The phrase came from an episode of "Happy Days" where Fonzie jumped a shark and the person who started that website felt THAT was the moment "Happy Days" started going downhill. Yet every other show, it's never just a plot of an episode that was so bad the show went downhill, it was always a cast member leaving or a change of location or the addition of a cute kid.

It seems to me most people would say "Happy Days" jumped the shark when Richie and Ralph left the series.

It just seems odd to me that all other series pick a big moment in a show (such as any of the three I mentioned above) to say it jumped whereas "Happy Days" was for one perhaps overly silly episode that, to me, had nothing to do with its decline in later seasons.

Just about every TV Show ever produced has one or more bad episodes in it. (You know the saying, "There's always a bad Apple in the Barrel"). Usually when a series is in its last legs the bad episodes far outnumber the good ones. Plots get lame, even predictable IMO the point where the bad episodes begin to outnumber the good ones is the point where a show "Jumps the Shark".

I happen to like the jump the shark episode. lol

heroes jumped the shark after the second season

Since I happen to love "Happy Days" all the way through all 11 seasons and its various spinoffs- I've never liked the term "jumped the shark". I don't think Fonzie waterskiing over a shark is out of character or anything- I mean, he did jump over a line of cars on his motorcycle because "you wanted to see it", in an earlier episode.
Of course, I don't get into analyzing all my favorite shows that much to say that certain seasons or episodes are worse than others- I just watch and love them all.

I've always thought about that too. Yes Happy Days did eventually jump the shark but it didn't happen with that episode. It's actually taken a symbol for ridiculous and insane episodes and changed it to when a show goes off the deep end. Oh well haha

I don't think that Happy Days started going downhill with that episode. I actually liked it. It started going downhill when Richie left, they brought in KC and Roger, Fonzie started dating the woman with the kid, and also when they remade Arnold's.

I think "jump the shark" is a dumb term anyway, because TV shows rarely go downhill because of ONE singular moment. Usually it's a pretty steady decline. And if it is sudden, it's rarely because of one episode or scene and more because of a change in the writing staff or something.

I think it was just a gimmicky, easy to remember title the creator came up with.

what i'd want to know is, how come this phrase is used so often by people and critics when talking about shows that have been cancelled because of the last few seasons of its run and very rarely with shows that have had a long run, or are currently on air today but have lasted more than 3, 4 seasons?

The show was still good for a couple of years after that particular episode; I agree that Richie (and, to a lesser extent, Ralph) leaving was the real "jumping" point.

And I also agree with your analysis of the seeming inconsistency in the definition of the term.

IMO, I love that term and it's an easy synonymous phrase that's become more than just related to the Happy Days moment in question.

I think "jump the shark" is a dumb term.

Agreed but "Bone the Fish" is worse. :rolleyes:

If you grew up watching the show, like I did. I was 10 when the series started, Fonzie jumping the shark was rather silly, and silly is not what you want to associate with the Fonz. It wasn't that particular episode that marked the decline, but the episodes following it that mark the decline, also it marked the time when one realizes that they are not 10 years old anymore.

Agreed but "Bone the Fish" is worse. :rolleyes:

Exactamundo.

Agreed but "Bone the Fish" is worse. :rolleyes:

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who thinks this! I'm so annoyed with all the bone topics here lately.

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who thinks this! I'm so annoyed with all the bone topics here lately.

I agree. They are annoying.

Bone the Fish? I'm confused- is the intent of this phrase to induce sexual arousal in a fish? I imagine that would probably require a fish of the opposite sex- I don't think a TV show would be capable of such a feat. However, I suppose I could get an aquarium with fish of various species and let them watch "Fish Hooks" or "Flipper" or "Spongebob Squarepants" or "Danger Bay" or "Sea Hunt" or "Seaquest, DSV", etc. and see if they have any response. (But I don't think I'll bother to try that experiment.)

"Water? No, no thanks. No, fish make love in it." - Marcus Brody in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".:) :cool:

Ooohh I was wondering why this "bone the fish" had so many threads, jesus and just when the term "jumping the shark" has already entered the verbal TV lexicon.

Happy Days jumped the shark before Fonzie did. After the second season, it was all downhill from there.

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who thinks this! I'm so annoyed with all the bone topics here lately.
The "BONED" threads are so dumb and annoying. And the term "boned the fish" sounds like someone sexually abusing a fish. :rolleyes:

Guess you people have never been near water or fished before. Boning the fish means taking the bones out before you eat it.

It was a website started after the great Jump the Shark site was bought by TV Guide and then dismantled. Too bad. Some of the posts on JTS had me in tears they were so funny. Don't understand why TV Guide bought it just to destroy it.

Guess you people have never been near water or fished before. Boning the fish means taking the bones out before you eat it.

It was a website started after the great Jump the Shark site was bought by TV Guide and then dismantled. Too bad. Some of the posts on JTS had me in tears they were so funny. Don't understand why TV Guide bought it just to destroy it.

And you now what's the worst thing about it? You can't even go to archive.org to look up old posts of it anymore. That sucks!

Guess you people have never been near water or fished before. Boning the fish means taking the bones out before you eat it.

It was a website started after the great Jump the Shark site was bought by TV Guide and then dismantled. Too bad. Some of the posts on JTS had me in tears they were so funny. Don't understand why TV Guide bought it just to destroy it.

The irony is that by doing this, Jump The Shark....jumped the shark.

And you now what's the worst thing about it? You can't even go to archive.org to look up old posts of it anymore. That sucks!

I remember going to the archive.org site for JTS. I had a feeling TV guide would even screw that up somehow so I saved about 20 or 30 pages of my favorite shows on my HD. Now I wish I would have saved them all. I wonder if anyone else did that.

I remember going to the archive.org site for JTS. I had a feeling TV guide would even screw that up somehow so I saved about 20 or 30 pages of my favorite shows on my HD. Now I wish I would have saved them all. I wonder if anyone else did that.
I actually copy and pasted a bunch of old JTS threads. lol

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who thinks this! I'm so annoyed with all the bone topics here lately.

I think both sayings are stupid to be honest and I am beyond sick of whomever is raiding the boards with those stupid topics. I don't even read them (except for the Frasier one which I replied to), but whomever is doing it really needs to stop... and must have waayyy too much time on their hands.

I think both sayings are stupid to be honest and I am beyond sick of whomever is raiding the boards with those stupid topics. I don't even read them (except for the Frasier one which I replied to), but whomever is doing it really needs to stop... and must have waayyy too much time on their hands.Just put him on ignore, then you won't see any of his threads.