JumpTheShark.com has just been purchased by TV Guide parent Gemstar, which is 41 percent owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. For those of you who don’t understand the reference (I didn’t, not being old enough to really remember Happy Days that well), Jump The Shark is when your favourite TV show turns a corner and starts an irreversible tailspin towards cancellation. In “Happy Days” there was one episode where Fonzie jumped a shark on water skis. This was apparently the beginning of the end for the show and hence the phrase.

What I find interesting, is that the site is entirely unsophisticated, it looks terrible and is difficult to navigate. Jon Hein, the founder of Jump The Shark, must be laughing all the way to the bank.

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