When the opening shot of a TV show warns you that the show you're about to watch has graphic violence, nudity, strong language, and that it may not be appropriate for children, you know what's coming up next ain't "Picket Fenses." In the vein of tough cop's like "NYPD Blue" came the FX Channel's first original series, "The Shield," starring a leaner and meaner Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a Los Angeles Detective who gives the term "bad cop" a bad name.
Mackey is head of the Strike Team, a street tactical unit composed of plainclothes Detectives in the Inner City. Mackey has a firm control of his men and has a firm grasp of the politics of police work, and as long as he's producing "safe streets, arrests, and convictions" he's bulletproof from anyone who disagrees with his methods. On of those is the new Captain at Mackey's precinct, David Aceveda (Benito Martinez), a Latino cop with his eyes on a higher office and sees Mackey as his ticket to stardom. As is the case with all episodic crime drama, "The Shield" has a Case of the Week, and the pilot involves the murder of a woman and the abduction of her daughter, a 7-year old girl who is presently in the hands of a pedophile that is not talking.
Mackey is head of the Strike Team, a street tactical unit composed of plainclothes Detectives in the Inner City. Mackey has a firm control of his men and has a firm grasp of the politics of police work, and as long as he's producing "safe streets, arrests, and convictions" he's bulletproof from anyone who disagrees with his methods. On of those is the new Captain at Mackey's precinct, David Aceveda (Benito Martinez), a Latino cop with his eyes on a higher office and sees Mackey as his ticket to stardom. As is the case with all episodic crime drama, "The Shield" has a Case of the Week, and the pilot involves the murder of a woman and the abduction of her daughter, a 7-year old girl who is presently in the hands of a pedophile that is not talking.