Jump the shark

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Meaning

To reach a conspicuous moment when a television series or other long-running enterprise is perceived to sacrifice credibility or quality for a gimmick, signalling creative decline.

Origin

The image comes from a Happy Days episode broadcast on 20 September 1977, in which Fonzie water-skis over a confined shark while wearing his leather jacket. According to Jon Hein, his University of Michigan roommate Sean J. Connolly coined jump the shark during a discussion in 1985. That date has no independent contemporary record, but Hein consistently credited Connolly. Hein made the expression widely known after launching JumpTheShark.com in December 1997; he popularized it rather than originating it himself.

Research Sources

  1. Notes on Shark Jumping Television Academy Foundation
  2. Jump the shark Wordorigins.org
  3. Shark: jump the shark Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Variants

  • Jumped the shark
  • Jumping the shark

Usage Examples

  • The drama jumped the shark when its supposedly human detective returned from Mars without explanation.
  • Critics argued that the brand jumped the shark when it replaced product launches with staged feuds.
  • The podcast has become slicker, but it has not jumped the shark; its reporting is still rigorous.

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