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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Shark Week 2015

I used to love Discovery Channel's Shark Week when it started out, but over the years, I've liked it less and less. Then there was the year they did the fake documentary on megalodon and I was disgusted. I skipped that year and the one after that, but I decided I'd give 2015 a shot.

On the plus side, I didn't see any fake shows although there were definitely graphics used that looked real and weren't labeled as being artist renderings or anything. But on the negative side...

There was a lot I didn't like about Shark Week in 2015. Like the fact that people were risking their lives with dangerous sharks just for the sensationalism, not for any scientific purpose. This one guy was an idiot two years running. Last year (which I didn't see), he apparently got on top of an outline of a shark that was floating at the surface while large female great whites got pissed off about this visitor. Really? WTF?

It sounded as if Discovery Channel had a poll for viewers to vote for stupidest stunt. That's not what they called it, of course, but that's what it came down to and guess who won? Yes, the idiot in the paragraph above. BTW, I went to their website and I couldn't find any links for a viewer's choice vote, but maybe that's because it's finished. But if viewers are voting for this crap, Shark Week is never going to improve.

The moments of true science were few and far between, which saddened me greatly. It was all sensationalism and more sensationalism. More unnecessary risks and people accidentally falling into the water with large, dangerous sharks during some attempt at more sensationalism. This is into water that they've been chumming and floating bait fish in to attract the sharks, so it was seriously dangerous. One day someone's going to get killed by a shark doing one of these stunts and it won't be the shark's fault.

Basically, Shark Week was another huge disappointment. You can do better than this Discovery Channel. I want science, not sensationalism.