season 3 finale of nip/tuck jumped the shark imo.

magiccmom

I think one show that never jumped the shark would be Seinfeld. That show held true to the characters throughout, .... none got married, had babies, or adopted a cute smart alecky kid.

onebyone

I don't know, I always thought Seinfeld jumped the shark at the last possible moment... the finale. I thought that was god awful, but I loved it up until then.

riley_dude

I agree with the other poster that said it Jumped when Larry David left.

dhmac

Bingo! That was a complete shark jump episode. So bad, it felt like a half-baked and awkward reunion special made a decade later instead of being the last episode of the series.

Rockmjd23

Law and Order - Elisabeth Rohm
Seinfeld - The Finale, enjoyed it up till then
Simpsons - Maude's death. Not sure why either, because she wasn't an essential character, just seems like the show isn't the same.
X-Files - The Movie. I thought the movie itself was good, but the show seemed to go downhill after.

magiccmom

I didnt like the final episode either, but I didnt count that as jumping the shark because it was the end. It just was a really crappy ending, but what else could they do? At least they didnt have Elaine get married, George get a promotion and move to another city, Kramer get a starring role in a major motion picture, and Jerry be the host of "Last Comic Standing".

dhmac

I actually put The X-Files shark jumps later than that. The Mythology storyline jumped when the show killed off the Syndicate about midway through Season 6. After that, the Mythology episodes were never very good again. However, the standalone Monster-of-the-Week (MOTW) episodes continued to have good ones up through Season 8. Season 9, though, was a complete across-the-board shark jump - not a single good episode came out of that entire forgettable season. The show would be thought of better now if it had ended its run one year earlier.

Michael Corvin

When Sam lept into a monkey on Quantum Leap.

kevin75

the west wing - when sorking left. although it has gotten better from season 5, it's still not where it was.

ed - the end of season 3. while i did enjoy season 4 and would have gladly accepted more, that was it.

RandyC

I thought the finale of Seinfield was brilliant. Was it out of character for the show? Yes. Was that intentional? I think so. The finale was not a jump the shark thing, it was a pointing out of the obvious about how self absorbed the characters really were. IMO.

Shazam

That's because the voice actor that left also did a lot of other voices - Lunchlady Doris, Lisa's teacher, etc. So we'll never see those characters speaking again.

Friends season 7 was mediocre. I think around season 8.5 it got better again. Season 10 was simply a caricature of the original show.

Bacon

All in the Family- when just wasn't the same after that

RobCA

Frasier - when Daphne and Niles got together
Moonlighting - when Dave and Maddie slept together
Monk - when Sharona left the show

FantasticVSDoom

Definitely on Angel when Conner joined. It was my fav show, and when he came to the show, I couldnt watch it anymore...

Buttmunker

Upstairs/Downstairs? You'll have to explain that one. Are you suggesting that Season 2 sucked, but Season 3 was brilliant?

Deadpool

So true


A lot has already been mentioned but here's another one:

The A Team - when they got caught and they had to take orders from the little dork man Didn't like the show after that

lordwow

That was pretty bad, but I'd have to say "The Evil Leapers"

BassDude

Although I realize the importance of this episode starting the trend/saying, I'd say Happy Days didn't JTS til Richie left and/or Fonz became a friggin teacher.

Edit to add: Or was that the same show? Did Richie stay in Hollywood that same double Ep? Been a while since I've seen it...not like I can refer to the DVDs.... if so then I sit corrected.

Michael Corvin

Really? I thought those added more depth to the show. And after seeing the show being so stagnate for 4 years(mostly good), but especially after the previous gimmicks(aka Monkey & Lee Harvey Oswald) it was a refreshing change of pace.

I love the good vs. evil St. Augustine-like aspect that they tried to capture, how one cannot exist without the other. It especially worked since they never did clarify if it was god/fate/time/whatever was making him leap. It works on multiple levels.

Lateralus

Survivor: All Star Survivor --- I have not watched an episode since.

dre123

When Eddie Torres was killed off of New York Undercover

lordwow

Ya maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. Although I feel like a lot of Season 5 was gimmicky. I haven't seen the episodes in years though, so I'll definately re-examine that when Season 5 comes out on DVD later this year.

I think a lot of people would say it jumped the shark in the last episode, but I think that was QL's finest hour.