jump the shark
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From a moment on the TV series Happy Days in which the character Fonzie jumped over a shark on waterskis.
[edit] Verb
jump the shark (third-person singular simple present jumps the shark, present participle jumping the shark, simple past and past participle jumped the shark)
- (idiomatic, of a television program or other narrative) To undergo a storyline development which is so ridiculous that previous quality is considered to have been lost.
- Happy Days jumped the shark when Fonzie jumped over a shark on waterskis.
- 2003, Jon Hein, Jump the Shark, book overview (revised edition; Plume; ISBN 0452284104, 9780452284104)
- Happy Days infamously jumped the shark when Fonzie literally jumped a shark on water skis. I Love Lucy jumped the shark when Lucy and Ricky moved to the suburbs. The Brady Bunch jumped the shark when Cousin Oliver moved in.
- 2004, Ronn Owens, Voice of Reason: Why the Left and Right are Wrong,
- From that point on, Dallas was never the same. It hit its peak. It lost credibility. It jumped the shark.
- 2007, Jeph Jacques, Time To Add A Cute Kid To The Cast Questionable Content Number 951
- Pintsize: Wait, don’t you want to know why I’m tied up and hanging from the ceiling?
- Faye: Not really. Nighty night!
- Pintsize: Shit! My wacky antics have jumped the shark!
- 2008, Mark Fogarty, Went to see the Gypsy,
- The Bangles were a fine all-woman band, starting with a lovely cover of Prince's "Manic Monday." "Walk Like an Egyptian" was cute, and the ladies rocked out an unlikely cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter." But they jumped the shark with the treacly "Eternal Flame," and the end of the road was in sight.
- 2008 October 11, Billboard magazine,
- And I knew something was up when I started getting press releases about "tape labels." Maybe vinyl had finally jumped the shark, and magnetic tape was due for a return.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Jump the Shark - Website for TV series that have jumped the shark
