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The Best Episodes of Shark Week

Every episode of Shark Week ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Shark Week!

The Discovery Channel's Shark Week, first broadcast on July 17, 1987, is a weeklong series of feature television programs dedicated to sharks. Held annually, normally...
Genre:Documentary
Network:Discovery

Top Episode Ratings Summary

"Air Jaws: Sharks of South Africa" is the best rated episode of "Shark Week". It scored 8.2/10 based on 78 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 8/27/2001. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Perfect Shark".

  • Air Jaws: Sharks of South Africa
    8.2/1078 votes
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    #1 - Air Jaws: Sharks of South Africa

    Season 14 Episode 1 - Aired 8/27/2001

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Perfect Shark
    8.2/108 votes
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    #2 - Perfect Shark

    Season 19 Episode 3 - Aired 8/1/2006

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Expedition Unknown: Sharks vs. Nazis in Paradise
    8.2/106 votes
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    #3 - Expedition Unknown: Sharks vs. Nazis in Paradise

    Season 37 Episode 12 - Aired 7/10/2024

    Global adventurer Josh Gates and shark biologist Tristan Guttridge team up with nature's deadliest predator to search for a lost wreck sunk by a Nazi U-Boat during World War II.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Great White Danger Zone
    8.2/106 votes
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    #4 - Great White Danger Zone

    Season 37 Episode 16 - Aired 7/11/2024

    Alison Towner and her team investigate a new Great White hotspot off the coast of South Africa. Equipped with cutting-edge fin cameras, tracking tags, and underwater surveillance, researchers unveil unusual behavior in these massive apex predators.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Great White Attack: A True Story
    8.1/1042 votes
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    #5 - Great White Attack: A True Story

    Season 15 Episode 1 - Aired 6/17/2002

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Belly of the Beast: Bigger and Bloodier
    7.9/109 votes
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    #6 - Belly of the Beast: Bigger and Bloodier

    Season 37 Episode 1 - Aired 7/7/2024

    One of last year's most popular Shark Week shows returns. Marine biologist Dr. Austin Gallagher, marine scientist Liv Dixon, and legendary cameraman Kina Scollay travel to a new location and head back into the belly of a 29-foot whale decoy with new shark attractant features to create the biggest feeding frenzy ever with 18-foot 'Breeder' sharks in New Zealand.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Sharks Under Glass
    7.8/109 votes
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    #7 - Sharks Under Glass

    Season 16 Episode 6 - Aired 8/23/2003

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Adrift: 47 Days With Sharks
    7.8/1052 votes
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    #8 - Adrift: 47 Days With Sharks

    Season 25 Episode 6 - Aired 8/14/2012

    During a routine search and rescue mission over the Pacific in WWII, an American plane crashed into shark-infested waters. This is the inspiring true story of two war heroes — one an Olympian, one a pastor's son — who managed to survive a record-breaking 47 days at sea in a life raft. They subsisted on only the food they were able to catch from the ocean and the water they were able to collect from the rain, all while fighting off a gang of sharks that were their constant companions. But when they finally did reach land, it was only the beginning of their troubles. What happened to these men is one of the greatest tests of faith, will and endurance of our time.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Alien Sharks of the Deep
    7.8/1026 votes
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    #9 - Alien Sharks of the Deep

    Season 26 Episode 10 - Aired 8/8/2013

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Tropic Jaws
    7.8/107 votes
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    #10 - Tropic Jaws

    Season 36 Episode 17 - Aired 7/28/2023

    When a 16-foot great white invades Indonesia’s warm coast of Bali, it sparks fears that they are adapting to hunt the tropical beaches where millions of people swim every day. Dr. Craig O’Connell and Madison Stewart are on a mission to find Tropic Jaws and discover why they left the cold water environment that they have called home for thousands of years.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion
    7.8/105 votes
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    #11 - Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion

    Season 37 Episode 4 - Aired 7/7/2024

    Returning to the site of his own 2009 shark attack for the first time, Paul de Gelder joins Madison Stewart to investigate a recent Great White Shark attack that occurred near Sydney Harbor, Australia - the first fatal incident in the region in almost 60 years. The dramatic encounter, which was captured on camera, was the sixth attack to occur in as many weeks. Within this aquatic arena, Great Whites contend with Bull Sharks, Tiger Sharks, and even humans in a colossal battle for supremacy. The unfolding saga raises the compelling question of who will emerge victorious in this intense struggle for dominance.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Monster of Oz
    7.8/105 votes
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    #12 - Monster of Oz

    Season 37 Episode 14 - Aired 7/11/2024

    In southwestern Australia, an unknown predator with a taste for Great White and Mako Sharks ignites fears of sea monsters in the abyss. Filmmakers Dave and Jennene Riggs join Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Rosie Moore in attempt to track down the killer.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Bull Shark: World's Deadliest Shark
    7.7/1011 votes
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    #13 - Bull Shark: World's Deadliest Shark

    Season 17 Episode 6 - Aired 12/12/2004

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Ultimate Air Jaws
    7.7/1030 votes
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    #14 - Ultimate Air Jaws

