Here is the definition and history for the term, thanks to Wikipedia. Despite the fact this is a movie blog, this term is thrown around a ton, and I sometime want to scream "You keep using that word, I don't think it means what you think it means" -(Indigo Montoya, Princess Bride) because people keep throwing it around without knowing what it means, so here you go.
Jumping the shark is a colloquialism used by TV critics and fans to denote that point in a TV show or movie series' history where the plot veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, particularly for a show with falling ratings apparently becoming more desperate to draw viewers in. In the process of undergoing these changes, the TV or movie series loses its original appeal. Shows that have "jumped the shark" are typically deemed to have passed their peak.
The phrase refers to a scene in a three-part episode of the American TV series, Happy Days, first broadcast on September 20, 1977. In the third of the three parts of the "Hollywood" episode, Fonzie (Henry Winkler), wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket, jumps over a penned-in shark while water skiing.
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