September 20th, 1977. A day that will live in infamy. The day that Arthur Fonzarelli, “The Fonz,” strapped on some waterskis and, still wearing his trademark leather jacket, jumped over a shark in a “very special episode” of Happy Days. Thus, a descriptive term for TV shows began: Whenever a quality show has an episode so inane (or introduces a plot-point so lame) that all the remaining episodes of the show pale in comparison to the previous ones, the show is said to have “jumped the shark.”
So it was with Happy Days. And here, to celebrate the occassion, the jump itself:
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Here’s Winkler talking about The Jump in an interview:
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Finally, some research on the subject.
09/20/77. Never Forget.