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Jumping the shark

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Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water skis.

Jumping the shark is a metaphor that was originally used to denote the tipping point at which a TV series is deemed to have passed its peak, or has introduced plot twists that are illogical in terms of everything that has preceded them. 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. The term has also evolved to describe other areas of pop culture, including movie series, music, acting celebrities, or authors for whom a drastic change was seen as the beginning of the end. These changes are often attempts to attract their fans' waning attention with over-the-top statements or increasingly overt appeals to sex or violence. Some have broadened its use to simply describe any decline in appeal for the subject in question, without requiring a significant "jump the shark" moment as justification.

Jump-the-shark moments are typically scenes that finally convince viewers that the show has fundamentally and permanently strayed from its original premise. In these cases, they are viewed as a desperate and futile attempt to keep a series fresh in the face of a decline in ratings. In other cases, the departure or replacement of a main cast member or character or a significant change in setting changes a critical dynamic of the show.

Origin

The phrase specifically arises from a scene in the hit TV comedy series Happy Days. In the early days of the series, Fonzie had performed a trademark jump on his motorcycle with a ramp over a number of cars - Evel Knievel style. Evel Knievel, at the time, had established himself as a real-life motorcycle daredevil and was significant in pop-culture.

In later years of the show, after the high school plot had finished and the college years began, and in an attempt to resurrect the show's run, the writers were challenged to come up with new, fresh stories; they developed a story where Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, wearing his trademark leather jacket despite the well-known negative effects of salt water on leather, literally jumps over a shark on water skis.

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. During the same special, in response to an audience member's question, Marshall introduced the notorious clip and noted how the show had inspired the term.

Website

The first verifiable use of the phrase as a direct metaphor was on December 24, 1997, when Jon Hein's website jumptheshark.com was launched. According to the site, the phrase was first coined by Hein's college roommate, Sean J. Connolly, in 1985. On June 20, 2006, Hein (who now works for The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio) sold his company, Jump The Shark, Inc., to Gemstar (owners of TV Guide).[1] The sale price was reported as "over $1 million."[2]

As of 2007 the site recognizes 18 major categories of shark jumping for television shows. These categories are distinguished by the fact that multiple shows are seen by site users as having suffered a decline after the same type of event. The categories, with a count of how many shows are listed in that category and explanations of the category name:

  • A Very Special ... (5 shows): One or more episodes featuring a controversial topic or decision by characters; the "very special" episode is heavily advertised.
  • Birth (12 shows): A baby is born on the show.
  • Color (9 shows): A black-and-white show begins broadcasting in color.
  • Death (25+): A major or beloved character dies.
  • Exit ... Stage Left (35+): A major or beloved character is written off the show when the actor departs.
  • Graduation (9 shows): Characters in a high school- or college-themed show graduate.
  • Hair Care (17 shows): Actors change their hairstyles; frequently, the old hairstyle was part of the character's popularity or the new hairstyle reflects a fad of the times.
  • I Do (15 shows): A wedding occurs between characters whose sexual tension was part of the show's appeal.
  • Live! (4 shows): A filmed or videotaped show produces a live episode — or switches completely to live broadcast — to attract more viewers.
  • The Movie (18 shows): A film is made using the same characters from the television show. (Many of the shows listed in this category had already stopped production by the time a movie was made.)
  • Moving (7 shows): The show's setting is moved to a new city or a major character changes homes.
  • New Kid in Town (14 shows): A new child character joins the show, usually as part of a family whose child members have gotten older.
  • Puberty (12 shows): Popular child characters (and the actors who play them) reach adolescence.
  • Same Character, Different Actor (19 shows): After an actor's departure, the character continues to appear with a different actor in the role, yet other characters typically have no reaction to the change.
  • Singing (13 shows): The show produces a musical episode, or plots frequently provide opportunities for a major character to sing.
  • Special Guest Star (9 shows): Stunt casting of famous actors or other celebrities is used to attract viewership.
  • Ted McGinley (11 shows): Actor Ted McGinley joins the cast or is a featured guest star, which in some cases has only shortly preceded the show's cancellation. The category page also lists other actors with similar timing.
  • They Did It (12 shows): Characters whose sexual tension fueled their show consummate their relationship.

