July 8th, 2009

Meta Shark Jumping

Just now I was thinking of the phenomenon of jumping the shark: the defining moment when a television series starts to seriously go downhill and suck. The name comes from the defining moment of the decline of Happy Days when The Fonz does a waterski jump (in trademark leather jacket) over a shark.

Anyway, there used to be a nice, simple website that tallied user votes about when different shows jumped the shark. And I was thinking about how bizarre it would be if that website got ruined somehow. Could the Jump the Shark website itself jump the shark? Then I decided to visit it.

Jump the Shark is now part of TVGuide.com. It's amazing. They completely destroyed it and then sprayed diarrhea all over the rubble. Rest in peace, JTS.