Shark was in jeopardy of getting canceled before it even started, but James Woods gave the legal drama new life once he signed on to star in the pilot. Woods has spent most of his career focusing on feature films, not television.
Stark has three rules, which he refers to as his "Cutthroat Manifesto:" * "Trial is War. Second place is death." * "Truth is relative. Pick one that works." * "In a jury trial, there are only twelve opinions that matter and yours [speaking to his team] is not one of them."
When actor Sam Page decided not to come back to the series as Casey Woodland, the departure of his character was explained by saying that Casey was helping his father, who is a US Senator, work on his election campaign though it's not explained what his father is running for.
The absence of Jerri Ryan's character, Jessica Devlin, from the Season 2 episodes that were shot and aired after the 2007-2008 Writer's Strike is explained by saying that she is in Chicago caring for her ailing father.