Good move getting the hard copy since apparently I missed a lot of stuff in the abridged audiobook. A lot meaning, the case that was considered to be the "spine" of the book according to Wikipedia.
Television The Wire
- Thread starter VanNistelrater
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Good move getting the hard copy since apparently I missed a lot of stuff in the abridged audiobook. A lot meaning, the case that was considered to be the "spine" of the book according to Wikipedia.
The book that I am currently reading is The Wire: Homicide. I haven't got far but it seems pretty good already. What is really good is how you can tell which of the tv characters were based on the characters from the book.
I try and read it on the train home but I get a page into it and fall asleep. Trains are the easiest place to fall asleep on - that and maybe watching Liverpool
I try and read it on the train home but I get a page into it and fall asleep. Trains are the easiest place to fall asleep on - that and maybe watching Liverpool
im gonna start season 3 tonight, ive heard its one of the best seasons
My favorite, after 4.
3 was easily my favorite season
It's really a great book. You can tell just how much the show was influenced from his real life experiences, it's what gives the show such an authentic feel that eclipses everything else on TV.
I'm doing an assignment on The Wire at the moment and have looked everywhere for its ratings in its original run on HBO but have found nothing, so any help would be appreciated.
Also does anyone have any decent articles on the institutes the show portray, such as the police force and political system but mainly I'm interested in the school system.
Also does anyone have any decent articles on the institutes the show portray, such as the police force and political system but mainly I'm interested in the school system.
Do you mean the Baltimore public school system? And what exactly do you mean by ratings?
Thanks to the posters above who reminded me of Simon's book, Homicide: A year on the killing streets. I read it when it came out, but hadn't picked it up since. Got a copy from the library last week, and it's great. Incidentally, Homicide was a criminally underrrated TV drama. At least for the first few years - after that the writing went sharply downhill.
Thanks to the posters above who reminded me of Simon's book, Homicide: A year on the killing streets. I read it when it came out, but hadn't picked it up since. Got a copy from the library last week, and it's great. Incidentally, Homicide was a criminally underrrated TV drama. At least for the first few years - after that the writing went sharply downhill.
TV ratings. Specifically the Nielsen ratings. I can't find anything on them either but I do remember hearing that the finale had less than 1 million viewers.
Cheers Chris that's perfect.
Yeah I was talking about the Baltimore public school system, "Final Grades" is my case study for the assignment, so it's the area I'm going to be talking about most, but the boarder point I will be making will encompass the police force and political system.
Yeah I was talking about the Baltimore public school system, "Final Grades" is my case study for the assignment, so it's the area I'm going to be talking about most, but the boarder point I will be making will encompass the police force and political system.
I think this is probably the best program I have ever seen. I was given the boxset for Xmas and I am just finished series 5.
It is by far the most realistic police orientated program I have ever watched. Everything is realistic. The police procedures, the way the police is run, the interference by the politicians, everything is exactly how it is. Fantastic.
It is by far the most realistic police orientated program I have ever watched. Everything is realistic. The police procedures, the way the police is run, the interference by the politicians, everything is exactly how it is. Fantastic.
Are you in law enforcement?
If so, which plotlines/characters closely match your own experiences within your department/agency?
Yes.
I think the way some of the police go on is pretty much bang on. I can't really go in to too much detail.
50 quid for the entire boxset at Tesco right now 
I only just got into it (I'm always late to the party) by watching it on V+ On Demand. Just finished Season 1 and am gonna buy the boxset on Friday, can't wait to crack on with Season 2.
I only just got into it (I'm always late to the party) by watching it on V+ On Demand. Just finished Season 1 and am gonna buy the boxset on Friday, can't wait to crack on with Season 2.
Value for money.
You won't be disapointed.
You won't be disapointed.
50 quid for the entire boxset at Tesco right now
I only just got into it (I'm always late to the party) by watching it on V+ On Demand. Just finished Season 1 and am gonna buy the boxset on Friday, can't wait to crack on with Season 2.
Lucky lucky bastard
50 quid for the entire boxset at Tesco right now
I only just got into it (I'm always late to the party) by watching it on V+ On Demand. Just finished Season 1 and am gonna buy the boxset on Friday, can't wait to crack on with Season 2.
fecking hell, that's a bargain and a half!
Finished this a couple of weeks ago. I think it's easily the best program I have ever watched. Fantastic. I wish they would have done some more.
Reading the book right now. Very good read.
Check out the Corner and Generation Kill if you haven't already, and then you have Treme starting next month.
I started watching Generation Kill and to be honest I thought it was terrible. I'll give the Corner a go.
Yeah, I just hope it's still 50 quid on Friday when I get paid and I hope there's one left
I have read that two of the main guys are English too, McNaulty is from Sheffield (I think) and Stringer Bell was born in London.
Nooo wayyyy duuude! It gets better... how early did you bail?
