Why Fonzie Jumping the Shark on Happy Days Ruined Everything
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- You may have heard the term Jumping the Shark but do you know where it originated from? While the term didn’t get traction until the late 1990s it goes back to the 1970s sitcom Happy Days.
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Happy Days was one of the biggest hits of the 1970s and its biggest star, Fonzie, was a pop culture icon at the time. The show premiered on the ABC network in 1974. The first season of the show revolved around the Cunningham family and The Fonz played a minor role. But he quickly became a fan favorite and by the second season, he was elevated to one of the main stars of the show.
Over the next few seasons, The Fonz became the most popular character, with kids everywhere saying “Ayyy” and carrying lunch boxes with Fonzie’s face plastered across them. Then, at the beginning of the fifth season, the producers decided to have Fonzie jump over a caged shark on water skis and we got the seed of what would become part of our modern lexicon.
While many people think the episode where Fonzie jumped the shark ruined everything, Happy Days went on for another six seasons before getting cancelled. Jumping the shark was only halfway through its run.
Nearly 20 years after the Happy Days episode aired, a website popped up that discussed when various television shows jumped the shark. The term came to mean the moment when a popular show took a turn for the worse and started to go downhill.
In this video, we’ll look at how Happy Days ended up at the jumping the shark moment and how the show’s cast and crew feel about creating such a culturally significant moment. We’ll also look at several other popular shows that jumped the shark.
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Why Fonzie Jumping the Shark on Happy Days Ruined Everything
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Fix your god awful sound editing
Do your other videos have you talking over the clips that you're playing? I'll happily watch more videos if I know that the editing has improved!
When a sitcom adds a new cute little kid you know it's the end of that show.
The Cousin Oliver Syndrome. Different Strokes tried it and sealed its doom.
Cousin Oliver.
True
@@douglashaner6802 Instead of griping about things, Cousin Oliver could have gone on to star in a documentary about John Denver. They look the same.
Even thought it’s a cartoon but fairly odd parents wasn’t the same after poof and especially after Chloe was added
You don’t Jump the Shark in movies, you Nuke the Fridge.
Some editing feedback - make sure to avoid mixing narration on top of clips wherein people are talking. Viewers tend to slip focus when hearing two voices at once, resulting in neither really being heard entirely. Either mute the clip or narrate around/between the dialogue.
Damn man that was so frustrating!! I can't hear either!
I thought i had another video open in another tab somewhere.
I'm not an editor of any kind, nevertheless, I was coming to comment the exact same thing, so damn frustrating
He probably forgot
jump shark moment of this video
I think this is a main problem with American tv shows, networks don't let the shows end when they need it, it happens way to often
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are two of the very few exceptions. Both shows ended at their peak
Jumping the shark is usually when a show over stays its welcome. you can stretch creativity only so far for any premise. its sad to see a show end but I think its for the best more often than not.
I lost interest in a lot of shows when they started making far-fetched, unrealistic episodes or changed/added characters.
Like it’s always sunny in Philadelphia
Everyone does.
The Flintstones did not jump the shark when Pebbles was born, rather it was when they introduced The Great Gazoo to the series and from there everything collapsed
I was going to say the same thing. The birth of Pebbles was the most watched episode in the entire searies and I believe it was the most watch animated episode of any series of all time.
@@ChadtheHammer idk i bet there are some simpsons or anime episodes that have topped that. South park even.
@@spacedaniel492 At the time it was. Not sure if it's been broken.
Jumping the shark is not the cause of the decline - it's a symptom of the fact the writers know there's a decline and they're doing desperate things to save the show. A pathetic attempt to save a show that is going downhill.
Happy Days was losing ratings, and so they came up with this thing where fonzi water skis and jumps a shark.
agree, I forgot about that until you mentioned it.
Dallas jumped the shark when we learned at the end of a season, all we had watched in dedication was just a dream. That was the last episode that I watched.
