There's obviously not much news around at the moment because there was a report on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning about TV shows which have 'jumped the shark' (you can listen for a few more days here - scroll down to 08:21). 'Jumping the shark' refers tothe point in a television programme when it stops being a good programme and becomes silly and no longer watchable. The expression was coined thanks to an incident in the Happy Days show in 1977 when Fonzie jumped over a shark while waterskiing.
The radio discussion was prompted by the last-ever episode of Wife Swap, which will be shown on Channel 4 tonight (described as starting off ok but then, after jumping the shark, becoming full of 'shouty freaks'). Another programme which has passed its sell-by date, according to the media people on Today, is Big Brother (also described as having turned into a freak show).
I would say that most soap operas 'jumped the shark' long ago. Since they are on television almost every night of the week, it must be getting harder and harder to find story lines. The things that go on in the sleepy Yorkshire village of Emmerdale are incredible -- murders, arson, shootings, kidnappings, hostage crises and a plane crashing on the village!
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