Shark Week with No Pants



Shark Week on the Discovery Channel has become an American institution. Year after year the ratings for this fest of shark movies and shark documentaries keep growing and growing. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller Jaws gave all of us pause before we stuck our big toe into the ocean. Just before the 9/11 attacks on the Trade Center the lead stories on the evening news were about shark attacks off the east coast. Every year we are subjected to a multitude of stories about swimmers being attacked by these aquatic giants. You won’t catch me going into the ocean…no-siree-Bob. If God had wanted me in the ocean, he wouldn’t have invented ocean view balconies.

This year has been exceptionally fun. Sharknado, a movie about tornadoes dropping sharks from the skies, was a ratings hit…and there is going to be a sequel. Oh Boy. The kitchiness of the event hit new highs. Just in case you didn’t see the saga of Snuffy the Seal, here it is. I almost wet my pants.

 

In the middle of Shark Week, TLC has come up with a new scripted summer series entitled Surviving the In-laws.  Anyone who knows me also knows my wife and I experienced in-law problems in every sense of the word from both sets of parents from the day we met.  They were awful.  They have all gone to in-law heaven, and we still don't understand how we managed to stay married for 41 years.  But now we can laugh...sort of.  In this series, Mom and Dad moves in with the kids because their house is being renovated. Turns out Mom took up candle making and burned the house down.  Renovation was an understatment. Dad has a penchant for bird watching and losing his pants as his son tries to do business via skype on the computer exposing more of Dad than his clients care to see.  Below is an incomplete clip from the TLC website.




Back in the day summer grew the vast television waste land geometrically.  But as of late, summer has provided numerous programs which are far better than those in the traditional season beginning in late September.  Shows like Southland, Memphis Blues, The Glades, What Not To Wear have made summer the best time of the year for television.  Throw some sharks, some screwy relatvies and Christmas in July, what more do you need!!!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!!!!! 

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