New feeding frenzy on Discovery's Shark Week
Instead of creating chilling fright scenes for the big screen, horror filmmaker Eli Roth is trying to get TV viewers to warm up to sharks.
Roth returns for his second year hosting Discovery's late-night talk show Shark After Dark (Sunday through Thursday, 11 ET/PT).
Shark Week, marking its 28th anniversary, is the cable network's biggest event, and it's "considered one of the greatest inspirations of cable, and probably television history, because it fits so well with Discovery," TV historian Tim Brooks says. "It's just a perfect match. And of course, it's got violence. It's got jaws. And it fits the summer, too."
Roth, who's directing a Death Wish remake and is known for horror flicks such as Hostel and Cabin Fever, has a guest roster filled with shark researchers, conservationists and celebrity fans including Chelsea Handler and Kevin Hart.
Fans also can expect to see experts such as diver Ashlan Gorse Cousteau and filmmaker Andy Casagrande, who venture with Roth to ice baths, wearing wetsuits, in Thursday's installment.
Don't feel too sorry for him. In preparation for Shark Week, "Discovery sent me diving with (sharks), and it was truly a life-changing experience," Roth says.
Where exactly? Tahiti.
"I got in the water with about 50 or 75 sharks. They were everywhere. I was so happy, the happiest I've been in my life."
Roth can't contain his excitement. "I saw black tips, silver tips," he says, adding there were "lemon sharks, which look like walkers from The Walking Dead. They have yellow eyes and a big smile like the Finding Nemo version. They were huge. I saw a manta ray. But the most amazing moment was when I saw two different tiger sharks." One was 17 feet and the other was 14.
He didn't panic. "I was very calm. I was laying flat, but she circled. She just kept checking me out. She was probably down there with us about 15 or 20 minutes. It looked like a submarine circling. She could have bit me in half if she wanted to. It was just this giant eye — this huge plate-sized eye — that just looks right at you."
Highlights of Discovery's Shark Week programming (all 9 ET/PT):
- Sunday, June 26. Return of the Monster Mako: A team tries to document a live predation of a thousand-pound mako shark.
- Monday, June 27. Jaws of the Deep: In a hunt for Deep Blue, the world's largest great white shark, a team uses robot subs in its search and to build a profile of the creature.
- Tuesday, June 28. Wrath of a Great White Serial Killer: Why are great white sharks traveling as far north as the Pacific Northwest?
- Wednesday, June 29. Deadliest Shark. Researchers look for rare oceanic white tip sharks, to see if the species deserve the reputation as the “world’s deadliest shark.”
- Thursday, June 30. Nuclear Sharks: Grandson to Jacques Cousteau, Philippe Cousteau, and his wife, Ashlan Gorse Cousteau, travel to the Bikini Atoll to study the reef sharks there.
- Friday, July 1. Shark Bait: Great whites are hunting for seals in a new location: Cape Cod.
- Saturday, July 2. Sharksanity: The closest calls, biggest bites and greatest gadgets are in this special that rounds up the best of Shark Week 2016.
- Sunday, July 3. The Killing Games: Learn about a new great white hunting strategy, where they come out of the water and snatch seals from the shore in South Australia.