![]() In general, I don’t really give advice on how to avoid sharks biting you, because these incidents are so rare that you really don’t need to worry about them. Several descriptions of shark behavior reprorted in past versions of these shows is impossible nonsense (which does not mean that these stories of humans getting injured aren’t tragic, any human death or injury is a tragedy). Stories of sharks biting people have a long history on Shark Week, even though actual shark bites are so rare that the same stories are told in multiple iterations of these shows. Gotta ding them half a letter grade for exposing me to this random commercial break segue, though. I called this show “pointless but mildly amusing,” placing it solidly in the top 1/3 of Shark Week 2019. Eventually, the winner chose to also get in, where they were escorted by shark researcher and frequent Shark Week star Luke Tipple. The premise of the show was that two of the show’s staff had to compete in increasingly ridiculous, vaguely shark themed challenges (riding a bull shark bucking bronco, attempting to outswim a shark-shaped speedboat), and the loser had to swim with sharks. The hosts are bro-tastic white guys, but they were at least on the charming and entertaining side of that spectrum. This is apparently a special Shark Week edition of an existing show called “immersion” which I had never heard of, but it’s an online mythbusters type show. Reminder that doing something intentionally unsafe and totally unnecessary is not inherently “brave.” The show features silky sharks, rarely seen on Shark Week. The two hosts are white males, but they actually have relevant skillsets (in the survival world), and they do have a scientific expert on hand (Dr. Also, they claimed that the only humans to experience the risk of sharks in these waters are WWII fighter pilots who crashed, but, like, humans live on those islands. I hate these shows, they’re just unpleasant to watch, it’s people torturing themselves for no reason. They get dehydrated and seasick and essentially none of the danger here has anything to do with sharks. The show also had some inexplicable nonsense narration, saying “electro sensors in the shark’s nose zero in on movement.”Īfter 15 minutes of air time, the survivalists are given a life raft, which later breaks. In the opening narration, they mention that the location (Palau) is a Shark Sanctuary, but don’t explain at all what that is, another wasted opportunity to put actual education in these shows. ![]() In this show, our survival experts plan on spending days at a time in the water with no food or water, in an area where there are sharks. Various past iterations of these shows have a long history on shark Week. These are dangerous situations that involve sharks, but in which sharks are not the only or primary threat. This is the latest in a series of survival experts putting themselves in ridiculous situations you will never ever face, because reasons. ![]() Rankings appear in no particular order, if you care about the order the shows actually aired in please see this Discovery press release. Overall, this was not a strong year for science, facts, or diversity (of either sharks or shark researchers).Īs a reminder, I grade on the following aspects of a show: is there actual science or natural history educational content / is there made up nonsense, are actual credentialed experts with relevant expertise featured or are they self-proclaimed “shark experts” who say wrong nonsense all the time, what species are featured (with bonus points for species we rarely or never see), and do they feature diverse experts or just the same white men (reminder: my field is more than 50% women)? It’s not a perfect rubric, but it’s better than this actual system for ranking shark news introduced this year in “sharks gone wild 2:” I did not watch the feature-length movie, which they claim is the first fictional entertainment content they’ve ever produced… causing me to stare in megalodon. I wasn’t able to watch live this year, but I DVR-ed all 18 specials and watched them eventually! Here are my reviews, ratings, and thoughts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |