JamesWoods-related stories
Posted Jun 4th 2009 9:00AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
E!'s Watch With Kristen is reporting that
Zac Efron will be joining the Entourage gang for season six. Well, maybe not exactly joining the gang, but at least making a cameo on the HBO show.
Ok, so the question is, will he be playing himself? One of Ari Gold's newest It-Guys? An excitable young actor who tussles with Johnny Drama? My guess is that Efron will be playing himself, because he's becoming the Next Big Thing in Hollywood -- if he isn't already there.
And it just makes sense, because so many other stars have appeared as themselves on the show; notably,
James Woods, though I've always wondered if he's as hot-headed as they make him out to be on the show. If so, he has quite the sense of humor about himself.
Continue reading Zac Efron joins Entourage - playing himself?
Posted Apr 26th 2008 11:59AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, Shark, Reality-Free
The failure of
Secret Talents of the Stars has had ripple effects on the CBS prime time schedule. With
Big Brother coming to an end and
Secret Talents unable to make it past one episode,
the return of Shark, which was going to come back on Tuesdays at 10 p.m., will now return on Tuesday at 9 p.m. for three broadcasts beginning April 29. Had
Secret Talents worked, CBS wouldn't be scrambling on Tuesdays.
The CBS Tuesday lineup for next Tuesday, therefore, will be
NCIS, Shark and a rerun of CSI. Then on May 6, it'll be
NCIS, Shark and
a CSI: Miami rerun. On May 13,
NCIS, Shark and a
Criminal Minds rerun.
What'll be interesting for
Shark fans -- and TV geeks in general like us -- will be to see exactly how well the James Woods legal drama performs with a strong lead in like
NCIS. Even the reruns scheduled to follow the three episodes are all strong support. Will this Tuesday hammock experiment be advantageous to
Shark, securing the kind of Nielsen numbers that will be a deciding factor in the show's renewal for next season?
Continue reading Shark gets a new timeslot
Posted Mar 24th 2008 8:28PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Game Show, Pickups and Renewals, Shark, Ratings, NCIS, Cane, Moonlight
Shark will swim again -- at least for the rest of this season. The future, however, remains unclear.
CBS today announced that Shark will return on April 29 in a new timeslot. The network is switching the L.A. legal drama from Sundays at nine to Tuesdays at nine, where it may benefit from the strong lead-in of
NCIS. Chances are that if
Shark holds
NCIS's ratings -- or improves on them -- that could mean more
Shark for fall. If the show stumbles, CBS will likely pull the plug.
Fans of
Shark may need to get more militant if they want to keep the show on the air. In a recent story we did about
CBS renewals, there was fervent outcries for bringing back
Moonlight and
The Unit, even
Cane. Out of 40 comments, only two came to
Shark's defense. It may be a small sample, but still...
Continue reading CBS sets Shark for spring...and more Price is Right
Posted May 4th 2007 10:01AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: OpEd, Shark, Episode Reviews
(S01E22) Billy Campbell is back as Wayne the serial-killer, now in the middle of an O.J.,
If I Did It, -style book tour. Larry King, playing himself for the umpteenth time in a crime drama, interviews Wayne, albeit with eyes glued to cue-cards. Larry asks the kind of pointed challenging questions here that only the fictional Larry King is even know to ask. This cameo affords the most fun moment of the night, however: Stark after arresting Wayne during a commercial break in the interview, and never one to pass by a camera, sits down to join Larry for the final segment.
Continue reading Shark: Wayne's World 2 (season finale)
Posted Apr 27th 2007 3:15AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: OpEd, Shark, Episode Reviews
(S01E21) One of the more interesting episodes this season. Stark mostly handles this week's prosecution alone. This is a good thing. Madeleine and Raina find themselves just about taken in at one point by the kidnapper's implausible defense that he had "rescued" the boy from his own parents which were the so-called "real abusers."
