# TV series "The Shield" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243 "2013-04-20T19:06:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stoplight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@stoplight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoplight)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/1 "2013-04-20T19:06:09Z")
Have not seen it, is it worth the dough for a couple seasons? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/2 "2013-04-20T19:20:49Z")
Depends on how much. It was one of my Top Ten All-Time series when it was on. If I had to pay for watching it, I might consider it, but to buy it as a set on DVD I’d go as much as $30. But I have only bought one set of DVD’s before and that was the Godfather series. I forget how much that was. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/3 "2013-04-20T19:37:07Z")
It was a great show and I watched it beginning to end when I was deployed in Afghanistan in 2009. I came home and ordered the DVDs because I wanted to watch it again with my wife because I liked it so much. We didn’t get around to watching it together until late 2011. All I can say is that it hasn’t held up well mainly because the characters have been copied in so many tv shows and movies that they feel like the cliches that they are. Michael Chiklis was great in the roll but watching it again a few years later he really hammed it up, at least in the first season or two, but this may be tied to the clicheness now. Though we never ended up making it through the first season together I will say that the final season, particularly the final episode, is one of the best series finales/payoffs I’ve ever experienced on television and if you make there you’ll know why people say that. ---
**Author:** ![stoplight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@stoplight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoplight)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/4 "2013-04-20T19:59:46Z")
I think the final season was 08 so my concern more or less is often times the characters lose their impact as the TV culture shifts drastically and as you mentioned where the lead in the beginning was spot on, several years later he turns out to be caricature of subsequent series. A true classic can hold its own. Wondering if it can hold its own, I can easily spend fitty dollars on something else. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/5 "2013-04-20T20:22:50Z")
Definitely. Great series. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/6 "2013-04-20T20:36:30Z")
If you’ve seen _The Wire_, then give it a pass. I tried to watch it afterwards and couldn’t get past the first episode. Try your library to get a free copy of it, and then you’re not out the money. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/7 "2013-04-20T22:09:39Z")
Yes, add it to your Netflix queue. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/8 "2013-04-20T23:12:48Z")
It is, or at least was, free on hulu. 7 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/9 "2013-04-20T23:18:09Z")
I liked the first season (bought the DVD) but watched sporadically after that. It seemed that Vic and crew were getting away with way too much to be believable. And **Cubsfan** is right about Chiklis hamming it up. He wasn’t the only one though. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/10 "2013-04-21T04:59:40Z")
I think it was a magnificent series. The final half of the final season ranks with the very best TV drama you’ll ever see, in my opinion. Great plotting, writing, acting and direction, and utterly satisfying on every level - but you have to have seen all that went before to appreciate just how magnificent it is. I think The Shield is very under-rated, and I constantly recommend the entire box DVD set to friends. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/11 "2013-04-21T05:32:26Z")
The ending was unlike any other series I have ever seen. There was no going in a blaze of glory or even minor hero posing. Whatever brief flashes there were of him as a decent man or caring father and husband got buried by his decisions to throw everyone under the bus to save himself. In the end he led everyone to their doom, some willingly, and some not. He was just a malevolent cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/12 "2013-04-21T05:51:30Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > If you’ve seen _The Wire_, then give it a pass. I tried to watch it afterwards and couldn’t get past the first episode. Try your library to get a free copy of it, and then you’re not out the money. Yeah, you didn’t really give it a chance. It is my second favorite tv series after The Wire. It gets better too. Season 5 with Forest Whitaker is unbelievably intense. Season 7 culminates in the best series ending I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/13 "2013-04-21T16:07:14Z")
Loved it. I have 5 of the seasons myself. It is probably my favorite show. Great acting. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/14 "2013-04-21T16:55:19Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > Yeah, you didn’t really give it a chance. It is my second favorite tv series after The Wire. > > It gets better too. Season 5 with Forest Whitaker is unbelievably intense. Season 7 culminates in the best series ending I’ve seen. Perhaps I’ll give it another try, although the main character’s emoting was off-putting. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/15 "2013-04-21T17:06:16Z")
Yes. Amazing drama. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/16 "2013-04-23T21:19:41Z")
I loved it and frankly I was more interested in it than The Wire. I never finished Season 2 of the Wire and made it all the way through The Shield. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-the-shield/656243/17 "2013-04-24T00:11:20Z")
I have all seven seasons on disc, and still break them out to re-watch. Amazing show. Cannot recommend highly enough.