It’s time to dive back into shark-infested waters—Shark Week is back! It’s the greatest shark-related TV event of the year (#SorryNotSorry, Sharknado)! Because no summer is complete without countless hours of deep sea terror. Bring it on!
Take a bite out of Discovery Channel’s official schedule, which runs through July 30, and includes Eli Roth’s return to Shark After Dark, a Chris Noth-narrated special (that is actually called Sharks and the City. Have we no shame, Discovery!?), and :::drumroll please::: Michael Phelps racing a shark.
Yes. Michael Phelps. Racing. A shark. Give it to me. I’m ready.
Insert the Tracy Jordan Shark Week gif HERE and set your DVRs for the following:
SUNDAY, JULY 23
Great White Shark Serial Killer Lives (7 p.m.)
Official description: “Every two years in October — in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 — a secluded beach on the central California coast has been the scene of great white shark attacks. Is it the same shark returning again and again? And will the attacks continue in October 2016? Dr. Michael Domeier believes the Surf Beach attacks may be more than a tragic coincidence. With the help of shark experts Ralph Collier and Cal Lutheran, and using satellite tags and DNA technology, he wants to out the killer once and for all.”
Phelps Vs Shark: Great Gold Vs Great White (8 p.m.)
“They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps Vs Shark – The race is on!”
Shark-Croc Showdown (9:10 p.m.)
“Dr. Mark Meekan and conservationist Paul de Gelder go on an expedition to one the sharkiest places in the world – a remote wilderness called the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia. Meekan is there to count sharks and species as part of Vulcan’s Global FinPrint project – Paul de Gelder’s going because he heard that sharks and crocs fight over sea turtles out there. What happens when 14-foot crocodiles move into shark infested waters? That’s what they’re going to find out!”
The Great Hammerhead Invasion (10:10 p.m.)
“Early November, Giant Hammerheads arrive off Bimini, in the Bahamas. But why? Leading shark scientist Tristan Guttridge tags and follows these normally solitary sharks to find out. Many appear to be pregnant females, as an ultrasound of a female hammerhead shows. Guttridge believes they over-winter in Bimini to feed the growing young in their bellies – and then move on to the Florida coast to prey on migrating blacktips – and the evidence is unmistakable.”
Shark After Dark (11:10 p.m.)
“Shark After Dark will look back at some of the highlights from Shark Week and look ahead to give viewers a sneak peek at the next day’s Shark Week programs. Eli Roth returns as host for the third year in a row.”
MONDAY, JULY 24
Shark Vortex (8 p.m.)
“Each summer the Gulf Stream pushes north into the waters of southern New England, bringing with it thirty species of shark. Greg Skomal and Joe Romeiro study the annual spectacle, focusing on three sharks – makos, great whites, and porbeagles – that can out-swim, out-think, and out-compete all the others.”
Return to the Isle of Jaws (9 p.m.)
“Divers and scientists Return to the Isle of Jaws to unlock the mysteries of this new great white hot spot, just south of Western Australia. They make a startling discovery that causes a re-think of everything we thought we knew about great whites.”
Alien Sharks: Stranger Fins (10 p.m.)
“Alien Sharks is back in search of some of the world’s strangest sharks. Dr. Craig O’Connell goes to the Bass Strait for sawsharks, while Victoria Elena Vasquez and Dr. David Ebert go into deep water in Tokyo Bay to find the star of the show, the goblin shark. They find both sawsharks and goblins — and many more, including ghost sharks, frilled sharks, and the amazing luminescent lantern shark.”
Shark After Dark (11 p.m.)
TUESDAY, JULY 25
Sharks and the City: L.A. (9 p.m.)
“Along the coastline of LA, great white sharks are increasing and they seem to be hunting out of season. Dr. Chris Lowe, Director of the CSULB Shark Lab, wants to know why. His investigation takes him to Guadalupe Island, off Mexico, where he finds the answer.”
Sharks and the City: New York (10 p.m.)
“For decades, great white shark numbers were in decline in the waters around New York. But now, seals are back in New York Harbor – can the great whites be far behind? Marine biologist Craig O’Connell tries to find out how close they really are, and shows what a future with great whites in New York will look like.”
Shark After Dark (11 p.m.)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26
The Lost Cage (9 p.m.)
“A team of explorers float in a one-of-a-kind shark cage, 500 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Acting as human lures in the open ocean will they encounter its deadliest shark?”
Devil Sharks (10 p.m.)
“From active to extinct, and at very stage in between, volcanoes hold a strong attraction for sharks of all kinds. Across the world, sharks congregate and concentrate around volcanoes and volcanic islands. What is it about volcanoes that make them shark hotspots? Dr. Mike Heithaus dives several volcanoes to find out.”
Shark After Dark (11 p.m.)
THURSDAY, JULY 27
Shark Exile (9 p.m.)
“In Brazil, Dr. Hazin has successfully reduced the number of shark encounters by simply catching and moving sharks out to the open sea. What’s his secret? And can this solution work in Australia, where encounters are a problem?”
Shark Storm (10 p.m., originally titled: Shark Swarm)
“At various times of the year and in different locations around the world, sharks of many kinds gather, swarm, and spiral. Dr. Tristan Guttridge conducts a study of just what brings them together, and what’s going on in these shark ‘societies.’”
FRIDAY, JULY 28
African Shark Safari (9 p.m.)
“Madagascar is not known as a location for great white sharks. According to the shark sanctuary here, both great whites and tigers are ‘extinct’ in Madagascan waters. So why has a great white shark, tagged in South Africa, travelled 1500 miles up the African coast to Madagascar? Craig O’Connell and the team make the long journey to the remote island nation to investigate and see if Madagascar is the next big great white shark hotspot.”
Lair of the Sawfish (10 p.m.)
“Experts unravel the mystery behind one of the sea’s strangest creatures, the sawfish, from its evolutionary links to sharks and rays, to its key role in the marine ecosystem. Their goal is to bring the sawfish back from the brink of extinction.”
SATURDAY, JULY 29
Sharkmania (9 p.m.)
“A rundown of the greatest moments from Shark Week 2017, featuring the closest calls, biggest bites, greatest gadgets, and viewers’ top picks for the best of Shark Week history.”
SUNDAY, JULY 30
Shark School with Michael Phelps (8 p.m.)
“Michael Phelps joins Doc Gruber and Tristan Guttridge of the Bimini Shark Lab to get a crash course on everything ‘shark’. They’ll dispel the myths and common misconceptions, teach him how to safely dive with sharks – including how to stay calm when a hammerhead swims two feet above his face — and will get Michael Phelps up close and personal with the incredible power of a Great White.”
