The Sopranos vs The Wire

Sherifu

The Wire, easily. I still love The sopranos too.

niallk

shane86 wrote: »

Holy god no. Dont let terms like innovative and original overshadow terms such as lazy writing.

I hardly think it's lazy writing. David Chase spent over a year writing that single episode. Watch it again. See the level of detail. See the genius. He wasn't trying to be innovative. He just didn't conform to Hollywood's constant need to provide closure. Did we really need to see someone spray Tony's brains over his dinner?

Haven't seen the Wire BTW but have heard good things. Mostly in this thread. Can't imagine it could top the Sopranos. The Sopranos really was a thinking man's show but I admit it can be watched superficially as a ganster show with sex and violence, etc.. I disagree with it being called a soap however. Each episode (especially in early seasons) is like a short film unto itself. I can't see it ever being topped.

KerranJast

I love the Sopranos. It was a great show but it always felt like an extended homage to Goodfelllas or The Godfather. Yes there were more varied plotlines and they had more time to expand on characters but you never really lost the sense that it was all a stylised vision of what real mob life was/is like.

The Wire on the other hand is a masterpiece. It is not your regular "crime committed, lots of investigation, chase for suspect, suspect put away, lets do it all again next week" cop show like CSI or Criminal Minds. If TV can approximate real life then The Wire has come the closest to it. I used to describe it as The Sopranos but from the cops point of view but its so much more than that. In reality The Wire is a 5 season exploration of a modern inner US city using Baltimore as its canvas. The criminal angle is better than The Sopranos, the cops POV is better than any cop show ever made, the political machinations make The West Wing look tame and best of all it credits the audience with brains. It doesn't spend half an episode explaining five times over whats happening. That gives it an authenticity thats sorely lacking in most TV.

Sherifu

niallk wrote: »

Haven't seen the Wire BTW but have heard good things. Mostly in this thread. Can't imagine it could top the Sopranos.

You really need to see it before making a call.

niallk

KerranJast wrote: »

I love the Sopranos. It was a great show but it always felt like an extended homage to Goodfelllas or The Godfather. Yes there were more varied plotlines and they had more time to expand on characters but you never really lost the sense that it was all a stylised vision of what real mob life was/is like.

To me, The Sopranos is first and foremost about a man suffering from depression. That is essentially what David Chase is writing about from first hand. The mob thing is just a hook. A very entertaining hook at that. The Sopranos, on the level that I enjoy it is not for every one. I used to talk about it with one of my friends who stopped watching around season 5. While I was enthused about what was going on psychologically,etc., he became bored of the lack of t its.

Sherifu wrote: »

You really need to see it before making a call.

I haven't passed any negative judgementon the Wire yet. I have however voted for the Sopranos none-the-less. It was lightyears ahead of anything else on the box and if The Wire is as good as people say it owes to the Sopranos pushing the bar of intelligent TV programs.

Another great show which I've always prefered to The Sopranos and would call my 2nd favourite show of all time behind The Wire is Oz. And it never gets the acclaim it so rightly deserves.

Davei141

kearnsr wrote: »

good argument. I'm sold

Yawn. Its the thinking mans show. Lmfao.

dr.bollocko

Deleted User wrote: »

Another great show which I've always prefered to The Sopranos and would call my 2nd favourite show of all time behind The Wire is Oz. And it never gets the acclaim it so rightly deserves.

Oz kicks ass alright.
I dont know if it's sopranos good though, considering the last season of it was a major dip from the incredible tension built in the first 3.
It jumped the shark with the musical episode in my opinion.
That's not to say I am bashing it though, a masterful use of strong characters to elevate an incredible sense of tension.

I would put the wire fairly low on the list of my favourite shows to be honest.
Might revisit it, but I have to say... I just really don't get the furore.

KerranJast

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I would put the wire fairly low on the list of my favourite shows to be honest.
Might revisit it, but I have to say... I just really don't get the furore.

How much of it did you watch? I've not met or read posts by anyone who didn't love it once they watched it past ep 8 or 9 of Season 1. You can't dip in and out. It has to be watched all in one go to keep track of all the goings on.

Raoul

ilovemybrick wrote: »

Its like asking which lung I need more. I vote both of them.

I agree. There should be "can't decide" option in the poll.

Tristram

The Wire by a country mile. Intro'd it to discerning friends who also loved it.

transylman

Sopranos for me. Top class acting from Gandolfini and Falco as well as strong support, scenes involving the family that were completely believable, some really funny moments, and plot twists that made the show always capable of shocking. A lot of these qualities are on show in Chrissys intervention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi-P-HWubbI

Having said that it was only at its best for the first four seasons, the last two series were a big drop off in quality for me.

Sherifu

niallk wrote: »

I haven't passed any negative judgementon the Wire yet. I have however voted for the Sopranos none-the-less. It was lightyears ahead of anything else on the box and if The Wire is as good as people say it owes to the Sopranos pushing the bar of intelligent TV programs.

