The Shield
The Shield is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt police officers, it was originally advertised as Rampart in reference to the true-life Rampart Division police scandal, on which the show's Strike Team was loosely based. The series was created by Shawn Ryan and The Barn Productions for Fox Television Studios and Sony Pictures Television.
This article is about the television series. For the professional wrestling group, see The Shield (professional wrestling). For the video game, see The Shield (video game). For other uses, see Shield (disambiguation).The Shield
"Just Another Day"
by Vivian Romero
Ernesto Bautista
Rodney Alejandro
United States
English
7
88 (list of episodes)
Michael Chiklis
41–75 minutes
- The Barn Productions
- MiddKid Productions
- Sony Pictures Television[a]
- Fox Television Studios
March 12, 2002
November 25, 2008
Several notable actors took extended roles on the show, including Glenn Close, who was the female lead during the fourth season; Michael Peña, in season 4; Anthony Anderson, in seasons 4, 5, and 6; Forest Whitaker, who guest-starred in seasons 5 and 6; Laura Harring, in season 5; Franka Potente, in season 6; and Laurie Holden, in season 7.
The Shield is a prime example of TV noir in that it focuses on moral ambiguity, a salient feature to the noir aesthetic.[2]
The series has received critical acclaim and is widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama in 2002, and the final season won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series.[10] Chiklis won both the Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama in 2002.
Premise[edit]
The Shield follows the activities of an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department set up in the fictional Farmington district ("the Farm") of Los Angeles, a district rife with gang-related violence, drug trafficking, and prostitution. Operating out of a converted church ("the Barn"), they work to maintain the peace in the district and reduce crime.
At the center of the division is the Strike Team, led by Detectives Vic Mackey, Shane Vendrell, Curtis Lemansky, and Ronnie Gardocki. Mackey and the Strike Team use criminal methods to coerce information and stage arrests and take a share of various drug busts. Although the Strike Team's questionably high success rate leaves the division's head, Captain David Aceveda, suspicious of their methods, he values their success as they help his political efforts to become mayor of Los Angeles.
Attempts to place a fifth member on the Strike Team not in Mackey's circle go astray. The pilot episode concludes with Mackey, suspicious of the loyalty of the latest Strike Team recruit, Terry Crowley, fatally shooting him during an arrest and framing their suspect. This sets in motion events that loom over the Strike Team and continue throughout the series.
The show has an ensemble cast featuring the other officers in the Farmington district. This includes detectives Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach, Steve Billings and Claudette Wyms, uniformed officers Sgt. Danielle "Danny" Sofer, Julien Lowe, and Tina Hanlon. The series has a variety of subplots, notably Aceveda's political aspirations and his suffering a sexual assault; Mackey's struggle to cope with a failing marriage, two autistic children, and rebellious eldest daughter; Danny becoming a mother; Vendrell's rocky, new marriage; Lemansky's growing fear for the safety of the Strike Team; Claudette's battle with illness and Lowe's internal conflicts between his Christian beliefs and his homosexuality.
