Using some cutting edge math (probably), they were able to trace it all back to a single moment in time -- when one Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli accepted a fateful bet and won.
The phrase “Jumping the Shark” is generally considered to have been coined by Michigan roommates Jon Hein and Sean J. Connolly. As Hein argued. "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."
Really the idea was conceived when Hein and his roommates were sitting around, drinking beer and watching Nick at Nite. In talking about when some of their favorite tv shows started to go downhill, Connelly remembered the thing with Fonzi and the shark, everybody thought that was a hi-lariously perfect example, Hein eventually created a website devoted to voting on ’Jump the Shark’ moments, and now its part of our cultural lexicon.
People like labels. Once something is labeled it makes it easier to box up and store away so it doesn't have to be thought on anymore. But then what happens is you end up relating to the label more than whatever the actual thing was and you no longer experience it fully. I'm a firm believer that labels, while useful, are by their nature incomplete.
This is undoubtedly so with 'Jump the Shark' and, I admit, I'm guilty of it, too. I think it first reached me back in high school and I know I had plenty of round table style discussions with my friends about when Quantum Leap or Boy Meets World or The X-Files turned that corner. It can be fun to quantify things like that. But its ten years later and now whenever I hear someone invoke shark-jumping, they instantly lose some credibility with me. It just sounds kind of thoughtless and hollow. You may as well call that stuff 'nerd-evil' instead. It's all too absolute for my tastes, I can't dig it.
In the 1st season finale of Community, Pascal's Triangle Revisited, Troy needs a new place to stay and continually drops hints to Abed that they should move in together, leading to this exchange:
That last bit has to be my single favorite line of dialogue in 2010. First of all, props to Danny Pudi and Donald Glover who really sells it and is awesome all around. I'm not sure, but either you have to figure that Troy isn't totally aware of what he's saying, like he genuinely doesn't know where 'Jump the Shark' came from, or he knows exactly what he's saying, making him the wisest mother fucker on NBC. Either way I think the whole point is that if you didn't know that you were supposed to hate that episode, maybe you'd really like it, or at least have an honest opinion about it. Abed's just taking that shit for granted. Troy's comment is the exact opposite of nay saying and I love that. He flips the entire shark-jumping thing on its head and afterwards there are only possibilities. Maybe jumping over a shark is pretty bad ass. Why not? Seriously, in the end, we've all just been quoting some dude from MU who watched a lot of Nick at Nite.
After this episode I realized that even though I'd used it my fair share, and I've continued to hear it in common usage, I had no fucking idea why the Fonz jumped over a shark and I'd never bothered to ask. What was the context of the episode? It only takes a quick Wikipedia search to find that it was the climax of a three-parter called Hollywood. Just from that, it already makes a kind of sense to me. There's a long tradition of television series creating multiple part episodes around the cast traveling to a new locale like Hawaii (The Brady Bunch) or in this case Los Angeles. Usually, these episodes involve some kind of grandiose plot to take advantage of the setting. And since this particular episode revolves around Hollywood, I would think some extravagant theatricality is to be expected. Anyways, the Fonz is called out to Hollywood by some talent scouts thinking he could be the next big thing. His screen test doesn't go so well though and he goes to the beach with the gang to forget his troubles. At the beach, a shark has been trapped right off the coast and we find out that the Fonz has a bit of Selachophobia (fear of inner tubes, naw, just kidding, its sharks). He eventually runs afoul of local hotshot The California Kid who challenges him to a jump. He picks the shark because he expects the Fonz to back down. But the Fonz don't back down from a challenge.
I watched the episode to prepare for this article, but I feel really unqualified to tell you whether its good or not. I don't really know what the standard is for a great Happy Days episode. I can tell you it definitely looked like Happy Days to me. There were some good lines and also some pretty corny ones. As for the infamous scene itself, I liked it. It was over the top and melodramatic for sure, but also pretty fun. Have a look:
You know what I really notice about it? Why is Fonzie wearing swim trunks? I mean, of course, he's going to wear his leather jacket to the beach (they make a joke about it in the episode), so why not just go full tilt and wear the jeans, too? Its not like he's going to get wet, he's the Fonz. If anythings bringing down his coolness factor its that level of clash. In or out, Fonz.
Last year, the Los Angeles Times published a really great article by the writer of the Hollywood 3 episode, Fred Fox, Jr, entitled First Person: In Defense of Happy Days Jump the Shark Episode. In it he discusses the creation of the episode, how it was viewed at the time and how it was not at all the 'death rattle' for the show that its been made out to be:
Was the "Hollywood 3" episode of "Happy Days" deserving of its fate? No, it wasn't. All successful shows eventually start to decline, but this was not "Happy Days'" time. Consider: It was the 91st episode and the fifth season. If this was really the beginning of a downward spiral, why did the show stay on the air for six more seasons and shoot an additional 164 episodes? Why did we rank among the Top 25 in five of those six seasons?
For anyone who wants to, as I've suggested, peal off the label, open the box and experience it fully, I'd highly recommend reading the article.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/03/entertainment/la-et-jump-the-shark-20100903
And afterwards maybe you'll want to peruse Fred Fox, Jr's IMDB page and see what else he's done (Laverne and Shirley! Family Matters!).
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0288848
Of course, its essential you watch Hollywood. And I know I'll be looking for suggestions on the best Happy Days episodes and checking those out. See, that's the great thing about those boxes. You climb in and they're bottomless.
Where I'm at right now is I'm wondering if part of the reason 'Jump the Shark' caught on is because it sounds like a riff on an older colloquialism that also referred to when things got messed up beyond repair -- 'Screwed the Pooch'. Remember 'Screwed the Pooch'? I liked that better. "Why couldn't Heroes stop screwing the pooch?" I still don't think I'd use it very much, just not my style, but I'd rather hear that than 'Jumped the Shark'. 'Screwed the Pooch' doesn't need context cause it doesn't matter. We all know we shouldn't be screwing the pooch, right? I'm pretty sure there isn't some great scene out there were somebody goes, "A guy literally screwed a pooch. It was the best!" I suppose that makes 'Screwed the Pooch' a case where the label is good enough. Throw that box away...
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