Is this a Riker reference?
I have to reject that on the grounds that I don’t know what it refers to, if it does actually refer to anything. And also because it’s just not as delightfully absurd.
Although I’m not sure if Nuking the Fridge itself might be disqualified on the ground that it was intentionally ridiculous. But I just don’t care 
To be a trademark, a term must be distinctive and its purported trademark use can’t be the same as its ordinary meaning. That’s why “Guess” can be a trademarked brand name for clothing even though it’s an ordinary English word.
It looks like Jumptheshark.com Inc. has registered the trademark with respect to:
It had applied for a registration for –
– Entertainment in the nature of on-going television programs in the areas of comedy, reality, culture and games.
But that application was abandoned.
The links explain it, though to be fair, it refers to something quite different than Jumping the Shark; it refers to someone exerting excessive effort for very little gain.
I wonder how much the guy who started Jumptheshark.com got by selling it.
I must say it’s HORRIBLE. Someone needs to start a new site. The old site was very easy on HTML skills. Of course the hard part is coming up with a new name.
You can stop people from using names similar to Jumptheshark, but you can’t stop them from making a website that is similar.
Yep. Riker’s tonsorial transformation coincided with Star Trek TNG starting to suck less.
I’m like that, I remember reading it way back when, but I haven’t been there in a long while.
I’m a fan of TVtropes now, except it’s so easy to just go in there and start wandering around.
Reportedly somewhere over a million dollars.
Ah so it’s the opposite of JTS, sort of like stubbling the Wesley.
His name is John Hein. He currently works on the Howard Stern show (I’m listening to his voice right now, actually.) I sent an email to the show asking if he’s been keeping tabs on the site since he sold it, and what he thinks of it. I don’t expect an answer, but it’s out there.
Joe
One wonders what motivated TV Guide to buy a site and then essentially throw it away. JTS was a fun little site, I didn’t go there often but it was sometimes interesting to read. Now all you can see is a little blurb about what the different JTS categories were. What value that brings to TV Guide escapes me.
I think it started out as a cute idea and had some good info, but like a previous poster said there were way too many “first episode” comments and such that were just painful to have to wade through.
So did anyone ever start up a site to replace www.jumptheshark.com since it got wrecked, I mean it can be that hard of an idea to duplicate- topics, voting, ciomments etc.? What is wrong with the people on the internet these days DAMMIT!!
To answer the above poster’s question, it appears that some former JTS contributors made their own site with votes, comments and categories- even a Patron Saint- “Dawn Lyn”. It’s at www.bonethefish.com.
Not too shabby, not near the content that JTS had, but it’s a good start.
I like that. I also like “Grow the Beard”.
Only if they parody it in the upcoming Arrested Development film, preferably by finding Harrison Ford hiding in a refrigerator after a false terrorist warning.
Stranger
The good thing about the old site was the extensive coverage of really old shows, from the '50s, with comments that helped me put my 50 year old memories into perspective. The last few times I went I noticed that the old comments were still there, but the rate of new comments from classic shows was way down.
As for TV Guide, I can only guess it was a desperate attempt to make what used to be a must have magazine be relevant again. Which has clearly failed.
Really, guys? Really?
http://markkaye.com/hot-talk-madonna-and-guy-ritchie-house-bride-for-sale-and-nuke-the-fridge/
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1864100_1864105,00.html
http://www.mediafly.com/Podcasts/Feeds/KPBS_A_Way_with_Words_2#Nuke_the_Fridge_23_Nov_2008_2
Disclaimer: the following is not an official statement from the USPTO.
It’s a combination of the term and the specific usage. In the case of “Jump the Shark”, there are two active trademarks: one for the website and one for magazine columns/communications/entertainment. Both of these are still registered to Jumptheshark.com, Inc.
Really what? Those posts were a year ago…
The oldest was from last March, and the most recent was from today. Most of the examples in my post were from 2008.