This story doesn't ring true to Stark. He proceeds to rips it to shreds under cross-examination. This was a real treat to see. It's the kind of scene I once, so long ago, last fall, imagined a show starring James Woods as a legal superstar would excel in, and showcase often.
Continue reading Shark: Strange Bedfellows
Posted Apr 20th 2007 6:40AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: OpEd, Shark, Episode Reviews
(S01E20) This was a straightforward episode concerning the murder of a computer whiz who gets mixed up with some shady characters when he tries to raise big bucks for his daughter's medical needs. Stark only wastes a few minutes chasing the obvious (therefore innocent) initial suspect before turning to an investigation of the evidently-notorious Lundy Brothers.
D.A. Devlin is especially concerned about Stark this time. Not only is she doubtful, as usual, that Stark's crazy tactics will convict (though they almost always do), she is sure that a
failure to convict the Lundy Brothers will cost her next week's election. By my count, Stark and the High Profile Crimes Unit are something like 18 for 19, a 94% conviction rate, going into tonight's episode, but you never know, the electorate can be fickle.
Continue reading Shark: Fall From Grace
Posted Apr 13th 2007 7:01AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: OpEd, Shark, Episode Reviews
(S01E19) It's the saint versus the pornographer, as someone in the episode says. An internet pornographer is murdered, ostensibly by a single man who also runs his very own shelter for wayward young women. That's handy. Apparently this particular shelter is
the place in the Valley to find women with low self-esteem to lure into porn. By the way doesn't "internet pornographer" sound ever so much sleazier that just plain ol' pornographer? Evidently the
Shark writers think so.
It's no surprise when "the saint" is eventually revealed to have done business with the porn king, then got out of business with him, then fell in love with one of the women he was "rehabilitating" in his shelter, who then became a porn actress, who then ... oh, who cares?
Continue reading Shark: Porn Free
Posted Apr 6th 2007 7:41AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: OpEd, Shark, Episode Reviews
(S01E18) All in all, I enjoyed t
his hostage-crisis episode better than the
previous hostage-crisis episode,
"The Wrath of Khan", the one in which attorney Alexis Cruz got axed.
Evan Handler gives an enjoyable performance as the poor loser who claims he's innocent and is looking at his third strike. Handler played Hurley's probably imaginary friend Dave, the
title character in a
Lost episode last season and, more recently, one of the two hacky comedy writers on
Studio 60, that Matthew Perry's character liked to bust on.
Continue reading Shark: Trial By Fire
Posted Mar 30th 2007 11:57AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Shark
(S01E17) Just under the wire,
Shark sneaks a new episode into the vast desolation of repeats that is March. This time, the plot concerns the racially-charged shooting of a drug dealer and his honor-student cousin by two cops. As usual, the true culprit is not the person who Stark initially charges with a crime, but rather the person who years and years of TV-watching has told us to expect it will be: the allegedly least-likely (and therefore,
most likely) candidate. The actual mystery here is why Isaac backed off his opportunity with Raina in San Diego some episodes ago. Isaac's ready to explain that now, but Raina's not in the mood, initially, to listen. She's reasonably suspicious that Isaac might just amount to a whole sack of drama and what does she need with that noise?
This is one of the better episodes. The plot-reversals, double-reversals, and triple-bogie re-re-re-reversals are not so outrageous as to sink the whole enterprise, and this allows some room for good character interaction.
Continue reading Shark: Backfire
Posted Feb 22nd 2007 8:01AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Industry, Programming, Heroes, Shark, Ratings
You've probably seen all of those CBS promos that say that Shark, the new James Woods legal drama, is the "most watched new show." Then how come the Nielsen numbers say that Heroes, the new drama over on NBC, averages 14.5 million viewers while Shark averages 13.4 million?
It's because CBS is using an odd little bit of ratings math. CBS released a statement to explain why they're saying that Shark is the most watched new show. Combined with the Washington Post's explanation of what CBS is talking about, it gives me the type of headache I used to get when trying to read chemistry textbooks back in high school.
Continue reading What's the most watched new show, Heroes or Shark?
