The Wire Being Remastered in HD

kingtiger

Strong rumor that The Wire is being Remastered, Rebroadcast in HD

lets hope its true

http://hbowatch.com/the-wire-being-remastered-rebroadcast-in-hd-by-hbo/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpC3JtED-Po

Thargor

Ah thanks, glad I saw this thread, will be holding off on a rewatch until then, think Ill go with the Shield instead...

Far as I know the show was shot wide but framed for 4:3 meaning that if they so wished they could offer up a widescreen version as was seen a few years ago on Direct TV and more recently on Amazon. It was only ever intended to be watched in 4:3 so as to retain that real feeling that they wnated.

Here's how it was intended to look


And this is how the wide version looks.

IvaBigWun

They could remaster and recreate it using 3D holographics that beamed into my house and reinacted all the scenes and I'll probably still fail to get past the first season.

The most over-rated TV show of all time.

markhogan

IvaBigWun wrote: »

They could remaster and recreate it using 3D holographics that beamed into my house and reinacted all the scenes and I'll probably still fail to get past the first season.

The most over-rated TV show of all time.

I have to agree with you i think it is a really bad show just cant get into it at all

Custardpi

Go back again & stick with it. I struggled to get past the first few episodes, there's a huge amount to take in. Persevered though & after about episode 6 of the first season was hooked. It will be interesting to see what the remaster is like, a lot of the time it's just a gimmick to sell the same thing again while adding very little extra to the experience.

o1s1n

IvaBigWun wrote: »

They could remaster and recreate it using 3D holographics that beamed into my house and reinacted all the scenes and I'll probably still fail to get past the first season.

The most over-rated TV show of all time.

Yeah I watched the first season and thought it was only okay. Started the second but lost interest.

IvaBigWun

markhogan wrote: »

I have to agree with you i think it is a really bad show just cant get into it at all

Its not really bad. Just ridiculously over-rated.

Custardpi wrote: »

Go back again & stick with it. I struggled to get past the first few episodes, there's a huge amount to take in. Persevered though & after about episode 6 of the first season was hooked.

I struggled to get through the entire first season! I really wanted to give it a good shot as many call it the best of all time.

Not me.

kingtiger

Fair enough ye are all entilited to your opinion, but for me its one of the top of three of all time, the complexity of the story just adds a richness that has never been equaled imo

Not saying it was without it faults but for me you are seriously missing out if you don't at least give it a chance and forget about the hype and preconceptions

But overrated I don't think so

MonkstownHoop

Why do people insist on coming onto a thread about a show they don't like just to slate it?

tvnutz

It is the best tv show ever made. And I say that as someone who found the first season very slow and gave up after a few eps of the 2nd season, only to go back and watch it again. Then when you view the whole things again a seoncd time you really see why it is genius. Best show period.

Diabhal Beag

You're missing out on brilliant TV if you skip it after the first few episodes and you get no sympathy from me. Not every show can be The Shield in terms of instant great episodes from start to finish.

ziedth

I think the wire is one of those shows that is easier to watch week to week then downloaded.

I have to agree though, it's definitely in my top 3. Like what has been said it's not without it's faults but apart from an iffy season two it really is must see TV imho.

Euphoria Intensifies

I started watching The Wire again this summer (after previously watching about half of first season and getting bored). Seriously, do try and give it another go. It is a fantastic show with great characters and stories. I agree with the idea of watching in small doses rather than marathoning it - think it's a show that you need to digest and think over. I haven't finished season 5 yet, but I can already say that it is the best TV show I have watched. And I was more than willing to not believe the hype about it.

On the actual topic of this thread, it'd be interesting to watch a remastered version, but I don't know how much it'd really add, especially to the later seasons.

Kerplunk124

Natural Pooooo-leeece

Last_Minute

Best show ever created and it also has great reply value.

I think that series 2 is the strongest of them and the one that just gets better and better each time you watch it. For me The Wire is the greatest show ever made, an adult drama that's layered, difficult to get into and one that understands that gratuitous sex and violence is not what makes drama adult. That a show can turn something as bland as a group of people listening in on conversations into nail biting, tension laden drama is something to behold.

trashcan

I'll add my voice to the "best ever brigade." I've never seen anything that came close, and I don't expect to. Really don't understand how people think it's over rated. You just have to watch dross like CSI, NCIS, Law and Order etc to see how it's miles ahead. I watched Season 1 of the Shield and did't think it came close. It felt way over the top in comparison. Yes, the Wire is slow and methodocal, but it's a magnificent feat of storytelling with an amazing, varied bunch of characters, all of who felt real.

