Oh good it’s not just me. You see when you learn to write scripts there’s something called, “film school” and creative writing 101, writing for television, directing, film 101 102 and 103
We take ALL THESE CLASSES to learn the craft and some of us are fortunate enough to apprentice and be writing assistants, spec script writers and learn from our mentors who’ve spent years in the industry, some still are actively part of it.
We LOVE OUR CRAFT. We take it seriously. But we also understand when it’s about $$$$ because a closed mouth doesn’t get fed, and squeaky wheel always is oiled first.
But gimmicks, ratings stunts, to get numbers up or to lazily abandon craft for the mundane, yeah no. We take offense to that because it usually means you’re a “sell out?”
Check out this article he is on point. Literally film students take a course on “jumping the shark,” and it is *not* the phrase you want tied to your show, because it means what it means:
Your motives for plot writing have nothing to do with the quality and premise of your original story direction. It has to do with you selling out quality for gimmicks and stunts. Eventually those catch up until finally, your audience is gone.