And so, Jump the Shark – the column in which we pinpoint the precise moment TV shows of yesteryear went pants – has itself jumped the shark, to be replaced next week by, erm, who knows? Maybe a crossword, or a column called The Eureka Moment where Guardian writers pinpoint the exact moment crap TV shows get good? So let’s look at where the entire concept began, with the infamous moment in the fifth series of Happy Days where the Fonz (Henry Winkler) accepts a challenge to literally jump over a tiger shark on waterskis, in what looks like a pair of denim hot pants and his trademark leather jacket (obvs), in a stunt that was apparently created to showcase Winkler’s real-life waterskiing skills to the masses (Hi, girls).
Happy Days, which ran from 1974 to 1984, was set in mid-1950s to mid-1960s midwestern America. It’s there we meet teenager Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard), his amiable parents Howard and Marion, nosy sister Joanie and his sketchy mates Potsie, Ralph Malph and Arthur Herbert “Fonzie” “the Fonz” Fonzarelli. This was a man who liked to hold his business meetings in the gents of a diner; who combed his hair so often that sometimes when he looked in the mirror to comb his hair, found that it didn’t need combing at all; and whose main skill as a professional mechanic was being able to get faulty electrical equipment to work by repeatedly banging it. Ayyy!
The idea of this already ridiculous figure hopping over a sea monster is patently absurd. Yet Fonzie jumping the shark wasn’t even the most ludicrous thing to happen in Happy Days, not by a dorsal fin. Later in the same season, a flying saucer lands in Milwaukee, and an alien named Mork comes a-knocking on the Cunninghams’ door, saying he needs to agreeably kidnap average “specimen” Richie Cunningham and take him home to presumably (but not mentioned) prod, dissect, and anally probe. Richie agrees and pops upstairs to pack before the rest of the Cunninghams arrive home and catch him and the alien red-handed. Sure, Richie wakes up and it’s all been a dream but, still, WTF? (In fact, a new ending was later filmed for syndication in which it was revealed that Mork had made it seem like it was a dream but it was in fact very, very real.)
The episode went down so well that Mork (Robin Williams) was signed up for his own show. The resulting Mork & Mindy shot Williams into the comedy stratosphere and, well, you know the rest. Yet, aliens on 1970 mainstream TV and no one bats an eyelid? What if the alien from Alien were to turn up in EastEnders? Or ET re-landed in an advert for Sky? (Er, hang on!)
All of which proves that Happy Days doesn’t actually jump the shark at the unlikely bit where the Fonz jumps over a shark, but actually jumps the shark at the totally unfeasible bit when aliens land in broad daylight and no one’s freaked out, thus making this week’s final Jump the Shark – and perhaps the entire meaning of the phrase – totally redundant. And if you don’t like it, you can sit on it. Nanu, nanu.
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