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This is all the more disappointing because Discovery execs hear these criticisms (and get pitched legit science-based shows) every year & they are ignored. They always say something like "we are already in production for this year, we can't change our programming, sorry" https://twitter.com/dr_catmac/status/1287833768494014466
They believe the only way to turn a profit is through almost-science & cynical scare mongering. Discovery has their favorite stars and go back to that well every year. Unfortunately, for every Greg Skomel show (good) there are like 5 SERIAL KILLER GENOCIDE SHARK shows
They re-tell shark attack stories over & over, making them larger than life & more sensational each time to create a perception that if you even look at a beach a shark will murder you. Incidentally, UFO shows do the same thing: fixate on a single anecdote and repeat it.
Even when they make a good show sometimes its an accident. Alien Sharks, one of their best series, started as a a space-filler. They had footage from other deep sea shows & they patched'em together, interviewed actual experts & actually produced a cromulent shark show
To their credit, they stuck with that formula: show amazing deep sea sharks & have experts interpret for viewers. It hearkens back to the shark week shows that actually inspired my generation. (tho they still otherize animals that have been on earth longer than people as 'alien')
A few years ago (after the 2 fake megalodon shows, the trainwreck that was VooDoo shark & the nazi shark show) Discovery promised they would do better. They have not. And none of this even touches on the problematic representation issues they have (i.e. majority white dudes)
It is worth asking the question: should we #SkipSharkWeek? They release a max of 2-3 high quality, soundly scientific shows a year... all of which are drowned out by an entirely new stable of the same fear-based, pseudoscience nightmares.
