SFist Watches: Even MORE TV Tonight
Thursday night is turning into one crowded night of television. There are at least two shows on every hour that we want to watch, and in some cases three. That dual tuner TiVo is looking less like a luxury and more like a necessity.
Alas, there is one show on Thursday night we have decided to pass on, and that is CBS's much-hyped "Shark," starring James Woods. Now, we're not passing on the show because it's bad. It's not bad. The pilot was good (and directed by Spike Lee, though you would never, never know it); it just wasn't anything more than good, and the legal drama genre is a crowded genre indeed. (We were going to list all of the shows currently on the air that have to do with crime and legal procedures, and then realized it would probably be easier to name the shows that DON'T.) At this point in the game, you better bring something truly unique, and aside from James Woods, there really isn't anything special about "Shark." Woods plays a hotshot defense attorney who has a change of heart and joins the DA's office. Oh, but he's going to remain a shark, of course, except when he's caring for his teenage daughter!
*Yawn*
The show is filled with your standard ridiculously dramatic courtroom scenes, "insights" into how lawyers manipulate juries, and "tension" between the Shark and the Dragon Lady (played by Jeri Ryan).
Pardon us, but we've got to yawn again.
Now, if there are a lot of legal dramas on the air, they will soon be matched by dramas centered on groups a strangers brought together by some unusual event. "Lost" influenced a lot of shows last season, but it was the mysterious creatures aspect of the show that was being ripped off, (see "Threshold," "Invasion" and "Surface"). This season, it's the large casts and interlocking stories aspect of "Lost" that are being "borrowed." Amongst those shows is "Six Degrees," which comes from none other than "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams--who, during his acting days, was in the film Six Degrees of Separation. Coincidence? Well, being that the series is all about coincidence, chance, and fate amongst six New Yorkers, probably not.
Despite a stellar cast that includes Campbell Scott, Erika Christensen, Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan, and Hope Davis (Hope Davis, y'all!), the buzz on the series isn't that great, and J.J. Abrams' involvement in it doesn't seem to extend much past his "Executive Producer" title. We wish we could say more but, alas, we weren't able to preview the pilot. Instead we'll be tuning in tonight, and if the show turns out to be a total dud, well, we've always got old faithful "ER" to fall back on during the 10 o'clock hour.