Jump the Shark

By: Jon Hein

Narrated by: Jon Hein

Happy Days infamously jumped the shark when Fonzie literally jumped a shark on water skis. I Love Lucy jumped the shark when Lucy and Ricky moved to the suburbs. The Brady Bunch jumped the shark when Cousin Oliver moved in.

You know when you see it. It's the moment on your favorite TV show when a new character is introduced, the romantic leads share their passionate embrace, or the whole gang takes a trip to Tahiti. In that moment you know your favorite show has lost its magic, has begun the long, painful slide to the TV graveyard; the show has jumped the shark. Completely revised and updated, this shark-infested audio will leave you in stitches and wondering where the insidious fin will pop up next.

©2002 Jon Hein (P)2002 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Jon Hein could be the first to have successfully coined a phrase via the Net." (USA Today)

Incredibly Witty

This is my third or fourth time listening to this audiobook. For those of you who grew up in the 80s you will finally remember all of the television shows politicians and stars that he talks about in this book. I highly recommend it

A great walk down memory lane!

That was a lot of fun; I am not sure I agree with every assessment, but that's part of what made it so entertaining.

Entertaining, but sloppy

Jumping the Shark is a great concept, and I give Hein credit for it, but the book lacks any real insight into what it means to jump the shark. Instead, there are a multitude of examples with inaccurate facts that don't amount to much more than a series of repetitive blurbs. Hein then follows this sloppy workmanship up by jumping himself - to celebrities, politics and sports, realms which don't really lend themselves to the concept. All that said, it's an entertaining listen, just not necessarily terribly well executed.

Should have stuck with TV shows...

It starts out poking holes in your favorite (and not-so-favorite) TV shows, and you'll laugh your ___ off in many places. But after about 40 minutes, it veers off into the areas of music, celebrities, even politics. You'll probably like the music part, but for the last hour of the book you will find yourself scratching your head and saying "who???"

TV ones are true, the rest is odd.

I get the TV "jump the shark" moments. These are invented stories created to entertain us. Sometimes writers go to far. But then he starts using the terms for other things. I don't know how you can call John Lennon marrying Yoko Ono a "jump the shark" moment. He is a real man who married a woman he loved. It's odd to act like there is something about it that went too far.