Thargor

The Shield starts out moronic and loud but gets more subtle and deep as it goes along, tbh the way it all turned out after things go down at the end affected me more than The Wire or The Sopranos or any of the others I think.

pickarooney

I really only liked seasons 3 and 4, which were superb. I found the first two a real drag to get through and the 5th a bit hokey.

desertcircus

Almost every five-season show I've watched has had an underwhelming final season - BSG, Breaking Bad, The Wire...Galactica went a bit nonsensical towards the end, but produced some phenomenal episodes even then.

krudler

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that series 2 is the strongest of them and the one that just gets better and better each time you watch it. For me The Wire is the greatest show ever made, an adult drama that's layered, difficult to get into and one that understands that gratuitous sex and violence is not what makes drama adult. That a show can turn something as bland as a group of people listening in on conversations into nail biting, tension laden drama is something to behold.

Season 2 is the "difficult" one, but I agree it gets better on rewatches. Frank Sabotka is a fantastic character. Ziggy still annoys the crap out of me though, which is the point I know but still.
I would have said it was the weakest season the first time I saw it but now I like it a lot more having seen it again. It's more complex than the first and moving the case out of the towers and to the docks was inspired. It also has two of the funniest scenes in the entire show, Bunk and Lester interviewing the ship's crew "negro! you do not sail halfway round the world and not learn any motherfcukin' English!" and McNulty's trip to the brothel.

It's actually easy to forget how damn funny The Wire is throughout, there's at least one laugh out loud moment in each episode.

krudler

krudler wrote: »

Season 2 is the "difficult" one, but I agree it gets better on rewatches. Frank Sabotka is a fantastic character. Ziggy still annoys the crap out of me though, which is the point I know but still.
I would have said it was the weakest season the first time I saw it but now I like it a lot more having seen it again. It's more complex than the first and moving the case out of the towers and to the docks was inspired. It also has two of the funniest scenes in the entire show, Bunk and Lester interviewing the ship's crew "negro! you do not sail halfway round the world and not learn any motherfcukin' English!" and McNulty's trip to the brothel.

It's actually easy to forget how damn funny The Wire is throughout, there's at least one laugh out loud moment in each episode.

Even after watching each episode a dozen times I still find myself laughing my ass off at least once an episode. It really is just brilliantly written and acted TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS6pE88Xg3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN7pkFNEg5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBL2Wq5YjSw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B26xw77tQEI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRRHb2WphWs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiwDMK0H09o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiwDMK0H09o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZnw6wuGBgk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iCH_Jw32YE

Huge spoilers ahead as this is the series 2 end montage which is just a wonderful 4 and a half minutes and amongst my all time favorite scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SO40ansNU8

TwoShedsJackson

desertcircus wrote: »

Almost every five-season show I've watched has had an underwhelming final season - BSG, Breaking Bad, The Wire...Galactica went a bit nonsensical towards the end, but produced some phenomenal episodes even then.

I'll agree on The Wire, but BSG only had four seasons and as for the last season of Breaking Bad being underwhelming...

Also, how is 'Omar testifies against Bird in court' not in the scenes listed in the post above this?

desertcircus

BSG season four was split in two - I think of the second half as season five, should have made that clearer.

I thought the last few episodes of Breaking Bad were wildly off in pacing and in realism - it bugged the crap out of me that no effort was made to explain how the most wanted man in north America was able to travel halfway across the country without any problems, barely two or three episodes after they'd established that getting him into the mountains was unbelievably difficult. And the pacing was really off - it oscillated from careful, minute-by-minute patience to skipping weeks and months at a time, which jarred wildly with the previous four seasons.

Rucking_Fetard

Watched it all, def wouldn't watch it again.

moc moc a moc

Feckin' brilliant news if it's true. About the only thing I can fault this show for in recent years is that when I want to rewatch it, I have to do so in 4:3 SD on a widescreen HDTV.

IvaBigWun wrote: »

I'll probably still fail to get past the first season.

The most over-rated TV show of all time.

Sheeeeeiiiiiit, if you didn't even make it through the first season then you're not in a position to comment on whether the show is over-rated. The beauty of The Wire is in the progression of its characters' stories, and this can only be truly appreciated over the entire length of the series.

I'm not prone to hyperbole, so I really mean it when I say that The Wire is literally the best television show ever made.

moc moc a moc

moc moc a moc wrote: »

Feckin' brilliant news if it's true. About the only thing I can fault this show for in recent years is that when I want to rewatch it, I have to do so in 4:3 SD on a widescreen HDTV.

How can you fault the show for the manner in which it was shot and intended to be watched? If they do a HD remaster and it's not in 4:9 then I won't be bothering with it.

kryogen

ziedth wrote: »

I think the wire is one of those shows that is easier to watch week to week then downloaded.

