It's about damn time the great James Woods landed a weekly television gig. And this role seems tailor-made for his fast-talking, arrogant persona.

Woods is SHARK. Sebastian Stark, to be exact (he hates to be called "Shark"), a high-priced Los Angeles defense attorney who specialized in getting wealthy murderers and rapists back on the streets. One week after he gets a rich movie star acquitted on a charge of attempting to murder his wife, the asshat succeeds in killing her and grins smugly when Stark arrives on the scene, knowing that his slick lawyer will get him off the hook.

Except he doesn't. Stark reaches the limit of his thin moral canvas and accepts a new job working for the district attorney's office as the head of a new unit dedicated to prosecuting high-visibility cases. The Hispanic mayor, a friend of Stark's, drags him kicking and screaming into his new digs in a dusty basement and saddles him with an inexperienced staff of young lawyers whom Stark doesn't really like or respect very much. The same goes for his new boss, the D.A., played unconvincingly by the lovely Jeri Ryan (STAR TREK: VOYAGER, BOSTON PUBLIC), who will undoubtedly become Stark's love interest within the first 13 weeks.

SHARK seems a dream role for Woods, who really gets to show his range. He's highly theatrical in court, menacing to his staff, flirty in his scenes with Ryan, and more human in his domestic life with his 16-year-old daughter Julie.

Spike Lee directed the pilot, which is a typically straightforward CBS crime drama with little grit and few flourishes. You have to wonder whether L.A. can come up with 22 big media circuses to provide SHARK's plots, although this is a series that may be able to coast on unspectacular scripts, so long as Woods stays front and center.

As hard as it is to believe, I think some people have forgotten what a dynamic actor Woods is. Quality film roles seem to have dried up, even though he's stayed in the public eye (celebrity poker, dating young starlets, etc)--the time is right for...SHARK!!

Seriously, though--I'm really looking forward to this show. It's gonna be THE JAMES WOODS SHOW from the first moment, and that's exactly what I want to see. Woods rules.

In an unrelated note, how soon before he's dating the actress who plays his daughter?

Don Johnson did that when he was doing NASH BRIDGES. And that's why we love Don Johnson.

Well, he's be hard pressed to do worse than his last girlfriend.

Good first episode. Totally formulaic, but Jimbo WAS the show.

I doubt all the episodes will be this way since the debut had to establish certain characters, but there wasn't nearly enough of Woods tearing witnesses apart on the stand. I'm sure that will change in future episodes.

It's not a groundbreaking show or anything, but I'll keep watching.

I didn't like SHARK at all. To me, it was clearly HOUSE in a courtroom, except his protoges are more annoying and faceless than House's protoges; and the key to HOUSE is that I (and many, I'm sure) weren't too familiar with Laurie before the show began -- Wood's schtick can be entertaining, but I knew what was coming before I put it on the show, and it's exactly what i got, in droves. I really thought the show played like a HOUSE rip-off to the final aha moment when Woods figures out how to win; I find that stuff more entertaining when it comes to medical mumbo-jumbo than to legal mumbo jumbo...

Plus, I generally find law shows more fun when you're focusing on the defense than on the prosecution, which no matter how righteous, is part of the system, as opposed to fighting it (I liked Woods a lot better in TRUE BELIEVER)...

Finally, Lee's direction didn't make a difference to me -- meaning he didn't overdirect to the point of annoyance, but I didn't feel any of the regulars other than Woods gave a performance that wasn't typical-TV.

I actually enjoyed SIX DEGREES (which I recorded) more -- it's "hook" is silly, but Campbell Scott and Hope Davis and Bridget Moynihan were all excellent, and I'm curious about their situations, regardless of the dopey "we're all connected" vibe...

They're still annoying and faceless after three episodes. Worse yet, SHARK has already fallen into the lame cliche of having two characters bicker and snap at each other, only to (unsurprisingly) throw us a "twist" at the end when we discover they're sleeping together. Yawn.

