As part of my Sky package I have various TV complete series/seasons available to download & watch at my own pace.
About 5 weeks ago, I downloaded all 5 series of The Wire, & finished it last weekend. Now I realise that it is an old series (I think it finished 2008 ish), but I honestly think it is one of the best TV series I have ever seen, right up there with The Sopranos.
The stories covered a different aspect of Baltimore life & how it affected different people & how they lived. The cast are almost all unknown to me, although I have seen Dominic West in other things since.
Everything about it felt real to me, (although what does a 59 year old white English man know about Baltimore urban life? – in other words – WTF do i know? )
Anyone who has not seen this & has access to it should give it a try – wonderful stuff.
Bingo Little says
Seconding this. That show was pure genius. Watched it a long time ago now, and did the final season in two epic screening sessions round a mate’s house with various Wire aficionados (one of whom had brought along a cake with the logo iced onto it).
JustB says
It’s unparalleled. There really is nothing like The Wire, despite the distinct dodginess of aspects of Season 5 (Jimmy just wouldn’t, OK? And Lester DEFINITELY wouldn’t).
It’s not my favourite show ever because it’s just so bleak, despite the wonderful humour that runs like a seam right through it. It’s ultimately a completely pessimistic show, and that’s not how I’m wired, so I can’t love it the way I love The West Wing. But god damn, I do love it HEAPS.
Jim Cain says
Got halfway through Season 1 and love it, but found it a bit too much hard work, so drifted away from it. Might give it another go.
Bingo Little says
I would say I wasn’t enjoying it at all until about 2/3rds of the way through season 1. Then it suddenly clicked. Well worth another go.
Bingo Little says
Let’s do top 5 TV shows, shall we?
1. Band of Brothers
2. Seinfeld
3. The Sopranos
4. The West Wing
5. The Wire
H.P. Saucecraft says
But let’s do it right, eh, Bing?
Gatz says
I watched all 5 series, but found it a slog at times. The occasional attempts at humour seemed forced and unfunny, and did anyone really give a flying one about the whole Carcetti story-line? There was always enough to enjoy and keep me going and I couldn’t help but admire its ambition, but I don’t think it’s the greatest television ever made as many seem to.
chiz says
I had to have two goes at the first season – I didn’t get it at first, but went back to the start and it just clicked. After that it was a superb ride. I even like the derided final season, with the relationship between the police and the press. Like Bob I can’t see beyond The West Wing but this comes second, and everything else is nowhere.
JustB says
@chiz, that’s exactly what happened to me. A false start, then another go, and never looked back.
I like lots about season 5, but my problem is Jimmy’s motivation. He’s natural POH-lice, and no matter how much he hates the bosses, I never bought that his love of the job would twist him that much.
Poppy Succeeds says
I didn’t like season five very much, but I absolutely *loathed* season two. I gave no fucks whatsoever about those dockers, one of whom is my all-time most-annoying character ever.
Bingo Little says
I’d agree with this. Four was the best, two the closest I came to bailing out.
Poppy Succeeds says
Yes. For me,
4
3
1
5
2
Bingo Little says
Snap!
chiz says
Crackle! Me too.
bang em in bingham says
1. The Sopranos
2. Seinfeld
3.. West Wing
4. Corner Gas
5. Borgen
Northcote says
I enjoyed series 2 the most, so there you go.
Gatz says
And I think series 4 was the long yawn of Carcetti’s story which I found almost unwatchably tedious.
Leedsboy says
Yep 2 and 4 were the stand outs. 5 was actually pretty poor – I bailed as I found the whole set up too unlikely based upon series 1 to 4.
Leedsboy says
1. The Bridge
2. The Wire
3. Breaking Bad
4. Game Of Thrones
5. Borgen
moseleymoles says
Loved here. Many, many reasons to love The Wire, but @gatz probably its only weakness is its lack of humour. I’ll just pick the characters – who are all drawn from Jimmy and Bunk down to a seemingly small sidekick like Snoop, one of Marlow’s soldiers. A long storyline builds to a series of scenes with Michael, who tries to resist the worst of being part of Marlow’s organisation. Michael is taken on a ride in a car to carry out a hit to prove his loyalty, driven by Snoop. Michael is a step ahead and is able to pull a gun on her before he himself is killed. faced with being shot she checks her hair in the car mirror and says ‘how’s my hair?’ Michael replies ‘looking good girl’ before shooting her. Every character, from the mayor to the footsoldiers, are drawn with compassion and care.
