The Wire vs. The Sopranos

Chuck Stone

NWPat wrote: »

Sopranos is the by far the superior tv drama, the Wire is good, but its characters are cartoon like in comparison.

Lol, no. You haz it ass backwards Sir.

Degag

Ya know something? I've watched both series' and while i would marginally prefer The Wire, they are both fantastic. We shouldn't be trying to decide which is better, just agreeing that they're both great!

PARKHEAD67

Degag wrote: »

Ya know something? I've watched both series' and while i would marginally prefer The Wire, they are both fantastic. We shouldn't be trying to decide which is better, just agreeing that they're both great!

No Sopranos always:D

Chuck Stone

I forgot all about this genius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sarYH0z948

:pac::pac::pac:

hidinginthebush

It's too tough to call IMO. I loved sopranos from the first episode I saw, whereas with the Wire I had actually watched the first 1 and a half seasons and still hated, then came back to it 2 years later and loved it. I think the sopranos has more interesting characters.

Though as said before, Band of Brothers beats everything, absolutely fantastic film! I would also highly recommend Breaking Bad to everybody, amazing show!

Riddle101

I've only watched The Sopranos, so I can't say which is better. But I don't think there's anything that i'd enjoy more The Sopranos anyway since it's my favourite tv show.

123balltv

The Sopranos a bottle of red a plate of lasagne and thats it hooked for the night I always watch the same episodes over and over again find
something new everytime you can relax feel like part of the Soprano family
could never get into the wire

filthymcnasty

Sopranos hands down, one of the few shows I can watch repeatadly. Fantastic multi faceted charcters in Tony, Ralphie, Chris et al.
The Wire has its moments but is as someone said a bit boring in parts. Other than Omar no real depth to a lot of the main protagonists.

one of my favourite scenes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2dZPU595xM

ForceOfNature

apparently that irish comedian Catherine Lynch thinks the wire is of superior quality compared to the sopranos.......................... so there

Goldstein

The Wire by a nose. But make no mistake, you're trying to choose between two of the greatest tv shows ever made.

Let's just all give thanks for HBO!

oppiuy

I watched the wire a few months back. The first ep was terrible but so glad i watched kept going. Such a great show and it had me hooked. Only season 2 was slow.

Now watching the Sopranos, and mid way through season 4. Im liking the show but not loving it. Possibly because of Season 4. It seems very slow and its not really holding my interest. At this point i would say the Wire wins hands down but ill be back once ive finished the Sopranos

KeanSeenan

oppiuy wrote: »

I watched the wire a few months back. The first ep was terrible but so glad i watched kept going. Such a great show and it had me hooked. Only season 2 was slow.

Now watching the Sopranos, and mid way through season 4. Im liking the show but not loving it. Possibly because of Season 4. It seems very slow and its not really holding my interest. At this point i would say the Wire wins hands down but ill be back once ive finished the Sopranos

Everyone says that the second season is either the worst or slow, probably because it takes focus away from everything you're used to and has to build up an aspect of society from the ground, but I thought it was great. Especially the greek song at the end.
I lost interest in The Sopranos at that point aswell I think, came back to it though. So glad I did.

GodlessInfidel

The Sopranos, better script, better humour, better characters

Morgans

More LOL moments in the Sopranos alright. Maybe that's a plus point for the Wire in a way. Just telling the story.

Sopranos peaked with Ralphie and Tony in the kitchen. Some flashes of brilliance after, but you had to be patient to get to them. They had one eye on the exit strategy for the last three years of its run.

For me, the question is whether The Sopranos is the second best drama on TV.

GodlessInfidel

I do love the Wire but i must say the last season with McNulty and the serial killing storyline was ridiculous and completely unbelievable.

Although completely different i would say too that Six Feet Under and Mad Men (so far) are superior dramas to The Wire

Morgans

I'd ahve some sympathy for the first line there, but having watched all the programs you have mentioned, The Wire is by a long way the one that stayed with me the longest. Baltimore continued on, just the story wasn't told anymore once the series ended.

barone

ive seen both several times,the wire gets if for me for its more reality driven production,omar is a legend

id also recommend
oz
brotherhood
taken
the shield

CrackisWhack

No competition, The Soprano's hands down, as a previous poster mentioned, better script, better characters,better acting(apart from Silvio's wife) and more humour.

amacachi

GodlessInfidel wrote: »

I do love the Wire but i must say the last season with McNulty and the serial killing storyline was ridiculous and completely unbelievable.

