Shark

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

Feels like a hit show about to happen.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

Shark works some of the same ground as Fox's new legal drama Justice, but with far more wit and style.

Washington PostTom Shales

"Shark" is one of the season's best and fastest-moving new dramas.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

Nothing about this cookie-cutter courtroom drama is really up to Woods' talent, but given his head and a lot of room, he makes it work.

People WeeklyTom Gliatto

Woods is every bit as entertaining as he strives to be. [25 Sep 2006, p.43]

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

The series... is pure formula, but it's a formula that works.

NewsdayDiane Werts

Good actors can get away with glib, and Woods is one of the best, persuasive enough to have you spotting freshness in the familiar and wisdom in cliches.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

"Shark"... is clearly a "House" imitator, but a pretty crisp copy.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Mr. Woods has found a television role that suits his gift and runs away with it.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

"Shark" now looks like above-average, workaday TV with promise.

New York PostLinda Stasi

The show is not as good as Woods makes it, but not as bad as some of the new shows.

SlateTroy Patterson

The show works only because Woods is a honey-baked ham playing a character who lives to be a showman.

The New YorkerTad Friend

The lapping tide of gooeyness would be more tolerable if Stark’s empathy made him lose a big case, and if that loss got messy. “Shark,” though, wants to have it both ways: he keeps winning, but now for the right reasons.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

"Shark" is a very conventional courtroom TV drama about a do-good lawyer, and its only distinction is the ferocious acting of Woods.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

If you watch "Shark," it's going to be for those Woods-ian rants and for the sheer exuberance he brings to them.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Subtract James Woods from Shark, and you'd have an empty carcass. Instead, you have a carcass with James Woods and all his crazy energy inside.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

If you don't like Woods' frantic, frequent speeches, and you can't get out of the "Without a Trace" Thursday habit, best to steer clear.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

If the "Shark" writers feel the need to, in the very first episode, soften their hero in a way the "House" writers haven't had to do in two-plus seasons, how warm and fuzzy will the character be by November sweeps, let alone the end of the season?

VarietyBrian Lowry

Woods is such a compelling presence that he might be able to elevate even procedural fare.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

This is a paint-by-numbers legal series that's as predictable as they come.

Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn

Of course, it's near impossible to break new ground in legal dramas at this point. But Shark doesn't even try to hide its weariness.

Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz

"Shark" suffers from a variety of flaws too numerous to detail here, not least its sentimentality, its wooden characters, its tin-eared dialogue.

TimeJames Poniewozik

The problem is, where Hugh Laurie's Gregory House is a hilarious character study, Stark--while played with ebullient aggression by Woods--is just another tool in a suit, and neither the characters, the stories nor the writing rise near House's level.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

The level of the writing and the bland supporting cast do not match Woods’ wit, intelligence and slightly scary ferocity.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

It's an attractive premise but a pedestrian execution.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

The episode galumphs loudly across a checkerboard of scenes -- Stark at work, Stark at home, Stark at work at home -- that achieve neither the convincing quality of detailed realism nor the dumb fun of untethered melodrama.