The Queen B is watching CSI, and by default, so am I. It’s an episode called Two and a Half Deaths, a reference to some tasteless sitcom in which Charlie Sheen inserts his genitals into everything with an orifice while his nephew says things like “boobies” and “beater” to a canned laugh track:
She: Are they trying to make this episode funny or something? They just made a joke about the show CSI on CSI.
Me: Self-referential jokes are just another sign this show’s jumped the shark.
She: CSI‘s jumped the shark?
Me: CSI jumped the shark when the corpses started chatting to each other. It went downhill fast from there.
She: Hmm. How do you tell if a show’s jumped the shark?
Me: I dunno. The fun goes out of it so they try to change the formula to make it relevant again. They do lots of off-kilter “high-concept” episodes. Characters start to leave. There’s a lot of obvious references to the show itself in the show.
Character on TV: For me, that’s when the show jumped the shark.
Me: I rest my case.
