For those of you that may have missed an episode or two, you'll get another chance.

PILOT (Original Air Date 3/12)
Wednesday, May 29 - 10:00 PM e/p

OUR GANG (O.A.D 3/19)
Wednesday, May 29 - 11:00 PM e/p

THE SPREAD (O.A.D 3/26)
Thursday, May 30 - 10:00 PM e/p

DAWG DAYS (O.A.D 4/2)
Thursday, May 30 - 11:00 PM e/p

BLOWBACK (O.A.D 4/9)
Friday, May 31 - 10:00 PM e/p

CHERRYPOPPERS (O.A.D 4/16)
Friday, May 31 - 11:00 PM e/p

PAY IN PAIN (O.A.D 4/23)
Saturday, Jun 01 - 10:00 PM e/p

CUPID AND PSYCHO (O.A.D 4/30)
Saturday, Jun 01 - 11:00 PM e/p

THROWAWAY (O.A.D 5/7)
Sunday, Jun 02 - 10:00 PM e/p

DRAGONCHASERS (O.A.D 5/14)
Sunday, Jun 02 - 11:00 PM e/p

CARNIVORS (O.A.D 5/21)
Monday, Jun 03 - 10:00 PM e/p

Bump as a reminder.

Apparently you and i are the only ones that watch this show. Dammit, i forgot about the pilot last night. That was the only episode i missed, now twice.

Thanks for the tip! I managed to catch one episode of this series and never got around to watching the rest of the season. Hopefully I can record some of these episodes to watch later.

-BT

I have seen them all and am very excited for the finale next week

Heh. Yeah, there's not as many people (in here) watching as I would think. Or they just don't have anything to say.

Quote:

Dammit, i forgot about the pilot last night. That was the only episode i missed, now twice.

I'm sure there'll be another marathon before the second season.

This is my first time watching this show. I saw the first two episodes, and plan to see some more. But, I have a huge question: How in the world is FX able to air this show with the content it has? This isn't a movie or even HBO, it's just cable, and I've seen no other show that's pulled punches like this one.

In the pilot, we see a dead naked girl. We hear the word s*** and d*** quite often. We see Vic Mackey hit a man, pull down his pants, and rip something from his genitals area, then we see this guy's a**. We see a naked girl's breast near the end of the show. And, at one point in the story, Vic tries to con a supposed pervert who's into young girls into telling him the truth. The convo goes something like:

I got a young daughter, named Cassedy...how about I call her up here and let your put your d*** in her?

What?

Come on...just suck her t**s a little?

How is this allowed to air? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the show and like shows that push the envelope, but I'm just logically wondering how they get away doing and saying the things that are on this show. Can anyone help me here?

Well, as far as I know, TV can, and has always been allowed to, do what they want. It has always been rather taboo to do it though. Now, with the warnings and such, we see more shows pushing the envelope and FX seems to be taking it to the next step. I mean, more and more swear words have made their ay into everyday TV, now comes violence, nudity, etc.

i'm sure subcriber based cable does not follow the same strenuous guidelines as basic networks do.

It's allowed to air because it makes money. It makes money because people watch it. Face it, if there was a large uproar, protest and stuff, and there were no ratings I bet it wouldn't be on. When networks push the envelope, there just testing us to see how far we will let them go. With so many apathetic people in this country, I'm sure it won't be long before PBS will start airing porn.

Now, with that being said I do like and watch the show. Shows like this just make it harder to be a parent. i.e. you have to monitor what you kids watch. My parents certainly didn't have to worry about what I watched. Networks wouldn't even say damn back in the 70's.

I'm sorta talking out of my ass here but this is how I think it works.

The main networks are free if you have an antenna. The FCC and the US Government provide the "right" to the free broadcast, so they have rules about what can and can not be said/done/shown. If a rule is broken, they can be fined. I think it's happened to Saturday Night Live when a swear word has snuck onto the air.

