CBS has decided to cancel Shark after two seasons on the air. What killed the series?
Shark debuted on September 21, 2006 and stars James Woods as Sebastian “Shark” Stark, an arrogant and cutthroat prosecutor. The TV show did pretty well in its first season on CBS. It ranked 24th for the season with an average of 13.7 million viewers. The one downside was that the show’s viewers tended to skew older. But, in a season littered with prematurely cancelled drama series (Smith, 3 lbs., The Nine, etc.), the show’s ranking and survival was an impressive achievement. The series was renewed for a second season.
Season two kicked off on Sunday, September 23, 2007. In that 10pm timeslot, Shark had to compete against ABC’s popular Brothers & Sisters and consistently lost in total viewers and the all-important 18-49 demographic.
Like most shows, Shark’s production schedule was interrupted by the writers strike. When the strike was over, production resumed and four more episodes were created. After a long absence, new episodes began airing in late April. In the show’s new Tuesday night timeslot, it was easily beaten by ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and FOX’s Hell’s Kitchen in both total and 18-49 viewers.
The show’s chances for a third year were still up in the air until just recently. Ultimately, the combination of Shark’s inability to attract younger viewers, the writers strike, and CBS’ excitement over its new dramas is likely what led the network to cancel the series.
Woods tells the LA Times that the cast and crew were “very saddened” by the news but were trying to stay positive. He continues, “We’re a little baffled by the decision but we’re very supportive… None of us can figure out quite why. But we have no bad feelings. This show did an enormous amount for me personally. We all won doing the show.”
>The current season, cut short by the writers strike, is made up of only 16 episodes. Shark’s series finale is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20th. It’s unlikely that the episode will offer any kind of closure for the series. Stay tuned! 
Shark was the best thing on tv for years and now you cant even get seies 2 on dvd what is going on. Bring back Shark
I am watching the re-runs in England and I love Shark, can’t believe it was cancelled, pleas, please, please bring it back and I’m within the 18-49 age group that they reckoned didn’t watch it……….
I too feel like other viewers of “shark”…it was a fabulous show, with Great writers and wonderfully tallented actors…i would love to see its comeback…beats yhe hell out of most of the other boring shows…BRING SHARK BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
james woods was great as a con artist attorney,that’s what made his show great. thee show had a great cast. I rather watch shark than that new boring tuesday lawyer show. cbs all you have is csi, five-o, mentalist, criminal minds and blue bloods,when you cancel these shows , you have nothing. cbs will be going down hill.
You need to bring back shark, cold case, without a trace and numbers.
I cannot belive that they cancelled this show, omg. I have 22 years and i love this show !!Please bring back the show , Seabastian Stark aka Shark is greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! I hate fwe friends who are watching it aswell, they all have around 20 years, please bring it back!
Was wondering why it was cancled? Would like to see it come back. Just got done watching “True Beliver”. James Woods you”re the best!
I’M JUST STUMPED THAT A NETWORK WOULD TAKE A SHOW OFF THE AIR THAT IS GREAT AS SHARK!! I CAN TELL YOU WITH SO MANY COPS SHOWS AND THEN SOOOOOOOO MANY STUPID SHOWS ON THE AIR THAT WHEN SHARK CAME ACROSS THE SCREEN…IT WAS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR!! JAMES WOODS BRINGS YOU TO THE STORY AND KEEPS YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT…REALLY THE ENTIRE CAST KEPT YOU INTERESTED AND WANTING MORE. I SEE THE REASON FOR CANCELING THE SHOW WAS THE 18-49 AGE GROUP NOT WATCHING IT ENOUGH. I’M HERE TO TELL YOU THAT I’M IN THAT… Read more »
My husband and I love this show…. bring back shark!
(28) mellisa
(30) matt
Me too… I mean, I watched both the seasons twice now and I still wanna watch it and hey they said the show skew older people and thats not true.. I am 19 and 14 people I know liked the show and they are all in 19 – 24 age group. It is sad that good shows like this get cancelled. The hard truth is that majority of us watch lame shows thereby giving them more viewer stats and in the end the loser goes home, and sometimes good shows like shark fall into to this trap, because at the… Read more »
I love this show. Just Recently a friend showed it to me. After finding out it got cancelled after just two seasons I was blown away. I really wish it could re-air. I know as the article says it failed to attract younger viewers, but I’m 20 years old and find this show to be one of my favorite’s. Stark is awesome!
Bring it back
This was a riveting show, because of James Woods, who was PERFECT for the role….and he also had a good supporting cast and excellent writers. I was so sorry that it went off the air…one of the channels should put it on again, just like Centric is doing for Miami Vice re-runs, which I never miss.
I never saw the originals–I”m watching the re-runs. James Woods is awesome, and so are the other actors. It’s typical they’d move his show aside to dumb things down to please the Dancing with the Stars crowd.
I agree. I want the show back! This series was one of the best. I cannot understand why shows that are so stupid stay on the air when good ones like this discontinue. Hello!
Me too!!!!!!
I too love the show! I can’t believe a show with such great story lines, great actors/actresses and a great ending to each episode could possibly be cancelled. Get rid of some of the other shows, don’t get me wrong, I too loved CSI, but SHARK blows them away!
I am 37 years old and I WANT SHARK BACK ON THE AIR!!!!!