10 top shows that jumped the shark (and when they did it)

Fonzie literally jumps an actual shark

Without Fonzie and Happy Days‘ extreme need to stay on the air, we wouldn’t have this phrase. The scene in question comes in the last part of the three-night effort, “Hollywood.” This series come in Happy Days’ fifth season, halfway through its 11-year run.

Fonzie was always a fan favorite, so Happy Days wasn’t above exploiting this popularity, and having him front in center in a lot of the latter storylines. Part 3 of “Hollywood” features Fonzie facing off the California Kid, a jerk trying to get the better of our leather-clad hero. These tropes did well for the show, and having the Fonz jump over a pen with a shark in it, on water skis, to get the better of a bully, hit fans in their sweet spot.

Some folks suggest this was the beginning of the end of the series, and that it limped along on life support in its last years. But there are redeemable moments in this otherwise silly offering. The show still featured the original gang, including Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and his straight-laced cousin, Richie Cunningham, played by the very young and earnest Ron Howard.

This three-episode run also introduced viewers to Fonzie’s dreamy cousin ,Chachi Arcola, an industrious hustler whose main goal is to put the moves on Joanie. A young Scott Baio is the cure for anything, and certainly gave Happy Days the shot in the arm it deserved.

However, viewers were put off by the desperation of the stunt, and Happy Days never really fully recovered its fan base or its street cred (if you can assign street cred to a show about a white, middle-class, square family in 1950s Milwaukee.)