Craster wrote:
That's not what it means. Jumping the shark means a high point in the show that means that everything following it falls rather short because you're always thinking "Yeah, this is good, but remember when they jumped the shark?"
That's not what
the internet seems to suggest - it's the start of the decline, rather than the high point. cf "nuking the fridge".
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Jumping The Shark is the moment when an established show changes in a significant manner in an attempt to stay fresh. Ironically, that moment makes the viewers realize that the show has finally run out of ideas. It has reached its peak, it will never be the same again, and from now on it's all downhill.
This expression originates from the episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie, dressed in his trademark leather jacket, literally jumps over a shark on water-skis during an episode shot on location.
Gary Marshall tirelessly reminds us that Happy Days went on for a number of years after the original shark-jump, misunderstanding a phrase that judges suckiness, not success.
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a term to describe a moment when somethin that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality and popularity.
Origin of this phrase comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz jumped a shark on waterskis. Thus was labeled the lowest point of the show.
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The phrase is thought to have originated from a 1977 episode of the Happy Days when the character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli jumped over a shark while water skiing. The scene was widely criticized as a desperate attempt to revive the ratings of a rapidly failing series. Thus, a show is now said to jump the shark whenever the writers create a plotline that is difficult for loyal fans to believe.
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The episode, which came at a time when the long-running series was already considered past its best, was seen as the a virtual admission by the programme's makers that the series had run its course and that they were deficient of ideas. The phrase has been adopted in the USA and has become a stock item in TV critic's reviews whenever a show loses its way.
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Jump the shark or jumping the shark is a term originally used as a metaphor for when a television series has passed its sell-by date. The term originated after an episode of the hit television series Happy Days. In one episode, Arthur Fonzarelli, otherwise known as The Fonz, literally water skis over a shark. It was at this point that viewers became disenchanted with the show and its days were numbered.
Viewers of the show felt that the series had lost its way with this incredulous plot line and could no longer believe in the characters. Jump the shark entered into the vocabulary of pop culture. The new saying was used for anything that was no longer of interest. Jump the shark can be applied to music, film or anything in real life that has gone past its expiry date of usefulness.