A hackneyed subpar written show in every aspect. You have the middle-aged hotshot lawyer who is blatantly sexist, a characteristic I doubt this show would have dared use if Boston Legal hadn't already taken the chance on not being PC and proved it to be acceptable. Beyond that the difference is in Boston Legal the sexual comments are funny and unique, here it's just ignorant coattail riding. "Have him make a sexual comment about the woman, it'll be funny". It isn't. Then you have the antagonism with the tough chick lawyer nemesis, a character who is utterly humourless and naively overzealous in her moralizing without offering a unique perspective on anything. So their dynamic is the classic cliché of the free and easy man and the uptight woman. Gee, do you think they'll have a breakthrough moment where he gets her to lighten up? I wonder. Even the opening part where the star's lawyer skills are supposedly demonstrated is amazingly dumb. He gets his client acquitted of an attempted murder charge by pointing out that he called an ambulance and stopped his victim bleeding to death, which he obviously wouldn't do if he wanted them dead. Wow, awesome deducting Sherlock. The overanimated panache with which James Woods plays the scene only serves to emphasize the banality of the writing by being so at odds with it. Not to compliment his acting though. His character is apparently unable to speak without becoming a bobble-head. Then he gives a speech about why he wins all his cases which he dubs his "Cutthroat Manifesto" which consists of a bunch of nonsensical hot air that has no apparent practical application. "Rule number one, trial is war, second place is death." OK, I guess if you can view a case as your life depending on it it would motivate you harder, but... that's just moronic. Then "truth is relative, find one that works". Uh huh, isn't that the principle all defense lawyers operate under by default? This isn't even a second rate Boston Legal, it's a bunion on the foot of that far superior show both dramatically and comedically. The redemptive family values in the home aspect of the star's life has marginally more appeal but is a lighter retread of what you've seen in every popular cable drama of the past five years.
Review of Shark
