Summer each year can be counted on for three things: warm weather, blockbuster movies, and a week of programming all about sharks on Discovery. We're coming up on that Shark Week time of year again. Discovery had officially released the details of what we can expect, and it turns out that an Olympic swimmer and a Law & Order veteran are on board for this year's festivities. Michael Phelps and Chris Noth will both have parts to play in Shark Week 2017.
Michael Phelps will actually play a part in the opening and closing nights of this year's Shark Week. He'll debut on Sunday, July 24 as one of the headliners of Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs Great White. In this special, one of the fastest swimmers in Olympic history will attempt to out-swim the most efficient predator to live in the ocean. Phelps' 23 Olympic gold medals and 39 world records set him apart as a human athlete, but they may not be enough for him to keep up with the sharks.
Obviously Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs Great White won't be sticking Michael Phelps and a great white shark in two lanes of a swimming pool to race each other, although it's certainly fun to imagine such a scenario. Discovery hasn't revealed exactly how the times of Phelps and sharks will be compared, but we can bet that the matchup will make for a wild first night of Shark Week action.
Phelps vs. Shark won't be Michael Phelps' only appearance in Shark Week, as he'll also turn up in the final special on July 30, which will be called Shark School with Michael Phelps. In this final installment of Shark Week 2017, Phelps will join biologists Doc Gruber and Tristan Guttridge for a crash course on what makes sharks so remarkable. They'll tackle the truths behind all the myths and misconceptions about sharks that have been perpetuated by monster movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea. Shark School will be must-see TV for any who are dying to know how to stay calm when approached by a hammerhead. Given that my current strategy for facing a hammerhead is to pass out from terror and drown, I think Shark School will be a good one for me.
Chris Noth of Law & Order and Sex and the City fame has a part to play in Shark Week 2017 as well, although he won't be in front of the camera. Noth will narrate the shark action of Sharks and the City: New York on July 25, which will examine why great white sharks could appear in New York Harbor. Seals have returned to the harbor, which means that the predators could come back as well. The special will delve into how close great whites actually get to New York City and reveal what New York City would look like with great whites back in the mix.
You can catch the latest shark action when Shark Week kicks off on Sunday, July 23 at 7 p.m. on Discovery. ET. 2017 will be the very first time that Shark Week premieres all over the world in the same week. If you're in need of some TV between now and July 23, check out our summer TV premiere schedule and our list of Netflix premiere dates.
