Is “Nuke the Fridge” the New “Jump the Shark”?
The Urban Dictionary has added an entry for “Nuke the Fridge”, a contemporary replacement for the slang term “Jumped the Shark”.
Jump the Shark is a reference to a scene in an episode of Happy Days when Fonzie literally jumps over a shark while water skiing. The scene was considered so preposterous, and is considered by many to signify the moment in time when the show became unappealing to its core audience.
The new term Nuke the Fridge is based on an event in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Here is an explanation of the term from the online Urban Dictionary:
“Nuke the fridge is a colloquialism used to refer to the moment in a film series that is so incredible that it lessens the excitement of subsequent scenes that rely on more understated action or suspense, and it becomes apparent that a certain installment is not as good as a previous installments, due to ridiculous or low quality storylines, events or characters.
The term comes from the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which, near the start of the movie, Harrison Ford’s character survives a nuclear detonation by climbing into a kitchen fridge, which is then blown hundreds of feet through the sky whilst the town disintegrates. He then emerges from the fridge with no apparent injury. Later in the movie, the audience is expected to fear for his safety in a normal fistfight.
Fans of the Indiana Jones series found the absurdity of this event in the film to be the best example of the lower quality of this installment in the series, and thus coined the phrase, “nuke the fridge”.
The phrase is also a reference to the phrase “jump the shark”, which has the same meaning, only applied to a television series instead of a film series.
This phrase is not in common use.
“Star Wars didn’t really nuke the fridge until Jar Jar Binks was introduced.”
“Peter Parker dancing around the bar in Spider-Man 3? Kinda nukes the fridge!”
“The Godfather: Part III nukes the fridge.”
“Gremlins 2 more or less nuked the fridge.”
What do you think? Pretty funny but I think “Jumped the Shark” rolls off the tongue easier.
via: FilmDrunk
Aaay! The Fonz Bronzed for Posterity
Here’s a city that knows what’s cool.
A bronze statue of iconic Happy Days character Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli will be going up this summer in the artsy RiverWalk district of downtown Milwaukee.
Cast members from the classic 1970s sitcom including the Fonz himelf, Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Don Most and Erin Moran and Laverne & Shirley stars Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall, are expected to attend the dedication Aug. 19. (Ron Howard is still toiling away on his strike-delayed Da Vinci Code prequel Angels & Demons.)
The happy day will conclude with an honorary ceremony for the cast at Miller Park before the hometown Brewers take on the Houston Astros.
Bronze Fonz hits Milwaukee this summer
Now that local groups have raised enough money, the Bronze Fonz statue will make its Milwaukee debut at an August 19 dedication ceremony. Henry Winkler will attend the ceremony, along with Happy Days co-stars Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Erin Moran, Don Most, and Anson Williams. A few spots for the statue were considered, but the Fonz found a home on the city’s RiverWalk.
This project has been in the works since last fall, when a Milwaukee tourism group announced its plan to raise funds for the statue. The dedication ceremony is invitation-only, but the public is welcome to attend a free frozen custard social following the dedication. Later that day, the Happy Days cast will throw out the first ball at a Brewers game and Anson Williams, better known as Potsie, will sing the National Anthem.
As a Milwaukee resident, I’m not sure how I feel about the statue. There’s absolutely no chance that the statue will be visually appealing. On the other hand, some crazy fans will probably come out of the woodwork for the festivities, so there’s a definite potential for mocking there.
Would you get your photo taken with the Bronze Fonz? Do you think the statue will really bring tourists to Milwaukee?
Watercooler Talk: Should a show continue waterskiing after it jumps the shark?
As I sit in a converted dorm room at a college in Castine, Maine, waiting for either the start of my stand-up show or the sweet embrace of death to break up the monotony of my day, I find myself with gobs of time to explore some of the less-traveled corners of Wikipedia. After reading a 500 word analysis of what state Benson may have taken place in (really!), I moved on to the entry for “Jump the Shark.” Gary Marshall is quoted there as admitting that even he felt a little weird watching Fonzie, leather jacket and all, jumping over that now mythic shark. He points out, however, that Happy Days remained a top-twenty hit for seven more years and produced more than 100 more episodes after it aired.
It occurred to me that had the internet existed in the 1970s, the backlash to the jumping the shark episode would have been immediate and crushing….
Here’s my logic for what would have happened:
1. Fonzie jumps the shark.
2. TV 1975 writer Jay “Muttonchops” Black writes a scathing review of the episode. He’s not alone — every other episode review site chimes in with their own hatred of the show. Soon Digg 1975 takes a break from producing pop culture lists (”The Top 21 Forgotten Big Band Songs of our Youth”) to produce a list of reasons why Happy Days is no longer relevant.
3. The Jumping the Shark meme is created and Happy Days loses its cool factor. People stop watching and it’s canceled with little fanfare in the middle of the next season after eleven timeslot changes and an ill-conceived retooling that has Fonzie being replaced by an East Indian mystic played by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
4. We are robbed over seven more years and 100 more episodes of Happy Days.
You can easily make the argument that we’d be better off with a show being canceled once its downward slide begins (and, indeed, I’d like for you to make that argument in the comments, if you’re so disposed). But I think there’s a counter argument that’s equally valid: a good show will continue to produce enough good episodes to remain viable even after its downward slide begins.
This is the source of endless argument between Simpsons fans and Simpsons haters. The former group (among whom I count myself a member) comes into constant online conflict with the latter. Usually the argument goes as follows:
Simpsons Hater: (Responding to an episode review) Worst. Episode. Ever. God, I haven’t watched this show since [insert arbitrary season the writer thinks was the last good one] and after watching tonight’s episode I can see my choice was the right one! What a horrible episode!
Simpsons Fan: The show might not be as good as it was in the classic years, but it’s still better than 99% of the shows on television!
Repeat until doomsday.
The crux of the argument seems to be this: the Simpsons hater wants to preserve his memories of the show when it was still young and beautiful. Like the athlete dying young or the Grecian urn, it is better to kill a show earlier than watch it descend into mediocrity (or worse).
The Simpsons fan is of the belief that, though a good show in its twilight years is a shadow of its former self, you shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Good episodes still spring up with regularity and, occasionally, the program can show signs of its earlier greatness. I mean, after all, the Dark Knight was a 55 year old man when he returned to rid Gotham of the Mutants — sure he needed both his arms and his legs to climb ropes, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of kicking some butt when the need arose.
I can see the reasoning behind killing a show early — I mean, who would want to watch David Brent talking to a little green man only he could see on the 9th season of the UK Office — but certainly any fan of that show wants to see more of it, right?
So, I thought I’d open the floor to you, the readers of TV: where do you stand? Do you prefer a show dying early and preserving its greatness? Or are you okay with a show going on for too long, eventually showing its former greatness only in unpredictable fits over the course of its remaining seasons?