Or did it happen before that or maybe after that? Better yet, did it really ever?

IMO, Happy Days really jumped the shark when Ron Howard and Donny Most left.

But the shark jump was the beginning of a slow downhill slide. Some dud episodes in the wake of that were the musical Valentine's Day episode, the "Pumps your blood" musical number and the show where Fonzie and the devil battle over Chachi's soul.

IMO, Happy Days really jumped the shark when Ron Howard and Donny Most left.

But the shark jump was the beginning of a slow downhill slide. Some dud episodes in the wake of that were the musical Valentine's Day episode, the "Pumps your blood" musical number and the show where Fonzie and the devil battle over Chachi's soul.

I agree, the show never recovered from Howard and Most leaving. I didn't watch it much at all after that point.

^That's true. With Richie gone, Fonzie didn't have that opposite that he could play off of.

I agree, the show never recovered from Howard and Most leaving. I didn't watch it much at all after that point.

I can still watch reruns from the early years and enjoy them.

If the reruns are from the later years, I can't watch. They have not aged well, especially the eighties hairstyles and fashion in what was supposed to be the sixties.

...when "HAPPY DAYS" began, it was supposed to be a quiet, nostalgic look back at life in the '50s. When Fred Silverman became ABC's programming chief in 1975, he saw the potential of "The Fonz", insisting HE become the center of the show above virtually everyone else. And if Fred had ideas to "hypo" the series to make it more attractive in the ratings (and for teens), like the "Hollywood" episodes when Fonzie literally "jumps the shark", the ill-fated affair with "Pinky Tuscadero", and "stunt" episodes featuring "the Devil", "Mork from Ork", et. al., then the quiet, warm-hearted tone of the program dissolved into frenzy, slapstick and "special effects". Even after Silverman left, ABC knew the value of the series, and kept renewing it because it became on of their few "evergreens" [and ratings champs] by the early '80s. Perhaps it stayed on too long, especially after the network insisted that Garry Marshall "stretch the soup" by giving Joanie and Chachi their own brief series. After 11 seasons, though, it WAS time to "pack it in".

:tv:

The show jumped when it became the Fonzie show the shark was its death keel.

it "jumped the shark" when they put it in front of a live audience and made it "the Fonzie show".

It never jumped the shark. It was a myth. ;)