Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Harrison Ford and Nicole Kidman probably have jumped the shark, along with Prince Charles, Blue Heelers, Will and Grace, JAG, Heath Ledger and David Dale. But Julia Roberts probably hasn’t, and Buffy never did jump the shark and never will.

That seems to be the consensus with strong minority dissent - among readers who responded to the Herald’s story of April 7 about TV shows, actors and movie franchises which have passed their popularity peak (or jumped the shark, in Hollywood jargon). In the story, David Dale suggested that signs of jumping included Demi Moore having her breasts enlarged for the movie Strip Tease, Gwyneth Paltrow dinning a fat suit in Shallow Hal, Willow turning lesbian in Buffy, and Nicole Kidman being mocked in Be Cool as an actress who makes silly script choices. These were some of the comments

Lauren Dando: I agree that Nicole’s time may be up. People seem to be getting tired of her omnipresence. AdvertisementAdvertisement

Up until recently, I would also have agreed with you about Julia Roberts - I am not a fan, and put off seeing Closer because she was cast in it. While she is definitely the weakest link in the film, she is actually quite okay in her role. In fact, I think it’s the best thing I’ve seen her do, and I actually hope to see more of her like this.

Liz Turner: Nicole Kidman is, if anything, looking more intelligent than ever. Since Hollywood doesn’t like intelligent women, I’m not surprised the sharks are circling.

Rebecca Leach: For me the classic Australian example would be when Maggie and PJ got together on Blue Heelers, I cant believe the show is still going. And for the movies, Vin Diesel seems to have hit the hump early with Pacifier. He’s gone the way of so many muscle bound guys before, him it seems like a stereotypical end.

Matthew Bowyer: The "Julia Robert’s Scene" was the best thing in Ocean’s 12 and showed great confidence rather than desperation on Robert’s part.

Emma Nakakuki: I am very impressed that you have invited the viewers to express their opinion.

Ms. Kidman is far from jumping the shark. Jumping the shark should be determined by the actor’s heart and her conduct. Not by the media. Ms. Kidman is still working very hard and is very integrated in the acting community. She is contributing a lot to the community and is at the height of her career. I think it is superficial to look at the advertisement for The Interpreter and suggest that Ms. Kidman has jumped the shark.

Rosemary Machardy: I think she should stop doing most American projects. After about four in a row, she started to look pathetic to me. I think she already understands this, because recently, I read, she talked about lying on her parents’ couch watching TV and only doing projects she really feels turned on to. In that case, she’d better drop her idiot agent in the U.S. as well.

Of course, the Aussie decision in Sydney to let her use the Opera House for a dumb film premiere didn’t add to her reputation. That was so small town it made me cringe. There you are, the cultural cringe!

Suzanna Hammond: When a writer of your erstwhile talent has slid far enough down fame’s slippery slope to merit a no-brainer gig of peevish scribbling in the SMH entertainment swamp ... well, surely, the situation begs the question - Have YOU jumped the wee sharkie?

David J. Petersen: Liked your JTS article. But I’m pretty sure Happy Days lasted more than a few months after the actual shark jumping episode, I would say 5 more years (Fonzie getting a beard, becoming a teacher, etc). Richie and Ralph and many of the cast left in 1980, but Fonzie held it together til 1984.

The shark jumping signals a running out of organic ideas, an attempt to delay the inevitable with stunts rather than stuff true to the shows idea, but not necessarily a quick demise (unfortunately).

Julia Tobin: Some ideas according to the local brains trust

Long Gone: Pfeiffer; Malkovich; William Hurt; Ryder; Lopez; Dillon; Neeson; Gibson; Pacino; Griffith (Melanie); Ford (Harrison); Ryan (Meg); Hanks; Gere; Hawn; Russell; Quaid; Cage; Dern; Downey Jnr; Arquette (any); Grant (Hugh); McDowell; Swayze.

>Recently Gone: McConnaghey; Bullock; Cruz; Roberts; Reeves; Paltrow; Crowe; Ricci; Hayek; Witherspoon; Suvari; Aniston; Phoenix; Clooney.

Going:

>Di Caprio; Diaz; Thurman; Spacey; Stiller; McGuire; Hudson; Barrymore; Berry; Tyler; Jolie; Thornton; Lohan; Zellweger.

>In: Johansson; Winslet; Swank; Blanchett; Watts; Law; McGregor; Bloom; Jackman; Bana; Zeta Jones; Theron; Gyllenhaal (both); Dunst; Portman; Bernal; Foxx; Miller.

Evergreens: Pitt; De Niro; Jackson (Samuel L); Freeman; Cruise; Connery; Banderas; Hoffman; Penn; Depp; Depardieu; Eastwood; Murray.

Women who should be evergreen: Streep; Sarandon; Huppert; Lange; Rosselini; Binoche; Huston.

Diana Simmonds: The Bill seems to jump the shark with some bizarre new plot twist or violent death/death threat about every three months, but to date it’s the shark that dies. You have to wonder why the Scotland Yard heavies haven’t sent in a team of some kind to investigate why Sun Hill is such a dangerous workplace and why its workforce are so prone to idiotic pranks (throwing petrol bombs to hide an illicit stash of banknotes and killing off half the nick, for instance and so on). I reckon a shark jump happens this Saturday when silly June is set to marry that craggy old alkie Jim Carver ... again!!

My favourite shark jump of all time was when Bobby Ewing died but it all turned out to be Pam’s terrible dream - that was the end of Dallas even though it didn’t actually fall over and stop breathing for another couple of years.

I’d hazard that it also happens in real life too - Cheryl Kernot jumped the shark when she appeared in the red frock in Women’s Weekly. Bronwyn Bishop jumped the shark when she let the Bronnie for Canberra thing happen. And so on.

Anthony Knight: The US CSI franchise may well have jumped the shark by becoming a franchise with Miami, NY and I believe Chicago to come but the original Las Vegas may have donned the leather jacket and skis this week

I am not sure where it is up (the programmers at Nine shuffle the schedule so much that I may have missed an episode or two) But, in Sunday’s all new CSI the original team were told that they are now to separate into different shifts to make them work more effectively. This may be a ploy to introduce new characters and improve storylines or it could be ...jumping the shark.

James Barron: An excellent article, thank you. I forgot about that Fonzie moment. As for Nicole Kidman? Well, I hope she is around for a long time. She is a formidable actor who carries herself so well, on and off the stage. I must say I even admire and like her sometimes bizarre and quirky script choices.

And I did think that the first 20 minutes of Stepford Wives was entirely watchable and much of that due to NK. After that? Well, we all know what happened. So, I hope Ms Kidman does not have a JTS moment for many a year and manages to keep the hounds at bay. God knows the country and the local film industry need her.

Richard Salmon: I was actually watching Will and Grace last night and having heard the saying years ago it instantly sprung to mind. I mentioned it to someone else on the way to work this morning and they thought the same thing. Next thing you know I see an article about JTS.

For Will and Grace it has gone. I don’t watch it often but it is usually good for a few laughs ... but John Cleese and Jennifer Lopez in the show seems to be clutching at straws. I would have thought that after Fawlty Towers Cleese would recognise the enduring benefit of going out at the top and never looking back ... The Office seems to be the modern equivalent.

As for Kidman, well I am not so sure she has JTS. Although she is talking more and more about not wanting to go back to work, maybe she has recognised it. Thing is a serious movie role or period drama always seems to get you back on the right track. Maybe she needs to team up with Dame Judy Dench - instant street cred.

Graham: But how do you explain someone like Cher? She is over a hundred years old and has been jumping the shark all her career - she married Bono on TV in the 1960’s. The woman has no talent, but survives.

Interesting that the most talented actor of his generation, Dustin Hoffman, has only made one mistake in his entire career (Ishtar) and has thus never jumped the shark. Talent will keep you afloat if you have it.

