This week, two of TV's top-rated shows skirted dangerously close to the proverbial shark. Action series 24 made a strangely anticlimactic revelation, and supernatural drama Lost added yet another mystery to the unfolded pile of mysteries that have been sitting in the dryer for weeks.
If you're unfamiliar with the term "jumping the shark," it refers to a tipping point when a show's writers have run out of ideas. It's named after a Happy Days episode in which Fonzie literally jumps over a shark on water skis, signaling the creative bankruptcy of the writers.
On 24, it was revealed that the mastermind behind this season's terror threat is none other than President Logan. Loyal viewers know that up until now, Logan has been merely an ineffectual dweeb, one of the many higher-ups that our hero Jack Bauer must circumvent in his effort to do his job. If Logan is actually pretending to be a feckless moron when in reality he is a cunning mastermind, that will read as strangely out of character. Still, it'll be fun to see his wife find out the truth.
What are the showrunners trying to tell us, anyway? Until now, their presidents were all noble, if flawed, people. The conpsiracy could engulf the cabinet and the intelligence agencies, but the president himself was always a good guy. If Logan really is a bad guy, let's hope Jack tortures him with the "live wires on a naked wet chest" like he did in season four to that Englishman.
On Lost, we had an episode that took place in Hurley's mind--or did it? The capper was at the end, when Libby made a nauseatingly emotional declaration of her feelings to a suicidal Hurley, after which they walked hand-in-hand offscreen; if you looked closely, you saw a dark expression pass over her face. Then it is revealed that Libby was actually in the hospital with Hurley. This seemed like a real stretch--in the past, there have been tangential connections between the castaways, but how could Hurley not have remembered Libby from the hospital (don't say "her hair was brown!"), and how can they both be coincidentally stuck on the same island?
Another odd creative decision: Early in the episode, Hurley engages in wanton destruction of precious food. Did he forget he is trapped on an island? As incomprehensible as that scene was, worse still was when Sawyer threw away an entire cookie simply because he couldn't separate the two crispy halves and extract the creamy center out of one. Who throws away an Oreo-type cookie if the top half breaks? Nobody, that's who. Chocolate sandwich cookies are delicious, and stranded castaways would probably just eat the whole broken cookie and try the cream grab with the next one.
Is cool Logan the bad guy? Is it all in Hurley's mind? Have the shows jumped their respective sharks? Is it jumping the shark to use the term "jumping the shark"? Most importantly, would youthrow away a cookie?
I don't think 24 has jumped the shark. The show has always done things, however unfeasible, that has put an interesting twist on things. This is why we love it.
This thread has jumped the shark
stupid twists... -_-
these shows have not "jumped the shark" they are still in their prime
24 & Lost are still hot
Lost had gotten rather stagnant, I mean how many episodes do we need to see to know that the island heals ppl. However, I did enjoy the twist in 24, season 4 was kinda, blah, and this season has been great.
I agree with most of the stuff said. 24 is really begging to get canceled with the latest blanks that they keep shooting. As far as Lost goes this was actually a decent episode and the ideas could have been expoited to a greater extent. Only the one that followed just left them out to dry. Who knows maybe the season finale will tie some ends and be a real shocker. <br />
You point out that the Lost plot is really getting blurred and I agree with you. It does get confusing at times and right now I have no idea where the show is ( or might be ) going. But them this is probably the point so I'd say wait and see what happens. <br />
As far as 24 goes ... well I really can't find it in my self to defend the show after last night's episode. You can tell someone what happened in the 40 minutes that the show took in under a minute ... and that includes the details. I bet you the writers no longer think that is was a cool idea to have 24 episodes for each hour of the day.moreless
Oh! I always knew that happy days had something to do with that phrase, but now I know why.
i dont know if id throw away the cookie..i'd think about that ..good question
Logan's wife knows the truth, I'll betcha. Logan is a dweeb who got in way over his. The nerve gas wasn't supposed to be used in LA -- at least not on a huge scale -- and all he intended was to pull some stuff that would get his home security agenda passed.<br />
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Question is, with David Palmer having been shot that morning and the Russkis almost taken out in an ambush, where's the media horde, why no extra protection for Logan.<br />
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To enjoy this show, you have to throw away everything remotely believeable and just go with the action and characters. It'll never jump the shark, just keep on surfing ahead of it.
FFS He threw away the damn cookie because he had a speaking part next and didnt want to say his lines with his mouth full. NOT EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAPPENS IN LOST HAS TO BE SIGNIFICANT!<br />
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He could be sticking them in his butt for all i care.<br />
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The guy only mentioned the cookie thing cos hes having a moan about lost & 24 but doesnt have any ammo
Wow...<br />
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Some people though Colin was actually being serious about the cookie thing... Nice...<br />
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However, I disagree on the whole rest of the article.
