Jumping the Shark, Healing the Deer

"Monday, Tuesday, happy days.

Thursday, Friday happy days.

Spending the week with you..."

Glad to spend another week writing the Bethertainment weekly blog. Glad to be here after an epic tornado in which i was trapped in a grocery. Glad to maintain my dignity and not die next to chicken cutlets and Frosted Flakes.

And, glad to write about a new and exciting bit of entertainment fodder.

This week's theme? Jumping the shark. A popular colloquialism among television theorists, the idea of jumping the shark stems from a 1977 episode of "Happy Days" in which the Fonz, while water skiing, jumps over a shark. Many argue that this was the point in the show that reality was thrown out the window (arguably with good writing) and the future of the show was on the downward spiral straight to the loo. It is, in essence, the loss of the show's original charm, where the plot and/or characters have diverged far from their original beginnings. it is, in a word, a ridiculous moment where viewers furiously yell at their television sets, "YEAH RIGHT! that would never happen!"

So why pull this out of the bowels of obscure television history? Not only for educational purposes, dear readers, but to appertain to modern-day instances. What shows have or are Jumping the Shark? Which ones can argue it is part of the show's confines?

1. Grey's Anatomy.

Seasons 3 and 4 proved a tumultuous roller-coaster for producer and creator Shonda Rhimes. What with the fledgling "Private Practice" needing constant attention (much like Cristina after a rough day without a cutting-edge surgery). Managing both proved a strain on the show's essence - a sort of liminal "cuteness" (read: whiny self-indulgence) that kept audiences coming back for more.

This show's shark jumping did not, however, involve a large cartilaginous fish; rather, a poor dilapidated deer in the back of a pick-up. Izzy Stevens (Katherine Heigel) is seen "Healing the deer" to prove a point to her interns that she's a credible resident over her fledgling interns. See if this term doesn't catch on. I certainly hope it does.

2. Degrassi, the Next Generation

Teenage pregnancy? School shootings? Canadians? All of these are seen in the-n's "Degrassi: the Next Generation." The show follows Canadian teens as they navigate the halls of Degrassi High and the streets of suburban Toronto. One girl gets pregnant. Another gets syphilis. One is bi-polar. A student is shot and bound to a wheelchair. All very real and consequential issues that are dealt with on a weekly basis.

But what of the past few seasons? It's gone from covering controversial issues - from Manny Santos' (Cassie Steele) eating disorder and abortion, where the episode was deemed to 'racy' to air on American television, to JT Yorke (Ryan Cooley) selling drugs to support his unborn child to the token Christian Darcy Edwards (Shenae Grimes) worrying about losing her virginity. While this isn't a true "jumping the shark" moment, the resurrected "Degrassi" might need to go to detention and think long and hard about what they've done.

Quote of the Day: "Some advice: find a dictionary and look up "pathetic".

(Courtesy of "Degrassi" - thank goodness for angst-ridden, French-fry induced adolescent insults.)