I remember a few years ago an old co-worker of mine told me that his grandmother 👵 cursed at the tv 📺 after we all woke up from Pam’s bad dream 😴. Now that was jumping the shark 🦈 for sure. 😂 We were glad to see that Bobby, Patrick Duffy, came back but come on. Also, that season of Dallas got more and more bizarre the season before they brought Bobby back. The whole tone and thematic style of the show was vastly different. They jumped the shark 🦈 for sure.
I heard that also happened in Season 9 of Rosanne
Skiing with a leather jacket. 😂
The Happy Days episode where Fonzie jumped the shark was indeed the negative turning point in terms of quality, but not for the reason that everyone thinks. That show was part of a three part episode. In part 1, we are introduced to a new character, Fonzie's cousin Chachi. From there, the show degenerated into the "Fonzie-Chachi Variety Hour", primarily aimed at pre-teen girls who read Tiger Beat. Chachi burning down Arnold's was symbolic in so many ways.
Indeed, it was never the same once Richie and Ralph left.
Yeah, jump the Shark doesn't mean it isn't popular anymore. It just means there is a discordance in the show.
Yes. The tone or thematic nature of the show in question 🙋♀️ changes into something much different from the original point of the series. Hence, jumping the shark 🦈 . Ayyy!!!! 👍
I completely disagree
@@Tgogatorsyes that’s when the final nail on the coffin was done, when Ron Howard left, it was obvious he was the heartbeat of the show and Henry Winkler knew it and the added cast officially made the show suck!!!
1. When Mork and Mindy got married
2. When Sam and Diane on Cheers slept together
3. When the character Seven came on Married With Children
4. When Oliver came on the Brady Bunch
Anytime a cutsie pie bowl haircut kid came on a sitcom it was pretty much over.
I stopped watching Married with Children when that kid (Seven) became a regular on the show
@@orangebucky it was terrible after that.
@@orangebucky & they got rid of him too.😆😃🤣
They have a baby, and 2 years later, the kid has graduated from med school (well, in soap operas, anyway)!
When Negan was introduced in Walking Dead.
Nope pebbles didn't ruin the Flintstones The Great Gazoo did
Why do people hate The Great Gazoo.
@@cartooncentral263 because he sucked. Who wants some pompous little @$$hole flying around their head 24/7 whilst hurling insults in an English accent the entire time? Certainly not I.
The Great Gazoo is when Flintstones jumped.
Thanks for watching!
When Dino started talking.
I saw the jump-the-shark episode when it first aired. Even as a kid, I thought it was terrible. Fonzie looked ridiculous wearing that leather jacket in the hot sun. It weakened the Fonzie character.
hmm is it the jacket that's why he looks so incredibly weird? I was focused on his bottom, cause it looks like he's wearing a nappy. Maybe that's a result of the leather jacket
Yes - IMO its not the jumping of the shark that ended Fonzie's cool, it was the sight of him wearing short shorts with a leather jacket while lying on the beach.
No, the Fonz was the coolest
@@lisamorrison214He was before all of this jumping the shark nonsense.
I don't know understand how a channel with so many subscribers doesn't have proper audio mixing.
Or is factual
The TV Western 'Bonanza' "jumped the shark" with the passing of Hoss Cartwright. RIP Dan 😢
Happy Days jumped the shark in Season 3 when it became The Fonzie Show.
At least Season 3 had Pat Morita as Arnold. That was the last great thing with the show. I was never too impressed with Al. You can also say that Happy Days jumped the shark when they added Chachi.
I hated the way they made such a big deal over him in rvery episode. When it was on once a week you didn't notice it so much, but watching reruns every night you really notice it!!
As much as I liked the Fonz, I have to agree with you. When it became all about Fonzie it lost it's original appeal. Writing Chuck out was STUPID, assuming that nobody would notice.
I agree totally
@@juliuscepeda9655 That's very true. The world would be a much better place if no one knew Scott Biao existed.
Don't forget Bewitched. Many say it jumped a plethora of sharks when the 2nd Darrin replaced Dick York and again with the birth of Adam. Hard to believe ABC ordered two more seasons of Bewitched, but luckily Liz Montgomery was intelligent and decided to leave while the ratings were still good.
When MacGyver starting hanging out at the teen center.