I feel a closeness to those teams, despite them being dirty mean cnuts
This is a great show. When I watched it for the first time, it was great, but still way behind The Sopranos. But then I watched both of these again, and I missed a lot of thing the first time around, especially in The Wire. I'd say if The Sopranos is 100, then this is 99.
Season 3 was the best of the lot I'd say, the tension between the Barksdale crew was very well done.
Avon Barksdale is one of my favorite characters of all time, he was just awesome.
Great show, and I'd recommend it to everyone.
Season 3 was the best of the lot I'd say, the tension between the Barksdale crew was very well done.
Avon Barksdale is one of my favorite characters of all time, he was just awesome.
Great show, and I'd recommend it to everyone.
Wire still beats Sopranos for me, mainly due to its gritty realism and the fact while it is a character oriented it does not rely on any single character to run it.
In fact only the ending of Sopranos tempts me to consider it as better than Wire.
In fact only the ending of Sopranos tempts me to consider it as better than Wire.
For all it's realism, The Wire had - Omar, the entire season 5, and lots of such "unbelievable" things to be honest.
Omar? How was he unbelievable? He was a superb character, one of the greatest ever put on TV.
People like you who purposely bump both threads and then say one is better than the other really grate me. Nobody gives a shit.
Both are brilliant, some prefer The Wire, some prefer The Sopranos. No need to point out faults in the one that you think is weaker, which is what you're doing to The Wire. I could point out plenty of stupid things that were needlessly in The Sopranos if I wanted to.
Calm down there, you'll blow your gasket. I was just promoted, that's why I bumped both the threads just now.
Never did I say that Omar was a badly written character. I said it was not believable.
A shot-gun wielding guy robs drug dealers for fun, walks openly, strikes so much fear in them that they throw the drugs to him without him even asking for them, and for years at that. Yes, that's regular "The Earth is round." stuff.
Never did I say that Omar was a badly written character. I said it was not believable.
A shot-gun wielding guy robs drug dealers for fun, walks openly, strikes so much fear in them that they throw the drugs to him without him even asking for them, and for years at that. Yes, that's regular "The Earth is round." stuff.
I could name far more idiotic shit from The Sopranos than Omar's dealings.
Fact is, you bumped 2 threads, one about The Sopranos saying how great it is. Then another about The Wire saying it's great, but The Sopranos is better. Then someone says they prefer The Wire, so you start naming flaws etc etc.
You call The Sopranos 'perfect' and yet you criticize such minuscule things about The Wire?
Like I said, they're both great, there's no need to go picking on one because you prefer the other. Hell, they're not even similar shows in principal, so they can't really be compared.
Fact is, you bumped 2 threads, one about The Sopranos saying how great it is. Then another about The Wire saying it's great, but The Sopranos is better. Then someone says they prefer The Wire, so you start naming flaws etc etc.
You call The Sopranos 'perfect' and yet you criticize such minuscule things about The Wire?
Like I said, they're both great, there's no need to go picking on one because you prefer the other. Hell, they're not even similar shows in principal, so they can't really be compared.
So I'm not allowed to have, and post, opinions? :s
I said The Wire is 99 to The Sopranos 100, and I gave reasons why I think it's not better than The Sopranos.
He's a stick up boy.
the way he stays out of prison is to give back to the people who need it.
Protected from the people he robs, by the people they rob. Sort of a vigilante.
the way he stays out of prison is to give back to the people who need it.
Protected from the people he robs, by the people they rob. Sort of a vigilante.
If we're lucky, Uncle Junior won't last very long.
Why?Wow give the guy a break!!!
He gave an opinion on 2 great shows, he obviously rates both very highly and he's new to the mains.
I think he's allowed to say he likes one more than the other and bumping two threads isn't a problem as thread are there for that pupose, starting a new thread would have been far worse.
He gave an opinion on 2 great shows, he obviously rates both very highly and he's new to the mains.
I think he's allowed to say he likes one more than the other and bumping two threads isn't a problem as thread are there for that pupose, starting a new thread would have been far worse.
I concur. It's a close one but the sopranos edges it for me.
I accept those points.
Latter half of Season 5 was not keeping with Series' insistence of neglecting drama for gritty and often annoying portrayal of documentary like reality. Even Omar as a character was perfectly believe at least till S3 or S4. He was shown as vulnerable and making mistake many a times. Even in S5 they went a bit overboard but the idea was to have him live off his reputation and his end actually showed that he was not super-human after all. In no other series, you would have had as big character as him killed off like that.
Simply no other show could have relegated its main protagonist in McNulty as background character for one whole season, and pulled it off. Then there is the fact that Wire used no gimmicks whatsoever like the dream sequences in Sopranos. Don't get me wrong, some of them are outstanding and show a very good depth of writing by Chase. But bar the ending, Sopranos can never claim to be as groundbreaking as the Wire.
Just finished, saw the whole 5 series in about two weeks. Superb stuff.
Downloading it right now. Not really getting into True Blood. It's enjoyable at times but it hasn't really had me hooked onto it. I hear this show is the real deal.
It is.