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Sharknado raked in nearly a billion conversations and mentions on Twitter-in part because celebrities showed up everywhere.
Sharknado 2: The Second One splashed across social media like Ian Ziering using a (working) chainsaw. I’ll admit to live-tweeting the movie. How could I not join one of the biggest events around?
Seeing @KellyOsbourne say ‘fasten your seat belt’ while sharks attack a flying plane has made my day #Sharknado2 pic.twitter.com/C9w7n5UEmP— Paul Dunphy Esquire (@pauldunphy) July 31, 2014
Sharknado 2‘s cameos, over the top antics, and killer New York City landmarks set a whopping 3.9 million-viewer record. Or so says TV By The Number blogger Amanda Kondolojy in “‘Sharknado 2: The Second One’ Draws Record Setting 3.9 Million Total Viewers.”
Apparently, Fin and April’s adventures beat out CBS, Fox, and ABC original programming by a landslide. Considering the hype and media, it’s no wonder. When your movie makes over one billion Twitter impressions and conversations, you might just have a hit.
Behold our #Sharknado2 cake! RT @AnneWheaton: It’s about the red velvet center for maximum killing machine likeness. https://t.co/t75x93kPf9— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) July 30, 2014
Who doesn’t follow Wesley Crusher’s live tweeting for such epic reactions? And look, it’s not about the L.A. Kings! Though, really, The Asylum, where was Ranger King Henrik Lundqvist swatting that shark out of the goal? What a missed opportunity!
The dueling hashtags #Sharknado2 and #Sharknado2TheSecondOne (the one I tweeted one) definitely didn’t hurt. As Nolan Feeny points out in Time’s “Sharkando 2: The Best and Worst Moments,” probably would have been good to be stuck on one hashtag, but hey, all the people tweeting both clearly kicked a little media butt.
Sharknado 2 topped all U.S. 10 trending topics, including #IanZiering and #TaraReid. Let’s not forget being more popular than Game of Thrones, The Bachelorette, and Survivor, too. Twitter made Sharknado A Thing and it catapulted Sharknado 2 into a completely different work. With merchandise!
#SliceSliceBaby #Sharknado2TheSecondOne http://t.co/rcO18mfDFz— Sharknado (@SharknadoSyfy) July 31, 2014
But the movie’s cheese and campy effects weren’t the only thing keeping the trends going. SyFy pulled no punches adding in cameos.
The list seems to be impossibly long, but off the top of my head I noticed: Shark Tank‘s Daymond John getting squashed, Biz “You Got What I Need” Markie, Billy Ray Cyrus playing Doc again, Richard Kind slamming a home run without Michael J. Fox around, and Judd Hirsch making his Taxi rounds again.
Not to mention fake mayor of NYC Robert Klein handing a chainsaw over, like passing an Olympic torch to the surfer king. And original MTV VJ Downtown Julie Brown playing a compassionate nurse.
Stars are just like us, they die screaming bloody murder! Relive #Sharknado2 Saturday on @Syfy at 7|6c.
https://t.co/WdZrh5MN69— Sharknado (@SharknadoSyfy) July 31, 2014
Seriously, the amount of cameos made the sequel amazing. In fact, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan all battled sharks in studio. Poor Gelman. We hardly knew ya.
Remember, though, if it’s raining two-inches of sharks, stay inside. The Weather Channel’s bizarre Stephanie Abrams was quite helpful in letting people know the precipitation rates in NYC. (Though, where was Jim Cantore, or the lady with the Stop sign, to get hit along a pier?)
Quick, internet people, make a databank! For the journalists…or to spread gifs across the internet like a tornado full of man eating—oh. Well, hey there, Tumblr.
Look it’s @tarareid and @ianZiering headed for NYC. What could POSSIBLY go wrong? A #Sharknado2 that’s what! pic.twitter.com/4gzAk6I3kZ— Syfy UK (@SyfyUK) July 31, 2014
Vulture’s Lindsey Webber was kind enough to gif all the cameos she saw in “All of the Cameos in Sharknado 2: The Second One.” There’s a lot, by the way.
Kelly Osbourne playing a dead fan girl flying, Robert Hays piloting the Airplane, Rachel True can’t seem to keep Manuel happy, Wil Wheaton (of course, he’s a dead passenger), Andy Dick, The Naked Cowboy, Pepa from Salt-N-Pepa, Subway Jared, dead Perez Hilton…and I’m sure there’s so many more that the internet’s missed them.
But the one of the best moment from any actor on the show, cameo or otherwise, was watching Vivica A. Fox pull out some Kill Bill knife skills on some sharks. Who needs Samuel L. Jackson when you’ve got Ms. Fox killing things with style and snark?
Today’s forecast: Hottie w/ a chance of #Sharknado! @mark_mcgrath gives #Sharknado2 scoop on The @TODAYshow, 10am|9c. pic.twitter.com/qnpOLlVOb4— Sharknado (@SharknadoSyfy) June 19, 2014
If you missed the movie—and really, how do you miss the epic that is Sharknado 2—there’s good news!
SyFy’s Sharknado 2: The Second One will replay Saturday, August 2, at 7PM and on Sunday, August 3, at 9PM.