Another AtD review

[Dave Monroe]

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

    Q.  Did "jump the shark" originate from this web
site, or did you create the site to capitalize on the
phrase?

    A.  It all started here.  This site went up
December 24, 1997 and gave birth to the phrase "jump
the shark."  As the site continues to grow in
popularity, the term has become more commonplace.  The
site is the chicken, the egg, and now a Catch-22.

    Q. What is jumping the shark?

    A. It's a moment. A defining moment when you know
that your favorite television program has reached its
peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's
all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it
"Jumping the Shark."  From that moment on, the program
will simply never be the same.

    The term "jump the shark" was coined by my college
roommate for 4 years, Sean J. Connolly, in Ann Arbor,
Michigan back in 1985. This web site, book, film, and
all other material surrounding shark jumping, are
hereby dedicated to "the Colonel."

    The aforementioned expression refers to the
telltale sign of the demise of Happy Days, our
favorite example, when Fonzie actually "jumped the
shark." The rest is history....

http://www.jumptheshark.com/about.htm

http://www.jumptheshark.com/

The phrase specifically arises from a scene in the hit
TV comedy series Happy Days. During the show's run,
the writers were challenged to come up with new, fresh
stories; they developed a story where Arthur "Fonzie"
Fonzarelli is on water skis, wearing his trademark
leather jacket despite the well-known negative effects
of salt water on leather, and, quite literally, jumps
over a shark.

Many have noted the shark episode as the moment when
they realized the show was no longer worth watching,
considering the scene to be unrealistic and of poor
quality, making it impossible to maintain suspension
of disbelief. Even before "jumping the shark" was
employed as a pop culture term, the episode in
question was cited many times as an example of what
can happen to otherwise high-quality shows when they
stay on the air too long in the face of waning
interest. Producer Garry Marshall later admitted that
he knew the show had lost something as the crew
prepared to shoot the scene. However, as he pointed
out in the reunion special that aired on February 3,
2005, Happy Days went on to produce approximately 100
more episodes after the "jumping the shark"
episode....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

--- Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:

> It's a phrase that refers to someone basically going
> all out in a final, desperate effort to recapture
> part of his/her heyday.
> 
> It originates, I think, from the 1970s TV show
> _Happy Days_ in which Fonzie performs a waterskiing
> stunt and attempts to jump a shark a la Evil
> Knievel.  By this time in the series' run, the show
> had sputtered its last drops and the show's execs
> thought that this storyline would rejuvinate
> ratings.  
> 
> It didn't.
> 
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> From: Otto <ottosell at googlemail.com> 
> 
> > What's "jumping ths shark"? 



 
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