@Bartleby: I've always thought Ted McGinley gets an undeserved reputation regarding that "jumping the shark" notion. For starters, the very notion of "jumping the shark" originates when Fonzie, for a Hollywood stunt, jumps a tank of sharks in at the beginning of Season FIVE; "Roger Phillips" doesn't come along until Season Eight. (That was also the year that Cathy Silvers became a regular as "Jenny Piccolo"--a previously often-mentioned but never-seen character.)
Then, I'll grant you some leeway regarding "The Love Boat" but not much. "The Love Boat" had really run out of steam (pardon the pun) long before McGinley joined--my own feeling is the show's "jump the shark" moment came when Capt Stubing's daughter was introduced. But the fact is that the show really ran out of ideas well into the show's first season--the only thing that kept it going was the guest stars (even if you've seen the story a dozen times, having different actors doing the lines can give a bit of freshness and novelty that attracts an audience) and the later gimmicks of cruising to different locales (one season had a cruise to Alaska, another featured a cruise to Australia, another featured a cruise to Japan; the regular cruise schedule was pretty much down the Pacific coast of Mexico).
As for "Married With Children," sorry, but that just doesn't work. Jefferson D'arcy was on the show for five full seasons and his first two full seasons (he'd been introduced during the middle of the 5th season) were the show's highest-rated seasons. Coincidence? Maybe. Was the show a bit less outrageous after McGinley joined the show? Well, a bit but the show had also gone about as far as it really could without introducing some "new blood." Also, worth noting--McGinley had been on the show in a guest role just over a year before the introduction of Jefferson D'arcy (part 2 of the 1989 Christmas show, "It's a Bundyful Life"--McGinley plays the man that Peggy would've married if Al had never existed).
As an aside, it's kind of fu |
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