Best show of the decade?

pickarooney

Just a note to Wire fanboys: being the 10,000th person to compare the series to a book
makes you sound like a clueless chump regurgitating what you somehow still think sounds clever. This comparison does not mean anything. Seriously. If you honestly like the Wire that much, do it the justice of coming up with something original and sensible to say about it.

Also: "it's layered" is supercilious twaddle.

tvnutz

pickarooney wrote: »

Just a note to Wire fanboys: being the 10,000th person to compare the series to a book
makes you sound like a clueless chump regurgitating what you somehow still think sounds clever. This comparison does not mean anything. Seriously. If you honestly like the Wire that much, do it the justice of coming up with something original and sensible to say about it.

Also: "it's layered" is supercilious twaddle.

Your post is twaddle. The FACT of the matter is that each season is written like a novel,that is 100% fact. It was written like that was on purpose. So when "fanboys" say that,it is in response to people who have watched 3 or 4 episodes and given up. Again the FACT of the matter is you cannot appreciate it unless you have seen a full season and you cannot really judge it until you have seen the full season.

Now if someone has watched an entire season and still doesn't like it,that's fine. People have different tastes or whatever. I am not going to say they are stupid or "just don't get it" because they didn't like it. I do however firmly believe you have got to watch the whole season before you can really judge it.

I love the show and think it is the most intelligent and realistic show ever made,but I am not a "fanboy",a fanboy is someone like a viewer of a show who can't admit if it has become crap when it clearly has. For example there are still smallville fanboys who think it is still 100% quality. I rave about the Wire because I think it is brilliant and I watched it when it was first on tv before it because popular. I actually prefered it when hardly anyone knew about it because now it gathers a backlash from so many people saying how great it is.

Also your comment about coming up with something original and sensible instead of saying it is multi layered-get over it. People love the show and clearly it hits a nerve with you for whatever reason. The FACT is that it is multi layered. And as Charlie Brooker says anyone who uses the phrase multilayered "sounds like an absolute tosser",it is actually true. So ye you don't like it,there are fans who act like their opinion is fact when its not,but don't post twaddle like you just did that lumps every fan into the one group.

Bit of a Rafa Benitez style rant there...FHACT!

seanie500

cant believe only one person mentioned OZ!

have watched all 5 series of the wire ya its v good but Oz is absolute quality (lot of the wire cast are in it - Pre Wire) - highly reccomend it gritty prison drama not like prison break( hollywood version)

Followed by rescue me and curb for comedy Larry david is hilarious:D

KittyeeTrix

Lost and Shameless:)

and loving Fringe at the moment!!!

K4t

Oz is a good show and a roller coaster of a ride (I hope that's not a pun) but to even compare it to the likes of The Wire or The Soprnaos is imho ridiculous. The latter offer so much more in terms of storyline, realism, acting, etc.

artielange

Has anyone mentioned The Wire?:D

Diabhal_Glas

Mine was Six feet under but im sure nobody will agree

nervous_twitch

Six Feet Under, without a doubt.

rovert

pickarooney wrote: »

Just a note to Wire fanboys: being the 10,000th person to compare the series to a book
makes you sound like a clueless chump regurgitating what you somehow still think sounds clever. This comparison does not mean anything. Seriously. If you honestly like the Wire that much, do it the justice of coming up with something original and sensible to say about it.

Also: "it's layered" is supercilious twaddle.

But what if both statements are true? You are suggesting people should be difference for the sake of being difference?

LOLing @ your sub Booker rant btw.

Tristram

Would have included Oz but thought it's air dates were more 90s than 00s? FarScape only just squeezed in having started in '99.

Just checked. Oz aired from July 1997 to Feb 2003. *shrugs*

Vegeta

staker wrote: »

Malcolm in the Middle

Oh that's a good call, what a brilliant show

Vegeta

Venom wrote: »

Firefly and Reaper for series cut short unfairly

Indeed, was following Reaper on TV and was disappointed to see it shut down. Now it wasn't the most clever show on TV but entertaining all the same

vinylbomb

pickarooney wrote: »

Just a note to Wire fanboys: being the 10,000th person to compare the series to a book
makes you sound like a clueless chump regurgitating what you somehow still think sounds clever. This comparison does not mean anything. Seriously. If you honestly like the Wire that much, do it the justice of coming up with something original and sensible to say about it.

Also: "it's layered" is supercilious twaddle.

