‘Sopranos’ flirting with ‘jumping the shark’

I hate to be the one to sound the alarm, but it appears that “The Sopranos,” simply the best television show of all time, has “jumped the shark.”

The expression, for those who don’t know, is derived from the moment in the show “Happy Days” when Fonzie jumped a shark while water-skiing. Critic Jon Hein said the watersport marked the moment when the classic show overreached, went into a tailspin, never to recover. There is a “shark” moment in virtually all classic shows, Hein states in his book “Jump the Shark.”

He is also the creator of jumptheshark.com, an award-winning Web site that gets more than 4 million hits a month. He has contributed to articles in Esquire and TV Guide, and has been featured in USA Today as well as on National Public Radio, The Howard Stern Show and Good Morning America.

According to Hein, “I Love Lucy” “jumped the shark” when Lucy and Ricky moved to the suburbs. “The Brady Bunch” “jumped” when Cousin Oliver moved in. Politics and culture also have their “shark” moments.

Michael Dukakis jumped the shark when he climbed into a tank and put on an oversized helmet. The rock band KISS jumped the shark when they took off the makeup. The Boston Red Sox jumped the shark when they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

And poor Kevin Costner jumped the shark, fittingly, with “Waterworld,” Hein said. Who would have guessed a blue Gap dress could send Bill Clinton over the shark, Hein asks.

On Sunday night, “The Sopranos” joined the fish leaping. For the uninformed (and those without access to HBO), “Sopranos” is a wildly popular HBO production that follows neoneurotic mob boss Tony Soprano and his relationships with his home and crime families. In a startling departure from past gang movies, Soprano goes to a shrink and takes us with him. Sure, he is a brutal killer, but we like him after we recognize his failings.

But “Sopranos” fans have become accustomed to shockingly good scripts, week after week. Now in the eighth week of the fourth season, “Sopranos” has jumped the shark. For the past two weeks, we have been watching repeated reports of the sexual perversion (cheese graters and candle wax) of the hated Ralphie.

There is no fooling around on this show. You mess up and you die. Ask Big Pussy. Last year, Ralphie beat a prostitute to death and Tony let him off with a savage beating because Ralphie was a “made” member of the Mafia. The warning sign in the plot came the season before when the rapist of Tony’s psychiatrist was allowed to live.

We watched show after show awaiting the rapist assassination and felt cheated. No murder.

We Sopranos fans demand a terrible swift sword to deal with Tony’s miscreants. Now it looks like the writers have waited too long, prolonged the action and jumped the shark.

Just for your information, voters on Jumptheshark.com decided that some classic shark jumping occurred when Mabel Buchman was born on “Mad About You,” when Col. Blake’s plane crashed on “MASH,” when Chrissie said goodbye to Jack and Janet on “Three’s Company,” when Barney Fife left “Mayberry,” when Jeannie married master on “I Dream of Jeannie,” when Laverne and Shirley left Milwaukee for Los Angeles, when Dick Sargent replaced Dick York on “Bewitched,” and when David and Maddie finally did it on “Moonlighting.”

If “The Sopranos” is to survive, Ralphie must die.

Now.

Send complaints and compliments to Emmet Meara at emmetmeara@msn.com.