[quote name='evildeadjedi']It's not better than the first four seasons of the Sopranos(after that the show starting going downhill in my opinion). I have not watched the whole Shield series so can't comment on that. Doesn't hook me as much as 24. Definitely not even close to The Wire, Six Feet Under, Dexter, or OZ.
I'll continue watching but the second season was not as good as first.[/QUOTE]
The Shield was a great series, and the only time it really seemed to slump for me was the season with Glenn Close (Season 4, maybe?). As far as the shows you listed, I would put Sons of Anarchy a close 4th, behind The Wire, Oz, and The Shield. I'm not a big fan of 24, and I liked The Sopranos a lot, but not as well as the other shows listed. I haven't watched anything more than 4 or 5 episodes of Dexter, so I can't really comment on that. HBO has a lot of damn good shows, though. I like The Sopranos a lot, I loved Carnivale, I loved Deadwood, and so on and so forth.