Television The Wire

Massive Spanner

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FootyGirl88 said:
One thing that I did find very surprising is that the show didn’t win any major awards, madness!
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it's a miracle that it even got five seasons. Ratings were pretty poor and it didn't really get any recognition until after it had finished airing. If it were on any network other than HBO it'd probably have been cancelled long before that.

Although they did cut S5 from 13 to 10 episodes pretty late on which definitely affected the quality of it.
 

FootyGirl88

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Massive Spanner said:
it's a miracle that it even got five seasons. Ratings were pretty poor and it didn't really get any recognition until after it had finished airing. If it were on any network other than HBO it'd probably have been cancelled long before that.

Although they did cut S5 from 13 to 10 episodes pretty late on which definitely affected the quality of it.
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Oh really?? I’ve heard people talking about this show for years so I assumed it was doing well when it was being aired. I did wonder why there were only 10 episodes in S5, I’m glad they got to have a final season, I hate when shows get cancelled halfway through.
 

Eendracht maakt macht

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Once I had a conversation with someone who rated 24 above the Wire. It was in a pub in Poland. One of the most ridiculous opinions I've ever heard.
 

M15 Red.

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Lennon7 said:
Mate you’re on about completely the wrong show hahahaha. I said True Detective not the detectives
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Oh, True Detective? Haha yeah True Detective is even worse than Ebola. Just appalling television.
 

Gringo

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The Wire does feel like work to watch at the beginning. It's quite mundane with very little happening apart from people doing their jobs. Something happens at the end of season 1 however that raises the stakes somewhat. I personally got it in season 2 with Frank Sobotka and his story, for some reason I empathised with his character. From then on you're intrigued to the how all these pieces of Baltimore crime come together.
 

Salt Bailly

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Just got done with season 3.

Straight-up awesome shit.

I was genuinely surprised that
Russell got knocked off so early, I was expecting him to be one of the last ones standing, but I guess he or Avon were gonna get got. My gut feeling is that this was the plan all along, but a friend thinks it's due to Elba's rising star and the fact that he had offers for "bigger" things. Not sure I buy that but I can't be arsed to Google it.

I did have an issue with a couple of serendipitous plot points, e.g. Jimmy dating Carcetti's future campaign manager,
Rawls in Omar's uncle's gay bar...

There were a couple of other connections that felt similarly manufactured, which is a feeling I never got in the first couple of seasons, but it didn't detract from what was a masterful 12 episodes of television.

I'm currently 1 episode and a half into season 4. I didn't expect to see Mayor Royce's full-on raging boner so soon but here we are.
 

Salt Bailly

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b82REZ said:
Why was a new thread started?

I want pages of Clay Davies videos, sheeiit.
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I searched the forum for it and found a thread from 2009 that had been locked and another from 2008 with 7 replies.

I now realise there is a 72-page thread that was updated as recently as last year but for some reason this was buried deeper in the search results than both of the above...

 

Oggmonster

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Salt Bailly said:
Just got done with season 3.

Straight-up awesome shit.

I was genuinely surprised that
Russell got knocked off so early, I was expecting him to be one of the last ones standing, but I guess he or Avon were gonna get got. My gut feeling is that this was the plan all along, but a friend thinks it's due to Elba's rising star and the fact that he had offers for "bigger" things. Not sure I buy that but I can't be arsed to Google it.

I did have an issue with a couple of serendipitous plot points, e.g. Jimmy dating Carcetti's future campaign manager,
Rawls in Omar's uncle's gay bar...

There were a couple of other connections that felt similarly manufactured, which is a feeling I never got in the first couple of seasons, but it didn't detract from what was a masterful 12 episodes of television.

I'm currently 1 episode and a half into season 4. I didn't expect to see Mayor Royce's full-on raging boner so soon but here we are.
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There was an interview with him a while back stating that's not the case, he didn't want to leave at the time and was pissed off by it.
 

Oggmonster

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Drainy said:
It was the right time for all his bad decisions to catch up to him. They got it spot on.
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Yeah I agree was definitely a good decision in the long run. He didn't have a bad career after to so sure he's happy enough in hindsight
 

Drainy

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Oggmonster said:
Yeah I agree was definitely a good decision in the long run. He didn't have a bad career after to so sure he's happy enough in hindsight
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Yeah, absolutely. Quality actor and he's gone on the great things, but The Wire was not about any one character.

