# The Shield (2002)

> A corrupt Los Angeles police strike team bends the rules to keep their streets safe and their own interests intact.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1330

## Facts

- Seasons: 7
- Episodes: 88
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Shawn Ryan
- Network: FX
- Cast: Michael Chiklis, Catherine Dent, Paula Garcés, Walton Goggins, Glenn Close, Michael Jace, Kenny Johnson, Jay Karnes
- TMDB rating: 8.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286486/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, tense, bleak, propulsive, morally ambiguous

## What critics say

Widely acclaimed for its gritty, morally complex portrayal of corrupt police in Los Angeles, anchored by Michael Chiklis's performance and its escalating serialized arcs.

## Synopsis

The Shield (2002-2008) is a American cable crime drama series created by Shawn Ryan for FX. Michael Chiklis plays Vic Mackey, the charismatic and ruthless leader of a plainclothes anti-gang unit in an inner-city Los Angeles precinct, supported by Walton Goggins as Shane Vendrell and Catherine Dent as Danielle Sofer. Mackey and his squad bend and break the rules to keep their streets under control while protecting their own self-interests, and the show's engine is the tension between that loyalty and the investigators who circle them. Each season builds an intricate, continuing story of gang territory, drug trade, political pressure and ambitious colleagues, with cases and betrayals carrying from one episode to the next across seven seasons. Set in present-day Los Angeles, the series is raw, handheld and unflinching, with a tense, morally bleak atmosphere that treats its antihero with unnerving complexity. Fans of The Wire, The Sopranos and Training Day will find the same gritty moral ambiguity and institutional corruption at its core.

## Shows like The Shield

- [Life (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/3612)
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- [Southland (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/16329)
- [Law & Order: LA (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/30033)
- [Hack (2002)](https://ember.film/tv/9718)
- [Major Crimes (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/36264)
- [Coyote (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/76868)
- [Dark Blue (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/17391)
- [The Commish (1991)](https://ember.film/tv/3654)
- [Low Winter Sun (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42747)

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