Shark Week is an annual, week long TV

programming block Block programming is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Overview Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attra ...

at the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, which features

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

-based programming. Shark Week originally premiered on July 17, 1988. Featured annually, in July 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 Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

programming event in history. Broadcast in over 72 countries, Shark Week is promoted heavily via

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods fo ...

s like

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

and

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. Episodes are also available for purchase on services like Google Play Movies & TV/

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, and

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. Some episodes are free on subscription-based

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

and

Discovery+ Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

History

The first Shark Week premiered in July 1988, with the first show to air being ''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 success of the programming block, Discovery decided to continue it. In 2000, Discovery Channel aired ''Shark Week Uncaged'' presented by famous zoologist

Nigel Marven Nigel Alan Marven (born 27 November 1960) is a British wildlife TV presenter, naturalist, conservationist, author, and television producer. He is best known as presenter of the BBC miniseries '' Chased by Dinosaurs'', its sequel, '' Sea Monsters ...

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 Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, best known as the former co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel televisi ...

and

Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born September 25, 1956) is an American special effects expert who is best known as the former co-host of the television series '' MythBusters'' alongside Adam Savage, where he became known for his distinctive beret and ...

of ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internation ...

'' hosted Shark Week, which premiered with a two-hour ''MythBusters'' " Jaws Special". In 2006,

Mike Rowe Michael Gregory Rowe (born March 18, 1962) is an American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series '' Dirty Jobs'' and the series '' Somebody's Gotta Do It'' originally developed for CNN. He hosted ...

of ''

Dirty Jobs ''Dirty Jobs'' is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The sh ...

'' hosted Shark Week, and two ''Dirty Jobs'' episodes were produced to tie-into the programming, 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 Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

headquarters. In 2007,

celebrated ''Shark Week's 20th Anniversary'' hosted by

Les Stroud Les Stroud (born October 20, 1961) is a Canadian survival expert, filmmaker and musician best known as the creator, writer, producer, director, cameraman and host of the television series ''Survivorman''. Stroud was named Chief Scout by Sc ...

, host of ''

Survivorman ''Survivorman'' is a Canadian-produced television program, broadcast in Canada on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), and internationally on Discovery Channel and Science Channel. The title refers to the host of the show, Canadian filmmaker and su ...

''. The 20th anniversary included the launch of ''

Sharkrunners ''Sharkrunners'' season 1 was a game created by area/code for the Discovery Channel as part of the channel's 20th year of ''Shark Week''. The game used satellite tracking of six great white sharks off the coast of California. Users were able to ta ...

'', a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

that uses GPS data from tagged sharks in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. The program '' Ocean of Fear'' aired on July 29. In 2014, Deep Blue, a large great white shark estimated to be twenty foot long was featured in an episode of Shark Week, she was seen traversing the waters off the coast of Guadalupe Island. In 2021, the events began streaming on

alongside its broadcasts on the Discovery Channel.

Shweekend

In early 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.

Criticism

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 Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) a ...

, 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 A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

was based on an ancient giant shark called

megalodon Megalodon (''Otodus megalodon''), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a memb ...

, 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 Richard William Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film '' Stand by Me'', Joey Trotta in '' Toy Soldiers'', ...

, and resulted in a boycott of the network. Since then, Discovery has increasingly been accused of using junk science, pushing dubious theories, creating fake stories, and misleading scientists as to the nature of the documentaries being produced. In early 2015, Discovery President

Rich Ross Rich Ross is the former Group President of Discovery Channel and Science Channel. Earlier in his tenure at Discovery he also oversaw Animal Planet and Velocity (TV network). Previously he was the Chief Executive Officer of Shine America, respo ...

vowed to remove this type of programming from future Shark Week lineups. More criticism was leveled at Discovery in 2017 when the network heavily promoted a race between Olympic gold medal winner

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold med ...

and a great white shark that turned out to be computer generated, but based on actual speeds of such animals, and Phelps wearing illegal swim gear.

Programming information

Home media

References

General references

Inline citations

External links

Shark Week
on the Discovery Channel website
Shark Week
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

It's time for Shark Week to redeem itself
Boston Globe
Shark Week's ratings show there's blood in the water
, Discover
More proof a Megalodon did not swim with the Nazis
Arstechnica {{Discovery Channel programming Television programming blocks in the United States Discovery Channel American annual television specials Sharks Recurring events established in 1988 June events July events August events Week-long events