Well?
Seriously guys, I like this show a lot, but nobody on any of the other boards I frequesnt seems to give a crap.
Somebody here must watch it.
I just started watching it at the start of this season. I heard of it from the buzz it had been getting and from Chiklis winning the Emmy.
I am very impressed by this show and sure do enjoy it a lot. I enjoy the characters and the story lines and think the writing and acting are excellent. Quite possibly my new favorite show. I’m about to purchase the Season 1 DVD, so I’m excited for that.
As well you should be. Season one is just as good as Season 2 has been so far. I think Chiklis deserves another Emmy, and The Shield deserves on for best drama while they’re at it.
My first impression of this show was not a good one, mainly because my first impression was the annoying promo FX played over and over and over for something like 6 months before it premiered. Every night I watched Buffy on FX, and every night they’d show that damn promo about twenty times.
I decided to give the first ep a try though and I’ve been hooked ever since. The Shield, 24 and Alias are the only reason I still watch tv.
I have watched the Shield from the beginning. Outstanding televsion although the stories can be hard to stomach sometimes. It CAN be rough!
I love The Shield. Gritty, intense, pulls no punches. I highly recommend it but… more specifically, I LOVE DUTCH! I was going to start a thread about Dutch Appreciation, but you beat me to it with this thread, Fibber McGee.
My admiration for Dutch began in that 1st season ep where he was interrogating the serial killer, laying out the profile he developed about the killer’s psyche. The killer tried very hard to manipulate and embarrass him by profiling him in response. All the guys who were watching the interrogation were laughing at him, but Dutch finally broke the guy-- quite a bust. Everyone congratulated him, even Vic and the boys. Then, Dutch leaves for the day, sits down in his car and just weeps. Amazing.
Dutch was also awesome in this last episode. He’s too good for that department; he belongs in the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences division. He is unappreciated. Also, Officer Sofer is an idiot for choosing Vic over Dutch. Her loss.
Sorry for the mini-hijack. I’ve been watching The Shield since the first ep and I really like it. The character are all very human, the issues are real, and there are no heroes.
Except Dutch 
Speaking of Dutch . . .
[spoiler] For a minute there I really thought he was gonna take Vic’s advice and go over to the Dark Side of the Police Force, but then he stops his car in the middle of the street and goes running back. I’m glad Dutch got his mojo back and was able to find another way to crack the case, even if it did mean getting choked out by a fat man.
And oh yeah, poor mustache guy. He’s not much of a character though. Facial hair is not a suitable substitute for personality.[/spoiler]
My favorite show. Caught it last season for the most unlikely reason. Flipping through the stations when “Tigre” caught my eye. Remember the chick that Lemonhead helped out mid-season ? Anyway, I loved that episode and kept up with the rest of the episodes.
Tonights show was impressive and the ending was so damn tense I’ll be a nervous wreck all week.
Fibber: I was on the edge of my seat when Dutch almost went over to the dark side. I actually cheered when he pulled up short and went back. Dutch is THE MAN. I am pulling for Jay Karnes to get an Emmy nod himself someday. What a well-crafted character; I mean, yeah, the show is about Vic Mackey, but the writers have thrown in a subtle foil to him in Dutch.
The Shield is a great show, truly. Kudos to FX for picking up where NYPD Blue left off.
One other thing:
I’m thinking that when Ronnie (mustache guy) was getting tortured by Armadillo, he might have let slip about Vic’s plans to rob the Armenian Mob’s money train. If so, Vic’s troubles are only just beginning . . .
I’ve watched it since the beginning too. It’s nice that it’s on the same night as 24, my other favorite show. Tuesdays I lock myself in the bedroom where noone can bother me for 2 hours.
I like Dutch also, I was mad about him going to the dark side, but relieved when he went back and found another way. I love watching his interrogations.
Vic is my hero also. The opposite of Dutch really, and it’s interesting to see how they each handle things. I think he should have killed Armadillo originally instead of burning his face, he went a little soft/crazy there and look what happened. I think he realizes this though and feels responsible for Ronnie, so I’m expecting to see him get a bit tougher on crime.
