Jumping the Shark

Ron Coleman, who hosted an entertaining Blawg Review #2 at Likelihood of Confusion back in the day, says this law blog carnival has "jumped the shark" with the unconventional Blawg Review #48 at Rethink(IP), which Ron thinks should be the last of Blawg Review.

Jumping the shark is not self-referential lawyer lingo to confuse clients and annoy David Giacalone.

Jumping the shark is a metaphor used by US TV critics and fans since the 1990s to denote the moment when a TV series is (in retrospect) deemed to have passed its peak. Once a show has "jumped the shark", fans sense a noticeable decline in quality or feel the show has undergone too many changes to retain its original charm.

Properly understood, the idiom can only be used retrospectively. Time will tell if Blawg Review goes downhill from here. Will we see better?

The competitive nature of law bloggers is legend. Colin Samuels, at Infamy or Praise, received the highest praise last year for extraordinary achievement as the host of Dante's Inferno Blawg Review #35. His was named Blawg Review of the Year 2005, and he knows the nine circles of Hell, so we were very interested in his commentary on this week's issue of Blawg Review in Deep-Rethinking with Jack Handey. Colin's quick wit and retort begins with a pithy quote.

"I remember how, in college, I got this part-time job as a circus clown, and how the children would laugh and laugh at me. I vowed, then and there, that I would get revenge." --Jack Handey

Meanwhile, on Bag and Baggage, Denise Howell eschews the controversy, masterfully blogging about Blawg Review #48 with generous link love for many deserving participants, including some from Blawg Review #48: the rest of the story on Blawgr, adding her own thoughtful remarks about two posts that she thinks might be interesting to her readership—without so much as mentioning that her own post from Between Lawyers was one of only three blawg posts that made the cut at Blawg Review #48 at Rethink(IP).

It's obvious why this blawg diva with self-effacing style, Denise Howell, has been asked to reprise her own Blawg Review #30 with a sequel, Howell-o-ween II. Denise is not alone among the many previous hosts of Blawg Review who have had so much fun hosting their own blog carnvial for law bloggers that they have eagerly signed on to host again in the months ahead. If you've been following Blawg Review since its beginning, almost a year ago, you'll recognize the names of previous hosts who are again on our roster of Future Hosts along with several well-known law bloggers who are looking forward to their first chance to host Blawg Review in its second year.

When we look back on Blawg Review a year from now, will Ron Coleman be able to say he saw the beginning of the end of this project with the Rethinker's Blawg Review #48? Ultimately, it's up to all of us—as hosts, or contributors, and as law blog readers who take the time to blog about the best that other law bloggers have written—to make of Blawg Review whatever we want it to be.