Another 'Sharknado'

"Sharks in Space!" -- "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!"

It's been a rough summer when it comes to sharks. There's been a number of high profile attacks, and several near misses. The most recent being at a professional surfing event in Australia last weekend. So it's into this environment that the third entry in the "Sharknado" franchise bowed on Wednesday night.

For those not familiar with the films on SyFy, it is essentially what it sounds like. A weather phenomenon develops that creates a tornado that scoops up angry, predatory sharks from the ocean and drops them on major United States cities. In the first film it was Los Angeles. Last year it was New York City. This year, it was Washington, D.C., and most of Florida and the East Coast.

When the first "Sharknado" debuted in the summer of 2013, it was expected to be a little movie that came in under the radar. That's because SyFy is known for crafting these kind of disaster movies. But the combination of the ridiculous story and the acting from Ian Ziering ("Beverly Hills 90210") and Tara Reid ("American Pie") made it a Twitter sensation. It was so bad it's good. It was fun in a ridiculous kind of way.

So the public interest led to last summer's sequel, which again blew up Twitter and seemingly solidified this as a recurring franchise. The third installment's credits promised "Sharknado 4" next summer, even giving fans a chance to be a part of the world by voting whether Reid's character should live or die.

These films are an interesting study. They've actually gotten worse and less enjoyable as they've realized people want them to be ridiculous. What was charming in the original feels trite and a lot like mugging for the camera by the third one. Yet, they seem to exist solely to blow up Social Media. The third film got more than two Billion tweets Wednesday. Two Billion! And while I thought it was awful, I was tweeting along with the rest of the world.

But this is also an example of how the Internet is effecting content. That's nothing new, but this might be the most pervasive example. The producers of "L.O.S.T." were often criticized for taking too much of their story direction from fan boards. But the "Sharknado" franchise seems now to be solely designed to please people inclined to Tweet like crazy during their movies.

This third installment was the worst so far, seemingly moving far beyond the charm of the original. That's why it suffered a 33 percent decline in viewers while still exploding on Twitter. And we know there will be at least one more, but should there be?

This is a gimmick that seems to have run its course. And given the state of the world, it even feels like its in poor taste. But I doubt that will stop SyFy from making more and people from Tweeting about it.