The Wire coming to the BBC

obried26

Now everyone can marvel!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7940061.stm

flyswatter

Looking forward to seeing The Wire starting from Season 1, only seen two episodes from Season 5 on FX.

JonAnderton

About time!!!!!...

GBX

When is it starting? Doesnt say on that link.

Samurai

think i might go for round two! Always preferred watching schedualed tv shows rather than flying through a boxset

K4t

This will keep us going through the recession. Rd.2: Can't wait

deisedude

So they are going to show all 60 episodes in 1 week! That cant be right

godtabh

Its also great that there will be no adds. The way its meant to be watched

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

JPA

All 60 episodes across the show's five seasons will be shown stripped across the week.

Does this mean stripped down versions? Because showing the 60 full episodes seems impossible. And stripped down versions is what the Wire is definitely NOT about.

rovert

Did anyone watch Newsnight Review

Johnny Storm

Quote:
All 60 episodes across the show's five seasons will be shown stripped across the week.


AFAIK that means they will show 1 ep per day, 5 days a week. Same as eg StarTrek is shown on Sky 1

shane86

obried26 wrote: »

Now everyone can marvel!
]

Did it ever strike you that it may have never took off because the first series was rubbish?

Really. I saw the odd few eps in later seasons and it looked decent, but when Channel 6 started re showing season one I gave up by the 7th episode or so.

MagicMarker

I watched all the episodes together, if I had of started 1 episode per week on tv then I don't think I would have kept up with it. It's just a naturally slow moving program, there are no ''cliffhangers'' etc that might keep someone tuning in.

Running Bing

shane86 wrote: »

Really. I saw the odd few eps in later seasons and it looked decent, but when Channel 6 started re showing season one I gave up by the 7th episode or so.

Ive just finished the second season and feel it is one of the best programmes ever made but I would'nt bother recommending it to anybody to watch on tv.

DVD boxset is the only way to watch it.....I would've never stuck with it if I;d watched it on television.....for one it would take over two months before you get into and so much is happening you could not wait a week between episodes, you would be completely lost.

Its absolutely no surprise it never took off on the tv...it has to be watched the same way you would read a book.......a chapter a day;)

godtabh

shane86 wrote: »

Did it ever strike you that it may have never took off because the first series was rubbish?

Really. I saw the odd few eps in later seasons and it looked decent, but when Channel 6 started re showing season one I gave up by the 7th episode or so.

You cant just watch a few odd eps the get what its about.

Its 60 bits chain. You need each bit to complete the story. Dippin gin and out of it doesnt work

TarfHead

Dominic West was on Newstalk this morning (part of the Tom Dunne show) talking about it.

Lasted about 10 minutes - a high-level overview of all 5 seasons and some spoilers for those not yet at the end.

No mention of a specific repeat (of the interview) on the Newstalk website, but they do repeat bits of shows throughout the night.

TarfHead

from www.radiotimes.com

The Wire
Monday 30 March
11:20pm - 12:10am
BBC2

celticwe

Babybing wrote: »

Ive just finished the second season and feel it is one of the best programmes ever made but I would'nt bother recommending it to anybody to watch on tv.

DVD boxset is the only way to watch it.....I would've never stuck with it if I;d watched it on television.....for one it would take over two months before you get into and so much is happening you could not wait a week between episodes, you would be completely lost.

Its absolutely no surprise it never took off on the tv...it has to be watched the same way you would read a book.......a chapter a day;)

True that

npresto

celticwe wrote: »

True that

Most Def

Beau

Even though I have seen all the episodes and if I want to watch them again I can just redownload them, I am really looking forward to tonight! All excited.

Tadhg17

Will be watching it tonight as well. Just finished watching the 3rd series on dvd and it was bloody awesome!! The 1st series was quality too. Looking forward to seing D'Angelo, Stinkum and Weebey rolling round Baltimore

K4t

FFS :mad:

Why the hell is it on at that hour? I have to be up at 7.30 in the morning and they go showing it at half eleven at night. F**king joke. BBC are getting a letter from me tomorrow. Disgraceful.

