"The Wire" on HBO

Just started watching this for the second time through with my gf who has never seen it. I forgot so much great stuff and im totally picking up new things and loving it

XP horseshoe, ah well great minds etc:

every season of this show is awesome

otm

5 wasn't as bad as it's sometimes made out but i'd put it somewhere beneath "awesome"

yeah that's otm

Sub-awesome?

One of those shows I want to hate b/c of my inherant iconoclastic nature, but ultimately it's v well written and p shocking at times. I still think the first season is the only one worth watching, though, (indulging in my urges.)

5 was the most wack but I think it got resolved in a way that still makes it awesome.

My personal vote goes to season 2. Couldn't stand the characters, couldn't stand the cliches, couldn't stand how obviously inspired it was by things I had already seen (it was like they took On The Waterfront and stretched what was done excellently in 2 hours into 12 hours of "Ok, I get it") .

Took me a while to pick up Season 3, but definitely feel so far that it was the 2nd best season - the return to "the streets" was much appreciated, and definitely the reason I remembered I was watching this series for in the first place.

idk man, for as impressively intricate the story is (and will get, i'm sure), on a scene-by-scene basis there's still tons of groaners from a writing/acting perspective

― J0rdan S., Sunday, January 16, 2011 6:36 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

there were def groaners in the 1st season cause they were following the police procedural type format too closely. like I remember the prez solves the mysterious beeper code!! part really facepalm-y, also the character of prez was just way too cardboard. it's in season 2/3/4 when they stop following that format and let it ~play out on its own~ that it becomes really excellent and transcendent.

btw julliard is a music school, not an acting school

I also met an ziggy-type person last night, I wanted to punch his lights out so bad

yeah prez is one of the characters on this show for me that goes from a *rolls eyes* to a dope character

totally

btw julliard is a music school, not an acting school

btw juilliard also has a drama school. crazy chinese mother's husband went there.

I also met an ziggy-type person last night, I wanted to punch his lights out so bad

He was showing off his dick, wasn't he?

Hated Prez when he was first introduced, total idiot but by the end of season 4, I was all <3

xpost did he have a duck on a leash?

btw julliard is a music school, not an acting school

btw juilliard also has a drama school. crazy chinese mother's husband went there.

― Zsa Zsa Gay Bar (jaymc), Sunday, January 16, 2011 10:51 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

hoisted on my own petard ;_;

looking at the alumni list on wikipedia the only names that jump out at me are robin williams and christopher reeve

so

pretty sure i have heard robin williams say "true dat"

wait... val kilmer & kevin kline & ving rhames & kevin spacey as well

wait til j0rd finds out mcnulty is british

When I think of Julliard I think of Flashdance. that's all I got

wait til j0rd finds out mcnulty is british

― dayo, Saturday, January 15, 2011 10:00 PM (22 seconds ago)

i was like nooooooooooooo when i first learned this

don't tell him about any other brits

still amazed there are americans who didn't find out mcnulty was british the first time they heard his character speak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmIvu1yg3bU

Once I knew, I could totally hear it, but yeah, at first I had no clue at all

i know my small objections here are pretty subjective btw -- like i could point out specific scenes or strings of dialogue when i'm watching where things seem too writerly i.e. characters conversing in ways that humans don't -- idk, it's minor but in my mind i'm always comparing this to the sopranos which is pretty much perfect obv so \(o_O)/

i get what you're saying jordan. the dialogue and some of the acting is kind of rough around the edges, almost amateurish. it's definitely not a perfect show.

you shut up

cosign :)

i actually didn't notice how english west was until i found out he was. but in hindsight, snat boogie is so obvious.

SNAT BOOGY?

No agreeing with Jordan. the Wire is made by angels and he hasn't even finished watching the series so ...

<3 u Jordan

</3

that opening scene is a good example of the 'writerly' style that probably rubs j0rd the wrong way.

to be fair, david simon did first gain notoriety from writing a book about the balt drug trade right? so i shouldn't really be surprised

the book "homicide" is excellent fuiud

Writers be writin

to be fair, david simon did first gain notoriety from writing a book about the balt drug trade right? so i shouldn't really be surprised

― J0rdan S., Saturday, January 15, 2011 11:57 PM (Yesterday)

i haven't read the book but i'm struggling to understand the pt youre trying to make ehre

that opening scene is a good example of the 'writerly' style that probably rubs j0rd the wrong way.

― dayo, Saturday, January 15, 2011 11:55 PM (Yesterday)

the "this is america" or whatever is certainly a bit much, yeah

the dialogue and some of the acting is kind of rough around the edges, almost amateurish.

i have just shit in my chair and thrown it out the window

Hahah

yeah as a "general statement" that's basically complete bullshit

david simon did first gain notoriety from writing a book about the balt drug trade right?

as well as the ??; nah, Corner was 1997, Homicide was 1991

the "this is america" or whatever is certainly a bit much, yeah

ikr?

PS someone should go back in time and tell that to the real-life guy who said it.

in real life.

i have posted on this thread a lot about how awesome this show is, it's my favourite of all time, but there are some weak performances and some v unpolished dialogue throughout, esp. in season 1. there are also some amazing perfs and most of the dialogue is great and then there's the dickensian aspect.

i don't mind the writerly bits btw (and i don't think that's jordan's criticism either)

Simon was a newspaper writer for years, then wrote Homicide, which is straight non-fiction but gets a bit flowery and writerly with the prose, then wrote The Corner which same thing but maybe a bit moreso. imo The Wire has a pretty even mix of highfalutin dramatic dialogue and stuff that dropped right out of someone's actual mouth at some point in his journalistic career, definitely some clangers in the course of the show particularly in earlier seasons, but i think it strikes a good balance overall.

He's passionate. he's got hobbyhorses and he cant help pushing them into his storyline...but without writers who really care and connect with what they're writing, you don't get characters that could walk straight off the screen, and story lines that break your heart. I mean everyone gets so jaded about cliches and stuff and everyone wants to chin scratch but there's a lot to be said for feeling something, and emotions can be kinda cliche sometimes. Isn't necessarily bad.