Is the Wire the best ever tv show? "Spoilers"

Jimmy Mcnulty · 29-04-2009 10:32am #1

The anwser is no to be honest its very very very good but its not the best show ever made. Series five was a big let down for me, it got a bit daft with Omar jumping out windows dodging bullets he was like superman it got a little silly there. I didnt like the whole newspaper thing I found that boring and I also found the political side of things over the top and boring as well.

The series set in the schools was outstanding and so was series 1,2,3,4.

Its a great show full of great actors and the child actors are outstanding. Its close to being one of the greatest shows evermade but just misses out.

What is the best show on tv you ask? Well its simple "Madmen"

Penn · 29-04-2009 11:05am

Personally, I think it is. Its the kind of show I never thought I'd watch, and almost gave up on in the first series, but theres just something about it. After watching all the seasons of it in the space of about 4 weeks, all I wanted to do was watch it again. All I thought about for weeks afterwards was The Wire. No show has ever made me feel like that.

I'd never watched The Sopranos, so about 2 months ago, I said I was going to watch Season 1 of Sopranos, then Season 1 of The Wire, then Season 2 of The Sopranos...etc. To date, I have watched 2 seasons of The Sopranos and all 5 seasons of The Wire again, and even after finishing the 5th season of The Wire again, I wanted to start watching it from season 1 again

.

It has its flaws. I doubt anyone could say otherwise. But in my opinion, no other show I've seen can match it.

Jimmy Mcnulty · 29-04-2009 11:08am

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

Personally, I think it is. Its the kind of show I never thought I'd watch, and almost gave up on in the first series, but theres just something about it. After watching all the seasons of it in the space of about 4 weeks, all I wanted to do was watch it again. All I thought about for weeks afterwards was The Wire. No show has ever made me feel like that.

I'd never watched The Sopranos, so about 2 months ago, I said I was going to watch Season 1 of Sopranos, then Season 1 of The Wire, then Season 2 of The Sopranos...etc. To date, I have watched 2 seasons of The Sopranos and all 5 seasons of The Wire again, and even after finishing the 5th season of The Wire again, I wanted to start watching it from season 1 again .

It has its flaws. I doubt anyone could say otherwise. But in my opinion, no
other show I've seen can match it.

Dont get me wrong its close and its nearly perfect but im very fussy.

Have you seen Madmen yet its done by the same guy that did sopranos but its like the wire in the sense you just have to keep watching it it drags you in then spits you out again.

Slim Charles · 29-04-2009 5:17pm

in a word yes

Penn · 29-04-2009 6:51pm

Jimmy Mcnulty wrote: »

Dont get me wrong its close and its nearly perfect but im very fussy.

Have you seen Madmen yet its done by the same guy that did sopranos but its like the wire in the sense you just have to keep watching it it drags you in then spits you out again.

I've actually never heard of it to be honest, but I'll certainly look into it. Sounds good.

I still have to work my way through the rest of The Sopranos, The Corner, Generation Kill, and Oz first though, so it might be a while

Jimmy Mcnulty · 29-04-2009 8:33pm

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

I've actually never heard of it to be honest, but I'll certainly look into it. Sounds good.

I still have to work my way through the rest of The Sopranos, The Corner, Generation Kill, and Oz first though, so it might be a while

:eek: What, you havent watched "Madmen" get into the corner of the room and stay there until watch this show. Its totally different from "Sopranos" but it just gets to you. YOU MUST WATCH THIS SHOW ASAP!

What is the corner like?

Vinta81 · 29-04-2009 11:51pm

I gave my friend Season 1 of "The Wire" to watch a few weeks ago, he hasn't given it back

I was close to a freak out cause I was craving to watch it last week

It's my drug.

I tried watching "The Corner" but couldn't get into it, gonna give it another go tomorrow. Oh and "Generation Kill" is wicked! Getting the Blu Ray

tvnutz · 30-04-2009 12:13am

Jimmy Mcnulty wrote: »

The anwser is no to be honest its very very very good but its not the best show ever made.

