"The Wire" on HBO

i dunno about skewed -- like, maybe the hypothetical educated professional viewer would normally care more about the newspaper's problems than the death of a drug dealer and a stick-up boy, however the show has spent four seasons humanizing the drug trade and its players, so I was "oooh nooo! Omar!" and "Awwww they killed Prop Joe!" and when saintly Gus doesn't get to do the right thing in the newsroom, "hmm, that kinda sucks. Oh well."

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

The opening scene (replete with Snot Booger) is repeated almost wholly from the "Homicide" book, as are a few other bits and pieces throughout the show.

maybe a kindly mod could take out the last couple of spoilers? It killed me when I'd just finished season four and inadvertently found out about XXXXXX being YYYYYY in season five

It is a shame that aren't threads for each season of this show, but that request is pretty much "You want it to be one way, but it's the other way."

ha, great line but I can't even remember where it's from

no don't tell me

people who really and truly wish to avoid spoilers don't hang around message board threads about the thing they haven't seen all of yet

it's kind of like busting into someone's bathroom and going OH GOD YOU'RE NAKED WHAT THE HELL

Ismael - it was in season 4.

some dude - otm

people who really and truly wish to avoid spoilers don't hang around message board threads about the thing they haven't seen all of yet

What's more, they should really stay away from a thread for a show that's been off the air for 2+ years.

but we're talking hypothetically here -- I mean, did J0rdan say he didn't want spoilers?

I'm sure that all people want spoilers unless they explicitly state otherwise.

it's not unreasonable to assume

lolxpost

hey jordan here's where omar gets shot in the head by a little kid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CshAkqlAj1o

i texted him and told him not to open the thread so he's good

Tell him it's safe now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPt5FOw_yIA

rilly tho?

hate to break it to you J0rd, but Marlo really likes candy

well done gr8080, that's precisely the clip I saw right after watching the last ep of s4

i think the fact that omar dies got spoiled for me on ILX but the circumstances and even which season it happened in were still unknown to me, which was kind of awesome because it made the stakes even higher every time i watched a scene with him

omar is my favorite television character ever btw
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/omar.jpg

when i'm like 3-4 seasons behind on a show and i accidentally read a spoiler about something that happens in an episode i probably won't catch up to for months or years, i just try to forgot what i read

i have a mind like a steel trap so that's v v hard for me to do

yeah, the act of trying means that thing is then always in the front of my mind, whether I'm thinking about the show or not

it helps if it's some involved plot development involving characters or circumstances that haven't been introduced yet in the episodes i have seen -- obviously something like "(super memorable character) gets killed" doesn't pop out of your brain easily.

omar is my favorite television character ever btw

GOAT imo

one of my favorite characters on ILX!

The opening scene (replete with Snot Booger) is repeated almost wholly from the "Homicide" book, as are a few other bits and pieces throughout the show.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, January 17, 2011 5:21 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

and so I'm to assume that it was transcribed directly from a tape recording of whatever real-life situation it was taken from?

I think David Simon heard a cop retelling that story.

yeah but all stories are embellished through retelling

I just read The Corner co-written by Simon & Ed Burns - a Baltimore detective for 20 years & then a public school teacher. interesting perspective there, to say the least. you can totally see the genesis of several Wire characters in the real people on The Corner: D'Angelo Barksdale & Bubbles. fascinating book whether you've seen the series or not.

only skimming this thread since I'm in the middle of season three

uh, don't read the ~50 or so posts above yours

i really want to read the corner too

mouzone's right hand man is the actual dude from the corner book

i read like half The Corner before its library due date, really need to go take it out again and finish it.

i love Omar and totally get why he's the most iconic character from The Wire, but i can't imagine him being remotely my favorite out of all the great characters on the show.

Omar
Bunk
Ziggy
Frank Sbotka

i can dimly see the objection to the first scene of the show, but criticizing 'the wire' for being writerly... very occasionally they go too far, but mostly not. 'the corner' is never writerly, iirc, but it's also kind of boring. i don't think 'the wire' is even aiming for that kind of verisimilitude -- example, it's set within the half-decade the show ran for, but also stands for about a quarter-century.

it incorporates stories and situations and people from 1980s and 1990s IRL Baltimore but it's all internally consistent to the show's present day timeline, don't see how that has any relationship to the show's verisimilitude

yeah but all stories are embellished through retelling

― dayo, Sunday, January 16, 2011 5:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what point are u even making here

sometimes real life is like this & dudes on the corner say some profound shit abt life

if a real life street dude said "thin line 'tween heaven and here" i'd roll my eyes at him too

bunk
prop joe
frank sobotka
randy
norman

if a real life street dude said "thin line 'tween heaven and here" i'd roll my eyes at him too

― Alex Da Dad (some dude), Monday, January 17, 2011 12:20 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

o rly

norman is a great

i am trying to come up with a list of my favorite characters, but it would be more efficient to say everyone except marlo and namond's mom

i guess norman might be kind of a flat Good Guy but he's more fun than gus and i like the suggestion that he is in a cycle where he continually works closely with politicians who then disappoint him so he finds a new one -- like the whole country, but more intimate.

I love the deadness of marlo. Not that I'd list him as a favorite character but I love that after us building up this love for all these bad street dudes like Stringer or Omar, you get Marlo who is such a complete cipher, like a vaccuum of anything identifiable, just straight ambition. I find him kind of fascinating in a weird way.

yeah i don't actually think he's badly characterized, i just hate him.

yeah SPOILERZ i really like the contrast between the rooted barksdale empire -- which is rapacious and destructive but which does things like fund cutty's gym not just as a repaid favor but out of a sense of residence in a community, and whose leaders eventually destroy each other because of incompatibilities/impossibilities in dreams and ideals they have that go back to childhood -- and marlo who just consumes money and people and has no discernible history. the show's position seems to be ALL THESE SYSTEMS ARE FALLING APART AND GETTING WORSE INCLUDING THE DRUG TRADE