Whereas Day 1 seemed to be centered more around comedy, Day 2 had more of a “classic” Shark Week feel. There was lots of tagging, filming, and swimming with sharks. It was no surprise that Andy Casagrande was a featured cameraman in all three episodes. And, of course, there were LOTS of great white sharks. There were some tiger sharks featured too, so at least there was some variety last night. Although there have been some great shows so far, there hasn’t been quite as much about shark conservation as I had hoped. At least there is still plenty more Shark Week to come!
Sharks of the Badlands: When the introduction began – a narrative about the rise in great whites at Cape Cod – I got the feeling that I had seen this before. And when shark expert Greg Skomal came in, I was positive that I had already heard this story. Luckily, this show changed in tone after the introduction. It ended up being about Shark Week cameramen Andy Casagrande and Kina Scollay as they tagged and filmed great white sharks in an attempt to figure out a kind of early warning system that would help the swimmers of Cape Cod. Despite a few new and interesting things – like the “lunch box” shark cage – this show still had a familiar Shark Week feel to it as it was basically just two men filming and tagging sharks.
Legends of Deep Blue: Finally, a show about social media’s favourite female great white: Deep Blue. Given how popular she has been recently, I was really hoping there would be a show about her this Shark Week – or at least a mention. Many shark experts and Shark Week regulars shared their thoughts and opinions on this large lady, but the expedition to find her was led by Brandon McMillan, Jimi Partington, and Scott Carnahan (and featuring Andy Casagrande, of course). The humans were not all that important in this special – it was all about the sharks. There was some fantastic footage of large great white sharks, and I got so excited to see Deep Blue that I even got teary eyed. I would love to see more about these MASSIVE great whites in the future.
The Sharks of Headstone Hell: Andy Casagrande and Riley Elliot studied the tiger sharks of Norfolk Island in this fascinating episode. This was certainly the most unique show of the night. I had never heard of these tiger sharks and their love of beef, and I loved learning about them. I especially enjoyed the footage of these sharks feeding on large animals, as this is the kind of footage that is somewhat less common during Shark Week. This show demonstrated how sharks and humans can co-exist, and I appreciated that the focus of this show was about keeping this balance intact. The team’s goal was to prove that shark attacks were being avoided in this area because the islanders were dumping their organic waste (i.e. dead cows) into the water for the sharks to feed on. The journey to prove this theory was really interesting and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more Norfolk sharks in the future.
