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Shark
SERIES: CBS, Thursday 10:00p (60 minutes)


7.7

based on 26 reviews
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how did we calculate this?

based on 54 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring James Woods, Jeri Ryan, Sam Page, Sophina Brown, Alexis Cruz, Sarah Carter, and Danielle Panabaker

James Woods stars as a high-profile defense attorney (think a legal version of the title character on House, M.D.) who abruptly quits his job to work for the District Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

GENRE(S):	Drama
CREATED BY:	Ian Biederman
FIRST AIR DATE:	September 21, 2006

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy

Feels like a hit show about to happen.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

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

Washington Post Tom Shales

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

USA Today Robert 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 Weekly Tom Gliatto

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

New York Daily News David Hinckley

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

Newsday Diane 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-Gazette Rob Owen

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

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

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

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

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

New York Post Linda Stasi

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

Slate Troy Patterson

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

The New Yorker Tad 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 Globe Matthew 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 News Ellen 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 Inquirer Jonathan 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-Intelligencer Melanie 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-Ledger Alan 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?

Variety Brian Lowry

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

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

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

Entertainment Weekly Gillian 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 Journal Dorothy Rabinowitz

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

Time James 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 Tribune Maureen Ryan

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

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

It's an attractive premise but a pedestrian execution.

Los Angeles Times Robert 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.

The average user rating for this tv show is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 54 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Josh W gave it a1:
This show is ridiculous and contains the most unbelievable cases. Judges allow things that would never work in an actual courtroom. Absurd.

BONNIE H. gave it a10:
Go Shark!! He is "yards" better than watching/hearing about spoiled sports stars and their millions abusing drugs and wives; or otherwise breaking the law. Maybe they are exempt from our laws!! ?? Get'm Shark!!!

Bill M gave it a0:
Does it not bother anyone else that Shark, while working for the public, has committed acts which should have had him disbarred not to mention sent to jail? The Dial M for Monica was the worst case of an unscrupulous lawyer.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Amazing. Woods i am your fan

Alexia B. gave it a10:
Hugely entertaining. This is a fresh wonderful new show that albeit predictable, doesn't suffer from it. Woods bring such ferocity to the screen that he epitomizes everybodies image of an ideal lawyer.

Charles C gave it a10:
Wonderful show. We look forward to every episode.

Dona B gave it a10:
I LOVEEE this show. James Woods does an excellent job as does the rest of the case. I was sad to see Alexis Cruz go, but the show ROCKS..I watch it religously after CSI every week.

Shark SERIES: CBS, Thursday 10:00p (60 minutes)

Shark
SERIES: CBS, Thursday 10:00p (60 minutes)