Shark Week: Ranking the Titles of This Year's 14 New Specials

Shark Week begins Sunday, July 5, and as fans who’ve tuned in for any of the past 27 years know, it’s equal parts education and entertainment. For the former, there’s the scientists and shark experts filming firsts and investigating behaviors for intel that can help keep both the animals and humans safe in the future. (Starting this year, there’s also Discovery’s new initiative with its conservation partner Oceana, Change the Tide, which will create a coalition of engaged organizations and individuals to help preserve and restore our oceans.)

For the latter, there’s that singular thrill of watching a diver descend in a cage near a great white, and, of course, the epic nature of the specials’ truly over-the-top titles. After the backlash to Discovery airing the faux documentary Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives in 2013, they are the only things viewers want to see sensationalized (and the network concurs).

In that spirit, here’s how we rank the titles of this year’s 14 new specials, from best to worst.

Related: Shark Week: Eli Roth on His After Show, Kissing a Shark, Prepping for ‘Meg’

1. Bride of Jaws (premieres Tuesday, July 7 at 9 p.m.): A Discovery exec came up with this killer title but admittedly had no idea what the special would actually be about. Clearly, it had to involve a large female shark: Cue the search for Australia’s infamous “Joan of Shark,” who, at nearly 18 feet, needs to be re-tagged so her whereabouts can be monitored. We’ll take you inside the hunt closer to airdate, but for now, please enjoy this clip of a “chum shower.”

2. Return of the Great White Serial Killer (premieres Monday, July 6 at 9 p.m.): The most fear-mongering title of 2015, yes. But the danger is real and serious: Every two years since 2008, there have been shark attacks at California’s Surf Beach — with attacks in October 2010 and 2012 being fatal. This special was filmed in October 2014…

Related: Brandon McMillan Talks ‘Return of the Great White Serial Killer’

3. Island of the Mega Shark (premieres Sunday, July 5 at 9 p.m.): Shark Week favorites Andy Casagrande and Jeff Kurr return, with their favorite daredevil Dickie Chivell in tow, to film the largest great white sharks at Guadalupe Island, Mexico, which could be a mating ground. This trip, Dickie gets into Kurr’s new invention, the “ghost cage.” Spoiler alert: The door doesn’t want to stay shut.

4. Monster Mako (premieres Sunday, July 5 at 10 p.m.): Good ol’alliteration. Two teams set out to clock how fast the fastest shark in the ocean can go, and if fishermen who’ve said they’ve witnessed makos breaching like their cousin the great white to ambush prey are telling the truth or tall tales.

Related: Joe Romeiro Talks ‘Monster Mako’

5. Sharks of the Shadowland (premieres Friday, July 10 at 9 p.m.): The most poetic title of 2015. Are sevengill sharks targeting divers in the remote New Zealand waters? Are they hunting in packs?

6. Alien Sharks: Close Encounters (premieres Monday, July 6 at 10 p.m.): “Alien Sharks” is just classic. The third installment in the franchise — which introduces us to gloriously strange sharks of the deep, including some that glow in the dark — has Paul Clerkin jumping into the water off Taiwan to tag a mega mouth for the first time.

Related: Paul Clerkin Talks Tagging a Mega Shark

7. Ninja Sharks (premieres Wednesday, July 8 at 10 p.m.): Now we’re talkin’. “These stealthy assassins exploit prey with specialized adaptations, making them the most fearsome predators on the planet.” (And no, there’s not a species called ninja shark.)

8. Shark Trek (premieres Sunday, July 5 at 8 p.m.): It’s a movie pun that fits, since it’s about shark expert Greg Skomal trying to determine why Florida has become such a hotspot for great whites.

Related: Greg Skomal Talks 'Shark Trek’

9. Tiburones: Sharks of Cuba (premieres Tuesday, July 7 at 10 p.m.): It’s educational: Tiburones means “sharks”! For the first time, Shark Week heads to Cuba. The mission: to see if there’s a population of large white sharks here, since 70 years ago, the largest great white ever recorded (21 feet) was allegedly caught off the coast.

10. Super Predator (premieres Wednesday, July 8 at 9 p.m.): We docked it points because it feels too vague. Although it’s coy on purpose, since there’s a mystery at its center: What predator ate a 9-foot great white off the coast of Australia?

11. Shark Clans (premieres Friday, July 10 at 10 p.m.): Shark attack survivor Rodney Fox studies and tags great whites off the coast of South Australia.

12. Shark Island (premieres Sunday, July 12 at 8 p.m.): In light of the recent string of attacks in North Carolina, this may turn out to be the most relevant special of 2015, since bull sharks are suspected in both cases: Reunion Island, in a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, has had 17 attacks (and multiple deaths) in 4 years. The race is on to find answers.

13. Shark Planet (premieres Thursday, July 9 at 8 p.m.): It’s a BBC co-production, so while the title is fairly mundane, you expect it to be one of the most beautifully filmed and edited specials of the week as it takes us around the globe documenting new research into all kinds of species.

14. Sharksanity 2 (premieres Saturday, July 11 at 9 p.m.): Admittedly, our opinion is clouded by it being a clip show. It’s the greatest moments from Shark Week 2015.

Shark Week kicks off July 5 at 8 p.m. on Discovery. Shark After Dark, a nightly after show hosted by Eli Roth, airs Sunday through Thursday at 11 p.m.