And Testing one, two three, testing one, two one two three this is radio free Mormon on the air

broadcasting behind enemy lines tonight's episode president Nelson jumps the shark.

Now I have to pause for a moment to explain what I mean by jumps the shark.

I've used this expression in the past couple of days with friends of mine who did not know what on earth I was talking about.

Well in case you don't know what I'm talking about, the phrase jumping the shark has to do with a very popular TV

series Happy Days back in the 1970s.

It was a number one show on ABC,

and the most popular character in it was Arthur Fonsorelli,

aka The Fons.

Well, in the fifth season of that show the family goes out to California and

Fonzie answers a challenge to his bravery by putting on water skis swim trunks

and his trademark black leather jacket, and literally jumping over a confined

shark.

After that happened, the phrase jumping the shark entered into the popular lexicon. Jumping the shark entered into the popular lexicon.

Jumping the shark going from Wikipedia now.

Jumping the shark is the moment when something that was once popular

that no longer warrants the attention it previously received makes an attempt at publicity which

only serves to highlight its irrelevance. The idiom jumping the shark is pejorative, most commonly used in reference to unsuccessful gimmicks for promoting something.

It is similar to past its peak, but more specifically suggests an unwillingness to acknowledge the failing.

Originally the phrase was used to describe an episode of a television comedy with a gimmick or unlikely occurrence desperately attempting to keep viewers interest.

Moments labeled as jumping the shark are considered indications that writers have exhausted

their focus, that the show has strayed irretrievably from an older and better formula,

...