No,actually it is the best tv show ever made...IMO of course,but I can say easily that it is

it got a bit daft with Omar jumping out windows dodging bullets he was like superman it got a little silly there.

Not really daft when its based on something that happened in real life.The guy with him in that scene,the lad who gets shot in the head,was a real life banger who was in a similar situation and jumped out a 4 storey window and survived,breaking his leg.

I didnt like the whole newspaper thing I found that boring and I also found the political side of things over the top and boring as well.

Well then I think you missed the whole point of the show,it was how institutions effected the characters,how the politicians had an effect. The newspaper side was okay,not amazing but the political story I personally thought was brilliant,from how you root for Carcetti because you think he will change things until you realise he is a politician and the system does not change.

What is the best show on tv you ask? Well its simple "Madmen"

I'll take that as a joke considering the amount of shows 10 times better than Madmen,the most notable one being the Sopranos. Other that you have show ssuch as the West Wing and the Shield.

Penn · 30-04-2009 9:12am

Jimmy Mcnulty wrote: »

:eek: What, you havent watched "Madmen" get into the corner of the room and stay there until watch this show. Its totally different from "Sopranos" but it just gets to you. YOU MUST WATCH THIS SHOW ASAP!

What is the corner like?

Don't know, haven't watched it yet. Think I'll watch season 3 of The Sopranos first, then watch The Corner, its only 6 or 7 episodes anyway.

K4t · 30-04-2009 11:29pm

The Wire is great. Love it myself aswell as TWW, Sopranos and of course the legendary Deadwood.

Madmen is very, very enjoyable but sometimes I get the feeling that they're trying a little too hard to entertain instead of tell a story. That's what's great about the Wire. The telling of the story leads to the entertainment. If that makes sense?!

mikemac · 30-04-2009 11:36pm

It's great

Though I think I'm going to watch the boxsets again.
When I finished all 5 boxsets I'd read episode summaries on wikipaedia and couldn't believe the stuff I'd missed

Or maybe I'm not quite sharp

Dob74 · 01-05-2009 3:47pm

Yes.

Sopranos would have been number one if they ended it after season 5.
I dont like madmen myself, typical network show interesting but over does it with the style of the times.

Our tv linence money should be sent to HBO not rte.

James Mcfadden · 01-05-2009 3:55pm

Our tv linence money should be sent to HBO not rte.[/quote]

Thats a very good point HBO rules!

My top shows would be

Dexter
Medium
The Wire
Madmen
Sopranos
Six feet under

jayteecork · 01-05-2009 4:09pm

Mad Men is good too.

Someone said BattleStar Galactica is the bomb but I'm finding it difficult to get into it.

What bugs me about The Wire is that it seems to be in the domain of the pseudo-intellectual leftie Guardian reader.
Every single one of them starts harping on about The Wire.

James Mcfadden · 01-05-2009 4:11pm

jayteecork wrote: »

Mad Men is good too.

Someone said BattleStar Galactica is the bomb but I'm finding it difficult to get into it.

Yeah I tried getting into bsg but just thought it was a poormans startrek to be honest.

Troyaferd · 16-11-2011 6:44pm

There are to much great Television Series to say one is the best of all time, in my opinion:

Twin Peaks
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Freaks and Geeks
The Wire
Cowboy Bebop

Smartguy · 19-11-2011 8:21pm

It all about opinions but if we did not debate these things life would be a lot duller.

caspa307 · 19-11-2011 8:26pm

jayteecork wrote: »

Mad Men is good too.

Someone said BattleStar Galactica is the bomb but I'm finding it difficult to get into it.

What bugs me about The Wire is that it seems to be in the domain of the pseudo-intellectual leftie Guardian reader.
Every single one of them starts harping on about The Wire.

BSG takes at most of the first season to get into but its such a head**** that by that last episode you will scream for more, season 2 onwards is just amazing

Otis Driftwood · 23-11-2011 10:08pm

The Wire is the most over rated TV show I have ever seen.

That doesnt mean I thought it a bad show,it was certainly above the majority of stuff produced over the last 10 years but I just felt it far too convoluted to be believable in alot of respects.

