Shark Week is an annual, week-long TV programming block at the Discovery Channel.
So let’s find out some more trivia and facts about this programming block!
- Shark Week is an annual, week-long TV programming block at the Discovery Channel
- Which features shark-based programming
- Shark Week originally premiered on July 17, 1988
- Featured annually, in July and/or early August
- It was originally devoted to conservation efforts and correcting misconceptions about sharks
- Over time, it grew in popularity and became a hit on the Discovery Channel
- Since 2010, it has been the longest-running cable television programming event in history
- Broadcast in over 72 countries
- Shark Week is promoted heavily via social networks like Facebook and Twitter
- Episodes are also available for purchase on services like Google Play Movies & TV/YouTube, Amazon Video, and iTunes
- Some episodes are free on subscription-based Hulu
- Shark Week was prompted by an offhand remark from a programming manager
- Discovery founder John Hendricks realized the potential of shark documentaries in drawing attention to his “fledgling network”
- The first Shark Week premiered in July 1988, and the first show was Caged in Fear
- A total of 10 episodes aired
- Other shows included Sharks: Predators or Prey, The Shark Takes a Siesta, and Sharks of a Different Color
- Due to the programming’s success, Discovery decided to continue it
- In 2000, Discovery Channel aired Shark Week Uncaged presented by famous zoologist Nigel Marven as a host
- Six million 3D Pulfrich glasses were distributed to viewers in the United States and Canada for an episode featuring an extinct giant shark, which had 3D segments
- The programming has been hosted by notable personalities from other Discovery series
- In 2005, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of MythBusters hosted Shark Week
- Which premiered with a two-hour MythBusters “Jaws Special”
- In 2006, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs hosted Shark Week, and two Dirty Jobs episodes were produced to tie-into the programming
- They were titled “Jobs that Bite” and “Jobs that Bite…Harder”
- That year, a 446-foot-long (136 metres) inflatable great white shark named Chompie was hung from the Discovery Channel’s Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters
- In 2007, Discovery Channel celebrated Shark Week’s 20th Anniversary hosted by Les Stroud, host of Survivorman
- The 20th anniversary included the launch of Sharkrunners
- A video game that uses GPS data from tagged sharks in the Pacific Ocean
- The program Ocean of Fear aired on July 29
- In 2015, Discovery announced a new, shark-themed weekend that would air on the Discovery Channel
- The weekend took place in late August 2015
- And contained three different programs
- The first program, which aired on Saturday, August 29, was MythBusters vs. Jaws
- Followed right after by Shark Alley: Legend of Dynamite
- The next day, Sunday, August 30, one program aired, called Air Jaws: Walking with Great Whites
- The purpose of Shweekend was to increase the shark-related content from previous years and to prolong the summer’s shark coverage
- Since its early days, Shark Week evolved into more entertainment-oriented and sometimes fictional programming
- By the 2010s, it attracted much criticism for airing dramatic programs to increase viewers and popularity
- This fictitious programming, known as docufiction, has been produced in the last few years
- Examples of such programs include Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine, Monster Hammerhead, Lair of the Mega Shark, and Megalodon: The New Evidence
- This strategy was successful, especially for the program Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives
- As it became one of the most watched programs in Shark Week history
- Primarily for the controversy and backlash it generated
- The mockumentary was based on an ancient giant shark called megalodon, which is now long extinct
- The airing of this program fueled criticism by the professionals in the science blogger community, as well as science-advocacy bloggers like actor Wil Wheaton, and resulted in boycott of the network
- Since then, Discovery has increasingly come under fire for using junk science, pushing dubious theories, creating fake stories, and misleading scientists as to the nature of the documentary being produced
- In early 2015, Discovery President Rich Ross vowed to remove this type of programming from the future Shark Week lineups
- More criticism was leveled at Discovery in 2017
- Then the network heavily promoted a race between Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps and a Great White shark
- The shark turned out to be computer generated
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