The Wire - Best show to grace TV.

[Jackal]

Well I just finished watching the last episode of The Wire. Till date, I thought the Sopranos was the best show on television followed by The Wire.

Due to The Wire's great ending...and the whole show coming full circle, I regard it as the best show ever. The Sopranos' ending just left me hanging, perhaps if a movie follow up comes, it might occupy #1 again...

But wow.

Are Ben and I the only two people that watch teh show? If so...I urge you people to watch it. If you have the patience and half a brain, you'll be hooked. I was.

[[Q]]

how dare you cheat on Vic Mackey.

[Joe']

I watched the first two seasons on Italian TV, but they never bought the rights to air the following episodes. Their explanation was that the show had low ratings, but I can't understand how good they expected the ratings to be on a satellite/cable network only 20% of the households receive.

Now I can't be bothered to download four full seasons. I don't even have the time to do so.

[Jackal]

how dare you cheat on Vic Mackey.

Vic is the best character ever, but the storylines from The Shield dont even begin to compare to Sopranos and Wire. Vic is still my fave character, no doubt. <3

Cant wait to see how it all goes down, fuckin' Shane.

[Colin]

Hahaha, I come back here to waste some time. See the Dexter thread and post in it. I make a comment regarding realism then reference The Wire. And I scroll down a little more in the forum and there was a Wire thread.

And yeah, best show ever no doubt. It's not even close. Not a single wasted scene in any episode.

Sidenote. Officer Beadie Russel is now playing Holly on The Office.

[benji]

I hope she has a happier time in her new job and with her new man, be him Kevin, or Michael.

I don't like declaring things the best ever without qualifications, but it is so very hard not to with The Wire. Oh, indeed. Sheeeeeeeit.

[Colin]

I hope she has a happier time in her new job and with her new man, be him Kevin, or Michael.

I don't like declaring things the best ever without qualifications, but it is so very hard not to with The Wire. Oh, indeed. Sheeeeeeeit.

"Oops, that's a button."

And I know what you mean. Even with Arrested Development, which I do think is the best sitcom of all time, I always referred to it as my favourite. Not usually as "the best". The Wire on the other hand...well, that Clay Davis turn of phrase really sums it up.

[benji]

I finally got around to the last three episodes.

Epic is the only way to describe it. Best finish to all the seasons as the shit hit the fan. (And the very very end...bringing back the original opening song? YES PLZ.)

And McNulty meeting with the one reporter that last time. OMFG. One of the best parts of the entire series, and in any series ever. I need to take a screen grab and write "OWNED" on it.

Oh, and Levy. Motherfucker had it coming finally.

And Clay Davis talking about how he played Stringer Bell. Awesome.

Alright, now to finally finish off Deadwood too.

[Jackal]

Recommend Deadwood?

[Jackal]

Deadwood is fuckin' boring. Guess I'm just not in to the Wild West ways.

In Treatment on the other, pretty decent. Not a must watch, but it's entertaining when you've got an hour to spare.

The Shield - Gone.
The Wire - Gone.
The Sopranos - Gone.

I'm left with the psychopath known as Dexter. That's it? Seriously? Is there no more good television out there?! (No comedies please.)

[Al Ka Pwn]

the wire is not a bad show, but it's a remake of older similar shows, with an added hiphop flavor.
even some characters are carbon copies of previously used personas.
the gay black guy reminded me a lot of tupac.

and about the shield. I liked it at first, but after a certain point it seemed like
it was all about men blowing a gasket and acting in an unrealistic manner.
after the third season I couldn't take it serious anymore and it was
like watching a comedy.

[benji]

the gay black guy reminded me a lot of tupac.

lol wat.

it's a remake of older similar shows

Like...

And I mean things not also created by David Simon.

And if you think it's merely a "police drama set in a large city" you don't get it, and definitely haven't watched past the first season.

even some characters are carbon copies of previously used personas.

Considering every character is based on a real person or is a composite, it's kind hard not to be.

[Al Ka Pwn]

the omar little character in the wire made me think of tupac.

homicide life on the street.

I think the wire is a copshow with the hiphop gangster theme poured over it.

I've seen the whole series and enjoyed it. then after running out of stuff to watch
decided to watch older shows I hadn't seen before and found similarities in those
and newer ones. I just thought it was interesting to see how tv shows have evolved
or better the lack of originality.