I have to agree though, it's definitely in my top 3. Like what has been said it's not without it's faults but apart from an iffy season two it really is must see TV imho.

I feel the opposite, didnt watch it during its original run and feel that personally I would never have made it if I had to wait a week between shows and a year between seasons!

The classic just one more episode show

moc moc a moc

Deleted User wrote: »

How can you fault the show for the manner in which it was shot and intended to be watched?

Actually, it was originally shot in 16:9 (just broadcast at 4:3, presumably because this was the most common TV aspect ratio at the time). The decision to keep it at 4:3 was made later on; partly as a style choice, partly because it was cheaper.

I don't need to agree with the director's choice of aspect ratio 10 years ago to be able to appreciate a classic show being updated to suit modern video equipment.

moc moc a moc

moc moc a moc wrote: »

Actually, it was originally shot in 16:9 (just broadcast at 4:3, presumably because this was the most common TV aspect ratio at the time). The decision to keep it at 4:3 was made later on; partly as a style choice, partly because it was cheaper.

I don't need to agree with the director's choice of aspect ratio 10 years ago to be able to appreciate a classic show being updated to suit modern video equipment.

I'm aware that it was shot in 16:9 but it was framed for 4:3 so as to have that documentary feel. There is no need to broadcast the show in 16:9, especially if the creator had an aesthetic look and feel in mind. The Shield was released in 16:9 on DVD and it looked terrible and was completely against the creators wishes.

I'm currently rewatching Callan and the Fugitive and I would hate to see them tampered with so as to make use of modern TVs. There's no need for it and aspect ratio tampering is irritating and unnecessary. It's akin to wanting to recolour black and white film.

Adamantium

Along with BSG, this is my favorite piece of media of all time.
Both were life changing pieces of work(yeah I know that sounds ridiculous an corny but it's true) for me personally and both watched over the same summer of 2009.

Exhausting, emotionally and mentally but revelatory. Characters were human, flawed, but inspiring and oddly iconic and everything was delivered with a sense of gravitas that was totally approriate. Love the naturalistic look and feel of both and the fact they're honest, sincere examinations of people cracking under pressure from institutions and outside, the long span/view of time history and is it even worth trying to build something in such chaos when it'll inevitably be washed away.

Those worlds and characters still turn in my head years later (much like Father Ted, yeah I know another strange tangent, lol), I think the very best stories we watch we take a little bit our souls with them.

BB felt like a teenage power fantasy, even comic booky in comparison and honestly that **** felt shallow as a puddle, (but fun, I suppose, it had mass market appeal) after the Wire and BSG so it doesn't surprise when the critical community were staying the hell from two shows that felt like a journey were the set up and settings of the shows changed almost every other season to explore different sides, and layering the characters to the point were even secondary players feel alive and essential to proceedings in their respective universes. I found them all alive, therefore they didn't annoy me, because I was like you know what "That's I'd react too, that's true to the context of the larger world"

Like novels for broadcast.

On the other hand, BB had a habit of characters fecking up, getting a break and at the start of every season opener after 2, I could think of a hundred different plausible directions it could go off in, not learning their mistakes and self inflicting again. Hitting the reset button in a way. I actually the most interesting, real, thematic part of the show were the last 3 episodes which could have happened seasons earlier and then

we could follow Walt and Jesse/ not dead Jane on the run from international law enforcement, globetrotting

. THAT point of no return would have wild to see and have it vastly expanded, but it turns out it wasn't be that story they wanted to see unfortunately. It took too long where it end up and while where it did end up was amazing/horrific, stomach churning

for that one particular episode and the cartharsis afterwards

I thought not focusing on the wider picture more was a missed oppurtunity (though season 5 tried to fit the small story into a larger context which I liked), I suppose I feel a bit left down, still loved it though. Such a contradiction though

ringadingding

Huge fan here of tv in general, huge fan of the wire.

I've watched this in it's entirety at least 10 times, and each time I notice something I'd missed before.

It's so layered and complexed,
It took my second watch to realise it's not just a cops n robbers nonsense tv show like the rest.

That said, season 5 was too indulgent

AndonHandon

Only on 2nd series, episode 7 but this is exceptional and vital to fully accredit television with some artistic/intellectual value.

Thargor

Any word on the HD remaster since?

trashcan

AndonHandon wrote: »

Only on 2nd series, episode 7 but this is exceptional and vital to fully accredit television with some artistic/intellectual value.

You lucky bugger. So much good stuff ahead of you.

Season 4 in particular is epic I think. Best TV I've ever seen.

djPSB

The Wire better than Game of Thrones?

irishfeen

djPSB wrote: »

The Wire better than Game of Thrones?

