Jump the Shark

Rating:
Summary: 100% bisaed, incomplete, but good.
Review: "Jump the Shark" by Jon Hein is the paper (and audio) version of the TV show opinion website with a massive underground following, with opinions thrown in on political figures, professional sports teams, and musical artists for added interest. As an opinion book, it is rather mediocre, especially compared to the extensive website, because there is no way to fit a reperesentive amount of opinions on when "good things go bad" within the confines of a book. Instead, most of the opinions expressed are consensus and predictable, though you may agree with some or all of them. Compare this book to the sometimes off-the-wall, yet insightful discussions on the jumptheshark.com website, and this book comes up rather short (and bland).

Despite the incomplete nature of the opinion side of this book, there is plenty to like in "Jump the Shark." Each page is loaded with more information on your favorite celebrities than you probably want or need to know. Even though it's highly probable they missed your favorite show, team, or celebrity, it is a decent read with a lot of information. If nothing else, this book serves as a bridge to the much-better website.

Rating:
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: After reading "Jump the Shark: When Good Things Go Bad," I must say I was disappointed. I thought JTS would shed new light on how and why some TV shows, politicians, etc. went downhill but that was not the case. I didn't think the book was very insightful as it merely underscored what I already thought about the downfall of some of our popular culture icons. Essentially, JTS is nothing more than a collection of subjective commentaries without any real in-depth analysis.

As for the evaluations of the TV shows themselves, again, I didn't think the reviews were particularly insightful. Hein didn't say anything new as he merely echoes the general concensus of those opinions expressed on his web site. At this point, I feel the JTS web site has also jumped as it's become nothing more than another chat room. In all fairness though, Hein does make some funny comments and it's an easy book to read but then again, consider the subject matter.

All in all, JTS doesn't break any new ground or make any startling relevations. IMO, it's a waste of money even at half the price.

Rating:
Summary: Visit the website instead!
Review: I decided to be more generous than some of the other reviewers and give this four stars, if only because I am a fan of the site. The book seems to be sloppy and drags in quite a few places. Also, there's too much space given to setting up the "shark" moment; the actual moment when a show/artist/public figure jumped merits little more than a couple of sentences in the last few paragraphs. I can't help but feel this was assembled hastily, perhaps to cash in on the popularity of the site. Also, the straying from television shows, while welcome, quickly becomes dull and rather pointless.

However, I went ahead and gave it five stars because of the intent: documenting the point when celebrities started taking themselves too seriously. In our fame-obsessed culture, it's good to have barometers that measure the moment when a actor or show stops being "normal" and becomes "self-important". So the book itself serves a useful function. The website deals soley with TV, so the book's excursion into other areas is thought-provoking nevermind the absence of a satisfying result. My advice is to seek out the website first (shouldn't be hard to do ;-D), and perhaps skim through this on occasion. Hopefully any subsequent JTS efforts won't come any closer to "jumping the shark" than this one did.

Rating:
Summary: Germany jumped the shark when Hitler became Chancellor?
Review: I think Jon Hein is taking himself too seriously. It was a cute idea, but this book got written ass-backward. It's padded by little sidebars that might have come from an inflight magazine ("Ten Famous High Schools on TV," "TV Characters with Handicaps," that have nothing whatever to do with the topic. And then, the greatest error, expanding the concept beyond TV shows to sports, politics, world events, and so forth. Here Hein goes wrong more often than not. Sure, we all have our own ideas about success and failure, but he and his crew get dogmatic to their own detriment. Is "Conspiracy Theory" where Mel Gibson jumped the shark or is it one of his better movies? Who's to say, isn't it all a matter of taste?

Too bad, because his original idea and website made us all think and nod and shake with excitement, yes, yes, we cried, finally someone came up with a phrase to express our horror at "a very special episode," "twins being born," "we're moving to Hollywood!" and all the other bad plot lines that happen to wonderful TV series.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Sloppy
Review: The author gives every sign of having done no research or fact-checking at all. I found glaring errors in almost every section where I knew anything ahead of time about the subject. He says that since hosting the Academy Awards in 1996, Whoopi Goldberg has been on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (which she was actually on from 1988 through 1994). He dates the Beatles "1964-72," two years late on both ends. He says George Harrison "basically disappeared for the nineties until... 'Cloud Nine,'" which came out in 1987. The section on politics is a feast of the hugely obvious (is Custer known for anything *besides* Little Big Horn?) where it isn't highly dubious (Waterloo may be the more famous event, but surely the "shark-jumping" turning point for Napoleon was the invasion of Russia). The author may have created the site, but he proves himself less competent than many of the site's users to knowledgeably assess pop culture.

