I started watching that show and for some reason, even though I enjoyed it a lot, I stopped watching about 3/4 of the way through the first season. I should give it another shot. Neat award, too.

dollrific | September 06, 18:05 CET

Do that, dollrific. Even if you only go as far as completing season one it will be worth your time.

Highlander | September 06, 18:27 CET

The chorus of praise for The Shield is large, if not universal. In my world, it fell victim to FX's overweening marketing campaign, which interfered with my viewing of Buffy reruns with ENORMOUS and extremely annoying animated "bug" ads--I'm sure there's a technical term for them, but I've forgotten what it is. I swore never to watch the @#$% show, and I never have. Frankly, I don't think I've missed much. It may be well-done, but I'm pretty sure it's not my type of show. Everyone else is welcome to appreciate it all they like.

Maeve | September 06, 18:35 CET

I remember watching some of it. Eh, wasn't my kinda show.

All I remember were cops that were doing un-cop like stuff. Yeah, I don't know to explain it better. I just remember violence and moody stuff. (Yes, I know Buffy and Angel had that stuff as well. So did Firefly and probably a lot of the shows I watch but there's a different vibe.)

But you know people like different things.

druzilla | September 06, 19:51 CET

Like Highlander said, the first season is certainly worth seeing and I haven't seen all of the rest I'm sure it's not bad either. For me, the show is kinda like "The Sopranos", amazing first episode, good first season, the rest is okay.

RCM | September 06, 20:33 CET

I'm up to season four, about five episodes of that season left to watch, and I've loved every second. I'd basically say though that you'll know whether the show is for you by the time you've seen the end of episode one. That tells you exactly what the show is about and, more importantly, whether the main character of the show is someone you can get behind.

Vic is flawed in so many ways that he occasionally makes Dexter seem like the poster boy for normal police work. However, and this is assuming that you watch the series with the same "open mind" that you allow for Dexter, he is also one of the most interesting anti-hero types I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Mackey blurs the lines of good cop/bad cop in whole new ways and does it with style.

It's most certainly one of the most underappreciated shows on television, in my opinion. It's a show that needs to be watched right from the start, if you really want to get the feel for who Mackey is. Worth a look.

Highlander | September 07, 01:53 CET

This and BSG have been my two favorite shows since Angel ended (though I'm behind on The Shield by a season).

areacode212 | September 07, 18:47 CET

The show's about a lot more than just Vic though. You can enjoy the series while hating the main character because there are so many other components to it (Dutch and Claudette alone are worth the price of admission).

I watched on rented DVDs and was keeping up with it as soon as they came out, until last year. I've seen up to Season 4. I'll probably just marathon the rest when the seventh and final season is out on DVD, three seasons of The Shield goodness left to go.

I don't think just seeing the first episode is a good indicator of whether you'll end up liking the show. I liked it more toward the end of Season 1 and everything after that built on the initial season and improved upon it, IMO.

Kris | September 08, 16:48 CET

I guess it's deserving. I mean, I really don't like it, just like Rescue Me I think pretty much everyone has severe attitude issues and would like them to all die horribly (how ironic that that came right after me pointing out attitude issues...) and that's not a very good ground to build an interesting in a show on. But atleast seems well produced so yeah... Probably a good show, it's just not for me...

[ edited by Djungelurban on 2008-09-09 14:02 ]

Djungelurban | September 09, 14:02 CET