Like McNulty and all that crap with the staging murder scenes.Hogwash.

Season 2 was terribly under cooked.

My personal favourite season was season 4 and that was mainly because of teh younger cast members.

Best show of all time in my humble is Oz,its so far ahead of everything else it is staggering.Next in line is The Sheild,certainly the best cop show of all time.
Finally Id say The Sopranos is third on the list of best tv shows though it did peeter off towards the end.

amacachi · 23-11-2011 10:09pm

There's nothing ridiculously unbelievable in Oz obviously.

Otis Driftwood · 23-11-2011 10:37pm

I didnt say that,did I?

Mardy Bum · 25-11-2011 5:03pm

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

The Wire is the most over rated TV show I have ever seen.

The only way you could say The Wire is overrated is if someone starts comparing it to the works of Joyce, Shakespeare et al. However it is by far the most aesthetically brilliant show that has ever been produced for a mass audience through the medium of television. Simon is one of the very few people involved in main stream television that can truthfully be called an Artist.

Oscar Wilde said ‘The real artist is he who proceeds not from feeling to form, but from form to thought and passion’ and in this modern day and age Simon through The Wire and especially through Treme is the only real tv producer who adheres to this principle, striving for something greater than viewing totals; he is striving towards Art. Plot driven entertainment is bull**** for the casual viewer and as Simon said '**** the casual viewer'.

However if someone is viewing it from a less artistically minded point of view well then other things may appear better.

hardCopy · 25-11-2011 5:11pm

It's my favourite, not sure if I'm qualified to call it the best.

Game of Thrones is the closest contender for me so I'll have to revisit this thread after 5 seasons.

Honourable mentions for:
The West Wing (Too many disappearing characters to be a best of anything)
The Sopranos
Rome (Brilliant show but didn't have the budget to do justice to the battle scenes, cancelled too early)
Breaking Bad

I gave Mad Men two and a half seasons to grow on me but just couldn't learn to love it.

TrueDub · 26-11-2011 12:32am

Mardy Bum wrote: »

However it is by far the most aesthetically brilliant show that has ever been produced for a mass audience through the medium of television.

Hyperbole. I think there are "better" shows out there, for a given value of better.

Mardy Bum wrote: »

However if someone is viewing it from a less artistically minded point of view well then other things may appear better.

Condescending and insulting to anyone who disagrees with you. I can't judge what's art, neither can you - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Mardy Bum · 26-11-2011 1:19am

TrueDub wrote: »

Hyperbole. I think there are "better" shows out there, for a given value of better.

Condescending and insulting to anyone who disagrees with you. I can't judge what's art, neither can you - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I was not trying to be condescending or insulting some people will watch a show for different reasons; people who watch X Factor do not watch it for its intellectual stimulation, most people don't watch Top Gear for it's information on cars anymore but some do, people who watch CSI are looking for something to gauge their attention for thirty minutes or so and keep them in suspense etc.
Some people will watch The Wire for the same reason they may watch CSI or some people may watch The Wire in a more indepth manner; it all depends on the person. I've a fair idea how to judge art also.

When I watch The Wire I watch it with the same way I'd read a classic. At the moment Im watching the Hardy Bucks, Misfits, Love/Hate but I don't watch these in the same frame of mind because I accept the producers of these shows are not setting out with the same idea as Simon.

tdv123 · 26-11-2011 3:11pm

The best ever? It's hard to say any show is the best ever, they all have there highs & lows.

But IMO season 4 was the greatest season of any televsion show ever made. With

Stinger & Avon gone

you'd think there couldnt be too much to get excited about but you could not be more wrong. After the first few episodes you just completly forget about

the barskdale stuff

& your brought on amazing rollercoatser ride of emotions. It's so beautiful & so tragic.

Suprised Deadwood has to been mentioned yet. Maybe it does not have the same longegvity to be considered along with some of the others mentiond. But the 3 seasons it was on it was amazing.

trashcan · 12-12-2011 7:12pm

tdv123 wrote: »

The best ever? It's hard to say any show is the best ever, they all have there highs & lows.

But IMO season 4 was the greatest season of any televsion show ever made.

