The Shield in Jump The Shark:
DO NOT compare the wire to the shield. They're the two best things on television for the reason that they ARE opposites. The Wire is #1 because it unpacks like a novel with real characters (head writer on the show is a pretty good novelist), and it has a 40-person PRIMARY cast. It's drama, not really a cop-crook show; the characters just HAPPEN to be one or the other (or politicians or casualties). The Shield is great because it is extremely fast with a small circle of non-expendables, and FOR THE RECORD they ARE extremely well-developed. It's greatest strength, though, is that it does ONE thing that is completely anti-HBO: it never lets go of a plot point.