(S06E01) This is why I love TV. This was the second time I've seen this episode (you've got to love press screeners) and I was just as riveted as the first time I saw it. With the way last season ended, people have been waiting a long time for this. It was worth the wait because last night's season six premiere of The Shield was arguably one of the best episodes of the series to date.

Picking up just about a week after Shane killed Lem, the late Det. Lemansky has been buried minus the pomp of a proper police funeral. Turns out that Aceveda and his new political cronies made sure that the city knew Lem was "dirty." Naturally, Vic is not thrilled with that and along with Shane and Ronnie (who now has a much more expanded role), they begin looking for whoever killed Lem.

According to this morning's Ausiello Report, "reliable sources" have confirmed that a sixth season of The Shield has been green-lit. It seems that show creator Shawn Ryan is confident that there's still plenty more story to tell. Of course, at this rate, a sixth season probably won't be seen until sometime in late 2007 or 2008.

The last ten episodes of season five are currently being filmed and won't air until early 2007, which gives FX time to finish out the third season of Rescue Me and the fourth season of Nip/Tuck. No matter how you look at this though, it's good news. The Shield is easily one of the top five shows on TV (in my book anyway) and it's good to know that it'll be around for a little while longer.

The Shield is a terrific show. Other than possibly HBO's The Wire I have never seen a cop show that is so gritty and dark. Even when the characters are outside in the sunlight you get this sense of depression and foreboding on everyone's part. Each episode is complete in itself as well as part of a much larger picture that encompasses the entire season. You actually wait until the end of each show to see what will happen to them in the next week.

The actors are what make the show. Each character on The Shield is unique; Vic Mackey is the veteran cop who would do anything for his friends and family, even if it meant being a little dirty; Councilman Aceveda was (and is) out for power and bringing down Mackey; IAD Lieutenant Kavanaugh wants to bring everyone down for a cop's murder at the (alleged) hands of Mackey and his task force . . .

And Detective Dutch Wagenbach kills cats in his spare time.

This was, hands down, the best episode of the season so far. The Strike Team was back to its old tricks, Kavanaugh turns more evil by the day, and now Aceveda's going to play right in the middle of everything. Hell, I was even glad to see Claudette back, as it was pretty obvious where the show's heading as far as her character goes.

I think the big event of this episode wasn't all that shocking to most of us, given what was shown in last week's preview. One thing that did hit me as a potential cool twist was possibility that the Strike Team would find a new home outside the Barn, and I'm not talking about jail.

I have to say that I thought Vic was losing his edge quite a bit when talking with his lawyer, though thankfully the writers made up for it during the meeting with Corinne. Vic was ready to throw out some incredibly lame excuses for taking $65k for his family, though his chose to take his licks and make sure his kids are taken care of.

You know, I was about to chalk this episode to yet another lull-before-sweeps dud, but the last ten minutes paid off big time.

First let me say that The Shield must have gotten some hell for its use of language lately, as the "TVMALV" logo in the upper left of the screen was HUGE! Is it just me or was that new?