[benji]

the omar little character in the wire made me think of tupac.

Yes...you said that...

homicide life on the street.

Right, and I said to list non-David Simon created works.

I think the wire is a copshow with the hiphop gangster theme poured over it.

Except as I said, it's not. To call it merely a police drama is to eliminate 80% of it. It's a show about a city with "the game" as the connecting force between the layers.

better the lack of originality.

Yes, yes, Polti and Campbell, blah blah blah. Ignoring that, The Wire is original when you aren't reducing it to the minimum of its parts. Yes, Simons' depictions of police, and aspects of the street life are continuations of his books (and thus TV series) Homicide and The Corner (and really his entire body of work), but the addition of the labor, politics, education, media layers to the endless narrative and their integration throughout is not something has been done before to this extent, if at all, in television.

[Al Ka Pwn]

you said what, so I thought you didn't get what I meant, making me repeat myself.

I read on the internet the homicide tv show was made by paul attanasio.
I had no idea you meant the book it was based on when you said not made by david simon.

are you one of those who romanticize violence and selling drugs?

I didn't call it a police drama. I said cop show. isn't the show about a part of the baltimore police force?
the plot on imdb about homicide reads: "A police homicide investigation unit investigates violent crimes
in the city of Baltimore". sounds familiar. with the exception that in the wire it's not a homicide investigation
unit, but they go after gangster type criminals. like I said before; adding a hiphop gangster theme to an existing idea.
the criminals are just there to help paint the story about the cops. sure there's more layers to it than most cop shows, but it's still a show about cops.

well guess we disagree. no biggie.

[Jackal]

You're generalizing the show down to core elements. Quoting IMDB's mini plot also doesn't help.

The second season focussed on the dock workers and the Greek, how is that "added hip hop flavor". How did Omar remind you of Tupac? Because he was bald and black?

Way to rape one of the best shows ever.

[Al Ka Pwn]

yeah, I did break down the show into the main elements. it helps trying to compare things. I used it to illustrate my opinion about the similarities between this show and older ones.

the plot I quoted was about homicide life on the streets, not the wire.

if you take the series as a whole, I am sure that most people will say that it was about baltimore, the gangster lifestyle and cops. the last 2 are frequently mentioned in modern hiphop music.
when you watched the wire, didn't it sometimes made you feel like watching an acted out hiphop song?

the omar little character is gay and played a gangster. just like 2pac. and as you said, they both shared the same ethnicity and hairstyle.

rape a show? all I said was it's nice and not that original.
now I know that it was based on different stories by the same writer, I understand why I felt that way.

[Null17]

Started downloading the stuff due to Jackal and Benji raving about it. Just finished season 2 waiting to finish my download of season 3. I'm hooked. The show is so deep and the realistic approach to it makes it different. Plus the characters are so interesting.

I wish they didn't kill off D'Angelo though. Can't wait to watch more of this stuff, I've read so many spoilers already trying to read up on some of the characters on Wikipedia.

[benji]

Doesn't mean you should spoil it for others. Someone spoiler tag that.

[Null17]

Oopsies?

[kibaxx7]

Looks interesting, will start downloading the episodes at work then.

[Oznogrd]

Watching the Last episode now...and bumping old thread...all i can really say is "holy SHEEEEEIIT"

So this is what i got:

Omar may be the most fucking badass character I've ever seen. Gay, a gimp towards the end, and takes out everyone in his way. The only person to get the drop on him is a fucking 12 year old. To shoot a bunch of guys in cold blood then walk out whistling the farmer in the dell, the only way it could've gotten better is if he had shot 'cheese' and then sang the cheese stands alone. Wish they hadnt capped him though. As cliche as it could have been, I wanted to see Omar get Marlo.

I loved the show except whenever they got a character who was a 'gangster' who started doubting the lifestyle, they killed them off (D'angelo, Bodie, Stringer). Those were the most fascinating characters to me. It was sort of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare effect: we killed off a character and people called it great writing: so lets do it 20 more times.

The Daniels/Mcnulty Elevator scene defines awkward. Amazing

Bubbles is one of the best written characters i've seen. his evolution and growth throughout the series is nothing short of an unadulterated story of humanity. Most of the characters were greatly written, but this one was the best. Close seconds are Jimmy, Bunk, and Kima.

