Posted on 11/24/2012 8:29:08 PM PST by chessplayer
FORGIVE THE MIXED METAPHOR, but did the mainstream media jump the shark this summer? The expression “jump the shark” comes from the long-running 1970s sitcom Happy Days. In the 1977 fifth-season premiere, Fonzie (Henry Winkler) dons water skis, swim trunks, and his trademark leather jacket and launches over a trapped shark. The episode marked the point at which the show’s writers ran out of ideas and began substituting extravagant gimmicks in place of the solid plots that had made it a success in the first place. “Jumping the shark” has since become a metaphor for the beginning of such a decline.
In fact, the major trend in news coverage over the past few years has been an aggressive reassertion of authority coupled with a disavowal of impartiality. The theoretical underpinning of this attitude is the critique of “false balance,” which I discussed in this space last month, and which has been endorsed by both President Obama and Margaret Sullivan, the Times’s new “public editor.” It boils down to the claim that if one side in a political argument has a monopoly on truth—and guess which side that always turns out to be?—journalists are not only justified in taking sides but duty-bound to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
By the way, Henry Winkler would say that he always found this term and it’s meaning to be ridiculous, as at the time that episode aired the show had the highest, or among the highest ratings on television. Far from “running out of ideas,” writers just wanted to experiment with what they could do on their expanding budget.
I tend to agree. In 1977, Happy Days had already been on television for three years, and it would go on for another seven.
they officially ran out of ideas when they hired the kiss of death ...Ted McGinley
Well, for most, that was when we rolled our eyes and said “Really?”
Ok, not for me. I was 6 and Fonzie jumping over a shark was fodder for lunchroom discussion for DAAAYYYYSSSSS.
HA!
Ted McGinley was super hot hottie in the late 70’s and has cloned himself I think because he is STILL JUST AS HOT!
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