The Stepford Wives was an atrocious movie of a weakly satirical short novel - there was very little to work with in the first place. Kidman was awful, aided by a pedestrian script and serious tinkering with the plot line. The thing was off the rails from the very start.

David Ross: A provocative and amusing hypothesis. It’s tall poppy scything at its best and worst. You so overstepped when you hacked at Our Nic that I am sufficiently provoked to take up your offer to assault you with my views. I disclose as a possible bias, before I take you to task, that I live in Greenwich which is Kidman country, though I have no connection to her family.

You have doubtless seen the interviews of Kidman by smh.com.au’s entertainment interviewer. The woman is an engaging conversationalist, whose modest dignity betrays no sign of rampant ego. She has an inner beauty which lights her eyes and features. She shows intelligent perception when discussing her medium. I detect in her the courage to choose the scripts which excite and challenge her, rather than those which may more predictably run to commercial success. That’s risky, like shark jumping. Yet, she is equal to it. She has an enviable body of work which shows her to be an actor of outstanding ability.

Although I consider Julia Roberts to have less breadth of character invention than Kidman, it is harsh to say she is at desperation point. Is she not in the process of beginning family, which might make virtual cameo appearances such as the forgettable Oceans franchise a useful keep-in-touch.

The question is: does Nic need a JTS transformation? Is she careering towards cancellation? Absolutely not! You describe several formulaic potboilers which reached the cross-roads of death or re-invention. Kidman’s work always seems to be distinctly discrete from her previous work, allowing her to plumb new, not reprised characters. She has the attributes of a woman who will age gracefully and have a long and distinguished career for as long as she chooses.

I know I may sound like a Kidman groupie and I confess I feel the same admiration for Cate Blanchett who mercifully escaped your swinging scythe. However, if a reputed Au$40m for 2004, making her the highest paid individual Aussie entertainer for both 2003 and 2004, is any guide, the punters are putting their money where my mouth is.

Bryan Smeath: The shark had a cameo in Dead Calm.

Lucas Steuerwald: Hey, here’s a couple i thought of over lunch.

*channel 9 - the way that they ’tried’ to own the tsunami and their coverage thereof, reeked of desperation. Look how the year has panned out for them so far.

* Powderfinger- a live album in 2003 followed by a greatest hits in 2004

* The USA - jumped the shark on 9/11. could possibly come back with a Democrat or a non religious right president in the whitehouse.

*Australian Idol - when Casey Donovan won.

* Michael Moore ...when Bush won in November.

*The Today show - when they moved location to a set a little more like Sunrise’s .

Chris Thompson: Whilst Harrison Ford has not been a draw card for some years, I would have to say The Devils Own was his JTS moment.

Chris Knight: I read your article from the other side of the Earth (Toronto, Canada) and thought I’d weigh in. I recently saw a preview screening of The Interpreter, which opens here in a few weeks, and I can guarantee that it’s not a shark-jumping role. She’s serious (if mysterious for much of the movie) and the equal of Sean Penn.

But also, look at her recent films. 2001 saw an Oscar nomination for Moulin Rouge! 2002, she won for The Hours. Lars von Trier’s Dogville (2003) was unusual, overly long and tended to evince a love-it-or-hate-it reaction, but it was audacious of her to take on the role in it. As to The Stepford Wives, well, everyone can make a mistake or two without jumping the shark. John Travolta may regret Be Cool, and he’s an actor who has actually jumped the shark (with Look Who’s Talking Now), jumped back (Pulp Fiction) and jumped the shark again (Battlefield Earth). If Steve Martin can make consistently crappy movies (two out of three of his roles are horrendous) and still turn in good work now and then, Kidman can surely be forgiven Stepford.

In any case, I suggest we wait and see what Bewitched is like. Like Stepford, it’s a sort-of remake of a classic from the 60s/70s, and it’s a comedy (not her strong suit). If it tanks, I may — may, mind you — be willing to admit that a jump has occurred. Great column, very thoughtful stuff.

Andrew Murray: Just wanted to clear something up, I understand what you’re saying i.e.: To jump the shark, but I don’t believe Notting Hill is a good example of this. I absolutely loved this film (even though I am a 23yr old, straight male). I thought Julia Roberts’ performance was ’spot on’.

But my question to you is this: if it is simply a few lines written in the script which the actress is expected to perform, is that jumping the shark? I mean the lines you quoted were simply to play up the stereotype of a gorgeous Hollywood actor, I didn’t take it as anything personal. If anyone else was playing this role and performing these lines eg: Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry etc ... would they then be considered Jumping the shark? (They may not be the best examples).

I agree the Nicole Kidman bit in Be Cool was very cheesy and agree it was jumping the shark on her behalf ... but Julia Roberts??? I’d have to disagree - she was just acting her part.

Peter Callaghan: Re Nicole. Alas, she has been in the maw for some time now. Purely subjective, I know, but her presence in any particular film has been a reason for me not to see it, for quite some time and over the period of at least her last five movies.

Carol Bruce: I think the moment came when Grace got married in Will and Grace. It came in Stingers when they bought the weird, smiling Garry Sweet in.

G. Caddy: I suspect that the common factor in many a shark-jumping is the Oscar. Ever since it became a de facto lifetime achievement award, given for the average score of a performer’s last 5 pictures, it has spelt the death knell of many a career. But I won’t be naming any names, even if someone’s impression of a grumpy koala in a legionnaire’s kilt does spring to mind.

David Neilson: I agree with most of what you said. Get Smart jumped when Max and 99 married. Home and Away survives because it keeps on adding twists. I only watched Blue Heelers twice after Lisa McCune left, and am surprised by ads suggesting they still produce it. When she jumped, the whole series should have followed.

The exception is Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hal. That movie was so good I bought it and have now transferred it to DVD so I can continue watching. It made a point, in a funny way, about the way we perceive people. To me that was a rising point in her career, not a shark jump.

Meryl Streep took time off to have kids. It is a pity that her career never recovered. Perhaps that was her jumping the shark.

Fiona.McGuire: Great story!Made me laugh as I fondly remembered all the JTS moments you mentioned. But you didn’t mention those actors who jumped the shark yet miraculously made you forget that they had.The key contender being John Travolta who JTS’ed in Look Who’s Talking Too (1990), jumped into the shark’s mouth in Look Who’s Talking Now (1993) then shot out of the jaws of death in Pulp Fiction (1994).What do we call this phenomenon??? Killing Butch (in remembrance of Vincent’s claim to fame in PF)???

Mark Lewinsohn: She is the best Australian ambassador we have at the moment. Leave her alone. You journalists are all jealous with nothing better to do. Try a human interest story.

Charlotte Fulk: I just read your article on "failed" shows and actors. You’re right on! My favoriteTV show of all time was JAG. It was incredible for about 8 years. But, the producer has said publicly on the air, and the internet, that when (and if) he ever let Harm and Mac get together, it would be the end of the show.

He was mightly wrong. It would have been a new start for the show, and a new direction for the actors to take. It is now a boring, pitiful take-off of the original JAG. David James Elliott is very wise to make the decision to leave the show. However, the replacement they chose for him, the so-called hunk they brought in for the new male lead is so far below Harm’s standards as to be laughable. Mac tries to keep the show afloat, but she can’t do it alone. She’s a good actress, but no way near strong enough to hold up the show. I can’t say that I will be sorry it’s going off the air.

Enough is enough. Perhaps Bellasario (sic) will have the good sense to boost his ratings for the last show by letting Harm and Mac finally get married. I doubt it, but perhaps. They have come so very, very close to getting together over the years, but as I said, the producers and writers never let it happen. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. I just hope David James Elliott will find another venue to show what he is really capable of as an actor. Thanks for asking for opinions. I just wish the producers and writers would ask for opinions as it may save a lot of good shows that otherwise go down the drain for lack of public opinion.

