The Wire appreciation thread

Lord-Jaffa · 23 Jul 2008 at 06:16

atpbx said:
Bunk is my favorite.
Its a pity his language is so fruity as he has some epic quotes.

The scene with him and Mcnulty in that womans bathroom with him drunk on the toilet was absolutely hilarious, seeing Mcnulty laughing while hes trying to find out wtf happened just gets me everytime haha.

atpbx · 23 Jul 2008 at 07:49

uknowist said:
aint seen the shield but do wanna check it out, but from what i've heard its the poor mans wire

Not quite, If the wire is the best police drama you've ever seen, then the Shield is the best police action drama you have ever seen.

It just doesnt get boring watching the strike team hurting people.

Weebull · 23 Jul 2008 at 10:23

bledd. said:
is this like watching 24 for the first time?

Yes and no. It's amazing when you first watch it, but it can be tough viewing at first, and takes real time to get in to. Plus, it's one of only a few programmes I've seen that you really need to pay attention to when you watch, or you'll miss a lot. Something like 24 I can put on the telly, and still keep up with whats happening, even when I wander about the room getting food or whatever. You can't really do that watching The Wire, especially before you actually learn all the slang they use.

Mark A said:
The only character i don't like is McNulty (sp?), i don't know why i just cant stand him. Fav character would have to be Avon Barksdale, closely followed by Omar.

That's funny, Avon's actually one of my least favourite characters. I just didn't seem to get much from him as a character, and the guy playing him appeared to have two expressions - blank faced or biting his lip.

Bubbles is a fantastic character too.

*SPOILER*
The scene where he wakes up to find Sherrod in season 4 is utterly tragic.
*SPOILER END*

bledd · 23 Jul 2008 at 10:37

Weebull said:
Yes and no. It's amazing when you first watch it, but it can be tough viewing at first, and takes real time to get in to. Plus, it's one of only a few programmes I've seen that you really need to pay attention to when you watch, or you'll miss a lot. Something like 24 I can put on the telly, and still keep up with whats happening, even when I wander about the room getting food or whatever. You can't really do that watching The Wire, especially before you actually learn all the slang they use.

ok

i always 'shhh' everyone if they talk when i'm watching tv, really grinds my gears

caff · 23 Jul 2008 at 11:20

Weebull said:
it can be tough viewing at first

(careful with your spoilers btw...)

Yup - no characters are fullly introduced - in fact quite often I found myself watching several episodes in a row where I had no idea what a character's name was!

But this is the brilliance of the scriptwriting, you are so hooked into the it's just natural that the pace of the show flows on without patronising the viewer.

jonorigin · 23 Jul 2008 at 11:21

Such a fantastic show! Every single episode is so strong. Gutted there won't be any more series, but it's good that they are ending with it still at a high standard.

Weebull · 23 Jul 2008 at 11:22

caff said:
(careful with your spoilers btw...)

Yeah, I was trying to not to hint at what happens. I'll go blue-text it.

edit: Done.

And yeah, the way you don't really have a clue what's going on at first makes it really tough to get into. As you said, I had no idea who anyone was at first, and throughout most of the first series, you'd just refer to people by look.

edit:
"You see these, McNulty? You see 'em? These are for you. These are for you for as long as it takes me to get even.

No, no, don't 'Major' me, you back-stabbing, smart ass, piece of ****. What the **** are you doing over at the court house anyway? Why the **** are you talking to some ****bag judge?

These are for you, McNulty. This one over here is going up your narrow ****ing Irish ass; and this bad boy over here is in your ****ing eye."

uknowist · 24 Jul 2008 at 01:27

atpbx said:
Not quite, If the wire is the best police drama you've ever seen, then the Shield is the best police action drama you have ever seen.

It just doesnt get boring watching the strike team hurting people.

sounds like my kinda show! the only bad things I heard about it is they always wrap it up nicely within an hour episode like CSI does and the later series goes off the rails a bit. Will definately check it out tho.

Mark A · 24 Jul 2008 at 01:32

Awwww, so season 5 was the last?, dam i thought there was another season. It seemed to finish abruptly which i assumed was due to the writers strike and also seemed to be left open ended.

Well i hope there will be something as good to replace it. I might have to give this Shield a watch if its similar.

Scania · 3 Aug 2008 at 07:47

"A Bell Is a Cup... Until It Is Struck"

Sadly, not the Wire appreciation I was expecting....

Margaret · 3 Aug 2008 at 10:37

I saw the last season around March this year, amazing conclusion but I wish it never ended.

Omar is hilarious though, loved this bit from season 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbbNJx2Efbw

FeFiDoh · 3 Aug 2008 at 11:36

Just started to watch Season III, is it as good as the others?

the shadow · 3 Aug 2008 at 11:55

Watchin se1 now again

Mark A · 3 Aug 2008 at 18:23

R5Rich said:
Just started to watch Season III, is it as good as the others?

All the seasons were good imo.

uknowist · 4 Aug 2008 at 08:31

R5Rich said:
Just started to watch Season III, is it as good as the others?

yeah season 3 is great, season 4 is the weakest I think but I still enjoyed it. 3rd episode of season 5 tonight :cool:

shame they were only able to make 10 episodes this series

wedgie · 4 Aug 2008 at 08:55

I'm only on the second episode of series one, when does it turn into the outstanding, unmissable show I keep hearing about?

Obviously it's far too early for me to pass any kind of judgement on it, I'm just assuming it's the kind of show that you appreciate as a whole rather than by individual episodes?

uknowist · 4 Aug 2008 at 09:44

I'll be honest it took me about 4 to 5 episodes before i got into it, it starts off slow i will admit, at least watch all of season 1 then pass judgement, if u still hate it fair enough its not for everyone

Weebull · 4 Aug 2008 at 10:51

wedgie said:
I'm only on the second episode of series one, when does it turn into the outstanding, unmissable show I keep hearing about?

Obviously it's far too early for me to pass any kind of judgement on it, I'm just assuming it's the kind of show that you appreciate as a whole rather than by individual episodes?

Until you get to grips with what's going on, and who everyone is really. The first few episodes tend to be fairly head-scratching, and in fairness, aren't as good as some of the later ones, but hopefully by halfway through the series you'll be more into it.

If you make it to the end of series one and still aren't a fan, then no, it's not for you, but give it til then really. The series is only 13(?) episodes after all.

uknowist said:
yeah season 3 is great, season 4 is the weakest I think but I still enjoyed it. 3rd episode of season 5 tonight shame they were only able to make 10 episodes this series

Lies! Season 4 was the best.

Carzy · 4 Aug 2008 at 11:52

Season 4 was the best season easily. 3 and 1 were awesome too. 5 was good. 2 was okay.

Weebull · 4 Aug 2008 at 12:06

I thought season 5 was probably the weakest actually, although it's been a while since I saw season 2, and I'm waiting on my mate to return my first series box before I watch them all again.

I just thought the newsroom characters in season 5 weren't as well-rounded as everybody else was. Shifty Reporter Bloke was always shifty and naughty, Goody Two-Shoes Sub-Editor was never anything but the voice of rightness, and the Dopey Senior Editors were never humanised beyond "often makes the wrong decisions." The strength of the Wire for me was that no-one was ever 100% good or bad in it, but I guess only having ten episodes for the last series didn't give them enough time to do this for the reporters too.