Jumping the shark
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The infamous moment when Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water skis. |
Jumping the shark is a
metaphor that has been used by
US TV critics and fans to denote the
tipping point at which a
TV series is deemed to have passed its peak. 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 phrase specifically arises from a scene in the hit TV comedy series
Happy Days in which one of the central characters, Arthur "
The Fonz" Fonzarelli, on water skis, literally jumps over a shark. The scene was written into the show at a point when the viewing ratings were beginning to drop, and it is generally regarded as the creative low-point at which the show finally lost all credibility. A show may continue well after the point when fans feel it has "jumped the shark" but will likely decline in popularity.
Jump-the-shark moments may be scenes like the one described above that finally convince viewers that the show has fundamentally and permanently strayed from its original premise. In those 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.
The term has also evolved to describe other areas of
pop culture, including
movie series, music, or 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 viewer appeal for the TV series in question, without requiring a significant "jump the shark" moment as justification.
The phrase refers to a scene in a three-part episode of the American TV series,
Happy Days, first broadcast on
September 20,
1977. In the "Hollywood" episode, Fonzie (
Henry Winkler), wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket, jumps over a penned-in
shark while
water skiing.
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.
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).
["Gemstar-TV Guide Acquires Jump the Shark", press release, Jun. 21, 2006] Officially, the sale price was reported as "over $1 million,"
["Jon 'The Millionaire' Hein", marksfriggin.com, Jun. 21, 2006] but there is some speculation that the actual sale price may have been considerably higher.
More recently, the phrase has been used outside the realm of popular culture, representing anything that has reached its peak and has turned mediocre. For example, if one thinks a stock or a sports team has reached its peak, one can say that it has "jumped the shark."
Sitcom or dramatic series references
*
That '70s Show had an episode in which Fez imagines jumping over a shark, thinking how cool it would be to be the Fonz, then commenting on how he never really watched 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 by killing them off.
* 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 "
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.
* 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 do 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."
Cartoon references
*
Clerks: The Animated Series featured false "clip show" as its second episode. At one point, the characters reminisce about their favorite
Happy Days episodes, the shark-jumping episode among them.
*In
What's New, Scooby-Doo?, Scooby water-skis over a shark, following 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 "There are some sharks I refuse to jump."
* At the beginning of the
South Park episode
"Probably", there is a flashback section continuing from the previous episode, during which is a Fonzie scene parodying a Happy Days episode where he jumps over a pool of sharks, except he doesn't quite make it.
*
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
Pop Idol.
*The webtoon
Happy Tree Friends features an episode called
Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark.
*In the first episode 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).
*In an episode of Sealab 2021 when the character Sharko (who is part man part shark) jumped the Fonz.
*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 (TV series) episode "Episode 257-494" Robin jumps over a shark on water-skis.
Video Game References
* In
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$,
Wario has to jump a mechanical shark on wheels in one of his microgames.
* The computer game
Jumpman Zero has a level titled
jump the shark, which requires the player to do just that.
* In the skateboard video game
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the player is required to jump over a shark named Fonzie.
* In the game
Hallrunner at
Videlectrix.com (a fake video game company set up by the creators of
Homestar Runner), jumping over a shark results in the message
"You jump the shark. Just like Homestarrunner.com
. *0 points** The band Tabula Rasa has a song entitled "Jumping The Shark" on their album,
The Role Of Smith.* Punk band
The Lawrence Arms have a song on their album
Oh! Calcutta! named "Jumping The Shark."
* The reverse of the term is known as
Jumping Back or sometimes
Growing the Beard (referring to
Commander Riker on
Star Trek: The Next Generation). They refer to a point in a television show when a marked increase of quality is noted (e.g. the replacement of
Josh Weinstein with
Frank Conniff on
Mystery Science Theater 3000,
Jon Stewart replacing
Craig Kilborn on
The Daily Show, or
Jonathan Frakes replacing
James Brolin in
1997 in the television show
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction). "Growing the Beard" refers to how Commander Riker did not have a beard during the first season which contained episodes that were perceived to be of lesser quality than those in the second season and onwards when the beard was introduced.
* The
2004 book,
America (the Book): a Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, by
Jon Stewart and the writers of
The Daily Show, features a caption regarding the 2000 elections, in which the entire news media was said to "jump the shark" by prematurely predicting
Al Gore the winner of the Florida election, and then predicting
George W. Bush the winner of the same election.
* In an
op-ed on
August 27,
2005,
Maureen Dowd stated that
George W. Bush "jumped the shark by landing on that '
Mission Accomplished' carrier."
* In his weekly columns,
Mark Rosewater has often commented that the addition of a sixth color would be the "jump the shark" event for the
Magic: The Gathering trading card game.
*
Weird Al Yankovic references the phrase in his 2003 song
Couch Potato with the line "
King of Queens jumped the shark in the first minute; I can't believe
Richard Simmons ain't in it!".
*
Jon Hein (the man who created the
Jump the Shark website).
*
Jumping the couch*
Very special episodes*
Video clip of the scene in "Hollywood" where Fonzie jumps the shark*
jumptheshark.comA list of shows and movies that have "jumped the shark."