Sitcom or dramatic series references

  • In the episode "Motherboy XXX" in the second season of Arrested Development, Barry Zuckerkorn (played by "The Fonz" actor Henry Winkler) jumps over a dead shark lying on a pier.
  • The first episode of season 5 of Dharma & Greg featured each of the characters wearing a T-shirt with the text "Jump the Shark". In the episode, Dharma is in a wheelchair after a near-fatal car accident with Greg. The 4th season ended in a cliffhanger: Dharma and Greg were fighting, Greg swerved from hitting a deer, and they had the accident. The story was criticized for being a desperate attempt to get higher ratings.[verification needed]
  • The That '70s Show episode "Jackie Says Cheese" featured Fez imagining jumping over a shark, thinking how cool it would be to be the Fonz. After Hyde states that was the worst moment in all of TV history, Fez comments that he stopped watching the show after that episode.
  • The X-Files episode "Jump the Shark" in the last season (season 9) concluded the roles of The Lone Gunmen in the series.
  • The Canadian black comedy Made in Canada (titled The Industry elsewhere) had an episode entitled "Beaver Creek Jumps the Shark", where it becomes obvious to the characters that the lead show that they produce (Beaver Creek) has jumped the shark, and several of the main characters reminisce about how their own lives did the same. It would be the fifth-to-last episode of the series to air.
  • In the episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide episode "Guide to: Dares" Cookie and Loomer want to be the king of dares. The dare to settle this is to jump over a Nurse shark on a bike. Neither of them does it.
  • In the pilot episode of Nip/Tuck, Christian finds Sean sleeping on the couch at his new office and says, "So I hear your marriage jumped the shark last week. My condolences."
  • In the Stargate SG-1 episode "200", Martin "Marty" Lloyd, trying to make a film based in the campy Stargate parody Wormhole X-Treme!, rejects the idea of an all-puppet cast (in the style of Team America: World Police or Thunderbirds) with "Oh, right, maybe we could have a puppet O'Neill jump over a puppet shark on a 1/3 scale motorcycle." Vala says that she doesn't get it.

Cartoon references

  • Clerks: The Animated Series featured a "clip show" as its second episode (aired out of sequence). At one point, the characters reminisce about their favorite Happy Days episodes, the shark-jumping episode among them.
  • In episode 12 of What's New, Scooby-Doo?, "Lights, Camera, Mayhem!", Scooby water-skis over a shark, after which Velma says, "I never thought Scooby-Doo would jump the shark."
  • In an episode of Bonus Stage, Joel Dawson says, "Phil, come look, we're about to travel over Sharkworld, I'm surprised we haven't done this already." In a later episode, Joel repeats the gag by saying "Ok Elly, let's go get our game on. The game of love. Wait, no. No! There are some sharks I refuse to jump." [1]
  • At the beginning of the South Park episode "Probably", during a flashback section continuing from the previous episode, there is a false-flashback parody of the Fonz shark-jumping scene. In this version, the Fonz doesn't quite make it over the shark, and he is torn to bloody pieces.
  • The Simpsons has referenced jumping the shark in its opening credits, as well as in the clip show "Gump Roast", which ends with many jumping-the-shark allusions, including a shot of Homer water-skiing over a shark.
  • In The Fairly OddParents Direct-to-TV film "Channel Chasers", a deleted scene features a song "If I lived in TV" which had Timmy singing how his life would be if he lived in TV. One of the clips included Timmy and some TV extras jumping over a shark on water skis; the shark then popped up throughout the video, including eating a bad singer in a parody of American Idol.
  • The webtoon Happy Tree Friends features an episode called "Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark".
  • In the first episode of the 2003-04 season of Dora the Explorer, Dora jumps a shark with a special jumping star.
  • In an Easter egg of the Homestar Runner cartoon Teen Girl Squad Issue 10, all four main characters each state a way of jumping the shark: clip shows, weddings, babies, and killing someone off. Since killing the main characters is a regular feature in Teen Girl Squad, the last option is chosen, and each of the four girls dies in a different way.
  • In an episode of Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, while Mac is watching the Deo Special, the announcer tells viewers, "Stay tuned next week when Deo jumps the shark".
  • In the Teen Titans episode "Episode 257-494" (an episode filled with television parodies), Robin jumps over a shark on water-skis.
  • In the Sealab 2021 episode "Sharko's Machine", at the end of the montage the character Sharko (a human/shark hybrid) jumps over a pool filled with Fonzies while riding a motorcycle.
  • In The Replacements, episode "Skate-Gate," Dick Daring jumps over a shark tank on a skateboard. The reference is where the Fonz says his catchphrase "'Eyyyyy!" This is repeated one more time in the episode.
  • In the Nickelodeon show My Life as a Teenage Robot one character is preparing to jump a pool of sharks while the other two attempt to change his mind: one of them says "Once you jump those sharks, the show's over".
  • In the 20th episode of Pani Poni Dash!, Kurumi responds to Himeko losing her spiky hair by saying, "Ooh...I think the writers may have jumped the shark here."
  • During the closing credits of the season premier episode of Kim Possible's long-awaited season 4, "Ill Suited", Ron calls Kim at 3:10 AM and asks if he dreamed her jumping over a shark on water-skis, or whether that actually happened. Instead of responding, she hangs up.

Video and computer game references

Comics

Term used in other contexts

See also

Look up jump the shark in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. ^ "Gemstar-TV Guide Acquires Jump the Shark", press release, Jun. 21, 2006
  2. ^ "Jon 'The Millionaire' Hein", marksfriggin.com, Jun. 21, 2006
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