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Sneak Peek footage from the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", Season 1 episode "Angel", written by David Greenwalt and directed by Scott Brazil, that aired April 14, 1997 on The WB:

"...'Buffy Summers'(Sarah Michelle Gellar) has just moved to 'Sunnydale' after burning down her old school's gym to escape her 'vampire slayer' duties. Her plans are complicated by 'Rupert Giles' (Anthony Head), her new 'Watcher', who reminds her of the presence of evil.

"'Sunnydale High' is built atop a 'Hellmouth', a portal to demon dimensions that attracts supernatural phenomena to the area.

"Buffy meets two schoolmates, 'Xander Harris' (Nicholas Brendon) and 'Willow Rosenberg' (Alyson Hannigan) who help her fight evil through the series.

"She also gets a love interest in the form of 'Angel' (David Boreanz) a vampire with a soul.

"Together they are the 'Scoobies', and must prevent 'The Master' (Mark Metcalf), an ancient vampire, from opening the Hellmouth and taking over Sunnydale.

I didn't have time to write a review, but if you've watched this week's Firewall & Iceberg video show, you know I like Fox's "Gang Related." "Gang Related" comes on strong with a confidence that you don't expect to see from a show premiering a week after the network upfront season. The pilot, written by Chris Morgan and directed by Allen Hughes, is brash, explosive and features a strong cast ably chewing scenery. It is, in short, like a summer movie only on TV. As often happens with the transition from pilots to series, subsequent episodes maybe don't have quite the same scale, but they still offer tight pacing, terrific use of La locations and an interestingly twisty narrative focusing on Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez), a cop torn between his gang task force and the gang family (fronted by Cliff Curtis' Javier Acosta) that raised him. With most of Morgan's...

The creator of the landmark cable series talks about the new Complete Series DVD set, Terriers and more.

Back in 2002, a series aired that changed the face of television and became my favorite TV series of all time - Hands Down - The Shield. For seven seasons I was absolutely riveted by the exploits of the Strike Team in the fictional Los Angeles district of Farmington, and that of their leader Vic Mackey, played to utmost perfection by Michael Chiklis. Sadly, the TV series came to an end last fall, with a series finale that is, in my opinion, the single best series finale in TV history ( to read my farewell piece to this amazing series) and now viewers can relive the TV magic with The Shield: The Complete Series, which hits the shelves in a massive 28-disc set on November 3. I was fortunate enough to have an exclusive...

The other night I strove for greatness. Nothing less would do. The house was empty; the big screen all mine. First I chose an episode from the recently concluded season of The Shield. It's the one where Forest Whitaker's cunning Jon Kavanaugh character finally meets up with Michael Chiklis' rogue cop Vic Mackey in a tense final scene. Great television, pure and simple. When that was over, I unwrapped the DVD set of the first season of Hill Street Blues. The only place to start was at the beginning, the pilot episode Hill Street Station. Watching Hill and Renko gunned down was no less startling on this night than it was when I first saw it 25 years ago. The Shield, arguably the best police show of its era. Hill Street Blues, arguably the best of its era. Was there a thread? Two gritty, no-holds-barred cop shows with rich, often dark personas portrayed by flat-out wonderful actors. You bet there was a thread. Midmorning on Tuesday came the news that Scott Brazil had died. He was 50. He was another thread.

Scott Brazil, an Emmy-winning TV director and producer whose credits ranged from Hill Street Blues to The Shield, died Monday night. He was 50. Brazil died at Sherman Oaks Hospital from respiratory failure stemming from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Lyme disease. But even as his condition worsened, the prolific and hard-working director managed his duties with the help of a motorized wheelchair as an executive producer and showrunner on FX's Shield. "He came into the office as late as (last) Thursday and was talking to the writers, doing casting and prepping our next episode," said Shawn Ryan, creator and executive producer of Shield. "We knew his body was letting him down, but his mind never deteriorated." Brazil collected a pair of Emmys for outstanding drama series in the early 1980s as part of the team of producers responsible for NBC's Blues. He directed episodes of many primetime series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, JAG, CSI: Miami and Nip/Tuck.

