The Shield

The police drama series The Shield followed a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department called the Strike Team. These detectives were determined to enforce the law and bring peace to the streets, even if it involved dubious ethics.

• Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
• Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vendrell
• Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
• Jay Karnes as Detective Holland 'Dutch' Wagenbach
• Benito Martinez as Captain David Aceveda

"Granted, The Shield is probably nowhere close to portraying the dangers and intensity of the lives led by real cops, and television has every right to show us accurate portrayals of life on the streets. But, at the same time, like the rough justice that Mackey and his team dishes out, just because a program is realistic and effective doesn't mean it's right. And making a show graphic doesn't make it good."—PopMattersPopMatters: The Shield Review

"Whenever a new television show is described as "groundbreaking" or "innovative," it's easy to dismiss it as so much marketing b.s. But, in the case of The Shield, those terms are absolutely true. Made for the basic-cable channel FX, this taboo-shattering series, to paraphrase a customer comment on Amazon.com, stabs the cop-show genre in the gut and rubs salt in the wounds."—DVD review—Reel.comReel.com: The Shield:The Complete First Season Review