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! 
I am very saddened that Shark was cancelled. It was a great show and we looked forward to watching it every week. James Woods and the rest of the cast were wonderful. It will be greatly missed and I do wish that someone else would pick it up and bring it back. Why is it that all the good shows get cancelled. I don’t think you people know what you are doing. You are losing out.
Shark was a show that will be sorely missed. I can’t understand the networks taking it off the schedule.
I just found out that it was cancelled =(
I just read ALL the blogs regarding the Shark, and not one of them were for the cancellation. Granted, 100 blogs isn’t a great many, but a lot of them were like me and didn’t hear of the cancellation till around September.This is a travesty!. James Woods is one of the finest character actors in the business!. Frankly, I’m getting so sick and tired of watching Jeff Probst snuff out candles, I could just puke. Bring back the good shows. Bring back the Shark!
I am really going to miss this show! Especially Jeri Ryan in her sexy skirt suits.
I think this is a bunch of crap! One of the best of its’ type and it’s cancelled? Gimme a break! It’s hard to get a cast together that clicks like the Shark cast. Woods was superb. The stories were a combination of great detective stories with a good bit of serious issues that grabbed your heart. Dancing with the stars will be a flash in the pan and then what? BRING BACK THE SHARK!
My husband and i are SO very UPSET!!! I am 29 and he is 35 and we loved it…. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!!!!! I could hardly get him to sit on the couch and watch anything with me… and when i finally did all he did was complain about it. this was the only show he would sit and watch with out complaining about how retarded it was!!!
I would ask anyone who cares, to go to the #4 post (from May 19th 2008) on this thread, click on the link, and send an email to CBS, telling them that we want Shark to return!!!!!
I just did that, and also included the link to this thread, so they can see for themselves what’s being said.
Maybe with some effort, and just a bit of luck, we’ll be successful!!!!!
SHARK is a great show. Someone needs to pick this show up. MUCH better than Survivor and a lot of the othercrap on TV these days. Bring SHARK back!!!
BAD idea to cancel SHARK, CBS. Young viewers liked it – older viewers loved it. Bring it back and cancel SURVIVOR instead. Enough of the same old same old over and over.
maybe if enough people speak up they will bring Shark back, like jericho. CBS, please bring shark back or sell it to USA, TBS, TNT, someone will pick this up.
I’m 29 and my wife is 37… We LOVED Shark, and so did two of my under-30 friends… They’re clueless as to demographics as well as what constitutes worthy programming!
I am VERY disappointed in CBS as a network right now! First news is released that Grissom is leaving CSI, we already know that Warrick is dead, so lets be honest, that show is pretty much over. But then come to find out that there is so refuge to be taken in watching the second best show on CBS… WHAT!?!?!??! NO SHARK!??!??! You’ve got to be kidding!?!?! Without Shark, and with the imminent death of CSI, which is the networks only saving grace… they had better just call it quits right now! Give the show to ABC; at least they… Read more »
I can’t believe they took Shark off and left that sick series on that took it’s place during the strike!!!!!! Please Please reconsider!!!!!
I agree with the previous comments. This was one of the only shows that I faithfully watched. Anytime you can get James Woods to be on television you can’t go wrong. This is another example of a network caving in to the famous “how many viewers” a show has but not how good the show is. It is really interesting that I never got a call to see if I was watching “Shark”. Another great show gets cancelled because the 18 to 49 mindless have no clue as to what good programs are. If it has no overt sex or… Read more »