[TangoJ]

Per Gracie Lou's suggestion yesterday, I'm starting this thread for fans of The Wire. How would you rate the seasons, favorite to least favorite? Mine are as follows:

1. Season 4
2. Season 3
3. Season 1
4. Season 2
5. Season 5

Favorite character? For me, Bunk, without a doubt.
Character you loved to hate? Avon, even more than Marlo.
Charcter you hated to love? Stringer Bell and Snoop.

I realize this thread is about 5 years too late, but feel free to chime in!

[JesusMonroe]

I've only seen one season and I'll watch more of it eventually. I like Omar, Kima, D'Angelo, and Bodie a lot. I don't really like McNulty. He's a pretty boring character to me. I'm sure you know my thoughts on it so far. Don't get me wrong, the show has its moments. There's also a lot of stuff I like, like the fact that there's no music, the acting, and I do like the dealer storyline somewhat and the social commentary is fairly good so far. Everyone I know says the cure to not liking the Wire is to watch more but it was somewhat of a struggle to get through the first season and I'm not looking forward to the second because it's near the bottom of everyone's lists.

Edit: My favorite scene so far is probably the one where D' explains the rules of chess

[TangoJ]

<sub>YES! That chess scene is fantastic. It succeeds in its metaphor so subtly, IMO. Did you watch the complete first season? It seems like I remember you saying you didn't quite make it to the end. Season two is very different in focus from season one, and it was one of my least favorites while watching it, but seeing it again, there is some good stuff buried in there. The Barksdale crew is still around, but the main focus becomes the dockworkers and Stewedores Union, and the thin line between true criminality and doing what is necessary for the people you care about. The social commentary is extremely well done in all of the first four seasons, but a bit ham-handed in the final season. I PROMISE though, that seasons three and four are totally worth hanging in there through one and two. As I said, it's a slow burn. Shows like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead sweep you up into the action pretty much immediately, but The Wire requires some patience and dedication for the pay off. I'd say for me, it's right up there with The Sopranos and Six Feet Under as my favorite dearly departed shows.

It took me a LONG time to forgive Bodie for Wallace... but how can you not love Omar?</sub>

[TangoJ]

I felt the same way about McNulty in season one. He didn't really start growing on me until mid season two. He never became my favorite character by a long shot, though.

[JesusMonroe]

Yeah I did finish season one. I don't have the dvd for the other seasons so I'm going to have to bit to... I'll need a bit of time to totally buy it. I trust people's judgement on this. I mean, it's not named the best show ever by pretty much everyone for no reason. I'll watch it once I get caught up on Game of Thrones

[TangoJ]

I'm in the same boat with Breaking Bad. Everyone I know says it's by far the best show currently running, maybe one of the best ever, but I just finished season 2 and although I like it a lot, I'm not enthralled or awed yet.

It does make me wish I'd studied harder in chemistry class, though.

[DHeav60]

The Wire is the best show ever. I've watched it all the way through a number of times. Still leaps and bounds above anything that's on TV (or HBO for that matter) today.

All the seasons are great but my rankings go:
3
1
4
2
5

Favorite Characters: Stringer Bell, Bunny Colvin, Bodie Broadus

Chars I love to hate: Marlo Stanfield, Namand Brice, All the Politicans namely Royce and Carcetti, about 90% of the bosses although Rawls is the most entertaining.

[JesusMonroe]

I'm in the same boat with Breaking Bad. Everyone I know says it's by far the best show currently running, maybe one of the best ever, but I just finished season 2 and although I like it a lot, I'm not enthralled or awed yet.

It does make me wish I'd studied harder in chemistry class, though.

I love Breaking Bad. It's one of two shows that hooked me on the first episode and it never lets up. It's never had a bad or filler episode.

Season 1 and 2 are my favorites behind Season 5 but a lot of people like Season 3 the best so keep watching anyway. It definitely is the best show running. Can you think of any that even comes close?

Anyway, it's compared to the Wire a lot and I don't see why because they're completely different shows.

With the Wire, I can imagine it as a book, series of movies, play, etc, and it'll still be just as good. Breaking Bad wouldn't be nearly as good as a book. Breaking Bad is perfectly fitted for a television show and the Wire is more expansive than that.