The Simpsons: When Skinner was Armin Tamzarian
Family Guy: When Brian died
How I met your mother: All those "little ways down the road" segments + season 9
Two and a Half Men: When Charlie died
Thats 70s Show: When Kelso and Eric left
The Office: This is a very debatable one for everybody, but ill go for when Michael left.
Cheers
Himym's was actually for the better, it gave the series direction towards an actual endpoint. The only problem is the humor reduced in quality from S7-S9 with S9 being the worst.
WHAT ULTIMATELY KILLED HAPPY DAYS was not the shark jumping moment from season 5. The death of the series actually came in season 10 when THE PRODUCERS FOOLISHLY REMOVED SCOTT BAIO AND ERIN MORAN from being the central focus of their program and sent both to star in the spinoff JOANIE LOVES CHACHI. By seasons 7, 8 and 9 of HAPPY DAYS, Scott and Erin had already become THE HEART OF THE SHOW. The spinoff was the equivalent of performing an unnecessary heart transplant operation upon a terminally ill patient. Season 10 felt exactly like that. HAPPY DAYS WAS KILLED BY THE ABSENCE OF JOANIE AND CHACHI.
indeed
I believe the premise for this episode, like the one in a prior season where Fonzie jumped his motorcycle over a line of garbage cans, was based on what Evel Knievel was doing at the time. He had recently attempted a much publicized television jump of his motorcycle over a pool of sharks. It turned out bizarrely as he injured himself doing a practice run earlier in the day and was in the hospital at the time of the live TV broadcast that was supposed to feature the stunt. The live show ended up being rather awkward (I recall watching it live as a child) and has never been repeated or made available for modern viewing.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Henry NEVER rode the motorcycle since he was afraid of it they did a great job hiding that fact!
@@jackkircher1755 Not the point of what Roderick said,... he wasn't talking about if Henry did it himself or not. His point is that Evel Knievel was doing the same at the time... so this was not out of line for Happy Days to do
Just weeks before Fonzi jumped the shark Evil did his last jump, yes Evil jumped a shark thus ending his career. Evil jumped a shark first.
Good point. When judging content decades later on youre unaware of the cultural events taking place at the time the tv show was made. Simple fact is that when these episodes aired people had no issue with them and they rated very highly. The 5th season of Happy Days was the 2nd highest rated TV show in America.
I vividly remember the scheduled Evel Knievel jumping-the-sharks event that never happened. I think I was 8. And I never actually put it together until you made the connection now - but I'm now pretty certain Knievel himself figuratively jumped the shark when he literally DIDN'T jump the sharks. In fact, he never had a major stunt again.
Turn down the sound on the videos you're reviewing. They shouldn't be heard over you.
I loved the early episodes of Happy Days, as it had a really Fifties Feel about it. The Fonz becoming The Star, snapping his to turn on the juke, jumping the shark, Mork & all of the added actors really spoiled the original plot of the show,
You are so right. Have no idea where Mork, or even Spike fit into a show with a teenage fifties feel to it. Joanie Loves Chachi was awful as well.
That's funny that your talking about this today..lol!..I just watch Happy days"Jump the shark"episode last night on Metv!! 😎👍
Me too!!!
I grew up on Happy Days , I got plum pissed off when FRIKN Chachi came on the show. NEVER WAS THE SAME .
HOOAH! Me too and when I saw it I changed the channel.
you're
The real jump the shark episode was the two parter The Graduation.
I have found when a TV show starts running out of ideas what to do with characters they usually get somebody married off.
or have a baby.
To me, many shows jump the shark when an "it'll never happen" relationship which is foiled at every turn for several seasons eventually ends up in the pair getting married, and the alien introduction is when the stork dumps a load on them - there's no recovering from that one. 😼
New York Undercover when one of the main characters left the show
Frasier jumped the shark when Niles told Daphne his feelings for her just before she was meant to get married and then they got together.
The Office jumped the shark when Steve Carell left. The Simpsons jumped off a cliff after about Season 9.
Everybody Loves Raymond when Robert and Amy got together resulting in Amy being a regular as well.