Dude, you obviously haven't been watching Lost for very long. Coincidences like the two of them in the mental institution is the whole freaking basis of the show....it is all to discover why such coincidences exist. Dude...try watching the series more closely before making your uninformed comments. <br />
Loop, dude, loop...
I completly agree with you about the LOST castaways throwing away food. It is really stupid. But the twist at the end of the show was just insane. There is no way LOST jumped the shark.
hehe
I don't think 24 is jumping the shark yet - if they give the first lady a gun at any point, then I believe they have jumped the shark, or if Jack's daughter ends up being in one of the houses almost gassed etc, that's jumping.<br />
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I don't watch Lost, but I get the impression that they're trying to create more confusion than a couple of hundred rabid squirrels on PCP locked in a 5x5 room and only one nut....
Can it be fair to say that 24 jumped the shark if each season sees an INCREASE in viewers? Season 5 has been the most watched Season to date, so to say that it jumped the shark, is impossible.<br />
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Jumping the Shark refers to when the creative staff has run out of ideas and when the ratings start to decline. 24 last week has pulled in an 8.5 Nielsen Rating, with 14.5 million viewers. The ratings keep steady for the show as is.
It's pretty clear that 24 has not "jumped the shark." Thanks though.
Hello, Hurley was CRAZY. He was probably so preoccupied with Dave, and only saw Libby for a few seconds. Plus, it seems he was trying to forget his past, that means he tried to forget the people in it -- like Libby. Lost is not "jumping the shark" ir whatever the heck you said. It's fine, it's one of the best shows on TV. Hey, maybe there is a reason Libby and Hurley were on the same plane. Could she have stalked him or something? Or perhaps it is a coincidence. But who cares. It's a great show!
This is the worst article I have ever read on tv.com.
For 24... if anyone remembers last season they finished with the knowledge someone high up in the White House was on the side of terrorists. Personally... I had my thoughts that this person was in fact Logan. I mean think about it... the perfect person you would never suspect would be an idiot that can do their job. Anyone who has watched 24 knows in the beginning of the show we find out who the bad guy is, but he is just a pawn, and near the end we find out who is REALLY behind it all. I think were going to learn that Logan is just another pawn in this.<br />
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Now for Lost. I think it turned into this shark thing starting Season 2. They have tooooooooo much going on and tooooooooooooo many subplots, and they cant focus on just one. Example.... the first season, first part was about the creature out in the woods. Second season there was A episode that had it in it for like a minute. I dont know... I just think alot of what the charactors are doing now are totally off charactor, and that their stretching. The show is cool, and the past couple episodes have actually got me thinking this show is worth something now, but I do agree that they are reaching now.<br />
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But for 24... there not reaching. I was telling my wife a year ago how cool it would be for the president to be the bad guy, and this season it has happened. So im enjoying it.moreless
You're kidding me, right?<br />
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I can't speak for 24 because I don't watch it, although I'm sure its a wonderful show. I just don't watch a lot of TV. But there are things called and ACT, best evidenced the the show you're WATCHING, where Kiefer Sutherland PRETENDS to be Jack Bauer. Is that so eye-opening?<br />
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And as for Lost, I can't say it better than MarkShell, but you obviously don't realize that a person can have more than one side to their personality, and that when ACTORS ACT the CHARACTERS on a FICTIONAL television series, these personalities change and develop over time. This is called character development, a pillar of anything fiction.<br />
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And, believe it or not, people's personalities develop in real life!
In regards to Lost, you said: and how can they both be coincidentally stuck on the same island? <br />
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Umm...perhaps she was stalking him?
If you think that Colin hit a homerun because of the amount of replies, you are probably forgetting the fact that most of these people called these 2 episodes of these 2 series, one of the best. And like me so interesting that i decided to read everything discussed about it here. (accept for the "next week" info... i really try to avoid that, and because of Colin having the opposite opinion i even added a reply here, for the first time. Anywho, yes he "scored" a lot of reactions, but, what is he going to write next week? Hordes of people, including me, are waiting to finish him off.... because he proved his amateur approach of being critic.<br />
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And for the cookie thing, even i was angry, but that is because i didn't have tons of them in front of me, or even just one, and i like chocolate. But if i had that much cookies, i probably tried to build a house with it, or started to throw them at people or anything.<br />
Serious, the other time they were playing cards for mango's, not because food is the new way to pay, but more like they all could afford to lose it.<br />
And maybe he did eat the cookies at first while he was trying to be John Malkovich, but got full/enough of it, but didn't manage to split a single one of these cookies the way he intended.<br />
People always throw away food they have (more then) enough of.<br />
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OH YEAH. 24 is in its 5th season - its not unusual for this to happen.