Sandra Seaman: I definitely think Nicole Kidman has jumped the shark. She’s now campy and impossible to take seriously. But I do object to when you called Willow becoming a lesbian jumping the shark (in Buffy). The show took a serious turn at that point, but that’s more attributable to the fact that the characters graduated from high school and had to move on into new lives. I don’t think that the subsequent seasons were worse off for that.

Also, Willow becoming a lesbian was hardly gimmicky, and some of the most critically acclaimed moments of the show occurred following that. In fact, Willow’s first inklings of feeling for Tara occurred in Hush, the brilliant silent episode. The Body, the episode in which Buffy’s mother dies included lesbian Willow and was an incredible show.

Fan favorite Once More With Feeling included the closest primetime has ever come to seeing cunnilingus on television, and remained classy, tasteful, clever and fun. Later seasons’ Willow has a fanbase to rival Buffy’s, and not because of her sexuality, but because she is a strong, intelligent character, well-written and well-acted.

The show after this point is different (whether it was better or not is a matter of opinion) but I would hardly call Willow’s shift towards girls a defining moment in the downfall of Buffy. I’m not quite sure that Buffy ever Did jump the shark. If so, I suspect it was when Spike got his soul back. But again, I’m not certain I could say that Buffy ever did.

Buffy as a show was so hard to define, was so many things at once, that its defining moments could be treated in so many ways. One defining moment was drama, one was comedy, one was horror... Finding a single thing in a series so rich in content and context that represents its future success or lack thereof is nearly impossible. It is overly simplistic to say this moment was the beginning of the end. Buffy wasn’t perfect, but it always managed to recover and always brought itself back to the space that its fans needed.

If Buffy ever jumped the shark, she stopped halfway to kick the shark’s ass before turning back. Please reconsider your comparison of Willow’s sexual questioning to the lamest moment in television history.

Stephen Giles: Once the shark is Jumped, is it possible to Unjump? I believe so. Unjumping differs from Rejumping, which implies the credibility lost in the first jump was never regained. Witness Sylvester Stallon’s multiple Re-jumps in his post Rocky career - a feast of turkeys (Lock Up, Oscar, Stop or my mom will shoot, Judge Dredd need I go on?). Sylvester did attempt to Unjump in 1997 with Cop Land. He got fat and rubbed up against actors of a higher caliber.

The unjump failed because the desperation of a faded movie star trying to win back favor was obvious.

The most successful Unjumper is Travolta. He jumped in the 80s with Staying Alive, then rejumped like crazy through a series of stinkers (Perfect, Two of a Kind, Russkies) culminating in the Look Whos Talking pictures. He then went away, porked up and did an amazing unjump with Pulp Fiction. Unfortunately, the lure of the jump proved too much for Travolta who was in his water skis by the time The Generals Daughter tanked but well and truly jumped again with Battlefield Earth.

Steven Spielberg has suffered box office bombs in the past, but well and truly jumped with the manipulative palaver that was AI. Perhaps, just for the hell of it, he decided to Rejump with The Terminal.

Heath Ledger has a reasonably credible young career when Two Hands came out. He then jumped the shark and presumably jumped at the big bucks with stinkers like A Knights Tale and The Four Feathers. He then unjumped somewhat with Monsters Ball, a small but pivotal role that was generally well regarded. Stupid Heath then headed back into the water with The Order (I saw this criminally bad turkey under its previous title, The Sin Eater). These films flopped big time and Heaths credibility is all at sea. Perhaps Candy will be the Unjump he needs.

Tom Cruise Jumped with Days of Thunder - all style, no substance - a rehash of Top Gun. The signs of desperation were there. Recent films have flopped left, right and centre - Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, The Last Samurai. While the MI franchise is successful, it hardly screams credibility. He attempted to Unjump with Collateral - the jury remains out.

Craig Mclachlan has spent his entire career at the shark net, but his appearance on the footy show was onehellova big Jump. Jim Waley Jumped when he donned the flak jacket. Sorry Jimbo. Steve Leibman jumped with the Alert Not Alarmed campaign complete with complementary fridge magnet.

Emma: Re Julia Roberts. I have to disagree with you I don’t think she has jumped any shark. I rather watch her in a movie than Jessica Alba who was great in Dark Angel but now plays these bimbo parts.

Serge Stanley: Questionable motives for your JTS article? Perhaps it’s because she’s got a photographer in the hot seat. Maybe this photographer does stuff for the Herald and maybe he’s a mate of yours, who knows? Either way it’s a pretty dodgy excuse for an article, sledging one of the best exports we have in this country for the Australian film industry.

I guess you never thought that after a long absence Hollywood is finally again seeing Australia as a viable location, right? Why didn’t you choose to attack a Hollywood actor instead of one of our own? Lay off the cultural cringe.

T Govoni: I read your article on ’jumping the shark’ with interest. I have the feeling that perhaps Nicole has become overexposed. Certainly her movie choices since Cold Mountain have not been the best for her unique talent.

One wonders if she’d doing it for the money, or if other forces are pushing her. I think, like other Australian\New Zealand actors\esses that it is time for them to come home and do the quality movies like the ones Australia is so well known for. Eucalyptus would have been a good example, if the script had not been so bizarre.

I think actors like Russell Crowe may find themselves in this situation as well. I see the movie Cinderella Man coming out and wonder also about seeing his face looking so like himself one more time. Even though he is particular about his movie choices, his ’perceived’ reputation, pushed heavily by the Hollywood witch-hunt of 2003, has not helped him. He is also one who needs to return home for a while. Put hearth and home first.

Others, like Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, who work at home and abroad and this seems to give them an exclusivity. Nic, Russ and others may be in danger of losing that. The siren call of Hollywood is dangerous on a good day - it is a chimera that few resist.

Dana Lawrence: Hello. Given the outcry that occurred when Joss Whedon made the error of killing Tara Maclay, Willow Rosenburg’s lesbian lover on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I think your assessment that Buffy jumped the shark when Willow came out is completely and utterly incorrect.

Three years after Tara’s death, message boards in the United States are still awash in vehement and passionate arguments about her death and Willow’s descent into dark magic, and a goodly number of virtual seasons, including the superb one by jet wolf (www.btvschosen.com) have managed to resurrect Tara in meaningful ways. I would posit that this, rather than indicating the show lost its touch, demonstrates instead that it still held the power to involve its audience well beyond what Joss ever expected. Indeed, in the book Jump the Shark, Buffy is criticized more for bringing in the character of Dawn than for anything else.

But even bad Buffy is better than 99% of anything TV has to offer, and in the polls that have been done here in the US, the vast majority of voters feel it never jumped at all; Dawn comes in second to that. As for Ms. Kidman, she will continue to do very fine work.

Ras Dashon: Nicole chooses the roles that people least want to see her in. I am surprised that Nicole has not done a role where she is romanced by an African American actor — or other actor of colour. This is all the more surprising because Nicole dated musician/singer Lenny Kravitz, as well as rapper Q-Tip — both African American men. She also has an adopted biracial child.

There is a slow, cosmic shift happening now in the Hollywood motion picture industry ... primarily because of the popularity of hip-hop culture & music —particularly in the States — but also on a global scale. The biggest recording artists now are rapper 50 Cent, and R&B singer Usher — both are men of colour. The biggest global box office draw now is Will Smith — an African American actor, who was formerly a rap artist. The so-called urban movies are doing big box office in the States right now. I believe that movies featuring cultural diversity will dominate Hollywood releases from now on. Hollywood is getting with the program.

Nicole has to get with the program, and start making more contemporary, hip films that reflect what is happening in pop culture. Her image is VERY poor with audiences, because she is an Aussie who makes dull, upper-crust movies that do not resonate with American filmgoers. She needs to get a much hipper image before she reaches the age where it won’t matter which movie roles she chooses, because no one will care.

