Another thing that is so good about BB is that the writing is so tight and focused, and the dialogues so interesting. None of that filler stuff to pass time and drag the show for commercial reasons. Everything is there in it for a reason.
You have summed it up very nicely. I'd also add the backgroud music and choice of songs.
I know what will happen if I start watching The Wire. Inevitably comparion with BB will be made and most likely it will fall well short.
Thanks guys. Are season 1 and 2 really dull?
Also, it is a great series to watch again after a year or so of seeing it the last time. I have seen it all the way through 4 or 5 times and each time I catch new things. A lot of action takes place off camera and is referenced casually in places.
IMHO, the best crime series ever. (currently binge watching breaking bad and that is almost as good as the wire but not quite).
I never could get into it. I forced myself to watch through the whole thing waiting for this masterpiece show that everyone talks about. It never showed.
But then again, that's because I like The Shield.
Watch until you see the crime scene investigation in season 1 episode 4.
Season 5 sucks though. It focuses on journalism or whatever.
Yea, and Season 4 is largely about the new mayor and an inner city school; it sucks, as well. On S4E12 now, and throughout this season there's been MAYBE 25 minutes of police work in sporadic and meaningless chunks, and 30 minutes of the criminal operations that are spread out over a total of a few minutes per episode and have little to no depth to them, usually involving a few of the kids from the inner city school. They also largely cut out the cast from the first few seasons, replacing them with nothing of interest. Shit, Omar has more screen time than all of the cop cast combined, and most of it is just things he's planning -- his scenes are mostly uneventful.
This series is underwhelming, to say the least. I am going to skip season 5 because I don't see anything even remotely interesting coming up; I was expecting a cop series, but it's pretty obvious they decided to take it into the direction of pushing a social agenda instead of delivering a crime series.
If you've ever listened to the creator of the show he will tell you exactly what the show is about, namely the deterioration of society (or something like that). That is why each season focuses on different aspect of the problem.
This series is underwhelming, to say the least. I am going to skip season 5 because I don't see anything even remotely interesting coming up; I was expecting a cop series, but it's pretty obvious they decided to take it into the direction of pushing a social agenda instead of delivering a crime series.
I don't give a shit what the creator of the show thinks. I care if the show delivers, and all it delivers is constant disappointment, on all fronts.
The Shield was good, not great. Lots of interesting characters but there was very little development of them and they were mainly one dimensional. Also, the camera work bothered me.
EDIT: I stopped watching The Shield after the police chief ( or CO) got raped. I mean, whoever wrote that series (and that very episode) just doesn't like cops. I mean, that's just weird and doesn't happen IRL. Too over-the-top for me.
The show was social commentary from S1E01 onward. I don't know how you missed that up until season 4.
The Wire is like an onion and each episode peels off layers revealing just a little bit more each time. The series starts with cops at the bottom level. As it progresses you see each level of hierarchy and the corruption that plagues it. The cops versus the streets are just pawns in a bigger game, and all throughout the series lines are blurred between good an bad.
It sounds like you enjoy playing checkers instead of chess.
Of course it was obvious social commentary, but they did it primarily through the police work and criminal activity and maintained some sort of continuity that wasn't forced.
The real issue I have is that everything it attempts to do is done universally poorly. I mean, shit, Oz had better insight into society than this show, and did a much better job of covering their social commentary. The lines aren't blurred between good and bad, it's just primarily the same stereotypical shit from every cop show or "social commentary" show, but done worse. Corrupt politicians? Check. Police leaders just worrying about stats? Check. Schools teaching to the test? Check. People in the ghetto deal drugs? Check. Kids deal drugs to support their druggie mom? Check. Politicians play political games? Check.
This show just comes across as not knowing what it's trying to do, and whatever direction it does end up randomly going ends up subpar. It tries to cover way more shit than it possibly can effectively, which is extremely obvious in S4. Now, I'm about to watch the final episode of the season, and by this point they've pretty much just abandoned the focus on all the characters / stories they've been focusing on throughout this season, or they've just been pushed to have meaningless roles while they hastily try to wrap things up. Simply put, they have way too many random plots going on for how much time they dedicate to their social agenda aspects.
Before I start it, my guess is that the Mayor / ADA stories will end up in a sort of "to be continued" format since there's obviously not enough to do anything else with them and they've been filler for this entire season -- while simultaneously being done poorly and accounting for approximately 30% of the season's run time. The inner city school angle is pretty much over, so there goes the other 35% of what they focused on throughout the previous 12 hours of their season.
It's hilarious how they completely abandon pretty much everything in the other 35% of the show constantly by treating it as filler, then just shift back to their poorly-done social commentary. Now, as I near the end of the season, their meaningless social commentary undoubtedly has been mostly wrapped up, so they're going to press on through everything else they've largely ignored as though they were the primary focus of the season. At least the first few seasons continually maintained focus, but I think it's obvious they've abandoned that starting with this season to try to subvert the show to make it a half-assed documentary for their social agenda under the guise of a police / crime drama.
From my near completion of Season 4, it doesn't surprise me that the show only lasted 5 seasons with the direction it has obviously taken.
The show was about the inner city and the cast was dominated by black actors. It never won a single fucking emmy and was shut down after only 5 seasons. Many that watched it loved it. Many did not care for it because they could see what the show was talking about when they walked outside or turned on their television. It was too real, too strong, and too in-your-face for most of America to give a damn about. So, yeah, it didn't last long because it wasn't an escape for many. But it was damn good.
To show you how realistic it was at the end of season 5 a black female character becomes mayor of Baltimore through bartering and her "waiting her turn". In the real Baltimore a couple of months after the show ended the black female mayor was indicted for corruption. Again, too real for most of America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Dixon_trial
The show is obviously not anywhere nearly as good as the praise some people give it. I'm sure Killer Klowns from Outer Space has a cult following, too, but I don't think the reason it didn't win an Oscar was because it was just too damn good for the public at large to appreciate.
So, the people that watched it liked it? What a surprise that people watch shows they like. Not winning an Emmy somehow proves the show was so good that it was simply too real for America? Please. That's ridiculous.
The show is obviously not anywhere nearly as good as the praise some people give it. I'm sure Killer Klowns from Outer Space has a cult following, too, but I don't think the reason it didn't win an Oscar was because it was just too damn good for the public at large to appreciate.