The Wire - Greatest TV show of the decade

The Christmas Cracker wrote:The final two now

OMAR !!!!

Bowl of coco pops first!

That's where it really dawned on me that the show was over.

Watching the first episode again is awesome. How it all started has never been clear to me as I had no strawberry floating idea what was going on the first time round. I remember people calling me racist because I couldn't tell the difference between Avon and D'Angelo.

smyrrhphy wrote:Watching the first episode again is awesome. How it all started has never been clear to me as I had no strawberry floating idea what was going on the first time round. I remember people calling me racist because I couldn't tell the difference between Avon and D'Angelo.

Avon looks like a cat. D'Angelo looks like a frog.

JesusKrist! wrote:

smyrrhphy wrote:Watching the first episode again is awesome. How it all started has never been clear to me as I had no strawberry floating idea what was going on the first time round. I remember people calling me racist because I couldn't tell the difference between Avon and D'Angelo.

Avon looks like a cat. D'Angelo looks like a frog.

I always thought he looked a bit like a Mario Movie Goomba.

More appropriate D'Angelo/frog comparison:

GENUINE SPOILER:

Amazing.

Overrated. And this is coming from someone who's watched it twice. I'd rather watch The Shield or Breaking Bad. And Boardwalk Empire is shaping up to be superior, too.

I know you'll all laugh, because The Wire seems to have achieved this unfeasible holy grail status and been built-up by hype and hyperbole into something spectacular, when all it really is, is a good solid drama. There are plenty of them.

It's a pretty slow show - it takes a good few episodes for the appeal and momentum to gather. But, apparently that's a sign of quality - whereas there's obviously something contrived about making a show accessible from the get-go and always leaving you on a cliffhanger, right?

Leaving you on a cliffhanger is an artificial set up to make you watch the next episode/come back after the ad break. It feels totally forced when it happens every episode.

Exactly. I'd say it's probably a testament to the writing of any show if it doesn't need constant cliffhangers to make people want to tune-in to the next episode.

Bushmills?

That's Protestant whiskey.

~Earl Grey~ wrote:Overrated. And this is coming from someone who's watched it twice. I'd rather watch The Shield or Breaking Bad. And Boardwalk Empire is shaping up to be superior, too.

I know you'll all laugh, because The Wire seems to have achieved this unfeasible holy grail status and been built-up by hype and hyperbole into something spectacular, when all it really is, is a good solid drama. There are plenty of them.

It's a pretty slow show - it takes a good few episodes for the appeal and momentum to gather. But, apparently that's a sign of quality - whereas there's obviously something contrived about making a show accessible from the get-go and always leaving you on a cliffhanger, right?

The Shield??? Really??? No doubt it's a good series but some of it is way too over the top and kinda corny, plus I hated Vic.

If you want cliffhangers so badly, just switch off at an exciting bit within ~10 mins from the end of each episode, then next time watch those final minutes continuing right into the next episode, and repeat the process. Maybe boom out a dramatic and patronising precis for yourself at some point.

~Earl Grey~ wrote:Overrated. And this is coming from someone who's watched it twice. I'd rather watch The Shield or Breaking Bad. And Boardwalk Empire is shaping up to be superior, too.

I know you'll all laugh, because The Wire seems to have achieved this unfeasible holy grail status and been built-up by hype and hyperbole into something spectacular, when all it really is, is a good solid drama. There are plenty of them.

It's a pretty slow show - it takes a good few episodes for the appeal and momentum to gather. But, apparently that's a sign of quality - whereas there's obviously something contrived about making a show accessible from the get-go and always leaving you on a cliffhanger, right?

You talk about The Wire being slow, but The Shield takes about 3 seasons to get really good, Boardwalk Empire hardly rattles you along on a white knuckle ride and Breaking Bad is so painfully slow takes 3/4 episodes before it decides what the point of the season is going to be.

The only one of those shows that is anywhere near as good as The Wire is The Shield in it's last couple of seasons and about the middle 4 episodes of S2 of Breaking Bad.

I can't be the only who thought Snoop was a dude for the entire show...right?

Most people notice by the end of season 3.

Herbi wrote:

~Earl Grey~ wrote:Overrated. And this is coming from someone who's watched it twice. I'd rather watch The Shield or Breaking Bad. And Boardwalk Empire is shaping up to be superior, too.

I know you'll all laugh, because The Wire seems to have achieved this unfeasible holy grail status and been built-up by hype and hyperbole into something spectacular, when all it really is, is a good solid drama. There are plenty of them.

It's a pretty slow show - it takes a good few episodes for the appeal and momentum to gather. But, apparently that's a sign of quality - whereas there's obviously something contrived about making a show accessible from the get-go and always leaving you on a cliffhanger, right?

You talk about The Wire being slow, but The Shield takes about 3 seasons to get really good, Boardwalk Empire hardly rattles you along on a white knuckle ride and Breaking Bad is so painfully slow takes 3/4 episodes before it decides what the point of the season is going to be.

The only one of those shows that is anywhere near as good as The Wire is The Shield in it's last couple of seasons and about the middle 4 episodes of S2 of Breaking Bad.

These two posts might just be the worst posts ever written on GRcade.

Herbi's not entirely wrong.

Re-finished S2 recently. So good on a second watch, but still just as horrible. Vondas' comment to the Greek that no one has to die and Ziggy can get out of jail totally fills you with hope, then the scene with Frank walking towards the pier. "Your way... it will not work".

Can't wait to move onto S3. Colvin's appearance in S2 totally foreshadows his plans with Hamsterdam. Just one of many, many examples of stuff like that. The writers are geniuses.

S2 has probably surpassed S4 as my favourite season now, and the most important of the entire series.