I don't know about 24 but I trully don't believe that LOST jumped the shark at all.... those scenes that you mention were quite actually what made the episode even better!
Ok the 24 complaints are warranted, but nothing was wrong with LOST. Sounds like someone is trying TOO hard to find problems. Oh the lengths one will go to write an article.
24 has made an excelent decison besides that guy is a dumbass,and lost is the kind of show that will answer later than now so be paitent oh and they have tons of food dont you think they would think they have food that will last them for awile besides they just got a refuliling so their conclusion must of gone apon that. Hipocrites.
That whole cookie waste-age thing also caught my attention and really annoyed me. I guess it was in character though, Sawyer was embarassed that he couldn't simply break the cookie without destroying the cream centre, so he throws it away. I'm sure there is a deleted scene that will show up on the DVD of Sawyer going after that cookie once everyone turns away. <br />
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As for that crap with Hurley destroying a huge supply of food, I guess Libby has him under some kind of trance. But what's even stranger is that all of those people wouldn't notice the big pile of ranch, peanut butter, cereal, etc. that has pooled into a gross mixture on the ground as they pass by. This was a very illogical episode, all Hurley episodes are illogical, remember him attempting to blow up the hatch pantry? Was that before or after he stole his own private stash?moreless
Hey all of you,<br />
Don't you think you're playing into Colin's hands, indeed when you read the impressive number of reactions I reckon Colin has done a good job for tv.com.<br />
As for LOST, don't you think we might discover at the end of the series that they are just all taking part in an experiment, lying down on beds in a lab, with electrodes connected to their brains, thus explaining all the coincidences?<br />
Nice ending, ain't it?<br />
Well for me this Colin guy made some good arguments. I don’t agree with everything he said, but I do agree with a lot. Has Lost jumped the shark? Both yes and no.<br />
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It’s supposed to be a blend of sci-fi/mystery so obviously it will jump the normal conventions of what is real…that is part of the fun but he is partially right.however<br />
the thing with “Lost” though is that there is always a great payoff with stories.<br />
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I disagree about Logan comment because they have since last season build him up<br />
to be the clever villain and opportunist, so it’s not entirely out of character for Logan<br />
this season to react the way he has.<br />
24 may be about the Jump the Shark. I think that's why there seems to be so much speculation about what Kiefer Sutherland plans to do once the show is over. I believe that they're winding things down finally and having Logan appear to be the bad guy may just be their way of doing just that.<br />
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On the other hand, I don't find it so incredible to believe that Hurley would not remember Libby from the hospital. He was going through some pretty heady things back then and he was also fully convinced that Dave really existed. That, and his obsession with eating, would have precluded his paying much attention to anyone else other than Leonard because of those damn numbers.<br />
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I also think that it fits in perfectly with the other instances of connections between people BEFORE the crash and now on the island. I just was so happy that Hurley didn't kill himself that I'm willing to put up with whatever bizarre explanation the writers have planned for Libby's existence on the island in the future.moreless
Yeah,there's no such thing as a wasteful person! In any situation! The idea is just ridiculous! I don't know about 24, but the previous episode of lost was too clever to be a shark jumper. The premise was no doubt a jab at internet rumors that the island was someone's dream/imagination. A theory that's just "insulting".
Uh, Lost is jumping the shark. 24 Isn't. This is more of an editorial article.
I completely agree with the food destruction! How could he throw away a whole biscuit because it broke a bit? That makes me so angry! But, of course, there's no way these shows have jumped the shark, they are still the highlights of my TV week and the Logan plot all adds up if you read a bit more into it.
Um.. are we watching the same shows? I thought the last couple weeks of both 24 and Lost were among the best of both series! Go figure. So, er, NO, they are not even close to "jumping the shark". Next time you might want to wait more than an episode or two before saying a show is near "jumping the shark". No offence. :P
we are talking about a series where one man has saved los angeles 4 times, killed hundreds of bad guys and avoided nasty stuff like bio-chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. We are also talking about a series where a tropical island of plane crash victims are terrorized polar bears, clouds of smoke which can uproot trees and where mysterious black men find their brother's crashed plane that flew from another country many years before. Neither of these series have been very plausable so far, yet we still love them, so why with the latest of totally out there twists would we stop loving them?