My favorite tv show of all time was "The Walking Dead". It in my mind had two moments that "Jumped the Shark". The first is where the producers made us think that Glen was eaten alive and had died on a season finale. The second and worse one for me was when Neegan killed Glen and Abraham in the horrific way portrayed. After that I quickly lost interest in the show. For six years though it was an incredible show for me.
I got pissed at the show when they killed dale.
Same. When they showed Glen's eyeball popped out it felt overly gratuitous and trollish. Then they dragged on BORINGLY after those deaths. I made it about 3 episodes after that, bailed, and never looked back. I was a major fan beforehand.
@@ScottJBi mean thats exactly what happened in the comics so crying about it changes nothing
I agree and also quit watching TWD shortly after the Nagan episode.
@@ScottJB I think I lasted 3 or 4 episodes as well. It wasn't the violence that disturbed me as I actually loved that in the show. The first one was the fake death of Glen, waiting for the next season to start and having to wait I think FOUR episodes into it to find out he hadn't died. I loved the fact that no one was safe so to say on the show but to me Glen was like Rick. An untouchable. Not only that I really really liked the character too.
When he jumped the garbage cans at Arnold's, he didn't wear his leather jacket. Wearing it while waterskiing in the ocean cemented the ridiculousness of the image of Fonzie jumping a shark.
Good Times- When they killed off James
Saved by the Bell - When they went to college
Hawaii Five-O - When Chin was killed off and Dano left
Different Strokes - When Mr Drummond got married
Three’s Company - When Cindy replaced Terri
The Love Boat - 2 words. Ted Mcginley
I disagree in the strongest terms some of your selections. But this is America and you have the right to your opinion. And I will die to protect that right!
@@trhansen3244 Uh, ok. That's fine but Its just television shows. Not that serious.
It's true, "jumped the shark" just sounds so good.
yes
Anytime Ted McGinley joined a TV sit-com's cast you know the show has jumped the shark...
Nope, MWC got better with him.
@@rosietaracena1495
HAPPY Days was a FUNNIER SHOW when
BAG ZOMBROSKI (NEIL J
SCHWARTZ and CHUCK CUNNINGHAM 2 RANDOLPH ROBERTS
Were on Happy Days
HAPPY Days became even a lot funnier when ROGER
PHILLIPS (Ted Mcginley)
Jenny Piccalo Cathy Silvers
EUGENE BELVIN (Denis Mandel) and MELVIN BELVIN (Scott Bernstein)
Joined Happy Days in 1980.
BAG Zombroski Neil J Schwartz was a wonderful
Practical Joker when he
Played practical jokes on Richie Postie and Ralph
BAG was e member of the
Demons and Bag played the
Drums in Richie's band.
Eugene Belvin Denis Mandel
Was a friend of CHACHI
Arcola (Scott Baio)and Eugene Belvin liked Jenny Piccalo Cathy Silvers.
Melvin Belvin Scott Bernstein was the brother of Eugene Belvin Denis Mandel. Melvin liked KC
CUNNINGHAM played by
Crystal Bernard.
Garry Marshall should have
Kept Chuck Cunningham (Randolph Roberts) on the show. When Randolph Roberts played Chuck Cunningham he was funnier than Gavan O Herlihy the first actor to play Chuck Cunningham. The writers of
Happy Days gave Randolph Roberts more Air Time than
Gavan O Herlihy.
Ted McGinley AKA ROGER
Phillips was the most hilarious basketball coach
And character that I've ever
Seen on a sitcom.
Cathy Silvers AKA Jenny Piccalo was marvelous as
Joanie's best friend
Also I wish that the heavyset guy named MOOSE played by Barry Greenberg and liked to
Eat hamburgers and fries
And drink milkshakes and
Was a regular customer at
Arnold's Drive In was also
A great customer. In the
Episode where Fonzie Henry Winkler wanted to have a
Drag race with Sqizzy (Alan
Abelou) everyone was grounded for having a drag race and Marsha Simms Beatrice Colen said "these
Drag races just kill business" and then Moose Barry Greenberg and a girl
Carry Williams dance at Arnold's Drive In
@@markcampbell924 Maybe write a book?
