'Jump the Shark' Web site becomes pop-culture phenomenon
At the beginning of 2001, Jon Hein's Internet site, www.jumptheshark.com , was drawing attention for its skewed view of television. Fans from around the world were logging on to the site to discuss whether their favorite shows had "jumped the shark" — a term borrowed from an episode of "Happy Days" that means a show has reached its creative peak.
But Hein, a former Mt. Lebanon resident, could not have envisioned his creation would become part of the pop-culture lexicon.
"It's something that started out as a joke and has turned into a phenomenon," says Hein, 33, who grew up watching reruns of classic TV shows on WPGH-TV, Channel 53.
Among recent "shark-related" developments:
"When you look at it, those are all distinct marketplaces," Hein says. "But the common theme is that everybody watches TV or listens to music."
And, Hein might have added, everyone seems to have an opinion about their favorite show. The Web site currently has listings for more than 2,000 television shows, and attracts approximately 1 million users per month.
"Which is a lot of people watching a lot of TV," he says.
But Hein, an avid TV junkie, isn't one of them. He still runs a computer training company in Long Island, N.Y., and devotes about 35 hours per week to the Web site, leaving him little time to catch TV Land reruns.
"Thank God for TiVo," Hein says, referring to the digital recording system that enables users to pause and record television shows for later viewing. "And just the amount of television that's on these days in general makes it impossible to keep up with everything. But again, that's where the people who come to the site help. If we get flooded with e-mail about the 'Crocodile Hunter' episode that's on that night, I can jump to it."
Perhaps the greatest compliment to the site is the interest it receives from television insiders. Hein has heard that some television writers have voted anonymously to critique their own or other shows, and that Josh Whedon, creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and Mark Brown, who writes the "Arthur" books, are fans.
Hein refuses, however, to divulge information about respondents to the networks, saying that although the site serves as a free research source to the industry, he doesn't want to compromise "Jump the Shark's" basic tenet of being a forum for discussion.
Hein says his biggest thrill came when Garry Marshall, creator of "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley," talked about "Jump the Shark" on "The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn."
"Garry Marshall said, 'The man's absolutely right,'" Hein says. "He talked about that episode of 'Happy Days,' and he understood the concept. That was great. Having the guy who did it say that means we're on to something."
