All the tooth about the true meaning of Shark Week: Monkey See: NPR

Look, it's a shark! The shark participates in some way in Shark Week, no doubt, or why would Discovery have his picture?

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Discovery Channel

This week, Discovery celebrates the 30th anniversary of Shark Week. Do you understand what that means? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

Well, not anything . This means that if you are under 30, Shark Week has existed since before you were born. You have never known Shark Week! On the day of your birth, someone could have said, "My boy, I really expect Shark Week next year. And the other person would have hoped to have narrowed his eyes and said, "Are you?"

This has not always been quite the phenomenon that he is now. Shark Week matured in November 2006, when Tracy Jordan, played by Tracy Morgan, gave Kenneth this advice: "Live every week as if it was Shark Week". If you want to use the search engine of your choice, you will find that there is an abundance of contraband products bearing the same slogan, ripping at once 30 Rock and Shark Week simultaneously. [19659006] Since then, Shark Week has been omnipresent.However? He even came in an interview with Stormy Daniels that aired earlier this year on 60 Minutes .

The Saga Continues. , Discovery broadcasts specials including Alien Sharks: Greatest Hits [19659010] Cuba's Secret Shark's Den Guy Fieri's Frenetic Nourishment Shark Tank Meets Shark Week Sharkwrecked Great White Sharks Sharks Gone Wild and My Favorite – An Adaptive Adaptation An existing Discovery property – Bare and scared of sharks . Shark Week now fully exploits all other clichés of reality / unscripted television: celebrities, culinary shows, baby animals, nudity, brand extensions … this thing is a machine. They even review their special disastrous Megalodon of 2013, which made fiction look like science to the point where the credibility of the entire network – and yes, it originally had a little credibility – has been damaged.

And, after all, is it more fundamental to the culture of our collective moment than to be more attentive to wallowing in your worst decisions?

This year, you can get a plethora of shark tie products to advertise a cable programming event yourself! You can build a shark at the Build-A-Bear workshop, buy Shark Week ties, or eat Swedish fish in a Shark Week bag!

Look: The phenomenon of the Shark week is, at a fundamental level, very … strange. (This is a very technical term from the television industry.) It started as a Discovery Channel marketing – a way to attract viewers over the summer by shouting BOO! on beaches and oceans using the power of science. They have also used it in the past to encourage conservation and highlight the problems that shark populations face, and they still say so, to a certain extent. But that's not why there is a special this year called Sharkcam Stakeout. Sharks represent an example of a common fear that, although real, is very unlikely to ever affect an individual person. You could not attract a large audience with the thrills of Diabetes Week or Car Accident Week. The dangers of sharks evoke exactly the threat and the exact distance that this kind of exploitation requires. It's just in the pocket: it's exciting, but the chances are very slim that's how you'll die. Try it with the week of increasingly unstable weather patterns.

But at one point, Shark Week began to be treated as a real moment, such as Flag Day or the month of October. It's rumored beyond Discovery. Now, we also have a movie Sharknado every summer. ( The last Sharknado: It's About Time begins August 19th and involves time travel.) (I know, trust me, I know.) Nat Geo Wild – who n & # 39 did not even exist when Shark Week was invented – now runs the very similar "Sharkfest", which will be two weeks this year and is already underway. (Bids include Tuna Shark The Whale Who ate Jaws: New Evidence and Kill Shark Zone .)

This must stop. Shark week is not the day of the Earth. It's not even as charming as Valentine's Day, and Valentine's Day is a scam! At least other invented holidays are invented in order to make you buy gifts. Shark Week is just there to make you watch Shark Week.

There is a lot of science on television – public television in particular. There are also a lot of wild animals on TV. But when Shark Week holds a cross with Shark Tank simply because they both have "Shark" in the title, and when they do Naked and Afraid of Sharks just for laughter you get when you read the headline aloud (just done, just one), you've gone far away from science and conservation. The key is not to live every week as it is the week of sharks. The key is to live Shark Week as if it was any other week. Because that's it.