    Season 23 Episode 1 - Aired 8/1/2010

    Off the coast of South Africa, massive great white sharks blast from the water, pulling a sneak attack on their seal prey. Shark expert Chris Fallows and filmmaker Jeff Kurr arrive on the scene to investigate the aerial attacks using state-of-the-art technology including an HD camera that shoots in super slow motion - 2,000 frames per second. This enables the team to slow down a breaching shark from one second of real time to almost a minute - and in so much detail you can literally count every tooth in the shark's mouth! Fallows and Kurr also employ a submarine and remotely-operated helicopter to capture this incredible footage.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Monster Hammerheads: Species X
    7.7/106 votes
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    #15 - Monster Hammerheads: Species X

    Season 37 Episode 10 - Aired 7/9/2024

    Dr. Austin Gallagher and his team of researchers including Liv Dixon, Zandi Ndhlovu, and Dr. Tristan Guttridge, investigate an aggressive population of Hammerhead Sharks in Turks and Caicos, which they believe could be an entirely new species.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Great White North
    7.7/106 votes
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    #16 - Great White North

    Season 37 Episode 11 - Aired 7/10/2024

    There's a growing population of aggressive White Sharks in an unlikely location, Canada. Shark expert Andy Casagrande heads out on an expedition along Nova Scotia's coast to investigate a surge of Great White Shark encounters and figure out if this new population could be the largest in the world.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • How Jaws Changed The World
    7.6/1034 votes
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    #17 - How Jaws Changed The World

    Season 25 Episode 5 - Aired 8/14/2012

    There are very few movies we can honestly say truly changed the world — but Jaws is one of them. Audiences stood in lines that wrapped entire city blocks to watch the world’s first summer blockbuster. Careers were made, fortunes created, and ways of directing and scoring movies and shooting special effects were all changed forever when it was released. But the impact the film had on the oceans and their inhabitants was as big as the audience it found — and just as surprising. In the aftermath of the film's release, great white sharks were vilified and killed, leading to their near-disappearance from the eastern seaboard. At the same time, public fascination with sharks led to a golden age of shark science that completely changed our view of the ocean and how it works. And as the science began showing us how real sharks behave, it spurred a worldwide conservation effort whose earliest champion was Jaws author Peter Benchley.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Voodoo Sharks
    7.6/1014 votes
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    #18 - Voodoo Sharks

    Season 26 Episode 4 - Aired 8/5/2013

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Summer of The Shark
    7.5/1012 votes
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    #19 - Summer of The Shark

    Season 24 Episode 4 - Aired 8/1/2011

    In the summer of 2008 an unprecedented wave of shark attacks sweeps the eastern coast of Australia. Australian shark experts and fishery managers scramble to understand what is happening. Could it be that that the gradual dwindling of the sharks' natural prey due to overfishing has brought man to the top of the shark's food chain? Will the summer of 2008 be a prelude of things to come?

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Great White Gauntlet
    7.5/1012 votes
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    #20 - Great White Gauntlet

    Season 26 Episode 11 - Aired 8/8/2013

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Alien Sharks: Ghosts of Japan
    7.5/1011 votes
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    #21 - Alien Sharks: Ghosts of Japan

    Season 37 Episode 13 - Aired 7/10/2024

    Japan's waters are home to the largest diversity of shark species on the planet, most of which take otherworldly forms. Wildlife biologist Forrest Galante, along with deep-sea marine scientist Christina de Silva and deep-water surveyors, track down and study these alien sharks in their mission to uncover whether the critically endangered Angel Shark remains in Japan's waters. Along the way, Forrest will uncover 17 different and unique species and witness the births of little-known Velvet Dogfish sharks.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Smart Sharks: Swimming with Roboshark
    7.4/107 votes
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    #22 - Smart Sharks: Swimming with Roboshark

    Season 16 Episode 4 - Aired 8/14/2003

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Jaws Comes Home
    7.4/1024 votes
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    #23 - Jaws Comes Home

    Season 24 Episode 2 - Aired 7/31/2011

    Jaws Comes Home tells the story of passionate shark expert and U.S. Fisheries scientist, Greg Skomal, as he documents six remarkable months following five great whites with names like Curly and Ruthless. His mission: to understand more about their recently discovered, 1,200-mile journey up and down the eastern seaboard and to reveal all he can about these much-maligned hunters.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Killer Sharks: The Attacks of Black December
    7.4/1017 votes
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    #24 - Killer Sharks: The Attacks of Black December

    Season 24 Episode 5 - Aired 8/2/2011

    December 1957: the height of tourist season in South Africa. Merry vacationers from around the globe descend on an idyllic resort town along the sunny coast to enjoy the summer. It's not long until the white sands are clogged with dead bodies and the sapphire waters are red with blood. The culprit? The authorities suspected a single, massive rogue shark with a taste for human flesh.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Air Jaws: Fins of Fury
    7.4/1017 votes
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    #25 - Air Jaws: Fins of Fury

    Season 27 Episode 1 - Aired 8/10/2014

    Air Jaws programming has pushed and expanded our understanding of great white sharks and has become one of the iconic SHARK WEEK programs. In Air Jaws: Fins of Fury Natural History producer Jeff Kurr and his team return using incredible new cameras and high tech underwater gadgetry to track down the missing “mega-shark” named Colossus.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A