I'm evangelising for it at the moment with people at work and am on a rewatch (3rd time) - the depth of quality characters, immersion into the world, dialogue, plot - its just an amazing show, and there not being plot armour is one of the key parts of what makes s1-4 the best TV ever aired.
 

VorZakone

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Saddens me that no TV show today comes close. HBO had a golden decade with The Wire & Sopranos in the 2000s.
 

Oggmonster

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Drainy said:
Yeah, absolutely. Quality actor and he's gone on the great things, but The Wire was not about any one character.

I'm evangelising for it at the moment with people at work and am on a rewatch (3rd time) - the depth of quality characters, immersion into the world, dialogue, plot - its just an amazing show, and there not being plot armour is one of the key parts of what makes s1-4 the best TV ever aired.
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Yeah I watched it back a while ago for the first time. Was never massively into Series 2 at the time but on a rewatch it holds up well. 5 isn't great but it's still better than most TV around.

VorZakone said:
Saddens me that no TV show today comes close. HBO had a golden decade with The Wire & Sopranos in the 2000s.
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Succession from HBO is an excellent recent show, first 2 series are on Sky On Demand and the third is filming now I think. Whilst not on the level of them 2 it definitely has potential to be after a few more series if you've not watched give it a go (it's noway similar to the storylines in The Wire/Sopranos if that's what you're after though.)
 

Gazautd18

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Think I got to end of season 2 but it didn't reel me in like Sopranos/BB
Going to revisit this as everyone who knows me says I'll love it.
Feel like I'm missing out on something.
Too be honest I got more hooked on The Shield.
But I never finished that either....
 

Dan_F

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Gazautd18 said:
Think I got to end of season 2 but it didn't reel me in like Sopranos/BB
Going to revisit this as everyone who knows me says I'll love it.
Feel like I'm missing out on something.
Too be honest I got more hooked on The Shield.
But I never finished that either....
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Season 2 is probably my least favourite season because the focus is completely switch to a new area, so I’m not surprised you stopped. I started rewatching it again when Michael K Williams died and have just finished season 3, which is simply unmatched. One of the episodes in that season is simply breathtaking, I’m so glad I decided to rewatch it all.
 

Sparky_Hughes

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Gazautd18 said:
Think I got to end of season 2 but it didn't reel me in like Sopranos/BB
Going to revisit this as everyone who knows me says I'll love it.
Feel like I'm missing out on something.
Too be honest I got more hooked on The Shield.
But I never finished that either....
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People keep saying that to me, I've tried a few times and just can't get past episode 2/3, one last go maybe? The shield was awesome.
 

DavelinaJolie

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I rewatch the first three seasons again recently. Exceent stuff, though the Brother Mouzone thing is a bit hokey.

I guess the West Wing missed that list because it started in 1999? Bah.
 

Salt Bailly

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Hoof The Ball said:
They competely left Sopranos out of the top 100 :lol:

Proper British list that is. Decent British stuff very high, Curb and Sunny way down. You have to laugh.
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Bizarre exclusion. No sign of Mr. Robot either. Other than that, very solid list.

Nice to see The OA in there.
 

Massive Spanner

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Hoof The Ball said:
They competely left Sopranos out of the top 100 :lol:

Proper British list that is. Decent British stuff very high, Curb and Sunny way down. You have to laugh.
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It has to have started in the 21st century and The Sopranos was 1999.

It's actually not a bad list overall, but is I May Destroy You really that good?

Mr robot not being there is criminal. So underrated.
 

stretford_oslo

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The Wire is so much better on second viewing. I know the first few episodes can be slow, but once you get past that...wow.
People comparing it to True Detective, Better Call Saul (well, basically any other show than Sopranos) need to get their head checked.
 

Skills

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Good show. I'm half way through season 2. Takes a while to pull you in, but it's unbelievable when it gets going a few episodes into season 1.

What's incredible is just the number of characters that have their own stories, and manage to hook you in. Omar, D'Angelo, Stringer and now Frank in S2 are some interesting characters.

In fact, I think the cops are the weakest part of the show, which is why I think S2 so far is even better than S1.
 

calodo2003

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Just started rewatching it for the first time since it initially came out. I seem to have forgotten it all which is actually a good thing. I’ll take it.
 
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