Breaking Bad is an actual story and it presents itself that way. The Wire is more of a look at crime and the life of the police and drug dealers in the city. You're on the outside looking in. The Wire is more presented not as a TV show. There's a lack of a cohesive beginning, middle, and end to each episode. When a character dies, it's not near a finale or the end of an episode. They just die. A lot of times, things fall into place perfectly in Breaking Bad, because it does present itself as a TV show. This isn't a fault, per se, because pretty much every show does it.

The Wire strives for realism. Breaking Bad strives for high stakes so it equals high drama. I think of Macbeth a lot when I watch it and I think that was definitely a big inspiration. The Wire more focuses on a city, not a man, while Breaking Bad focuses on a man and the story, not a city

The Wire focuses on a large array of different stories while Breaking Bad has more focus on one character and who he interacts with

I can't really say what I think is better at the moment because Breaking Bad isn't over yet and I haven't seen the rest of the Wire so it would be unfair to say what I like better. As it stands right now, even though I know it's too early to make a decision, Breaking Bad far and beyond.

Edit: Oh and I was on another forum, people were talking about the best deaths on TV and someone mentioned the Wire and spoiled that

Spoiler

Stringer dies

So I'm kind of mad about that

Edit2: 1,111 posts! Make a wish!

[TangoJ]

I can't really say what I think is better at the moment because Breaking Bad isn't over yet and I haven't seen the rest of the Wire so it would be unfair to say what I like better. As it stands right now, even though I know it's too early to make a decision, Breaking Bad far and beyond.

Oh yeah, I'd say it's apples to oranges. I totally agree with your assessment of storytelling versus realism. I really do like Breaking Bad...I'm just not blown away yet. And I definitely can't point to anything better that's currently running. It's better than Homeland, for sure, and that was my other favorite besides TWD. I'm gonna see it through to the end, without a doubt.

The Wire is the best show ever. I've watched it all the way through a number of times. Still leaps and bounds above anything that's on TV (or HBO for that matter) today.

All the seasons are great but my rankings go:
3
1
4
2
5

Favorite Characters: Stringer Bell, Bunny Colvin, Bodie Broadus

Chars I love to hate: Marlo Stanfield, Namand Brice, All the Politicans namely Royce and Carcetti, about 90% of the bosses although Rawls is the most entertaining.

Oh yeah... of all the kids that season, I was so pissed that Namond was the one that got the golden ticket. He annoyed me to no end. And you know, I STILL can't figure out quite how I feel about Carcetti. I think maybe that's what was intended, and if so, Aiden Gillen was the perfect actor to portray moral ambiguity. He's not handsome, but not ugly, not charismatic, but not boring. He's looking out for his own self-interest on one hand, but genuinely seems to care about the city on the other. I am just so... neutral on him. I can't help thinking that was intentional, and if so, they succeeded beautifully.

I HATED Rawls in seasons one and two, but by the end, I found him hilarious. Same with Landsman.

[JesusMonroe]

Oh yeah, I'd say it's apples to oranges. I totally agree with your assessment of storytelling versus realism. I really do like Breaking Bad...I'm just not blown away yet. And I definitely can't point to anything better that's currently running. It's better than Homeland, for sure, and that was my other favorite besides TWD. I'm gonna see it through to the end, without a doubt.

I would say Homeland is the best show on TV and the second season didn't exist. It could've been a fantastic miniseries and I honestly wish I stopped after the first. I still like it better than the Walking Dead, but it's heading down the road to ruin

[gracie lou]

I've been meaning to start watching this show for a couple years now. I'll pop back in here, if I decide to binge watch it.

[DHeav60]

Namand's storyline is great because he's a spoiled kid who is smart but has no discipline. His arc highlights the idea of chance being born into certain situations. None of his other friends have anything resembling a family save Randy and his foster mother. Randy has the most potential to escape corner life but he is eaten up by the system. Namand's family is quite like D'Angelos - the support of a connected family goes a long way and gives Namand (or D) quite a leg up in "The Game".... but some people just aren't cut out for that brutal world.

