Rockford native dishes on old/new TV shows he was/is producing

June 8th, 2009 at 11:22am Georgette Braun

Shawn Ryan, former Rockfordian and Keith Country Day School graduate,  is in the news for old — “The Shield” and the just-cancelled “The Unit” — and the new “Lie to Me” TV shows he has/is producing:

He comments on “The Shield: Season Seven The Final Season” ($59.95, Sony, available Tuesday), according to CaliforniaChronicle.com. “This four-disc set has 13 episodes of the controversial FX cop drama starring Michael Chiklis. There’s a commentary for every episode, along with 51 deleted scenes that have an optional commentary by creator Shawn Ryan. Featurettes explore the final season and go on the set for the last episode.”

In a telephone call last week with me, Ryan said he would consider producing a big-screen version of “The Shield.” “I would say it’s something we could think about and possibly do, if there is enough interest,” he said.

With regard to CBS cancelling “The Unit,” Ryan said he was “upset” about the axing of the show about covert military operations and the families involved. “Creatively, it was a very good show and finished in the top 30 with 10 million viewers.”

He said the show was cancelled because of “corporate politics; more a corporate than network decision. CBS did not own the show, like they have ownership of ‘Cold Case’ and ‘Medium.’ ”

Ryan said he’s stoked about his new executive producer job, of the Fox show, “Lie to Me,” which premiered this year. It  centers around Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues taking assignments usually from local and federal agencies to help them reach the truth through interpreting facial expressions and body language.

Read more about lying in general and what Ryan has to say about this show in my June 18 Ask Geo column.

Entry Filed under: the shield, shawn ryan, shawn, television shows