Henry Winkler ‘Jumped The Shark’ 46 Years Ago And He’s Still Making Waves

In September 1977, Henry Winkler’s character in Happy Days, Arthur Fonzarelli, jumped over sharks while water skiing in the season 5 episode titled “Hollywood: Part 3.” The episode, which aired on September 20, 1977, marked the point the show took a downturn.

However, despite the drop in the show’s perceived-quality (ratings remained high), a popular phrase from the “Hollywood” episode coined by one of the fans is still widely in use today. Radio personality John Hein shared that the phrase came up while discussing Happy Days with his friends during their time at the University of Michigan.

The episode inspired the idiom

Hein further detailed that the Idiom came up during their discussion about the decline of their favorite shows, and Happy Days popped up on the list. Hein’s friend then recalled one of his best scenes from Happy Days and mentioned, “’When Fonzie jumped the shark’. There was a pause in the room because we all knew exactly what he meant,” Hein told Michigan Today in 2016. Since then, Hein and his buddies started using the phrase “jump the shark” to mean something waning.

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Ten years later, Hein would create a website listing up to 200 shows that jumped the shark. Although the site no longer exists (he sold it to TV Guide in 2006 for over $1 milliion), the phrase has stuck for decades and is now widely used to connote the derived meaning. According to Yahoo! Entertainment, it is used to describe creative “bankruptcy.” Another meme that is toe-to-toe with “jump the shark” is “nuke the fridge” from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Winkler has come to love the meme

Winkler admitted that he has come to accept Hein’s definition of the phrase, noting that he was also on good terms with the radio personality.

“We were number one for years after it, so it didn’t bother us at all. I met John Hein, the man who invented the phrase with his pal… I did his radio show. So here we are, we’re both standing,” he said.