The Wire - Greatest TV show of the decade

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

I personally preferred The Shield but The Wire is still an outstanding television series.

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

Examples plz

Drumstick wrote:I personally preferred The Shield but The Wire is still an outstanding television series.

I wasn’t too impressed by the shield, thought it was comparatively one dimensional and unbelievable.

I haven't watched it since 2009, I think. Saw it with my ex and we split in 2010. I definitely need to re-watch it. Wife doesn't seem fussed on it so I might have to handbrake all my DVDs and watch it on the iPad on my commute.

I definitely think it's in my top five of all time.

Rocsteady wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

Examples plz

Big Bang Theory.

Rocsteady wrote:

Drumstick wrote:I personally preferred The Shield but The Wire is still an outstanding television series.

I wasn’t too impressed by the shield, thought it was comparatively one dimensional and unbelievable.

Aside from dealing with law enforcement they are totally different shows.

What is unusual about The Shield is that whilst every other show (including The Wire) dips in quality with each season, The Shield got better, with its final season being the best of the lot.

Moggy wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

Examples plz

Big Bang Theory.

To give a proper answer, these things are always going to be subjective and everyone will have different favourites, but I would put Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul above the Wire.

Moggy wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

Examples plz

Big Bang Theory.

To give a proper answer, these things are always going to be subjective and everyone will have different favourites, but I would put Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul above the Wire.

Agreed, BB and BCS are superior shows to The Wire. But they're also different beasts, ultimately that's why "best show ever" titles are kind of pointless in many ways.

To a degree you can break things down into their constituent parts are argue that the writing in a show is the best ever for example, or that the direction or editing or casting is the greatest etc. But to try and compare the total achievement of one show against another and say which is the best, when they may be from completely different eras or genres or be aiming to achieve very different goals? That's basically impossible.

Long story short enjoy what you like, and Big Bang Theory is clearly the greatest achievement mankind has made since the dawn of entertainment.

I think the beauty of The Wire was the fact is was picking at a scab on society. I have never been to Baltimore, so I'm making assumptions here, but it had such a documentary feel to it.

Where other shows might stray into fantasy, or give characters superhuman traits (24, for example), this just felt like a window into real life, albeit crafted superbly. It was like Attenborough on Baltimore, with swearing.

Poser wrote:I think the beauty of The Wire was the fact is was picking at a scab on society. I have never been to Baltimore, so I'm making assumptions here, but it had such a documentary feel to it.

Where other shows might stray into fantasy, or give characters superhuman traits (24, for example), this just felt like a window into real life, albeit crafted superbly. It was like Attenborough on Baltimore, with swearing.

And fake serial killers.

Poser wrote:I think the beauty of The Wire was the fact is was picking at a scab on society. I have never been to Baltimore, so I'm making assumptions here, but it had such a documentary feel to it.

Where other shows might stray into fantasy, or give characters superhuman traits (24, for example), this just felt like a window into real life, albeit crafted superbly. It was like Attenborough on Baltimore, with swearing.

Yep this is the strongest aspect of The Wire, it really explored the central problem in an almost forensic manner and certainly with a degree of rigour beyond what most shows manage. The concept of approaching the problems of Baltimore from many angles (schools, housing, police, council, media, jobs etc.) and showing that actually the issues stem from so many different underlying problems and the interactions between them was as fascinating as it was entertaining.

Moggy wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

Examples plz

Big Bang Theory.

To give a proper answer, these things are always going to be subjective and everyone will have different favourites, but I would put Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul above the Wire.

I agree and I'd say I enjoyed the shield more than the wire overall.

Ad7 wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:5 is categorically the worst season. 4 and 3 are fantastic, 2 and 1 are merely great.

I don't think it's "greatest show of all time" material like many have maintained it to be, but it's certainly a cut above most other shows of it's ilk.

I agree it's not the best TV show of all time, but I think it may have been at the time and up to season 4. Other shows have since surpassed it and season 5 isn't great.

Examples plz

Big Bang Theory.

To give a proper answer, these things are always going to be subjective and everyone will have different favourites, but I would put Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul above the Wire.

I agree and I'd say I enjoyed the shield more than the wire overall.

Cool, was genuinely curious.

Maybe I’ll give the shield anther shot in future, was years ago I tried it.

Watching through Breaking bad for the first time now, wouldn’t rate it above the wire so far but it is really fantastic. At early season 4. Will need to try BCS once I’ve finished it.

Thing with the shield is it has an edge of, well, edgyness which feels a bit try hard with Vic, but there's a plot thread that starts off almost off hand in one of the middle series that goes on to become the main plot though to the end, and it's strawberry floating fantastic.

Nice one, will bear that in mind as I often give up on shows prematurely.

The creator of The Wire (David Simon) has another police focused show set in Baltimore.



It's based on a true story about the Baltimore "Gun Trace Task Force".

Grumpy David wrote:The creator of The Wire (David Simon) has another police focused show set in Baltimore.



It's based on a true story about the Baltimore "Gun Trace Task Force".

Looks good.

Thanks for the heads up.

Gonna watch the gooseberry fool out of that.

The first episode was good. Nice to see a few Wire faces pop up. Jay Landsman has lost a gooseberry fool load of weight