Naomi Parry: Isn’t it just that actresses of the age of Kidman, Paltrow and Roberts are reaching their use by date? And all three are smart enough to know that.

Paltrow has said she’s into motherhood now and has turned to art house, Roberts is clearly into motherhood (and had the temerity to turn up to the Oscars looking radiantly maternal) and Kidman’s said she will give it up soon, but will probably turn to art house after a last hurrah as a glam queen. I just think it’s not that simple.

Pam Round: Has Nicole had it? I have never been completely convinced about her acting abilities, but I wonder if that isn’t because of how she looks, and if that were the case, it would be very unfair of me. It’s not her fault that she was born skinny and looking gorgeous. However, she did win some brownie points in how she handled being sloughed off by Tom. She seems like a nice down-to-earth girl who will be able to get on with her life when the camera stops rolling. It seems to me that she has almost taken herself out of circulation of late, anyway, helped no doubt by the Eucalyptus farce.

Now, is that because we are tiring of her, or is it that she is tiring of us? Being part of the media, you are more likely to be in a position to answer that.

Speaking of Tom, I wonder if he isn’t on his way to the aquarium, himself. I mean ... when you have to resort to playing the bad guy, it’s either that you’re a consummate actor or that the chickie-babes are getting turned on by looking at someone else. He never struck me as a Lawrence Olivier or Anthony Hopkins.

Maybe we should all get together and *buy* Russell Crowe a ticket to the shark pit, although his attitude could have well put him on the bus anyway. Now, *there* is a man who believes his publicity machine. (Yawn). You’ve got to know he has the acrid smell of redundancy in his nostrils when he starts talking up his singing career. Ask Robert Downey Jnr how *that* works. God, we can only hope. Now, there’s the tragedy of it all. Both those guys can actually act when they put their minds to it.

I accept that celebrity is a fact of modern life, although I still can’t get it out of my mind that they are only ordinary people and I can’t understand why I need to genuflect to them. I used to feel sympathy for those who climbed in the fish bowl. Now I reminded myself that in most cases they did, after all, climb in. In fact, I’d almost bet that a good percentage of them fought like dogs and cats, pulled others out of the way, begged, cajoled, or did whatever else that was necessary, to get in there.

Have you ever noticed that most actors and television personalities are very, very short?

Pjenglish: Is it fair to be talking already about ’Jumping the Shark’ for Nicole Kidman? The phenomenon of JTS should be levelled at writers and directors and not actors of the calibre of NK. Why is it that so many of the Hollywood legends of the past survived for so long? Because there were so many good scripts, good directors and the actors were able to act.

The banality coming out of Hollywood does not allow many of the (few) talented actors to develop their craft. You mentioned two films in your article - Notting Hill and Stepford Wives - both scraped the barrel but are indicative of the drivel expected by the masses today. Both undoubtedly scored higher on the DVD rental market than the box office and that is also another factor in the lowering of standards.What choice is there for actors? Even if someone is not at the stage to ’jump the shark’, the standard of film writing and directing is overall poor today compared with yesteryear. Leave Nicole alone.

Adam Long: Kidman doesn’t strictly qualify for shark jumping status. The only good performance of her career was as the coldly ambitious murdering weathergirl in a small film years ago.

Her career has mainly been a carefully engineered performance acted out on the cover of magazines. To suggest that the Stepford Wives was a career lowpoint ignores the mess that was Moulin Rouge and the tragic end to Stanley Kubricks career that was Eyes Wide Shut (remember her cringworthy attempt to act stoned...)

What about the car movie and the Irish movie with Tom? The peering down her rubber nose in The Hours? I’m sure there’s more examples but I can’t think of them- I’ve been actively avoiding her efforts for years.

Let’s be thankful the struggling Oz film industry has been spared the fiasco that Eucalyptus would have been.

Corrina Wilson: Your article has inspired me to write a few lines regarding the esteemed Ms. Kidman. For me, the moment Nicole Kidman’s days were over was one morning on the tube (I live in London), a couple of years ago. I got off the tube and her face was everywhere. There were three separate films being advertised (which ones they were escapes me now), and all three of them featured her face.

It was like some bizarre big brother experience, with this inane smiling face around every corner I turned. I panicked and rushed out of there as fast as I could. I just could not handle the barrage of her face being thrown up to my eyeline, constantly.

I really enjoyed her performance in To Die For but now I cannot bring myself to go and see anything that features her. Her face is everywhere - billboards, television, magazines, online newspapers - so sitting in front of it for two hours would push me to my absolute limits.

I’m not even sure it’s entirely her fault as much as the media’s in getting something that sells and exploiting it to the enth degree. And when a saturation point has been reached, almost anything can be viewed as JTS stunt.

At the moment, I’m eagerly anticipating the next ’big thing’ to replace reality programmes. They were dead in the water as soon as they announced Big Brother 2.

Michael Petrovic: A great actress will always be a great actress. Bruce W, Arnold S, and Fonzie were cool characters but never great actors. On the other hand Nicole C and Julia R areexcellent actors, and no matter how many times they JTS they will have their brilliant talent.

Garth Stone: Interesting article. I think what you are saying about TV shows is probably true: i.e., they all have their defining Jump the Shark moment. However, with stars I think it is somewhat different. At the end of the day it is all about script choice. If a star decides to go the mainstream movies for the cash, over and over again, it is inevitable that they will ultimately crash and burn. This approach, particularly for a woman in Hollywood, will always put an expiry date on the star’s career.

However, if an actor has a good chance at longevity if he/she can ride success wisely. Again, this comes down to script choice and the ability to continue making films that are intelligent and not always for the larger audience. The problem with this approach is that the actor needsto choose scripts which are right for any given point of their career,including when stardom is in it’s demise. This does not mean re-inventing their stardom, rather re-inventing it and most stars do not have the guts or inclination to do so.

With regards to Nicole Kidman, whilst I am not the biggest fan, I believe she has the intelligence to develop her career wisely. Her willingness to embrace alternative projects is evident with Dogville and in a recent interview she expressed her desire to cut back on her work load some what. By the sounds of it, she is aware of Hollywood’s evolving perception of her and is already reacting.

In summary, I agree with what you are saying, however an actor will always be able to avoid the Jump the Shark moment if they are bold enough to be honest with themselves about the reality of their stardom and act appropriately.

Alys Graham: I’ll tell you what, there had better not be a fourth Austin Powers film. Goldmember was funny, particularly for a triquel. It’s like Lethal Weapon. How good was Lethal Weapon 3? How crap was Lethal Weapon 4?!!!

Bronwyn Hewitt: Nicole jumped the shark back in To Die For. No one liked seeing her in that sort of role, no doubt proving she could stretch her ability as an ’artiste’. You can change your image but you still need to win even in the gutsiest or ugliest of roles. I personally have been a fan and not only because I am a fellow freckled red headed Aussie; ok so those aren’t similarities any more, those days are gone. BUT I have to say that I am so Nicole Kidmaned out! And that is what happens, she has been everywhere since her divorce and good for her, but she has turned into an ’over air played’ song that you used to love but now drives you to change the dial.

Andrew Row: One senses a basic misunderstanding regarding the term jump the shark. You give several examples where normal instances in a stars’ movie career are deemed shark-jumps because they failed or flopped. Hudson Hawke (aboring selfish project) may have been jumping the shark, but Oceans 12 (as horrible as it was) probably wasn’t jumping the shark for Bruce Willis.

Take a look at thegrosses of Kingdom of Heaven to see if Ridley Scott will jump the shark. Yes, Chandler marrying Monica and the Buffy-Lesbian thing can be considered Jumping the Shark, but one gets the feeling you either miss the point slightly or are blindly searching for examples.

