Jump the Shark - When Good Things Go Bad

Written by Jon Hein

Narrated by Jon Hein

From music legends to sports heroes, from TV shows to politics, Jump the Shark catalogs those priceless moments when the magic vanishes and the mighty become the fallen!From the creator of the immensely popular website that has coined a catch phrase comes the book that is bound to be the pop-culture sensation of the season. But beware: these shark-infested pages will leave you in stitches and wondering where the insidious fin will pop up next!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio
• Release date: Jan 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9781593162795

Reviews for Jump the Shark - When Good Things Go Bad

[scottcholstad · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Trite book, but very enjoyable for the trivia-obsessed. I actually enjoyed it more than I expected to. 3.5 stars, or three overall. Cautiously recommended for fans of late twentieth century pop culture.

[lyssrose · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Ehhhh...I guess I don't really see the point of this book, as almost everything in it can be found on the website, *for free*. It was amusing, but not really anthing I'm ever likely to read again.

[pbadeer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a goofy, very easy (and quick) read, covering TV shows and Movie Stars and deciding when they "Jumped the Shark" - the term referring to the moment from which it all goes downhill from there. The term comes from the Happy Days episode where the gang went to Hawaii and the Fonz water skiied over a shark - the epitome of a Jumping the Shark action. Some of the author's examples (gathered from comments on his website) were completely laudable(when cousin Oliver joined the Brady Bunch) others were questionable (when Blake's helicopter goes down in MASH), but all worthy of consideration. I listened to the audio version, which was narrated by the author, and his sense of humor came through very nicely adding to the quality of the book. A fun read.

[davidbain_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

fun way to blow an hour or so.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

He was sent sailing straight over the shark.The shark smelled blood.The shark started to circle.We spotted a fin.But the damage had been done.The shark had moved on to its next victim.If hearing those phrases repeatedly does not bother you, then you will enjoy the abridged audiobook version of Jump the Shark, written and read by John Hein. I can't fault him for running out of shark metaphors, and it really was my only complaint about this humorous collection. Hein walks us through several television shows, musicians, politicians, actors, and sports, detailing the exact moment when they took an irreversible turn for the worse, starting with that fateful episode of Happy Days when Fonzie literally jumped a shark on waterskis. I confess to fast-forwarding through some of the sports and politics spots, because I'm unfamiliar with most sports figures and a lot of the political commentary was kind of dated. I also had to take a break between discs to listen to something else for a while - those shark metaphors drove me crazy. I imagine it works better as a book, which you can pick up, read a couple pages, and put back down. In short, while this is a funny diversion from time to time, it gets a little tedious when listened to all at once.