10 Once Great TV Shows That Descended Into Madness

1. Happy Days

happy dyas How could this show not be number one on this list? It is because of it that the term €œJump the Shark€ was created (due to the fact that Fonzie literally did so at one point later in the series on water skies while wearing his trademark leather jacket). Much like the other shows on my list Happy Days was actually pretty good at one point but it eventually ran off the rails and got weirder and weirder. In my opinion things started to fall apart when Richie was no longer on the show and Fonzie pretty much became the main character. Don€™t get me wrong, I like the Fonz as much as the next guy but he works better as a supporting character in my opinion. Once the show started to focus on Fonzie things started to go from bad to worse as viewers were subjected to all of his wacky adventures (such as jumping the shark) and it just didn€™t have the same sort of vibe that it once did. Toward the end Ted McGinley joined the cast (which is never a good sign- with the exception of Married€With Children of course) that was already made up of a bunch of oddballs that no one really cared about and before you knew it the show got a much needed mercy bullet from the studio to end its pain. Things got so weird that I expected Chuck (the older Cunningham brother who went to play basketball during the first season and was never seen or spoken of ever again) to make an appearance at one point to challenge Fonzie to a boxing match or something. Come to think of it that doesn€™t sound as corny as some of the things that really did happen on the show toward the end of its run. There you have it folks. Feel free to agree or disagree with my list, I look forward to seeing your comments.
 
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Todd Martin is a writer and sometimes actor who has performed in a number of low budget films and on stage. He is a walking encyclopedia of horror film knowledge and in his free time he enjoys comic books, video games, watching wrestling, and bitching about everything and anything.