JPA

K4t wrote: »

FFS :mad:

Why the hell is it on at that hour? I have to be up at 7.30 in the morning and they go showing it at half eleven at night. F**king joke. BBC are getting a letter from me tomorrow. Disgraceful.

NOT A LETTER?! :eek:

But can't you just record it?

mcronnymc

GBX wrote: »

When is it starting? Doesnt say on that link.

Its starting on tuesday 31st at i think 11.20 which in fairness is a bit late, I believe its then everynight at this time during the week anyhow, not to sure about the weekend

TarfHead

K4t wrote: »

FFS :mad:

Why the hell is it on at that hour? I have to be up at 7.30 in the morning and they go showing it at half eleven at night.

Are you in national school :rolleyes: ?

K4t wrote: »

F**king joke. BBC are getting a letter from me tomorrow. Disgraceful.

Demand a refund of your UK licence fee !

dave_29

Tuned in to newsnight before The Wire started, what did that insufferable twerp (Paxman) mention about some anniversary tomoro in 'ooh ireland' ?

It seems the guy heading up the crack team is the same guy doin the same thing on Fringe
& get this he's Baltimore born+bred!

Wouldnt call that detective work as its the first time seein the show, people probably noticed that before me.
Missed the end of the show as i got distracted & noticed no room left on the sky+ :eek:

Gotta lock the door tomoro nite.

Hitman Actual

dave_29 wrote: »

Missed the end of the show as i got distracted & noticed no room left on the sky+ :eek:

You can find a summary here. In fact, those episode summaries are handy even when you do see the full episode. I used them quite a bit on my first watch-through of The Wire.

Edit to add: There's an important part at the end of that episode where

William Gant, the witness in court earlier on, is found murdered

. Missing that might make later episodes confusing.

Hitman Actual

shane86 wrote: »

Did it ever strike you that it may have never took off because the first series was rubbish?

Really. I saw the odd few eps in later seasons and it looked decent, but when Channel 6 started re showing season one I gave up by the 7th episode or so.

It depends what you're looking for in a series. If you want the usual "TV for the masses", like where a whole island gets moved or Jack Bauer is faced with a moral dilemma every 20 minutes, then maybe The Wire isn't for you. As others have said, it needs to be watched over the full 60 episodes, viewing 4 or 5 a week, and of course with no ad breaks. The Wire builds slowly over each season, but the last couple of episodes in each season provide much more satisfaction than the weekly quick fixes offered by mainstream series. The analogy with reading a book is a very good one.

Here's my mini-guide to watching The Wire:
1. Watch all 60 episodes, 4 or 5 per week, no ad breaks.
2. Watch it all again to see all the parts you missed on your first viewing.
3. Watch Generation Kill for another David Simon fix of slow-burn, chain-of-command TV (maybe even read "One Bullet Away" by Nathaniel Fick while you're at it).
4. Read "Homicide: A Life on the Killing Streets" by David Simon.
5. Watch The Wire again to see all the links between the series and the book.

dave_29

Thanks for the info, as i came across this link about it as well, gotta make room soon on the sky+ as i've no other way of recording it.

BTW:

it was too late, as i'd already watched the next ep on where McNulty was called to the scene, but missing something at end of last nite's ep on where Daniels is dirty would av been bad, & probably a few more as of yet i dont know

Johnny Storm

Hitman Actual wrote: »

3. Watch Generation Kill for another David Simon fix of slow-burn, chain-of-command TV (maybe even read "One Bullet Away" by Nathaniel Fick while you're at it).
4. Read "Homicide: A Life on the Killing Streets" by David Simon.
5. Watch The Wire again to see all the links between the series and the book.