You seemed to be saying it couldn't top The Sopranos and you voted for The Sopranos, both without seeing The Wire. I find that a bit strange.

As for pushing the bar I can't say one way or the other. I think The Wire owes a lot to it's Writers, Cast and HBO production values.

GhostInTheRuins

Don't forget folks, the new series of the Wire starts tonight on TG4

ronnie3585

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Don't forget folks, the new series of the Wire starts tonight on TG4

Nice one, forgot about that.

niallk

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Don't forget folks, the new series of the Wire starts tonight on TG4

If I've never seen it before could I watch it from the start of this series? Someone said each season focuses on a different aspect of society. Will it be mainly new characters or what? What time's it on at? Aertel only has TG4 covered up until Amu le Hector at 10.

Bounty Hunter

you could but I most certainley would not.

ojewriej

Yeah, it something you should watch from the start.

You're better of renting a boxset, by the time you watch 4 seasons, 5th might be out on DVD as well

godtabh

niallk wrote: »

If I've never seen it before could I watch it from the start of this series? .

Lots of back stories you wont get if you watch it from season 5

BenEadir

Hi all,

Silly question but I just got a present of the whole Sopranos series and have a problem with one disk which is disk one of Series 3. It has different graphics on the front to the rest of the disks (its plain silver whereas the rest of the disks have artwork) but that's not the proble. The problem is it is supposed to have four episodes "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighbourhood", "Proshai, Livushka", "Fortunate Son" and "Employee of the month" but it actually only has the first two, the second two are missing all together and not even listed on the disk onscreen menu.

I checked the next disk to se if they were on that for some reason but they are not, the next disk only contains the episodes it is supposed to.

The offending disk was brought back to the shop where they were bought and it was excahnged for a disck from an identicl set. It too looks different from the rest of the disks and it too only contains 2 rather than all 4 of the listed episodes.

Am I missing something here? Is this a 'feature' of the box set and I'm just not in the loop?

Really scratching my head here and would very much apreciate some input from the Soprano experts here.

Regards,

Ben

niallk

Just checked my boxset and for some reason this is the only disc which is double-sided. So you should have a double-sided disc. Don't know the reason for this but I recommend you bring it back to the shop and explain.

Jim

Was a huge fan of The Sopranos when it was current. Never missed an ep and used to watch the back eps when waiting for a new one. Awesome awesome show.

Then I watched The Wire and not only was it an amazing show but it increased the standard of what I consider "good television" by a long way.

The Wire for me.

GhostInTheRuins

BenEadir wrote: »

Hi all,

Silly question but I just got a present of the whole Sopranos series and have a problem with one disk which is disk one of Series 3. It has different graphics on the front to the rest of the disks (its plain silver whereas the rest of the disks have artwork) but that's not the proble. The problem is it is supposed to have four episodes "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighbourhood", "Proshai, Livushka", "Fortunate Son" and "Employee of the month" but it actually only has the first two, the second two are missing all together and not even listed on the disk onscreen menu.

I checked the next disk to se if they were on that for some reason but they are not, the next disk only contains the episodes it is supposed to.

The offending disk was brought back to the shop where they were bought and it was excahnged for a disck from an identicl set. It too looks different from the rest of the disks and it too only contains 2 rather than all 4 of the listed episodes.

Am I missing something here? Is this a 'feature' of the box set and I'm just not in the loop?

Really scratching my head here and would very much apreciate some input from the Soprano experts here.

Regards,

Ben

It's probably one of those discs that can be played on both sides no? Two episodes on one side, two episodes on the other.

Hardrain

The Wire for me.

BenEadir

NiallK and Ghost in the Ruins,

Man do I feel stupid. You are both spot on. It's a double sided disk. Flip it over and bingo you have the missing two episodes!!

Never even heard of double sided disks before. Why on earth would the box set contain +/-23 regular disks and one double sided disk with the fact that it is double sided written in small print right at the centre of the disk? Is it some kind of head wrecking trick by the producers? It must result in ton's of returns to the shops which the retailers must hate.

Thanks a lot lads, I knew boards would sort it for me.

Regards,

Ben

GhostInTheRuins

BenEadir wrote: »

NiallK and Ghost in the Ruins,

Man do I feel stupid. You are both spot on. It's a double sided disk. Flip it over and bingo you have the missing two episodes!!

Never even heard of double sided disks before. Why on earth would the box set contain +/-23 regular disks and one double sided disk with the fact that it is double sided written in small print right at the centre of the disk? Is it some kind of head wrecking trick by the producers? It must result in ton's of returns to the shops which the retailers must hate.

Thanks a lot lads, I knew boards would sort it for me.

Regards,

Ben

Haha no worries. The only thing more annoying are the doublesided discs that you have to flip over half way through the film: ala Micheal Collins :mad:

mewso

Deadwood.