Enjoy the The Wire lifestyle for one dollar 
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Television The Wire
- Thread starter Salt Bailly
- Start date
"Baltimore plans to sell boarded-up houses"Enjoy the The Wire lifestyle for one dollar
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Feck me.
this was on TV when I was still in high school, but I've never bothered watching it for some reason. not even a single episode. it's not the only show from those years that I missed, but this thread keeps getting bumped every once in a while so I thought, sheeeeeeeeeeeit, why not?
in short, this was just what I needed in these last couple of weeks. after watching the first 4 or 5 episodes, the first show that came on my mind was Deadwood as it had the same effect on me. regardless of what's happening on the screen and which character I'm watching, superb acting and dialogues are ensuring I'm enjoying every single minute and these are an hour long episodes after all. if you ask me, this is why you would want to watch anything, precisely because of the acting and dialogues, with everything else being secondary. but, The Wire reminded me how rare such shows actually are.
in general, shows like this are the main reason my tolerance for lazy writers and lifeless actors has dropped considerably. perhaps the best thing after finishing something like this would be to wait a bit before switching to something else because I gave up on two other highly rated shows very early, right after I finished The Wire. you see how dense even those smaller parts of the story are, you get used to the sheer effort put into everything and suddenly it seems impossible to accept anything below that level. like, this is the way everything should be done.
it's a bit depressing when you realize how little effort is actually put into majority of other stuff that get released these days, but it trully gets you only after watching a show like this. you just know the best chance to experience something similar again is to simply rewatch it after few years as nothing equally good is coming anytime out soon.
in short, this was just what I needed in these last couple of weeks. after watching the first 4 or 5 episodes, the first show that came on my mind was Deadwood as it had the same effect on me. regardless of what's happening on the screen and which character I'm watching, superb acting and dialogues are ensuring I'm enjoying every single minute and these are an hour long episodes after all. if you ask me, this is why you would want to watch anything, precisely because of the acting and dialogues, with everything else being secondary. but, The Wire reminded me how rare such shows actually are.
in general, shows like this are the main reason my tolerance for lazy writers and lifeless actors has dropped considerably. perhaps the best thing after finishing something like this would be to wait a bit before switching to something else because I gave up on two other highly rated shows very early, right after I finished The Wire. you see how dense even those smaller parts of the story are, you get used to the sheer effort put into everything and suddenly it seems impossible to accept anything below that level. like, this is the way everything should be done.
it's a bit depressing when you realize how little effort is actually put into majority of other stuff that get released these days, but it trully gets you only after watching a show like this. you just know the best chance to experience something similar again is to simply rewatch it after few years as nothing equally good is coming anytime out soon.
I do get this to an extent but I'd say the quantity of quality TV being released is actually much higher these past 10 years than it was at the turn of the century. Very few get to the level of The Wire, if any, but then again it's a bit of an oddity considering its scope and the matter at hand (I would also say it's not necessarily for everyone, even though the quality shines through whether you like it or not).
You still have tons of shows that are great, and full of quality - that are more daring visually, or try things from a directorial perspective. Top notch actors working for TV shows, top directors being involved... And it transcends genres - drama, comedy, animation, there are some great productions across the board.
While you can make the case for The Wire standing alone in its era, I think there's easily a dozen of really excellent shows these past 10 years that have a degree of care and great production values.
overall that is true, yet I bet majority of our personal all time lists are going to remain unchanged even in 10 - 15 years. also, without even checking everything that has been released in past 10 years, I'm not sure I remember anything close to that level except perhaps Better Call Saul and The Americans. I liked Peaky Blinders and Yellowstone as well, I can't find any flaw in either of them and I believe there's enough of such shows.
but there's just something about some of these "old school" shows that doesn't seem replicable at all in current age with current, younger actors. McShane's one man show in Deadwood which I mentioned is also something I'm not going to see in other show any time soon, and Deadwood isn't even my top 5 or anything.
