(Again I find myself apologising for how long this took to get posted. GoDaddy's site wouldn't let me edit.......and yes, I do edit regardless of what you think. I guess you get what you pay for, and this is free!! Anyone know a better blogsite?) 

   This all started while having a phone conversation with my good friend, the lovely, talented playwright Lesley B, as we watched "The L Word" separately together. The first year of this show, (now in it's third season), was brilliant, and a real revelation. Fully developed female characters, gay or straight, who hit the ground running, are real rarities on the tube, and every episode that first year was full of them. Their story arcs were totally credible, their friendships, their jobs, their houses, their hangouts, their clothes.....all top notch. Which goes to the writing, directing, producing, et al.....again, all top notch. Hell, they even made Vancouver, (in Canada, ya know, eh?), look like a sparkling L.A. And I won't deny that as a straight male, there was also the titillation factor, (childish semi-pun intended), which even my honest heterosexual female friends admitted to. But as the episode progressed I said, "Oh, god, this is totally ridiculous. They just jumped the shark", [note - I'll end this post defining the moment]. And she went, "Huh?"

   She'd never heard the expression, which I found especially odd considering she used to do what I do, personal management, before finding her true calling as an amazing wordsmith. And heaven (hell?) knows, I've had clients on jump-the-shark shows, and I always knew the precise moment, so I assumed she had, too. To be watching a once terrific show as the shark is being jumped is a real treat and a painful experience all in one. It's usually the beginning of some funny-because-they're-so-terrible, groan-outloud moments, and continue until someone saves the show by reinventing it, (very rare), or mercifully pulls the plug, (very common). And hopefully "The L Word" will be the former, because it's potential for a long run of being really entertaining and making a difference all at once is tremendous, but clearly now in jeopardy.

   So not to inform you, dear reader, with fact, because as I've said before that ain't my yob, man, here's where it comes from and why it's so appropos. From 1974 to 1984 a really fun, very Americana-nostalgic show called "Happy Days" ran on ABC. This  show gave us (the grown up) Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, among many others, who've gone on to great(er) things. For most of it's run it was on Tuesdays at 8, and was appointment television, in the best sense of the term, for the whole family to watch together. Ahhhhh, those were the days, (and considering The L Word was the jumping off, and will be the closing, point for this entry, just think about how far we've come.....). Kids and parents, greasers, innocents and hippies, all had their own favorites to relate to, and root for. And we all laughed together, either from absurdity, or real humor, both of which it's creator, Garry Marshall, still excels at. But about six years in it wearied, as all shows do. There was the vanishing older brother, the smartass little sister, the smartass little sister's budding breasts, the pimples disappearing, voices dropping, facial hair growing, the smartass little sister with now ample breasts having Chachi-sex....you get the point. But there was a defining moment in the slide. They take a trip to California, and The Fonz, that leather jacketed pantheon of everything cool goes waterskiing, (of course, in said jacket). Woh. AND JUMPS A DAMN SHARK!!!  Even casual observers knew that was the beginning of the end. And so it was.

   It was some 13 odd years later, in the late 90's, the expression took hold, and a lot of folks, pundits and civilians, have taken credit for it. Best research I've found, though, attributes it to one Sean J. Connolly, "The Colonel", who coined it in college in Ann Arbor, Michigan back in 1985. (There's even a terrific website dedicated to this topic, www.jumptheshark.com, which is lots of laughs...you should check it out). And about a month ago, as I recall, my absolute favorite entertainment reporter/critic, Sam Rubin, (who's on the morning goofy news, on KTLA-5 here in L.A.), expounded on it. I forgot the relevance, but I love Sam's innocence after all his years in the biz, never miss his shows even if I have to tape/tivo him, and I remember him referring to this expression.

   So, as Lesley and I both watched L Word, we kvetched about just how many jump-the-shark moments had occured since halfway through last season. Too many to even list here, but I'll tell you, this particular episode alone, had so many I lost count. In this ONE episode we had a silent yoga retreat for the glibbest character, (who sneaks out to cell-call her adopted mixed-race child), a "prom" to raise money for the beginning of a character's transgenderformation from butch femme to studly male named Max, Max's testosterone fueled jealous rage at his sometimes lesbian girlfriend's flirtatious dancing with another transformer, Max's whiny apology to said part-time lesbian, another lesbian's slamming-against-the-door straight sex, (after a horrible exchange where the man puts his hand down her pants and she says, "that's not what I want" - yikes), Alice's (another lesbian main character who keeps a connection chart) finally going on a date with the lesbian kissing-booth girl from the "prom" while Dana the lesbian tennis pro goes into shock from her breast cancer treatment... God I'm exhausted...and there was even more...in one fucking (bad term maybe?) episode. Talk about shark-jumping!!

   This really was a great show, and still has it's shining moments. Ossie Davis, as Bette's (Jennifer Beale's main character) father dying on the show literally one week before he did in real life. Kit's, (the amazing, luminous Pam Grier as Bette's half-sister) struggling through alcohol/drug recovery while running the show's "club". And, last week, they took Dana, the tennis pro with breast cancer, to her favorite team's game, where the cheering throng brought her out of her cancer-treatment's wallowing sadness. It was really beautiful. So, hopefully, this show can be salvaged by some deft recovery of it's own, before the shark gets jumped one time too many. But more importantly, Lesley, and you, now know from where this expression supposedly stems. And it's relevance. 

   I just hope next week we don't have lesbian water skiing.


   Up next - Politics as entertainment. Definitely a rant. Be prepared......