Part of what makes “The Shield” such an amazing series is that it demands so much of its audience. Entering its fourth season at 10 p.m. tonight on FX, this hyper-intense police drama keeps moving in so many different directions in a single hour that you can’t miss a beat – but fortunately, you won’t want to. “The Shield” continues to make every other cop show on television pale by comparison to its bold, uncompromising view of law enforcement. It merges the narrative dimensions of Dostoyevsky and the coarse language of Mamet into a seamless vision of the darkest side of Los Angeles you’ll ever see.

This season takes us deeper than ever before into the world of drugs and gangs that keeps so many Los Angeles cops employed in real life – the endless turf wars and battles and deadly gunfire that preoccupy the detectives in the Farmington precinct, near Chinatown. The first three episodes deal mostly with a restructuring of the precinct around a new captain brought in to replace Captain Aceveda, who is leaving to join the Los Angeles City Council. And for the first time, “The Shield” gets a new star of sufficient caliber to compete with Michael Chiklis, who as Detective Vic Mackey has been its driving force so far.

It is the arrival of Glenn Close as Captain Monica Rawling that has elevated “The Shield” this season to new levels of tension and excitement, and will deservedly draw new audiences – including women – to a show that remains, for all its brilliance, off the radar screens of most television viewers. Ms. Close comes immediately to grips with the graphic elements that make “The Shield” unique; her icy intelligence, so often out of place in mainstream movies, seems perfectly matched to the sensibility of a police precinct struggling with issues of corruption and vice. She’s a welcome addition to one of the best casts of cops ever assembled on television.

But it’s still Mr. Chiklis that commands focus in every scene. This season, struggling to find new footing after his strike team was dissolved, Detective Mackey wants a piece of some new action – this time, to head a new anti-gang task force designed to rid the area of gang corruption for good. It’s a huge challenge, and one that puts Mackey in the middle of opposing forces. In a precinct full of loose cannons, Mackey is merely a cannon – volatile yet compassionate, tough but fairy again, Mr. Chiklis bring subtlety and wit to a character pulled in multiple directions by his conflicting loyalties. It’s an amazing challenge to portray a cop perpetually struggling with temptation and pain – he’s also battling with issues surrounding his two autistic children – and Mr. Chiklis pulls off a letter-perfect performance.

What separates “The Shield” from such mediocre cop fare as the USA Network’s forthcoming “Kojak” remake is its demanding and intricate storytelling. What made the original “Kojak” such a great show wasn’t the quirky performance of Telly Savalas – even though that’s what we remember – but the great crime yarns it told. The new version, starring Ving Rhames in the title role and premiering next week, focuses to a fault on the idiosyncrasies of the New York City police detective with an addiction to lollipops. The story at the center of the show’s two-hour pilot was about as captivating as an episode of “Committed.”

On “The Shield,” the performances are the reward; it’s the scripts and direction that keep us hooked. Mackey has no silly habits or hobbies or mental deficiencies to keep us entertained; if you’re looking for such character flaws in your detectives, I suggest you check out the lugubrious “Monk” – also on the USA Network, and also overly dependent on character to make up for its lack of stirring stories and criminal insight. “The Shield” works best for an audience that likes the notion that good and evil often intermingle in ways we don’t expect. Left over from last season is the question of what has happened to money stolen from the Armenian mob; that money came between Mackey and his former partner, Shane. Mackey now suspects his former partner of having joined the payroll of Antwon Mitchell, a gang-banger-turned-community activist (played with chilling skill by Anthony Anderson) who may be using his public service as a cover for continued drug dealing.

“The Shield” probably isn’t for everyone – certainly not for those who enjoy the endless parade of serial killers and psychos who populate the dark side of shows like “CSI.” and “Numbers” (and, likely, “Kojak”) every week. The criminals here are far more like those encountered by cops in everyday life. They’re dark, but they’re human; their motives make sense, and thus can’t be caught before the end of an episode. “The Shield” requires a long-term commitment, but the payoff comes in the wrenching realism that has no equal among police dramas on television. It’s an addiction you won’t want to shake.

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It has been two months since I’ve seen “Desperate Housewives,” and I haven’t once wondered what’s happening on Wisteria Lane. Am I alone? I don’t think so. The numbers still suggest a huge audience for the new ABC series, but I can’t believe that millions of Americans still crave the pabulum its producers were offering up each week as a pathetic excuse for drama when I last looked. Allow me to be the first to predict that “Desperate Housewives” will prove far more vulnerable in the ratings than anyone at ABC dares to imagine. All it will take is for NBC, CBS, or even HBO to come up with a truly compelling concept, and men will drop the “Housewives” in droves. I mean, how many times can Teri Hatcher turn up in a towel? And as for my predictive powers – well, Anwar Robinson has made it to the top 12 on “American Idol,” and is going strong. You heard it here first!