Cable is a little different. I think it's the rating system that allows them to get away with it. When there were no ratings on television shows, everyone just sort of followed these ambiguous rules, and didn't break them for fear of losing advertisers. But since they've established the guidelines, the cable networks now say "Okay, as long as we rate this program TV-MA, no one can really complain about what we are showing as being inappropriate for children. It's like people protesting a rated R film for having "inappropriate content." All the creators have to do to answer criticism is point to the ratings.

So we now see the "backlash" to the ratings system. The various parent groups were so adament to have the system, but I doubt they realized they basically made it okay to put really adult things on the air as long as it's rated appropriately.

I personally love it, because there seems to be this idea in America that TV is supposed to always be a "family" area. Well, hate to break it to ya, but not everyone has a family, and in my opinion it's easier for a family to turn off TV they find objectionable than it is to deny it to others.

Bottom line, if they don't like it they shouldn't watch.

I want to watch the show but I missed the first few nights of the marathon. I hope they air them again.

I hate going into shows "halfway" through.

But you never saw an entire breast.
Boobs=good.
Nipples=bad.

All of what you have mentioned has been said to be protected by the First Amendment, since it generally falls under the category of indecent vs obscene (and obscene is supposed to be left up to local standards).
The FCC "recommends" that programming that may be objectionable be aired between 10:00pm and end before 6:00am or they may face penalties,which The Shield follows. Realistically, cable channels could have done things like nudity and swearing a while ago, but they regulated themselves. In part for fear of public backlash and advertiser pullout.

So far I've seen the first 4 episodes and I can't quite understand the "hook" to this series.

Where's the "groundbreaking" material? All of this seems like a slightly more foul-mouthed version of NYPD Blue.

What am I supposed to be impressed with?

Nah, not groundbreaking, just a pretty damned good show.

Shows with "hooks" suck.

I just watched this show for the first time tonight and I am impressed. I'll catch the next two nights for srue.

When will they repeat the 5/28 episode? It's the only one I've missed in the series.

Two Days of Blood
Monday @ 11:00pm & 2:00am
(In case you didn't know it's part 1 to Tuesday's new episode.)


It also looks like on Mondays, starting Monday, June 10 at 10p they'll be airing them in order again, although some Mondays look like they will also air a second episode at 11:00.

Edited:corrected the date

Well in your case you may be interested in a gay love scene with guys actually deep kissing. A central character in the show no less. Keep watching, trust me it's a great show.

Thanks, Pac-Rat! I've been trying to catch this all week, and keep running into the marathon. Can't wait!

I've missed the last 2 weeks as a result of being out of the country. Can anyone give me a decent summary of what happened -- from Pac Rat's message it looks like I will be able to catch last weeks ep. tonight at 11 assuming I don't keel over from jet lag before then, but what about the week before?

Tomorrow is the season finale? Whoa, time flies when you're having fun.

thanks,
Tuan Jim

Actually the self-hating closeted rookie subplot is one of the more tedious elements of the show. Those "kissing scenes" are some of the most uncomfortable and unconvincing gay "make-out" scenes in the history of television. Absolutely zero chemistry between those two.

Everything else - story-wise and acting-wise - jumped up a notch at about the midway point in the season. Everything got very complicated and the dialogue became snappy and clever. Those first four episodes though are pretty tiresome to slog through. Almost all setup and direct stealing from earlier (and better written) series (e.g. the child serial killer thread was milked TO DEATH on "Homicide:Life In the City" by a similar obsessive n'er-do-well detective)

But then again - Mike Chiklas does look really, really good in that pair of jeans. Those tight crotch shots alone are worth tuning in for. Woof.

For some reason, my local FX station started the two episodes of The Shield 30 minutes late last night. As a result, my ReplayTV only caught the first episode and the first 30 minutes of the 2nd episode.

Could someone please post a summary of what happened in those last 30 minutes that I missed?

Thanks in advance!

Darq


P.S.
My ReplayTV stopped in the second episode at the point where