The Shield

FX typically does dark, Vic-with-a-gun photos for its “Shield” posters. This is their best. The photo, title font and tagline all work.

Grade: A                >>>> NEXT/NEW: "TRUE BLOOD" SEASON TWO TEASER

 

And hey, look at you, you made it through to the end. Thanks for reading!

This project was inspired by hours of waiting at LA intersections, looking at TV ad billboards, trying to decide if the images are effectively promoting shows to viewers. The reality of modern key art is that almost all the images in this slideshow are more striking and sophisticated than TV ads from just a few years ago. As the writing for primetime series has become more sophisticated, serialized and cinematic, so has the accompanying key art -- trailblazed by efforts such as HBO's latter-season "Sopranos" ads shot by Annie Leibovitz, which helped raise mere TV series pre-premiere promotion campaign materials (and eventual DVD box covers) to a level more widely accepted as "art."

So let's give hand claps to the oft-anonymous artists tasked with pleasing network executives, marketing heads and showrunners with a single image that captures and promotes a series. Something to consider the next time you're in traffic.