Post by -|E|- on Sept 23, 2005 14:24:45 GMT -5
I found this trivia at IMDb.com. You may already know some of it, but I'll bet there are at least one or two things you were unaware of... It's a fun read anyway! Well, it's fun if you suffer from "Shield Sickness" as I do.......
E
The police technical consultant to the show told Michael Chiklis that all police officers would love the show, even those above the rank of captain who would denounce it in public.
The Strike Team was based on the LAPD Rampart Division's corrupt anti-gang unit.
Detective Shane Vendrell's badge number is 714, the same as Detective Joe Friday's on "Dragnet" (1951).
Creator Shawn Ryan's original title of the show was "The Barn". The FX network feared that potential audiences might be turned away by that, because they might think it was a gardening show or something similar. "Rampart" was also considered, after the controversial corruption charges against the Rampart division of the Los Angeles Police Department. This title was used in early promotional materials, including several TV spots. Upon opposition from the LAPD, as well as the fact that people not familiar with the Rampart scandal might not understand the name, the title was changed at the last minute to "The Shield".
Kenny Johnson originally auditioned for the role of the doomed Detective Terry Crowley. Johnson impressed series creator Shawn Ryan so much, that the character of Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky was created for him.
FX originally balked at the hiring of 'Walt Goggins' as a regular cast member. In order to convince the network executives to hire him, the episodes "Our Gang" and "The Spread" were specifically rewritten in order to showcase Walt's acting abilities in hopes of him being hired as a full-time cast member. These episodes convinced FX to give the go-ahead to hire him as a full-time cast member though because of the delays in finalizing his contract, the Shane character was written out of three episodes with the Vic Mackey character partnered up with fellow cast member Kenneth Johnson ("Dawg Days" and "Throwaway") or assisting Detectives Wyms and Wagenbach on case ("Cherrypoppers").
The season one episode "Throwaway" was written specifically as a spotlight episode for Kenny Johnson.
In the original pitch of the series to FX, the members of the Strike Team were supposed to be background characters and that the character of Vic Mackey would mainly interact with the other characters. However, after casting Walt Goggins and Kenneth Johnson as members of the Strike Team, it was decided to make the Strike Team members a regular part of the series.
The decision to kill off 'Reed Diamond' 's character Detective Crowley in the pilot episode was done specifically to shock viewers and make them hate the Vic Mackey character. To keep the surprise twist a secret, Reed Diamond's name is in the opening credits of the episode and clips of him from the pilot where heavily featured in commercials for the series in order to create the illusion that Diamond would be a major character in the series.
The uniformed officers originally wore realistic LAPD-style badges over their left breast, which is standard in the real Los Angeles Police Department, as it is symbolically over the heart. After criticism from the real LAPD over the show's depiction of corrupt cops, the badges were replaced with less realistic badges which were worn over the right breast, starting midway through the first season.
Shawn Ryan originally wrote Claudette's character as a man. It took a call from CCH Pounder's agent to make him appreciate a woman detective would offer a whole new slant to proceedings. One thing that Ryan didn't change though was the dialog, meaning that Claudette pulls no punches with her fellow detectives and the criminals she encounters. This was at Pounder's request.
Because of the series' graphic content, advertisers were initially reluctant to pay to be in its schedules. The high ratings soon convinced them otherwise.
Farmington is a fictional district in Los Angeles.
The Barn is a deconsecrated church.
The average episode is filmed in seven days.
4.8 million viewers tuned in for the series premiere in the USA.
The final musical clip in the pilot episode features all the characters except Julien. Footage was shot for this character, involving him having oral sex performed on him by a man, but it was decided prior to transmission that this was a slow-build storyline and they didn't want to reveal it at this early stage.
When the pilot episode first aired, to help preserve the intensity of the piece, the first commercial break didn't occur until 30 minutes into the show.
Cathy Cahlin Ryan who plays Vic Mackie's wife is show's creator Shawn Ryan's real-life wife. She was pregnant throughout the filming of the first season.
In the Season 1 episode #4 "Dawg Days", Catherine Dent kept accidentally calling guest star Sticky Fingaz by the less flattering name Stinky Fingaz.
The 4th Season 1 episode "Dawg Days" was actually the third to be filmed, and guest director Stephen Gyllenhaal had real trouble establishing the proper look and characterization, only having the pilot episode to go on as a reference point. Gyllenhaal and Michael Chiklis in particular disagreed over how unsympathetically Vic Mackie should be played, with Chiklis' view winning out. The decision was made after this that the writer of the episode would always be on set to assist the director and actors.
In the fifth Season One episode "Blowback", writer Kurt Sutter also plays the enigmatic (and psychotic) blond Armenian drug dealer.
The actress who plays the underage Korean prostitute in the first season's sixth episode "Cherrypoppers" was actually 18 years old.
Episode 10 "Dragonchasers" pulled in the highest ratings for the first season.
The cast had to undergo police weapons and tactics training for the series.
To prepare for his role as Vic Mackey, not only did Michael Chiklis had to get in shape and special training, but he learned to speak Spanish.
