Cable television has changed the quality of programming with shows like the Emmy-winning "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City." FX continues this trend with the new police drama, "The Shield." This gritty mature cop show aired last week as the highest rated cable drama premiere in history.

"The Shield" stars Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a hard-nosed different kind of cop who deals with the undesirable of society to keep the streets safe. He knows most of the drug dealers and prostitutes in town and they either offer up information on command or are hauled off the jail. While he tries to keep the city safe for its citizens, new captain David Aceveda (Benito Martinez, "Outbreak") goes behind his back and plots to remove him from the squad.

The premiere episode featured a murder and missing girl. The murdered young woman was found naked on her kitchen floor and they later find out that a little girl was taken from the crime scene. The lead detective is nicknamed Dutchboy and he follows the trail through several people until he finds the psychotic child molester who was holding the girl hostage. To find where the man hide the girl, Dutchboy lets Mackey talk to him. He antagonizes the man and then begins to beat him with a telephone book until the shot goes blank because Captain Aceveda turned off the television set so the rest of the squad could not witness the rest. Meanwhile, Captain Aceveda continues to plot against Mackey and to take him off the streets. He recruits an informant to sabotage the approaching drug bust. Mackey allows the informant inside the operation but at the end realizes that the informant is not part of his team and takes care of the problem.

"The Shield" is reminiscent of the way "NYPD Blue" used to be in its glory days. The nudity and rough language only add to the emotion and reality of the show. The premiere touched on several storylines that will intertwine personal relationships with the job. Like "Blue," their problems are from real-life which make it all the more harder to watch. Mackey seems to be prone to infidelity when he propositions a female officer and when she turns him down tells her that she didn't seem to mind before.

The camera shots move like a camcorder filming during the highest points of action that add suspense to the show. The drug bust at the end of the episode shows Mackey and the rest of the team running to their target. The camera bounces as the run to simulate the effect of being in the action.

Michael Chiklis does a good job portraying the different sides of Mackey throughout the episode. One minute he gives a prostitute money to feed herself and her children and the next he beats information out of a kidnapping child molester. His heart is in the right place in most of his behaviors but the methods he uses varies, mirroring real-life dilemmas.