Week of 11/9: Bob Brunner Was More Than "Jumping the Shark"

By Sylvia Gurinsky

The words "Jump the Shark" have unfortunately been at the top of many notifications about the death of television writer and producer Bob Brunner. That's because he wrote the "Happy Days" episode in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) jumped over a shark cage with his motorcycle when the whole gang was in California.

But Brunner did plenty more for the show, giving Arthur Fonzarelli's character his famous nickname, coining the catchphrase "Sit On It" and writing plenty of episodes. (And to be fair, "Happy Days" continued to have plenty of mileage on it after that episode; the show didn't start to lose steam until star Ron Howard left in 1980.)

Brunner also wrote for "The Odd Couple," "Laverne & Shirley" and many other television shows through the 1980s. He also produced many of those shows.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!