Cops shows may have a large obligation than just providing entertainment. At least, this tends to be a popular opinion in recent years as the mainstream has become more aware of police brutality, in part due to celebrities bringing attention to the matter. But that doesn't mean that detective shows, such as the absolutely sensational Mare of Eastown, and police procedurals, such as NCIS, CSI, and Law & Order, aren't still immensely popular.
For many, the Michael Chiklis-led FX series, The Sheild, was the quintessential cop show. The critically acclaimed show lasted for seven seasons before it concluded in 2008. It featured a number of acclaimed actors, such as Glenn Close, Michael Jace, Forest Whitaker, Walton Goggins, and Laurie Holden. It won numerous awards, including Emmys and Golden Globes. And yet, it was never even supposed to exist...
What Is The Shield Based On?
According to an oral history of The Shield by Entertainment Weekly, creator Shawn Ryan was hired by FX to write a sitcom. However, another idea was unfolding in his head. It was a true story about a major corruption scandal in the Los Angeles Police Department, which later became the inspiration for The Shield. Shawn, who had written on and produced the cop show Nash Bridges, was always interested in the subject.
But Nash Bridges wasn't the type of cop show that could tackle some of the insanely dark subject matter Shawn became fascinated by. The true stories that he heard also caused him to worry about the world he was bringing his newborn daughter into...
"I had gone on a couple ride-alongs for my work on Nash Bridges and was seeing and hearing things not appropriate for a CBS procedural," Shawn Ryan said to EW. "And I was having all these disaster fantasies about, 'Oh my god, how do I protect this little girl from the world?' I really wrote that pilot script thinking that I would just get it out of my system, so it was almost more a writing exercise for me than anything else. I wasn't a very experienced TV writer at this point; it didn't even occur to me that someone would want to make this. I was just hoping it would be a good enough sample that it might help me get my next staff job."
The script ended up on a stack in the FX offices. Former President of FX, Peter Liguori, said, it was "a miracle" the show was even made.
"It was a miracle; it never should have happened," Peter said to EW. "His script had been randomly in a stack of other spec scripts. Every page was electric. When I called Shawn to say we wanted to make his pilot, he thought we were joking."
Shawn's frequent writing partner, Glen Mazzara, claimed that the seeds of The Shield were in Nash Bridges. Not just Shawn's love of cop shows but also one of the most iconic moments of the pilot.
"It was an opening of an episode in which Nash (Don Johnson) and Joe (Cheech Marin) are getting the typical perfunctory information that you would at a crime scene. It was really a boring scene," Glen said. "They put the Kid Rock song ["Bawitdaba"] over this teaser — and it worked. Don loved it and said, "That's what I'm talking about! That feels like the old days, like Miami Vice." And so then that song got stuck in Shawn's head as he was writing The Shield and became the famous ending of the pilot."
How The Sopranos And Donnie Brasco Inspired The Shield
The ending of the pilot, where Michael Chiklis' Detective Vic Mackey takes down a cop on his own team was so dark that many believed Shawn could get away with it. But FX was all in. They wanted their own gritty drama like HBO's The Sopranos.
"There was a moment when [former FX executive] Kevin Reilly asked if we might want to shoot two endings, just for safety. I said, "I don't want to do anything for safety — this is why we love it," Peter Liguori explained.
"I remember going to see Donnie Brasco, and I liked it but didn't love it," Shawn said. "Part of me wished the Al Pacino character was a bit smarter as to what was going on with Johnny Depp. Two-thirds of the way through, I thought, 'Wouldn't it be the most badass thing if Pacino just turned around and shot him in the face?' And you realize, 'Oh s---, he knew this whole time that this guy was onto him!' That idea stuck with me for a long time, and I never did anything with it until I got to The Shield pilot."
These creative decisions were exciting to FX who really wanted to stand toe-to-toe with HBO, particularly because of their success with The Sopranos and The Wire.
"Our strategy was 'Why should HBO and Showtime have a monopoly on premium, challenging content?'" Peter said. "We wanted to come out of the gate with something that announced that FX was different."
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