How many times have you watched The Wire? The first time I definitely thought that storyline was ridiculous but anytime I've watched since then it's fine.

Also I don't know how anyone can say The Wire isn't funny, there's at least a couple of chuckles in the vast majority of episodes and the odd need to pause from laughing so hard.

Mindkiller

The Wire is full of humour. Ironic juxtaposition, black humour etc.

I've always found the scene where Bodie picks the flowers for

D'Angelo's funeral

hilarious. Just their idea of sentimentality is funny to an outsider. Herc walking in on the Mayor (can't remember name) is a classic as well.

By far my favourite funny scene in either show though is when Bobby and Tony are talking about 9/11. When Bobby says that 'Quasimodo predicted all this (Notre Dame/Nostradamus)'. Only redeeming aspect of that character imo.

edit: oh, and the 'lie detector' scene. Technically Homicide did it first but it still shows that the writers had a great sense of humour

Dots1982

I never really got why people raved about the sopranos so much, I think its a fun show with great opening credits, loads of t*ts and ass and gratitious violence etc but I never took the characters too seriously and when they had a half baked romance between Furio and Carmella and tried to make a whole episode on the basis of Tony's dreams and then throw in an ambigious unsatisfying ending it really went out badly.

The wire on the other hand is near perfect. Its incredible in how it deals with the inner workings of a whole city's crime, port, political, law enforcement, education and print media systems. But above all this it's brilliant in how it deals with human nature and the good vs bad in everyday people.

Generation Kill is a very thought provoking show as well from the maker of the Wire.

PhiloCypher

It always gets my goat when people complain the dialogue in the wire is too hard to understand , are these people special ? sure there are slang terms thrown about like re-up but if your paying attention at all and look at context its pretty damn obvious what it means , Sopranos is no different in this respect lots of mobster slang but other then expletive ridden queens english .

Its all about context people .

GodlessInfidel

Never said the Wire is not funny in parts it's just that The Sopranos humour is twice as good.

And anyone mentioning Oz as a great drama... well each to their own

fitz

Dots1982 wrote: »

... and then throw in an ambigious unsatisfying ending it really went out badly.

Whatever else you have to say about The Sopranos, the ending is far from ambiguous. This sums it up (obviously contains spoliers for the ending of the series): http://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/

sunny_seaside

I watched the Sopranos a couple of years ago - best drama I have ever seen by a country mile. Incredible acting, thrilling plot... actually compares with anything Shakespeare ever did (seriously) in terms of character development.

I had heard The Wire was even better, so have just finished season 3, and I can tell you it is good, but not great. It is just too bloody slow. The acting is very good, the characters are well rounded and multi layered, but the plot never really reaches the heights it should. Don't get me wrong, there are some great moments (see links below for a couple of great scenes that stand on their own (no spoilers)), but Jesus they are few and far between.

I would watch the Sopranoes from beginning to end again, but not The Wire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sNZ7ulO1RQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc9aWjAQ7SI

Dman001

Anyone with Sky, they have the full of Season 1,2,3 and the current pace of Season 4 of The Sopranos on Sky Go. Handy with the Christmas period coming up. They also decided to put up the full season 1 of An Idiot Abroad, Season 7 and 8 of 24, Bedlam and Season 1 of Sparatcus.

M cebee

I watched every episode of both
very hard to call
id say the wire for characterization
stringer omar bubbles marlo

sunny_seaside

the Wire for a greater variety in charaterisation, but the Sopraons for the plot, ya feel me ?

Harps

Definitely the Wire taken as an overall package, I didn't like the last season at all but season 4 is the single best season of any show I've ever seen, pure brilliance for reasons I surely need not mention.

The Soprano's is also a great show but I found the last few seasons a bit tough to get into with all the negativity and depression. Maybe not a fair fault in subjecting the two but I simply couldn't enjoy the Sopranos as much towards the end..

Currently my all time two favourite programmes regardless of anything so I'm not being biased towards one or the other

expectationlost

sunny_seaside wrote: »

I watched the Sopranos a couple of years ago - best drama I have ever seen by a country mile. Incredible acting, thrilling plot... actually compares with anything Shakespeare ever did (seriously) in terms of character development.

I had heard The Wire was even better, so have just finished season 3, and I can tell you it is good, but not great. It is just too bloody slow. The acting is very good, the characters are well rounded and multi layered, but the plot never really reaches the heights it should

the heights? it supposed to be a polemic not a thriller