The term “jump the shark” is used frequently by TV fans when they want to say a certain show has reached its peak and is on the decline. It’s the moment the stunt or storyline is so absurd, it ruins the show.
The origin of this saying comes for the popular sitcom Happy Days. During its fifth season, Fonzie (aka The Fonz) jumped over a shark with a water ski. That stunt started the downfall of the beloved sitcom.
You may be asking, “why the history lesson Adam?” It’s because there’s a popular TV drama that I believe has “jumped the shark.” It pains me to say it, because I’m a huge fan of the show. But it’s even more painful watching it deteriorate.
I’m talking about House.
Some may argue House hasn’t been the same since the end of season three when he fired most of his team, but I disagree.
Some may argue the show jumped the shark at the end of season five when House admitted himself into a mental institution after a Vicodin-induced hallucination.
But I still say it was important for his character development that we saw him go to rehab and eventually kick his addiction to Vicodin. Still not the “jump the shark” moment.
The “jump the shark” moment happened at the end of season six, and continues to play out. After teasing the fans for nearly seven seasons, House writers gave fans what they thought they wanted: Dr. House and his boss Lisa Cuddy became a couple.
I know many of you said “FINALLY” when this happened and I’ll admit part of me was happy too. However this was the “jump the shark” moment.
First off, what do we love about House (the show, not the doctor)? The interesting cases and watching the awesomely cranky Dr. House try to diagnose the patient to save their lives. We don’t tune in to see co-workers hook-up with each other.
I’ve said this many times, but House isn’t Grey’s Anatomy. I like Grey’s, but not for the same reasons I like House. When Grey’s adds all the soapy stuff, we expect it from them. And they manage to integrate the cases and the personal stuff much better because of the genre the show is.
Another problem with the House and Cuddy union (as fans call it “Huddy”) is the timing. The writers have teased the two of them getting together for so long. But they pulled the trigger at a time where Cuddy wasn’t the focal point of the show anymore. It just seemed too little, too late. I didn’t really care anymore.
But my biggest problem with Huddy is that it’s taking over the show. The cases take the back-seat to Huddy drama. And trust me, there’s drama.
Already this season, Huddy has had a rocky-road. Most recently, Cuddy was mad at Dr. House because he lied to her to do treatment on his patient to save a life. Now this isn’t something new. House has lied to his boss plenty of times. But now they’re dating, so Cuddy gets all pissed off. It’s hard to side with Cuddy, too. He lied to her, the boss, not the girlfriend. He saved a life. And most importantly, she knew what she was getting into when she started dating him. Did she expect him to change?
House is now on hiatus until Jan. 17. What can we expect for the second-half of season seven? More Huddy drama obviously. Two things can happen: they can continue going out and the rocky-road continues or the eventually break-up, which will no doubt affect their working relationship. It’s a lose-lose situation. No matter what road they take, Huddy will be the main focus of the series.
