Photo courtesy of Shark Week 2023/Facebook The annual week-long programming juggernaut airs on the Discovery Channel, July 23-30.
Entertainment

Hang on to your seats here comes Shark Week

Annual programming frenzy airs on the Discovery Channel  

By Barb Pert Templeton

Who would have guessed that a week-long summer programming idea based on the big toothy eating machines that roam ocean waters, yes SHARKS, would become must see TV for millions of viewers every July? 

Well, now in its 35th summer of wowing viewers with a huge variety of programs, all based on sharks, the Discovery Channel is ready to launch the 2023 version, programs begin on Sunday, July 23 and run through Sunday, July 30.

The original premise for the programs was to promote conservation efforts and dispel myths about sharks but it seems viewers like the blood and gore more.

As the programming grew in popularity, celebrity hosts were added to the mix and this year actor Jason Momoa will take the honors. 

A full 20 hours of new shark-based programming will include such titles as, “Belly of the Beast: Feeding Frenzy” that will bring a close-up look at a great white shark feast — captured by researchers with cameras inside a whale carcass. There’s also “Cocaine Sharks” that reveals what happens to sharks if they feed on cocaine and other illegal drugs dumped in South Florida waters.

Or there’s “Great White Fight Club” that has a team of adventures heading into the ocean in metal cages to prove a theory about the female sharks’ dominance in their life underwater. There’s also “Raiders of the Lost Shark” that features of pair of shark experts on a relentless search to find “The Dutchess” who mysteriously vanished in South Africa. 

The schedule offers an impressive list of options for shark fans and the descriptions of some of the hours of shark entertainment might even intrigue less ardent fans of the big fish.

Photo courtesy of Wikepedia.com
The blockbuster film, “Jaws” was based on the novel by Peter Benchley.

In fact, I’d say I fall into that latter category, not into the gore of the attacks but I’ll likely check out some of this year’s options on the Discovery Channel next week.

In the meantime, in the spirit of the large, dangerous creatures here are a few must see movies related to the topic that I’ve enjoyed over the last few decades.

JAWS  1975 Directed by Steven Spielberg for Universal Pictures 

Storyline: The peak of the summer tourist season on an island near Cape Cod prompts the discovery of a killer shark dining on swimmers. The small town, whose viability is dependent on the seasonal guests, doesn’t want to face facts and close down until the shark is caught. The exception is Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Schneider) who hires a professional shark hunter, Sam Quint (Robert Shaw) and marine biologist, Matthew Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) to capture and kill the shark. 

Behind the Scenes: 

  • Some 67 million people in the U.S. went to see this film when it was released in 1975, making it the first summer “blockbuster.”
  • According to the writers, Roy Schneider ad-libbed the line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” which was heavily quoted and remains a popular line from the film even today. 
  • When Director Steven Spielberg first read the novel, “Jaws” by author Peter Benchley he said he found himself rooting for the shark because the human characters were so unlikeable.

DEEP BLUE SEA 1999 Directed by Renny Harlin for Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc.

Storyline: A thriller with some very graphic shark attack scenes, this story follows the work of several scientists who are hired for a special project calling for them to harvest and enlarge the brains of sharks and utilize the results to help fight Alzheimer’s disease. Samuel L Jackson plays an investigator sent to the site of the $200 million dollar project to keep scientists on task. The storyline turns deadly when a trio of sharks turn on the scientists and the crew and break free and go on the attack.

Behind the Scenes:

Photo courtesy of Wikepedia.com
Bruce the shark is a reformed killer white shark trying his best to halt his natural instinct to ingest fish, in the film “Finding Nemo.”
  • A majority of the film’s sharks weren’t real and scenes were shot in a studio. But at the conclusion of that filming in Mexico the director insisted the cast and crew head to the Bahamas to film some scenes with real sharks. Actor Thomas Jane, who played a shark wrangler, was later quoted as saying he found the experience to be terrifying. 
  • A license plate pulled from the shark’s teeth in this film was the same one found in the tiger shark in Jaws (1975).

FINDING NEMO  2003 Directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich for Disney Pixar 

Storyline: A heart-warming Disney film may seem an odd choice for this list of “shark” movies but it actually has a story line related to the deadly predators. After his son Nemo is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney, a timid clownfish, named Marlin, sets out on a journey to bring him home. One of the main characters in the movie is Bruce, a great white shark whose favorite saying is “Fish are friends not food” and he tries to live by those words. By the time he meets, Nemo and Marlin, he’s fought his natural instincts as a killer and hasn’t had a fantailed friend in several weeks. In fact, Bruce establishes a support group for Fish-Friendly Sharks.

Behind the scenes: 

  • Although it was thought that the film could be a box office bomb, it actually became the highest grossing animated film of all time surpassing “The Lion King.”
  • The character of Dory was originally written for a male but when the writers happen to have Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show one day they heard her change the subject five times in a matter of minutes and decided the silly blue tang fish, Dory, needed to have the voice of the popular comedian.

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