The Shield and the Strike Team were inspired by the Rampart Division Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit within the Los Angeles Police Department.[11] Rampart was seriously considered as the series' name and was even used in some early promotional ads for the series.[12][13]
Characters are portrayed with vices and virtues; Vic's loving relationship with his children contrasts with his thuggish approach to police work. Two of the many examples of Mackey's criminal and sociopathic behavior include an attempt to rob the "Armenian Money Train", a money laundering operation of the Armenian Mafia in season 2 and having a police dog maul a rape suspect.[14]
The timeline of the seven seasons of the show covers approximately three years.[15]
Development[edit]
The series was created by Shawn Ryan. Ryan served as an executive producer for all seven seasons and was the series head writer and showrunner throughout its run. Prior to creating the series Ryan had been working as a producer and writer for the supernatural detective series Angel. He began his television career as a writer for the crime drama Nash Bridges. Nash Bridges was a more up-beat show, and Ryan was required to write scripts that showed the hero succeeding in a positive way, and Ryan sought to write something far different to get that out of his system.[23] He had considered what a cop drama would be like on a premium cable network like HBO and Showtime, taking into account the edge that shows like Homicide: Life on the Street and NYPD Blue had brought to the genre. While trying to decide a direction, the Rampart scandal within the LAPD was exposed, and Ryan took inspiration from those events to craft out a pilot script.[13] He also recently became a father, and wrote into the script his concerns about raising a child in a crime-ridden world.[23] The pilot script had ended with Mackey shooting Crowley; Ryan had the idea of an alternate ending to Donnie Brasco, of where Al Pacino's mobster character would have shot Johnny Depp's undercover FBI character, revealing that the mobster had known his identity all along. He used this ending idea in the pilot for The Shield, not expecting to have to worry about any consequences as he was not sure the script would be picked up.[23] Ryan later commented in 2017 that if he had known how long The Shield would have run for, he would have had a few more episodes to help establish Crowley's character before having Mackey kill him off.[23]
Around 2000, the FX network was looking to find what would be the network's first drama series to help set the tone for their network, given the ongoing success of The Sopranos on rival network HBO. FX's Kevin Reilly wanted a show about an antihero but believed that the cop genre had become tired. However, Reilly was amazed by Ryan's script, and greenlit the show in mid-2001.[13] Reilly worked with Ryan to help determine how much violence and nudity could be used within the show, as unlike HBO, FX was an ad-sponsored cable channel and beholden to certain content considerations.[13] As they were working towards this, the September 11 attacks occurred, and in their aftermath, Fox was concerned if the show would be appropriate at this time, believing that audiences would not be receptive to seeing police officers portrayed in a negative light.[13] The situation changed following the theatrical release of Training Day in October 2001, a film centered around corrupt cops that was a financial success. Fox was assured by Training Day's reception from audiences that The Shield was allowed to continue, with the pilot first broadcast in March 2002.[13]
Ryan had written the part of Mackey for someone with a young Harrison Ford personality.[23] Due to the complexities of the character, he was uncertain they would have found a suitable actor for the role, and cast his own doubt on his writing.[24] During casting, Ryan had been surprised with Michael Chiklis's audition. Chiklis had gained a soft reputation within Hollywood based on his roles from The Commish and Daddio, and felt that he needed to have a change of pace in future roles, as he was finding himself cast for older, overweight parts.[13] Chiklis spent six months away from acting and losing a significant amount of weight, and for his audition on The Shield, had shaved his head.[13] Ryan was taken by this new appearance feeling it was not appropriate, but found that Chiklis had a certain charisma in his delivery that worked well into the Mackey character. This allowed Ryan to write Mackey as a compassionate figure, able to get away with certain improper actions through his charisma, which served to draw fans to sympathize with Mackey throughout the series.[23] Ryan recognized that with Chiklis as his star, it validated his success as a writer.[24]
Scott Brazil was a co-executive producer for the first season. He became an executive producer for the second season. He was a regular director for the series until his death during production of the sixth season. Brazil and Ryan had worked together on Nash Bridges.
Several of the series more junior writers became executive producers during its run. Glen Mazzara was an executive story editor for the first season and became an executive producer from the fifth season onwards. Mazzara had also worked with Ryan on Nash Bridges. Kurt Sutter and Scott Rosenbaum were staff writers for the first season and became executive producers for the sixth season onwards. Adam E. Fierro joined the crew as a co-producer and writer for the third season and was promoted to executive producer for the seventh season. Veteran television writer Charles H. Eglee joined the crew as a consulting producer for the third season and was promoted to executive producer from the fifth season onwards.
Emmy Award-winning The Sopranos veteran James Manos Jr. served as a consulting producer and writer for the first two seasons. He left the show to develop the Showtime serial killer drama Dexter. NYPD Blue veteran writer Kevin Arkadie was a co-executive producer for the first season only. Nash Bridges writer and producer Reed Steiner replaced Arkadie as co-executive producer for the second season only. Kevin G. Cremin was the series unit production manager throughout its run and became a co-executive producer from the sixth season onwards.