Posted Feb 16th 2007 11:24AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Shark
(S01E15) Tim Matheson guest stars as a judge and charter member of the Los Angeles Stark-Haters Club, an evidently very large and influential organization. He's also a careerist and a hypocrite. Sebastian quickly realizes the judge is guilty of murdering his own wife, and with that you have your quintessential
Shark ingredients
. Matheson does a good job playing the self-righteously self-righteous judge, who early-on accuses Stark of going after him because of his tough law-and-order case rulings, and finishes-up accusing Stark of homophobia. Stark's consistent though. He goes after the judge, not because of any personal or political ax to grind, but, well, because of the whole murdering-his-spouse thing.
Continue reading Shark: Here Comes the Judge
Posted Feb 9th 2007 10:03AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Shark
(S01E14) Yeesh. This episode was one silly drawn-out mess.
A Britney/Paris/Lindsay type starlet is run off the road and killed. Initially the paparazzi seem to be responsible, adding a touch of the Princess Di tragedy to the mix. There's a possible stalker angle. There is molestation by step-parent: a middle-aged man with an earring. An opportunistic kid sister. A fake celebrity feud started for "cross-promotional purposes." All this gives Stark and the rest of the High Profile Crime Unit plenty of beautiful people to sneer at, although, strangely, none of the guest performers cast as the various young celebrities are nearly as attractive as the gorgeous cast of series regulars.
Continue reading Shark: Starlet Fever
Posted Feb 2nd 2007 9:29AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Shark
(S01E13) Wayne the serial killer is now a free man, so Stark puts around-the-clock protection on Julie. This gives father and daughter yet one more thing to fight about. Oh, and Jessica Devlin, evidently still on the show, thinks Stark needs a vacation, which he absolutely does. Jess even gets to play a substantial role in the conclusion of the case, for once, when Stark ends up somewhat indisposed. She even cracks not one, but
two, smiles.
So what starts out as another typical
Shark lifestyles-of-the-rich-famous-and-murderous takes on more resonance because of the way it effects the regular characters, which makes for a stronger overall episode.
Continue reading Shark: Teacher's Pet
Posted Jan 19th 2007 1:42PM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Shark
(S01E12) After the last episode's hyper-ballistic antics, I looked forward to seeing
Shark's return to good old psychological terror. Billy Campbell (
The 4400), still sporting most of the beard and flowing Jesus-locks he grew on his round-the-world sailing trip a year or two ago, guest stars as serial killer Wayne. He is a more formidable villain than we've seen Stark face before. Don't even talk to me about that fizzle of an international arms dealer: the unfortunately-named
Khan.
Anyway, sociopathic Wayne chooses to defends himself at trial, which puts his single surviving victim in the terrible position of being cross-examined by her own tormentor. That has happened in a few notable real-world cases, and probably a dozen
Law and Order episodes, but it's an intense dilemma worthy enough of a go-around here.
Continue reading Shark: Wayne's World
Posted Jan 5th 2007 8:03AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, OpEd, Shark
(S01E11) Well, we finally found out what (other than banging Madeleine, of course) Casey is good for. Kidnap-bait. Casey gets kidnapped by an international arms merchant. Stark and the rest of the gang channel Jack Bauer and CTU for an episode. Sort of. There are government agency turf wars, planes that can' t be allowed to leave Los Angeles, international arms deals galore, and that's all before the opening credits. It's a change of pace certainly, for our team of criminal trial lawyers.
L.A. is not
quite under the threat of imminent annihilation, but Stark does note that a well-known rap group was blown up a month ago in their SUV. This attack was possibly caused, says Stark, by "plastique and Taliban surplus weapons" supplied to L.A. street gangs by this Khan fellow. Yeah, those high-grade weapons the Taliban aren't using just now and smuggled out of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region where bin Laden is hiding to airdrop on Malibu. Khhhaaaaaan!!
Continue reading Shark: The Wrath of Khan
Next Page >
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
