"Seinfeld" lasted nine seasons, anchoring NBC's Thursday night lineup from 1989 until its memorable but controversial ending in 1998. Like most shows with such a long life, it had its share of behind-the-scenes changes that led to subtle but distinct changes in tone and attitude. In pop culture, the moment that those changes become noticeable has long been known as "jumping the shark," a phrase that was born when Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) responded to a challenge from a group of wannabe bullies in Season 5 of "Happy Days" by literally jumping over a penned-in shark on water skis.
However, while we often use the term "jump the shark" to mean the point where a show slides downhill and never recovers, the truth is more subtle than that — if we properly assess the meaning, here, "jumping the shark" means the moment when a show diverges from its established patterns and turns into a different show, even if it's not necessarily for the worse. Consider "Happy Days," for instance, which certainly didn't suffer a rating decline following the aforementioned Fonzie shark-jump.
And while "Seinfeld" remained a successful show throughout its long run, with some of its funniest episodes happening toward the end, there certainly is one devastating moment in Season 7 that forever redefined the show's future — by turning it into something that was, paradoxically, both meaner and sillier than what came before.
While Susan was not the first "Seinfeld" character to die in the series, George's explicit responsibility for her death and his totally emotionless reaction to hearing the news turned him from a somewhat lovable hapless buffoon into a heartless and emotionally stunted jerk. The lovable but underdeveloped loser showed the coldest chamber of his heart in that moment, and his lack of even the tiniest fragment of sadness or remorse made it hard to root for him from that moment on ... something deepened by his conduct, from that episode onward. From there, in the final two seasons of "Seinfeld," George goes on to exploit Susan's death in an attempt to pick up other women, has Jerry call in a bomb threat to Yankee Stadium to avoid getting in trouble with George Steinbrenner, and creates a fake charity, "The Human Fund," to get out of giving his co-workers holiday gifts. He also becomes fixated on inheriting his parents' money when they die, with no apparent sadness that he soon may be without them.
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