In what surely counts as the most laughable premise since Samuel Jackson got tired of all those snakes on his plane, the TV movie Sharknado debuted on the Syfy channel Thursday night. It features pretty much what you'd imagine from that title: a freak weather system sweeping up schools of sharks into a tornado that drowns and devastates Los Angeles.
For folks on Twitter, it was cause for a feeding frenzy. Users of the network tend to like a really ridiculous concept they can sink their teeth into, ironically or otherwise. Sharknado delivered. (They also like to get meta by tweeting about how many people are tweeting about something,and Sharknado delivered on that front too.)
The title was one of the top trending topics in the US Thursday night -- an unheard-of feat for a TV movie. And that was just for the East Coast showing. Herewith, some of the most amusing Sharknado tweets; feel free to add your own favorite bites in the comments.
Chekhov's Rule of Sharks: If you show a shark in the beginning of the movie, you have to put it in a tornado by the end. #SHARKNADO— Yuri Lowenthal (@YuriLowenthal) July 12, 2013
Not to be a pedant but I feel like this is really more of a Sharkical Storm than a #SHARKNADO.— Joel Watson (@hijinksensue) July 12, 2013
In 1977, Fonzie jumped the shark: http://t.co/0VUaJ22ZgJ Tonight, sharks are jumping over 1990s sitcom characters. #SharkNado.— Alex Howard (@digiphile) July 12, 2013
Shark and Tornado marriages... thank a lot Obama... #sharknado— Political Line (@PoliticaILine) July 12, 2013
if you ever doubted twitter's usefulness, i am now watching #SharkNado and my night got 1000% better— Ben Greenberg (@bengreenberg1) July 12, 2013
East coast, please don't tell me how #SharkNado ends. Or starts. Or what happens in the middle.— Ben Hoffman (@thebenshow) July 12, 2013
Dear Brands on Twitter: auto-tweeted marketing messages have no place during a #SharkNado emergency. ARE YOU LISTENING?— Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) July 12, 2013
I am going to write the Sharknado sequel and I am going to do it before Shaknado is over.— Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) July 12, 2013
I had believed that truly universal pop culture had died with mass media, with Michael Jackson, with the Tonight Show. But then #Sharknado.— Anil Dash (@anildash) July 12, 2013
You fools! You foolish fools! We should have taken global warming seriously and now there's a SHARKNADO!— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) July 12, 2013
You know how Grandpa in Lost Boys didn't need a TV because he had TV Guide? That's how I feel about Sharknado and Twitter now.— Eric Goldman (@EricIGN) July 12, 2013
Omg omg OMG #sharknado— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) July 12, 2013
Confession: until about 90 minutes ago I thought #sharknado was just some weird twitter meme. Not something on tv.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 12, 2013
I really wish I could be live tweeting snarky comments about #sharknado. I'm too busy cleaning up the mess left behind by Alpacavalanche.— Crystal Bruce (@ProducerCrystal) July 12, 2013
I saw the best minds of my generation live tweet Sharknado.— Alison Forns (@alisonforns) July 12, 2013
It would be easier to illustrate who is not talking about #sharknado in my feed. pic.twitter.com/zszLK0trUj— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) July 12, 2013
@wilw At the end of the movie the sharknado sucks all the sharks back up and puts them back in the sea. Turns out they were only loan sharks— Brittany (@jellinfelon) July 12, 2013
The director of the movie, needless to say, was floored by the response:
#SHARKNADO i have never been part of something this crazy ... the whole world is watching my insane little movie and talking about it ...— Anthony C. Ferrante (@acferrante) July 12, 2013
As was the improbably-named writer:
#Sharknado We're gonna need a bigger ratings scale!— Thunder Levin (@ThunderLevin) July 12, 2013