# The Single Most Important Thread Ever



## Big Don (Sep 7, 2010)

*First Person: In defense of 'Happy Days' ' 'Jump the Shark' episode*

*Contrary to pop culture belief, when Fonzie jumped the shark, it hardly marked the demise of the show.*

By Fred Fox Jr., Special to the Los Angeles Times
EXCERPT:

                               September 3, 2010

​         In 1987, Jon Hein and his roommates at the  University of Michigan were drinking beer and had Nick at Nite playing  in the background. They started talking about classic TV shows when  someone asked, "What was the precise moment you knew it was downhill for  your favorite show?" One said it was when Vicki came on board "The Love  Boat." Another thought it was when the Great Gazoo appeared on "The  Flintstones." Sean Connolly offered, "That's easy: It was when Fonzie  jumped the shark." As Hein later recounted, there was silence in the  room: "No explanation necessary, the phrase said it all."

Thus was born an expression that would quickly make its way into the pop  culture mainstream, defined by Hein as "a moment. A defining moment  when you know from now on  it's all downhill  it will never be the  same."If I had been in the room, however, I would have broken  that silence of self-assuredness, for I wrote that now infamous episode  of "Happy Days."

And more than three decades later, I still don't believe that the series "jumped the shark" when Fonzie jumped the shark.

Little did the show's writers and producers know as we gathered in a  conference room at Paramount Studios that spring day in 1977 that we  would be creating a little piece of history. "Happy Days" was finishing  the 1976-77 season as the most popular series on television, an  accomplishment we were all proud of. That year had begun with a highly  rated three-part story in which Fonzie ( Henry Winkler) rekindled the  flame of a former love, Pinky Tuscadero. Because of this success, ABC  and Paramount wanted us to open the next season, our fifth, with another  three-part story.
<<<SNIP>>>

Now, whose idea was it for Fonzie to jump the shark? Amazingly, I can't  remember  which is frustrating, as I can usually watch a "Happy Days"  episode from any season, hear a joke and recall who wrote it. My friend  Brian Levant, then a talented new member of the writing staff, believes  that Garry Marshall, the show's co-creator and executive producer, and  Bob Brunner, the show runner at the time, made the suggestion. But what I  definitely remember is that no one protested vehemently; not one of us  said, "Fonzie, jump a shark? Are you out of your mind?"

After the stories for the three opening episodes were blocked out, it  was time to see who would write them. Often the writer who came up with  the story would write the teleplay, while other times the script  assignments were given out by the show runner. Bob gave me the final  part to write.

There were no objections from the cast, the studio or the network  concerning "Hollywood 3," as it came to be titled. It aired Sept. 20,  1977, and was a huge hit, ranking No. 3 for the week with a 50-plus  share (unheard of today) and an audience of more than 30 million  viewers.

And that was that until Hein and his roommates appeared a decade later.  Not long after their initial bull session, Hein launched http://www.jumptheshark.com,  listing about 200 television shows and inviting visitors to suggest the  moment they knew a show was on the decline. Incredibly, the three words  took off like wildfire and over the years the phrase has been used in  television shows, video games and countless newspapers, magazines and  blogs  applied to practically anything: sports, music, celebrities,  politics. It even found its way into the Oxford English Dictionary as  British journalists pondered whether Tony Blair had jumped the shark. I  saw a post on examiner.com a few weeks ago suggesting President Obama  was about to do the same thing by appearing on "The View."

Which brings us to _the _question: Was the "Hollywood 3" episode of "Happy Days" deserving of its fate?

No, it wasn't. All successful shows eventually start to decline, but  this was not "Happy Days'" time. Consider: It was the 91st episode and  the fifth season. If this was really the beginning of a downward spiral,  why did the show stay on the air for six more seasons and shoot an  additional 164 episodes? Why did we rank among the Top 25 in five of  those six seasons?
<<<SNIP>>>
The day after I started writing this article, my  sister Jan was meeting our friend Vicki at a movie screening. Jan  mentioned I had written the episode of "Happy Days" where Fonzie jumped  the shark and was working on a piece about it for the Los Angeles Times.  A young man in his 20s at the reception table overheard and looked at  her in disbelief. "Your brother wrote the jump the shark episode?" he  said. "Awesome!"


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 7, 2010)

Big Don said:


> *First Person: In defense of 'Happy Days' ' 'Jump the Shark' episode*
> 
> *Contrary to pop culture belief, when Fonzie jumped the shark, it hardly marked the demise of the show.*
> 
> ...


Until this moment I never knew that Fonzy jumped a shark. The obvious death of the show was Ron Howard's going off to college and way to much focus on Chachi.
Sean


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## Big Don (Sep 7, 2010)

Touch Of Death said:


> Until this moment I never knew that Fonzy jumped a shark. The obvious death of the show was Ron Howard's going off to college and way to much focus on Chachi.
> Sean


I blame Ted:
*Ted McGinley*

Ted is the patron saint of shark jumping. Chances are that if Ted gets anywhere near your show (_Happy Days, Married with Children, The Love Boat_),  it's on a downward spiral. That's not to take away from Ted's fine  acting. The consensus here: Ted belongs more on the big screen (_Revenge of the Nerds_) than on our TV sets. Then again, if he never came to TV, we wouldn't have a patron saint. So thanks, Ted!


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## MA-Caver (Sep 7, 2010)

I can't remember when exactly but I think I too also stopped liking the show when it was focused too much on Chachi. The Fonz it seemed had been put in the backseat whereas before he was a major character. After Richie left which through whom's eyes the show was seen. I think was the downward spiral, alibet a long slow downward spiral. 
At least M*A*S*H had the good sense to know when to quit.


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## Big Don (Sep 8, 2010)

MA-Caver said:


> At least M*A*S*H had the good sense to know when to quit.


Most of them did...


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## terryl965 (Sep 8, 2010)

To me it was when fronzie became the good guy all the time. The best show was Alf man he was wise for being a out of towner.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 8, 2010)

terryl965 said:


> To me it was when fronzie became the good guy all the time. The best show was Alf man he was wise for being a out of towner.


 I joined the Army when that came out and missed all the episodes. The things I do for this country...:angel:
Sean


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