Jump The Shark Origins
Hein has explained that he and some friends at the University of Michigan were discussing when popular television shows began to decline, and his roommate Sean J. Connolly coined the phrase, referring to a Happy Days episode in which Fonzie performed a water ski jump over a shark. The phrase "jumped the shark" became code between Hein and his friends for the moment that a television show began to decline, and became inspiration for the name of the website.
Hein sold his company, Jump The Shark, Inc., to Gemstar (owners of TV Guide) on June 20, 2006 for "over $1 million". Some Stern staff have speculated that the site sold closer to $5–$10 million, however. The TV Guide website has since redirected the original jumptheshark.com website. For some time, the website was replaced with a celebrity gossip message board. As of April 2011, the tvguide.com redirect the Jump the Shark address to a TV Guide page categorizing some common show derailments.
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Famous quotes containing the words jump the, jump, shark and/or origins:
“If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well
It were done quickly. If th’ assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success—that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all!—here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If anybody else says it’s like old times, I’ll jump out the window.”
—Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)
“De god wat made shark must be one dam Ingin.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)