The Wire: Possibly the best TV show ever.

Red 13

Final Fantasy 7 nutter
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Jan 30, 2010
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Any fans of "The Wire" out there?
I discovered it not long ago and WOW it blew me away. Over two weeks i got through all five seasons and suffered from serious withdrawal symptoms afterwards.
I've never been a big fan of cop shows but "The Wire" is no ordinary cop show. Its not the classic "Good cops" versus "Bad gangsters" you're use to seeing. Every character has a motive and a reason for doing what they are doing, weather its a cop planting a gun, a drug dealer dealing or a junkie findings ways to get his next fix. It all seems so realistic.
Every single character has a rich and complexe personality and you end up caring for every single one of them.
"The Wire" also tackles very strong and important issues such as drug dealing, politics, the press, failing educational systems and the on going vicious circle of life in the ghetto.
Share your views people!
 
It took me about a month-and-a-half to watch all five seasons recently. I borrowed the sets from a co-worker and absolutely loved it, especially the first season.

I watched only one of the extras, and could not believe that McNulty had such a strong British accent. Who knew? I got through the entire thing and said, "my favorite character is English? How the hell did I miss that?" Then I realized Stringer Bell was English too and just stopped trying to figure it all out.
 
Yeah i know, McNulty is english! Did you know that Stringer Bell is english too? He's from Brixton.
I think my favorite season was season three. The hole Hammsterdam scenario is nuts. I quite liked season 5 too, with the hole McNulty crazy scheme going on. He's pretty awesome.
 
Oh you did know Stringer is english... sorry i missed that.
 
I resisted for a while because the hype annoyed me; I couldn't believe it was anywhere near as good as people said.

Oops.

I saw all five seasons within a couple of months last year. I think I watched ten episodes in a single day once. It makes every other cop show feel as contrived and unreal as if it were written by Agatha Christie. I loved the fact that apart from the season-end montage sequences, there was not one shred of incidental music.
 
Yeah, its funny how the whole hype started once the show had finished. Its also funny that the show never won or was even nominated for any awards, even though many critics went on about how good it was.
You know i never noticed the music thing, thats funny. I guess thats why the season end montages are so good.
I love the way they keep the same intro song at the start but with different singers and styles throughout the seasons.
 
I watched it when they showed all five seasons on BBC2. Again, I was more than willing to resist the hype, but wanted to know if there was any substance on which it was based.

IMHO the hype was justified. My favourite (if that's the right word) scene is one towards the end of Season Two**, where the union leader is travelling alone to see the "Greeks"***.

And can I also put a word in for Season Four. I would never normally look forward to episodes full of scenes with lots of child actors, but I found it easy to forget that they were acting at all (which is - or should be - the essence of good acting).




** - One of the last scenes of the penultimate episode of that season, possibly?

*** - I'm not sure, but there may have been music in this scene, but I can't honestly recall one way or the other.
 
I see what you mean with the child actors, they're very good. I was very impressed by the girl who plays "snoop" too, apparently she really is (or was) a gangster from Baltimore who grew up on the streets. I think alot of the actors are actually.
 
I think its easily the most ambitious tv show there has been,the best writing wise.characters wise. It has so many great characters.

National tv never showed anything but Season 3 over here so i have only watched last year the first 3 seasons.

Its funny i saw Dominic West as a brit actor before i saw The Wire.Stringer bell i thought was played by an American because how the Idris Alba played the character so well.

One of few shows that deserve its hype. I lost all respect for American tv awards when i saw it was nominated every year for writing but never won anything.....
 
** - One of the last scenes of the penultimate episode of that season, possibly?

*** - I'm not sure, but there may have been music in this scene, but I can't honestly recall one way or the other.

they never used much music, but they ended every season with a short montage set to music.

I loved all the versions of that theme song, especially (I think) season 4 by Steve Earl.
 
They also had great opening songs for every season.

Old school sounding soul,R&B songs. There is a soundtrack i hope out there.

Most tv shows overuse music,the wire i cant remember music in the actual eps before the music in the endings.
 
Since I'm too lazy to look it up ... what kind of shows used to win?

It has been nominated only twice 2005 and 2008 and it lost to Sopranos and Mad Men. Mad Men that is about white,powerful men in the 60s....

Its a bit sad it had 15 Noms by NAACP Image Awards and it lost to ER,Grey's Anatomy etc......

A show the critics hailed for having a focus on a city full of African Americans.
 
I only found out Dominic West was English when he guest hosted Have I got News For You. He sounds like a young Brian Blessed.

Great series - tailed off a bit towards the end though I thought.
 
I loved all the versions of that theme song, especially (I think) season 4 by Steve Earl.[/QUOTE]

I really liked the theme song from season 2 and 3. Yeah and the montages at the end of each season are cool too.
 
This series along with Ken Burns 'The Civil War' are my favorite shows on television ever. I had no idea that Stringer Bell was from England. If there is anyone out there who has not given this show a look do yourself a favor and gobble up the dvd's. One warning though you will never be able to watch a police show on regular television again.
 
I like "The Wire" too much to comment much, save to say that I agree with Heather.
Nothing I've seen since stands up to it.
 

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