Classic TV: The 70s : What's the significance of "Jump the Shark" from the Happy Days episode?
Re: What's the significance of "Jump the Shark" from the Happy Days epis
You almost answered your own question. By the time Fonzi was set to 'Jump The Shark', the show Happy Days was getting a little long in the tooth. Most characters had grown up, and they had done just about every story line they could.
I remember watching this as a kid. It was a 'two-parter' as we call them. The drama of The Fonz risking his life on a dare had us glued! Looking back at it from an older perspective, it was quite silly and an obvious ploy for ratings.
So the term has become a way to say that a show has gone past its prime and is trying to garner ratings by doing something ridiculous.
That's my thoughts on the subject. It is worth what you paid for it!
I remember watching this as a kid. It was a 'two-parter' as we call them. The drama of The Fonz risking his life on a dare had us glued! Looking back at it from an older perspective, it was quite silly and an obvious ploy for ratings.
So the term has become a way to say that a show has gone past its prime and is trying to garner ratings by doing something ridiculous.
That's my thoughts on the subject. It is worth what you paid for it!
Re: What's the significance of "Jump the Shark" from the Happy Days epis
It doesn't just mean that something has faded in popularity, but that it's resorting to embarrassing gimmicks to get attention. Sort of like a last gasp that's really desperate and pathetic, and usually something that's completely out of character or too implausible to take seriously. It's the moment when a show and/or character began a downhill slide from which there was no return.
Re: What's the significance of "Jump the Shark" from the Happy Days epis
Sort of like the Benson episode where the cast gets stuck on some deserted island, or in the desert, or something, and everyone has to rely on the housekeeper Kraus's power of mental telepathy (which had never been mentioned before on the show) to save them. The mental powers were just a gimmick tacked on by the writers, not something intrinsic to the character as she was originally conceived.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age.
What's the significance of "Jump the Shark" from the Happy Days episode?
"A New Kind of Man" (John Foxx, 1980):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt4oi-PRbN4