The identifiable moment a successful thing exhausts its premise and begins irreversible decline, usually a bid for novelty that betrays the original appeal.
Named for a 1977 Happy Days episode in which Fonzie waterskis over a shark. Hein's site catalogued the moment for hundreds of shows, and the term now applies to brands and political movements as readily.
In practice
- A long-running consumer brand launches a celebrity range, and every subsequent decision is measured against that one.
- A software product adds a feature that contradicts its central promise, and the reviews from that release onward read differently.
- Standing
- Named for a 1977 episode; now applied to brands, franchises, and political movements.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Sociology & Culture
- Essay
- Proverbs that recur across cultures