Absolutely agree with this. Season 4 was stunning storytelling. In my humble opinion that's what puts the Wire head and shoulders above the competition. Its simply storytelling of a scale and quality that has rarely, if ever, been attempted on TV. I loved the whole "Novel" format of it and that's the only other place where I've encountered the characterisations and plot complexities that you got with the Wire. So many characters, and all believable and memorable. Nobody felt stuck in there just to serve the story.

So, yeah. It gets my vote for the best TV drama ever. By a country mile.

Jesus Wept · 12-12-2011 7:12pm

No.

Chuck Stone · 12-12-2011 7:23pm

The-Rigger wrote: »

No.

The Wire is the greatest drama series of all time.

stephen1968 · 12-12-2011 7:30pm

the best has to be Dexter..

tvnutz · 14-12-2011 9:03pm

stephen1968 wrote: »

the best has to be Dexter..

Get out! :P

Have you seen the latest season? Its shocking! As was last season. Seasons 1,2 and 4 I could say were good,nothing compared to the Wire!

stephen1968 · 15-12-2011 12:41am

tvnutz wrote: »

Get out! :P

Have you seen the latest season? Its shocking! As was last season. Seasons 1,2 and 4 I could say were good,nothing compared to the Wire!

ok its not the best season 6 but i like the show,also the walking dead,true blood,fringe,and breaking bad are great shows.:D

Chuck Stone · 16-12-2011 4:47pm

I'm just a humble motherfucker with a big-ass dick.

Bunk Moreland.

What a legend.

stupidusername · 17-12-2011 11:50pm

Just started on series three. there's something addictive about it, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

I love the way I can understand everything they say now!

Chuck Stone · 18-12-2011 12:05am

stupidusername wrote: »

Just started on series three. there's something addictive about it, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

I love the way I can understand everything they say now!

I wish I could erase it from my brain and do it all again.

I'm going to wait another few years and do a marathon of it again.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLa5Bfw2cnA

cjmcork · 27-12-2011 8:35pm

a colleague lent me the entire series over the past few months, took me a couple of weeks to watch series 1, really enjoyed it, didn't enjoy series 2 so much............watched seasons 3, 4 and 5 in the past 10 days.........I really enjoyed it, could do with watching it again, but I'm still gutted over

stringer bell's death - GUTTED I TELL YA

dastardly00 · 29-12-2011 4:12am

Just finished watching the last episode of season 5. What a great tv series! It's the best series I've ever seen apart from Band of Brothers. Season 4 with the kids was my favourite.

Standman · 10-01-2012 9:51pm

I don't think you can compare a show like The Wire to other shows that are produced on other networks. It frustrates me a bit that its always the plot dictating the characters progression as opposed to the characters dictating the plot like in The Wire and other HBO shows, it just seems like such lazy writing. Shows like Dexter are entertaining in and of themselves but I always think they could be so much better if they weren't written to such predictable formulas.

wendell borton · 10-01-2012 10:10pm

the wire season 1 episode 4

f#ck f#ck f#ck .....motherf#cker

Taine · 19-01-2012 5:54am

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

The Wire is the most over rated TV show I have ever seen.

That doesnt mean I thought it a bad show,it was certainly above the majority of stuff produced over the last 10 years but I just felt it far too convoluted to be believable in alot of respects.

Like McNulty and all that crap with the staging murder scenes.Hogwash.

Season 2 was terribly under cooked.

My personal favourite season was season 4 and that was mainly because of teh younger cast members.

Best show of all time in my humble is Oz,its so far ahead of everything else it is staggering.Next in line is The Sheild,certainly the best cop show of all time.
Finally Id say The Sopranos is third on the list of best tv shows though it did peeter off towards the end.

Ok you think the wire is a bit far fetched and for that reason you rate the shield above it!?!?!? Like everthing Vic Mackey done was truly believable?

The shield was quality, but the wire will never (maybe never) be beaten as the best cop show! End of....

hunter164 · 24-01-2012 10:50pm

Man, I just finished The Wire and I'm devastated it's over. Best show ever.