anyway, I recovered a bit after few days, with Luther and Silo being the only victims of my post Wire hangover. I gave up after about 2 episodes in both cases. now I'm watching Justified and don't have a single complaint
overall that is true, yet I bet majority of our personal all time lists are going to remain unchanged even in 10 - 15 years. also, without even checking everything that has been released in past 10 years, I'm not sure I remember anything close to that level except perhaps Better Call Saul and The Americans. I liked Peaky Blinders and Yellowstone as well, I can't find any flaw in either of them and I believe there's enough of such shows.
but there's just something about some of these "old school" shows that doesn't seem replicable at all in current age with current, younger actors. McShane's one man show in Deadwood which I mentioned is also something I'm not going to see in other show any time soon, and Deadwood isn't even my top 5 or anything.
anyway, I recovered a bit after few days, with Luther and Silo being the only victims of my post Wire hangover. I gave up after about 2 episodes in both cases. now I'm watching Justified and don't have a single complaint
Mr. Robot and Succession spring immediately to mind, and I’m sure there’s others.
The best thing to do after you finish watching The Wire is to start rewatching The Wire
Chernobyl? More of a mini series though.
I’m not sure I’ll ever see anything that matches the Wire but along with those two you said; The Leftovers is definitely up there.
oh and season one of Severance was incredible, if they can keep it going it’s up there.
in general though there’s just a lot more really good tv out there. Right now I’m watching Shogun, Invincible, The Gentlemen - all really good in their own way, Shogun in particular is in the upper echelons of things I’ve seen in the last few years. Back in the early noughties you did not get that sort of consistency.
Yeah there's absolutely as good TV out there as there was in the early 2000s. Honestly there's probably a lot more. Never mind stuff like The Leftovers, which is obviously fantastic, but even just right now there's stuff like Severance, Shogun, The Last of Us, etc. The last 10 years have been brilliant for quality TV.
Chernobyl is a good shout, that was fantastic although only 5 (?) episodes as you say. Severance is on our list to watch and heard great things.
I agree The Wire is still the pinnacle, but I also agree with @Rooney in Paris broader point that there’s still a bunch of excellent shows being made.
Gomorrah is a smidge below The Wire and Sopranos, if you want a long form crime fix.
Yeah The Last of Us is great.
even Netflix for all their “quantity over quality” problems and the nonsense they put out, in the last few years I’ve watched When They See Us, Blue Eye Samurai, Stranger Things, Top Boy, Midnight Mass, Master of None, loads more quality stuff.
Midnight Mass is absolutely top quality TV. It doesn't make my top 10, but it's close.
It wasn’t one of their originals but that’s just reminded me of Squid Game.
I much prefer it to Hill House, a far more daring show. That said I found the finale a bit of a disappointment.
Squid Game is a weird one, like it’s good, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, yet somehow a moderately enjoyable Korean show is by far the most streamed tv show of all time. It’s nuts!
All those supposed good shows mentioned are nowhere near The Wire's quality 
Stop spamming the GOAT thread with those crappy TV shows please
Nobody is saying they are you weirdoAll those supposed good shows mentioned are nowhere near The Wire's quality
Finished Way Down In The Hole podcast about The Wire. It's...okay I guess.
Good insights etc but the formula is a bit lame. There's sections like "what aged the best" and "who won the episode" that got old pretty fast..
Good insights etc but the formula is a bit lame. There's sections like "what aged the best" and "who won the episode" that got old pretty fast..
Every time I see someone mentioning The Leftovers in the same conversation as The Wire, Sopranos, Chernobyl, etc, I wonder if there's some big joke that I'm not a part of.
Why do people keep bringing it up? It was average, at best. Is it just me?
Why do people keep bringing it up? It was average, at best. Is it just me?
Not just you but as you can see in the thread dedicated to the show, many of us adored it.
