Discovery HQ Is Sharkless During 'Shark Week'

IT'S THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. And while Discovery Communications spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman says that this year's array of programming is bigger and better than ever, the 19th anniversary was certainly a much more grand affair in Silver Spring. Why? The giant inflatable shark that protruded from Discovery's headquarters building at Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue, pictured above during last year's Shark Week, didn't make a return appearance.

"We just decided to do something different," Hillman said, adding that the network outfitted a number of New York City taxi cabs with shark gear promoting the programming.

Neighborhood bloggers, however, can be downers. Silver Spring Singular wrote on Friday:

For those of you lamenting the absence of "Chompy" during this year's Shark Week, put yourselves in the shoes of the many recently laid-off Discovery employees. I'd be pretty pissed if I were "on the street" and Discovery was flagrantly dropping tens of thousands on blowing air into a fish.

That's one way to look at it, but it was no easy task to keep Chompy in place, buffeted as it was by the elements. In one instance, a fin had to be pumped back up with air after it started to droop.

Maybe next year....

» "Shark Week" [Discovery]
» "Friday News 'N Notes" [Silver Spring Singular]

Photo by Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post

Posted By Michael Grass at 3:12 PM on July 30, 2007 Tagged in Architecture , Arts & Events , Free Ride , Maryland , Silver Spring , Streetscapes , Television , Top Stories

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