Jay Karnes is fluent in Spanish, but during the episode "Dawg Days" it was creator Shawn Ryan's idea for Karnes to have his character butcher the Miranda Rights as he read them in Spanish.
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The police technical consultant to the show told Michael Chiklis that all police officers would love the show, even those above the rank of captain who would denounce it in public.
The Strike Team was based on the LAPD Rampart Division's corrupt anti-gang unit.
Detective Shane Vendrell's badge number is 714, the same as Detective Joe Friday's on "Dragnet" (1951).
Creator Shawn Ryan's original title of the show was "The Barn". The FX network feared that potential audiences might be turned away by that, because they might think it was a gardening show or something similar. "Rampart" was also considered, after the controversial corruption charges against the Rampart division of the Los Angeles Police Department. This title was used in early promotional materials, including several TV spots. Upon opposition from the LAPD, as well as the fact that people not familiar with the Rampart scandal might not understand the name, the title was changed at the last minute to "The Shield".
Kenny Johnson originally auditioned for the role of the doomed Detective Terry Crowley. Johnson impressed series creator Shawn Ryan so much, that the character of Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky was created for him.
FX originally balked at the hiring of 'Walt Goggins' as a regular cast member. In order to convince the network executives to hire him, the episodes "Our Gang" and "The Spread" were specifically rewritten in order to showcase Walt's acting abilities in hopes of him being hired as a full-time cast member. These episodes convinced FX to give the go-ahead to hire him as a full-time cast member though because of the delays in finalizing his contract, the Shane character was written out of three episodes with the Vic Mackey character partnered up with fellow cast member Kenneth Johnson ("Dawg Days" and "Throwaway") or assisting Detectives Wyms and Wagenbach on case ("Cherrypoppers").
The season one episode "Throwaway" was written specifically as a spotlight episode for Kenny Johnson.
In the original pitch of the series to FX, the members of the Strike Team were supposed to be background characters and that the character of Vic Mackey would mainly interact with the other characters. However, after casting Walt Goggins and Kenneth Johnson as members of the Strike Team, it was decided to make the Strike Team members a regular part of the series.
The decision to kill off 'Reed Diamond' 's character Detective Crowley in the pilot episode was done specifically to shock viewers and make them hate the Vic Mackey character. To keep the surprise twist a secret, Reed Diamond's name is in the opening credits of the episode and clips of him from the pilot where heavily featured in commercials for the series in order to create the illusion that Diamond would be a major character in the series.
The uniformed officers originally wore realistic LAPD-style badges over their left breast, which is standard in the real Los Angeles Police Department, as it is symbolically over the heart. After criticism from the real LAPD over the show's depiction of corrupt cops, the badges were replaced with less realistic badges which were worn over the right breast, starting midway through the first season.
Shawn Ryan originally wrote Claudette's character as a man. It took a call from CCH Pounder's agent to make him appreciate a woman detective would offer a whole new slant to proceedings. One thing that Ryan didn't change though was the dialog, meaning that Claudette pulls no punches with her fellow detectives and the criminals she encounters. This was at Pounder's request.
Because of the series' graphic content, advertisers were initially reluctant to pay to be in its schedules. The high ratings soon convinced them otherwise.
Farmington is a fictional district in Los Angeles.
The Barn is a deconsecrated church.
The average episode is filmed in seven days.
4.8 million viewers tuned in for the series premiere in the USA.
The final musical clip in the pilot episode features all the characters except Julien. Footage was shot for this character, involving him having oral sex performed on him by a man, but it was decided prior to transmission that this was a slow-build storyline and they didn't want to reveal it at this early stage.
When the pilot episode first aired, to help preserve the intensity of the piece, the first commercial break didn't occur until 30 minutes into the show.
Cathy Cahlin Ryan who plays Vic Mackie's wife is show's creator Shawn Ryan's real-life wife. She was pregnant throughout the filming of the first season.
In the Season 1 episode #4 "Dawg Days", Catherine Dent kept accidentally calling guest star Sticky Fingaz by the less flattering name Stinky Fingaz.
The 4th Season 1 episode "Dawg Days" was actually the third to be filmed, and guest director Stephen Gyllenhaal had real trouble establishing the proper look and characterization, only having the pilot episode to go on as a reference point. Gyllenhaal and Michael Chiklis in particular disagreed over how unsympathetically Vic Mackie should be played, with Chiklis' view winning out. The decision was made after this that the writer of the episode would always be on set to assist the director and actors.
In the fifth Season One episode "Blowback", writer Kurt Sutter also plays the enigmatic (and psychotic) blond Armenian drug dealer.
The actress who plays the underage Korean prostitute in the first season's sixth episode "Cherrypoppers" was actually 18 years old.
Episode 10 "Dragonchasers" pulled in the highest ratings for the first season.
The cast had to undergo police weapons and tactics training for the series.
To prepare for his role as Vic Mackey, not only did Michael Chiklis had to get in shape and special training, but he learned to speak Spanish.
Jay Karnes is fluent in Spanish, but during the episode "Dawg Days" it was creator Shawn Ryan's idea for Karnes to have his character butcher the Miranda Rights as he read them in Spanish.