July 17, 1988: Mike Tyson was on the cover of Life magazine, “Hold On to the Nights” by Richard Marx topped the charts, “Coming to America” was #1 at the box office for the third straight week and SHARK WEEK was born! Cable’s longest running programming event and everyone’s favorite summertime ritual celebrates 25 years on August 12th (beginning at 9PM E/P) with eight all-new shark-filled specials that get you so close to the action, if you were any closer you’d be bait!
Here’s a bite of what programming is headed our way this summer:
Picking up where 2011’s Emmy®-nominated Ultimate Air Jaws left off, shark expert Chris Fallows and legendary natural history producer Jeff Kurr embark on a quest to learn more about the great white sharks of Seal Island, South Africa – and one shark in particular, Colossus, in Air Jaws Apocalypse. Kurr and his team push the envelope even further with new hair-raising encounters… even if it means risking their lives for the ultimate close-up with the now-legendary 14-foot great white.
They’ve lost limbs and nearly their lives – but they haven’t lost faith in the ocean’s apex predator. In Shark Fight, relive the harrowing moments when all went wrong and sharks mistook humans for prey. And learn why these victims turned what could have been tragedy into a tool for triumph, making it their mission to protect the lives of the very animals that almost took theirs.
In a groundbreaking partnership with Discovery Channel, a Stanford University research team, led by Dr. Barbara Block, sets out to tag the great whites of the Farallons off the coast of California in Great White Highway. They attempt to track where the ocean’s apex predators are migrating in the Pacific, where they are meeting and possibly mating, and maybe where they go to give birth – something that continues to elude scientists.
Also new this year: witness the resurrection of the largest shark ever to swim in our oceans and test out its chomping capabilities with MythBusters’ Kari, Grant and Tory in Sharkzilla; relive some of the scariest, funniest and most memorable moments of the past 24 years in Shark Week’s 25 Best Bites; learn the true impact one of the most legendary movies had on both audiences and the filmmakers in How Jaws Changed the World; watch the inspiring true story of two war heroes who survived shark-infested waters in Adrift: 47 Days with Sharks; and mark SHARK WEEK’s anniversary with none other than Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman as they count down their top 25 shark myths of all time and reveal the #1 myth that will literally blow people away in MythBusters’ Jawsome Shark Special.
Once again this year, Discovery Channel will educate the public about the plight of sharks around the world through public service announcements. The PSAs will air each night during primetime, informing viewers about threats currently facing plummeting shark populations.
For more information on all things sharks, fans can head over to SharkWeek.com, the destination for deep-dive content – from enlightening infographics to jawsome videos and games.
Tune in to the Discovery Channel this summer to celebrate 25 years of the ocean’s apex predator taking over the network – and don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Shark Week Kicks Off August 12 at 9 PM ET on Discovery Channel.
