Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars James Woods, Danielle Panabaker, Sophina Brown,
Sarah Carter, Jeri Ryan, Henry Simmons, Samuel Page,
Carlos Gómez, Kevin Pollak
Created by Ian Biederman
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £39.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 962 minutes
Directed by Spike Lee (pilot), Adam Davidson & others
Doctors, cops and lawyers have long been the staples of TV drama. From Dr Kildare, Perry Mason and Dragnet throuigh LA Law, Hill Street Blues and St Elsewhere to ER, Grey's Anatomy, The Shield and Boston Legal, these three professions have always held a fascination for audiences. Now comes Shark, which is more House than Mason and stars big-screen mainstay James Woods.
Defence attorney Sebastian Stark (aka The Shark) Is a brilliant, cutthroat lawyer who'll use any tactics to win. And win he does, almost constantly. Which means he's raking in the big bikkies — witness the nice big house in the Hollywood hills (with a mock courtoom he had built in the basement), the expensive car, the fancy suits. But it all comes crashing down one day when a client he gets off a wife-beating charge later kills her. Stark gets a huge dose of guilt and shuts himself away, until the mayor offers him a new job and the chance to salve his conscience — head up a new high-profile crimes unit in the LA prosecutor's office. Of course, what he doesn't mention is that Stark will, obviously, have to take a huge pay cut when he goes on the public payroll. But funnilly enough, that doesn't even get a mention. So Sebastian gives up the private practice and moves to the DA's office, where he has a hot boss who hates him (Ryan) and a team of too-good-looking-to-be-true junior prosecutors to boss around.
Shark is pretty much by-the-numbers drama, seen hundreds of times before on television. What makes it worth watching is the performance of Woods, who may be a big Hollywood star, but he's also one of the best actors around. Woods has perfected the art of playing scumbags and here he's in his element, chewing up the scenery and out-acting everyone around him. And that's the problem — next to him, most of the supporting cast look like amateurs. The storylines, for the most part, are formulaic, and much of the dialogue is cliched. As a show, Shark is nothing special, but its Woods that makes it stand out from the crowd.
EXTRAS ** Nothing too special. Commentaries on a couple of episodes (including the pilot), deleted scenes, a gag reel and a Creating Shark featurette.