Saturday, January 5, 2008

Jumping the Shark

Thanks to Jeanna's brother, Matt, for opening my eyes on the following subject...

The episode on Happy Days where Fonzie is water skiing and jumps over a shark is considered the turning point of the show. The point where the show went down hill. As a result, whenever any show turns for the worst it is said that the show has "jumped the shark."

As mentioned in my very first post - Season One - Arrested Development is one of our favorite shows to watch. There is some argument that the show did "jump the shark" but I am willing to argue that point. The show was only three (more like two and a half) seasons long so it had no opportunity to hit the point that made the show lame. And regardless of how many seasons it was - it is a great show! Even if the show never "jumped the shark" there is a scene where Barry Zuckerman (played by Henry Winkler, aka: Fonzie) jumps over a toy shark. An example of the shows subtle but funny humor. If you want to see for yourself - please refer to episode "Motherboy XXX" (Season 2, Episode 13).

If you're curious on what other of your favorite shows have "jumped the shark" - click here.

3 comments:

Jake said...

I know exactly the scene when they're standing on the pier and He jumps over the shark as he says he's off to Burger King because he skipped breakfast. Once again the most amazing show to ever grace television.

Anonymous said...

we like arrested development indeed! we are in the middle of season two right now...and though i am not laughing out loud at most episodes, i am definitely laughing at how crazy everyone is

Anonymous said...

That show cracked me up so bad. I had to watch it alone because some of the humor was a problem for H. But dang that Gob and his people mover thingee, every time he rolled by on that thing I was laughing out loud.