The Wire

Kadayi

Kadayi

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If you are looking for compelling TV show with good storyline and excellent characterization, you should go rent/buy season 1 of The Wire now (and then season 2, 3 & 4 afterwards).

Charlie brooker pretty much sums it up in terms of what it's about:-

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ2iGYwdEi8

If that's not recommendation enough note the rating it has on imdb: 9.7/10. Even twin Peaks languishes behind it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/

Each series is effectively a 13 hour movie, rather than a series of self contained episodes, but it is accessible and demands repeat viewing.

Stop reading now..go watch it!!!

Kadayi

*waits for imminent Sparta affirmation :p
 
Kadayi Polokov said:
*waits for imminent Sparta affirmation :p
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Surprise!

Really guys, this show is ridiculously awesome and its not just me and Kadayi who think so. If you check it out on metacritic you'll find it to be one of the highest rated tv shows on there

http://www.metacritic.com/search/process?sort=relevance&termType=all&ts=The+Wire&ty=6&x=0&y=0

The guys who write this show do amazing research on it, thanks largely to their journalistic backgrounds and that one of the head writers used to be a detective for the Baltimore police department. It really is the best written show on T.V. by miles, and i'm not ragging on other shows when i say that, The Wire simply is miles and miles away from other shows in the writing department.

When you got guys like Dennis Lehane (who wrote "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby, Gone") and George Pelecanos (who wrote "The Night Gardener" incase anyone has read that) its hard to go wrong.

If you're a fan of drama, you owe it to yourself to at least watch the first season of the show. I've only heard complaints about it from people who have watched 2-3 episodes and thought not much of it, but if you stick with it for the rest of the season you'll be more than rewarded.
 
Yeah I've heard it's good. I guess I'll take a look at some point.
 
Yeah, its on my list to watch after I go through all seasons of Frasier. Its set in Brooklyn right? Was there 2 weeks ago, in the first 10 minute I was in Brooklyn, I saw a guy get stabbed and 20 police officers trying to throw a guy down on the ground. Then I got threatened to get shot. Its a nice little place.
 
It's set in Baltimore. But yes, Season 1 & 2 are essential viewing.
 
Bought season 1 and 2 recently (although I've followed it for years when it ran on TV here in Sweden, they showed season 4 not so long ago either), almost through the first one and then on my way to the second, which by the way is one of the best season ever.

I'm not much into TV shows as I tend to lose interest halfway through a season but The Wire just gets a grip of you and never let go.
 
Got the first 2 seasons in my Netflix queue, going to watch them after I'm through with Lost and the first 2 seasons of Stargate SG-1(going to see if I like the series first before I rent all 500 seasons).
 
Season 3 arrived yesterday, I completely missed that season when it went on TV. Is it any good, like compared to 1 & 2?
 
It starts to bring in more of the political angle to the polices work, it's all good though.
 
I think Season 3 is far better than the 1st and 2nd seasons, but when i think about it, i think Season 4 might be even better than 3.
 
I thinks it's a bit of a mistake to argue which is the better season ,because they are all just chapters in the bigger story. The final Season (5) is just airing now and from what I've seen, a lot of things that were in there from the beginning are coming to a head (Clay 'Sheeeeeeeeet!!!' Davis for example).
 
If i can get my girlfriend to watch it, it has to be excellent and the wire is indeed excellent.
 
Funny this thread should pop up as I was going to look for it myself today as I've finally got my hands on season 1. I'm switching between this and House, so it's hard to get the right balance and overall I'm more up for two episodes of House, but thats not to say anything about The Wire - I love it! I'm four episodes in and I'm hooked. Personally I'm glad it's quite slow because I'm loving hanging on to every little piece of detail and getting some real scope into the lives of each and every character. Already I'm lost between who's good and who is bad.

Great show.
 
Yeah, once you begin picking up on all the details The Wire becomes such a rewarding show. And there isn't really a good side or bad side in the show either, one side simply doesn't kill people and deal drugs, but that doesn't mean there's not a whole heap of shitheads on the cops side though, and vice versa.
 