It's also incredibly different to The Wire, which is gritty and realistic where The Leftovers has more of a weird, bonkers vibe to it, so I don't see much merit in comparing them. Two things can coexist and be good and be nothing alike.
I've watched about three and a half episodes of The Wire. When is it supposed to get good? I mean, when does something actually happen?
We've got a live one, boys!
It's not that kind of show. The world building and the ensemble is what makes the show. The writing and the acting is good too, but don't expect high tension beyond a few select scenes/episodes.
I love The Wire, arguably my favorite show with Chernobyl, but what's memorable for me is that I got into a Twitter discussion with David Simon over Israel-Palestine with him ending up blocking me because I said Israel is doing ethnic cleansing in West Bank.
Never in a million years thought I'd discuss geopolitics with the writer of my favorite show.
Never in a million years thought I'd discuss geopolitics with the writer of my favorite show.
Damn, I kind of wish I didn't know this (cool anecdote though!)
I wouldn't put him with the nutjobs, he's far from them. He was very critical of the actions of the IDF, just didn't like labels of genocide/ethnic cleansing being put on them.
He was very active on Twitter, replying to comments, which was what prompted me to comment as well. We ended up going back and front for a good hour.
Can't say what he's up to now for obvious reasons
I wouldn't put him with the nutjobs, he's far from them. He was very critical of the actions of the IDF, just didn't like labels of genocide/ethnic cleansing being put on them.
He was very active on Twitter, replying to comments, which was what prompted me to comment as well. We ended up going back and front for a good hour.
Can't say what he's up to now for obvious reasons
That does help, much appreciated. I really didn't want to have to start couching my love of the Wire with that knowledge.
I just looked and he is still quite active on twitter. The last few days are filled with him calling MAGA types "shitheels" for alleging that the bridge in Baltimore collapsing was a clandestine terror attack
Would you let his political or other views effect your love of his TV show? I've never understood that line of thought.
It's not comfortable if your know the writer is a genocidal maniac (not him obviously but just generally).
I mean if a footballer you liked was a neo Nazi you would have a few doubts about supporting him right?
It really depends on the issue, and the extremity of the person's views. I've always held the Wire to be a work of genuine genius as far as it's insights into how class, race, politics etc operate and it would be hard for me to square all that if the writer was able to throw it all out the window and advocate for gleeful, wanton slaughter of impoverished children.
I'm particularly sensitive when it comes to Palestine. In general I tend to separate art from artist, but this would be a bridge too far for me personally. I get triggered, so to speak.
In most situations I don't much care what awful things an artist says as long as they don't actually act those things out.
I can generally separate the two, eg giggs is clesrly a POS but it doesnt cloud my view of him as a player. In saying that I wouldn't want greenwood playing for united again so maybe not.
Understandable.
Funny this thread was bumped as I started my second watch of The Wire two days ago. It's so damn good.
Rewatching again and this wonderful scene just came up:
I’ve not actually seen this show… but at the weekend I was in Budapest doing a touristy boat trip on the Danube and got talking to an American guy in the queue. He said he was a small time actor and he was in Budapest to film a TV episode of a small show he hadn’t heard of until he was given the job.
I asked him if he’d been in anything I might have heard of… and he said he appeared in all seasons of the Wire as a lawyer “for the bad guys”. Nice chap. Anyway, I feel I should watch the show now to see how much he actually is in it… and since the show does get rave reviews.
I asked him if he’d been in anything I might have heard of… and he said he appeared in all seasons of the Wire as a lawyer “for the bad guys”. Nice chap. Anyway, I feel I should watch the show now to see how much he actually is in it… and since the show does get rave reviews.
That is the same guy!
Haha… yeah, this is the fella I was chatting with. He seemed slightly surprised this show wanted him to film something in Budapest but he wasn’t complaining since they paid for his travel and he gets to do some tourism.
One of my friends asked him if he was Danny Devito when he said he was an actor, which got a slightly awkward look.