@@rosietaracena1495 I liked Steve & Jefferson.
@@markcampbell924 How about a little brevity? Not enough people pay attention to you when you talk? I skipped over your ponderous meandering.
Married With Children when the Bundys adopted Seven during ironically enough the seventh season!!! Seven mysteriously disappeared during the eighth season!!!
South Park jumped the shark for me when the boys stopped being believable as kids and just became avatars for social commentary.
That show needs to be put out to pasture. It actually should have happened 5 or 6 years ago.
Like... After the first three seasons?
I couldn’t watch it after PC Principal was added, plus the ‘member-berries.
The fast and the furious movie series progressively jumped the shark with each release.
SNL - jumped the shark many many yrs ago ..
...after Tina Fey left, the writing took a dive-
Multiple jumps in fact!!
Dukes of Hazzards jumped the shark when Bo and Luke were replaced by Coy and Vance Duke.
The sound in the background concurrent with narrator is distracting. Lowering the background sound and raising it only when narrator not speaking would make this more watchable.
Little house on the prairie--when one of the daughters goes blind -can’t believe they missed this one
Mary really did go blind in real life.
Moonlighting! Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepard. Absolutely a classic, detective/romance comedy. I watched it with my mom and sister all through my preteen years. We even bought special popsicles to eat while watching. I named my black rabbit David Addison and my orange cat Maddie Hays and watched them chase each other around the yard. But for the show, Amazing chemistry between David Addison and Maddie Hays. When they finally actually got together… the show was irrevocably ruined…. It had nowhere to go….
Absolutely, we feel the same way! Thank you for sharing your sentiments and for watching our content. What other types of video would you like to see on our channel?
For me, the alien added to Happy Days was absolutely when it DIED. Soooo stupid. Although jumping the shark was a close second.
Yeah it was weird but it launched a great career
I like how you showed WW2 footage when mentioning Vietnam war.
In Russia the Fonz doesn't jump the shark. The Shark jumps the Fonz.
Notice @3:15 Ron Howard is standing next to a pinball machine called "Nip-It" the same line Barney Fife used In The Andy Griffith Show
The audio on this needs some serious work. Your voice is compressed well, but the problem is - when you put compressed vocals from a condenser mic on top of vocals in the background, it becomes extremely difficult for the brain to focus on what is being said. The audio clashes very badly, because you keep putting tracks of the characters talking alongside of YOU talking, and sometimes the volume of the characters talking is as loud, if not louder than the narration!
The drop in quality for this video happened at 6:15 when you have a cacophony of sounds all clashing together. When you were reviewing the video, you didn't hear any of this because you wrote the script, so you were focusing on your own words and didn't notice how much of a distraction the background noise is. It's important to have someone else check for these kinds of issues. Similar to a producer who makes music, listener fatigue will change your perception of your work, so be sure to have other people review it before its sent out.
Everything else was perfect though, good job and great vid.
edit: looks like this was already addressed, sorry.
I just saw this last night!
Definitely I think that the introduction of Mork changed the nature of the show much more than the shark episode did.
Yes. Even as a kid I was bothered by an alien on the show.
@@michaelc.6532 I actually thought the show Mork and Mindy was pretty funny. And I liked the way Robin Williams played the character. But yes, having an alien on a show the genre of Happy Days was rather awkward.
I agree and disagree. It definitely changed the realism of the show, but seeing as how people in the 50s were obsessed with aliens it does make sense
@@anthonycerulli5524 that’s true, I agree with that. The producers were just responding the growing interest of people at that time to the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. That was a real interest, whereas the shark episode was just pandering to the idea that young men should prove their bravery and manhood by doing something dangerous.
@@nancyhey1012 ..yep the Fonz was just being himself responding to a challenge like it say it wasn't out if his character ....
Henry winklers, acceptance of the whole situation shows just how good-natured the man is.
Ron Howard is also the narrator of Arrested Development, making the reference that much more humorous.
Richie leaving was the real start of the end.
It was The End.
For us purists, the show jumped the shark at the end of Season 2.