I'll leave it to the one and only Clay Davis to give my response to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30YW3wgRvyI

don101

arrested development for me

pickarooney

tvnutz wrote: »

Your post is twaddle. The FACT of the matter is that each season is written like a novel,that is 100% fact. It was written like that was on purpose.

What novel exactly? Catch 22? Catcher in The Rye? P.S. I Love You? A television series is no more like a novel than it is a cake.

A novel composed of 85% dialogue wouldn't get near a publisher.

At least say something about the acting, the direction, the camerawork, the script, the editing... if you must champion it so vehemently (and honestly "I like it better when nobody knew it" is the epitome of fanboyism).

I've yet to see anyone make a coherent, rational case for why The Wire is 'that' good.

Elmo

pickarooney wrote: »

I've yet to see anyone make a coherent, rational case for why The Wire is 'that' good.

I haven't seen you make a coherent, rational case for why The Wire isn't 'that' good. I have a few suggestions but I think it would be just nit picking but it would be interesting to see if you come up with the same points.

tvnutz

pickarooney wrote: »

What novel exactly? Catch 22? Catcher in The Rye? P.S. I Love You? A television series is no more like a novel than it is a cake.

A novel composed of 85% dialogue wouldn't get near a publisher.

At least say something about the acting, the direction, the camerawork, the script, the editing... if you must champion it so vehemently (and honestly "I like it better when nobody knew it" is the epitome of fanboyism).

I've yet to see anyone make a coherent, rational case for why The Wire is 'that' good.

Well of course not in terms of dialogue,you can't have a tv show without dialogue. In terms of structure,in terms of how it unfolds. A novel unfolds chapter by chapter. At the end of each chapter the storyline is not neatly tied up but they carry a small little story through the rest of the book like an episode of CSI where the story is wrapped up after 40mins but for the season there might be a arc through the season that isn't even dealt with every episode. The Wire flows like a novel,there are no things wrapped up at the end of each episode,you have to watch the season as a whole for the story. That is the point.

In terms of the writing it is the most intelligent writing I have ever seen in a tv show and it doesn't make concessions for the average viewer which is so refreshing. you need to pay attention,you need to know what is going on. They won't throw up a little flashback to remind you why this is happening.

rovert

pickarooney wrote: »

I've yet to see anyone make a coherent, rational case for why The Wire is 'that' good.

Yeah notoriously critcally unacclaimed that yoke

pickarooney

tvnutz wrote: »

Well of course not in terms of dialogue,you can't have a tv show without dialogue. In terms of structure,in terms of how it unfolds. A novel unfolds chapter by chapter. At the end of each chapter the storyline is not neatly tied up but they carry a small little story through the rest of the book like an episode of CSI where the story is wrapped up after 40mins but for the season there might be a arc through the season that isn't even dealt with every episode. The Wire flows like a novel,there are no things wrapped up at the end of each episode,you have to watch the season as a whole for the story. That is the point.

In terms of the writing it is the most intelligent writing I have ever seen in a tv show and it doesn't make concessions for the average viewer which is so refreshing. you need to pay attention,you need to know what is going on. They won't throw up a little flashback to remind you why this is happening.

You seem to have a bizarrely one-dimensional notion of what a novel is or how it's written. Not only are innumerable novels written in precisely this manner - event + cliffhanger -> next chapter but the idea of a story arc that lasts a whole season or even a whole series is not new or unique to The Wire. Off the top of my head Lost, The Shield, Bodies, Twin Peaks all work on the premise of a single driving storyline, usually with shorter-spanned arcs running concurrently.

Even on a lowbrow level, compare a season of 24 with a Dan Brown novel and you'll see that, for all that the comparison is worth (i.e. next to nothing) the series is just like a novel.

Elmo wrote:

I haven't seen you make a coherent, rational case for why The Wire isn't 'that' good. I have a few suggestions but I think it would be just nit picking but it would be interesting to see if you come up with the same points.

It's not really my place to make a case as to why The Wire isn't that good. I've only seen about 15 episodes of it, so it would be presumptuous to make any detailed case against its greatness, if I had any particular reason to do that, which I don't. I don't particularly dislike The Wire, from what I've seen it's a very decent cop show and, who knows, when I watch more I may start to really enjoy it.

My beef is not so much with the show itself as with those who simply can't or won't accept anyone's opinion that it's not the perfect show but are at the same time incapable of presenting a case as to why it is. Any criticism seems to be taken almost as a personal slight and tends to be responded to by means of criticism of the underwhelmed viewer who's "not watching it properly".

