Thursday, May 11, 2006

Jumped the Shark?

The term "Jump the Shark" is a television term to refer to the point when a TV show started to go downhill. I believe its root is from the show Happy Days when Fonzie jumped the shark literally.

Even though it's not a television show, Carolina Circle Mall had to have jumped the shark sometime between 1976 and 2002.

One of the most classic reasons is the removal of the ice rink. Sorry guys, but I don't think it was in my opinion. I might have not been around to witness the ice rink, but when the carousel came around, the mall still seemed to do pretty good.

For me, the mall jumped the shark sometime around 1996 or 1997 when they removed the carousel. That was the main reason why I liked the mall. When they got rid of it, that's when I sort of started to realize the mall was in trouble.

When did you feel the mall started to go downhill?

2 comments:

Livemalls said...

I hate to disagree with you on this, Billy, but the mall jumped the shark when they removed the ice rink.

Although I have vivid memories of the carousel being at CCM, they aren't as memorable as seeing people skating in the rink.

It was something distinctive in the market and a lot of people who wouldn't have come there otherwise came Carolina Circle just for the ice skaitng. When you have an attraction like that, you don't let it go.

Billy said...

In a way in my opinion, you're right. I might have liked the ice rink better if I were born in 1979 instead of 1989. But I grew up riding the carousel so with my love of memories, I have no other choice to prefer the carousel. But I do have respect for the ice rink.