So it’s (almost) December already, and somehow, we’re only up to Episode 7 (as of Sunday) of Shark Tank. But in that time I’ve come up with some observations about Season 10, and why it’s different from the rest.

(I was trying to figure out how to write about this, and have decided to just spit out a list of observations.)

It’s a good season.

My first one is personal — I like this season, a lot. So far. I could do without the “Decade of Dreams” tagline, but I feel like the pitches have been more substantial than in previous years. By that I mean it’s less about emotion, more about numbers. Not that emotion doesn’t have a place, but it feels like the entrepreneurial backstory is no longer the core of the pitch. 

(On that note, I’m not sure exactly when — it must have been years ago — that they got rid of the video preambles that introduced the entrepreneurs. I’m glad they no longer waste time on that segment.)

Scheduling must have been a bitch.

Is it me, or are there a lot of guest sharks? And they seem to keep coming. Just this week ABC announced that Alli Webb, founder of Drybar, would join the panel. She’s in addition to the seven — count ’em, seven — guest sharks already announced. So there’s got to be a reason behind that. Say, one of the core six doesn’t plan to come back for Season 11 and these are “unofficial” auditions. Or, “life happened” with the filming schedule this year and some last-minute replacements were needed. Or something. 

Who seems a little too absent so far this season? There have always been sharks we see more of — Kevin O’Leary and Mark Cuban are in every episode, the rest rotate (from my casual observation). Do any of the other four seem to be slipping off the radar? It’s hard to say. And trying to predict which one of the regulars might be quitting seems like a mean game, so I won’t engage in that line of discussion.

All I know is — tonight there was a promo for an upcoming Shark Tank episode that has TWO guest sharks on the panel. That feels a bit like sacrilege, as if the rowdy teenagers are trashing the parents’ home when they are away on vacation. Rohan Oza and Bethenny Frankel on the same episode seems wrong, but who knows — maybe it will be an excellent pairing. 

But for the people who set up the filming days, I’ll echo the subtitle: scheduling must have been a bitch. 

Sharks have executive producer credit. 

I feel this is significant, but I don’t know exactly what it means. Maybe they own part of the show now, or have creative control over the editing. It only applies to the regular sharks, and seems to be only on the episodes in which they appear. So, who knows. But if I was a shark, and knew that I’d invested in a company whose pitch was about to air, I’d like to have at least a heads up — if not the final say — about how that pitch was edited. 

So, here’s to Season 10 — and let’s hope it follows previous seasons and ends up with a good 25 or 26 episodes. That would mean we’ve got plenty more new Shark Tank to come.