JustB says
@northcote Season 2 is the one for me, too. I love it.
ianess says
I absolutely loved it, partly because it was so unremittingly bleak and nihilistic. Wonderful array of characters, all vividly drawn. I wasn’t very keen on either the dockers series or the teaching one, but, overall, thought it was a magnificent achievement. I did think it was important to show the corruption flowed from the top and permeated all the institutions.
Like others, I slightly struggled with the first few episodes, particularly the argot the dealers were using. When I stopped using subtitles and just let it flow over me. I found it much easier to follow.
I have never been convinced by the wet dream of The Weat Wing. The snippets I watched worked better as comedy. The Wire, by contrast, is completely grounded in realism.
Bingo Little says
It’s worth giving the West Wing another go – some of the writing in the first two seasons is absolutely superb. The trick to it is to simply let go of the politics, which are often incredibly daft, and focus on the characters instead.
If you do go back to it then take note (and I’ve mentioned this on here before, but will do so again because I know bob loves it when I do) of what a god-awful boss Bartlet is. He’s a liberal folk-hero, to the point where I recently attended a wedding at which one of the tables was named after him, but he’s also a self-involved, lying, patronising, self-pitying douchebag who thinks the world revolves around him.
It isn’t glaring on first inspection, partly because he could shower urine on his staff from a great height and they’d thank him for cooling them down, partly because Martin Sheen could play Satan and you’d still want to give him a cuddle, but with repeated viewings it’s become apparent to me that he’s the boss from hell.
From keeping his overworked staff in the office late at night on a whim so that he can lecture them on national parks, to standing in the corner at social gatherings with Leo, blathering on about how impressed they are with “these women”, as if they’re a bunch of four year olds who’ve just completed a particularly tricky finger painting exercise, from making every single national or personal tragedy all about him (complete with overwrought speeches to god), to leaving his best mate to die in the woods because he’s kind of gone off him a bit recently. From screaming at everyone because he’s “not near ready” to be a Presidential candidate, to publicly humiliating anyone who has the audacity to make a grammatical error in his presence. The man is a first-class asshat who frequently behaves atrociously to those around him and then makes up for it later with ten minutes of folksy wisdom, faux concern and a twinkle of the eye.
Watch it with the above in mind and it becomes a very different show, and no less entertaining for it. It also has some of the best gags of any of the serious heavyweight dramas that have been wheeled out in the last 15 years.
ianess says
Very good account, Bingo. He sounds like a cross between Clinton ( the endless pow-wowing with his acolytes, the self-pity, lying) and Obama (self-involved, patronising, believes world revolves around him). IIRC, he was modelled, to an extent, on Slick Willie.
To be honest, I also thought it smacked a lot of American exceptionaism.
Bingo Little says
Oh, absolutely re: the exceptionalism.
For me, watching it at a remove of a few years it also raised some interesting dividing lines about what we really want from our leaders. Bartlet is presented as moralistic and incredibly cerebral (i.e. not Bush), but also of good stock: he’s forever reminding people that his ancestors are New Hampshire luminaries, and include a signatory to the Declaration of Independence. He loves opera, insists on beating everyone at chess and likes quizzing his staff on trivia. He’s a classic socialist trope: the idealistic philosopher king, who knows better than normal men and whose vast well of knowledge must also imply wisdom.
I can understand the appeal of the character, but when you begin to notice that he’s actually kind of an asshole you come to see the limits of this sort of leadership. His own exceptionalism makes it impossible for him to see the world through the eyes of normal men, and he lives in a Bartlet-centric universe, extraordinarily pompous and unable to ever really accept his own failings and limitations.
