James Woods sometimes shares the screen. But not much.
Premieres: Thursday night, Sept. 21, 9 central, 10 eastern, CBS.
Starring: James Woods, Jeri Ryan (pictured above), Danielle Panabaker, Sophina Brown, Sarah Carter, Alexis Cruz, Sam Page, Romy Rosemont, Lynn Whitfield.
Created by: Ian Biederman

By ED BARK
CBS lately likes to get to the point with its titles. The network's four new series this season are Smith, Jericho, The Class (oops, they splurged) and now Shark.

That's an apt name for any James Woods outing, since no one masticates scenery with more relish -- or mustard. Not to say he's a hot dog.

We begin with Woods on camera and talking to a jury for the first 1 minute, 48 seconds of Thursday's premiere. His character, showy Sebastian Stark, is a defense attorney who's repping a wife-beater charged with attempted murder. He wins yet again, and then gloats before district attorney Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan).

"If it's any consolation," Stark chirps, "you look really hot in that suit."

But this latest courtroom triumph turns sour when the guy Stark got off immediately kills his wife. Even our big, brassy anti-hero is struck dumb, taking a month off to ruminate and reboot. Then he ends up being an equally hard-charging prosecutor in charge of a batch of younger assistant DAs who all "suck" in his view. Except for maybe one of them.

"Well, there you go, sucking up," he tells frisky Madeleine Poe (Sarah Carter) after she says it'll be a privilege to learn from the best. "An effective tactic. Sit."

The pilot is directed by Spike Lee, who probably can't see the forest for the Woods. The star of the show is constantly emoting, but with panache. He keeps berating his new set of underlings while also trying a little tenderness with 16-year-old daughter, Julie (Danielle Panabaker). She's trying to decide which of her divorced parents will act as custodian until she turns 18. Mom Claire (guest star Lindsay Frost) has been a loving, caring, doting parent and Dad has been anything but. Remember, though, Ms. Frost's character is only a guest star and Ms. Panabaker is a series regular. So there.

Shark seems to be one of the surer bets of the new season. Woods can be grating at times, but has a practice-perfect way of saying, "I'm great" (Pause, one-two) "And yet I am humble."

The young supporting cast seems capable and pretty enough. And Shark's father-daughter relationship takes some of the edge off a guy who's even gone to the trouble of building a mock courtroom in his home where practice makes perfect.

In future episodes, Woods perhaps will towel off on occasion and be in only about 75 percent of the scenes. But CBS hired him to be front and center, which of course suits him.

Prospects: Very promising opposite NBC's limping ER and ABC's marginally involving Six Degrees.

Grade: B