Shark Week 2013 schedule

After 26 years, you might think Discovery Channel has little new to offer during its popular annual Shark Week programming event, but the programmers and scientists — and the sharks — continue to surprise. For Shark Week 2013, beginning Aug. 4, the network says it is including the most premiere hours in the history of the Shark Week franchise, including 11 new specials that explore everything from the prehistoric megalodon shark, to “voodoo sharks” that turn up in the bayous of Louisiana, to another installment in the popular Air Jaws series, to real shark attack footage captured by eyewitnesses, and more.

Along with these specials, Discovery is taking a page from networks like AMC that feature recap shows after their popular programs. Shark After Dark is a late-night talk show that will air each evening during Shark Week 2013, discussing all things shark-related and highlighting favorite moments from Shark Week.

RELATED: SHARK WEEK 2013 IS MOST-WATCHED WEEK IN DISCOVERY HISTORY

Discovery is also touting another first for Shark Week 2013 — Shark Cam, a robot submarine used to track sharks in a new way. The premiere special Return of Jaws will include footage of Shark Cam following great whites living and hunting off Cape Cod.

Shark Week 2013 Premieres Schedule (all times ET/PT; descriptive info provided by Discovery Channel)

SUNDAY, AUG. 4

Air Jaws: Countdown to Shark Week 2013 — 8pm
Air Jaws
programming has pushed and expanded our understanding of great white sharks and has become one of the iconic Shark Week programs. In Air Jaws: Countdown to Shark Week 2013, a documentary crew goes behind the scenes to see how Air Jaws has changed what we know about these incredible creatures and to give Shark Week viewers a sneak peek into the next Air Jaws special, Finding Colossus, which will air during Shark Week 2014.

Megalodon: Monster Shark Lives — 9pm
In April 2013, a fishing vessel was attacked off the coast of South Africa, killing all on board. A TV crew documented marine biologist Collin Drake as he worked to determine the predator responsible. As the investigation goes on, time is running out to positively identify the predator. Will Drake and his team positively identify the predator before another attack? This two-hour program is the exclusive documentary following his expedition.

RELATED: “MEGALODON” SPECIAL HELPS SHARK WEEK 2013 SET VIEWERSHIP RECORDS

Shark After Dark Live — 11pm
Discovery’s first ever late-night live talk show will be featured each evening during Shark Week 2013. Comedian Josh Wolf will lead viewers through an hour-long celebration of all things shark-related that will include celebrity guests, shark experts and shark attack survivors, among others. Wolf will also look back at some of the highlights from the past 26 years of Shark Week, and look ahead to give viewers a sneak peek at the next day’s Shark Week 2013 programs. The show will also give viewers the first opportunity to interact live on-air every night with tweets, questions to the shark experts and more.

MONDAY, AUG. 5

Sharkzilla: Sharktweeto — 8pm
On this Sharktweeto edition featuring bonus footage and your tweets, meet Sharkzilla, a 52-foot mechanical Megalodon, a prehistoric mega shark that ruled the oceans as recently as 2 million years ago. The build team has brought this giant shark to life with the help of the Mythbusters, just to see what it can really do.

Return of Jaws — 9pm
With the first shark attack in the state of Massachusetts for nearly 80 years, Return of Jaws reveals brand new revelations about how the great whites live and hunt off Cape Cod by tracking a 17-foot shark with a robot submarine — a Shark Week first.

Voodoo Sharks — 10pm
This special follows a team of Cajun fishermen out to prove the existence of a monster shark reported to be living in the bayous of Louisiana. Meanwhile, a shark scientist also attempts to research bull sharks living in a freshwater lake just outside of New Orleans.

Shark After Dark Live — 11pm

TUESDAY, AUG. 6

Return of Jaws: Sharktweeto — 8pm
A Sharktweeto edition of the Return of Jaws special, featuring bonus footage and viewer tweets.

I Escaped Jaws — 9pm
These are the harrowing firsthand tales, many caught on camera, of people who stared into the jaws of a shark and survived. These survivors used their wits and experience, and all lived to share their chilling stories.

Spawn of Jaws — 10pm
Maverick scientist Dr. Michael Domeier launches a dangerous mission. Helped by The Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker, he risks life and limb to unravel the mystery of where Jaws gives birth. To pull it off he needs to get within arm’s reach of the ocean’s fiercest predator with the biggest bite in the water.

Shark After Dark Live — 11pm

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 7

Voodoo Sharks: Sharktweeto — 8pm
Featuring bonus footage and viewer tweets, this is a special edition of Voodoo Sharks.

Top Ten Sharkdown — 9pm
Tiger sharks, bull sharks and great whites kill more humans than all other shark species combined, but do you know which will be number one? Using the most recent shark-attack stats, discover how these notorious man-eaters hunt, and meet two elusive species that you really don’t want to meet snorkeling.

Great White Serial Killer — 10pm
California’s Surf Beach may be haunted by a serial killing great white shark that returns every two years, on virtually the same day, to kill. The key to solving this mystery is a CSI-style forensic study that analyzes bite patterns and uses DNA sampling of tooth fragments found in one of the victims.