Gwyneth Paltrow is a bland actress whom nobody likes, she lucked out with Shakespeare in Love and has yet to find a role that suits her bland acting style and persona. Shallow Hal was a successful movie, this is close to jumping the shark but not quite. Has she ever even opened a successful movie?

The Stepford Wives wouldn’t be considered jumping the shark, just because it was a failure doesn’t qualify it...the nature of the incident must be gimmicky in nature. If Arnie made Terminator 4 in 10 years when he is 60+, that would likely be jumping the shark. T3 was very successful, how is this indicative of a decline in popularity? How unpopular could he be when he kicked out the standing gov. and became a Republican Gov. in a Democrat-state?

Beatrix Illes: I think it is an interesting comment you make, the moment when a person has jumped the shark is, of course, a matter of public opinion, not of fact. You are the judge.

Isn’t it really the marketers that make the judgement then turn the tide for these people? When every last ounce of a dollar is squeezed from the opportunists then they start putting out negative vibes, systematically destroying their careers and esteem - only the strong can survive. This as we both know is not a recent phenomenon, it has been occuring since picture making began pre-1920’s. I think it says a great deal more about us as human beings.

We want to revere these people as we see them more than what any one of us can ever aspire to be in our droll little worlds and lives. Of course, in today’s market the amounts of money they are able to procure is nothing short of obscene and if you are rich, you are always exalted by the great unwashed.

It will be interesting to see how Cate Blanchett fares. Will she become a victim of the process or will she be able to "rise above it". So far she has been hyped to the hilt, the bubble can only take so much beforeit naturally has to burst.

To answer your question, the public are not the judge but gullible sheep. They hand over the money, buy the tix, the magazines, the products then they are told these people out "Out", not fashionable, not in the Top 10 list and all of a sudden the sales start to drop, forthcoming movies, programs, shows, don’t do the numbers anymore. It’s great to see the herd mentality in action, riding the wave.

Everything must come to an end, even the very best. It’s a natural progression. Look at Frasier. The public’s expectations are high and fickle. There is no moment when ’a person has jumped that shark’, it’s only our perceptions that create that moment in time.

David Kirkland: Personally I think jumping the shark can really only be applied retrospectively. I think it is very obvious the ER has jumped, but I think we’ll need to wait a while to be able to pinpoint the exact episode. For me it was when they moved to focussing on the main characters other lives, eg; - when Benton is revealed to have a deaf son; Weaver finds her lesbian side; Romano loses his limb. But I think reflection will show the winner will be Carter’s sojourn to Africa.

As for Nicole Kidman, I might be in the minority, but she jumped when she did that movie about manipulating the school boys to commit murder.

Dave McKay: I believe the Australian police drama show Blue Heelers is currently Jumping the Shark, with it’s rampant serial killer. There were 3 dead bodies in the last episode aired (6/4/05), obviously in excess of their usual slaughter-fest that have been on recently.. They stepped up from a Grandfather killing his wife and suffering a stroke to 2 tween-aged girls and a man in a Passion of Christ rip off.

Julie Scott: I laughed when I realised what Jumping the Shark referenced and I can picture that episode of Happy Days (and the pajamas I was wearing when I watched it ! ). Personally I couldn’t think of Jumping the Shark without mentioning three of my favourite actors that almost make me cry on a daily basis because of the shite they’re coming out with.

1) Remember Al Pacino in Scarface ? All coked up and brandishing two menacing looking machine guns and threatening Say hello to my lill’ friend, the perfect Cuban-refugee-coke-infused-ultra-violent-Miami-heat Tony Montana. Or the risky and gritty Serpico or the chants of "Attica" by the perfectly defective and sensitive bank robber Sonny who is robbing the bank solely to pay for his male "girlfriend’s" sex change operation. Now fast forward to 1992 with Al Pacino winning a bloody Oscar for a pathetic blind man whose most memorable line involves nothing more than "Hoo Haa", this from the Godfather ?? the whole shebang makes me weep ! In my opinion Al Pacino Jumped the Shark when he lost his sight.

2) I hated As Good as it Gets, I’m not partial to Helen Hunt and when Jack Nicholson moved from that remote ski resort with a five day stubble, or from the mental institution and the battle with nurse Ratchett and into an apartment next door to Helen Hunt, he jumped the shark !

3) Robert DiNero - ohhh the pain of so many leaps over the shark. You choose...

John Mahony:

The high stay high

The low stay low

Boring, but reality.

By definition: unnewsworthy

The low achieve heights

The high fall over

Interesting, and less common than a day in status-quo-land

By definition: newsworthy

What might be newsworthy about Our Nic?

Either her achieving higher, or her falling over.

She can’t achieve higher, aside from beatification

So you want to speculate about her falling over.

Of course, one day, one day, you’ll be right

Like Spike Milligan’s epitaph

"You see? I told you I was sick!"

As Ben Franklin said of death and taxes

Sure, one day she’ll fall over

Sure, one day you will, too

Her fall may then be newsworthy

(though only to the slack-jawed)

but in the meantime...

Good luc in your effort to generate something newsworthy out of thin air.

Angus Hastie: Very interesting article. My view? I agree, and I think the preview alone of Bewitched is pushing her towards an entire school of sharks to jump When it is released, she will not just become obscure, she will be torn to pieces. Shame. And such a short ride from her well-deserved Oscar too. Mind you her speech at that event probably started the water-ski ride

Christina Vetsikas: I believe David Koch has jumped the shark. He did it the moment he started doing the joke of the day on Sunrise.

Parr, Karen: I totally disagree with your suggestion that Nicole Kidman has jumped the shark or that she always makes bad film choices. Given the amount of high profile movies shes involved in, of course we are going to be more aware when one of them isnt a box office smash.

I also disagree with your comment regarding Julia Roberts - she was heavily pregnant when filming Oceans 12 (with twins)! I question whether a woman would have made such a statement..?! I really enjoyed the film, the plot of course was laughable and her role very tongue-in-cheek, however if you take it for what it was, light entertainment, it was good fun.

David Andrew : News flash: Nicole Kidman is not on the verge of jumping the shark, she jumped, has been turned into fishfood, with her remnants now lying on the bottom of the pool. The only half decent bit of acting that woman has ever done was in the film To Die For, and that is because the role was of a vapid, money-hungry (more importantly) fame-hungry person. This woman is dull, dull, dull.

Denise Merry: I switched off Oceans 12 after 22 minutes and took it back to the dvd shop and got a refund. It was dire. JTS is a good term and it describes ALL the stars perfectly for me in Oceans 12. Why did ANY of them agree to do it? It’s even put me off Brad.

Tania Smith-Van Hoy: I hope you have the balls to print this!! I think your observation is ridiculous!!

Talent is Talent my friend and yes Nicole is a great actress. People like you have no idea about the machine that operates behind the scenes that shape peoples careers and affect their very lives, in truth most of the people who judge talent usually have very little of it themselves ... hence they sit back and become armchair critics.

Holly wood is a fickle beast that runs to the next foetus when it looks like they’ve sucked the life out of the aging todler and people like you only give the beast credibility and longevity. Nicole and Julia have given us many great movies - especially by Hollywood standards, if you asked either one of them what they’d really in their heart of hearts like to act in it might shock you - but usually things like that are too deep for Hollywood.

And you may ask who I am - well I am an Australian living in the US and have done for 10 years - I’m in the music business and have toured extensively with many great artists including our own Kylie Minogue - while I watched a country try and pull her down from her pedestal. She is one ofour biggest stars and whether you like her or not a lotof people do, enough to make her huge international star.

Please don’t discredit our talent, this is an ugly attempt to hurt someone who has done nothing except entertain us - be proud of Nicole or write about someone else

Australia needs to outgrow this tall poppy syndrome, the game of lying in wait for someone to fall so we can all say "I told you it would never last". Nothing ever does my friend the world is full of ebb and flow - but just because it’s now someone’s turn for their 15 minutes doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t deserve theirs or isn’t capable of much more than you’ve seen until now.

So support our talent, I’ve seen the entertainment business from the inside and it’s not always pretty and most don’t make it - so as my mother once said "if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything" tell us about someone who’s fabulous on their way up - not someone we love that you want to tear down.

Margo Marchbank: Her talent has always been marginal, and lately she’s either made bad script choices, or been acted off the screen, as in Cold Mountain. Her fragile, porcelain beauty routine there was frankly annoying. The thought that she could play an 18-year-old in Eucalyptus was horrifying to contemplate; thank God common sense prevailed and saved a great novel for another day.

Anke Kunzmann: Becker: Kidman jumping the shark? I wouldn’t call it tragic as she never was a good actress anyway. It’s different with Roberts who was simply brillant as Erin Brokovich.

And you forgot Leonardo when he jumped a WHALE with Titanic. What happened to the brilliant boy I really thought to be handicaped when I watched Gilbert Grape? Biggest mistake ever, but probably well paid...

So what, should we feel sorry for them? I wish somebody would pay me millions for making the wrong choices.

Kelly McLoughlin-Wilden: I’m sorry, but let’s be honest. Kidmania never reached my house. B Grade actress - A grade star. Anyway, great article! BTW, how come Kidman is the world’s only redhead not to have any freckles? Could this be linked to why, at 37, she has not one facial line? Good genes, my arse.

Peter McRae: I guess this makes sense, Everybody loves Raymond just stopped making their sitcom at a time of experiencing peak audiences, I guess they pre jumped .

Michelle Donaldson: I loved reading your article "jumping the shark" and in fact had never heard of this term prior to your article. I feel that Cate Blanchett has managed to supercede Nicole now in terms of public interest.

I think the public cannot really relate to Nicole as well now as when she was a married woman. I watched her walk the red carpet in Sydney for her latest movie and thought wow, her looks are starting to go. Perhaps she just needs to pack on the pounds, have a baby (naturally....) and then enlist John Travolta’s help to lose it as well as ask Kirsty Alley to be her diet coach (a la Oprah).

Lee O’Brien: In a way I think Nicole Kidman jumped the shark when she won the Oscar: the other women in that film were equally dazzling, if not more so, and in retrospect the award seems a bit, er, hyperbolic. But she does keep making dreadful films, and her appearance itself is becomingworryingly bizarre.

I’m surprised anyone can tell what Julia Roberts did in Ocean’s 12; the camera movements made me seasick and cross-eyed and I saw about 20 mins of the film. Enough to know that Catherine Zeta Jones’s stilettos were the true stars. I know a film has jumped the shark when assorted accoutrements take centre stage: the woven highlights of Gwyneth Paltow and whoever played the murderer/lover in A Perfect Murder were a treat to behold.

James Norton: Great article - we use jumping the shark in our household all the time. Don’t know whether I agree with Stallone - I believe the 1997 movie Copland gained him some cred but probably short lived.

I wonder if there were any actors who have never jumped the shark.

Daniel Day Lewis, Johnny Depp, Robert Deniro, Al Pacino??

H.Cuerden-Clifford: I found your column very enjoyable, and I agree with most of your observations. I thought that a classic case of "JTS" was the series Heartbeat which started off as a really good period piece with quite a bit of social comment with Niamh Cusack’s character. But it lost steam, particularly when she departed, and took on increasingly buffoon-like characters and silly plot lines (the Canadian mounties episode was about the most cringe-ful). The interesting thing is that the series went on long after the JTS moment, and it is a theory of mine that some series can shrink to a shadow of their former selves but survive on a small but hard-core audience.

Basically, most series have one good season, and then the decline sets in unless they’re exceptional. Seachange started the decline in the second series after the excellent concept had been fullydealt with in the first, and the existing characters were used in increasingly irrelevant situations. I thought the departure of Diver Dan was the defining moment.

Monarch of the Glen, never very good, has convoluted plotlines and increasingly unbelievable characters - this gives us a clue to another category - those series that were never much good but found a niche and went for years (like Division 4 and Homicide). In contrast, Hamish MacBeth mercifully stopped in time, but it had a first class star, who probably knew when.

There are very good series such as Wire in the Blood that seem to keep up the quality by only having four episodes (or so) at a time - the material is kept fresh and we don’t tire of it so quickly.

However, as the result of this I generally avoid the "series" except for The Bill, but that’s only an addiction - it went sour years ago when it dropped the gritty half hour episodes (each focusing on an aspect of police work) for the limp soapie-type drama. And it’s obvious most of my viewing has been ABC - the plethora of ads hasdrove me off the commercials a long time ago for routing viewing. So I’m afraid that I can’t really make any predictions.

Catherine Craddock: I have one problem with your Jump the Shark theory regarding Nicole Kidman. I do not think she was ever even in the water. Roberts, Willis, Schwarzenegger etc were all box office drawcards and could open movies on their name alone which would then go on to do a bit more than recoup the development costs. Nicole Kidman never reached that level, despite all the notoriety she attracts, so it is hard to picture her in the same category.

Dr Gary Champion: Jude Law- Alfie; Haile Berry-anything since her Oscar; Hugh Grant- Love Actually; Billy Bob Thornton- since meeting /divorcing that other wacko Angelie Jolie.

Royce Leong: I think that the classic JTS moment has got to be the prequel. That’s as close as you can get to shooting a franchise in the foot, by trying to flog the dead horse. Desperate to relive success is taking the same characters and going back in time when things were ’new’ again, yet the subject is always too old to cop a rehashing.

Examples include- Star Wars, Star Trek (both theTV series Enterprise and I hear a new film’s coming out), Ring, Batman, Superman, the Exorcist, the Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones (the young version), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Bond movies (I heard Orlando Bloom is tipped to play a young James, and it just might involve sharks). It even happens in video games- Metroid Prime (which was good), Resident Evil Zero, Doom3 (which, despite the 3, was actuallya prequel).

Admittedly, you can get a success story, but 9/10 are failures. It’s not like you don’thope for the best, warm and fuzzy memories in the mind, but deadcharacters can’t be revived.

Alan Gold: You’re such a cynic. Just because talented actors perform in a couple of bombs, why is it necessary for you and others to write off their entire careers?

Shows..yes..they definitely have a use by date as do movie sequels. But actors - true actors who spend years perfecting their art - will not fizzle and die like some meteor. It didn’t happen to the terrific actors of the 40’s and 50’s and 60’s, and there’s no real reason why it should happen now.

Of course in some cases, the person who jumps the shark may not be an actor at all. Graduates of television soaps who fall foul of the surgical knife of a director often go on to become bartenders because they were never actors in the first place; but the skilled and highly trained actors who give us some of our best moments on screen are professionals, and their worth will often prove itself in subsequent appearances.

I know I’m only referring to the British theatrical firmament, but think of the great dames and knights who have had careers stretching over a lifetime. Do you seriously think that JTS moments apply to them? Or what about the better and more professional actors in Hollywood?

No, David, blame the directors or the script writers, but base your judgment on actors’ careers around a majority of their work, and not one isolated performance.

Malcolm & Cathy: I suggest he who wears skis should not accuse others of shark jumping! What is the journalistic equivalent of shark jumping? Perhaps it is penning a few scandalous suggestions about a loved hometown celebrity to elevate the readership of a mediocre story? Radio host, magazine editor, food critic, social commentator and now gossip columnist - you’re on the ramp and travelling fast. Pull out and get back to what you do best. Give Nicole Kidman a break. We all have our failures. Need I mention your editorship of the Bulletin?

Jeff Coe: I will have to add here that for me the classic "jumping the shark" situation for a TV series is when in the same episode 1) someone’s long lost Father, son, daughter whatever turns up 2) There is suddenly a lot of flesh (sex scenes etc on a show that normally didn’t show much flesh) 3) People Die who were relatively important to the script., It is quite funny seeing these 3 things happen on a regular basis in a series, only to see the series suddenly pulled a short time after.