Scott Brazil, an Emmy-winning TV director and producer whose credits ranged from Hill Street Blues to The Shield, died Monday night. He was 50. Brazil died at Sherman Oaks Hospital from respiratory failure stemming from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Lyme disease. But even as his condition worsened, the prolific and hard-working director managed his duties with the help of a motorized wheelchair as an executive producer and showrunner on FX's Shield. "He came into the office as late as (last) Thursday and was talking to the writers, doing casting and prepping our next episode," said Shawn Ryan, creator and executive producer of Shield. "We knew his body was letting him down, but his mind never deteriorated." Brazil collected a pair of Emmys for outstanding drama series in the early 1980s as part of the team of producers responsible for NBC's Blues. He directed episodes of many primetime series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, JAG, CSI: Miami and Nip/Tuck.

Scott Brazil, an Emmy-winning TV director and producer whose credits ranged from Hill Street Blues to The Shield, died early Tuesday. He was 50. Brazil died at Sherman Oaks Hospital from respiratory failure stemming from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Lyme disease. But even as his condition worsened, the prolific and hard-working director managed his duties with the help of a motorized wheelchair as an executive producer and showrunner on FX's Shield. "He came into the office as late as (last) Thursday and was talking to the writers, doing casting and prepping our next episode," said Shawn Ryan, creator and executive producer of Shield. "We knew his body was letting him down, but his mind never deteriorated." Brazil collected a pair of Emmys for outstanding drama series in the early 1980s as part of the team of producers responsible for NBC's Blues. He directed episodes of many primetime series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, JAG, CSI: Miami and Nip/Tuck.

The other night I strove for greatness. Nothing less would do. The house was empty; the big screen all mine. First I chose an episode from the recently concluded season of The Shield. It's the one where Forest Whitaker's cunning Jon Kavanaugh character finally meets up with Michael Chiklis' rogue cop Vic Mackey in a tense final scene. Great television, pure and simple. When that was over, I unwrapped the DVD set of the first season of Hill Street Blues. The only place to start was at the beginning, the pilot episode Hill Street Station. Watching Hill and Renko gunned down was no less startling on this night than it was when I first saw it 25 years ago. The Shield, arguably the best police show of its era. Hill Street Blues, arguably the best of its era. Was there a thread? Two gritty, no-holds-barred cop shows with rich, often dark personas portrayed by flat-out wonderful actors. You bet there was a thread. Midmorning on Tuesday came the news that Scott Brazil had died. He was 50. He was another thread.

Scott Brazil, an Emmy-winning TV director and producer whose credits ranged from Hill Street Blues to The Shield, died early Tuesday. He was 50. Brazil died at Sherman Oaks Hospital from respiratory failure stemming from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Lyme disease. But even as his condition worsened, the prolific and hard-working director managed his duties with the help of a motorized wheelchair as an executive producer and showrunner on FX's Shield. "He came into the office as late as (last) Thursday and was talking to the writers, doing casting and prepping our next episode," said Shawn Ryan, creator and executive producer of Shield. "We knew his body was letting him down, but his mind never deteriorated." Brazil collected a pair of Emmys for outstanding drama series in the early 1980s as part of the team of producers responsible for NBC's Blues. He directed episodes of many primetime series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, JAG, CSI: Miami and Nip/Tuck.

FX series "The Shield" returned to the air for its fourth season Tuesday at 10 p.m. in fine form, reaching 3.9 million total viewers. That was enough to top the third-season premiere last year by 37%, and the entire third-season average by 56%. "Shield" also delivered 2.3 million viewers in 18-49, also topping third-season results. The series premiere was helped by lead-in theatrical premiere of "The Sum of All Fears". "The Shield", however, wasn't able to measure up to its ratings performance in its first two seasons. The series opened to more than 4 million viewers in 2002 and 2003. The cop drama stars Michael Chiklis as well as Glenn Close, whose addition to the cast in the fourth season brought the series increased attention. Executive producers of "Shield" are Shawn Ryan and Scott Brazil. It is produced by Fox Television Studios in association with Sony Pictures Television.