The strands of DNA linking Sons of Anarchy to The Shield are plainly visible, not only in the show's dramatic mechanics -- strong yet layered characters, serialized story lines, heavy reliance on terrifying violence leavened with grim humor -- but also in its thematic elements, particularly moral erosion and its consequences. The motorcycle gang in Sons of Anarchy started out thumbing its nose at straight society and wound up running guns to terrorists; the cops in The Shield who interrogate gang-bangers by holding their faces to stover burners are, soon enough, murdering and framing other policemen.

And good guys are in seriously short supply -- even the best of the characters are seriously flawed. Detective Dutch Wagenbach, the closest thing to a hero in The Shield, once strangled a cat just to see what killing felt like. Jax Teller, who passes for the conscience of the gang in Anarchy, is involved in three murders and a castration in the show's first 42 minutes.

THE ANTIHEROES

Antiheroic protagonists have dominated almost every FX series since The Shield came along, from the flighty, narcissistic plastic surgeons of Nip/Tuck to the vicious tabloid editors of Dirt to the murderously conniving lawyers of Damages to the thieving gypsies of The Riches. Even the network's lone hit comedy, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, is a kind of anti-Friends about four sociopathically self-absorbed twentysomethings whose relationship is less a friendship than a collision.

But if casts without any nice guys were almost without precedent in television before FX came along, they're strongly rooted in drama itself, Landgraf insists.

''Othello, Macbeth and Richard III -- which of those characters would you say is a nice guy?'' he asks. ``Audiences have been responding to this for a long time. The definition of an antihero is a character imbued with the characteristics of a hero -- or some of them, anyway -- who nevertheless does things at times that a villain might do. . . .

'One of our writers used to say, `Bad men do what good men can only dream about.' There is a sense that what these characters are doing is allowing us to explore, in a safe context, our id and subconscious, what we might do if there were no restraints of society or conscience on us.''

If that's so, FX viewers may have some pretty rampaging ids: self-circumcision and transgender incest on Nip/Tuck. Spousal rape on Rescue Me. Cataclysmic enema failures on eating-disorder sitcom Starved. S&M torture chambers on Dirt. The gunpoint sexual molestation of a male police captain on The Shield.

The graphic violence and sexuality have won the network some implacable enemies along the way. ''The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Dirt -- almost all of these FX shows have been deeply troubling in one way or another,'' says Dan Isett, director of public policy for the Parents Television Council, which has led letter-writing campaigns pressuring advertisers away from several FX shows.

Not many people at FX would disagree, at least with the deeply troubling part. ''My sensibility is really twisted and dark,'' admits Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, who also wrote for The Shield for six seasons. ``Every story pitch that ever got me thrown out of a meeting, I put in The Shield.''

Sutter was the source of two of the most notorious scenes in the history of The Shield, the grilling of a drug dealer's face and the rape of the police captain. (He's quick to note, however, that he was not the guy who proposed the only story line ever rejected as too grisly: a serial killer who scalped his female victims.) He's already gotten some cautionary notes from FX executives about Sons of Anarchy.

''It was really about tone and discretion and how much was shown, more than the act itself,'' he says. 'For instance, we just finished episode No. 4. I don't want to give anything away, but a guy is having something burned off his body. The impact of what happens is not from a lot of gruesome stuff on camera but what're you're seeing on the face of this guy as it's happening. The notes weren't saying, `don't do it' but `we want to honor your vision; now how are we going to photograph it?'

''I don't mind that, I really don't,'' he says. 'I lose perspective of people's capacity for watching violence. I just do. . . . I really need somebody to say, `You can't do that. You don't want to turn people off.' ''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@