Shark Week

History

The first Shark Week aired in July 1988, with Caged in Fear as its first show. 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 block, Discovery decided to continue it. In 2000, Discovery Channel aired Shark Week Uncaged presented by well-known zoologist Nigel Marven as a host. Six million 3D Pulfrich glasses were distributed to viewers in North America for an episode featuring an extinct giant shark, which had 3D segments.

Starting in 2000, 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, titled "Jobs that Bite" and "Jobs that Bite...Harder". That year, a 446 ft inflatable great white shark named Chompie was hung from the Discovery Channel's Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters.

In 2007, the 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 2014, Deep Blue, a large great white shark estimated to be twenty feet 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 Discovery+ along with its telecasts 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 past 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, 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 a boycott of the network. Since then, Discovery has increasingly been accused of using junk science, pushing dubious theories, creating false stories, and misleading scientists as to the nature of the documentaries being produced. In early 2015, Discovery President Rich Ross vowed to remove this type of programming from future Shark Week lineups.

There has also been criticism from scientists that have been featured in episodes of Shark Week. Jonathan Davis, a 29-year-old marine biologist was featured in an episode of Shark Week called Voodoo Shark. The episode is meant to discuss the legend of the 'Rooken', and suggests that Davis strongly believes in said legend. Davis had believed he was being featured to talk about his research, but instead was blindsided by this portrayal. He also recounts that while filming, "One of the guys was like, "Oh, maybe you should just let it bite you, that would be so exciting.' And I was just thinking to myself, 'Are you kidding me? You really think I wanna let the shark bite me just for ratings? Are you serious?'"

More criticism was leveled at Discovery in 2017 when the network heavily promoted a race between Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps 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.

Content analysis

A 2022 study reviewed trends in the content covered by Shark Week. Of the 272 Shark Week programs produced, 43% had titles using words with negative connotations in context (such as "attack", "fear", "deadly"). The relative proportion of in-context negative titles is stable through time, rising at the same rate as the overall number of shows. Of the 201 shows that could be viewed by the authors, around 74% referenced shark bites or other negative portrayals of sharks. 63% of shows used positive language in reference to sharks, though this language was often only used briefly.

About 37% of shows are research-oriented, though in some years (2009–2012, 2020) less than a quarter of shows involved research. Research methods are skewed towards expensive and television-friendly techniques such as satellite telemetry tagging, drones, and ROVs. In contrast, actual shark science is oriented more towards methodical research related to life history and reproduction, which are more practical for conservation work. Uncertainty and repeatability are frequently eschewed in presentation, in favor of controversy or authoritative results. Of the people labelled as "experts" or authorities by Shark Week programs, 41% have over 26 peer-reviewed publications, while 23% lack any contribution to the scientific literature. Little distinction is made between experiential (non-scientific) and scientific experts.

The demographics of Shark Week "experts" mirrors the underrepresentation of women and people of color in STEM fields. 94% of "experts" featured by Shark Week are white, and 79% are male. 24 shows featured at least one non-white "expert" and 60 involved at least one woman "expert". Several non-doctorate men were referred to as "Dr.", and several doctorate-holding women were not labelled with their title. The most commonly featured country is the United States (24.2% of episodes, with California, Florida, Hawaii, and Massachusetts as the predominant states), followed by the Bahamas (15%), South Africa (15%), New Zealand (10%), Australia (10%), and Mexico (10%). Black researchers are rarely featured despite the fact that both the Bahamas and South Africa are majority-black countries.

79 living species of sharks have been featured in Shark Week, along with several species of batoids (rays and kin), chimaeras, and extinct forms. The most common species to be featured are great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, 18.4% of episodes), tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier, 12.2%), bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas, 9.6%), and hammerhead sharks (Sphyrnidae, 8.4%). Some species with extensive scientific literature are rarely featured, such as bonnetheads (Sphyrna tiburo), sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus), and the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). Threats to sharks are alluded to by a majority (53%) of shows, with 14% mentioning the fin trade, though only 3% identify particular measures that viewers could take towards shark conservation. No Shark Week shows have recommended government action or donations to shark conservation groups.

Programming information

Home media

References

General references

Inline citations

References

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