The SopranosandThe Wirerightfully receive the most plaudits among the crime dramas that came out in the early 2000s, but there’s another crime series from that era that deserves attention, too. Everylist of the best TV showswill includeThe SopranosandThe Wiresomewhere within the top 10 and often within the top 3. These series are not just the best crime dramas ever; they’re some of the best TV shows ever. So if you are a crime drama that came out in the early 2000s, you were probably buried under the praise for these other series.
Crime TV shows have never gone outof style. Since the early days of television, series likeDragnet,Perry Mason, andHawaii Five-0have been capturing audiences looking for something more exciting and visceral on TV. However, it wasn’t until the late 1990s thatThe Sopranosproved that prestige crime dramas were not the sole property of filmmakers. Since then,new crime dramas are churned out every year, and with so many available, plenty get lost in the avalanche, especially if they arrive in the middle ofThe SopranosandThe Wire.
The Shield Was One Of The Golden Age’s Best TV Shows
Michael Chiklis Led The Acclaimed Series
The Shieldpremiered in 2002, which was three years afterThe Sopranospilot and the same year thatThe Wirepremiered. If someone was looking for a crime drama, either from the vantage point of the criminals or the cops, they had plenty of options on HBO alone, and very easily could have missed a great show. If you’ve seenThe Shield, you probably love it. The series stars Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a corrupt LA Police Department detective who commits many crimes across the show’s seven seasons, justifying his actions as a means to an end.
The series depicts the experimental division of the LAPD set up in the Farmington district of Los Angeles. Within this division exists the Strike Team, led by Vic, a group of detectives who use illegal methods to get information out of suspects and help themselves to the shares of drug busts that they discover. Their methods are suspect, butthey have such a high success rate, the higher-ups in the department don’t ask too many questions. It’s a thrilling series with a dark question at its heart about the thin line between the law and criminals.
Despite not leaving the same cultural footprint, it’s absolutely a series that should be ranked among the great crime dramas like those.
The series earned five Golden Globe nominations and won two of them, and also earned six Emmy nominations and won one.The Shieldcurrently has a 90% onRotten Tomatoesand remains an excellent and rewarding series even over two decades after its premiere. For those who focused their attention onThe SopranosandThe Wireand then jumped to something likeBreaking Badwhen those shows ended, they may have missedThe Shield. Despite not leaving the same cultural footprint, it’s absolutely a series that should be ranked among the great crime dramas like those.
Television Wouldn’t Be The Same Without The Shield
The Shield Brought A True Anti-Hero To Network TV
The age of anti-heroes can’t be solely attributed toThe Sopranos, but there’s no denying that the series helped popularize and mythologize what a real anti-hero could be. Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is the protagonist ofThe Sopranos, and it’s his story that we care about. However,there are almost no redeeming qualities about Tony, and when it comes down to it, he’s completely evil. The same can be said for someone like Walter White (Bryan Cranston), though he at least asks for some forgiveness at the end of his life.
When you think of TV anti-heroes, those two characters are probably where your mind goes first, but Vic Mackey deserves to be ranked among those characters in terms of how important his brand of anti-hero was to television. Before Vic, there was really only Tony Soprano, and Tony only existed on HBO. Vic was the anti-hero for network television.A character like Vic and a show likeThe Shieldproved that even casual TV viewers were interested in watching morally gray charactersin shows without a clear hero.
Vic is not a nice character, and even his explanation that the crimes he commits are offset by the crimes he helps stop is only half-heartedly argued as the show goes on. Every time you want Vic to do the right thing, he ends up doing the wrong thing. That’s a character type that we’ve seen countless times since.The Shieldwas also an early hit for FX and led the way for other popular series. It isn’tThe WireorThe Sopranos, butThe Shieldis not too far off from those beloved shows.
The Shield
Cast
The Shield is a crime drama series set in an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct, exploring the complex moral landscape where officers sometimes resort to bending rules and engaging in unscrupulous activities to maintain order and protect their own interests.