Angel writing team Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain joined the crew as co-producers for the third season and became supervising producers before leaving at the close of the sixth season. Dean White was a producer and regular director throughout the series run. Chiklis became a producer from the second season onwards and also regularly directed episodes. Post-production supervisor Craig Yahata joined the crew in the third season and eventually became a producer for the seventh season.
The series pilot and finale were directed by Clark Johnson; Johnson had previously starred in Homicide: Life on the Street and made his directing debut on that series. Guy Ferland directed episodes for all seven seasons of The Shield.
Rohn Schmidt was a cinematographer for all seven seasons and made his television directing debut on the show. Stephen Kay was a frequent director for the series. Gwyneth Horder-Payton was an assistant director for the show's early seasons and made her television directing debut in the fourth season, she continued to regularly direct episodes thereafter.
Film director Frank Darabont directed an episode for the series. Darabont later reunited with several writers from The Shield for his television adaptation of The Walking Dead comics, including Charles H. Eglee, Glen Mazzara and Adam Fierro. Acclaimed playwright and film writer and director David Mamet directed an episode of the series. Mamet and Ryan collaborated as executive producers on military thriller The Unit. Screenwriter Ted Griffin (Oceans Eleven) wrote a single episode of the show. Griffin later created Terriers and was reunited with Shawn Ryan as a fellow executive producer. The series started with real Los Angeles Police Officers as Technical Advisors; Officers Pablo Vitar and Rafael Dagnesses.
Reception[edit]
Time magazine's James Poniewozik ranked The Shield #8 in his list of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007[25] and later included it in his list of the top 100 greatest TV shows of all time.[26] Entertainment Weekly named it the 8th-best TV show of the 2000s, saying, "Det. Vic Mackey didn't just clean up the streets—he cleaned up on the streets. Would he pay for those sins? This gutsy TV drama kept us guessing."[27] On the review aggregator website Metacritic, season 1 received high acclaim from critics, with a score of 92 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.[28] Season 7 also received high acclaim from critics, with a score of 85 out of 100, based on 14 reviews.[29] In September 2019, The Guardian ranked the show 77th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stating that "a key part...of the golden age of antihero drama, this thriller about likable – and utterly corrupt – cops broke new ground for bold, risk-taking television".[30]
The premiere episode of The Shield had a 4.1 rating, at the time a record for a dramatic program on basic cable. However, The Shield lost advertising from Burger King, New Balance, Office Depot, and Tricon Global Restaurants, in part due to complaints from the Parents Television Council.[31]
Other media[edit]
Comic[edit]
In 2004, IDW Publishing released a five-issue comic book limited series written by Jeff Mariotte and illustrated by Jean Diaz titled The Shield: Spotlight.[43] A controversial journalist is murdered and the Barn is under intense media scrutiny. Vic and the Strike Team find the murderer but uncover a bigger conspiracy which has Dutch enthralled. All the while, Shane is trying to keep his face out of the media when he accidentally sets up a chance to earn the team much money recovering stolen art, and Julien and Danny struggle to realize when is the right time to go "by the book" and when is not. When uniformed officers spot the Strike Team with the stolen art, they have no choice but to do things the right way. Aceveda is warned to drop the journalists investigation or risk losing political backing. He drops the case which leaves Dutch feeling disheartened.
Home media[edit]
The first five seasons were originally distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for region 1. However, in 2008, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment became the rights holders for the DVDs.[44] They released season 6 and re-released seasons 1–5 in slimmer packaging in 2008, and released season 7 in 2009. International releases have always been distributed by Sony, who have only ever presented the show in 16:9 (widescreen) format, as opposed to the Fox releases, which presented the show in 4:3. All the re-releases by Sony along with seasons 6 and 7, and the complete series box set are presented in widescreen.[45] The Sony region 2 release of season 5 has a shortened version of the season finale—48 minutes, as opposed to the regular 67-minute version.[46]