Shark After Dark Live — 11pm

THURSDAY, AUG. 8

Spawn of Jaws: Sharktweeto — 8pm
Special edition of Spawn of Jaws, featuring bonus footage and viewer tweets.

Sharkpocalypse — 9pm
Shark attacks have been increasing in number, but surprisingly shark numbers are at an all-time low due to the shark-finning trade. Could there be a connection between the two? Could the destruction of sharks by humans actually be causing an increase in the number of shark attacks? To explore this theory, wildlife filmmakers Devon Massyn and Andy Casagrande take an insane trip around the globe, diving with great whites, tiger sharks, great hammerheads, bull sharks, lemons and reef sharks. Through the explosion of amazing footage they captured and some crazy experiments, they’ll test several theories to find out if the 100 million sharks being killed every year could potentially lead to us into a Sharkpocalypse.

Alien Sharks — 10pm
This special follows American and Japanese scientists as they descend into the deepest and darkest unexplored oceans on earth in search of some of the more incredible and bizarre sharks on the planet, from the Goblin shark to the elusive, giant Megamouth shark.

Shark After Dark Live — 11pm

FRIDAY, AUG. 9

Great White Gauntlet — 8pm
Divers brave a shark gauntlet in Australia’s treacherous coastal waters to capture a lucrative sea creature. Fierce competition and dangerous currents add to the tension in a job where death by shark attack is very real.

SATURDAY, AUG. 10

Sharkpocalypse: Sharktweeto — 8pm
Bonus footage and viewer tweets in this edition of the Sharkpocalypse special.

Megalodon: Monster Shark Lives: Sharktweeto — 9pm
Bonus footage and viewer tweets in this edition of the Megalodon special.

_________________________

Great white shark: Jeff Kurr/Discovery Channel

Michael Domeier and Paul Walker: Alex Holden/Discovery Channel

14 Comments

  1. Shark week sucks and so does Discovery Channel! That’s all I have to say about that.

  2. I am so disappointed in shark week!! It’s become nothing but a series of jokes and fake stories!! Pisses me off! I look so forward to this and they have ruined it more and more each year! DC channel is turning into Disney and nickelodeon! Nonsense!

  3. The April boat accident fake documentary was pretty lame, I have to say. Is that what it takes to get viewers now? Not cool.

  4. That documentary was so fake in more ways than I care to mention. I feel sorry for anyone who watched it and actually believed it. I didn’t catch the beginning or I would have checked the boat story sooner. If you really want people to believe such bull, at least create photos from a realistic perspective and do not alter old photos to suit your needs. This day in age, anything realistic has already made the rounds a thousand times. Then when the people went into the cage when all the other wildlife disappeared? Come on! The smaller boats transporting them would have all been in danger first off, then they get right in and lose contact. You see faked impacts and supposedly this gigantic living thing is rocking the main vessel. Yeah. Okay Discovery. Your programming is usually top notch. Even the stuff that has been fabricated is clearly for entertainment or actually teaches viewers something valuable. But this crap? And you let go of a show like Dirty Jobs? I’d prefer to watch a reality show based on Mike Rowe’s life or anything with Mike Rowe in it than any of this junk. Mythbusters will be the last series I finish but even that show has dropped off in quality. The myths could be so much better and the teams no longer work together. Everything appears to be going the way of Sons of Guns. Lame.

  5. It is very disapointing to know that discovery channel would do a fake documentary!!!! Hope everybody sees that the show was fake!!!

  6. Megalodon i believe still exists. Science doesn’t know alot of things and have gotten many things wrong in the past. I can tell you 100 percent that science doesn’t even know half of whats out there. As for discovery channel making up the story of the fishing boat that was attacked in 2013 in april i checked didnt even happen. That is sad. Discovery becoming trash tv

  7. I love Sharks. And have have been studying them for years. I checked the story of that megalodon lives show and no such attacked happened in South Africa. Sad to see Discovery Channel showing fake stuff. Although i do believe science is wrong on many things and that has been proven many times with the discovery of many animals said to be extinct. I believe megalodon exists. Just bad on you Discovery for making stuff up like the boat goign down in south africa on April of 2013 Never happened!!!

  8. love shark week wow what a start . to find out megaladon exists .awesome!!!!!

    • He exists but the boat attack that happened on april of 2013 in south africa never happened. Sad to see discovery making things up

  9. This ‘Mockumentary’ belongs on the Food Network , its so bogus: circuitous logic, opinions passed off as scientific conclusions based on no real evidence. Connecting unrelated facts with a faulty conclusion would get an F in any rhetoric class
    This guy got his marine biology designation from a mail order college. I could tell from the first few minutes: the dirsal fin in the photoshopped into the U boat photo is exactly the same angle as the photo from S African spotter, she was observing from 1,000 feet above but her alleged picture was at sea level. There us no pressure wave in front of either and I’ve see the same U boat photo years ago without the fin. You guys must be really desperate for product.

  10. I love SharkWeek, I grew up watching it all my life. I still, at 28, live for this week!!!! Thank Gawd for dvr!!!!

2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. The Weather Channel begins Hurricane Week 2013 | Channel Guide Magazine
  2. Discovery Shark Week 2013 "Megalodon" special sets viewership records

Comments are closed.