Monday, July 28, 2008

Cool like Fonzie

The guys who are trying to get the phrase "nuke the fridge" off the ground are trying to rewrite history. "Jump the shark," a reference to an infamous audience-grabbing ploy on the TV show Happy Days, is pretty much entrenched in the pop culture lexicon. But young-ish Turks are trying to replace it with a first act twist from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which, to my mind, is no more or less incredible than anything else that happens in the picture, and is also "explained." This is what got my goat: Jason Nicholl, a high school teacher behind the movement to dethrone the Fonz for Indy, says, “‘Jump the shark’ is for people over the age of 60, who remember the show...“nuke the fridge” is a “new, fresh take.” Come now, Jason--this 43-year-old remembers Fonzie and the shark quite vividly, and I daresay your 37-year-old self does too, even if you were still padding about your parents' living room in footed pajamas. You'll have to do better than that, as "jump the shark" hardly qualifies as a senior moment.

No comments: