Exit
ICHARD MARX’S
“HOLD On to the
Nights” topped the
Billboard charts, Cindy
Crawford covered Playboy, “Coming
to America” held the No. 1 spot at
the box office, Michael Dukakis was
the Democratic presidential candidate and the first episode of Shark
Week ran on national TV. Today,
only the latter enjoys the same cultural relevance it did back in 1988.
Twenty-five years and 143 programs later, the Discovery Channel series is kicking off its silver
anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 12,
and celebrating its reign as cable’s
longest-running programming.
But what is it that turned an
educational show into such a huge
phenomenon? The question remains as elusive as ever, with many
a confused viewer wandering into
online forums to ask, “Am I the only
one who doesn’t get it?!”
For some, the answer is obvious
— sharks. Our morbid fascination
with the big fish is fully indulged
during the weeklong marathon,
with dramatic footage of closeups on shark attacks and flying
sharks never before seen on TV.
Pop culture has also lent a hand.
Drinking games were born. Words
like “jawsome,” created. Most fa-
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08.12.12
mously, Tracy advised Kenneth on
30 Rock to “live every week like it’s
Shark Week.” All of which makes it
harder to discern whether the mania is in earnest or jest.
“There is no exact formula for
why some franchises grab the
public consciousness and never
let go, but with Shark Week it
starts with great storytelling, cutting edge production values, and a
It’s a sadistic fascination
with the horrific misfortunes
of cute surfer boys.”
fascinating character: the shark!”
David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery
Communications, told The Daily
Beast enthusiastically in 2010.
Newsweek’s Isia Jasiewicz
mused more cynically, “It’s a sadistic fascination with the horrific
misfortunes of cute surfer boys,
friendly marine biologists, and...
innocent dolphins.”
Whatever the case, Discovery has
reason to bring the event — which
is nearly as old as the network —
back yearly. The network’s founder,
John Hendricks, premiered it during the summer as a testing ground
for their programs. It worked. When