‘Sharknado’ sequel layers on the cheese

Think of it as the “Wrath of Khan” of Ian Ziering-gutting-sharks-with-a-chain-saw movies.

“Sharknado 2: The Second One” (9 p.m. Wednesday, Syfy) really is that much better in a bad way (or that much worse in a good way, depending on your perspective) than the original.

And it looks like it cost at least three or four times as much as its predecessor, so the “Sharknado 2” budget easily could have cracked six figures.

Things are awesomely awful from the start.

Having survived the first sharknado, April Wexler (Tara Reid) is flying to Manhattan to promote her best-selling book, “How to Survive a Sharknado.” When a flight attendant (Kelly Osbourne) asks her to sign a copy, April opens that book to a random page and scrawls her name on it like a 3-year-old with nerve damage.

Upon closer inspection, that “book” is the instruction manual for a Samsung Galaxy Tab.

And, moments later, April is hanging out the door of that jet, one hand wrapped around a seatbelt, the other unloading a pistol into one of several sharks that are attacking the plane in midair.

She’s once again accompanied by the movie’s hero, Fin — yeah, the hero of a series of shark movies is named Fin — played by actor/occasional Las Vegas Chippendale Ziering.

When “Sharknado” debuted last summer, it didn’t seem that much goofier than most of the movies airing on Syfy, the home of such cinematic treasures as “Dinocroc vs. Supergator” and “Mansquito.” But something clicked with viewers, the movie became a viral sensation, and the sequel ups the ante.

“Sharknado 2” isn’t just cheesy, it stacks that cheese between two slices of ridiculousness and washes it down with an ice cold glass of “Oh no they didn’t!”

“Airplane’s” Robert Hays pilots an airplane, “Taxi’s” Judd Hirsch drives a taxi, and Jared from Subway eats Subway in front of a sign for Subway while waiting for a subway.

“Sharknado 2” co-stars Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath and MTV’s Kari Wuhrer, while Sandy “Pepa” Denton plays her best friend, Billy Ray Cyrus portrays a surgeon, Downtown Julie Brown is a nurse and Biz Markie turns up as a pizzeria owner.

It’s like VH1 Classic threw up all over it.

And it’s casting like that — Perez Hilton, “The Howard Stern Show” writer Benjy Bronk and Daymond John of “Shark Tank” (get it?) also make appearances — that will only serve to give “Sharknado 2” an even higher profile.

Unlike the original movie.

While talking about “Sharknado” at work shortly before it aired, a colleague thought I was saying “shark NATO,” as though someone had established a version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization made up entirely of sharks.

That would have been absurd.

As opposed to, say, a tornado made up of sharks.

It’s new to you: Penn &Teller’s 2011 British series, “Fool Us,” in which aspiring magicians tried to create an illusion the duo couldn’t figure out, makes its U.S. debut (8 p.m. Wednesday, KVCW-TV, Channel 33).

Food fight: Jason Zepaltas of Chicago and Scott Commings of Woodstock, Ill., will compete for the title of head chef of Gordon Ramsay Pub &Grill at Caesars Palace in the season finale of “Hell’s Kitchen” (8 p.m. Thursday, KVVU-TV, Channel 5).

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.