YEAR-BY-YEAR:
20 YEARS OF SHARK WEEK HIGHLIGHTS
1988: The first-ever SHARK WEEK featured 10 programs including Sharks: Predators or Prey, The Shark Takes a Siesta and Sharks of a Different Color. Ratings nearly doubled that week over Discovery Channel’s primetime average.
1989: Due to phenomenal viewer response, Discovery Channel brought back SHARK WEEK for a second year. Programs included Shark: Maneater or Myth?, Shark Hunters of Achill Island and Sharks of San Francisco.
1990: Premieres in the third year of SHARK WEEK included Shark!: The World of Sharks and Barracuda and Sharks: Hunters of the Oceans.
1991: Billed as SHARK WEEK: The Revenge, premieres included Shark Shooters, Sea Lovers and Great Shark Hunt.
1992: SHARK WEEK: They’re Back swam onto the scene with four premieres: The Man Who Loves Sharks, featuring Stan Waterman, Sharks of Polynesia, Great White Encounters and Great White! Parts 1 & 2.
1993: SHARK WEEK: We Dare You to Watch featured five premiere programs: African Shark Safari, Sharks on the Brink of Extinction, Teeth of Death, Assignment Adventure and Sharks of Pirate Island.
1994: For the first time ever, SHARK WEEK 1994 was hosted. Jaws author Peter Benchley did the honors, just as his best-selling novel was celebrating its 20 year anniversary. The lineup included six premieres.
1995: Premieres in 1995 included Sharks of the Red Triangle, Rendezvous at Ningaloo and In Search of the Golden Hammerhead, which profiled an extremely rare shark that had never before been seen on television.
1996: Premieres in 1996 included The Ultimate Guide: Sharks, Danger Beach and Tales of the Tiger Shark, which remains one of the highest-rated SHARK WEEK programs ever.
1997: Shark Bites: A Decade of Shark Week, a two-hour retrospective of some of the most thrilling moments of shark filmmaking on Discovery Channel, kicked off the 10th Anniversary of SHARK WEEK.
1998: Prehistoric Sharks kicked off the 1998 SHARK WEEK, which looked at the most bizarre and unusual sharks to ever swim the earth’s waters. The week featured four other premieres, including Zambezi Shark, Hammerheads: Nomads of the Sea and Great White: In Search of the Giants.
1999: SHARK WEEK went live in 1999 with a special two-hour live program from the Pacific’s Bikini Atoll titled Live From a Shark Cage. The program, which featured renowned cinematographer Al Giddings, was hosted by journalist Forrest Sawyer.
2000: SHARK WEEK UNCAGED welcomed a new host, zoologist Nigel Marven. Five all-new programs aired, including the first-ever 3-D shark program, Sharks 3-D.
2001: Host Nigel Marven returned with a lineup that featured one of the most talked-about shark programs ever to air on SHARK WEEK – Air Jaws: Sharks of South Africa, which showcased first-ever footage of great white sharks taking to the air – literally launching themselves some 10 or more feet above the water.
2002: This year, the sharks had co-stars. SHARK WEEK celebrated its 15th year with CELEBRITY SHARK WEEK. Hosted for the third year in a row by Nigel Marven, celebrities who took to the water with the sharks included Julie Bowen, Mark McGrath, David James Elliott, Adrian Pasdar, Estella Warren, Brian McKnight, Gabrielle Reece and Casper Van Dien.
2003: The highest-rated SHARK WEEK program of all time, Anatomy of a Shark Bite, premiered in 2003 and featured underwater and topside footage of an actual shark bite. Six additional premieres aired in 2003, including a program hosted by Heidi Klum titled Sharks Under Glass.
2004: The week featured seven premiere programs, including Primal Scream, Tiger Shark Attack: Beyond Fear and Dive to Shark Volcano.
2005: This year was kicked off with the ratings-winning MythBusters: Jaws Special, which saw the MythBusters testing famous myths about sharks. Premiere programs included Sharkbite! Surviving Great Whites, American Shark and Shark Hunter.
2006: SHARK WEEK 2006 kicked off with Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite, a two-hour special hosted by Mike Rowe that featured brave men and women who work with sharks. Other premieres included Shark Attack Survivors, Perfect Shark and Shark Rebellion.
2007: Discovery Channel celebrates the 20th Anniversary of SHARK WEEK from July 29 to August 4. Eight all-new premieres will air during the 9 PM hour and, for the first time ever, the network’s total day schedule (9 AM to 3 AM ET/PT) will be devoted to shark programs. “Viewers Choice” programs, voted on by fans via Discovery.com/sharkweek, will air during the 8 PM hour. This year’s SHARK WEEK is hosted by SURVIVORMAN Les Stroud.