‘The Shield’ is getting remastered in 4K widescreen
Sometimes I forget about how much I fucking loved The Shield. Before Breaking Bad, before Justified, before Mr. Robot, this show was the one that produced white-knuckled, ass-clenching tension in me. And now it’s being remastered in 4K widescreen, which is optimal reason to selfishly watch it again show it to my wife!
If you look back at the TV shows that have influenced much of the great shows we’ve seen in recent years and have developed talent that just keeps popping up time and time again, you have to include The Shield in the conversation. There’s always plenty of talk about The Wire, OZ, The Sopranos, and Deadwood, but The Shield just doesn’t seem to get the same treatment. But without it, there probably wouldn’t have been a Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Terriers, and a slew of great actors.
Creator Shawn Ryan took to Twitter to announce that the series is getting remastered into 4K, allowing for a Blu Ray re-release and more accessibility on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Better yet, he’s overseeing the production — much like David Simon did with The Wire remaster — and the series was shot with widescreen in mind at the time, so we’ll be seeing shots that are meant to be seen.
The bad news, at least if you’re desperate to see this remaster or get in touch with the series for the first time, is that it won’t see a release until March of 2017. Seems like a long time, sure, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
The coolest part of Ryan’s announcement is the amount of forethought it seems to show in the creation of the show. The idea that they shot for widescreen during a period when it likely seemed wasteful is interesting, along with the idea that they were concerned about the show having legs in the future. The only thing I can hope is that this announcement also means a return to the streaming realm soon, namely on Amazon Prime. It was quite the bummer when the show disappeared from the instant service.