Friday, February 5, 2010

The New "Jumping the Shark"

Jump the Shark was a phrase developed to explain the demise of Happy Days--that when a show does something so out of character, such as have Fonzie waterski over a shark, the show loses a large hunk of legitimacy and seen as desperate and played out. 

Well, the guys behind lost have come up with a similar phrase.  To "midi-chlorian" something (reference to an egregious scene in the Star Wars prequel Phantom Menace) is to explain or overexplain something that sucks out the mystery and heft of a something.  In this week's Lost podcast, the guys suggest that "to explain Walt's bird-attraction would be very midi-chlorian."

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