Keith Fiertl: The thing to remember is real talent never gets to this point. Kidman’s talent was always way overated.She could never act as well as Jodie Foster or Cate Blanchett. Kidman is one of those Aussie icons that can do no wrong and hangs around way too long after their star has burned out.... Brian Henderson, Darryl Sommers, and everybody on channel 9 (including their pompous owner) anyone, anyone......

Its interesting that you mention "jumping the shark" because just last night I watched an interview with the cast of Everybody loves Raymond and the show’s creator said the main reason they were quitting this year is they didn’t want to become mundane. Needless to say, he’s a smart guy.

Richard Lyon: Interesting stuff..... Our Nic - I’m not sure if she is a shark jumper , I think its more insidious than that; she’s everywhere - in everything, on everything and smiling at you whichever way you turn. I think the end result will be the same, she’ll pass away as a result of a severe dose of overkill!

Laura Fister: 1. People thought Hilary Swank had jumped the shark with The Core Hmmm Million Dollar Baby Need I say more?

2. Nicole has recently turned in brilliant performances in Birth, The Interpreter, & Dogville.

3. Most of her films split the audience which is kind of exciting. Despite the controversy swirling around Birthshe was still nominated for a golden globe etc

4. Shes just signed on to play the great 20th century photographer Diane Arbus in an upcoming biopic.

5. I think she’s successfully avoided the blonde-bombshell image. She does not really go for mainstream filmsthats probably why they sent her up in Be Cool.

Jules, Queensland: I think the only shark in the water appears to be you. This seems to be another disapointing case of tall poppy syndrome being pedalled by a writer fresh out of ideas. Like any actor, her script choices have been exceptional (the hours, to die for) to ordinary (cold mountain) to the banal (batman forever, stepford wives). However, no matter how bad the script Kidman most of the time is able to rise above the material presented. The industry is also cylical. Roberts first jump moments was Mary Reilly. Her comeback film was My Best Friend’s Wedding. And your theory has skipped past Closer which she delivered an impressive understated performance.

Your twisted facts are as dire as your writing material. I suggest that perhaps you sir, are the one who has truly "jumped".

Kieran Darcy-Smith: normally I’d just ignore you. but I’m just so curious/confused I can’t help myself... tell me this honestly how is it that you wish to be perceived? do self-respect, integrity, dignity, sense, responsibility, significance, value and likeability mean anything to you? are they qualities that you aspire to?? seriously. i’m asking because i genuinely don’t get it. I can’t relate. i.e. my perception, just from that article: small, pathetic, ridiculous. insignificant. not someone I’d be interested in getting to know. is that what you want? do you want people to respect you? is it a money thing? Please feel free to respond. I’m interested.

Peter Shelley: Although it seems less appropriate to apply the notion of jumping the shark to an individual, I do agree that Kidman’s career advisers may have cause for concern.

If you consider that the high point was when she won her Oscar for The Hours, a mere 2 years ago, she has only had one box office hit since - Cold Mountain. All of her other follow-up movies have been box office flops - Dogville, The Human Stain, The Stepford Wives, and Birth.

Apart from Hollywood’s notorious short attention span, at 37 Kidman also faces theleading lady over 40 crisisthat has crippled the lifespan of far greater talents than hers. It takes real savvy for an aging female star to survive in Tinseltown, and not many succeed. Compare the career opportunities of Susan Sarandon and Faye Dunaway, for example.

It will be interesting to observe Kidman’s future. The Interpreter just opened so it’s still too soon to know how that will score, and she has Bewitched due in June, Fur in pre-production, and 5 other films in development. But then again, she may marry and retire, avoiding a shark bite altogether.

Nicola Morgan: I felt that Robert de Niro jumped the shark when he did Analyse This, and then cemented it when he did Analyse That. Kevin Costner when he did Waterworld. Russell Crowe when he did Master and Commander. Kylie Minogue when she did a Greatest Hits album. Not sure re Nicole - when she talks about "my craft" you really really want her to be eaten by the shark

Rosemary Workman: Two thoughts come to mind. The first being the article in this same paper yesterday remarking on Kidman’s impressive and diverse body of work over the past twelve months and the second being the classic Simpson’s episode in which the entire Simpson clan commence the series jumping sharks on waterskis.

This leads me to two questions. One, can a star or series parody its own demise prior to that actual JTS moment in order to avoid it? And two, if like Kidman, you never as an actor held the hearts of fans can you ever actually JTS or do people just become sick of you?

Damian Clarke: The British Royal Family jumped the shark when they didn’t have the Buckingham Palace Royal Standard at half mast for Princess Di. Now that little girls don’t want to be a princess any more - because it makes you die - the House of Lords has admitted peers who earned, rather than inherited, their peerage and the whole aristocracy looks more anachronistic and ridiculous.

And I suppose you could say that John Howard jumped the shark when he refused to say sorry - but for some reason the electorate hasn’t worked it out yet. Is there such a thing as jumping the shark and making it: the defining moment when everyone thought you had failed irreparably, but somehow you pulled through to line up with the jump one more time:

 Paul Keating with his J-Curve comment

 Gough Whitlam’s Vocafone ads

Now with our Nicole, I think the moment she jumped the shark was when she did the perfume advertisement. It’s one thing to re-hash an old movie for the sake of a sequel, but when you have to re-hash the movie to sell perfume you’re telling the world that your star quality is no longer enough to do the job. And what’s the opposite of jumping the shark? Because that ad Kylie did with the mechanical rodeo bull, "Would all the men in the room please stand up," has got to be the equivalent of Batman & Robin’s shark repellent spray. No matter what she does, and what she becomes, Kylie rodeo riding has fixed her in memory as a fun loving hottie.

Alison Aprhys: 1. The highly irritating Jar-Jar binks in Star Wars did in the Series for me

2. 2nd series Sea-change - should have stopped after the first series high

3. any aging rock star come comes to Australia and sells over-priced tickets to hear tem warble (excepting the divine Ms M!)

4. ANY REALITY TV SHOW. Hang ten.

Darren Booth : Do love your work, however I have an issue with your JTS article. Agree with most of it, but your comment about Buffy jumping when Willow became a lesbian is way off.

Willow’s change to a lesbian was foreshadowed in series 2 - several years before she started batting for the other team. Buffy was like that - character development happened over years - not episodes, like most TV these days.

So that was in no way a desperate act of a show on the decline. Right up until the end of the show it continued to be one of the best-written pieces of TV I’ve ever seen, as are the Sopranos, Cold Feet etc etc.

Also, as more a cult show than mainstream, I don’t know that it ever compromised its characters for ratings.

Stephen Carey: I think Karl Largerfield was on the money when he descirbed Nicole Kidman as "strange". She is this caricature of herself, never straying off the red carpet into the real world or the sunlight.

She did an interview with Michael Parkinson last year which was really weird, she sort of flirted with him and did this little girl lost thing, flirting with Parkie? mmmmm.

One thing "our" Nic can’t hide is her pure driven ambition. If anyone tells her she’s fabulous (which she knows she is) she does this weird dismissive shrug to remind us she’s doesn’t take herself too seriously and she just one of the guys? Does anyone believe this?

Nic’s moment when she jumped the shark? When she did the Chanel commercial where she plays a celebrity who is persued by the paparazzi. Fantasy and reality crossed over and she became a victim of her own image.

I’m waiting for the retirement announcement, she will go into seclusion (in paris or new york) Garbo style...pleaaassse

Ben Tyas: Other examples of Jumping the Shark:

* the old series version of Battlestar Galactica, when they finally discovered earth.

* Mulder and Scully getting together in the X-Files, around the time the Robert Patrick character was introduced.

