Breaking Badrevolutionized television shows in the late 2000s, but FX’s crime thriller masterpiece,The Shield,deserves as much recognition as the AMC series. For many,Breaking Badis the pinnacle of great television, and rightly so. WithBryan Cranston perfectly portrayingthe descent of a chemistry teacher into the bowels of drug dealing, it’s easy to be drawn to the crime drama.
TV shows likeBreaking Badare hard to come by, as nothing could compare to the intense, high-stakes series. However, some hidden gems flew under the radar that are just as good. One such show aired its season finale the same year thatBreaking Badpremiered on AMC.
The Shield Is One Of The Most Underrated TV Shows Of The Early 2000s
The Shield Deserves More Recognition As One Of The Best Crime Dramas Of The Early 2000s
The early 2000s were filled withlots of crime dramasthat rose to unprecedented levels of success with audiences and critics alike, such asThe WireandPrison Break. ButThe Shieldremained one of the most underrated crime thrillers from the noughties that went unnoticed by a large audience for many years.
Centering around a Los Angeles police officer, Vic Mackey, and his Strike Team, who often blurred the line between right and wrong when it came to enforcing the law,The Shieldimmediately showed that it was a different kind of crime drama.The morally ambiguous series offered a brutal but honest look into the dark side of law enforcementthat many shows didn’t want to delve into.
When one mentions the Golden Age of Television, TV shows likeBreaking BadandThe Wireare often on the list, butThe Shieldis usually left out.
With the number of TV shows that shy away from showing police corruption,The Shieldis a refreshing series because it doesn’t hold back the punches.The show’s protagonist, Mackey, is extremely flawedand is in it for himself most of the time, but nonetheless holds audiences' attention as one ofTV’s best antiheroes, because underneath the darkness is someone who cares about his community.
The Shield Deserves The Same Love As The Wire And Breaking Bad
LikeBreaking BadandThe Wire,The Shieldpushed the boundaries when it came to crime dramas as it was chock-full ofmorally gray characters. Still,The Shieldaired during the time when shows likeThe WireandThe Sopranoshad become audience favorites,so it was easy for the series to get lost in the crowd.
When one mentionsthe Golden Age of Television, TV shows likeBreaking BadandThe Wireare often on the list, butThe Shieldis usually left out. However, it deserves so much more recognition than what it gets. The crime drama offered a gritty look at the thin line between justice and corruption, with nuanced and bold characters who show that even the good guys can sometimes do bad things.
The Shield, just likeThe WireandBreaking Bad, wasn’t afraid to delve into uncharted waters and deliver something that hadn’t been done on TV before. Each season ofThe Shieldraised the stakes with the Strike Team engaging in activities that are far from right, putting them closer to getting arrested. Seventeen years afterThe Shieldconcluded, the series is still worth watching.
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.
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, follows a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he attempts to provide for his family following a fatal diagnosis. With nothing left to fear, White ascends to power in the world of drugs and crime, transforming the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg.
