Last night I started to watch the first season of Shark. I've watched the first 4 episodes so far and I have to say that it's really good.

James Woods plays Sebastian Stark, a high-end never-lose Defence Attourney who loses his mojo after defending a wife-beater who then goes on to kill his wife. The mayor offers Stark a job at the DA's office under DA Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan) to be a Prosecutor.

Think Alan Shore trying to put people away rather than defending them. ^_^

Actually, I think if you like Boston Legal you should like Shark. While not as darkly comic as BL, it has a sense of humour, largely due to Woods' brilliance.

Well, based on that recommendation, I must see when it's next on and record an episode to see if I like it. Thanks for the advice, DL! :)

I watched the next 4 episodes last night.

Equally good? How many epsidoes in S1? 22?

Definitely. I've always liked James Woods (The Hard Way is one of my favourite comedies). There's 22 eps in Season 1.

Is it a different defense attorney every week or are there recurring ones, akin the the recurring judges on :BL ?

Yeah, there's recurring Defence Attourneys. One guy in particular used to work for Stark, but was fired when he lost a case, so he started up his own firm. Obviously he has it in for Stark. :D

Do any of the judges reappear?

Not up to what I've seen so far.

I watched the next 4 last night.

Episode 12, "Wayne's World", was pretty damn good. Stark goes up against a Serial Killer with a 184 IQ, who defends himself in his trial.

Does Stark always win or does he lose sometimes?

He usually always wins, or at least gets justice done for the victims. The "Wayne's World" episode was the first time in the season so far that he flat out loses.

I finished off the first season a couple of days ago.

Bloody good stuff. What Stark does in the season finale will blow your goddamn mind.

Any special features?

Yeah, Commentaries by James Woods and the Series Creator on select episodes, a bunch of Deleted & Extended Scenes as well as a 20 minute Featurette on Season 1.

That's definitely more than :BL: ever offers on theirs, that's for sure.

True. I'd love a Shatner & Spader Commentary or three.

Something from Meltzer about the latest episode of "Shark" that deals with MMA. I'll spoiler it since it reveals how the episode turns out:

[spoiler]--The TV show "Shark" last night did a show that had an MMA storyline but was clearly based on an evil promoter forcing steroids on his fighters and an organization where people were regularly dying of drug deaths that was meant to be someone else. The champion of the UFL (Ultimate Fight League) was found dead in his home after a match. At first it looks like a suicide. They had a backstage doctor patterned after Dr. George Zahorian (the backstage doctor at WWF events in the late 70s and 80s) who gave fighters steroids and an evil CEO who forced fighters to take them. The fighter also loaded up on antidepressants (taken from the Benoit case). Then they changed it to a murder, and that the CEO killed him because he was planning on retiring and going public about all his health issues from all the steroids forced on him and he had told people he was going to vow to clean up the business. (thanks to Dave Musgrave)[/spoiler]

Cool.

Have you caught any episodes, Darryl?

Not yet--I keep meaning to look it up in the TV book tos ee what night it's on. Maybe I'll check out the CBS site and see what night it's on. I am very intrigued by the concept of "Alan Shore putting people away instead of getting them off".

For sure. I'd love to see a crossover episode and see them face off. ;)

Sundays at 10! I'll have to change the tape after Cyber Sunday on Sunday and try to catch it. :)

Sundays at 10--so he has Alan Shore's old timeslot. ^_^

Got the VCR set so soon I'll be able to tell you what I think of the show, DL> :)

Consider me converted! For somer eason, they showed the episode mentioned in spoilers above and it was quite good. STark has lots of snide comments like Shore but you also get to see his family life which may be the equivalent of watching Shore's lovelife play itself out. Stark, the Jeri Ryan character, and the Head DA (Cutler?) were most impressive (though I had to rewind one scene as I was distracted watching Jeri walk into the room :Wub: ) and perhaps the rest will grow on me. What nationality is Stark's wife/ex-wife/whatever supposed to be? British? The theme music didn't really grab me. I was quite impressed with the trump card Stark pulled out at the end--very Shoresque. Does he do that ervery episode?

In short, I will watch every episode from now on and will make sure to pick up Season 1. THANK YOU very much for telling me about the show, DL! :)

Does he ever actually get called Shark on the show? I noticed James Woods is one of the producers and the episode was directed by Paul McCrane--was he the balding doctor with the temper who lost his arm on ER?

Yes, especially early in the First Season. "Shark" is a derogatory term for a lawyer, and he picked up that nickname when he was a Prosecutor. Needless to say that he dislikes the nickname.

Ah. I thought perhaps it was just a play on his name.

It took me awhile to get used to the placing of the last commercial break. "Shark" follows the traditional system wherein the episode finishes around 5 mintues to the hour, commercial break, credits/next week preview at 10:58 or 10:59.

:BL: has its last commercial around 10:50 and the last 9 minutes are the end of the show/credits/preview with no break between.

Just found out something interesting. According to the Wikipedia page on "Shark", Canada shows new episodes 3 days before they're aired in America. They appear on Global (same network that shows ECW 3 days late on Friday) on THursday nights so I don't have long to wait for another episode. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_%28TV_series%29

This page gives brief outlines of each episode so I can get some sense of what I've missed. :)

Helps if I put the page too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shark_episodes

ooo--from the name and description of the last episode of Season1, I really want to see it now!

I put it on my Chapters wishlist so I can get it next time I make an order. $62.99 Canadian which is about the same price as the :BL: sets.

I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I figured that you would.

Oh, the episode shown in Canada this week was a rerun--"Dial M For Monica". That explains why the head DA was different.

Sunday saw a new episode--the Mexico episode.

We get the closest thing yet to a :BL: crossover. Remember the female judge from the :BL: S3 finale? The one who said "I know who you are--you -used- to be Denny Crane."? She was the judge and although the name of the character is presumably different, her attitude was very much the same so it was like Stark was trying his case before a judge Shore had tried a case before, before.

I've seen 3 episodes and I haven't seen Stark make a closing argument yet--I'm not even sure I've seen him do an opening statement either. Do they just not feature as prominently on Shark as they do on :BL:?

Terrific funny line this week:

"I think we've finally hit absolute rock bottom."
*Stark gets -another- piece of bad news*
"I was wrong. Apparently, that was a false bottom."

:lol:

They usually do. :uh uh:

I finally saw him do an opening statement this week but sitll no closing statement.

I ordered Season One tonight so I'll be able to start catching up. :)

This guy "switched sides" too. Zdejko Ivanek was the DA in the calssic series, "Homicide: Life On The Street".

He also was in an episode of Law & Order back when they had a good actor as DA (Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone). He was a murderer with a law degree representing himself who only lost, if memory serves, because either the cops or Stone himself planted evidence. Similar to what happens to Ivanek's character in episode 2 of Shark.

I'm 2.25 episodes in (I watch an episode before I go to bed then watch the next episode up to the first commercial break before I go to sleep) and it's a great show. Thanks a LOT for recommending it, DL! :)

I finally understand how the hiearchy works now. The mayor (Manny?) is Jessica Devlin's boss and she's Sebastian Stark's boss but he usually ignores her anyway. ^_^