As for Carcetti - I believe his story arc is meant to show how ideological politicians are so easily changed and how the new boss becomes the same as the old boss with relative ease and without them even knowing it. He runs his mayoral campaign on changing the police department but once he gets in office he ends up doing the same shit that Royce did, which is probably the same shit that the previous mayor did - which is why nothing ever changes.

[Matt]

The second season is incredibly underrated - perhaps, in fact, the most underrated season of television I've ever seen. I really don't get the flack it receives. I loved Sobotka and The Greeks, and it was great seeing Stringer come into his own more than ever before, in contrast to the first season where it felt like he was mostly in Avon's shadow. Oh, and the downfall of D'Angelo was brilliantly executed (though depressing as hell lol)

My personal rankings:

2
1
4
3
5

If i'm being brutally honest here though, I found Season 5 rather mediocre (it's really the one true detracting factor of TW for me and the reason I prefer some other shows over it). The McNulty/Freamon subplot felt awfully cartoonish to me and took me out of the show's universe a bit. In addition to that, the newspaper and street subplots were a bore (for the latter, I was never all that invested in Marlo and so it becoming increasingly difficult to watch him absorb more screentime with each passing episode)

[DHeav60]

It's weird... I think it's hard to criticize any season of the show because they're all so great. My first time watching the wire I thought the 2nd was the least exciting but I must admit subsequent watches of the show make it really shine. Same with the 5th Season. I feel the 5th season gets dogged because their were less episodes and there were many different intricate story arcs that the writers needed to weave together to one conclusion. In my opinion - what really makes season 2 stand out was that we get the most in depth look at The Greeks and how these operations work with the utmost caution and discipline, I think the foreign nature of the Greeks is supposed to imply that a different culture is responsible for the way that can outmaneuver local law enforcement and have even found ways to infiltrate our own federal government to help protected their business interests. The Sobotka's were entertaining but the Greek's were more interesting.

I like Season 5 in it's own respect but the real issue is that all the other seasons are superb. I think the themes explored in the 5th season do a great job of explaining the cyclical nature of crime, poverty, politics, institutional corruptness and decay and why it all matters. The media gets the spotlight in Season 5 as it should - Gus Haynes was great but regardless of what side you are on in the media war - Drug kingpins, cops, sleazy politicians, and corner-boys are all more interesting than newsmen.

[JesusMonroe]

The second season is incredibly underrated - perhaps, in fact, the most underrated season of television I've ever seen. I really don't get the flack it receives. I loved Sobotka and The Greeks, and it was great seeing Stringer come into his own more than ever before, in contrast to the first season where it felt like he was mostly in Avon's shadow. Oh, and the downfall of D'Angelo was brilliantly executed (though depressing as hell lol)

Maybe I'll like the second season then because I love underrated seasons of TV like seasons 4 and 6 of Lost

[TangoJ]

I've been meaning to start watching this show for a couple years now. I'll pop back in here, if I decide to binge watch it.

Gracie, it's SO worth the time. It took me a while, probably almost the entire first season, to really get hooked, but it's unlike anything else I've ever seen on TV.

[TangoJ]

I think the reason a lot of people tend to not like the second season on the inital viewing is that they are not used to the complete shift in focus from season to season yet. That is a bit disorienting at first, because really no other show does things quite like that. By season three, you are already used to and more open to the shifts, so it goes down easier. Watching season two for the second time, I really was able to lose myself in some of the new faces. Frank is such a sympathetic character to me... I think his heart was in the right place, but that the means he employed to his desired ends were his downfall. They did a great job at portraying a different kind of desperation from the corners, and how it can lead seemingly upstanding people into the fringes of the criminal underworld. I think another part of my initial reluctance to embrace season two was that I am hyper-aware of the lack of good roles for minority actors, and I loved that there were no "tokens" in season one... just well written, complex roles. The shift to all of the mostly caucasian characters in season two made me afraid that the show was going to take the more familiar path. Now that I know that's not the case, it's easier to enjoy season two on its own merits.

