I suppose it would be newsworthy if Discovery Channel had somehow decided to scale back and give the world the shortest Shark Week ever, but that’s not the case here. As you can imagine, this year’s tribute to the ocean’s most iconic beast is actually bigger than any that have come before, with an unprecedented 13 Shark Week exclusives, each of which will be followed by the live talk show Shark After Dark, hosted by Josh Wolf. Sharks! Sharks! Sharks!
It’s Shark Week’s 27th anniversary, and they aren’t holding anything back this year. Everyone’s favorite controversial giant shark, the Megalodon, will make an appearance (or will it?) in Megalodon: The New Evidence, which centers on “shocking” evidence and interview footage from Marine Biologist Collin Drake and a TV crew. Larger than average sharks also get their due with Jeff Kerr and Andy Cassagrande in Lair of the Mega Shark and the Floridian legend, the Monster Hammerhead. As well, Air Jaws: Quest for Colossus will use state of the art underwater technology to try and find a supposed missing mega shark named Colossus.
We’re all expecting definitive proof that all of these exist, right?
But if those are too mainstream for you, why not check out Zombie Sharks, in which a professional diver shows off his talent for inducing underwater tonic immobility in a great white shark? Or there’s Alien Sharks: Return to the Abyss, which isn’t actually about extraterrestrials, but a shark species in the depths of the Indian Ocean that is bioluminescent. Spawn of Jaws 2: The Birth will attempt to capture the birth of a great white shark on film for the first time. And you thought your delivery video was gross.
Back to the mainstream for the fairly conventional sounding Sharkageddon, Great White Matrix, Jaws Strikes Back, I Escaped Jaws 2 and Shark of Darkness: Submarine Returns. That last one is a hunt for what is supposedly the biggest great white shark of all time, though no one has ever seen it before. Sure, it fits in with the above “mega shark” docs, but I thought I’d switch it up a bit to see If you believed in these things yet. Giant sharks! Giant sharks!
Beyond the TV stuff, Shark Week is teaming with Ghost Fishing, which aims to remove all of the derelict fishing equipment currently floating around the oceans, along with Oceana and One World One Ocean. And if you’re looking for shark toys, Toys ‘R’ Us will have what you’re looking for starting July 1. And while Discovery has nothing to do with it, the best way to kick off Shark Week early is with Syfy’s Sharknado 2, which debuts July 30. Or maybe that’s the worst way.
Get your Mayor Larry Vaughn jacket on when Shark Week starts showing some fin on Discovery on Sunday, August 10.