Yeah, this show's certainly not breaking any new ground in prime-time network drama, and I'm already tired of Shark's sad, "God, I'm such a jerk" look whenever his daughter gets irked with him. Still, I enjoy watching Woods be Woods, and that's really what this show is about. With a less magnetic lead, this show wouldn't have a thing going for it, not even Jeri Ryan looking as great as ever.

Woods did have a laugh-out-loud line in tonight's episode, when the one young lawyer (I don't even know any of their names---the actors OR the characters) tells him the medical examiner wants to see them, and Woods, knowing their case is doomed, quips "Maybe my slab is waiting."

It's all in the delivery. Without Woods, I doubt I'd be sticking with this, so yeah, I'm giving it a passing grade....for now.

Fair or not, I didn't stick with SHARK past the 1st, so far the only new shows I'm keeping up with are STUDIO 60 and SIX DEGREES, and thats more because of the casts (and with DEGREES, the locations) than any greatness on the shows' part, although I don't find them a chore to watch, either. I might try SHARK again as it isn't a "serial" show (having missed the first episodes of THE NINE, KIDNAPPED, etc., I feel it's pointless to try to catch up on episode 3 or whatever) -- while they can be addictive, isn't there something to be said about the old hour-stand alone shows...then again, your reports on SHARK may make me stay away from that, too!

I will try the Tina Fey SNL show, too, again mostly because of the cast. Has anyone seen the Ted Danson sitcom? Is it any good?

I didn't think so, it's just Becker as a shrink with poorer writing and less interesting characters. Twice was enough for me!

Interestingly enough, BECKER was a show I ignored when it was on first-run but grew to enjoy on repeats, which is why I had some interest in the new Danson project -- I thought he was really quite good in BECKER. I'll still try to catch it, but your response seemed to confirm my suspicions...

I saw a bit of some episode of "Shark" and it seems to me to be a pretty straightforward "House" clone, minus the little grace notes that make "House" so special. For one thing, "House" had to be a medical show, because a lot of what's going on there is playing against the typical tropes of the genre: the Heroic Doctor, the Soulful Dying Patient, the Soulful Doctor,the Heroic Dying Patient, the Moment of Catharsis, etc.

But everyone already thinks lawyers are sleazy guys out for a buck. Thus there's already no edge here from the get-go.

Also, as much as I like him, Woods is just playing Woods. Nobody really knew who Laurie was (in the States, of course) before "House".

doug

Funny, I started watching HOUSE because of Hugh Laurie, whom I have adored since JEEVES & WOOSTER. When I first saw HOUSE, I wondered whether the producers got the idea for the character from watching Laurie's performance in SENSE & SENSIBILITY where he played the snarky Mr. Palmer.

I just can't bring myself to watch SHARK. I am so burned out on lawyer shows.

Shark is easily the most exhausting show on television. Watching Woods work single-handedly to keep the show interesting is alternately enjoyable and tiring. It reminds me of those Jedi Council scenes in the Star Wars prequels where Sam Jackson is the only human acting alongside CGI.

It isn't like SHARK is oh-so-bad, but I did watch the third ep, and it does seem to be an awful lot of sweat over nothing. My HOUSE IS A LAWYER initial impression holds, and it ain't half a good as HOUSE. Woods may be trying hard, but when he tries hard, he can get close to unbearable; his mugging ruined THE HARD WAY for me (remember that one? ) He isn't at that level yet on SHARK, but with the supporting cast either being non-entities or negative weight, he does do all the lifting on his own.

I enjoyed tonight's SHARK, which featured the great William Forsythe as a shady private investigator involved in a murder cover-up with a weaselly movie producer. Forsythe's character was an ethical thorn in Shark's side, with a past incident that stemmed from Shark's days as a defense attorney. It was great watching the interaction with Woods and Forsythe, and a nice ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA reunion on top of that.