“The most important show”: Stephen King names the TV series that changed everything
As one of the leading authorities in the world of horror, Stephen King has become almost synonymous with the genre’s legacy in popular culture. Among the bestselling writers in his field with an unimaginably vast global readership, King has not only managed to become a literary success but has also bolstered his reputation through famous adaptations.
Be it Brian De Palma’s take on Carrie or Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which King infamously disliked, a significant chunk of King’s oeuvre now consists of audiovisual interpretations of his stories that continue to draw younger generations of audiences. That’s exactly why it isn’t too far-fetched to see how King has developed such a deep understanding of popular media.
On multiple occasions, King has opened up about his love for cinema, which explains why he is always ready to work with filmmakers who are interested in his material. However, the American author is also deeply fascinated by the television format because, according to King, it offers different narrative possibilities that simply cannot be done in the same way in feature films.
During a conversation with Rolling Stone, King was asked about the evolution of TV shows and how they seem to be outpacing movies when it comes to narrative experimentation as well as aesthetic improvements. Responding to the point, The Shining writer cited masterpieces such as Breaking Bad as examples, while maintaining that one show stood out from the rest.
King began: “We aren’t talking about shows like NCIS and CSI that basically show one story over and over. I’m not even talking about Mad Men, which I don’t like. But Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, The Bridge, The Americans. Those things are so textured and so involving that they make movies look like short stories. I was watching a show 12 years ago called The Shield.”
Providing some context about The Shield, he added: “In the first episode, Michael Chiklis, who played the protagonist, turns around and kills a fellow cop. And I thought to myself, ‘TV just underwent this seismic change. That show was the most important show on television. Breaking Bad is better, but The Shield changed everything.”
A fascinating crime drama that aired on FX between 2002 and 2008, The Shield deviated from the normalised glorification of police institutions in cop shows by highlighting the corruption and lack of morality which permeated the foundations of such organisations. Loosely based on a real incident, The Shield urged audiences to question the conventional depictions of police officers in popular media, taking bold narrative challenges to not only break new ground in the realm of television but also to address pertinent sociopolitical issues that plague us to this day.
