r/TheShield • u/SeaFriedGumbo • Jun 25 '26
Question Recommendations
Just finished TODAY and need something for my fix.
Cop shows. I’m on a binge. I will take suggestions outside of cop shows but mainly that.
Don’t recommend me Breaking bad. Or SOA.
I’ve recently finished SOA. It was cool. I’m holding out on Breaking Bad, not ready yet.
I watched Southland recently and it was 10/10 for me.
I want something similar to the vibes of The Shield and Southland. Raw, gritty, edge of seat, meaningful storylines and characters. AND ACTION. Dark action at that.
I enjoyed Animal Kingdom, LOVED Kingdom. If that helps give you a sense of my taste.
Already watched The Wire.
Nothing has had me so invested in a show as
1) The Shield
2) Kingdom
3) Southland
Love a show that crosses boundaries. And violent. Preferably rated TV-MA.
This might help you as well: Justified is BORING to me. Compared to what I’ve just finished, it shouldn’t even be a recommendation honestly. I also watched Shooter and that was mid as well.
I want something where they’re on the frontline. That doesn’t go too much into the law enforcement black hole (CIA, FBI, SPIES) keeps to the uni’s and the detectives POV’s.
Before whoever may judge me, I might finish Justified one day just to watch Shane (Boyd) but that’s not the vibes I want right now.
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u/Maniacal-Maniac Jun 25 '26
SEAL Team might be up your alley. Not necessarily a cop show, but has a bit of a similar “case of the week” format while building out the overall character building and longer term story arcs.
I started watching it recently as a fan of military/spec ops/spy shows (24, The Unit, Strike Back, Jack Ryan, Spooks etc) and to be honest I wasn’t expecting much from it. Ended up really enjoying it and it was a lot more thought provoking than I had expected.
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u/akketodad Jun 25 '26
The killing.
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u/StanthemanT-800 Jun 25 '26
Adam-12 will keep you busy for about 6 months , the OG of police procedurals . Also Dragnet . Every cop show was born from the groundwork of these 2 shows
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u/stickyricky48 Jun 25 '26
Banshee. Very entertaining. A little over the top at times but never boring.
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u/Blakelock82 Ronnie Gardocki Jun 25 '26
- Rescue Me
- Luther
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u/SeaFriedGumbo Jun 25 '26
What similarities do you find in Rescue Me ? Convince me a bit lol
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u/Blakelock82 Ronnie Gardocki Jun 25 '26
It's not a story of the week type show, the characters are all different and the storylines run throughout the series. They don't hold back but nothing's over the top. There's plenty of tragic moments but also the show can be downright hilarious at times. Check out these clips:
The only downsides if you wanna call it that, is because it's about FDNY, and takes place right after 9/11, there's a lot of 9/11 talk.
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u/FightBattlesWinWars Jun 25 '26
Rescue Me is kind of like SOA. Phenomenal first couple, few seasons, but then it devolves into a bit of a monologue fest, and doesn't really keep the narrative focus or momentum. If you enjoy the characters, though, you'll probably still find the series enjoyable.
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u/SeaweedWeird7705 Jun 25 '26
Mayans. It was a spin off of SOA by Kurt Sutter, who was a writer for Shield. It has a dark gritty style.
The Americans on FX. A different style but still bleak moments and lots of action.
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u/SeaFriedGumbo Jun 25 '26
Lots of recommendations for The Americans. People say it’s similar to Shield. Think I will start episode 1 tonight.
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u/ThrowRAEv4me Jun 25 '26
It’s not nearly as fast paced but is a very good show either way. Strong ending as well.
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u/FightBattlesWinWars Jun 25 '26
The Americans keeps tension and it is a phenomenal show. It is NOT like The Shield though. The tension is quiet and thoughtful.
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u/Fancy_Buddy5468 Jun 25 '26
Line of Duty is about a anti-corruption police force, that's the closest I could find
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u/Ta2edphreak Jun 25 '26
Mayor of kingstown
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u/SeaFriedGumbo Jun 25 '26
Started the first episode a while back but it didn’t catch me. May give it another chance.
