The Shield Box-Set

The Shield... is a hard hitting and unforgettable Ride Along with one of the toughest COPS ever to hit the Beat on one of Americas toughest city's... Los Angeles. Ladies and Gentlemen meet Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis, The Commish 1991) and his entire Gang appropriately called "The Strike Team" an Anti-Gang and Drug Task Force Unit.
The series begins with an introduction to the Men and Women of the Law (who mostly Protect and Serve) stationed inside a building dubbed "The Barn" Farmington Districts newest addition (originally concieved to be a deterant for criminals) located in the shell of a former church. Here the fight against crime begins. Only trouble is Capt. David Aceveda (Benito Martinez, Saw 1) strives to become the first Latino Mayor of the City and he will need the support of the "Peoples Vote". He concludes the best way to achieve that would be to take down corrupt Cops from inside his own Dept. Who might you suppose his first targets will be? That's right Vic Mackey and "The Strike Team".
This as you can imagine will not be a smooth transition, 95% of "The Barns" Very Helpful arrests are made by Vic and his "Strike Team". Aceveda has gathered some pretty incriminating "Intel" against Vic and has deployed an undercover officer to join the ranks of "The Strike Team" in the hopes of capturing the evidence needed to "Shut Vic down", thus opening the door for Aceveda's "Political campaign".
Seven seasons of "The Shield" dictate that Vic will not go down without a fight and it is this premise that will keep the "COP Drama Junkie" coming back for just "One more Hit" from this highly addictive T.V. Series "The Shield".

The Setup:

This Box Set contains all 7 Seasons of the Emmy-Winning (Groundbreaking) Series from Writer Shawn Ryan (Nash Bridges). It is stored in a collectible 34-page bound anthology book filled with photos, quotes and a special letter from Shawn Ryan.
The 28 DVD's included have all 88 episodes including a bonus disc with two never-before-seen featurettes. There are 63 hours of amazing special features from all seven seasons including Commentary tracks from the cast and crew, deleted scenes and much more.

The word on the street:

I had heard allot of rumors from people about this Box Set being poorly put together... The discs were supposedly smashed in between the pages of the 34-page Collector book and pulling them out was known to scratch the discs horribly along with some other packaging issues, a thin plastic layer incasing each DVD to protect the surface of the discs.
The issue (I heard) was that the plastic sleeve would stick to the surface of the discs and leave traces of the plastic behind rendering certain discs unplayable, and you might have to tear apart your book to place them in your own individual Jewel Cases.

The Evidence:

I ordered my set from Amazon for $107 and was surprised when I felt the weight of the Package, a heavy 5 lbs (?). I opened my package and carefully pulled out this coffee table style book that was sleeved in its own plastic casing showing you what is inside and explaining the contents.
I slid out the book (that looks leather bound) and opened up what was the most beautiful collection of quotes and photos from the desks of the more prominent characters from the series, (depicting each of their individual personalities). As promised I found this highly collectible and was more than satisfied.
Not only were the discs placed neatly between the pages (that are actually about a quarter of an inch thick) I did not have much difficulty pulling them out, however I always treat my most valuable collections with "TLC" and this would be recommended here.
The thin plastic layer reported on was actually what you would find on the screen of a brand new cell phone and it clings to the discs to avoid scratching and I did not find any adhesive issues from the sleeve... In fact it folds in half where the DVD can easily be returned before placing it back in its own slot located on top of its corresponding page (season 1, disc 1 etc...) my advice would be "Treat this with kid gloves".
The special features were a blast and I felt like I got to "Kick it" with the "Gang" of my most beloved and not so beloved, characters from the series... I personally could not find anything that could make me unhappy with this set and I am more pleased with this product from Amazon than I have been with any of my other (satisfactory) purchases.

Meet The Gang:

THE STRIKE TEAM: Vic (Michael Chiklis) Shane (Walton Goggins) Ronnie (David Rees Snell) and Lemon Head (Kenneth Johnson).

The barn: Dutch (Jay Karnes) Claudette (CCH Pounder) Danny (Catherine Dent) Julien (Michael Jace)

The others: David Aceveda (Benito Martinez) Kavanaugh (Forest Whitaker) and Glen Close as Captain Rawling.

For a complete listing of all the cast and crew, episode guides and more visit:

http://tv.yahoo.com/the-shield/show/33571/season/48851