HBO's 'The Wire' (spoilers)

[mjpwooo]

I just finished watching the series (I know, 10 years late) and am curious who on here has an opinion. I enjoyed it A LOT. Thought season 5 was the weakest because of the reporter story and McNulty making up the murders.

Also, I hated how Omar went out. Felt like he deserved more, if that makes sense.

What do you folks think?

 

[PoopandBoogers]

Sheeeeeeeeet.

 

[runkpanole]

5 was probably the weakest, that said I enjoyed it. I thought it hit on how some things are done in the media for shock rather than actual news. I see it all the time in my own job.

You may get a lot of people that say 2 is the weakest, but it is one of my favorites.

 

[LesClaypool]

Weird. No one has ever brought up this topic before.

 

[QuaZ2002]

5 was indisputably the weakest. I absolutely love that show, but I don't think it's going to age that well. Still, it had the best characters of any show I've ever watched. Mad Men would probably be second.

 

[mjpwooo]

Weird. No one has ever brought up this topic before.

I haven't looked for any Wire threads. I just finished watching the series. You can ignore it if you are annoyed.

 

[BloodyNoseJose]

The thought season 5 was dumb until the whole Jameis Winston/Kinsman thing happened.

I love the show. It has great re-watchability for me. I never rewatch Breaking Bad episodes but I rewatch the Wire and MadMen all the time.

 

[Nolebra Kai]

It's my favorite show of all-time. The best written and best acted show I have ever watched. Agree on Season 5 being the weakest but I loved how they ended the show with McNulty.

A lot of people like Season 4 the best but mine was 3.

Top 5 characters

Lester Freamon
Jimmy McNulty
Slim Charles
Bunk Moreland
Bunny Colvin

 

[tenole]

I just finished watching the series (I know, 10 years late) and am curious who on here has an opinion. I enjoyed it A LOT. Thought season 5 was the weakest because of the reporter story and McNulty making up the murders.

Also, I hated how Omar went out. Felt like he deserved more, if that makes sense.

What do you folks think?

Hated the way Omar went out too but it makes sense given the show. Out there you never knew when your time was coming and you could never let your guard down. He let it down for maybe 10 seconds and got popped. What's your favorite season?

 

[montconole]

I thought Omar going down like he did was perfect. The game doesn't respect or value anyone over any other players. Time comes when the time comes.

Also, love how it was Kenard who got him when earlier, he was playing Omar in the stickup game.

 

[HulaNole]

Why always Boris.

 

[EveryoneBleedsGarnet]

The Wire is so overrated. If it came out 10 years later it would have been cancelled.

 

[Nole Lou]

Another big fan here. Liked all off 1-4 pretty evenly. 5

The Wire is so overrated. If it came out 10 years later it would have been cancelled.

It was almost cancelled anyway...the viewership was very poor. It stayed on because of the prestige of being the best show on TV.

I'm another big fan. I do think season five was the worst season by several degrees...actually was pretty disappointed in it compared to the previous seasons, but it was redeemed somewhat by the wrap up at the end which I thought was pretty well done.

 

[billyfsu76]

The diverging opinions must be a product of when it is watched. I tried to give it a more than fair shot a few years ago but simply could not get into it. I was pretty much done with it by the middle of the 2nd season but watched all the way to the end of the 3rd.

For the time it was made, perhaps it seemed revolutionary but if you didn't catch it when it originally aired or shortly thereafter, I'm not sure it holds up too well. It just basically seemed like a grittier version of Law and Order.

 

[LesClaypool]

It just basically seemed like a grittier version of Law and Order.

Except way more boring and 10x suckier.

Horrible show.

 

[mjpwooo]

So, I was able to watch, in tru binge style over the course of about 6 weeks or so. That's a much different way to watch than over 5 years.

Lou, was it really almost cancelled?

 

[Nolebra Kai]

Yep. Thankfully people with taste so past the numbers originally.

 

[cfbfan23]

The Wire is one of my favorite shows of all-time. I liked season 2 the best.

 

[Nole Lou]

So, I was able to watch, in tru binge style over the course of about 6 weeks or so. That's a much different way to watch than over 5 years.

Lou, was it really almost cancelled?

Yeah, my understanding is that it was touch and go pretty much the whole time. The viewership was never much there from what I understand.

I think what saved it for as long as it was on was:

1) HBO had the Sopranos as a solid money-maker, so The Wire could draft on that and solidify HBO as the place for prestige television. There's no way The Wire gets five seasons if The Sopranos wasn't killing it. But there's no doubt that The Wire helped solidify HBO's image, more than just being a network that lucked into a hit with The Sopranos.

2) I believe word of mouth led to the Wire moving a meaningful amount of DVDs before TV on DVD was a big thing. I think some of the earlier seasons were starting to move some DVDs and recoup a little money, which might have been enough to green light the final seasons.

I'm going off the top of my head from things I've heard and read, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Nole Lou]

Trying to watch The Wire today is sort of like trying to watch Pulp Fiction for the first time now and not understanding what the big deal is.

It was incredibly unique at the time, a cop/crime drama that played by none of the rules, and dealt with ideas and concepts that just weren't depicted at the time. Between the overall hopeless nihilism of the whole thing, no clear good guy/bad guy, the willingness to serve up complexity and ambiguity, and the anthology nature of it, there really wasn't anything like it.

You can say that Tony Soprano was an anti-hero, but he was always the hero of that show and world. The Wire was much different.

I've never gone back and revisited, because I just don't do that, but I'm sure having a thousand shows since then that built on it's legacy certainly would make it hard to appreciate. I think Game of Thrones is directly descended from it in a storytelling perspective, with obviously a ton more eye candy. For example, the way The Wire killed off or marginalized apparently main characters was totally unheard of at the time, but is now pretty common...it wouldn't even register today. There was a whole "I can't believe this is happening on a TV show" vibe watching it early on that would be completely unremarkable today.

 

[rustyb93]

I watched it for the first time less than a year ago and I loved it. It's one of the top two or three series I've ever seen.

 

[FSUJay]

I thought Omar going down like he did was perfect. The game doesn't respect or value anyone over any other players. Time comes when the time comes.

You mean "Deserves got nothin' to do with it".