1 for the next four or five years.' As his character Barry Zuckerkorn (in the sitcom Arrested Development) hopped over a shark in Episode 13 of the second season, Winkler also noted that there 'was a book, there was a board game and it is an expression that is still used today. So I thought, 'I don't care.' And we were No. and they would show a picture of me in my leather jacket and swim shorts water-skiing. He stated that 'newspapers would mention jumping the shark. So it didn't much matter to anybody.' In addition, he told TheWrap in 2018 that he is 'not embarrassed' by the phrase. The only thing is it wasn't to the audience because we were No. To them, the Fonz water skiing was just like the last straw. Gross then asked Winkler what it was 'about that scene or that episode that came to signify when something's time is up-when it's over?' Winkler responded: 'You know what? I don't know. I finally tell Garry, my father wants you to know I water ski.' Winkler did all of the water skiing for the scene himself, except for the actual jump. Thus, his father used to say to him 'every day for years-tell Garry Marshall that you water ski. In a 2019 interview with NPR, Henry Winkler ( Fonzie) told Terry Gross that the origin of the stunt began with the fact that he had been a water-skiing instructor as a teenager at a summer camp. He was consequently given his own spin-off, Mork & Mindy. In addition, that same season would later include the episode, ' My Favorite Orkan', launching the career of the then-unknown actor, Robin Williams. All successful shows eventually start to decline, but this was not Happy Days ' time.' Fox also points not only to the success of that episode ('a huge hit' with over 30 million viewers), but also to the continued popularity of the series. In a 2010 Los Angeles Times article, former Happy Days writer Fred Fox, Jr., who wrote the episode that later spawned the phrase, said 'Was the episode of Happy Days deserving of its fate? No, it wasn't. So, it's kind of a fun expression, and I get a kick out of the fact that they identified that episode (because granted maybe it was pushing things a little too far), but I think a lot of good work was still done after that show, and audiences seemed to really respond to it.' Fred Fox, Jr But the thing that has to be remembered about the jumping the shark idea, is that the show went on to be such a massive success for years after that. And what I remember the most is, it was fun actually driving the speedboat which I did a bit of, noticing that Henry was really a pretty good water skier. I remember thinking that creatively this was not our greatest episode, but I thought it was a pretty good stunt, and I understood why they wanted to do it. Fonzie jumping over a shark it's gonna be funny, and great. You know it's hard to have great episodes one after another.

and I kept saying 'Hey Donny we're a hit show, relax. It's not even very funny, and you know Fonz is jumping over a shark'. He said, 'Oh man look at what our show has kind of devolved into. 'I remember Donny Most and I sitting there, looking at the script. In 2006, during his contribution to The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, Ron Howard (Richie) talked about the Happy Days episode that inspired the phrase: Response from Happy Days cast and crew Ron Howard Hein sold his company, Jump The Shark, Inc., for 'over $1 million' in 2006. The site became popular, and grew with additional user-contributed examples. In 1997, Hein created a website,, to publish a list of approximately 200 television shows, and his arguments as to the moments each 'jumped the shark'. The stunt was created as a way to showcase Winkler's real-life waterskiing skills. In the episode, the central characters visit Los Angeles, where a water-skiing Fonzie ( Henry Winkler) answers a challenge to his bravery by wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket, and jumping over a confined shark. Jon Hein and his University of Michigan roommate Sean Connolly coined the phrase in 1985 in response to Season Five, Episode 3, 'Hollywood: Part 3' of the sitcom Happy Days, which aired on September 20, 1977. 1.2 Response from Happy Days cast and crew.

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