Having said that, in my opinion the program suffers from a lack of engaging characters and overindulgence in the minutiae of bureaucracy and police politics at the expense of a gripping storyline. Some of the acting is sub-par (although Idris Elba for one is admittedly brilliant) and the cast just a little too pretty.

K-Ren

Have to go with Top Gear- total entertainment.

rmchmufc

I would say either Band of Brothers or Dexter. Absolute quality the two of them

Elmo

pickarooney wrote: »

You seem to have a bizarrely one-dimensional notion of what a novel is or how it's written. Not only are innumerable novels written in precisely this manner - event + cliffhanger -> next chapter but the idea of a story arc that lasts a whole season or even a whole series is not new or unique to The Wire. Off the top of my head Lost, The Shield, Bodies, Twin Peaks all work on the premise of a single driving storyline, usually with shorter-spanned arcs running concurrently.

Even on a lowbrow level, compare a season of 24 with a Dan Brown novel and you'll see that, for all that the comparison is worth (i.e. next to nothing) the series is just like a novel.

I love 24 can't wait for Day 8 However both 24 and a Dan Brown novel can be compared. I hate Dan Brown novels. Mainly since they are the same rehashed story with different characters different settings and they insist on letting the reader know that their are things known as NSA and the Priory of Sion hence leading a reader to believe that this is the truth. Often the novels are overly filled with "fascinating" facts, 1D characters and the cliffhanger ending of each chapter. There was even a suggestion that 24 would use Digital Fortress as one of its seasons. The Wire is not a Dan Brown novel, it is far superior.

It's not really my place to make a case as to why The Wire isn't that good. I've only seen about 15 episodes of it, so it would be presumptuous to make any detailed case against its greatness, if I had any particular reason to do that, which I don't. I don't particularly dislike The Wire, from what I've seen it's a very decent cop show and, who knows, when I watch more I may start to really enjoy it.

My beef is not so much with the show itself as with those who simply can't or won't accept anyone's opinion that it's not the perfect show but are at the same time incapable of presenting a case as to why it is. Any criticism seems to be taken almost as a personal slight and tends to be responded to by means of criticism of the underwhelmed viewer who's "not watching it properly".

Having said that, in my opinion the program suffers from a lack of engaging characters and overindulgence in the minutiae of bureaucracy and police politics at the expense of a gripping storyline. Some of the acting is sub-par (although Idris Elba for one is admittedly brilliant) and the cast just a little too pretty.

I wouldn't have said that any of the acting in The Wire is bad. My one issue would be the use of "real" ghetto on the show. The phenomenal amount of stereotyping that occur across the show, for example the only main female cop happens to be a butch Lesbian.

Characters have a huge amount of depth that not only span from before the show but also across the 4 seasons that I watched.

rovert

Elmo wrote: »

My one issue would be the use of "real" ghetto on the show. The phenomenal amount of stereotyping that occur across the show, for example the only main female cop happens to be a butch Lesbian.

Huh on all of the above?

Elmo

rovert wrote: »

Huh on all of the above?

Huh? on that question alone.

Members of the cast were actual gang members and there is a huge amount of stereotyping in The Wire. As I said in my previous post if I were to state my issues about the Wire it would purely be nitpicking.

rovert

Elmo wrote: »

Huh? on that question alone.

Members of the cast were actual gang members and there is a huge amount of stereotyping in The Wire. As I said in my previous post if I were to state my issues about the Wire it would purely be nitpicking.

Please explain both please.

VeVeX

My favorites would be -

The Shield
Sopranos
Friday Night Lights
House
Dexter
True Blood
Entourage
Californication

Probably in that order aswell. Never liked Lost and have tried twice to give the wire a go but couldnt get into it really.

Elmo

rovert wrote: »

Please explain both please.

Spell it out. Then I might be able explain the part that confuses you.

Tchaikovsky

Seeing as I only really watch comedies, I'd say Curb Your Enthusiasm or Peep Show.

rovert

Elmo wrote: »

Spell it out. Then I might be able explain the part that confuses you.

The nitpicks you cited when I answered you on. Ellaborate...

Elmo

rovert wrote: »

The nitpicks you cited when I answered you on. Ellaborate...

Why elaborate on something that is purely nitpicking an accomplished series? I said I didn't want to and I won't, someone else can have that task if they really want it. The Wire has too many positives to nitpick its few problems.