calling it quits

All good TV shows must come to an end. That's the theory behind Jump the Shark (www.jumptheshark.com), a discussion site devoted to pinpointing the very moment a show nose-dives. (The site's named for a Happy Days scene in which Fonzie literally jumps over a shark.) Under categories ranging from ''Same Character, Different Actor'' to ''Death,'' pundits theorize about the demise of current high-flying shows like Friends (some say it started going south the day Ross and Rachel did it) and such former winners as Family Ties (most agree it was baby Andrew). Site creator Jon Hein, 33, of New York City, got the idea in a dorm-room discussion at the University of Michigan and launched Jump a few years later in 1997. His brainchild now hosts discussions about 1,822 TV shows (the latest de rigueur debate: Has The Sopranos jumped?), and, he says, traffic has gone up 500 percent in the past year. Still, Hein's not stopping with TV: Movie, sports, and political sites are in the works. And he's already partnered with Rolling Stone for a Jump the Shark music site, due next month. ''We were going to call it 'Yoko,''' he says, ''but I don't think that would play too well.''

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