The Dorsal Fin

Jimmy Kimmel Live’s YouTube Channel has added a clip from a recent episode which offers a new shark topic to help keep the programming fresh. No word on whether or not Discovery will be adding this idea to next year’s “Shark Week” line-up, but I’m guessing not.

“Killer Sharks: The Attacks of Black December” premieres tonight at 9pm on Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week.”

Discovery’s description of “Killer Sharks” includes references to events in 1957 at a South African resort in which “the white sands are clogged with dead bodies and the sapphire waters are red with blood.” The description goes on to note that the suspect is a single “massive rogue shark with a taste for human flesh.” The disclaimer before the promotional clips for this episode also note that the show contains content that may “disturb viewers.”

In addition to “Killer Sharks,” Discovery will be re-airing the 2007 show “Top Five Eaten Alive” at 8pm, which recounts the stories of five shark attack survivors.

Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” continues tonight with the premieres of two new shows beginning at 9pm. Based on the promotional clips and show descriptions, the focus of tonight’s programs will center around shark attacks.

“Rogue Sharks” premieres at 9pm and will explore the theory that some sharks may go “rogue” and target humans as a food source. The show will combine historic shark attacks with scientific detective work to examine the “rogue shark” theory.

“Summer of the Shark” premieres at 10pm and will look back at “an unprecedented wave of shark attacks” that occurred off the eastern coast of Australia in 2008. Australia fisheries managers and shark researchers work to attempt to uncover the cause behind the attacks.

Some of the promotional clips for both of these shows feature warnings about containing attack reenactments with content of a “graphic nature,” which has drawn some criticism in the past. On a somewhat related note, The Vancouver Sun has a fairly well-balanced editorial on whether or not “Shark Week” is exploitative or educational.

Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week”, hosted by Andy Samberg, begins tonight on the Discovery Channel. “Great White Invasion” airs at 9pm, followed by “Jaws Comes Home” at 10pm.

“Great White Invasion” will follow Chris Fallows and a team of scientists who are trying to figure out why white sharks are “suddenly” being seen “in large numbers” among swimmers and surfers along the coasts of South Africa, Australia, and California.

“Jaws Come Home” documents researcher Greg Skomal’s 2010 tracking study of five Atlantic white sharks tagged off of Chatham, Massachusetts. Skomal’s goal is to better understand the sharks migration up and down the eastern coast of the U.S. through tracking data obtained from satellite tags.

Another “Shark Week” promo from DiscoveryNetworks focuses on the very first shark cage and how Rodney Fox pioneered the act of cage diving. Fox who survived a white shark attack in 1963 came up with the idea of the shark cage when he decided that he wanted to get back in the water after recovering from the attack. His cage design helped to revolutionize white shark photography and videography.