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Shark ongoing thread

post #1 of 45
7/25/06 at 8:21am
Thread Starter 
I saw a preview for this new show on CBS. And it looks like it could be pretty good. I like the premise and James Woods. So hopefully, it will live up to my expectations...

From www.thefutoncritic.com

Quote:
· SHARK (CBS)
· format: drama (hour)
· series premiere (projected) - 9/21/06 at 10:00 PM
· regularly airs: thursdays from 10:00 PM-11:00 PM
· description: (from CBS's press release) SHARK (Thursday, 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) stars multiple Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner James Woods ("Ghosts of Mississippi," "ER") as Sebastian Stark, a charismatic, supremely self-confident defense attorney who, after a shocking outcome in one of his cases and a personal epiphany, brings his cutthroat tactics to the prosecutor's office. As the head of the Los Angeles District Attorney's High Profile Crime Unit, Stark works for Jessica Devlin, (Jeri Ryan, "The O.C."), the ambitious and accomplished D.A. who despises his ruthless strategies. Devlin teams him with a group of young prosecutors who are about to have the learning experience of a lifetime because, though Stark is seeking to redeem himself, he has no intention of cooling his underhanded approach to cases just because he's now working for the "good guys." Sam Page ("American Dreams"), Alexis Cruz ("American Family"), Sarah Carter ("Numb3rs"), Danielle Panabaker ("Mom at Sixteen"), Romy Rosemont ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") and Sophina Brown ("Without a Trace") also star.
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post #2 of 45
7/25/06 at 3:53pm

Re: "Shark" starring James Woods

I am also a James Woods fan, but some of the ads I have seen for the show seem to have him acting a bit "over the top". I hope this show doesn't jump the shark too soon.
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post #3 of 45
7/26/06 at 8:34am

Re: "Shark" starring James Woods

Also: Spike Lee directed the pilot. Spike Lee. If that's the kind of resources they intend to throw at it on a regular basis...
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post #4 of 45
7/26/06 at 9:22am

Re: "Shark" starring James Woods

The daughter, Julie (played by Danielle Panabaker), holds her own against Woods, and their relationship dynamic was off to a decent start in the pilot. Woods does chew the scenery, but that's written into his lawyer character with a theatrical flair for performance in front of the jury. I enjoyed it.
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post #5 of 45
9/21/06 at 6:06am

Re: Shark series premiere 9/21/06

Just a reminder the premiere airs tonight in the 10 spot (EST) on CBS.
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post #6 of 45
9/25/06 at 5:27am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

I saw the show, and have to say, I thought it was really good. Kind of like Justice, but for the other side.

This is my first time seeing James Woods in something, other than an animated appearance on Family Guy. I don't think I've seen any of his movies.
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post #7 of 45
9/25/06 at 1:09pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

I liked it too. I find most lawyer shows to be all the same and really don't cover much new ground, but this one takes a focus on the characters and not the cases.
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post #8 of 45
9/25/06 at 4:15pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

This was far better than Justice (which is simply awful), although I'm not buying the courtroom in the basement bit. Woods is great and it's good to see and (almost) gimmick free, old fashioned entertainment for a change.
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post #9 of 45
10/2/06 at 5:07pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Sarah Carter seems to have gotten even prettier in this 2nd episode. Her voice is a bit too squeaky to take seriously, though.

I like Shark, the character, just because he's always moving forward, pushing people's buttons, playing things off to his advantage.
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post #10 of 45
12/2/06 at 6:46pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Surprise there isn't more talk about this show, it really kicks ass. Glad I found it by channel surfing one late night, I got my brother and my uncle addicted!

Anyway, the production value seems high but hopefully CBS won't cancel this one. Shark and the Office are the only shows I watch regularly.
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post #11 of 45
12/3/06 at 9:39am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

A few things about this show bug me, like DAs going to trial while still gathering evidence and building a case, and the justice system moving from arrest to sentencing in the time it takes Julie to do a homework assignment.

Nevertheless, I enjoy this show immensely. The development of the criminal cases usually contain pleasantly unexpected plot twists, and the relationship between Stark and his daughter is genuinely heartwarming.

And, yes, I know that the writers undoubtedly know better than to think that the wheels of justice turn the way they depict, and I accept the compromises they've made in their depiction to put the story front and center. So I gladly accept these concessions in order to enjoy a one-hour story each week.

Besides, if I want an accurate depiction of the US legal system, where am I going to go? Boston Legal?

I hope this show survives for a while.
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post #12 of 45
12/3/06 at 8:36pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

One of the best new shows... was anyone fooled by the teaser a couple episodes back that made it look like a key cast member was going to be killed off?


> Besides, if I want an accurate depiction of the US legal system, where am I going to go?

Judge Judy, Texas Justice & the other syndicated shows.
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post #13 of 45
1/5/07 at 8:48am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood
One of the best new shows... was anyone fooled by the teaser a couple episodes back that made it look like a key cast member was going to be killed off?
maaaaaaaaan did you see the last episode? That sucked!
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post #14 of 45
1/5/07 at 9:39am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

I saw it, and I couldn't believe it.
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post #15 of 45
1/5/07 at 4:05pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Couldn't believe how it took SWAT an hour to shoot the guy?
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post #16 of 45
1/8/07 at 10:44am
Thread Starter 

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Chan
Couldn't believe how it took SWAT an hour to shoot the guy?


