Shark Week
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| Shark Week | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Annual Week-long Event |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Discovery Channel |
| Original run | 1988 – Present |
The Discovery Channel's Shark Week, which first aired in 1987, is a week-long series of feature television programs dedicated to facts on sharks. Shark Week is held annually, normally running in July or August. During Shark Week 2006, the Silver Spring, Maryland, headquarters of the Discovery Channel was outfitted to resemble a giant shark.
In 2000, 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. [1]
In 2005, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from the Discovery Channel series MythBusters hosted Shark Week, and a two-hour MythBusters "Jaws Special" was premiered for the event. In 2006, Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs hosted, and two Dirty Jobs episodes were featured, titled "Jobs that Bite" and "Jobs that Bite Harder".
[edit] In popular culture
- In the NBC sitcom 30 Rock Tracy Jordan encourages Kenneth to "Live every week like it's Shark Week."
- Alaskan comedy duo Danny Tanner's Rainbow Militia have recorded an entire album entitled "Shark Week: The Album", dedicated to the week long event.
- In the 2004 film The Girl Next Door, while frantically driving Matthew Kidman to his scholarship banquet, Klitz quietly tells his mom on a cell phone that he can't watch Shark Week right now, but asks that she tape it.
- News comedian Stephen Colbert featured a small segment on The Colbert Report in which he found that sand (especially people being trapped in their own sand holes) has been responsible for more fatalities in the United States than shark attacks, prompting him to suggest the Discovery Channel hold an annual Sand Week.
- On the animated TV series the Simpsons, Homer was about to leave Maggie under the supervision of "Grandma Shark Week."
- In the TV movie Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, General Skarr expressed displeasure over the fact that he could not watch Shark Week due to his TV being broken.
- On the Showtime series Weeds, "Shark Week" is used as a euphemism for menstruation on the "Just Like Tomatoes" episode in Season 2.
- During a 2006 issue of The Punisher (vol. 6, issue 34) the title character relies on information culled from Shark Week to survive when when an enemy has thrown him to wild sharks.
[edit] 2007 Shark Week
- Shark Week took place from July 29 through August 4.
- 2007 marks the 20th annual Shark Week.
- The premier program in 2007's Shark Week was Ocean of Fear.
- Shark Week in 2007 was hosted by Les Stroud, host of the Discovery series Survivorman.
- During Shark Week's 20th anniversary celebration, eight all-new programs aired. They were: (in order of airdate) Jul 29th: "Ocean of Fear: Worst shark attack ever", Jul 30th: "Deadly Stripes: Tiger Sharks", Jul 30th: "Top 5 Eaten Alive", Jul 31st: "Shark Feeding Frenzy", Aug 1st: "Perfect Predators", Aug 2nd: "Shark Tribe", Aug 3rd "Sharks: A Family Affair", Aug 4th: "SharkMan"
- 103 other programs that have aired since Shark Week's birth in 1987 also were shown.
- The game Sharkrunners was created in honor of Shark Week and featured on G4's Attack of the Show.