I also hope they follow up on the hot female cop wanting to join the strike team, although I think Aceveda will push for a different minority (black/latino). Plus Shane probably couldn’t handle having a hot woman on the team. He’s got sex issues.
I still think the first episode was a mistake, killing the fellow cop and all. Like it was done for pure shock value rather than being consistent with the characters. Although something still has to happen with that, since every once in a while they show it in the “previously on the shield” section.
Ivlad watches it. Myself, I couldn’t get into a show about a corrupt cop who’s a drug dealer on the side.
Ick.
I love this show. It’s the first police show that I’ve ever seen where the cops use the Machiavellian (sp?) attitude of “the end justifies the means”.
I also enjoy it. I’ve seen the majority of episodes of both seasons (though I was pulling out my hair before season one too because of the hated commercials).
ivylass, I’d agree with you, but since I’m paranoid and don’t trust cops to begin with, I find the show really enjoyable.
And the politics are great. How can they manuever themselves into and out of danger? Wonderful. And they aren’t afraid to let really, really bad stuff happen to even the main characters.
For me, Tuesdays are the ultimate TV night. “Buffy” to “24” to “The Shield.”
Might have? If you’ll notice…
Right before Vic finds Ronnie, he spots the photos they took of the Armenian Mob’s staging area scattered all over the floor. I took that as a sign that not only had Armadillo got to Ronnie (quite and ending, I must add!), but that he also knows about their plans.
I don’t know if a spoiler box is necessary, but since I never use 'em, what the hell, eh?
And to address the OP: The Shield is one of my few absolutely must-watch shows each week, and has been since ep 2 of season 1.
The thing I love about The Shield is that it really doesn’t pull any punches. Vic’s methods have had (and are continuing to have) a lot of very bad reprocussions and he’s staying one step of ahead of them but they’re never ignored. He can beat a man to within an inch of his life but it comes back at him.
And on the flip side of things we’ve seen that honest police work is in the end just as effective on the show like in the season finale last year when Vic and shows up at the tenement after beating it out of people at the same time as the officers following legitimate leads do.
And chalk me up as another Dutch fan. I felt so bad for him when he found out that his misreading people was directly responsible for someone’s death, but Tuesday’s episode really gave him some dignity back. He really is the perfect foil for Vic (who unlike the rest of the officers in the station sees how good he is; note in Dragonchasers he’s the only one who isn’t laughing while the prisoner counter-interogates Dutch) and Chiklis and Karnes play off each other well when they do have a scene together (okay, Chiklis plays off everyone well; he really deserved that Emmy).
One more thing, I was enjoying how the first three episodes of this season were each one consecutive day after another. Sure after Vic got shot they couldn’t keep on doing that but if next season they wanted to do a story arc that played out over two weeks I wouldn’t object.
SPOILERS MAYBE
So I got the first season yesterday and watched the first two episodes and all I can say is WOW. Pretty heavy stuff, huh?
I have a question though, at what point does Acevada stop trying to nail Vic for being a “bad” cop? He seemed to hate Vic in the first season (of what I’ve seen so far ) and I’ve noticed in the first few episodes of this season and even now, he’s kinda on his side. I realize that he is trying to be a City Council member and ultimately Mayor, so is he just going along with Vic now because he gets results?
It seems that attitudes have changed because in the first 2 eps that I’ve seen of last season, Claudette kinda stays out of Vic’s way and doesn’t really see anything wrong with him, because he makes people relatively safe and that’s what the public wants. But in this season she thought there was a link between Vic and the drug dealers and looked through Teo’s book and was curious about the Landlord (Vic) payments. So I guess I’m wondering at what point did this change of heart occur for the two characters? Thanks
I’m sorry if this was spoilers, I don’t know how to tag it yet.
I hadn’t noticed that. Good catch.
What I like about the show is the continuity. Most other cop shows are all about the cases, in this one the cops are the cases.
And I too am a Dutch fan. I loved the interrogation scene with the serial murderer. In most movies the serial murderer is shown to be ten times smarter than the cop. But Dutch nails the bastard because he is flat out better