What to do when a favorite show "jumps the shark"

In case you don't know, when a television series "jumps the shark", it means that you understand that this show will never be as good as it once was and it will continue to decline until it is finally taken off the air. Over the last two television seasons (a season runs from September to May), I have personally faced these "jump the shark" conclusions on two of my favorite television shows, The Office (US) and How I Met Your Mother. These shows continue to make me laugh currently and I still watch one of them constantly (The Office is something I only keep tabs on) but they just do not provide the same excitement that they once did when I first began watching these shows. So in order to help with the transition of letting go of a television series, I've provided some ideas that will make the heartbreak of losing a show less painful.

Find a new series: For the case of these two shows I have found younger models that provide the same dynamics that once were strong in the original shows. The Office has been replaced by its own sorta spin-off, Parks and Recreation. The difference between the shows is that the love stories in Parks and Recreation are not run down and therefore boring and the jokes and gags are much more fresh and just plain funnier. I can only laugh at Dwight's idiosyncrasies and Michael's inane ability to not understand how to act properly in a normal social situation for so long. After a while the characters need to give me something else or risk becoming stale and The Office characters have become stale. Parks and Recreation benefits from offering a tried and true format with fresh characters. Time will tell whether or not Parks and Recreation will be able to stay fresh. How I Met Your Mother has been replaced by Community. The multiple friend and multiple storyline dynamic between the two shows is similar and there is a "will they or won't they" storyline that is key to a show being able to suck in viewers on Community. What has made How I Met Your Mother stale is the fact that the show is leading up to this moment of when Ted (the main character) meets the titular mother and so every filler episode that does not fill in the mystery of the mother feels like a slap in the face of the viewer who is following this story intently. Throw on top of that the failed Barney/Robin relationship and that show jumped the shark by a great deal. Community offers irreverent humor that is heavily placed on pop culture references and subtle gags that need to be caught as opposed to being given to someone (you know, like Friends did for its entire run... HOW WAS THAT SHOW POPULAR?!). The caveat with Community is how can they keep the show going after two or three seasons? Won't these people transfer or move on with their lives after two years of community college? It is up to the writers to not turn viewers off when they face that crossroad.

Only watch the big episodes: The Office offered Jim and Pam's (the main love story of the show) wedding and child birth this year to its viewers and I watched both of those episodes as they aired. Watching these big episodes that offer a huge jump in the storyline help because it is nice to know that the show is still moving on without your loyal viewership and it also helps remind you why you left the show in the first place. I thought Jim and Pam's wedding was the perfect series finale for The Office... sadly there were still another 20 episodes to go in the current season.

Buy the DVD's/ Have the seasons on your Netflix account: Having the reminders of a show's past glory is paramount to being able to move on. It would be like the equivalent of the cliche shoe box of pictures and notes from a past relationship that one has just to remember the good times that were had between these two people. I love to watch the second disc of the first season of How I Met Your Mother on DVD often because it is truly inspired television show writing. It is a stretch of 8 episodes that make you stop what you are doing so that you can experience it as a whole as opposed to watching an episode and then coming back to it and watching another episode two days later. Knowing why you fell in love with a show also helps you realize why it is that you have given up on the show. You can feel the subtle differences in effort, writing, delivery of lines, chemistry from the later seasons to the earlier ones and knowing those differences helps you understand why the break-up is necessary.

Sadly, television series very rarely go out at the right time (examples of shows that did go out at the right time: The Office (UK), Extras, Chappelle's Show) and so you have to deal with that time when a show gets up there in age and must be put down for its own good. It is a tough thing to watch but you have to remember why you fell in love with the show in the first place and focus on the good times the show provided, because in the end that is all that matters.