September 05, 2017
https://townhall.com/columnists/bernardgoldberg/2017/09/05/jumping-the-shark-the-news-media-way-n2377040?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Jumping the Shark: The News Media Way
Bernard Goldberg
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It was the fifth season of the sitcom "Happy Days" and producers figured they needed something to boost the show's sagging ratings. So they had the gang leave industrial, blue-collar Milwaukee and head to Southern California, where everybody is beautiful and the sun always shines. And on Sept. 20, 1977 Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known to his pals simply as Fonzie, put on a pair of water skis, hopped into the Pacific Ocean and jumped over a shark.
"The idiom 'jumping the shark' is pejorative," Wikipedia tells us, "most commonly used in reference to gimmicks for promoting entertainment outlets, such as a television series, that are declining in popularity."
Or a news magazine that almost nobody reads or pays attention to anymore.
A few weeks ago, and 40 years after Fonzie jumped the shark, Newsweek came up with its own cheesy gimmick in an attempt to stay relevant.
Abandoning any pretense of grown-up journalism, Newsweek plastered the words "Lazy Boy" on its cover with an illustration of President Trump sitting in a recliner covered in junk food.
Recliner. Lazy Boy. Get it?
He's covered in Cheetos and has a bag of McDonalds on his lap. He's got a Diet Coke in one hand and a TV remote in the other.
The words on the cover read: "Donald Trump is bored and tired. Imagine how bad he'd feel if he did any work."
Once upon a time, Newsweek was a serious news magazine whose editors would not allow their publication to resemble a comic book.
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