The Shield: The Complete Series [29 Discs]

I came across this DVD at Best Buy and I knew I had to buy it, it is one of my favorite shows. The DVD case is sturdy and the quality of the video and sound is great.

One of the best TV series ever. Very gritty with fully developed characters. Surprised there were no spin offs.

Back in 2001, we had a slew of TV shows featuring anti-heroes. "The Sopranos" had mob-boss Tony Soprano. "24" had Jack Bauer, a Federal agent who didn't even read the rulebook. And "The Shield" has Vic Mackey, who is referred to in the show as "Al Capone with a badge." Mackey and his anti-gang squad known as "The Strike Team" police the streets of LA's Farmington district with an iron fist. And they've gotten away with it so far because Mackey's in tight with the police chief and because they get results. But now criminals are crying police brutality, and Mackey's Strike Force is coming under scrutiny from Farmington's over-zealous, career-minded captain, a detective with a conscience, and a community afraid of the power the police have. This is a very well-written series, with great characters and amazing character arcs. It seldom sags, and features superb performances by Michael Chiklis ("The Commish", and soon "Gotham"), Walton Goggins ("Justified"), CCH Pounder, and season-long "guest" appearances by Glenn Close and Forrest Whittaker. The only drawback is the packaging. It looks like a great, shelf-friendly package, but once you open it, you find the series split up between two very flimsy plastic crush that easily crush. Despite the packaging, do yourself a favor: pick this up for a ridiculously low price, and strap yourself in: you will find yourself mesmerized.

Old school series. But don't get enough of it. Great action and story line. Five stars

"The Shield" is proclaimed to be one of the best crime dramas on cable TV for a reason. The complexity found with a large number of cast, the writing that manages to be sharp and repugnant at the same time, and the fact that it never wavers on the dark undercurrent behind those who enforce the law. It's a series that can't easily be explained why it's fantastic; with several streaming options providing the entire series, it's worth testing the waters to prove it. I appreciate a more compact packaging of the original complete series set, although it would be much better had they just place the discs in several season-categorized cases instead of stacking the 29 discs in two hubs; scratches will be apparent this way, and it's cumbersome to remove certain discs. The quality of the packaging is my only issue with it, but for less than $50 at BestBuy (and it includes the bonus disc), that's an offshoot.

I recently finished all 7 seasons of The Shield. This series has to be in my top 5 TV series of all time. The show is very character driven. Each one usually has a typical "cop show" subplot, but the broad arcs are about the characters. Make no mistake, this is a very dark show. I would find my moods affected by watching it often times. I like how "real" the characters are. Even the moral centers of the show do bad things and have human failings. In my view a large part of the series is a meditation on morality. Vic Mackey does some horrible things but is also in many ways a good and sometimes even heroic character. It embraces the shades of gray that real people are made up of. It's also very unusual for a series to remain strong over such a long run. That's especially the case when it is a coherent story and not an episodic show like a comedy.

I saw a few episodes of The Shield and decided to purchase it. I am so glad that I did. This is a cutting edge show of good cop and bad cop. This is adult content but it's so cutting edge and I love The Shield. This comes with 29 DVD's and I work over 12 hour days and have already seen 15 of the DVD's. Watching season 5 now. Never knew Glen Close was in season 4 and now Forrest Whittaker is on season 5. Great, amazing, and addicting show.

Not what I expected in a series. Discs work as they should.