While there are a lot of reasons so many people look forward to summer, one that's easy to forget until it's upon us is that with each passing July, shark fans can look forward to Discovery's long-running Shark Week event.
But while it may be successful and entertaining enough, it won't really have that much to offer the kind of fan who wants to learn more about sharks. And as shark conservation professor David Shiffman wrote in The Washington Post, it also has the added bonus of inspiring a generation of marine biologists to pursue their passion.
But while this is a clear benefit of Shark Week, it happened in spite of the quality of the information that you'll actually see if you binge the station's programming while the week is on.
Despite what some of Discovery's executives may tell you, Shark Week is doing far more for the network's ratings than it is for actual sharks.