A fun read by the writer of that Happy Days episode: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/03/entertainment/la-et-jump-the-shark-20100903 http://articles.latime

A fun read by the writer of that Happy Days episode: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/03/entertainment/la-et-jump-the-shark-20100903 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/03/entertainment/la-et-... I also heard an interview somewhere/sometime where he indicated the same thing: Although popular in our lexicon, the show actually did not go into a death spiral after that episode. It was hugely successful. Nevertheless, the term remains.