Shark Bytes

My favorite show at the time, but it definitely jump. The pilot was riveting tension and each episode was its own self contained gripping story. As the show went on, the violence and the drama became cartoonish. The love angles with Kay Lenz was a joke and the overall story telling became aweful. This was another Robert Singer hatchet job pre the butchering job he did on Lois and Clark. Nobody killed a successful television series better than Robert Singer.

This never jumped--it got cancelled right when NBC (and everyone else) were canceling all the good hour long dramas. It never got a chance to jump.

This show never jumped. I was probably 16-17 years old when it was on & of course infatuated with Mark Harmon, but looks only go so far. This show was suspenseful i.e. Tess' stalker. I was shocked when they didn't bring the show back & didn't even give us a real series finale. I wanted Mark & Marlee's character's to get together. I never like the character he was dating. She seemed very insecure & possessive. I wish they would find a way to bring this back at least to finish the show off properly.

Mark Harmon was ill-suited for his role. He was supposed to be a police detective who got assigned to help Matlin because of his fluency in Sign Language. Unfortunately Harmon didn't know any. He signs throughout the series as if he practiced the signs for only ten minutes ... and he leaves out half the words in his sentences, signs one word while he speaks another (which is not impossible but plenty difficult even for professional interpreters), and doesn't pay attention to Matlin's signing. Marlee Matlin was a very good sport about it, making excuses that Harmon's background as a pro football player had damaged all his fingers. But Koko the Gorilla signs better than Harmon. Harmon's bad attitude about Sign Language was evidenced by the fact that he had a publicity photo made (it appeared in USA Today) showing him making a very rude sign (the equivalent of the F word) to Matlin. The producers missed a good bet by neglecting to show most of the Sign Language; in many scenes the hands are out of frame and you have to rely on the voices. As a result, Matlin's principal form of communication, as far as the audience was concerned, was in male voices.

Great show! Had a great mood to it...characters were mostly very believable. Hated NBC for canceling.

When Kay Lockman (Nancy Everhard) was shot during a robbery of the bar which she inherited from her dad, and died in the next episode. Two of the most gut-wrenching tear-jerking hours of television ever--right up there with Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) on NYPD Blue.

Mark Harmon's girlfriend character got killed off, and they kept trying to replace the sexual tension with bitchy lawyer chicks. Ick.

This show was just becoming a hit when it was canned. I admit that the show came close to jumping twice in its last few episodes. Assistant DA Marlee Matlin falls for an Israeli who is a high-ranking officer with the Israeli police. Then, Mark Harmon's girlfriend, Nancy Everhard, is shot while her bar is robbed. While recovering in the hospital, she suffers a cerebral aneurysm, rendering her clinically brain dead. Soon after, Harmon finds a note she had written, in which she requests to be removed from life support in such an event. For the remainder of the show, Harmon is at odds with himself over whether he can fulfill her wish. Eventually, he lets her die with dignity. It was probably the most heart-wrenching scene on television for me. I believe that was the second from last episode.

I just wanted to know if anyone remembers this noirish detective show with Mark Harmon as a tough cop and Marlee Matlin as a just-as-tough DA. Love to hear some perspectives. I thought it was a cool show.

The show was a hit when it got the axe. But two turning points that could be considered jumps each involved a female co-star. Assistant DA Marlee Matlin falls for an Israeli who is a high ranking soldier back home. This made it a soap, instead of just a quality weekly show. The other involved Mark Harmon's love interest (Nancy Everhard). Her bar is robbed at gunpoint and she is shot in the stomach. While recovering in the hospital, a blood clot suddenly hits her brain, rendering her clinically dead. The remainder of the show has Harmon at odds as to whether he should disconnect her from life support. He finds a will in her home, in which she wishes to die in such an event. Only then, he fulfills her request. That was the most heart-wrenching hour I have EVER seen on TV. I think that was the last episode.