24 abso-friggin NOT. <br />
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LOST remains to be scene. That episode just felt odd and insulting at times. The normal attention to detail that the show has was disregarded for cheesey scenes like Hurley's liberation. <br />
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It could just be the that episode was off. <br />
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But Libby could be working for Dharma and was sort of "undercover" at the crazy house. She may have even done something to Hurley while he was there. Hence her being familiar but not making the connection. <br />
Libby could have been obsessed with Hurley and followed him to Australia.
LOST jumped the shark ages ago, silly. Once it started "surprising" us by putting in idiotic twists that a twelve year old could see a mile away, it had finally run its course.
I wouldn't say it jumped the shark...but, of the unrealistic and fictional stuff on LOST the worst one has been throwing away an oreo...what kind of mind man would do that? not even sawyer could be that crazy...
So true about the cookie. <br />
Even I felt sorry for it, and I'm not even lost on an island...
I know that I may be alone in this analysis, but I think that the Lost episode was amazing. Suggesting that maybe the whole thing is in Hurley's mind is a masterstroke, especially since it's not exactly resolved. I think it's an amazing representation of an actual childhood fear: that this is all a dream.<br />
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Also, I've visited a patient at a mental hospital, and they tend to be very large institutions, where you might not know anyone else there.
That episode of Lost was my favorite so far. Both shows are great. Your nitpicking opinions on the other hand... suck-amundo!
This person is totally wrong. Both of these twists were very good
Akritt, the whole Jack Bauer thing on Lost was an April Fools thing. I thought it was fairly obivous to the common reader.
1. Use of Hurley to supposed theories<br />
Since the start, people have been speculating that the island is: someone's dream, pergatory, an "Outer Limits" type of shared coma, etc. They finally just put it out there.<br />
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Personally, I don't think it is. But I love how they use Hurley to propogate the different theories. <br />
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I remember very early one on tvtome, people were joking that the creature knocking down the trees was a pissed off giraffe. And then half a season later BAM - Hurley makes the pissed of giraffe reference.<br />
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So far they've had him suppose:<br />
- Tree destroyer = pissed off giraffe<br />
- The island is not just somewhere, but sometime (joking with Sayid)<br />
- The island is a mind trip.<br />
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2. Stop Saying "Jump the Shark!"<br />
Also, I hate how the term "jump the shark" is used so often now. "Oh man, they jumped the shark last night." No, jumping the shark does not mean they did something insane last night.<br />
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3. Not Recognizing<br />
I don't have a hard time believing that he didn't recognize her. She obviously wasn't very social, just sitting in a corner not saying anything. Plus she had dark hair. Finally it was a while ago. Heck, I've not recognized people that got fired from my company 3 years ago even when they didn't change one bit.<br />
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Anyway, good episode.moreless
He threw away the cookie because he got arrogant about HAVING cookies, they'd just had a food drop, and after months of rationing, they finally had more then enough. So Sawyer, in his short sighted over-confidence, threw away the cookies simply because he could.
Lost might have jumped the shark, but 24??? Since this is the best season yet, kinda hard to say it jumped the shark. Instead of questioning jumping the shark based on what happened the last 10 seconds of the previous episode, why not wait to see the follow up, the explaination for it THEN you can question if the show has jumped the shark. Remember Nina Myers from season one? I watched that and said "yeah right" Yet after rewatching the season, 90% of it actually made sense with her being the mole. If they pull of a good explaination with the pres, I bet you would be able to rewatch the season from a new perspective and enjoy it just as much..just like Nina myers. Jump the shark? Patience perhaps would be needed, try to think of some other interesting columns instead of jumping to conclusions.<br />
As for lost, it has not jumped the shark ether, although better have a kick ass final few weeks because it is losing my attention more and more every week. Not to say the episodes are bad, there not, but maybe to say that this season is showing that season one was a fluke and that this show is abit overhyped to say the least. 24 and sopranos is putting it to shame basically. It really amazes me how much better those two shows are compared to anything else. So perhaps its not fair to judge lost to gods gifts (aka sopranos and 24) but its also hard not to. Jumping the shark for lost? not yet but the fonz is making his way to the jump as we speakmoreless
I loved Lost this week.<br />
#1) Hurley (and probably Libby) are not quite of sound mind...hence the not thinking twice about trashing food.<br />
#2) Sawyer probably assumes that food will be dropped again and again....hence the tossing a broken cookie<br />
#3) Hurley was crazy when in the hospital, I'm sure he never more than glanced at Libby...hence, he only recognises her a little bit, but isn't sure how<br />
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I don't watch 24, so who cares about that one