HavingCrack · 31-01-2012 10:14pm

Standman wrote: »

I don't think you can compare a show like The Wire to other shows that are produced on other networks. It frustrates me a bit that its always the plot dictating the characters progression as opposed to the characters dictating the plot like in The Wire and other HBO shows, it just seems like such lazy writing. Shows like Dexter are entertaining in and of themselves but I always think they could be so much better if they weren't written to such predictable formulas.

Have a look at Southland, orginally network produced (NBC) but now on a cable station (TNT). If you prefer character driven to plot driven cop shows I think you'd like it.

Precious1 · 31-01-2012 10:32pm

The Wire is the best ever TV show because Aidan Gillen is in it!! :]

bamboozle · 03-02-2012 2:46pm

my fav shows

The wire - by a long shot
Dead wood
Arrested Development
Jeeves and Wooster
Entourage

Good but not great shows
The Shield
The West Wing
Madmen
Sopranos

Wasnt mad about
breaking Bad
True Blood

theoneeyedman · 23-03-2012 10:24pm

Just finished season 5 .....a little sad and withdrawal symptoms kicking in :-( . One question....why does season 2 get such bad reviews here and elsewhere? I really enjoyed the story around the dockers and the problems with the deindustrialisation of blue collar America as a background to the Subotka story in particular.

Ping Chow Chi · 26-03-2012 4:54pm

yes

amacachi · 26-03-2012 5:11pm

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Just finished season 5 .....a little sad and withdrawal symptoms kicking in :-( . One question....why does season 2 get such bad reviews here and elsewhere? I really enjoyed the story around the dockers and the problems with the deindustrialisation of blue collar America as a background to the Subotka story in particular.

I've noticed myself and a few others say that on first viewing seasons 2 and 5 weren't great but on re-watching season 2 is excellent. I guess season 2 maybe feels a bit out of place when watching the first time around.

gimmick · 27-03-2012 2:29pm

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Just finished season 5 .....a little sad and withdrawal symptoms kicking in :-( . One question....why does season 2 get such bad reviews here and elsewhere? I really enjoyed the story around the dockers and the problems with the deindustrialisation of blue collar America as a background to the Subotka story in particular.

Season 2 was actually my favourite. Very surprised to hear people say it was the weakest.

On the other side, I felt series 4 was probably the weakest, while many I know say it was the best.

Horses for courses and all that I suppose.

Cheeky_gal · 03-04-2012 11:54pm

Best show I've seen in my life.

Season 4 was the best.

Season 2 was absolute muck as was 5.

But 1,3 and 4 were unbelievable.

Is there any show out there that actually beats it? I hear Homeland is the closest thing to it in terms of greatness?

Funglegunk · 04-04-2012 10:09am

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

Best show I've seen in my life.

Season 4 was the best.

Season 2 was absolute muck as was 5.

But 1,3 and 4 were unbelievable.

Is there any show out there that actually beats it? I hear Homeland is the closest thing to it in terms of greatness?

Can I hazard a guess here and ask if you've only watched Season 2 once? I didn't like it the first time either, watch it again. It's a fantastic season!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 04-04-2012 10:12am

season 2 was a good season but some of the characters just annoyed the pants off me. ziggy in particular I hate, just can not stand the bastard and the main lads son as well.. dont hate him as much as ziggy but he still annoys me unbelievably.

season 5 was weak, just weak. the school bits were good, I liked seeing pres find his place in life and grow as a person but the whole mcnulty serial killer bit was stupid. didn't like it at all. Sure it made for some comedy between bunk and jimmy, and the excellent scene where bunk brings freeman in to try and convince jimmy to stop and freeman jumps right on board but in general it was just awful.

so the wire.. amazing tv show, absolutely incredible.. but season 5 was just too bad for it to be the best tv show ever. That honour goes to Deadwood.

--edit

oh wait, season 5 was the newspaper wasn't it not the schools. well same thing, I liked the newspaper bit too. The "main" guy in that I really felt for, being squeezed from all sides and just trying to be a good journalist. Serial killer bit was still godawful.

Is the Wire the best ever tv show? "Spoilers"

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