Agree with the OWNED in the Mcnulty/Reporter final meeting. Not much else that can describe that epicness.

I feel like the press introduction in the last season could've come way earlier. It was an interesting dynamic how it hampered yet furthered all the bullshit going on in the city.

I love how despite everything that happened: nothing is fixed, nothing is different. The city is the city, running on the same old bullshit that has always run it. Realism and a complete storyline? Awesome.
A stellar ending to a show that's certainly up there in the debate for top shows of all time. Every element of filmmaking seemed to be present in every episode. If you view a series as a mosaic that makes one epic final picture: every episode is a crucial piece. Fanfuckingtastic is all I can say.

[Jackal]

So I've been bored and just rewatched the entire show these past couple of months due to the lack of anything halfway decent on television.

Seriously people, believe me when I say this is one of the best shows ever. If you can, watch it. From start to finish...you won't be disappointed.

I felt so bad for Dukie in the before last episode. All of them turned out fucked up cept for Naimond, which was surprising. Randy got all grouphome hard, Dukie probably become a homeless guy and Mike was an on the run gangster. It's really sad how their storyline went. I would've liked to see a bit more of Prez in the last season though.

Tommy turned out to be a total bag of shit more worried about his next position than anything regarding the city, I had such hopes for the man. What an epic show. <3

[Oznogrd]

So I've been bored and just rewatched the entire show these past couple of months due to the lack of anything halfway decent on television.

Seriously people, believe me when I say this is one of the best shows ever. If you can, watch it. From start to finish...you won't be disappointed.

Agreed it started slow and i wondered why you guys were raving about it. Then around Season 3, i was hooked and watched the final 3 seasons in about 2 weeks. Pure greatness.

I felt so bad for Dukie in the before last episode. All of them turned out fucked up cept for Naimond, which was surprising. Randy got all grouphome hard, Dukie probably become a homeless guy and Mike was an on the run gangster. It's really sad how their storyline went. I would've liked to see a bit more of Prez in the last season though.

Its a shame that those stories ended that way but it really is what happens to those kids. Probably an even lower ratio than what's shown ever "escapes" the streets and becomes a productive member for society. Dukie was a great character and i almost cried when he was shooting heroin in the closing montage. Also, i kinda viewed Mike as becoming the next Omar. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but thats what it felt like he had become to me. Prez became my 2nd favorite character behind Omar, his growth and change from season 1 to season 5 was phenomenally written and just a great watch, even if intense at times. Some of my favorite scenes from the entire show involve Prez. I'm also back in school to become a teacher right now and I'm feeling alot of the struggles Prez did going in to the classroom, especially with that population.

Tommy turned out to be a total bag of shit more worried about his next position than anything regarding the city, I had such hopes for the man. What an epic show. <3

Isn't that all politicians?

[shadowgrin]

Quite a bump but and the link is also an old article but it's damn amazing...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/15/nyregion/15drug.html

The accused leaders of the Queens gang, whose arrests were announced yesterday by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and District Attorney Richard A. Brown of Queens, mimicked the practice of characters in "The Wire," using disposable cellphones to make it more difficult for the police to eavesdrop on them.

Each time the suspects switched phones, investigators and prosecutors had to go back to court and seek approval for a new wiretap from a State Supreme Court justice, a labor-intensive and time-consuming process, said Sgt. Felipe Rodriguez, a supervisor on the case.

"Believe it or not, these guys copy 'The Wire,' " said the sergeant, who is assigned to the Organized Crime Investigation Division. "They were constantly dumping their phones. It made our job so much harder."

Sergeant Rodriguez said several members of the gang were big fans of the HBO show and talked about it constantly. He said that the investigators could catch up on the latest developments in the show, if they hadn't seen it, when members of the gang talked about it the next day. "If we missed anything, we got it from them Monday morning," he said.

The investigation, which grew out of another drug case in southeast Queens in 2002, led to the seizure of 43 kilos of cocaine, 18 handguns and nearly a million dollars in cash, officials said.

Mr. Brown said the ring, which included a city correction officer and a sanitation worker, annually distributed cocaine he valued at as much as $15 million. Thirteen people have been arrested in the case and charged with felony drug possession, conspiracy and weapons charges, Mr. Brown said.