6. Watch "Homicide:Life on the Streets". Arguably an (brace yourselves now...;)) even better TV show than The Wire.

Edited to add:
Here's a little clip to give you a flavour of Homicide - minor spoiler - this scene was re-used almost word for word in The Wire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhxZ4BWeBQ

K4t

JPA wrote: »

NOT A LETTER?! :eek:

But can't you just record it?

Doesn't work. Can't they just show it at a normal hour of the night? Same thing with Mad men , showing it at 11am and the repeat at 2am. Ridiculous.

TarfHead wrote: »

Are you in national school :rolleyes: ?

Leaving Cert and I need my f**king sleep!

Hitman Actual

Johnny Storm wrote: »

6. Watch "Homicide:Life on the Streets". Arguably an (brace yourselves now...;)) even better TV show than The Wire.

Edited to add:
Here's a little clip to give you a flavour of Homicide - minor spoiler - this scene was re-used almost word for word in The Wire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhxZ4BWeBQ

Brilliantly done in The Wire as well. I'd forgotten about that series, and I've yet to start watching it; thanks for the reminder!

DeepBlue

Hitman Actual wrote: »

As others have said, it needs to be watched over the full 60 episodes, viewing 4 or 5 a week, and of course with no ad breaks.

Yikes :eek:. I pity the newcomer that discovers he has to watch 60 episodes to get into it :pac:.

Johnny Storm wrote: »

6. Watch "Homicide:Life on the Streets". Arguably an (brace yourselves now...;)) even better TV show than The Wire.

The first two seasons are very good albeit a bit dated now (unsurprisingly). Season 3 onwards shows a progressive decline towards mediocrity however.

Johnny Storm

DeepBlue wrote: »

The first two seasons are very good albeit a bit dated now (unsurprisingly). Season 3 onwards shows a progressive decline towards mediocrity however.

I'd have to respectfully disagree.
Personally I thought all the seasons were pretty good (except for season 7 = a season way too far). The TV movie that wraps it all up has its faults but overall is one of the best conclusions to a TV series ever. JIMHO.
It has been many years since I watched it and I'm sure elements of it may seem dated. I'd be interested to see what people who have seen the Wire first think of Homicide.

flyswatter

K4t wrote: »

FFS :mad:

Why the hell is it on at that hour? I have to be up at 7.30 in the morning and they go showing it at half eleven at night. F**king joke. BBC are getting a letter from me tomorrow. Disgraceful.

Have to agree with you there. I was planning on watching it but haven't bothered because its been on so late.

Hitman Actual

DeepBlue wrote: »

Yikes :eek:. I pity the newcomer that discovers he has to watch 60 episodes to get into it :pac:.

Lol, yeah, that was a bit of an exaggeration on my part . Taking a break between seasons is acceptable, but you really need a continuous run at each particular season.

D-FENS

Anyone know when Season 2 is starting on BBC?
Thought they were showing every episode, one every weeknight, for the whole five seasons?

rmcc1978

I think the voice over at the end of the last episode said season two would start in two weeks time.

D-FENS

rmcc1978 wrote: »

I think the voice over at the end of the last episode said season two would start in two weeks time.

Great, thanks

fricatus

rmcc1978 wrote: »

I think the voice over at the end of the last episode said season two would start in two weeks time.

Aaaagghhhh, a bit of a wait there... but thanks all the same!

I taped last week's episodes, just getting to the end of them now. Took a little while for it to get going but now I'm hooked. The bit where

Greggs gets shot and the subsequent investigation, including Rawls's "pep talk" to McNulty is really really explosive stuff.

Hitman Actual

fricatus wrote: »

. The bit where

Greggs gets shot and the subsequent investigation, including Rawls's "pep talk" to McNulty is really really explosive stuff.

Funny you should mention that episode, it's my favourite hour of television, of any series, ever.

adrian522

As has been stated it's on pretty late but what annoys me most is that it seems to be on a different time each night so I have to set each episode to record individually which is obviously prone to danger....

Don't have sky+ and I don't think NTL have an series link sort of thing....