Rating:
Summary: "Jump the Shark" itself jumps the shark
Review: The concept "Jumped the Shark" itself jumped the shark with the publication of the book "Jumped the Shark."

The website concept of "Jumped the Shark" was received ecstatically by generations of TV fans who felt betrayed when their favorite shows either become self-conscious, sold out in some way, cheapened themselves, introduced "cute" characters or otherwise became too stupid to tolerate. The application of a term to this phenomenon was well overdue and viewers were grateful to have their observations and gripes validated and recognized through the website.

Well I guess it was inevitable that the Jumped the Shark 'movement' would itself jump the shark. This happened with the publication of the book "Jump the Shark," which aside from being an obvious attempt to cash in on the idea, fell far, far short of the standard set by the website. Why?

1. The website itself has/had an "underground" appeal to clever people who observe culture with some degree cynicism and awareness. Now, the book is available in airports. It has been mainstreamed. Enough said. But I will say more.....

2. A big part of the appeal of the website is that it gave a voice to EVERYONE because the commentaries were reader-submitted. This allowed irreverence, biting humor, dirty comments, sentimentality, subjective opinions. What does the book offer? The MOST repressed, watered-down, careful, edited, appealing-to-the-lowest-common-denominator, flavorless analyses of when shows jumped the shark. Obviously, not all opinions and thoughts could be reflected in the book, but it is clear that the author went way out of his way not to offend and the result is a bland work indeed.

3. The truly fatal flaw was that the concept became "self-conscious,' a fatal flaw for many of the shows that are reviewed. Part of this self-consciousness is the overworking of the metaphor, "jump the shark" to the point that it does not even make sense. "Jump the shark" refers to the moment that show begins to fail. But the author, trying desperately to be cute like so many of the shows he covers, extends the metaphor and talks about "shark bait," "the shark swimming off to a new show" (as though the shark had attacked a program) or "seeing fins." None of this really works.

This whole thing was a lot of fun, but I am afraid "Jumped the Shark" has itself taken the lethal jump over the shark.

Rating:
Summary: not what I expected
Review: The website is always cool and fun to look at, but the book got me all excited. I kind of knew what was coming, on all the sports, music and television stuff. I did not think the author was just going to take his mind and opinions and just make money off of them by jotting down his own commentary. I was hoping he would write it based on public opinion, just like the website. ANYONE can post their opinion but I think this book is a piece of junk. He is basically telling people what to like, just like a critic, except in a sneaky harsh way. I also disagree with some of the author's opinions on what jumped the shark, and I wish he would show more proof. I will continue with the website, but like I said this book does not deserve to be on anyone's shelf, not even critics' shelves! I would give points for giving factful information, that's all.

Rating:
Summary: Will your favourite show survive a shark attack?
Review: This is a good book to get conversations going. "Jump the Shark" is a phrase used to indicate the moment when fans knew a great show was on the decline and the magic is or would be over soon. Undoubtedly you won't agree with all the author's shark jumpings but I think that's the point. They're there to make us remember and say, yeah definitely or I don't think so. Best to read this amongst friends to really get the debate going.

Most of the American TV shows (there's none from the UK , Aus etc) are in here but some aren't. There's also rock stars although they're mostly from a few decades ago. Sports stars and politicians are here as well although all are American so I've never heard of most. There's a few countries too like Iran and Iraq which the info is a bit dated now but not the shark, it isn't affected.

Buy this for the TV shows though. That's where the shark was born and the brilliance of this book exists.

Rating:
Summary: jumping the whale
Review: While it's entertaining at times, isn't it ironic that a book about bad things happening to good people mimics so perfectly its targets. It's fine if you want to hold movies to an ideal, but shouldn't you strive for the same standards? Credibility is probably your most important asset, so get it right you whale jumper.

Rating:
Summary: Fonzie, Michael Jordan, and Adolf Hitler
Review: With great anticipation I bought this book. Imagine my surprise when within the first 13 pages I found 5 glaring errors! I admit, my pre-teenage and teenage years were mostly spent watching tv because I was grounded - so I know what I'm talking about. Who edited this book? Who was the fact checker? I realize I'm not talking about an Atlas of the World - but if you are going to write about TV and the downfall of tv shows - at least have the characters or the storylines straight. For instance - BH 90210 - MR and Mrs. Walsh moved to Hong Kong, not Japan. Cosby Show - Olivia's parents are Mark and Denise (step mom) - not Sondra and Elvin. Andy Griffith - Goober and Gomer are cousins - not brothers. This is in the first few pages. This book is one the the continuing downfalls of civilization. Employ a fact checker - or at the very least - know what the heck you are talking about. Now I'm concentrating on all the errors - the heck with when the shows jumped the shark.