Here’s Why Henry Winkler Loves ‘Jump the Shark’ Conversations

Henry Winkler stopped by the offices of The Howard Stern Show this week — not to talk to Stern, but to visit old pal Jon Hein. As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Hein put a name to that inflection point at which sitcoms begin their decline. He called it “jumping the shark,” based on the Happy Days episode when Winkler’s Fonzie performed a death-defying water-ski jump over a killer shark. In other words, a dumb stunt that signaled Happy Days was officially out of ideas. 

You’d think Winkler would be disgruntled about being immortalized as the face of sitcom downswings, and Hein jumped directly into “Henry is the greatest!” mode to diffuse any potential conflict. “Henry, you know, every time I see you, I am not in this chair without you,” Hein fawned. “So I thank you, and you’ve always been so great about it. I’ve always said I appreciate it to the day I die because (jump the shark) will probably be on my tombstone.”

But it turns out that Winkler loves Hein’s concept for one simple reason. “Every time they mentioned ‘jump the shark’ at that time, they had a picture of me on water skis,” he explained. “And I had great legs, so I didn’t care.” 

Another reason Winkler can laugh off being the face of “jump the shark”? “We were number one for four years after that.” 

Well, not exactly, although the show was probably number one — in its time slot. The year Fonzie jumped that tiger shark, Happy Days finished as the country’s second-favorite show, just a hair behind spin-off Laverne & Shirley. Winkler’s sitcom remained a top 20 hit for the four seasons after that — a great run considering the show was then in its ninth season.

Winkler performed his own stunts for the episode, created not because the writers were out of ideas, but because the actor was an expert water skier and wanted to show off his talents. Maybe that’s why he’s had a great sense of humor about the bit over the years. “I’m very proud that I am the only actor, maybe in the world, that has jumped the shark twice,” he told The Wrap. “Once on Happy Days, and once on Arrested Development.”

If anything, Winkler said, Hein should be congratulated for turning a dorm room idea into a career. “You got a book. A radio show. A board game. What else?”

“Two TV pilots, but none of them took,” Hein replied sheepishly. 

“But it doesn’t matter,” Winkler insisted. “You made an industry out of your imagination of having one phrase about how you felt about Happy Days. I have a great respect for that.”