Are you as sick of that Baby Shark song as I am?
Let us get to the real sharks! Welcome back to Shark Week (Hoo Ha Ha) A week long celebration of Earth’s 440 different species of sharks! My name is Sylly and I am back to tread water with you again this year.
Shark Week started on Discovery Channel on July 17, 1988 with 10 episodes. Now it is televisions longest running summer event. There is no end to Shark Week themed items. Cakes, ice creams, drinks, apparel, toys. I personally have the Build-A-Bear Great White. Much of the merchandise goes to shark research and conservation awareness.
Shark Week kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. on Discovery Channel. This year’s host is actor/comedian Rob Riggle. Mr. Riggle also appeared on last year’s Shark Week alongside Shaq. Some of the celebrities in the lineup this year include, Adam Devine, Damon Wayans Jr., Joel McHale, and illusionist Andrew Mayne. Shark Week’s all new 2019 programming includes the “first ever” Shark Week original scripted film Capsized: Blood in the Water, starring Josh Duhamel. Based on true events.
Discovery Channel and Shark Week have teamed up with Oceana this year to help fight shark finning. What is shark finning? Shark finning is the brutal practice of slicing off a shark’s fins, often for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. The shark is still alive when it is dumped back into the ocean. Unable to swim, they sink to the bottom to die of suffocation.
Here are the 2018 stats: There were 66 unprovoked shark attacks on humans worldwide. Four of those attacks were fatal. Approximately 100,000,000 sharks were slaughtered by humans.
Tonight’s Programming begins at 8 p.m. with Expedition Unknown: Megalodon. 9 p.m. Shark Trip: Eat, Prey, Chum. 11 p.m. Shark After Dark.
I can’t wait to dive in and hear what you think too!
Sylvia Papineau is an Arcade resident and self-proclaimed Shark Week ‘finatic.’ Watch All WNY News all week for her take on Shark Week 2019 specials.
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