The Wire -- How long until I'm hooked?

[lxskllr]

What I liked about the The Wire, is there weren't clearcut "good guys" and "bad guys". The characters were complex, and had likable qualities, even if the whole person wasn't entirely likable. Much more realistic, and closer to reality.

 

[squarecut1]

What I liked about the The Wire, is there weren't clearcut "good guys" and "bad guys". The characters were complex, and had likable qualities, even if the whole person wasn't entirely likable. Much more realistic, and closer to reality.

Yes, but other shows can be like that, and still be garbage. I think what I am personally liking about this show is that neither does it try too hard to be impressive, nor it is pretentious. There is also no overt, forced dramatization /thrill (which almost always is hollow and has no effect)

 

[Grooveriding]

Is that the 1990 one? How many seasons are worth watching? Thanks

I would get the first 5 at least and start from Season 1. Then go from there and see where you feel like it drops off

 

[squarecut1]

Hard pressed to come up with any TV show as good as The Wire. Breaking Bad is the only other one in that level of excellence, and that show took some time to ramp you up and reel you in as well.

I gave up Breaking Bad on my initial try after two episodes. Only on the insistence of a couple of people I tried it again. Glad I did.

On the other hand, since BB, there have been other shows I have almost forced myself to continue watching, in the hopes that they would get better. Alas no, and I did give up for good.

 

[Dari]

Ok, I'll put a spoiler alert on this one:

Spoiler

I really enjoyed watching Cheese (Method Man) twitching on the floor after getting shot and everyone around him upset that, because he's gone, they're "short the nine."

 

[DaTT]

I gave up Breaking Bad on my initial try after two episodes. Only on the insistence of a couple of people I tried it again. Glad I did.

On the other hand, since BB, there have been other shows I have almost forced myself to continue watching, in the hopes that they would get better. Alas no, and I did give up for good.

Breaking Bad also took me 2 tries to get into.

 

[squarecut1]

One character I don't like is Kima. The way she is, the constant rolling of the eyes, the complete lack of charm

 

[squarecut1]

Liking the show more and more as it progresses. Usually for me it is the other way around for TV shows. This one is good, real good

 

[sze5003]

About 20 minutes from where I live, this is like the wire in real life.

Got lost one day and got pulled over there. Funny how cops now avoid the dealers and basically try and bust people from the suburbs.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/artic...venue-heroin-prostitution-and-no-police.html

 

[Dari]

About 20 minutes from where I live, this is like the wire in real life.

Got lost one day and got pulled over there. Funny how cops now avoid the dealers and basically try and bust people from the suburbs.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/artic...venue-heroin-prostitution-and-no-police.html

wow

 

[sze5003]

wow

Yea you have to be here to see it to believe how real the wire represents it. People slinging, shooting up, they surround your car, on each side of the street different dealers telling you what they have.

I also got off in Camden by accident one time going to a job interview and the same thing happened, everyone sees a kid in a nice car they think he's looking for hard drugs and immediately try to get you to pull over or sell you something.

 

[Dari]

Yea you have to be here to see it to believe how real the wire represents it. People slinging, shooting up, they surround your car, on each side of the street different dealers telling you what they have.

I also got off in Camden by accident one time going to a job interview and the same thing happened, everyone sees a kid in a nice car they think he's looking for hard drugs and immediately try to get you to pull over or sell you something.

I guess police and the AG are sick and tired of these drug cases. Just like in The Wire, it's probably a cry for help to the politicians. Marijuana is becoming, more or less, accepted but we have a long way to go when it comes to hard, synthetic drugs.

 

[Dari]

IIRC, the Brooklyn DA made a similar announcement last year (low-level drug cases will not be prosecuted). That upset the police.

 

[DaTT]

Sheeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttttttttt

This just now makes sense to me.

 

[DaTT]

All done. Great series.

 

[twinrider1]

You think any show was better than Homicide: Life On The Street?

Yaphet Kotto is about to backhand you into next week.

Honestly, if you liked The Wire at all, check out Homicide. Centered more around the cops. More dialogue. It was 90s network tv, so the language is cleaned up compared to The Wire. The writing was top notch and they had some fantastic guest appearances. And the crossover episodes with Law & Order were great.

 

[squarecut1]

Yes the language. I really like The Wire but the extreme overuse of the f word is just retarded. Beyond retarded really.

 

[DaTT]

Yes the language. I really like The Wire but the extreme overuse of the f word is just retarded. Beyond retarded really.

Always a great line though, "What the fuck did I do"?

 

[RossMAN]

This just now makes sense to me.

Was he a great sleazy politician or what?

In his honor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70eU840lc38

 

[MongGrel]

I still just like watching Generation Kill now and then all the way through, and I guess were the same production crew more or less that made the Wire.

I've never taken the time to go back and watch that series, I still love almost every one of the Generation Kill ones.

I tried the Wire a few episodes, it just wasn't doing it for me, and life is short I guess.

 

[Craig234]

Cop shows are funny to me. They always seem 'gritty' until the next one evolves them.

The old FBI series was thrilling to people. Dragnet seemed grittier. Hill Street Blues was grittier. NYPD Blue was grittier. The Shield was grittier.

What was that later one set in LA? Grittier. But The Wire, Breaking Bad... current standard.

 

[Craig234]

The Wire has to be appreciated a different form of show, and that means it'll have its fans and those who don't like it.

It's not meant to break new records in violence or action or evil actions or other thrills, though it has some of those things.

It's meant to savor as a long-form, richer world and story. I think it's sort of experimental in that sense, pushing the boundary of the long form that's evolved in TV.

There have been long series - Bonanza, MASH, All in the Family - but they tended to have stories for that episode. The guest star maybe. Where the Wire is something else.

As is the Sopramos, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood (you can see where this is going as far as who is really doing it).

I remember when HBO was having a breakthrough because of the series 'Dream On'.

Very simple traditional sitcom with one premise - adult male has flashbacks to childhood tv shows - and boobs. That was enough for 'oh my gosh' at the time after network TV.

 

[squarecut1]

‘Wire’ actor is stabbed in D.C. nightclub

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...7cabb6-1b35-11e4-ae54-0cfe1f974f8a_story.html

 

[twinrider1]

This is what happens when clubs stop letting you pack a shotgun.

 

[QueBert]

holy shit the article says he was shot 13 times when he was a youth. Slim was pretty bad ass on The Wire but I had no idea shit was that real for him.