The Bulletin., July 21, 2022, Page 16, Image 16

PAGE 2 • TV
THE BULLETIN • JULY 21 - 27, 2022
BY GEORGE DICKIE
James “Murr” Murray is
featured in “Shark Week,”
beginning Sunday on Discovery.
Shark Week offers comic relief
with ‘Impractical Jokers:
Do Shark Week’
James “Murr” Murray is no fan of
sharks. In fact, he says he’s terrified of
them
But for his contribution to Discovery’s
Shark Week titled “Impractical Jokers:
Do Shark Week,” airing Tuesday,
July 26, he and the other Jokers were
required to get in the water with the
apex ocean predators. In his case, he was
protected by a cage as bull sharks, tigers
and great whites swam up to check
him out, an experience he found both
educational and exhilarating.
But all the same, he’s glad it’s over.
“The second cage I went in had a
glass front to it and you’re holding onto
the bar I mean right against the glass,”
he explains. “So the sharks were two
inches from my face. You know, that
was intense. Because they’re inquisitive.
They keep coming right to the edge of
the glass to see what’s that piece of meat
inside.”
Discovery’s annual weeklong
extravaganza dedicated to all things
shark returns for its 34th year Sunday,
July 24, with 25 hours of new, original
programming that features, among other
elements, previously unseen footage of
walking sharks, scientists living under
water and, of course, soaring breaches.
Filmed in locations such as the
Exuma Island in the Bahamas (where
the “Impractical Jokers” episode was
shot) and Papua New Guinea, this
year’s edition will also present the latest
findings in shark research from the
world’s most respected marine biologists
and science institutions, including the
discovery of a possible new species. New
shark technology will also be in the
spotlight.
And there will be comic relief this
year in the form of guest stars Tracy
Morgan, the cast of “Jackass” and, of
course, Impractical Jokers Sal Vulcano,
Brian Quinn and Murray, who naturally
play gags on each other and innocent
bystanders.
In fact in one hidden camera
challenge, they ask potential shark
dive customers to sign a release form
with increasingly absurd conditions.
Another has unwitting victims trying to
memorize a laundry list of increasingly
bizarre details as they’re filming a
commercial for a shark repellant.
And each Joker has their own
storyline.
“My storyline is I think that if I
can just simply decipher dolphin
language, I can then use those skills to
communicate with sharks in order to
keep them from attacking us humans,”
Murray explains. “So a lot of the episode
is me swimming with dolphins, too, and
trying to decipher their language and
learn how to speak dolphin, that way I
can communicate with sharks.”
This is the second time Murray
has swam with sharks, the first being
in Season 6 in Hawaii. He certainly
feels more knowledgeable about the
toothy sea beasts but as to whether
he’s more comfortable around them,
he says, “Now that I understand how
to speak dolphin language, I feel like
I’m protected against sharks. I can
communicate with them through a
series of clicks and whistles and I think
we’ve gotten a mutual respect for one
another.”
Guide to the TV grids
TV Ratings:
‘G’: General audience
‘Y’: Young children
‘7’: Children over 7
‘14’: Children over 14
‘PG’: Parental guidance
‘M’: Mature audience only
PA: Parental advisory
DVS: Descriptive video service
EI: Educational/instructional
D: Dialogue
L: Language
S: Sexual situations
V: Violence
Common symbols :
HD scheduling, please
note:
’:I n stereo
Å: Closed captioning
iTV: Interactive TV program
N: Program is new
Schedules are based on standard-
definition (SD) channels. High-
definition (HD) channels may vary
by three hours when a West Coast
programming feed is not available to
your TV provider. Please refer to your
provider’s interactive TV guide for
detailed HD channel schedules.
For a list of cable and over-the-air
channels by zip code, as well
up-to-the-minute TV programming,
please visit www.bendbulletin.
com/tv. For questions or feedback
please call The Bulletin Circulation
Department at 541-385-5800.