You're right. After the 2nd season, this show just got worse and worse. I can hardly sit thru any episode after season 2 today without changing the channel. The writing, acting, and directing on this show was horrible.
Purists? For Happy Days? Hahaha...
@@rosietaracena1495 yes, those of us who only liked Seasons 1 & 2. Not filmed in front of an audience. When it was a story of a family growing up in the 1950s, without the silly Borscht Belt humor and Fonzi was just another character. That is a Happy days purist.
@@edwardcricchio6106 I still laugh at calling any sitcom fan a purist.
@@rosietaracena1495 We are part of a group known as "The Happy Days Purist Society". It means we only like the first 2 seasons, that is how we got our name.
The Simpsons jumped the shark with the episode "The Principal and the Pauper" when Principal Skinner was revealed to be a fraud named Armin Tamzarian who decided to live the life of his friend who supposedly died in the Vietnam War. Even though the episode was written as a joke, the general public hated the idea of Skinner being a fraud so much that everyone questioned which character from The Simpsons was going to be tarnished by the production staff. This lead to a gradual decline in ratings that The Simpsons has never recovered from despite airing to the present day.
Seinfeld jumping the shark for it's farewell episode seems perfectly planned.
I always thought that the meme should be "going to Hawaii," since more shows went to Hawaii to solve some mystery than jumped an actual shark!
Happened on Barnaby Jones.
The OC jumped the shark when Marissa Cooper died in the third season. Show never recover and was cancelled at the fourth season.
There is one MAJOR!! Jump the shark moment which should really the correct way to define how to utterly ruin a long running series.
I give.............
Scrappy F***King doo !!!
Oh yes! The one that popped into my mind immediately. I’m surprised I didn’t see it more in this comment section.
to me, jumping the shark just meant going over the top for no other reason than to do it, a gesture or something so unnecessarily over the top it works against itself and feels forced or just dumb, when people get carried away on their own wave, thereby losing awareness, perspective. We all know a kid who claims to have jumped from high up with a bed sheet as a parachute, of course they always did crazy stuff and got hurt a bit here and there, but then they went and jumped the shark playing skydiver and got hurt much worse than usual. Marriage proposals and weddings often jump the shark, most advertisements are basically built around the idea, to be so absurd and over the top that you can't forget you saw it.
Actually Happy Days jumped the the shark when they started filming before a live audience.
Not even remotely true.
When I was a kid I used to watch the show in France and there was no laugh tracks in the early french dubbed versions, same for "the love boat", which really surprised me when i found out they were both sitcoms...
apparently they once accidentally left the laugh track on MASH in a UK airing & the tv station's phones absolutely overloaded with people calling to WTF??????? the track lol. We never had laugh tracks on MASH or the love boat in Australia either, I also had no idea the love boat was a sitcom till you just said it (although I was too young to watch it, but I knew the theme song, cause my parents did) Happy Days I don't know about on the laugh track, hard to remember, possible it could have
Better than the Kardashittins!
Ted mcginley was the shark. He really finished the show off, and a few others he was in.
I watch arrested development constantly and never realized he jumps the shark got dammit lol. Too good
I've always known "jump the shark" meant doing something solely for ratings no matter how ridiculous the premise or how poorly it fit into the shows reality.
Me too. Maybe somebody should do a podcast and call it “Meet the Alien” and fix the issue. “Jump the Shark” should be for ratings and “Meets the Alien” would be the downfall of the show. As someone did mention above has a better ring to it.
Jump the shark is from people thinking that episode was when Happy Days started going downhill. That's not when it happened. Jumping the shark was in line with Fonzie's character as the video describes
It didn't start going downhill in the Meets the Alien either. Robin did so well that they gave him his own show...
@@brendalg4 Mork worked because Robin Williams had a charm to him. So did Henry Winkler so the fans stayed with the show because the shark 🦈 episode was good natured and campy. No real harm and the show’s characters were in a totally different place and space California so the strangeness of the episode fit into the vibe of a different environment. One could argue that is why and how the show or The Fonz jumped the shark 🦈. After the shark 🦈 bring on the alien 👽
@@phalynwilliams4119 I think it started going downhill when the regulars started leaving
The Walking Dead jumped as soon as it began.
