# Shark Week Jumps... something **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491 "2013-08-06T13:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/1 "2013-08-06T13:15:06Z")
Discovery Channel launched Shark Week on Sunday with a special “Megalodon: The Monster Shark That Lives.” The premise is a fishing boat was sunk in South Africa earlier this year, and evidence points to Megalodon, a shark that’s been extinct for millions of years. Unfortunately, it’s a totally fictional mockumentary just like the two Mermaids specials they showed last year. Events that never happened, lots of CGI video presented as real, actors playing scientists, and just enough real footage to give it a gloss of believability. Apparently [people are in an uproar](http://www.businessinsider.com/discovery-channel-fake-megalodon-documentary-2013-8) over it; even [Wil Wheaton](http://wilwheaton.net/2013/08/discovery-channel-owes-its-viewers-an-apology/) is demanding an apology from them. I watched it last night, and if you’ve seen the “Mermaids” specials its fairly obvious this is the same kind of entertaining garbage, but there’s nearly nothing to indicate that its fiction. A few disclaimers that flash by so fast that you can only read them if you pause, that say events have been “recreated” or “dramatized”. So yeah, screw Discovery Channel for showing this crap. Off to Nat Geo to watch their second string shark specials. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/2 "2013-08-06T13:20:09Z")
Madame Pepperwinkle lives for Shark Week, and as soon as we saw the too-good-looking scientist with his obviously scripted lines, she despaired. Let us all hope Discovery learns the errors of its way before it loses all its credibility, and becomes another History channel. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/3 "2013-08-06T13:28:33Z")
Oh! Ancient Alien sharks!! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/4 "2013-08-06T13:39:29Z")
I spent a good part of Sunday watching [Captain Brett McBride](http://www.ocearch.org/CREW.html) on Shark Men as they caught and tagged a number of Tigers, Silkies and assorted others. I start watching and can’t turn the damn thing off. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/5 "2013-08-06T13:50:33Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Off to Nat Geo to watch their second string shark specials. …which they’re calling “Shark Fest.” I guess “Shark Week” is protected intellectual property of some kind? ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/6 "2013-08-06T14:00:41Z")
Shark Weak ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/7 "2013-08-06T14:43:04Z")
I think it says something when they don’t put [Chompie](http://www.wtop.com/25/2003180/Huge-shark-sticks-out-of-Discoverys-HQ) on the side of their building this year. It’s quite a site to see. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/8 "2013-08-06T14:49:41Z")
The show jumped the Fonzie. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/9 "2013-08-06T15:13:36Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > The show jumped the Fonzie. There ya go! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/10 "2013-08-06T15:14:54Z")
Here’s a couple of good articles on it: Ed Yong at NatGeo’s Not Exactly Rocket Science chimes in with [Like Shark Week, But With Actual Facts](http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/06/like-shark-week-but-with-actual-facts/) (ouch): > [@](#): > > It’s Shark Week, and the Discovery Channel have already jumped the shark with a fake documentary, asking if a giant prehistoric shark Megalodon is actually still alive. It’s not, and the show was filled with lies, fabrications and actors playing scientists. > > Here’s a radical alternative idea: I thought I might celebrate Shark Week by telling you some actual facts about sharks. This, therefore, is a collection of my earlier Not Exactly Rocket Science posts on sharks (and a couple of rays, for good measure). And the piece Yong refers to, Christie Wilcox at Discover Magazine’s Science Sushi: [Shark Week Jumps the Shark: An Open Letter to Discovery Communications](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2013/08/05/shark-week-jumps-the-shark-an-open-letter-to-discovery-communications/). > [@](#): > > The real science of these animals should have been more than enough to inspire Discovery Channel viewers. But it’s as if you don’t care anymore about presenting the truth or reality. You chose, instead, to mislead your viewers with 120 minutes of bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/11 "2013-08-06T15:48:32Z")
Shark Week lost its luster for me some time in 2005. It was a nice little treat to come home to after sweating your ass off in the mid-August heat, to plop down on a couch and nap on and off to a virtual fish tank full of sharks. It certainly doesn’t deserve the exuberant cult-like following that it currently enjoys. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/12 "2013-08-06T15:56:35Z")
They outta call it “Shart Week”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/13 "2013-08-06T16:07:51Z")
We had the misfortune of watching Megalodon on Sunday night. It was almost immediately clear to me that it was too well-filmed, and too well-scripted, to be an actual documentary. At the very end, they ran a set of disclaimers on the bottom of the screen (each of which _might_ have been on screen for a second…no way you could read them if you didn’t use a DVR to freeze-frame them) which acknowledged, in a weasel-words sort of way, that the film did not portray actual events, but built on theories. I’m sure that there are a lot of credulous people out there who thought it was an actual documentary, which is really sad, and deceptive on the part of Discovery. (I’ll also note that the “live” talk show they’re running every evening this week is incredibly lame.) ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/14 "2013-08-06T16:32:21Z")
The real question is, was it more or less scientific than Sharknado? ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/15 "2013-08-06T16:32:29Z")
I thought that it was vaguely entertaining. The Mermaid show was better, though, because they added a “conspiracy” element to it. Ya gotta have a fun conspiracy going on! Discovery seems to be merging with the SyFy network. What’s next, “SharkNado Vs, Megalodon”? Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/16 "2013-08-06T17:08:55Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Discovery seems to be merging with the SyFy network. To the detriment of both channels. I find it sad but interesting (in a vague sort of “entropy of stupidity” way) that scope creep has affected the original intent of these channels to such a damaging degree. The original promise of the plethora of cable channels was that you could have specialty channels that would concentrate programming on a narrow band of interests (e.g. natural science-based pop-educational shows, or solid speculative fiction), but it seems very few channels are _not_ straying from their original premise these days (when was the last time TLC did anything related to learning?). ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/17 "2013-08-06T17:15:44Z")
That’s a great observation **Ed**. Seems like the Internet went on and became all the niches that cable was supposed to become. I wonder if it has to do with the economic models or if it just was lucky timing on the part of the web. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/18 "2013-08-06T17:22:22Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > To the detriment of both channels. I find it sad but interesting (in a vague sort of “entropy of stupidity” way) that scope creep has affected the original intent of these channels to such a damaging degree. The original promise of the plethora of cable channels was that you could have specialty channels that would concentrate programming on a narrow band of interests (e.g. natural science-based pop-educational shows, or solid speculative fiction), but it seems very few channels are _not_ straying from their original premise these days (when was the last time TLC did anything related to learning?). Thinking about TLC makes me sad. There used to be some good informative programming on there; now it is just crap! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/19 "2013-08-06T18:03:15Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > I thought that it was vaguely entertaining. The Mermaid show was better, though, because they added a “conspiracy” element to it. Ya gotta have a fun conspiracy going on! > > Discovery seems to be merging with the SyFy network. What’s next, “SharkNado Vs, Megalodon”? Ha! **Megalodonado** , the gripping story of the sharknado that revealed the existence of the previously thought extinct Megalodon when a freak hurricane with multiple tornados began flinging prehistoric sharks the size of city buses at an unsuspecting populace. SyFy network, please PM or email me for information on where to send my royalties. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491/20 "2013-08-06T18:13:31Z")
I find it very interesting that the Science Channel shows better science fiction than the Scyfy channel - marathons of Dollhouse, Firefly and Fringe - all GOOD science fiction - and the science programming is generally watchable. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shark-week-jumps-something/665491.md?page=2)