Hidden Items & Rare Gems - TV shows you've heard of but haven't watched #1 The Shield

I'm starting a new series today of blogs about TV shows that, as my title says, you've heard of but haven't actually got round to watching yet. Imagine it as a sort of hidden treasures archive that needs to be plundered a bit more. These are the shows which probably haven't been given the recognition they deserve, or they have but you've seen them advertised and thought "Oh aye I need to watch that at some point". Well the time is now folks. No more putting it off. You're going to start now and you will enjoy it. 


Well, hopefully.


This week I'm going to start out with the criminally underrated: The Shield


Imagine a world where lines between the police and crooks are blurred. Where cops aren't just dirty, they're filthier than Paris Hilton's last conquest. Where not necessarily making the ethical choice is the right choice. Where there is violence, drug running and prostitution running amok. Welcome to Farmington ladies and gentlemen, a fictional, but altogether very realistic part of downtown Los Angeles, the setting of the FX cop drama The Shield. It's brutal, unflinchingly violent, but altogether quality television and very realistic.


The Shield centres around main protaganist Vic Mackay, played immaculately by Ross Kemp look-a-like Michael Chiklis. He's in a specialised task force within the L.A.P.D known as The Strike Team, a force which specialises in tackling gang-crime, and not necessarily by the book. This team will do anything to get results. From the pilot it's clearly established that everyone who works in 'The Barn' (the nickname for the police station where cops in the Farmington district work) are suspicious of Vic and his team's way of dealing with the city's bad guys. These methods include planting evidence on suspects, running protection rackets on drug dealers, and stealing evidence just to name a few. These cops are no role models. The series revolves around The Strike Team's many misdeeds and how far they can go before they are exposed to their other colleagues.


And this is the beauty of The Shield, because even with all the negative character traits that I've just mentioned, they are all likeable characters in a likeable show. They do what they do so they can support their families into retirement age. They ultimately feel like real people. The show begs the question of the viewer, could you handle a corrupt cop if they got more criminals off the street? It's testament to the show's brilliant creator and head writer, Shawn Ryan, and second writer Kurt Sutter. They write anti-hero to a tee, and create such true empathy in such complex characters that it deserves to be applauded. 


Speaking of other characters, there are great characters throughout The Shield. This is not simply a one-man show. The Shield has one of the finest supporting casts in any TV show I've ever seen. The greatest example of this is Vic's right hand man and best friend Det. Shane Vendrell, played by the amazing Walton Goggins. Shane is one of the most believable characters I've ever seen committed to tape. He's a misogynist, a racist, and deep down, a very scared, troubled human being. Even though on paper he's a despicable character, he doesn't feel like a magnet for hatred like you would perhaps expect. The reason he's so good is because he just seems real. 


The show is filled with other great characters. The Barn's head honcho, Captain Aceveda played by Beito Martinez is another example. Aceveda so driven in his rivalry to take down Vic he begins to incorporate Vic's own dirty ways to further himself up the career ladder and to wipe out Vic. Also worth noting is Detective Dutch Wagenbach. Dutch is an archetypal loser, but with a police badge to boot. His obsession with being liked and famous for his work is funny and tragic to watch. Then there are The Shield's amazing guest stars. There's too many that I can be bothered to list here (I'm only one man), so I'll centre on the amazing Forest Whitaker. He plays Internal Affairs officer Lieutenant John Kavanaugh, whose sole mission is to bring down The Strike Team. The way the writers have portrayed him as an Ishmael-like character from Moby Dick, a man so hell-bent on capturing his own white whale in Vic Mackay, is a tour-de-force. It's easy to see from his portrayal of this character why Mr. Whitaker has got an Oscar to his name .


The Shield in my opinion is one of the greatest television shows ever made. It deserves to be mentioned in the same company as The Sopranos as one of the most critically acclaimed television shows ever made. The Wire is frequently mentioned as the greatest police drama ever made, I fully believe The Shield deserves that claim. It my not have won that many awards, but it really is THAT good that it doesn't matter. All 7 seasons are available on DVD, get it rented/bought/downloaded now. It'd be a crime not to.

I'm gonna live my life by the stars that shine/Tonight I'm a rock n' roll star

Right, that's it. It has to stop now. I've had enough. This is driving me up the wall and I want it to end.

I'm sick to fucking death of people being so bloody cynical and miserable all the time. Recently I've just noticed that nobody seems to get psyched about anything anymore. Don't get me wrong, I've been like that many a time, but I don't let it rule my life, like it seems to with so many people. Sometimes it's just over big things, sometimes it's over every. Little. Piece. Of. Their. Lives. And it bugs me. I want people to be happy for once instead of being miserale gits all the time.

Take for example last night. I went to this horror-themed adventure-type park-thing where my friend works. He got us in for free, and on paper some parts sounded a bit lame but I went with it thinking, 'I hope I get scared tonight'. I wanted to be had. The same couldn't be said for everyone at the park though. Some iron-willed teenagers thought they were too good for the park, and that it was stupid and that there was zero point to it. Throughout some of the attractions, which were all like mini haunted houses with different themes, we had to be in single file and got let in two groups of friends at a time or so. Throughout this horror maze this 15 year-old in front of me, who can only be described with his 'wit', as a cross between a smug bell-end and Justin Bieber, was giving everyone a running commentary on the place. WAIT? THEY'RE NOT ACTUAL ZOMBIES IN THERE BELL-END BIEBER?! IT'S ALL MAKE-UP? I HAD NO IDEA THAT THERE WASN'T ACTUALLY A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! I HONESTLY THOUGHT THAT WAS REAL BLOOD ON THE WALLS!

I just wanted to grab him and say for gods sake just go with it you bloody idiot, and use your imagination. (Seriously, where are the West's when you need them?)

Hell to him, I enjoyed myself.

Another thing got me ditching the cynicism this week I must admit. It was my birthday on Tuesday (23, thanks for asking) and I had work the next day. I could've bailed on not doing anything because it was a work night but instead I thought fuck it. I'm enjoying this and to hell with the consequences. My job sucks so who cares? (Before you begin with "Aren't you defeating your point by being miserable? *smug face*", I said ALL the time, I'm not concerned if you want to be pissed off from time to time). Anyways, the night out, yes. I went out, got very drunk. Woke up the next day, slept through my alarm and lost my phone. Panicking (it's a Galaxy Ace!), I searched my room. Not on my dresser. Not in my jeans. Not on my chest of drawers. Nowhere. Bricks were shat. What the hell do I do? So in a last ditch attempt, I went to put on my slippers to venture around the house and outside, and alas felt something in the right one. 

Yep, my phone was in my slipper. 

Work was rung, telling them the truth of what happened. I figured I was going to have my arse handed to me the next day. But I didn't. I got away with it scot-free. No warnings. No disciplinary. Nothing. I smiled a little bit inside and out. And I'd do it again ten times over. Maybe minus that 6th shot of Sambuca (I swear that's when you go from drunk to Charlie Sheen. 5 is fine, 6 is Sheen, remember that).

My point of this blog is to ditch your cynical side for once, and go have a great time instead. Next time it's your birthday on a week night, go celebrate. Next time you hate the world, remember it's not all bad, Malcolm In The Middle is still on TV.

Just check your slippers first, you may find something awesome in there.