I'm tempted to add Lost In Space's 'The Great Vegetable Rebellion ' episode, but it's more a 'worst ever episode' category than jumping the shark moment.
Ordinarily, I enjoy FV but I just couldn't enjoy this one. Do you know why? Because the background volume over powered the marathon! I just couldn't hear what he was saying very well.
Please work on this snafu because it is very distracting! Thank you.
Still funny that they cut the clothing and hair styling budget.---Everybody is wearing 1970's hair, bathing suits and clothes. I'm waiting for Fonz to pull up in a '79 Honda motorcycle and then say he's going to see Buddy Holly in concert.
@@pennygretchYou missed my point. They are obviously in the 1970's but occasionally mention a 50's reference at a feeble attempt at keeping the shows original premise in place.
@Rich Speers. Yes! The moment they went to the live audience and Fonzie as the main character, the show lost it's 50s look and feel. First thing to go was clothing and hairstyles. "The Goldbergs" has done that in the present day. Show about the 80s that looks like the 2020s.
Edward Cricchio right, after the second season it was a disappointment.
Yes, I noticed that too. They don't look like 50s kids, the look actors reaching early middle age pretending to be kids from the fifties. Nobody had hair that long in the 50s.
Jumping the shark was not the decline of Happy Days. It is super obvious that burning down Arnold's Drive-in was the "jumping the shark" moment. It's like they didn't even try after that. Arnold's gets rebuild to look like a 1970's motel lobby. Fonzie chipped in half the money to rebuild, so he owned half of it. Richie and Ralph left the show, so they amped up Chachi who was sporting a Sean Cassidy haircut. They made Joanie with a 1980s perm become Chachi's girlfriend. They introduced the real Jenny Piccolo, who's name was a running joke as the unseen bad influence on Joanie, so they ruined that. They brought in pretty boy prep schooler Roger with his frosted GQ hairdo from the 80's. Lori Beth joined the team as a main character, who married Richie over the phone (seriously) and Fonzie was Richie's stand-in. Oh, and Mrs. C loses the beehive and wears her hair down. Then Fonzie becomes a professor at a college. It was pretty ridiculous.
Yeah but we're not talking Schindlers List here. It's a lightweight comedy.
Well the thing that really ruined Happy Days was Scott Baio. He ruined it before Fonz even Jumped the shark
Actually, Scott Baio and Erin Moran were the show's main attraction who kept the series going on successfully for 5 or 6 more years after the shark jumping moment.
When Scott and Erin were separated from their parent show HAPPY DAYS in order to star in the spin off JOANIE LOVES CHACHI, the series unsuccessfully tried to make up for their sorely missed presence with other characters like Roger, Flip, KC, Jenny, Ashley and Heather. Nothing worked.
And that was the end of the program.
What about the time Fonzie rides a bull in another episode.
Jackie Gleason, the master comedian/entertainer has his most well known show, "The Honeymooners," and it is a big reason why he actually is known by so many people. He was very wise, knew the business. He ended the show after only one season.
“I knew what we were doing was good,” said Gleason. “And that’s why I quit doing it. Because I didn’t think we could sustain the quality of it. I liked The Honeymooners too much than to just throw it away.” The producers did not believe Gleason, at first. They couldn't believe he would just walk away from the show like he did.
During an interview with late talk show host Johnny Carson, Gleason also admitted they were running out of ideas. He said he didn’t want to force storylines that didn’t work. “If we had gone any further, we might have spoiled it,” said Gleason.
We absolutely agree! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Be safe and have a day!
The problem with the Seinfeld finale was programming not content. It was aired AFTER a 45 minute long show featuring all the best bits from the series which many viewers had already absorbed into their psyches. It would be very difficult for any episode to compete with that.
We agree, Balatro!
I'm in the minority. I loved the series finale of Seinfeld. It was a clever way of tying everything together and I kept waiting to see which character from the past they were going to bring back next.
