(From Yahoo!) "Because sharks have taken the life and limbs of numerous humans, they are hunted, killed and labeled as people's enemies. Michael Rutzen is determined to turn that notion upside down and people's attitudes right side up. (Watch an exclusive preview clip.) His goal is to inspire people to want to protect, rather than destroy these incredible apex ocean dwellers. To fulfill this mission, Michael attempts to hypnotize a great white shark in open water. He's been working with sharks for many years to study their body language and believes if he can put sharks into a sleeplike state called tonic immobility, he will be able to reveal an entirely different nature of the shark. Will Michael be able to complete this unbelievable quest?"

"Hypnotize" is a terrible word to use in this description. It makes think that he is using some kind of mind control technique and that is not the case.

What is Tonic Immobility?
(From Wikipedia)Tonic immobility is a natural state of paralysis that animals enter, in most cases when presented with a threat.Sharks can be placed in a tonic immobility state by inverting them. The shark remains in this state of paralysis for an average of fifteen minutes before it recovers. Scientists have exploited this phenomenon to study shark behavior.

What is not explained in the previous definition is the technique Rutzen used. smaller sharks can enter this state when inverted, but larger sharks can also enter this state when the tip of their nose is touched. in tiger sharks the sensory glands are on the side of the shark's nose.

It was a nice change to see a Shark Week special that didn't try to scare the public from going into the ocean. This is one of those rare shows that tries to paint the "nicer" side of sharks. You could truly see that Rutzen felt a connection with these sharks. You could also see that once he "put" a shark in tonic immobility that the shark definitely came back wanting more. Some of the sharks even seemed gentle and playful, well as gentle as a 2 ton animal can be. Rutzen's main goal was to accomplish putting a great white shark into this state. He started by learning from others who had experienced using tonic immobility with smaller sharks. I really liked his approach to this. Most people who get Discovery Channel specials are nutjobs with no sense of fear at all whereas Rutzen was displayed as calm but nervous every time he got in the water with these sharks. He also didn't try to work with the great whites without first learning from others and "practicing" on the smaller sharks. His approach was very diligent. It was a surreal sight to see these sharks, these massive animals, in this tonic immobility state. At one point, when he was experimenting with the smaller reef sharks, multiple sharks would come to him vying for his attention. In this regard, the sharks reminded me of dogs. The whole 2 hour show is definitely worth watching if you catch it.