TV Talk: ‘Shark Week’ goes inside ‘Belly of the Beast’ to get close-up views of sharks

“Shark Week 2023” kicks off this weekend on Discovery Channel and streaming service Max with “Belly of the Beast: Feeding Frenzy” (8 p.m. Sunday), which is a prototypical “Shark Week” entry.

Part science, part derring-do for the purposes of entertainment, cameras follow marine biologist and “Shark Week’ mainstay Austin Gallagher as he and a team of researchers and camera operators put a custom-built, life-size whale decoy in the ocean off the coast of South Africa in May and June.

The decoy, named EARL (for Elasmobranch Aquatic Research Lure), has a clear, bubble bottom that sits below the water line with Gallagher stationed inside to watch for sharks. He can also control the release of chum and blood from compartments along EARL’s submerged surfaces for attracting great white sharks. It’s also a little insane since that thin, presumably plastic barrier doesn’t offer Gallagher much protection if a shark were to attack.

In a Zoom interview Monday, Gallagher said with “Belly of the Beast” his goal was to bring great white sharks “out of the shadows.

“The population of white sharks off South Africa is not stable right now and that is because orca killer whales have come in and like a couple of serial killers literally hunted down and killed a lot of white sharks and then scared and displaced a lot of the other ones,” Gallagher said.

The idea of building a whale carcass decoy had been percolating for a while.

“I do a lot of active marine science projects on sharks … through my NGO Beneath the Waves, but the thing is, we’re not able to really go out and do whale carcass decoy studies at our nonprofit,” Gallagher said. “It’s high risk. It’s a little bit crazy. So ‘Shark Week’ over the years has provided me this really cool platform to go out and try and answer some of my wildest scientific dreams, to do things that are a little bit crazy, a little bit risky or dangerous, and that’s exactly what we did here.”

And expensive. One imagines a custom-built decoy whale carcass does not come cheap, though Gallagher didn’t know the cost.

“It’s a pretty novel, different type of study and it just really lends itself well to being a TV production,” he said. “The network is our funder and they were really excited about it.”

Gallagher said the sharks responded to the faux whale carcass as they would a real whale carcass.

“We didn’t have to manufacture any action or thrills here,” he said. “It was so incredibly intense, particularly that final act with that large white shark.”

“Shark Week” has been criticized in the past for tipping too far from science into fictional entertainment (think: 2013’s “Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives” or 2014’s “Sharkageddon”) but Gallagher, who said papers have come out of the science generated by “Shark Week” shows, notes for this 35th edition there are no celebrity shows. The focus is largely on the behavior of sharks. (Actor Jason Momoa is only in promos for the programming event.)

“This is so much more than a stunt,” Gallagher said of “Belly of the Beast.” “This is an approach based on real science. We use decoys all the time for white sharks with seals. Why not use a decoy with other species that are realistic? Cameras are great but to be able to be face-to-face with a white shark … I feel like my science is better every time I can personally experience something.”

In addition to “Belly of the Beast,” additional new “Shark Week” entries on Discovery Channel and Max include “Jaws vs. The Meg” (9 p.m. Sunday), Great White Fight Club” (8 p.m. Monday), “Alien Sharks: Strange New Worlds” (10 p.m. Monday), “Raiders of the Lost Shark” (9 p.m. Tuesday), “Cocaine Sharks” (10 p.m. Wednesday) and “Shark vs. Snake: Battle of the Bites” (10 p.m. July 27).

Other outlets are getting in on the interest in sharks, too.

Horror streaming service Shudder debuts “Sharksploitation” (July 21), a documentary about the cinematic legacy of sharks post-“Jaws.”

The HBO documentary “After the Bite” (10 p.m. July 26) explores the repercussions of a 2018 fatal shark attack in Wellfleet, Mass.

Fall schedule upheaval

Two months into the writers’ strike it’s clear any broadcast network fall schedule based on the availability of returning scripted series will have to change. Fox and The CW announced adjustments last week and this week CBS revised its schedule, adding the original British “Ghosts,” which inspired the CBS hit, at 9 and 9:30 p.m. Thursdays. (British “Ghosts” also streams on Max.)

Former CBS drama “SEAL Team,” which relocated to Paramount+ for its fifth season, will be back on CBS to air that fifth season on Thursdays at 10 p.m.

Reruns of Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone” will have their broadcast debut Sunday nights on CBS this fall. No specific premiere dates were announced.

On Wednesday, NBC announced a revised schedule that includes newcomer “The Irrational” (10 p.m. Sept. 25), starring Jesse L. Martin as a behavioral science professor who aids law enforcement, and “Found” (10 p.m. Oct. 3), a missing persons procedural starring Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

In addition, NBC will air the third season of Canadian import “Transplant” (9 p.m. Oct. 5) and the network managed to get new episodes of “Quantum Leap” (9 p.m. Oct. 4) and the final episodes of “Magnum, P.I.” (10 p.m. Oct. 4) completed before the strikes.

Quinto’s ‘Chaperone’ released

Green Tree native Zachary Quinto starred in the dark, disturbing 16-minute “Chaperone,” which played at the virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The film, directed by 2013 Fox Chapel High School grad Sam Max, is included in the LGBTQ+ short film collection “Boys on Film 23: Dangerous to Know,” out on DVD, Blu-ray and on-demand Monday.

Kept/canceled

HBO renewed the unscripted series “We’re Here” for a fourth season.

“Vice” will seek a new home after being removed from (essentially canceled by) Showtime.

Channel surfing

Disney+ will debut a new restoration of the 1950 animated film “Cinderella” on Aug. 25. … Beginning Aug. 17 the cost of Peacock Premium with ads rise from $5 to $6 and Peacock Premium Plus (mostly commercial-free) goes from $10 to $12. … Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel” will play on ABC 8-11 p.m. Aug. 5 and 12.