The Shield is an American 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.
Several notable film actors took extended roles on the show, including Glenn Close, who was the female lead during the fourth season, 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 series has received high critical acclaim as well as several awards and nominations. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama in 2002; Michael Chiklis won both the Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama in 2002, and the final season won a 2008 AFI Award for best television series.
Premise
The Shield is about an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department set up in the fictional Farmington district ("the Farm") of Los Angeles, using a converted church ("the Barn") as their police station, and featuring a group of detectives called the Strike Team, a four-man anti-gang unit based on the LAPD's real-life Rampart Division CRASH unit. Rampart was seriously considered as the series name and was even used in some early promotional ads for the series. The show has an ensemble cast, and as a result, usually runs a number of separate story lines through each episode.
Detective Vic Mackey is the leader of the Strike Team, which also consists of Mackey's close friends Shane Vendrell, Curtis Lemansky and Ronnie Gardocki. The Strike Team uses a variety of illegal and unethical methods to prosecute criminals and maintain peace on the streets, while making a profit through illegal drug protection schemes and robbery. The Strike Team isn't above planting drugs on and coercing confessions out of gang members or framing them. Attempts to give the team a fifth member have frequently led to near-catastrophe for the group. As the series progresses, the Strike Team struggle to cover up their crimes in the face of increasing pressure and scrutiny from their superiors.
Other prominent figures at the barn include Captain David Aceveda, detectives Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach, Steve Billings and Claudette Wyms, and uniformed officers Sgt. Danielle "Danny" Sofer, Julien Lowe and Tina Hanlon. The Shield has a variety of subplots, notably Aceveda's political aspirations and his suffering of a sexual assault; Mackey's struggle to cope with a failing marriage, two autistic children and his 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 belief in the teachings of the Bible and his homosexuality.
Common themes are the citizens' distrust of police, the social impact of drugs and gang warfare, and the conflict between ethics and political expediency. The majority of conversations between characters on The Shield involve one person using leverage over the other, as well as each person looking out for their own agendas. Most characters are portrayed as having both vice and virtue. For example, Vic's loving relationship with his children sharply contrasts with his thuggish approach to police work, although his brutality is generally directed at those who seem well-deserving of such treatment. For example, in Season 2, the Strike Team prepares to rob the "Armenian Money Train," a money laundering operation of the Armenian Mafia. Another episode had Mackey cornering a serial rapist, then letting him be mauled by a police dog before calling the dog off.
Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shield
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The Shield season 1 trailer
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