@@keythdanielsen6936 I liked it too, I kind of felt like it fit in well with the series. A show about nothing. No self reverence or taking itself too seriously.
@@erikswanson224 Exactly
I really really really liked the last episode.
I knew all the previous episodes that the characters were featured in, and it felt like old home week.
I loved it!
And thought it was brilliant!
Who else ever did a finale with such bravado?
I liked the hollywood episode where Fonz jumped the shark I didn't think it ruined the show.
This episode was the direct response to Jaws. Every other tv show aped the latest blockbuster in the theaters. Even Sheriff Lobo had a shark episode.
I love how Fonzie danced
That's why they used Travolta for Grease instead of Henry.
Always hated this show, especially Fonzie. Henry Winkler is only 5'6" and looks ridiculous riding a motorcycle. They play music from Jaws during the scene and all the extras are obviously from the 1970's. The whole show was just so lame! 😵
@Matt Jones 😂
When Duck Dynasty brought the wives into the show in major parts.
Still love this show 😍😍 🙏🥰😍
My immediate example was from ER when Romano's arm gets chopped off by the helicopter.
The Fonz killed Chuck for his room above the garage and to get close to the Cunningham's
And there are some cut scenes where he and Mrs Cunningham were getting very close. I can only guess they realized a family show like this shouldn't have him fooling around with a married woman.
@@trhansen3244 She was putting about all Milwaukee. Poor Mr C died with the shame
The walking deads jumping the shark moment was when Glenn had his head caved in.
I haven’t watched a full season since that incident. I’ve caught bits and pieces and found that I couldn’t care less.
it didn't ruin the series, as it was already declining. it rather marked the moment Happy Days was officially not worth watching anymore.
When Mr. Belding's Maza Miata was completely taken apart and then reassembled by Jessie Spano's evil stepbrother.
Wait, this happened?!
@@schoolgyrl6 Yes...
@@flawaii-pines6858 I thought i watched every episode Lol 😂
@@schoolgyrl6 Thats a good one too... Jessie's stepbrother magically appears pisses everyone off then magically disappears!
@@flawaii-pines6858 What a mess Lol 😂 I think I faintly remember the step brother, i gotta find that episode
The romance and eventual marriage between Fran Fine and Mr Sheffield ruined The Nanny.
“Jumping the shark” makes for good symbolism but I thought the downturn started when Fonzie got together with Pinky Tuscadero.
Mork was just a back door pilot.
Well, actually, the show "Batman" from the 60s consisted entirely of "Jump the shark" episodes and scenes. 😁
That film clip was not of the Vietnam war ....it looked like world war II
What clip are you talking about?
Miami Vice when Trudy saw the James Brown Aliens.
Lots of jumping the shark . Any time the best actor leaves ... or add a new ine , or when the kids change or grow up. Brady bunch with thier cousin added . Two and a half men , with Ashton , how stupid , and Alans son , only funny as a kid ,when he changed and grew up ,terrible storylines and acting . Sometimes i wonder what the producer and writers are thinking , like they ran out of ideas .
100% agreed. I'd toss in "that 70's Show" replacement for Eric.
Evil Kenievel's last motorcycle jump was over a shark, the same year but before the Happy Days episode aired, it would be interesting to see which happened first
Scrappy Doo joining my favourite cartoon show ruined my childhood 😩
If it ruined everything how come the show still had good ratings for seasons after?
I agree wonderful show very entertaining
Habit
The Brady Bunch jumped the shark when they brought in Oliver. Oliver killed more than one show.
The Simpsons teleported the Megalodon at this point.
When the Walking Dead showed Glen super violently killed, then dragged on boringly afterwards, they jumped the shark in the ratings. Game of Thrones jumped the shark in the last episodes, but so badly that nobody even talks about the show now.
That 70s show when Topher Grace left to work on spiderman 3.
The Simpsons after about 1999 lost its edge and became family friendly. The Big Bang Theory after Amy and Bernadette became regulars the show was watered down. I’m pretty sure I stopped watching Happy Days before this episode ever aired.
Wow I can’t believe you threw the Big Bang theory in there lmao. That show is garbage and always way