The Wire: Greatest Show Ever Made

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Slaythe

<Bronze Donator>
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We have this argument every year. Here is the undisputed, correct order:

1 = 2 = 3 = 4 > 5

Have whatever preference you want with the first four seasons. They're all flawless.
 
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reavor

I'm With HER ♀
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I don't really see why people dislike the 5th season, sure the whole fake murderer thing is a bit out there, but it does make a lot of poignant points similarly to previous seasons, and ties up as much as possible of all the threads. a lot of memorable scenes in that season.

also, this clip shows the difference in viewpoint for people like marlo, who still feels part of the streets, and those in the shadows like the greeks.
 
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uncognito

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There was definitely a lot about season 5 that I loved. but..

I felt like season 5 went a little overboard with some stuff. Scott at the paper was just a bit too cliche' and easy to hate... Same with the old executive editor dude chasing a Pulitzer.
I still love the newspaper story line, but some of the casting or writing seemed slightly worse than previous seasons.

If there is any one thing that bothered me the most, it was how they portrayed Mcnulty's collapse. Almost everything else in the show before that felt grounded in reality(even hamsterdam!) But something about how Mcnulty was acting in season 5 just felt waay off and over the top.
 
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iannis

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4 and 5 are still great, but yeah. It starts to get a little more meta. There's a shift in the mood of it. Better, worse... really it's just a little bit different.

By s3, they knew they had an audience. So they started to use it a little more obviously as a political piece.

And it starts to get even more depressing, which may be part of it too. Just relentless fucking pessimism. Which is perfectly realistic and not a criticism. But. You want at least one of those kids to get a happy ending. But yeah, fuck you.

It really does redeem that one shitbird though.
 

Pasteton

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haven't watched this show yet. Is this something that can be viewed in the background while wow'ing or does this need my full attnetion
 

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
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I'd say it needs your full attention. You'll miss a lot if you just play it in the background, and probably have trouble keeping up with some of the subplots.
 
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Zapatta

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First time I watched it I thought it was over rated 1 EP in, it took 2-3 full EPs to sink it's teeth all the way in.

One of The Wire writers did the teleplay for the book Generation Kill which HBO also made, I thought was also very good, true-story real people, real events.
 

ZyyzYzzy

RIP USA
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First time I watched it I thought it was over rated 1 EP in, it took 2-3 full EPs to sink it's teeth all the way in.

One of The Wire writers did the teleplay for the book Generation Kill which HBO also made, I thought was also very good, true-story real people, real events.
I liked generation kill, but seeing the real individuals, I feel like casting was off, not to say the actors didn't do a great job.
 
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Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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Yes, after the first episode or two I wasn't sure what made people dig The Wire. I think a lot of it is that they introduce like 40 characters with the assumption that you know them already so it takes a bit to memorize everyone.
 

Feanor

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I have never liked procedurals. Most crime drama TV shows are boring. After watching the first episode it seemed like NYPD Blue for HBO. By the end of the season I was hooked.
 

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
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I liked generation kill, but seeing the real individuals, I feel like casting was off, not to say the actors didn't do a great job.

Ray was the one that was the most WTF, but I think they were matching personalities more than appearance.
 

Olscratch

tour de salt
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Just finished watching this for the first time. Didn't quite live up to the hype but it does seem to have aged pretty well though. Omar Little has to be one of the greatest characters ever created.
3 > 4 > 5 > 2 > 1

Learning that Carcetti was based on Martin O'Malley was the big shocker though.
 

Vandyn

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I just finished watching this with the wife for the first time since I heard so many good things about it. I agree it's a great show although I'm still partial to Breaking Bad. The only letdown for me is I thought season 5 was the weakest of them all. I thought McNulty rehabilitates his character way to fast after he pretty much hits his lowest point about midseason. Omar was an amazing character but it made perfect sense to go out like that. Here was this badass guy who you thought was going to go out in a blaze of glory and instead gets got by some little kid in the back of the head.
 

Adebisi

Clump of Cells
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So many shows just hit you in the face with everything they've got in the first few episodes. That's your GoT, brba, etc. They want to get all their character introductions in there, the world, the plot, and a little cliffhanger at the end of the episode.

The wire doesn't do this. They build slowly... Like the mercury in your body from all that cheap canned tuna.

Only the wire ain't canned tuna. It's Japanese tuna sashimi served by a 80 year old sushi master.

Also I wrote this between chest sets.

DYEL?
 

Adebisi

Clump of Cells
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I watched the first episode of Homicide: Life on the Street and it was pretty dang good. Might have to binge the first season.

Some of the banter is great.

"The Irish. A million people died in the potato famine. Ireland is an island. An island by definition is surrounded by fish. A million people died because they didn’t like fish."
 

Adebisi

Clump of Cells
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You can also pretend that it's telling the story of a young Captain Holt.
 
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Ameraves

New title pending...
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I don't know if I could rate them by season, but as a whole it was fantastic.

But man I was super bummed when Bodie was killed, and it actually surprised me that it upset me that much. And of course when Omar gets clipped by that little kid...I was like WTF!

Great show. Oh, and I am going to assume that posting spoilers on a show that is over 10 years old is safe.
 
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