This very important anniversary was actually a week ago today but I just realized it this morning as I was eating my Happy Days cereal and wearing my Fonz pajamas and Ralph Malph slippers.
September 20th marked the 30th Anniversary of the day Arthur Fonzarelli (aka "Fonzie," aka "The Fonz") put on his leather jacket and a pair of water skis and jumped over a cage filled with stock footage of a man eating shark. Of course, we know that the famous episode launched a very successful catch phrase and web site called "What choo talkin' bout Willis?"
After the jump, a video of that classic TV moment. I haven't seen an episode of Happy Days in years, but it was probably well on its way to getting away from the original intent of the show before this. But yeah, this scene is even more ridiculous than you remember it.
[via LAObserved.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-27-2007 @ 7:10PM
debscalper407 said...
Fonzi was one bad Mo Fo
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9-27-2007 @ 7:16PM
r.r.r. said...
there isn't any tv show character like the fonz. classic episode. good times. :)
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9-27-2007 @ 10:20PM
Jane said...
Loved that show growing up.
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9-27-2007 @ 11:23PM
Rich C said...
I loved Happy Days too. But you are right. That was EVEN worse than I remembered! (I'm old enough that I watch some Happy Days new, and some in repeats. So I thought I knew this scene. When someone says, "Jumped the Shark", I think "Right, after Fonzie jumped the shark, Happy Days went downhill". But, Dear God, that was so much worse than I had remembered it! Now I'm thinking, "Is it possible to have Jumped the Shark, before Fonzie jumped the shark?"
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9-28-2007 @ 12:01AM
Jim Starkweather said...
I actually thought the episode with the Dude Ranch was the end of the line for me. But I am thinking that was a few years later. I think for most people when Ron Howard left the show it was the end of an era.
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9-29-2007 @ 4:08AM
Great White Snark said...
Wow, yeah, that was worse than I remembered.
In a completely coincidental shout-out (I had no idea it was the 30th anniversary of the the Fonz jumping the shark), I actually posted an entry last week, "The Top Five Geek TV Shows That Jumped The Shark."
http://www.greatwhitesnark.com/2007/09/24/the-top-five-geek-tv-shows-that-jumped-the-shark/
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