Your Opinion on 'The Wire'

[SpongeBob]

As some may have noticed from my current sig, I have become a fan of the TV show 24. I think it is produced with outstanding quality, has nice actors and characters and is very suspensful. You almost can't stop watching it.

Now I just read an article about another great TV show - The Wire. According to critics, it is supposed to be like 'the best TV show ever produced'.

What is your opinion on that? Is this show also a lot of fun to watch? O.k., rating movies always is a matter of taste, but maybe there are some similarities to other movies or series.

[Monadology]

The Wire is excellent. Based on having seen the first two seasons of 24 I would gladly say it is better television, though not really the same kind.

It's sprawling with a large-ish cast, it's generally a kind of slow-burn. It's gritty (though not absolutely bound to realism) and full of social commentary. The characters are enjoyable, fairly complex, but also mostly assholes in some way or another (in case that kind of thing bugs you).

As for whether it's the best TV show ever produced, I'm not so sure. There's a lot of TV shows out there I haven't seen. Still, chances are high that it's in the top 10 or so IMO. I'd have to watch it a second time for an objective evaluation though.

[kirkmc]

The Wire is one of the finest shows to hit TV in recent years. It is diametrically opposed to 24; there's no action, no cliffhangers at the end of episodes, but the characters are real, and the situations are not unrealistic. (I like 24 too, for what it is, but it's more of a super-hero comic book than anything else.)

Interestingly, the first time I watched The Wire with my wife and son, I gave up after three episodes; it was just too slow. But they watched the whole first season and told me I had to watch it, so I tried again and understood it. It's a non-TV type of story-telling; each season is more like a novel, and each episode a chapter.

It's similar in many ways to The Sopranos: the way there is long development, no specific arc in individual episodes, and it is more character-based. Unlike most series, though, each season focuses on a different context; the core characters are the same, but the secondary ones (which are many) change. The main focus is on drug dealers, and some of the bad guys come back for several seasons, but each season looks at a different part of the city of Baltimore.

Early this year I watched the whole thing a second time, and was greatly surprised by how well it stood up to repeated watching. Having seen the end, you watch the beginning a bit differently, and I think it's a series I'll want to watch every five years or so.

Let me just point out that the third season is probably the best with some Shakespearean moments that are rare on TV. All of the actors were unknown at the time, and some were not even actors - they got a lot of locals to play in the show - but this is one truly excellent cast.

In short, get it. Together with The Sopranos and The West Wing, it's the best TV I've seen in a long time. (24 and Lost are also in my top ten list, but they are totally different types of series.)

[quantumf]

The critics are right. It is the best TV show ever produced.

[Jedo]

The critics are right. It is the best TV show ever produced.

QFT

[judicata]

Add me to the chorus, and pretty much X2 what everyone else said. I thought the first season of 24 was fantastic--one of the greatest seasons of television ever. 24 has far, far more adrenaline-inducing, pulse-racing moments than The Wire, so be prepared for the change. That said, I enjoyed The Wire more. Great, great show.

[Jedo]

Another note, just be aware that the amount that the detectives accomplish in one season of the wire is about equivalent to the amount accomplished in one episode of law and order.

[jts]

I disagree with a fair amount of what's been said here... I found The Wire very addictive, and yes, each episode left me with an "omg what happens now gotta watch the next episode" feeling. But ultimately I didn't think it was an incredible show... most of the actors could only hit one note, the cinematography was so-so, and the number of different characters begins to get too high after a couple seasons.

It was definitely better than 24, but nowhere near the best ever.

[Monadology]

While I agree that the actors were not particularly brilliant and cinematographically it was no Twin Peaks, both were functional enough to carry the writing which does place it head and shoulders above most television series that have ever aired. Combined with its boldness and seriousness in tackling social issues, I'd say it has more artistic merit than the vast majority of television series.

The question of whether it has too many characters is going to be largely decided based on how many any given viewer can keep track of. I don't think it could have cut the cast size by a significant margin and maintained the quality of writing that it did (which is its primary strength). Nor could it have depicted the life of a large city in the way it needed to without a cast of the size it had.

[kirkmc]

The large cast is one of the elements that makes it unique. Usually, a series has 6-10 actors in its "ensemble" cast, which is what they figure people can follow and still understand the show. With The Wire, given the sprawling nature of the city, the cast was much larger, even though many of the recurring characters didn't appear often. That does require more attention from viewers than most shows, which are, to be fair, dumbed down versions of reality.

As for the cinematography, a good show doesn't need flashy cinematography. West Wing had none (with the exception of walk-and-talk), and it was a brilliant show. Many other shows flourish without fancy shots and things blowing up in slo-mo.

[SpongeBob]

Thanks guys, for all your replies. Seems that it requires some patience, but that you will be rewarded for that. I should give it a try and add this item to my wishlist for christmas. But for now, I will put in the first DVD of 24's Season 6.

[hyperpape]

As for the cinematography, a good show doesn't need flashy cinematography. West Wing had none (with the exception of walk-and-talk), and it was a brilliant show. Many other shows flourish without fancy shots and things blowing up in slo-mo.

To take a shared interest, it sounds all too much like someone who doesn't care about computer UI because he "doesn't need something shiny, just something that does the job." I'm not an expert and I've never even seen The Wire, but I'm confident that cinematography is not just slow motion and explosions.

[Jedo]

Thanks guys, for all your replies. Seems that it requires some patience, but that you will be rewarded for that. I should give it a try and add this item to my wishlist for christmas. But for now, I will put in the first DVD of 24's Season 6.

I must warn you, season 6 is...

[Monadology]

As for the cinematography, a good show doesn't need flashy cinematography. West Wing had none (with the exception of walk-and-talk), and it was a brilliant show. Many other shows flourish without fancy shots and things blowing up in slo-mo.

To take a shared interest, it sounds all too much like someone who doesn't care about computer UI because he "doesn't need something shiny, just something that does the job." I'm not an expert and I've never even seen The Wire, but I'm confident that cinematography is not just slow motion and explosions.

It certainly isn't just slow-motion and explosions. It's quite possible to have brilliant cinematography that is relatively 'mundane'.

It still holds though, that unlike many other elements of a TV show, cinematography can be quite mediocre and not really detract at all so long as it doesn't get in the way. It's just not something that tends to be noticeable. As a result, having good cinematography tends to count less than having good writing. You can have the most brilliant shot composition in the world, but if your writing is mediocre it will result in a much worse show than one in which cinematography is mediocre but the writing is brilliant.

The exception being some kind of series where visuals are in some way much more important, like a series that relies heavily on atmosphere and visual expression (like Samurai Jack). The Wire is not such a series, though. It's very story oriented, and that's the point.

[Bill Spight]

Now I just read an article about another great TV show - The Wire. According to critics, it is supposed to be like 'the best TV show ever produced'.

The best TV show ever produced was "I Love Lucy".