‘SHARK WEEK’ ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL
  
A half-century ago one of the most terrifying films induced enough fright that in the summer of 1975 beachgoers were afraid to enter the ocean. “Jaws” was, and remains, a true blockbuster thriller.
  
On the Discovery Channel, “Shark Week” is an annual week-long festival about the seafaring apex predators that dates back to 1988. On Sunday, July 20, a jaw-dropping 20 hours of new specials will premiere.
  
“Dancing with Sharks,” hosted by Tom Bergeron, is a competition show unlike any other. For the first time ever, five divers compete to put together an amazing underwater routine with their toothy partners. 
  
From hammerheads to tigers and nurse sharks, each shark has its own signature dance moves. Not known at this time is whether disco music is part of the score. At the end of the show, a winner is crowned – if all competitors make it that far.
  
Shark expert Alison Towner teams up with Shark Week legend Dickie Chivell to decode how killer whales take down great whites with ease in “Great White Assassins.” To get answers, the team travels to New Zealand and goes to the extreme, sending Dickie underwater to pose as an orca to see how the great whites react.
  
In what will they think of next, “Great White Sex Battle” is a Shark Week first, in which male and female great white sharks compete in a series to determine which sex is the superior predator in the waters off the coast of New Zealand. No mention of an awards ceremony for the winner.
  
“In the eye of the Storm: Shark Storm,” during the summer of 2024, dozens of cameras captured a rare outbreak of shark attacks along America’s gulf coast. Told through first-hand accounts of victims and eyewitnesses, nobody has seen all these perspectives unfold in real time until now.
  
“How to Survive a Shark Attack” finds shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder attempting the unthinkable – getting attacked by a shark, again. Useful information may come from this if you are in the ocean in Florida’s Volusia County or certain areas of Australia.
  
Under the supervision of experts, Paul provokes sharks to attack him in multiple scenarios, where they bite and tear off prosthetic limbs to teach life-saving tactics for surviving an encounter with nature’s deadliest predators.
  
“Great White Northern Invasion” reports on great white sharks finding a new home off the shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, where the water temperature is nothing like that of Australia or Florida.
  
With the waters in Canada now frothing with great whites, interactions with humans are on the rise. A team of scientists tracks down and tags the biggest sharks to uncover the sharkiest locations before there’s a fatal attack.
  
In “Expedition Unknown: Shark Files,” global adventurer Josh Gates solves some of the strangest and most disturbing shark mysteries of all time.
  
One such mystery is the real-life bloody inspiration for “Jaws” and the gruesome case of the Tiger Shark who vomited an arm while in captivity and ultimately helped police solve a murder mystery.
  
“Alien Sharks: Death Down Under” finds wildlife biologist Forrest Galante injecting himself with shark venom after diving down under into Australia’s dangerous waters, home to some of the weirdest alien-like and deadly sharks.
  
The biologist hopes this risky and potentially lethal experiment will bypass years of red tape to finally discover the potency of the venomous Port Jackson Shark and Ghost Shark.
  
We know that fifty years ago “Jaws” changed the beachgoing experience by striking fear into millions of Americans who vowed never to go into the water again. “Surviving Jaws” will explore myths and facts.
  
Marine biologist Tom “Blowfish” Hird and predator ecologist Michelle Jewell re-examine the movie and dive with Great Whites to separate fact from fiction by answering questions.
  
For one, does skinny dipping really attract great white sharks? Good question, but is it really a good idea to swim nude where you may not see what is swimming in the ocean? Also, could a monster shark chew through a boat’s hull?
  
Florida takes another hit with “Florida’s Death Beach,” which indicates that New Smyrna Beach (in Volusia County) has earned the title of “The Shark Attack Capital of the World,” accounting for 30% of the global shark attacks.
  
But why has the popular spring break’s party beach become so deadly? Wildlife biologist Forrest Galante (featured in another Shark Week program) and his team investigate before even more blood ends up in the water.
  
“Attack of the Devil Shark” tells the tale of a rogue tiger shark that attacks and kills a person in Saint Martin. Weeks later, the shark strikes again in this Caribbean paradise.
  
Locals fear it could be the work of the legendary Devil Shark — a massive and ruthless tiger shark who’s haunted their shores for decades. When a team sets out to track down the shark responsible for the attacks, they uncover a seismic force that may be triggering aggression in sharks. 
  
There’s more to Shark Week than what’s reported here. 

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.