From zap2it.com:
'The Shield' Returns for Round Three

By Kate O'Hare

The cast, crew and producers of FX's police drama "The Shield" gather to watch the fourth episode of the new season. A screening room-dining hall has been set up with food near the sets at ABC Television Center Studios in Hollywood.

Everyone is there, from creator Shawn Ryan and star Michael Chiklis to guest director David Mamet. Even actors not working that day are on hand. As befits the de facto captain of the team, Chiklis sits front and center.

"Every week, I find myself definitely cast in the role of the veteran and the leader in the cast," Chiklis says. "It's a responsibility, but it's a flattery as well. I just want to lay down a good example with the best work ethic that I can muster and the least diva. Fish rots from the head, right?"

On Tuesday, March 9, "The Shield" returns for its third season -- extended, this year, from the usual 13 to 15 episodes. Its main character, rogue LAPD Detective Vic Mackey, has not mellowed, but he's trying to behave. At the end of season two, Vic and his Strike Team ripped off a money shipment (aka "money train") belonging to the Armenian mob, and the cash is starting to prove almost more trouble than it's worth.

Vic's now under scrutiny, both from outgoing boss and political candidate David Aceveda (Benito Martinez), and his impatient successor, Det. Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder). Things also aren't going well in the splintered Mackey family, and internal tensions threaten the solidarity of the Strike Team.

Filming this day is an explosive verbal exchange between Vic and Strike Team member Shane (Walton Goggins). Between takes, Chiklis shows off his extensive knowledge of "Monty Python" sketches.

"We're goofy on-set," Chiklis says. "We need it for the tension break. We do some pretty intense stuff all the time, and if we carry it 'round with us, there'd be fistfights."

Unfortunately for Vic, he doesn't get much comedic relief in season three. "At the beginning of the season," he's much more low-key," Chiklis says. "But you can't change the spots on a leopard, can you? As hard as he's trying to play it tight, in spite of himself, he can't seem to manage it."

New viewers might wonder whether Vic is cop or crook. "I think Vic's really a cop," writer-producer Glen Mazzara says. "He does have a moral line. There are things Vic won't do."

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Bush v. Kerry:
Homer: America, take a good look
at your beloved candidates.
They're
nothing but hideous space
reptiles.

Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But
what are you going to do about
it? It's a two-party system;
you have to vote for one of us.

Man1: He's right, this is a two-
party system.
Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a
third-party candidate.
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote
away.

-- "Treehouse of Horror VII"

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"If I had stopped to talk to every
pretty girl that I saw in TnT, I
swear I would've stayed in the
same spot the whole trip and just
spun in a circle."

---My boy describing the
lusciousness that was his trip to
Trinidad for Carnivale

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"I hate to see you go. But I love
to watch you leave."

---John Travolta as Castor Troy
as Sean Archer in "Face/Off"

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Last 10 movies I saw:

Once upon a time in Mexico: C
Runaway Jury: C Plus
50 First Dates: B minus
Civil Brand: D Plus
Barbershop 2: B
Mystic River: B
Batman, Mystery of the
Batwoman: B Plus
10,000 Men Named George: B
Paycheck: B
Finding Nemo: A-