As mentioned in another post, one of the knocks on The Shield was it's strick focus on Vic and his actions. While they had some wild story lines, Vic was the centerpiece of the show, and any storyline that didn't relate back to him was eventually dropped (or at best not given the run it deserved).

The Wire, on the other hand, focused more on a topic: drugs in the city and how it affected everyone: dealers, users, cops, polititions, etc. Since it wasn't focused on one character, it was much deeper in scope, as story lines were able to develop for the entire run of teh show.

This isn't a knock on The Shield at all. I think it's probably in the top 3 cop shows on TV (behind The Wire and H:LOTS, which I think is better than both, but that's another thread) and was very well acted and written, for the most part. But it just wasn't as good as The Wire, plain and simple


And if you think some of the shit Vic pulled off was 'real' you have to be crazy.