It's a vague line, one that isn't so 2D as 'good' and 'bad' as such, but so far I've found myself more disgusted by the corrupt commissioners and captains then I have some of the pushers in the pit, but then I'm only so far into the season, so we'll see.
 
Sorry to necro but for all UK ppls who haven't seen this show, apparently BBC2 are showing the entire run of 60 episodes (5 series worth) Monday to Friday. If you haven't seen this series yet, but love quality Television dramas then you really owe it to yourself to give it some attention. Apparently they started on Monday, but it's not too late to get into it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...-greatest-television-programme-ever-made.html
 
Frankly, it's embarrassing that the show has taken this long to get onto the BBC or if not them, C4, but I guess The Sopranos got into the PR books first and had the spotlight at the time. And man, what a way - an episode a night is outstanding. I can't imagine how I would be feeling right now if I sat down two or three nights and got into the first few episodes and it would then dawn on me that there would be another one tomorror for freakin' free on TV. I'm still trying to get over the concept of an episode per night. I guess the BBC actually sat down to watch it instead of just flicking through a few good reviews and seeing there was a pretty big demand for the show. They must love it to give it this air time, and I'm thankful.

Not that I regret buying the DVDs, 'course. I've watched the entire thing through three times now and I still regard it as the best thing I've ever seen. I actually felt properly sad when it ended because I love all the characters so much.
 
TheAntipop said:
Frankly, it's embarrassing that the show has taken this long to get onto the BBC or if not them, C4, but I guess The Sopranos got into the PR books first and had the spotlight at the time. And man, what a way - an episode a night is outstanding. I can't imagine how I would be feeling right now if I sat down two or three nights and got into the first few episodes and it would then dawn on me that there would be another one tomorror for freakin' free on TV. I'm still trying to get over the concept of an episode per night. I guess the BBC actually sat down to watch it instead of just flicking through a few good reviews and seeing there was a pretty big demand for the show. They must love it to give it this air time, and I'm thankful.

Not that I regret buying the DVDs, 'course. I've watched the entire thing through three times now and I still regard it as the best thing I've ever seen. I actually felt properly sad when it ended because I love all the characters so much.
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Likewise. I pretty much recommend this to everyone I know who loves good TV drama, but so few seem to pick it up, however of the ones that do, to paraphrase Robert Downey Junior (in a Scanner darkly) 'You're either a fan of the wire, or you've never seen it'. ;)
 
Kadayi said:
Likewise. I pretty much recommend this to everyone I know who loves good TV drama, but so few seem to pick it up, however of the ones that do, to paraphrase Robert Downey Junior (in a Scanner darkly) 'You're either a fan of the wire, or you've never seen it'. ;)
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Thankfully, I got one friend into the show who then got another into it, and then from there we've slowly infected everyone else by lending out the DVDs. I haven't heard a single bad word of it yet, and this is from a group of friends who can admit the cons of a show like Lost or 24 even though they really enjoy them. It's all positive for The Wire, though.
 
I really wanted to watch this. But I've now missed the first 4 episodes.

When that sort of thing happens, I tend to forget all about it. Hate starting watching something halfway through.
 
Honestly it was too slow paced for me.
Couldn't get past the 4th episode of the first season, it just... dragged and the atmosphere of the show just felt so dull.

Might try getting into it again at a much later date.
 
It takes a good 4 or 5 episodes to really hit you with the hook, I think I said 3 episodes got me earlier in this thread but it's thereabouts. It is very slow but I like that - it made a welcome change from hourly episodes of Lost or 24 where way to much was going on each episode, which isn't a bad thing, but I came into The Wire fresh off the end of Sopranos which is sort of the same in terms of writing and pacing.

'cept The Wire is better, in my opinion. :D Seriously though, give it a second try. You might just be the first person I've come across to have not wanted to watch more, but fair play!
 
Lucid said:
Honestly it was too slow paced for me.
Couldn't get past the 4th episode of the first season, it just... dragged and the atmosphere of the show just felt so dull.