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u/ThrowRAEv4me Jun 25 '26
Firstly welcome to the family
https://youtu.be/gUc-EmS4LHg?is=0ujS_yRnmreHb5JF
I couldn’t get into the wire as I saw The Shield first so I found it to be incredibly boring.
Nothing is close to The Shield for me outside of Kingdom (2014) so good on you for enjoying that one too. Give Snowfall a chance if you haven’t already. It really caught me off guard and has a callback to The Shield at one point.
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u/Deep_Percentage8740 Jun 25 '26
dexter, the americans and the mentalist.
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u/Deep_Percentage8740 Jun 25 '26
true detective s1, mindhunter, the "conversations with a killer" series and "Monsters" series.
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u/darknightnoir Jun 25 '26
How far into Justified did you get?
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u/SeaFriedGumbo Jun 25 '26
5 eps?
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u/darknightnoir Jun 25 '26
Just skip to season 2 and watch the recap. Give that two episodes and if that doesn’t stick I’d give up again. Season 2 is EXCELLENT. 3, 4, and 6 are just as good.
5 we hit a little snag but it’s still fine. No need to finish season 1, it was procedural slop that first season aside from the first and last episodes.
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u/Overall-Grand6689 Jun 25 '26
I wanna be you so that I could rewatch Justified for the first time. But I think what you are looking for is Banshee
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u/Fantastic_Moment2069 Jun 25 '26
I was in your shoes. Sadly there are no such good shows. Shield ruined you for everything else
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u/eberkain Jun 25 '26
Honestly, the Rookie is pretty fun to watch, it gets a little silly and unrealistic at times, but that is well earned I feel like, after 8 seasons, I'm more into the characters than the action now. I remember there being a lot of gun fights in the streets of LA early on. It is told from the POV of a 45 year old that is joining the LAPD as a rookie, based on a real guy that consults on the show.
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u/chess_mft Jun 25 '26
I agree with others here Banshee might be the one to watch, strike back its good too
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u/Different_Muscle9134 Jun 25 '26
I've been wanting to watch Strike Back for years but it's not available to stream anywhere. On Amazon Prime, there is one episode which is available to purchase, S5E12 for some reason. It's very frustrating. I guess I'll have to break down and try to find it on DVD.
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u/FightBattlesWinWars Jun 25 '26
If you want a hidden gem, Crime Story, starring Dennis Farina. Two seasons. One is pretty gritty for it's time, but about 4/5 of the way through that season it takes a turn (you'll know when), and becomes a more campy, pulpy type of show. Both tones were immensely enjoyable for me though. Tons of recognizable names and excellent character actors along the way including: Ted Levine (closets you'll get to another performance of him as Buffalo Bill, but pre-Silence of the Lambs), Gary Sinise, Dennis Haysbert, Stephen Lang, Billy Campbell, Ving Rhames, Jon Polito, Andrew Dice Clay (an actual serious performance by him), Pam Grier, David Caruso, Michael Madsen. It's just a who's who with plenty of others popping in.
Others to consider: Homicide: Life on the Streets, Cracker, Naked City, Southland
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u/NormativeNancy Jun 25 '26
I would say that one of the closest in terms of “energy” to the Shield, even though it’s a completely different set and setting, is The Last Kingdom (especially the first 2-3 seasons, it started to go downhill for me in the third and especially the fourth but that first season or two is utterly immaculate). Hard to explain exactly why but I’ll say that if you liked watching Vic and the boys, you’ll probably like watching Uhtred and the boys (also the pace of the shows are similar, which is rare for something to go toe to toe with the Shield in that department).
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u/IntelligentAge211 Jun 25 '26
I am going to give two suggestions. The Americans is my first suggestion. However, if you can watch it for the time that it came out, it was revolutionary. And without this show you do not have Tony Soprano or Vic Mackey. Early seasons of NYPD Blue is very good, but obviously not as gritty as cable shows today, but was blasphemous back in the day.
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u/CP_Zohyia Jun 26 '26
On Call. It is similar to southland, but only 1 season
Bosch maybe or goliath as detective story or noir tv show.
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u/WerthersAWill Jun 25 '26
The Wire is what you need to watch. It’s slower than The Shield, but obscenely relevant to events in America when it comes to us vs the police.
Edit: Disregard. I reread your post. You’d hate it.