Hard to say, there are a completely different kettle of fish almost too different to compare.. Its like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos too - all unique in their own right.

Cheese Wagstaff

djPSB wrote: »

The Wire better than Game of Thrones?

Complexity wise, I would say yes. The attention to detail in The Wire is on a different level to anything else. Not that GOT doesn't pay attention to detail, it's a brilliantly entertaining show. It doesn't bring the same level of humanity to its characters though, just my two cents.

kryogen

djPSB wrote: »

The Wire better than Game of Thrones?

Its like comparing apples and oranges to be fair.

Depends on what your in to really

Squeedily Spooch

AndonHandon wrote: »

Only on 2nd series, episode 7 but this is exceptional and vital to fully accredit television with some artistic/intellectual value.

Seasons 3 and 4 are even better, 5 isn't as good but to be fair it had to follow some amazing television, it's still good but not Wire good if that makes sense.

DoYouEvenLift

Squeedily Spooch wrote: »

Seasons 3 and 4 are even better, 5 isn't as good but to be fair it had to follow some amazing television, it's still good but not Wire good if that makes sense.

Why would you even say this directly to someone who hasn't finished the show?

trashcan

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Why would you even say this directly to someone who hasn't finished the show?

Why not ? It's just an opinion (one shared by a lot of fans I'd say) It's not like he spoilered anything - like mentioning the scene with McNulty and the alien...*

anyway, if AndonHandon gets to th end of Season 4 (which I'm presuming he will) then you know there's no way he's not watching Season 5.


*Just kidding. It's Bunk and the alien of course:D

DoYouEvenLift

trashcan wrote: »

Why not ? It's just an opinion (one shared by a lot of fans I'd say) It's not like he spoilered anything - like mentioning the scene with McNulty and the alien...*

anyway, if AndonHandon gets to th end of Season 4 (which I'm presuming he will) then you know there's no way he's not watching Season 5.


*Just kidding. It's Bunk and the alien of course:D

It's just better to give a broad opinion on the show as a whole to people who haven't finished it all instead of being specific about which season they haven't watched yet is the best because then their expectations can be too high. It's like when you're watching a movie you haven't seen before with someone who has and they'll say "this scene coming up here in a minute is unreal, wait for it" and then you just feel disappointed. As for people who spoil shows and movies properly...scumbags lol

Diabhal Beag

There's a huge difference between a spoiler and an opinion. Me saying the Ziggy season is not the worst season out of the 5 isn't a spoiler in any way for example.

kingtiger

Official press release

Now, new and old fans of the series can watch the show like never before thanks to a brand new High-Definition upgrade of all 60 episodes, which will debut in December on HBO Signature® and HBO GO®. The Wire: The Complete Series will be available to own on Digital HD Monday, January 5, 2015 and on Blu-rayTM in Summer 2015.
- The entire series has been beautifully re-mastered in 16x9 Full-Frame HD from more than 8,000 reels of original 35mm camera negative, allowing for a tighter fit on widescreen TVs and computer/tablet screens. The original negatives were scanned, edited, dust-busted and color-corrected with great care and attention taken to stay true to the look and feel of the original Standard-Definition 4x3 version.
- The Wire: The Complete Series in HD will be available for the first time as a full series purchase at iTunes, Google Play, X-Box Video and Vudu on January 5. Individual episodes and seasons will be available through all of HBO’s Digital HD retailers.
- To celebrate the HD launch, HBO Signature will air the entire series consecutively, one season per day starting with season 1 on Friday, December 26 at noon. The marathon will wrap with season 5 on Tuesday, December 30.
- This will be the first time The Wire has aired on a linear HBO channel since Season 5 wrapped in 2008, as well as the first time that all five seasons of the entire series have aired consecutively on the network.
- All 60 episodes will also be available in HD on HBO GO starting December 26.

David Simon on the matter

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/

DoYouEvenLift

kingtiger wrote: »

Official press release



David Simon on the matter

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/

Thank God I held off watching it in that sh!tty stretched version on sky. Wonder how much the bluray box set will cost

Falthyron

Never has this meme been any more relevant than it has right now...

expectationlost

as long as they don't do this http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/15/7397395/buffy-widescreen-Fox-hd-ruined-slayer-terrible fox is showing buffy remastered in HD with all sorts of problems

TwoShedsJackson

Can we get an 'Is' before the first word of the thread title, and a '?' after the last?

mass_debater

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Can we get an 'Is' before the first word of the thread title, and a '?' after the last?

Yes, it's been announced
http://hbowatch.com/the-wire-being-remastered-rebroadcast-in-hd-by-hbo/