falling off the dumpster

The point of time in a series where the writers can no longer keep the audience engaged through a good plot and instead resort to ridiculous gimmicks to try and keep interest in the series going. Named after the Season 6 “Thank you” episode from “The Walking Dead” where Steven Yeun’s character fell of a dumpster into a sea of zombies and his fate was not addressed for another four episodes. In the interim, cast and crew were vague about the character’s fate and Steven Yeun’s name was removed from the credits. However, it was eventually revealed that the character miraculously survived unscathed (see “Jumping the Shark”).

"Did you see that episode of 'Red Oaks' I told you about?"

"Yeah, man, that show totally fell off the dumpster"

Falling off the dumpster