Nowadays, it’s frequent parlance for TV followers to speak a couple of present “leaping the shark” when it begins declining in high quality, often as a consequence of some sudden plot level or storyline. The origins of the expression date again almost half a century, to the Blissful Days episode “Hollywood, Half 3,” which aired on September 20, 1977 — the episode by which Henry Winkler’s Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli accepts a problem to leap over a shark whereas waterskiing. The episode has lengthy baffled followers — however because it seems, certainly one of traditional TV’s oddest moments was set into movement by Winkler’s father, who insisted his son inform producers about his waterskiing abilities.
For some followers, together with comic Jon Hein, that episode was the start of the top of Blissful Days. Hein popularized the phrase “bounce the shark” by way of his web site of the identical title, after recalling a school dialogue with pals about when reveals began going downhill, as he instructed Michigan As we speak in 2016. Throughout that chat, Hein’s roommate mentioned, “When Fonzie jumped the shark.”