Originally posted by jrc:

The "jump the shark" reference comes from the old show, Happy Days. For a long time, it was clear the writers were out of ideas, so they had "Fonzie," complete with leather jacket, do a water-skiing episode where he jumps over a shark. It's a classic meme for having gone so far as to be ridiculous.

Personally, I think the original concept had a more interesting premise, what with the webs and all. Throw in some echos and spiders (not the Starship Troopers stuff), and what-not, and caves, and it could have been very interesting. I had been looking forward to it.

whats really funny about the "Jump the Shark" reference is that Happy Days went on for another 6+ seasons after that episode and won some awards and awards during it's post shark jump run.

But the reference is valid, when the creators of something run out of good ideas they start coming up with horribly stupid ideas just to try to keep it alive.

Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail.