The Wire

pisses over prison break, heroes and 24 thats for sure. the wire is one of my fav shows of all time. Lost and xfiles beats it just a tad
 
Season 2 is quality. Different from the others but that's the point, the programme shows different facets of life in Balitimore and how they're all connected, many of which can be applied to a lot of cities in the world. The Wire is social commentary as much as it's drama, which amongst other reasons is why is pisses from a great height on sensationalist, Hollywood tripe like 24 and Lost.
 
Started to watch Season 2 last night and I've watched the first two episodes but can't remember them well really, going to sit through the first two again.
 
Joystick said:
Season 2 is quality. Different from the others but that's the point, the programme shows different facets of life in Balitimore and how they're all connected, many of which can be applied to a lot of cities in the world. The Wire is social commentary as much as it's drama, which amongst other reasons is why is pisses from a great height on sensationalist, Hollywood tripe like 24 and Lost.
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I entirely agree with Joystick.
You start watching a cop series, but it turns out that it isn't (just) about the cops, it's a fictional documentary.
Series 1 and 3 are about the drug corners
Series 2 is about the port of Baltimore and Unions
Series 4 is about education and the American School sytems
Series 5 is about the Press.

IMHO (and this is of course very subjective), The Wire is by far the best television series ever. The only thing that comes remotely close is Heimat and and Italian series (more of a very long film: 6 hours long), but unfortunately i can't remember the title.

For the big fans, David Simon did research on Baltimore's Street Corners about the drug trade and before that about the homicide squad of BAPD.

He has written great books about his time on the corner and with the homicide squad:

David Simon and Ed Burns: "The Corner" (a year in the life of an inner-city neighbourghood)

David Simon: "Homicide" (a year on the killing streets).

Oh and i liked the first two series of 24 and liked every single episode of Lost, but i agree with Joystick, The Wire is so much better...
 
DagsJT said:
I wouldn't let that put you off, CW. It's certainly a good show and a lot of the hype is justified. It's not Lost/Heroes/Prison Break though but for what it is, it's well worth watching.
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Sorry Dags, but Heroes and Prison Break shouldn't really be used as a comparison. They are just simply awful IMO. Dumbed down for the masses, with no real character development and a plot with so many holes in it it is impossible to take it seriously.

The Wire is an original, gritty series. Some superb acting and great storylines. It's one of those shows where you could watch the whole series in one go and not tire of it. This is one of the best shows out there dealing with the drugs scene in America and the attempts of the police and law enforcement bodies to counteract it. It takes a completely neutral view, which many shows fail to acknowledge. Sure we have Law and Order and the Shield, but for me the Wire just does it so much better.

For me The Wire ranks up there with some of the best drama shows of all time; my favourites being 'OZ', The Sopranos, The X Files and The Shield.

P.S. Lost is my favourite current TV show, but I can't compare it to the Wire, they are too different.
 
gerd said:
IMHO (and this is of course very subjective), The Wire is by far the best television series ever.
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Agree with you on that score. I was a little sceptical at first because of all the hype that has surrounded it and the amount of people constantly banging on about it to me. For once, this is something worthy of the hype though.

For me one of the best facets of the show is it's rawness. Very little feels dramatised, in fact a lot of it highlights the mundaneness of police work; the red tape, the infighting, buck-passing and legal loop holes people abuse to get day work done.

I also like the fact that it has a 'real' looking cast. So many American shows have a cookie-cutter, hunks and hotties cast, where everyone is beautiful and no one weighs over 8 stone. The Wire has smack-heads, big fat coppers and scary scar face gangsters. It lends everything an air of believability right from the off.

All of that is essentially fluff however, as the main reason the show is so good is because, quite simply, it is brilliantly, brilliantly written. There are no straight up good guys in the whole show (except possibly Kima Greggs?) All of the good guys are flawed, some in very obvious ways, some less so. Some of the bad guys have likeable qualities and a quasi moralistic code running through their criminality.

As a rule I am loathe to overly gush about anything, but I cannot say enough good things about the Wire. Truly a milestone in TV.
 
Bloody hell, never seen a show get so much praise before!

The first series was pretty good, the characters were interesting definately, but the first two episodes of S2 just didn't grip me (hence me losing interest).
 
season 2 is not a good series but if u watch all the others and review it in a whole, you will truely appreciate how amazing this show is
 
DO NOT skip season 2. I agree it has a slower start but by halfway it gets really good.

By skipping it you would miss out on a lot of key character development.
 
Yeah, don't want to skip any episodes or series as I want to get the full character development. I'll stick with it :)
 
yea but i or anyone else could save u the grief and just tell you key important issues that relate to the later series and believe you me, their aint much key moments in there
 
IMHO you just can't skip any episodes because it's good to see the cahracters develop.
Some of the really "stupid" cops in the first series, later on become very social minded and turns out to be a splendid teacher...

What is also great is that what seems to be the main character (but isn't to me American society is the main character), Mc Nulty is not a very likeable person, he has his moments when he's drunk and in series 4 he's becomes a family man, but (fortunately???) in the last series (which i'm watching currently) it seems that he becomes his own not very likeable self again...

What i also like a lot, is the fact that there are no happy endings (well at least not in the 4 first series). Unfortunately life in the inner cities is rarely about happy endings...ah The Wire is modern Shakespeare...
 
wait and see what Mc Nulty becomes at the end of the series ;) true modern day great tv show that tells it has it is. no sugar coating holywood pap
 
gerd said:
IMHO you just can't skip any episodes because it's good to see the cahracters develop.
Some of the really "stupid" cops in the first series, later on become very social minded and turns out to be a splendid teacher...

What is also great is that what seems to be the main character (but isn't to me American society is the main character), Mc Nulty is not a very likeable person, he has his moments when he's drunk and in series 4 he's becomes a family man, but (fortunately???) in the last series (which i'm watching currently) it seems that he becomes his own not very likeable self again...

What i also like a lot, is the fact that there are no happy endings (well at least not in the 4 first series). Unfortunately life in the inner cities is rarely about happy endings...ah The Wire is modern Shakespeare...
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depends what part of the inner city your from... lets be honest here, there is alot more to baltimore then what they show in the wire. There are some really nice and really great parts, however it does seem incredibly realistic of the poorer parts of baltmore... and yes that is actually how you pronounce it if your from there, spelling is of course different..
 
Well gomito, i'm sure you know that better than me, i've never been in the States...and i'm not sure i want to spend my holidays in Hamsterdam...professionally i regularly come in what Americans call "the projects"...

What i experience almost daily is that neighbourhoods with a very bad reputation are often not that bad...i come in neighbourhoods in big cities that people call "as bad as the Bronx"...and when you're there it turns out to be not that bad at all (although much people have big problems). This makes me wonder if for example the Bronx is really that bad.

PS: sorry for all the typo's in the part quoted by gomito...that must be a new record for me...
 
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Over here we have a place called brixton in london which suppose to be the english version of the bronx but really it aint. its a nice lively place.

Hackney however is a shithole and almost every week you hear about shooting and stabbing happening in that are and the funny thing about it all is that it will be the place where some of the events from the Olympics will take place.

they got a LOT of work to do over there.
 
I'm from Hackney and a shit hole is the perfect term for the place.

Anyway, I recorded the pilot on BBC and I've got episodes 2-6/7 recorded from FX. I'll start watching them next week.
 
jonneymendoza said:
Over here we have a place called brixton in london which suppose to be the english version of the bronx but really it aint. its a nice lively place.

Hackney however is a shithole and almost every week you hear about shooting and stabbing happening in that are and the funny thing about it all is that it will be the place where some of the events from the Olympics will take place.

they got a LOT of work to do over there.
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I'm from Hackney. Some parts are very deprived, other parts are pretty sweet. Like most places in London really. There are some places you wouldn't necessarily go but then you wouldn't have much reason to anyway. Unless you're looking to score some crack.

Watch the news and you'd think it's Baghdad. Media scare hype bullshit.
 
tobi said:
I'm from Hackney and a shit hole is the perfect term for the place.

Anyway, I recorded the pilot on BBC and I've got episodes 2-6/7 recorded from FX. I'll start watching them next week.
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quality. i dont live far from u then. maybe 30-40min drive. im from chingford
 
My bad, I used to live in Hackney, I was there for 14 years.

I'm in Bolton now, big difference.
 
Joystick & gerd made some really good comments about The Wire.

BBC2 shows The Wire at 11pm on BBC2, everyday. I don't think that's the right schedule for the program. It should be shown at 9pm or 10pm once a week, like they did on FXTV.

Anyways, hope you guys can catch it, defeintely worth watching.

*goes to sleep*
 
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Another thing that made the Wire great (if you knew from the start) is that a lot of the actors in it are either ex-coppers or ex-gangsters - not just fresh from stage-school wannabies. Coupled with David Simon's research into the streets, you know this is not really dramatised so much as almost a documentary of what living on the streets of Baltimore is like - and a lot of characters are based on real people from the corners.

As for good guys/bad guys, I dont think Keema is that innocent, especially in later series. For me, Bubbles is the only character that despite his weaknesses, has a heart of gold. D'Angelo too - he was obviously in the wrong place.

The other good thing (well, one of MANY!) in the Wire is no character is 'safe'. Once characters who you think are well established start getting killed, you think *shit* who's next?! Really takes you out of the comfort zone of the story telling - you cannot say for certain who will be in the next episode or not.

And you HAVE to watch series 2 - not just because I actually thought it was really good when it got going, but you cannot just miss a whole season as you will miss LOTS of storyline relevant down the line. Its worth watching just for Ziggy though :LOL:
 
Yeah, Ziggy is one of the best assholes i've ever seen...
What i also like are the tongue-in-cheek references...Bubbles has a mentor who helps him when he wants to become clean...he goed to a sort of AA meetings for former addicts and this guy is his mentor...i always had the feeling that i kind of knew this actor...in the fifth series my penny dropped...this is none other than (the fantastic) country-rock singer Steve Earle. Steve Earle is a former heroïn addict who has done time in jail...this is very realistic, because he don't have to play a role...he's just Steve Earle.
I guess that there are other cameo's from celebrities too...but i don't know enough about the USA...so i'm quite sure i miss a lot of things. I wonder if there isn't some sort of site for fans of the Wire where you can find out sucht things (oh and i've never watched the extra's on the DVD's, maybe i should start doing that...).
 
gerd said:
I guess that there are other cameo's from celebrities too...but i don't know enough about the USA...so i'm quite sure i miss a lot of things. I wonder if there isn't some sort of site for fans of the Wire where you can find out sucht things (oh and i've never watched the extra's on the DVD's, maybe i should start doing that...).
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Method Man as 'Cheese'! :D
He's actually a pretty good actor, that is; he plays a gangster/drug dealer/rapper/hoodlum pretty convincingly. Can't see him doing a turn as Othello.

The Wikipedia pages on The Wire are beyond detailed, including things like 'family trees' of the Barksdale crew in each series. Well worth a trawl through if you're interested.

One other thing, I only found out recently that the guys who play McNulty and Stringer Bell are both British! Stringer's from up the road where I live now.
 
To be honest with you Joystick, i've never heard of Method Man...i'm guessing he's a rapper ????

Edit: i googled him, he's a member of the Wu-Tang-Clan.

There is another rapper in the Wire: Anwan Glover of Washington rap band "the Backyard Band" plays the role of Slim Charles, one of Avon Barksdale's hard man in The Wire.

PS: Just found out that there is a good reason to watch the second series, Chris Bauer plays the role of Port union man Frank Sobotka...
 
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gerd said:
Yeah, Ziggy is one of the best assholes i've ever seen...
What i also like are the tongue-in-cheek references...Bubbles has a mentor who helps him when he wants to become clean...he goed to a sort of AA meetings for former addicts and this guy is his mentor...i always had the feeling that i kind of knew this actor...in the fifth series my penny dropped...this is none other than (the fantastic) country-rock singer Steve Earle. Steve Earle is a former heroïn addict who has done time in jail...this is very realistic, because he don't have to play a role...he's just Steve Earle.
I guess that there are other cameo's from celebrities too...but i don't know enough about the USA...so i'm quite sure i miss a lot of things. I wonder if there isn't some sort of site for fans of the Wire where you can find out sucht things (oh and i've never watched the extra's on the DVD's, maybe i should start doing that...).
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jesus gerd, i didnt know that was steve earle until now!! You sure? he put on alot of weight.... but yeah alot of the hoppers are really kids from the street.. bubbles has been in alot of movies so he is a real actor along with a few of the guys.

check out imdb

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0247351/
 
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Joystick said:
Method Man as 'Cheese'! :D
He's actually a pretty good actor, that is; he plays a gangster/drug dealer/rapper/hoodlum pretty convincingly. Can't see him doing a turn as Othello.

The Wikipedia pages on The Wire are beyond detailed, including things like 'family trees' of the Barksdale crew in each series. Well worth a trawl through if you're interested.

One other thing, I only found out recently that the guys who play McNulty and Stringer Bell are both British! Stringer's from up the road where I live now.
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Mcnulty is from 300 http://www.imdb.com/media/rm586979584/tt0416449
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edit: both bubbles and marlon stanfield are in heroes as well
 
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