Might try getting into it again at a much later date.
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Yeah, a lot of people have that problem. Just make sure you come back to it eventually, because once you get stuck into it, there is no better tv show. Period.

Or better writing. In tv or film.
 
Reginald said:
I really wanted to watch this. But I've now missed the first 4 episodes.

When that sort of thing happens, I tend to forget all about it. Hate starting watching something halfway through.
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Despite what some people say, I'd say you've still got time to get into it. You will find it puzzling at first, but the core of it is you've two organisations competing against each other and their own politics. The Police (Mcnulty, Bunk, Kima, etc) and the drug dealers (Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, D'angelo, Bodie, etc) meanwhile you've characters like Bubbles (a junkie and informant for Kima) and Omar (a standover man; someone who robs other criminals) who synch between everything. The shows time frame is a few years back as well, when mobile phones weren't that common place.

The producers never made the show so it's instantly accessible (there are no flashbacks or talkovers). Initially the dialogue is very confusing, but eventually you pick up on the meaning of things, and it rewards the viewer for paying attention.

It's a pity that the BBC couldn't put it on the iplayer tbh, but I guess there's legal issues with that. Still give it a whirl.
 
It is a very difficult show to follow at first - street lingo here, police callsigns and buzzwords here, a whole multitude of on-screen characters with pages and pages worth of script and dialogue all at once... but you just gotta accept that you aren't going to be able to keep up with everything, let the season roll over you then dive into the next season with a little bit better of an understanding.

I'll tell you this: I thought I had watched the best show ever on my first viewing of all five seasons, but then when I watched them a second time, with a whole bank of knowledge and information collected in scraps from the first time... wow. :eek:

For those that have watched it, who is you're favourite character? It's impossible to pick the one, but I'm a big fan of Chris from season 3-5 myself. Him and Snoop make a great team.
 
TheAntipop said:
For those that have watched it, who is you're favourite character? It's impossible to pick the one, but I'm a big fan of Chris from season 3-5 myself. Him and Snoop make a great team.
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So many to like. Kima I thought was pretty good, also Lester who was cool. Bubbles was excellent, as was Omar, Daniels and Stringer Bell. I thought that James Ransome was stellar as Ziggy during the second season, can't say I liked the character, but it was a good performance being an asshole. Chris and snoop did make a good team up, the scene where she goes into the hardware store to buy a new nailgun was quality.
 
Man, there really is too many to like! Actually I retract Chris and replace him with Landsman. Landsman is a goddamn badass. Rawls is a great character, too - I can't think of many TV characters who I think are really seriously bitter bastards like Rawls.

And then theres Herk and Carver, Syndor, Prezbo and the sweet talkin' king of all detectives, Bunk ''Bunky Bunk'', ''the Bunk'', Moreland.

I think I'm going to have to go and re-watch season one now.
 
Hauk/Carver are my favorite characters, especially when together.
 
Been looking for a new show. I think I'll check this out.
 
Watched a couple episodes last night, damn fine show.
 
I watched most of the first episode last night, and holy **** I was bored. Please tell me that the first episode just sucks and the rest of it is a lot better. Otherwise I dont think I could force myself through another hour of that.
 
I and others have said it before, I'll say again - it takes a good few episodes for the hook to sink in. It's very alien to go into this show fresh off the bat of... well, everything, as there isn't anything like it out there to my record. The Sopranos maybe, so it was a little easier for me to get into after I just finished the last season of that.

Stick with it for a few episodes.
 
The problem people have with it, is that all other TV shows have accustomed them to instant gratification and the show is not written like that for a reason.

It's a novel for a television. If you give up in the first three or four episodes, you'll be giving up just as things are getting in place and characters are starting to develop. There is a reason this show is one of the most (if not the most) praised television shows. It's because the payoff is far greater than anything else.
 
Season 5 is so ****ing great. I'm on the 7th episode and I'm wondering like crazy where this is going to go.
 
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