[TangoJ]

If i'm being brutally honest here though, I found Season 5 rather mediocre (it's really the one true detracting factor of TW for me and the reason I prefer some other shows over it). The McNulty/Freamon subplot felt awfully cartoonish to me and took me out of the show's universe a bit. In addition to that, the newspaper and street subplots were a bore (for the latter, I was never all that invested in Marlo and so it becoming increasingly difficult to watch him absorb more screentime with each passing episode)

^^ This. The serial killer angle felt very shark-jumpy to me, and the media storyline just wasn't all that engaging. This may be because season five was initially approved and written for thirteen episodes, and shortly before they were to start filming, HBO cut it to ten, so there were probably some sacrifices made to the story in the hasty re-writes. While it's my least favorite season, it was still better than 99% of any other shows out there, though.

[zombiehunter]

The wire is great. I will say it is the best TV show I have ever watched. Hard for me to rank the seasons as they were all great in their own way.

Did you hear a season 6 was considered, it was to focus on the Latino influx into Baltamore. But Simon didn't have enough material for 10 episodes (which I find hard to believe).

Nobody mentioned Bubbles but he was a great character also.

One of my favorite scenes early on was when Greggs joined her fellow officers in beating down a crew member. It was completely unexpected for me and made me relize that this show will throw you curveballs.

i could go on all day about the wire. But I will stop here.

[zombiehunter]

Maybe I'll like the second season then because I love underrated seasons of TV like seasons 4 and 6 of Lost

I really liked season 4 of LOST as well. Season 6 not so much.

But this belongs in the LOST tread.

[TangoJ]

The wire is great. I will say it is the best TV show I have ever watched. Hard for me to rank the seasons as they were all great in their own way.

Did you hear a season 6 was considered, it was to focus on the Latino influx into Baltamore. But Simon didn't have enough material for 10 episodes (which I find hard to believe).

Nobody mentioned Bubbles but he was a great character also.

One of my favorite scenes early on was when Greggs joined her fellow officers in beating down a crew member. It was completely unexpected for me and made me relize that this show will throw you curveballs.

i could go on all day about the wire. But I will stop here.

No, don't stop!

Yes, Bubbles grabbed me from the very first season, and I remember being completely surprised at Kima joining in that beatdown, as well. Wasn't it Bodie on the receiving end of that? He was such a good soldier.

I had heard about the sixth season idea, and I so wish they could have gone there. I believe I read that they didn't think they could maintain the same level of realism, since seasons 1-5 were coming from a place of personal experience for Burns and Simon. Neither of them had contacts in the Latino community, or anyone on their teams who spoke Spanish, so I believe it was finally determined that the time and funds required to try to cultivate those ties ended up being too prohibitive.

[Matt]

I still get depressed whenever I think back to him and Sherrod in Season 4

[TangoJ]

I still get depressed whenever I think back to him and Sherrod in Season 4

God, that was almost as heartbreaking for me as Wallace. Andre Royo did such a fantastic job with that character. There were just so many incredible actors on that show, and except for Chad and Lawrence Jr. on TWD, and Michael B. Jordan in Friday Night Lights and Fruitvale Station, very few of them have gotten any decent roles since.

[JesusMonroe]

I really liked season 4 of LOST as well. Season 6 not so much.

But this belongs in the LOST tread.

Didn't even know there was one. I'm not trying to talk about Lost here, though. I was just saying that I may like season 2 more than others

[zombiehunter]

I had heard about the sixth season idea, and I so wish they could have gone there. I believe I read that they didn't think they could maintain the same level of realism, since seasons 1-5 were coming from a place of personal experience for Burns and Simon. Neither of them had contacts in the Latino community, or anyone on their teams who spoke Spanish, so I believe it was finally determined that the time and funds required to try to cultivate those ties ended up being too prohibitive.

That makes more sense to me.

Some more great scenes. When McNulty and Bunk break down a crime scene using only the f word. When Prez figures out the phone code. Lestor Freamon and his smooth ways. Carcetti (out on the streets) vs Royce (getting a clean shave) montage. Hamsterdam.

Lots of actors from the wire went on the better things. Irdis Elba, Dominic West, Micheal K Williams in Boardwalk Empire, Aiden Gillan in Game of Thrones, Clarke Peters in Treme, Amy Ryan was pretty funny on The Office. Lance Reddik had roles in LOST and Fringe.