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

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  • 29-04-2009 10:32am
    #1
    Jimmy Mcnulty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭


    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"


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    #2
    Penn
    Registered Users Posts: 33,226 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    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 :D.

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


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    #3
    Jimmy Mcnulty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭Jimmy Mcnulty


    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 :D.

    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.


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    #4
    Slim Charles
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 621 ✭✭✭Slim Charles


    in a word yes


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    #5
    Penn
    Registered Users Posts: 33,226 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    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 :D


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    #6
    Jimmy Mcnulty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭Jimmy Mcnulty


    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 :D


    :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?


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    #7
    Vinta81
    Registered Users Posts: 2,953 ✭✭✭Vinta81


    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 :D


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    #8
    tvnutz
    Registered Users Posts: 4,787 ✭✭✭tvnutz


    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.


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    #9
    Penn
    Registered Users Posts: 33,226 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    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.


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    #10
    K4t
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,362 ✭✭✭K4t


    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?!


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    #11
    mikemac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    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 :o


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    #12
    Dob74
    Registered Users Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭Dob74


    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.


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    #13
    James Mcfadden
    Closed Accounts Posts: 62 ✭✭James Mcfadden


    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


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    #14
    jayteecork
    Site Banned Posts: 5,676 ✭✭✭jayteecork


    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.


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    #15
    James Mcfadden
    Closed Accounts Posts: 62 ✭✭James Mcfadden


    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.


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    #16
    Troyaferd
    Registered Users Posts: 276 ✭✭Troyaferd


    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


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    #17
    Smartguy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 214 ✭✭Smartguy


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


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    #18
    caspa307
    Registered Users Posts: 1,235 ✭✭✭caspa307


    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


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    #19
    Otis Driftwood
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,925 ✭✭✭Otis Driftwood


    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.


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    #20
    amacachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    There's nothing ridiculously unbelievable in Oz obviously.


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    #21
    Otis Driftwood
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,925 ✭✭✭Otis Driftwood


    I didnt say that,did I?

    ;)


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    #22
    Mardy Bum
    Registered Users Posts: 3,674 ✭✭✭Mardy Bum


    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.


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    #23
    hardCopy
    Registered Users Posts: 5,969 ✭✭✭hardCopy


    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.


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    #24
    TrueDub
    Moderators, Sports Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 2,638 Mod ✭✭✭✭TrueDub


    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.


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    #25
    Mardy Bum
    Registered Users Posts: 3,674 ✭✭✭Mardy Bum


    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.


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    #26
    tdv123
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,292 ✭✭✭tdv123


    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.


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    #27
    trashcan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,906 ✭✭✭trashcan


    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.


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    #28
    Jesus Wept
    Registered Users Posts: 25,243 ✭✭✭✭Jesus Wept


    No.


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    #29
    Chuck Stone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,030 ✭✭✭✭Chuck Stone


    The-Rigger wrote: »
    No.



    The Wire is the greatest drama series of all time.


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    #30
    stephen1968
    Registered Users Posts: 125 ✭✭stephen1968


    the best has to be Dexter..


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    #31
    tvnutz
    Registered Users Posts: 4,787 ✭✭✭tvnutz


    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!


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