Because my work day is shot...

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

So, everyone has a pretty good idea when a TV show has jumped the shark.

Here's my question: How do you know when a Daytime Soap Opera has jumped the shark? What will it take before a show like "Days of Our Lives" (which has been around for more days than I have) finally get chucked? I'm sure there have been short-lived soap operas, the question is why did they flounder while others have lasted far beyond any reasonable expectation?

Curious
Tom

Comments

[sweets00.livejournal.com]

I think there's quite the difference between jumping the shark and getting chucked. If Days is anything like the one I used to watch with my mom, All My Children, it jumped long ago :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erica_Kane

This is the main character from AMC. Note the number of marriages. Never mind the stuff like running away to be a nun for a while or the fact that her aborted child was, unbeknownst to her transplanted into another woman and brought to term in a secret experiment.

[bluegargantua]

It's true, but generally after a show jumps the shark it goes into a steady (if not steep) decline and eventually the show just dies off.

True, most soaps start at a level where it's more like jumping the ninja space-sharks with lasers on their foreheads, but still.

later
Tom

[bonisagus.livejournal.com]

Days of Our Lives has jumped the shark more times than Marlena has been possessed by Satan and gotten amnesia combined and yet it continues.