As Killian mentioned in a post last week, Shark Week came back with a vengeance this year. Although some viewers complained Discovery’s coverage was just the same old stuff rehashed from previous years, those of us who live without cable or who missed the previous installments were treated to some extraordinary footage that was graciously uploaded online.
Here’s a list of five standout episodes (all available free online) and scenes from this year’s Shark Week:
Ultimate Air Jaws details world-renowned photographer and shark expert Chris Fallows on his quest to capture a breaching great white off the coast of South Africa. 
You’ve probably seen footage of this phenomenon, but have you ever seen it this close up? Not until you’ve seen Ultimate Air Jaws.
Killer Scene – Before the climactic show-down, Fallows takes to the water in a yellow kayak in order to find out just how “discerning the great whites are in what they actually eat.” With nothing but thin plastic separating Fallows from the giant predator, watching the shark nibble on his oar is nerve-wracking.
Using specially designed cameras, shark expert Mark Addison and underwater cameraman Andy Casagrande capture underwater
beasts in ways they’ve never been filmed before: from inside their mouths. Blacktips, Tigers, Great Whites, and Bulls: each one is filmed inside and out during the thrilling program.
Killer Scene – The guys are after a Tiger Shark. Naturally, they cover their camera in chum and dump it into the water, jumping in soon after. What they don’t expect to find is a territorial Moray Eel who lunges for Andy’s groin.
Undeterred, the guys are able to come face to face with a 12 foot Tiger, the world’s second most dangerous shark.
In this episode, shark attack survivors discuss their close calls. A Navy Seal loses his hand to a Great White during a training mission, 
Bull Sharks terrorize a father and his sons during a trout fishing expedition, and a surfer is knocked from his board when a great white grabs it by the tale. Complete with graphic dramatizations, Day of the Shark III can be difficult to watch at times, but each survivor walks away with one thing in common: a great respect for the predators that attacked them along with the acknowledgment that sharks were here first and humans are in their environment.
Killer Scene – Todd Murashige is obsessed with surfing at sunset. At the expense of spending time with his family, Todd hit the waves night after night in the Hawaiian waters. Coincidentally, that’s when Tiger Sharks love to feed. It’s wrenching to watch Todd’s wife talk about the phone call she received after Todd was bitten while seemingly bleeding to death on the beach.
During the summer of 2008, a series of shark attacks rocked the coasts of Southern California and Mexico. Not unlike the events in Jaws, 
beaches were closed and vigilantes took to the ocean to hunt and kill as many sharks as they could. Shark Bite Beach revisits each attack site, investigating what makes sharks so aggressive toward humans and speaking to the survivors and friends of the victims. The result is thrilling, sad, and informative.
Killer Scene – Following the third fatality in less than a month, surfer Bruce Grimes tries out a new surfboard on Linda Beach in Mexico. Unaware that a man had been killed less than 24 hours prior by a shark only a couple of miles away, Grimes hits the water. Soon, an aggressive Bull Shark lifts him out of the water, nearly taking off his arm. The race is on and Grimes must paddle one handed to the shore before the Bull can finish him off. A testament to how hardcore Grimes is: in the dramatization, he recreates the events himself.
Host and Green Beret Terry Schappert examines the worst case scenarios in shark attacks and what a person can do to survive them. In the unlikely event that you find yourself face-to-face with the business end of a killer shark, watching this program could mean the difference between life and death.
Killer Scene – You’re alone ten miles out on a fishing expedition. As luck would have it, your boat explodes into a fireball and you’re forced into the shark-infested waters. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?!
It helps if you, like Terry Schappert, are a badass. If not, make sure to stop any bleeding, grab a flotation device, and get your hands on anything resembling a weapon. Shark Attack Survival Guide is one of the more staged shows from Shark Week, but it’s also one of the most entertaining.
Shark Week 2010: it’s been a pleasure. Thanks to the Discovery Channel, you can revisit each of the programs discussed here online, as many times as you wish. And if you’re a Netflix, iTunes, or amazon. VOD subscriber, episodes from previous years are readily available here. So until Shark Week 2011, safe swimming!