I was about to post the same thing. That guy ran and got the kids after the bad guy fired off a dozen rounds...And these guys had scopes and the kid wasn't that close to him.
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post #17 of 45
1/25/07 at 7:08pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

bah!
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Shark finally loses on a cliffhanger and we get treated to a re-run!?

oh well, it's a good episode
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post #18 of 45
1/26/07 at 2:45pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

That last one wasn't a cliffhanger. He sees Jordan Collier at the restaurant; end of episode. I suppose we won't see him again until May sweeps.
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post #19 of 45
1/26/07 at 3:01pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Chan
That last one wasn't a cliffhanger. He sees Jordan Collier at the restaurant; end of episode. I suppose we won't see him again until May sweeps.
Not exactly.
Thought he saw Jordan, went to rough him up, turned out to be some random dude to whom he had to apologize for manhandling.
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post #20 of 45
1/29/07 at 1:54pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

> Shark finally loses

I thought it was great that they broke the formula with that.

Wonder why they killed Martin, though... just a few episodes after teasing us with the "Is Casey going to die" promo.
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post #21 of 45
2/8/07 at 12:40pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

I was surprised to hear this is the #1 rated new show of the season. I guess thread activity in this forum isn't a reliable indicator of popularity.

It's one of my fave new shows, just surprised to hear the news since I don't hear much buzz about it.
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post #22 of 45
2/8/07 at 12:55pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Procedural shows don't have a big message-board following, since there's not a whole lot of room for the speculation that occupies between-episode time.
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post #23 of 45
2/9/07 at 10:05am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

But regardless of format, wouldn't you expect the #1 rated new show to have more discussion?

One of the biggest threads in the TV section is about Star Trek TOS reruns- how much speculation can there be about episodes that were made 40 years ago?

"I wonder if Spock will be all logical next week."
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post #24 of 45
2/9/07 at 12:41pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Spend some time looking over message board discussions on other shows - you'll see that not only are they heavily slanted toward SF/Fantasy shows with ongoing storylines, there's often flat-out hostility toward the idea of "done-in-one" stories.

I mean, forget about the #1 new show, see how many discussions there are for procedurals of any type, whether they be CSI, Law & Order, House, etc. It's a very skewed look at what's popular.
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post #25 of 45
2/9/07 at 9:08pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Yeah, I enjoy this show, but what's to talk about? We could speculate about how long it will take before Julie falls in love with her new bodyguard and how PO'd Sebastian will be, or how many minutes before the season-ending cliff-hanger Jordan Collier makes his re-appearance. But we all know that these things are probably a given and just take a Mulligan. It's not as if Sebastian might be a Cylon, or anything. Pretty much, what you see is what you get. And with each story (almost completely) wrapped up at the end of each episode, there's not much room for speculative chatter.

And I'm NOT going to get on the Internet and upload a post like, "OMG! That episode ROCKED! Julie is SO CUTE!"

That would just be so AOL of me, and I'd hate myself for at least three days.

It's a great show, though. It portrays the judicial system in several inaccurate ways, but these are compromises obviously adopted by the writers to facilitate story-telling, which is perfectly fine by me, and obviously fine by a lot of other people as well.

Plus, OMG! Julie is just SO CUTE!
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post #26 of 45
2/10/07 at 11:00am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

> there's often flat-out hostility toward the idea of "done-in-one" stories.

Which is funny, considering about 95% of all TV series in history are exactly that...

Who came up with this wacky term "procedural"? It's almost as bad as "reality". To me it sounds like a cooking show or something, but I don't see how CSI or shows like it are much different from traditional cop/detective/doctor/lawyer shows that have been on since the beginning of TV.
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post #27 of 45
2/10/07 at 3:09pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood
Which is funny, considering about 95% of all TV series in history are exactly that...
Yeah, well, that just means they're antiquated and not up to the standards sophisticated modern viewers expect.

Or at least, that's what people seem to believe. I won't deny that bringing more serialization into television has in many cases allowed writers to tell more complex stories, but too many people are too quick to dismiss the quick, self-contained story.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood
Who came up with this wacky term "procedural"?
It came over from mystery books - a "police procedural" is a mystery that focuses on the police solving a mystery, with particular attention paid to making sure the details are as accurate and true-to-life as possible, in contrast to a "cozy" or private investigator story.

I like the term, myself - it indicates a plot-heavy mystery that spends a great deal of time on the method of getting the job done. It bums me out that I've heard people use it as a perjorative.
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post #28 of 45
5/6/07 at 6:16pm

Re: Shark ongoing thread

That was a great season finale. Sebastian's underhanded method of putting Jordan Collier () away made for some great story-telling (though such tactics by the DA, I hope, are certainly not to be condined or encouraged in the real world). I know having Sebastian confess everything to "Collier" was just an exposition device to dramatically let the audience in on Sebastian's method, but telling him all still seemed like a dumb thing to do. But, yeah, it was dramatic.

Any word yet on whether this show is being picked up for another season?

I guess Jules has other plans for her career, and it looks like 7-of-9 will no longer be on top.
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post #29 of 45
5/7/07 at 9:30am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

> Any word yet on whether this show is being picked up for another season?

Since it was the highest-rated new show, I can't imagine it being cancelled.
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post #30 of 45
5/7/07 at 11:12am

Re: Shark ongoing thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW
That was a great season finale. Sebastian's underhanded method of putting Jordan Collier () away made for some great story-telling (though such tactics by the DA, I hope, are certainly not to be condined or encouraged in the real world). I know having Sebastian confess everything to "Collier" was just an exposition device to dramatically let the audience in on Sebastian's method, but telling him all still seemed like a dumb thing to do. But, yeah, it was dramatic.
I was thinking the same thing. While it was great to see how Callison would react to knowing he got duped, surely there was a better way to reveal Stark's ploy to the audience. How easy would it be for Callison to flip that coroner? Or the mother?

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW
and it looks like 7-of-9 will no longer be on top.
Oh she'll be on top...on top of Stark.
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