I don’t mind the phenomenon so much; scriptwriters seem to run out of puff naturally.I know I couldn’t be original for 10 minutes straight, let alone 9 years. Friends died long before it actually finished production. After the scriptwriter industrial trouble in the U.S. that happened all through the 90’s, the response of the networks was to produce a glut of rubbish reality shows. These "shows" have alienated me and my fellow viewers.

Intelligent shows such as G.P., MDA, Blue Murder, just don’t get a look-in these days, and it’s not right.And what’s worse, some of the well-received shows are now only available on pay-TV, such as that adult drama with Claudia Karvan, was it called Love My Way ?

If great shows such as the Sopranos only get shown on cable here, as in the U.S., then I would really be annoyed. I guess it depends on the adoption rate of pay-TV and other business factors.

Kirk Fletcher: Interesting article - but Lois and Clark did not "jump the shark" with their marriage.They jumped the shark when they introduced Justine Bateman as an alien princess betrothed to Superman.We had alien spaceships and everything! After that, nothing was going to save the show - least of all, the marriage of Lois and Clark.

TV series can avoid jumping the shark altogether, by recognising that all good things come to an end - and actually plan a decent send-off for themselves instead of trying to avoid the inevitable.

As they say: Always leave them wanting more.

Mitchell Read: Nicole took the jump when she made Days of Thunder. The whole movie tested the audience’s ability to suspend disbelief. Come on, a twenty-something neurosurgeon? Still, all credit to her, she did come back and make some good ones.

Rajani: Hi there - it’s all very well inviting us all to email you - but how are we going to feel if you don’t respond. Or maybe you’ve got a TM firm in India that will answer your emails for you. Just kidding.

Now re Nicole Kidman. Look - she’s a bit of alright, if you like that sort of thing. She can even act ... yes she can when she gets the right part - but is she a screen legend for her extensive, wide & challenging body of work - NOOOO. We’ve found her boring for years - most women have. You blokes have gone - oooo - look at those legs.... So mate - she’s a smart cookie - her father is a shrink, he’s groomed her well for the challenges of this planet.

I think she should get pregnant too. She can shut down her stupid nail bars & maybe start some baby boutiques up which no doubt that other TEDIOUSLY boring sibling of a celebrity Antonia Kidman will shove down our throats on the Lifestyle channel. Make no bones about it - Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts, Heath Ledger ... they still have to prove themselves & if they are not careful they may end up on the heap. But ... at least they have got there all on their little own - true Aussie battlers. Nicky made some smart choices, she’s a particular kind of porcelain blond that is nice to look at on the mantle - but she will fade to grey sooner than later because like Kofi Annan, she’s more interested in a flash Italian suit than the real human condition.

Don’t be so harsh on Julia - women like her - she’ll be back. She has a kind of grace that is warm & fuzzy. Nicky’s just going to get more and more boring. Look at the men she dates - that midget Lenny Kravitz, that Bing character. No-one in Hollywood exciting dates her. The best thing Nicole could do is find herself another Tom Cruise but having turned her back on Scientology - one does wonder whether her next suitor might have to come from another PLANET!!!

Michael Stanbridge: The Stars have themselves to blame if they JTS. There isn’t a star system anymore and the mystic has gone. That’s down to the studios.

But Stars are so rich now that they can pick and choose. If they don’t then it is a bad choice of script that usually kills them. To maintain star quality and respect demands much higher standards of behaviour image and career management than is now the case.

Unshaven roughneck males with no style and woman who let it all hang out are just operating at the low end of the spectrum. These people are supposed to manufacture dreams on and off stage.That demands iron discipline and most of them don’t have it.

Who in their right mind would see a night out and at a night club and a punch up on the pavement like Russell Crowe wasinvolved in as a dream life.

Other examples are rife. Unless the star machine is turned back on nobody is going to last very long and that includes Nicole Kidman.

Angus Cohen: Heather Graham - has she made a decent movie since Austin Powers 2??

Minh Vu: I was reading your article with bemused interest but noted one point that needs clarification. As an avid fan (bordering on near obsession actually) I disagree with your assessment of Willow turning into a lesbian being the "jumping the shark" moment for Buffy. Although I realise this is pure pedantic and I wholly expect to be ridiculed for my in-depth knowledge of all things Buffy, but the fact remains: Willow came out of the closet in season 4 (New Moon Rising) and Buffy lasted another 3 season (last episode Chosen) till timely finished by Mr J. Whedon. Three years till being cancelled doesn’t constitute jumping the shark!

Edna Ogundare: You have to give credit to SMH for their continued effort to sour the career of Kidman for some reason.

Reading the article about how it might be over for Nicole Kidman, I couldn’t but wonder if you knew what you were talking about? Nicole Kidman is still one of the most sought after actresses, not just in the US but all over the world, this isn’t due to the fact of her being famous but because she is a damn fine actress.

Someone like Wong Kar Wai is looking to work with her in the future, she just segued from the postponed Eucalyptus to a new movie called Fur in a matter of weeks, your assumed evidence that her face was cut off because it might be that she may be becoming a turnoff is just risible, such linear thinking, we are talking about a character that is meant to be mysterious, revealing herself bit by bit, this also happens to be one of the posters for The Interpreter, a single search on the Allposters website would have revealed that to you, that there is one with her full face, a black one with no faces from either character but just text on it but the one you mentioned has the spirit of the movie over it. Perhaps, your thinking would be that since only her legs are shown in the Bewitched poster that it definitely means she is over. Wow!

Kidman is the butt of a joke in Be Cool because she was mentioned? You mean that movie was meant to be funny? what about the actors who acted in Be Cool, this is Travolta’s "x" comeback? and you think after how many minutes of that movie, Kidman is the one that came off worse? In fact, reading all the reviews on the movie, you are the only one who has mentioned that her name popped up in the movie or I wouldn’t have known she was mentioned because I won’t be seeing it.

Her name is regularly dropped on Will and Grace, what does that mean? Kidman complained about The Stepford Wives? So you didn’t hear about reported arguments on the set, that the director had to take days off because it got too much? that the movie was shot for some 6 months? David O Russell actually said she wanted to leave the project to join his but wasn’t allowed because she was contracted, Scott Rudin refused to let her go, that the movie she signed on to do was a black comedy that evolved into what was released, she rarely promoted the movie, she still hadn’t seen it when it premiered and she didn’t go to the premiere. Funnily enough, Peter O’Toole complained about Troy, also in hindsight. She was asked a question, she answered it.

Kidman was never a box office draw like Julia or Demi or Bruce, she rarely acts in popular movies, in fact 90% of her movies seem to be designed for the arthouse or specific audiences, so the argument that she is not a draw or won’t be anymore is non-existent. In fact, for an actress of Nicole’s stature, less fame would be great for her so it won’t be much of a loss at all.

Perhaps, the time spent on this persistent dogging of trying to find failures where there isn’t one should be spent in doing research about what is actually going on and then writing a piece that actually makes sense when it is picked apart or better yet, leave it to people who understand film studies.

Leon Wolff: I enjoyed your piece on jumping the shark. But I would like to question one of your ’jump the shark’ moments. You argued that when Willow came out as a lesbian it marked the beginning of the end for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I am not sure I agree. First, Willow came out as a lesbian halfway through Season 4. Yet the show continued for another 3 and a half more years!! It would have continued, too, had not Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to leave the show.

Second, I think Willow’s lesbianism actually brought a new depth to the character and made the show more interesting. For example, it introduced the idea of the inordinate pain of losing a loved one. Thus, in the final episode in Season 6, it was Willow causing the world to end because that is how she felt where her lover, Tara, died.)

Third, what *I* think killed the show was Buffy taking on adult responsibilities in Season 7. Since the whole show was about the pain of growing up, the spark and emotional resonance was gone once the main character had actually grown up. OK, too much detail.