In Defense Of Shark-Jumping, Ctd

A reader writes:

Fred Fox mistakes Jumping the Shark for a point of decline in popularity. Actually, it is about the aesthetic integrity of a character or show. Fonzie's jumping of the shark was the moment when the character Fonzie became not just self-parody, but even worse - an unaware self-parody. The character had destroyed that which made it interesting, or if you like, cool.

The phrase has nothing to do with popularity; it is a marker of when a show goes outside of its boundaries and in...