I know this aired in full screen, but it feels so cramped and could use the wideness of the frame. from what I understand, the first season is full since you can see too many boom mikes, ect in and to the left side of the frame.

I'd have to go back and check, but I thought that Season 2 was broadcast in widescreen so I'm hoping for a widescreen transfer when the inevitable dvd comes out.

the marathon this past week of best of season 2 was full screen

TV is usually (but not always) full screen. It's the nature of the beast.

It's a fullscreen show, and the DVD will be OAR.

The first post erroneously assumes that the show was cropped on the sides to be fullscreen. That is not correct! If they did release a widescreen DVD they would have to crop the top and bottom of the screen.

Just to point out, Season 2 is not being released on Oct. 7 and has been delayed. I don't believe any specs have been released yet.

That is incorrect. In television production, when a series is composed for dual aspect ratios the 4:3 version is taken as a center extraction from the middle of the 16:9 frame. The widescreen DVDs for later X-Files seasons, 24, Alias, etc. all have more picture info on the sides than their 4:3 broadcasts.

I am also unsure of why The Shield's DVD is presented in 4:3, especially since the deleted scenes on the disc are clearly letterboxed.

Interestingly, the Region 2 DVD box set will be 16:9.

this gives these shows more "room" on the sides as most of these shows (24 and the shield esspecially) feel really cramped.) sometimes widescreen for a tv show wouldn't be good since it could reveal too much info (boom mikes, fake sets, too much empty space ect)

You're right, but "The Shield" was not composed for dual aspect ratios.

The deleted scenes on the disc are shown in widescreen. I have not heard any official explanation for why the rest of the episodes are not. If Rypro's info about boom mics is correct, the region 2 box set is probably not going to look very good, but again I have not heard anything official on this.

The show does look a little cramped at 4:3, but it works well enough with the faux-documentary style and I'd have no problem with the DVDs being presented at either ratio.

I have not seen the R2 UK season 1 DVDs to compare against my R1 set but they are currently showing season 2 on UK television in 16:9 and it looks fine composition wise.

Maybe they changed it for season 2. Now at the edge of the screen you can see all of peoples heads instead of the tips of their noses that you would see if it was 4:3, which suggests it was shot with consideration for 16:9.