God, I’ve really over-thought this.
moseleymoles says
And surely it’s telling that in the several occasions in the series when US citizens are killed overseas by terrorists/enemy powers/militants – general bad guys there is only one option ever presented which is to send in the F-15s and bomb the crap out of them. After ringing the bereaved relatives and shaking his head at Leo at the awful things he has to do.
Junglejim says
The Wire stands for me as the best TV series I’ve ever seen. Beforehand, I couldn’t imagine anything pipping The Sopranoes, my previous fave, but it did.
It wasn’t flawless, but you never doubted that the protagonists were drawn from real people inhabiting real environments. It felt authentic from the off ( despite my personal knowledge of such things being non existent). The cops were frustrated in their attempts to fight crime by scores of credible reasons. Furthermore, the bad guys weren’t remotely stupid, a revelation in TV terms & had a plan B, C & D ready to implement when required.
It managed to justifiably claim it was novel-like in its scope.
Viewers were introduced to a seemingly chaotic & randomly violent world that over time became clearly discernible, populated by plausible people with very logical ( if abhorrent at times) reasons for acting as they did. Also very little concession was given to the viewer in terms of spoon feeding information. You had to pay attention & do some working out for yourself, which all added to the sense of involvement.
And then a superb cast of unforgettable characters, quite a few of whom could have been central characters in their ‘own’ shows but were just part of a great ensemble – McNulty, Bunk, Lester, Stringer Bell, Brother Mouzon, Bubbles, Prez, Prop Joe, The Greek, whatshisname ‘ sheeeit!’ – (name escapes me), & the awesome Omar.
I read ‘ Homicide’ & ‘The Corner’ subsequently which highlighted how rooted in real life the series was & why I still, think it’s the benchmark for modern TV drama.
davidks says
I couldn’t get with The Wire…I bailed after Season 2, maybe I’ll revisit it.
Top 5
1. The Sopranos
2. The West Wing
3. Mad Men
4. Game of Thrones
5. Band of Brothers
Jackthebiscuit says
My 5 – FWIIW
1)- Sopranos/ The Wire
3)-Seinfeld/ Frasier
5)- Simpsons
Mentioned in despatches
Family guy, 30 something, NYPD blue.
davidks says
@jackthebiscuit
I would add Frasier, best sitcom ever.
Leedsboy says
Good list Les but it suggests that you haven’t watched The Bridge. Its on Netflix. Both series are ace.
H.P. Saucecraft says
The Wire is The Wire.
rotherhithe hack says
I loved The Wire …. but everyone I know who has been to Baltimore assures me that, for the most part, it’s nice city.
Jackthebiscuit says
While serving in the Royal Navy, I joined a ship that had recently visited Baltimore & everyone I knew said it was one of the best places they had ever been to.
Lando Cakes says
The Wire is indeed excellent. The breadth and the detailed characters (“all the pieces matter”) make it compelling viewing. It’s not what you’d call instant tv gratification though and must have been an interesting pitch.
Incidentally, looking through the lists above, I’m surprised to find they’re all US programmes. Not least because the best TV series ever – by a clear margin – was Our Friends in the North. And also because The Prisoner isn’t mentioned either.
Bingo Little says
I did seriously consider OFITN – it would certainly make my top 10.
davebigpicture says
Our Friends in the North gets a regular outing every couple of years in our house. Brilliantly written and acted plus fantastic attention to detail.
SixDog says
The Wire – great TV. Michael Scott in The Office referencing it
‘I have no idea what’s going on… ‘
For me, nothing is likely to top The Sopranos.
Yes, for all intents and purposes it was Dallas relocated to NJ with a gazillion dollar budget and some of the best character actors around today (and that’s just Steve van Zandt’s hairpiece), but my God it was gripping and as every bit as layered and complex as The Wire.
If DeNiro had a small part, I think that would’ve finished me and non sport TV for good.
SixDog says
Also not widely mentioned but Taken was a great TV box set.
Based on the premise of the Roswell incident and moves into government, aliens and spacecraft from there. Spielberg was involved.
I loved it.