Time to grab your floaties and head to the beach -- Shark Week is upon us!

It's hard to believe, but this will be the 27th annual celebration of the toothy critters on Discovery Channel. That's 27 years of chompin', crunchin' and humming the theme from Jaws.

Shark Week debuted in 1987. To put it in perspective, that was also the first year we saw The Simpsons, which appeared as a short on The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox.

Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that year, and 18-month-old Baby Jessica McClure held the nation spellbound when she fell down that well in Texas.

(In case you were wondering, Baby Jessica is Jessica McClure Morales these days. She's 28 now, married and the mother of two, and has no memory of her ordeal.)

It was 1987 when the now-ubiquitous Starbucks opened its first coffee shop outside of Seattle.

Prozac was first introduced in 1987, and it was in that year that celebs Blake Lively, Hilary Duff, Ellen Page, Maria Sharapova, Tim Tebow and Zac Efron were born.

Ronald Reagan was president, Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, and Mike Beebe was in his fifth year of a 20-year career in the Arkansas Senate.

That's what was going on when the first Shark Week splashed into our summer programming.

This year, there will be an impressive 13 Shark Week specials coupled with a live, interactive talk show. Shark After Dark airs at 10 p.m. today through Thursday with host Josh Wolf leading viewers through an hour-long celebration of all things shark-related. Each show will include celebrity guests and shark experts.

Here are the highlights.

Today: 7 p.m., Air Jaws: Fins of Fury. Jeff Kurr and his team return using incredible new cameras and high tech underwater gadgetry to track down the missing "mega-shark" named Colossus.

8 p.m., Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine explores the legend of an enormous great white shark named Submarine off the coast of South Africa. This 30-foot shark is said to be the largest great white shark of all time. Locals believe that the shark is responsible for a number of fatal attacks, but its existence has never been proved.

Monday; 8 p.m, Jaws Strikes Back. Marine biologist Greg Skomal and his team film the hunting behavior of the largest great white sharks on earth.

9 p.m. Monster Hammerhead explores the mystery of a legendary hammerhead shark that allegedly has been patrolling Florida's shores for the past 60 years.

Tuesday: 8 p.m., Alien Sharks: Return to the Abyss. Researcher Paul Clerkin heads to the Indian Ocean to investigate the depths in search of shark species that scientists never even knew existed. Viewers also get a glimpse of the last known group of bioluminescent sharks in the world.

9 p.m., Lair of the Mega Shark. Shark experts Jeff Kerr and Andy Casagrande head to New Zealand to investigate the sightings of a 20-foot great white that resembles the creature of Maori legend.

Wednesday: 8 p.m., Zombie Sharks explores tonic immobility, a catatonic zombielike state that can be achieved in sharks. Diver Eli Martinez attempts to be the first person to induce tonic immobility in a massive great white shark.

9 p.m., Spawn of Jaws: The Birth. Michael Domeier hopes to find the great white Pacific pupping grounds by following a tagged pregnant female and being the first to capture the birth of a baby great white shark on film.

Thursday: 8 p.m., I Escaped Jaws 2. This special features survivor attack stories. Using first person interviews and actual attack footage, the program takes a look at why the attacks occurred and how the victims narrowly escaped with their lives. Not for the squeamish.

9 p.m., Sharkageddon. Surf legend Kala Alexander explores the recent spike in shark attacks in his native Hawaii.

Friday: 7 p.m., Megalodon: The Extended Cut. The prehistoric monster shark is profiled.

9 p.m., Megalodon: The New Evidence. Marine biologist Collin Drake tries to determine if the monster still exists.

Saturday: 8 p.m., Great White Matrix. Shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder and shark expert/cameraman Andy Casagrande head to the deadly shark-infested waters of Australia to investigate a series of bizarre great white shark attacks.

• Final warning: Volusia County, Fla., (Daytona Beach south to New Smyrna Beach) is the shark attack capital of the world, according to International Shark Attack File. There have been 210 attacks since 1882. It is estimated that anyone who has swum there (and that includes me) has been within 10 feet of a shark.

Still, you have only a one in 11 million chance of being killed by a shark during your lifetime. Want to better the odds? Stay out of the ocean and watch Shark Week instead.

Style on 08/10/2014