Not sure if this has been discussed before, anyone watch this show? Had been meaning to watch it for a while and finally got around to getting the box sets out. Just finished series 3 and I have to say it is magnificent television, would put it on a par with The Sopranos. Canāt understand why itās not been a bigger hit.
If you are looking for a quick hit of entertainment donāt bother with it, you really need to be patient with it as it is so different to anything else on TV at the moment. We are so used to watching episodes that have a beginning, middle and a cliffhanger ending to bring you back the following week but this is nothing like that as the stories are given a huge amount of time to develop. After watching it youāll realise how crap popcorn tv like 24 and Lost is.
Full marks to HBO for giving the commitment for a show that would take a while to take hold. Was over in the States a few weeks ago and saw adverts for a new mini-series based on the invasion of Iraq called āGeneration Killā, looks class too.
top classā¦a real slow burner that has to be followedā¦season four started on tg4 a few weeks ago but i havenāt been following inā¦it is based around the media in baltimoreā¦
actually have heard so many good things about this but never seen even a minute of it. I bought the box set of series one on amazon for 13 quid or soemthing the other day
I had never seen it until I was in the states recently and I watched the first two episodes from the first series box set, really liked it. But feel thereās no point following it on TV now as Iām so far behind. Will get the rest of that box set and catch up.
Think I have Series One and Two at home but still havenāt watched them. Last time this was discussed here I made my mind up that Iād start watching it but fecking hard to find the time.
Yeah thatās the thing about it, you canāt watch it on tv, you need to watch 3/4 episodes in one sitting as the accents and the slang are hard to pick-up. Love the frequent use of the Pogues music in it too, Jimmy McNulty - what a legend.
Anyone who is starting it from scratch needs to give it at least two series to get into it, and do it right from the start, if you watch a bit here and there it will look sh!te as very little happens.
Its an excellent show, on par with The Sopranos as one of the best ever, but because of the largely black cast, the lack of immediacy and the fact that people rather ignore chronic poverty and social decay the show hasnāt been as successful. Rich Italians are more entertaining.
Basically, it demands intelligence and attention, two things that scare a lot of TV watchers. It does seem to be getting more and more popular however.
Looking back on The Sopranos it probably glamourised the mafia a bit too much, donāt get me wrong itās a fantastic show but I doubt itās a truely accurate potrait of mafia life. The Wire however is far more realistic, I passed through Baltimore this summer and it really is a shitehole. I think David Simon (the guy behind it) has a book out now based on the real life Baltimore drugs scene, heard itās a brilliant read. He did another show before The Wire called The Corner, must download it.
Well I guess The Sopranos focused on the boss whereas The Wire focuses on the foot soldiers, both in the police force and on the streets which is probably what makes it so refreshing. It deals with the less obvious angles, the fringes of society and institutions rather then the elites. Canāt really think of many shows that deal so honestly with the American education system, or the media for that matter.
David Simon is working on a new series called āTremeā btw, focusing on New Orleans after Katrina.
brother got me this for xmas. Called homicide a year on the killing streets.
Simon went into the homicide dept for a year. its a cracking read. Absolutely brilliant. Still havent gotten around to watching the box set I have of The Wire but if its half as good its going to be something else.
[quote=ādancarterā]brother got me this for xmas. Called homicide a year on the killing streets.
Simon went into the homicide dept for a year. its a cracking read. Absolutely brilliant. Still havent gotten around to watching the box set I have of The Wire but if its half as good its going to be something else.
5 series. Finished there last year. I didnāt like the final series.
The finale was excellent though and on revisit I think I was a bit harsh.
It did have flaws but they werenāt as bad as I initially thought.
I was at a thing with Simon in the IFI there in September where he had a screening of one of the episodes of the final series followed by Q&A.
At the end he had some signed copies of the book which he descibed as the DNA of The Wire TV Series. Very interesting evening.
The show is a must see. Get watching ladies.
Watched the firts 6 episodes of season 1 over the last couple of nights and am really getting into itā¦ i like the slowly slowly approachā¦ characters have serious potentialā¦ not much tottie out side of the stripper bar though, but i suppose what more do you want
[quote=ābriantinnionā]Not sure if this has been discussed before, anyone watch this show? Had been meaning to watch it for a while and finally got around to getting the box sets out. Just finished series 3 and I have to say it is magnificent television, would put it on a par with The Sopranos. Canāt understand why itās not been a bigger hit.
If you are looking for a quick hit of entertainment donāt bother with it, you really need to be patient with it as it is so different to anything else on TV at the moment. We are so used to watching episodes that have a beginning, middle and a cliffhanger ending to bring you back the following week but this is nothing like that as the stories are given a huge amount of time to develop. After watching it youāll realise how crap popcorn tv like 24 and Lost is.
Full marks to HBO for giving the commitment for a show that would take a while to take hold. Was over in the States a few weeks ago and saw adverts for a new mini-series based on the invasion of Iraq called āGeneration Killā, looks class too.[/quote]
āGeneration Killā is made by David Simon too I believe. Have heard good reports - will probably arrive this side of the pond sometime in 2009 I hope.
Would you believe I never saw 1 minute of the Sopranos.
Maybe it would help me in my day to day duties.
Iāll check out the wire too. I might google it here but Iām up the walls.
the Barry twins have come on in leaps and bounds over the christmas and Mick cleared a 121 yesterday. Meanwhile Iāve got to go scouring canals etc for a week so they will only get better.
Then there are all the young wans coming in for their January fake ID stamp.
I live to serve.
