Shark Week kicks off on Discovery Channel tonight with Mike Rowe's two-hour special "Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite" and ends Friday, August 4, with the one-hour special "Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite Harder."

Rowe shows viewers how these jobs help further our knowledge about sharks and shark behavior by, among other things, making and testing shark repellants and chain mail protective suits -- and then diving amid a hungry group of sharks to test them.

Shark Week is produced in conjunction with leading shark researchers around the world, and provides viewers with valuable knowledge about the behavior and characteristics of this diverse and majestic species.

Cable television's longest-running programming event, Shark Week first premiered in 1988 and remains a viewer favorite. Last year, Shark Week was watched by 20.6 million people with eight million people tuning in to the premiere special, "MythBusters: Jaws Special."