"The Wire" on HBO

I don't know if I use the word sober to describe Bunk. Certainly more willing to tow the company line than McNulty.

Yeah maybe "hinged" is more what I mean.

feel like carcetti is so much more watchable in s4 because he has norman wilson around all the time:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/62/The_Wire_Norman_Wilson.jpg/250px-The_Wire_Norman_Wilson.jpg

http://hbowatch.com/the-wire-being-remastered-rebroadcast-in-hd-by-hbo/

Internet at my house has been down for a week and will be down another week and my wife is out of town helping her mom so I was like aggghhh my shows but then the Wire gold box I bought at a discount three years ago was like hi hello. So I'm 3 episodes into a rewatch. This'll only be my second time through. So fucking good. Love Bubs so goddamn much.

Heh, I just resumed my second rewatch -- started season 2 this last weekend.

And every single scene with Ziggy is still mega uncomfortable to watch.

Goddamn Zig.

http://i.lv3.hbo.com/assets/images/series/the-wire/episodes/2/22/stray-rounds-04-1024.jpg

Looks like McNutty has a movie out soon.

McNutty has a new show out soon (The Affair on Showtime)!

i blocked so much of ziggy out of my mind xps

McNutty has a new show out soon (The Affair on Showtime)!

Doh right, that's the teaser I saw last night.

early buzz is super positive

Y'all should check out the Andre Royo (aka Bubbles) interview with Marc Maron at www.wtfpod.com

Really good conversation.

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/

At the last, I’m satisfied what while this new version of The Wire is not, in some specific ways, the film we first made, it has sufficient merit to exist as an alternate version. There are scenes that clearly improve in HD and in the widescreen format. But there are things that are not improved. And even with our best resizing, touchups and maneuver, there are some things that are simply not as good. That’s the inevitability: This new version, after all, exists in an aspect ratio that simply wasn’t intended or serviced by the filmmakers.

Still, being equally honest here, there can be no denying that an ever-greater portion of the television audience has HD widescreen televisions staring at them from across the living room, and that they feel notably oppressed if all of their entertainments do not advantage themselves of the new hardware. It vexes them in the same way that many with color television sets were long ago bothered by the anachronism of black-and-white films, even carefully conceived black-and-white films. For them, The Wire seems frustrating or inaccessible — even more so than we intended it. And, hey, we are always in it to tell people a story, first and foremost. If a new format brings a few more thirsty critters to the water’s edge, then so be it.

This time Wallace shoots first

Proposition Jabba finally shown as David Simon intended him to look

lol

Freamon can distinguish between nails and rivets from 3 feet

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/15/way?mbid=social_tumblr

This 16:9 transfer sounds like a disaster, but I haven't seen any of it yet. I'd prefer they just cleaned up a 4:3 version, but I guess even that's not really necessary for this show.

I just caught a bit of season 4 on HBOSG, which I don't get in HD so it's letterboxed. Didn't notice anything too bad with the framing.

This is a very cool interview:
http://www.avclub.com/article/jamie-hector-loving-wire-and-building-his-own-back-213516?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default

Put in first episode of season 4 a few days back, it is still the pinnacle of the art form known as television. Am now on episode 6. Two things I notice due to recent other products of culture: 1) Serial. They do talk quite a lot about Leakin Park, Lester and Bunk go there to look for Lex, and Woodlawn is even mentioned in episode one. 2) Actress. I watched the doc with Brandy Burre, who plays Theresa D'Agostino. She explains that she was pregnant during season 4, and it's pretty imposible to not notice once you know. There's a running gag where she is always in those big ugly campaign sweaters, but in episode six, at the win celebration, she is in a smart black dress, and wow she's big.

she was pretty great on the show.

What doc?

Actress.

this show would be so much better if they kept the season 1 themesong throughout

I like the Neville Brothers version

this show would be so much better if they kept the season 1 themesong throughout

― pursuit of happiness (art), Monday, January 12, 2015 7:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha i am not clear on why this would measurably improve anything but 4 minutes of each episode?

(assuming one agrees that the season 1 song is the best version, which i don't)

The whole theme-sequence in season four is so amazingly great. As is every scene in Prez' classroom, once he gets a bit of hang of it. As is almost every damn second of season four.

xxp it is like im watching the very first scene and as it ends the little lead in starts to roll and it's like "oh yeah here it comes" then im immediately super disappointed

If you don't think the waits version is the best, you are crazy and don't even like to fart

Anyway I liked the conceit of changing the song each season, went well with the structure of the show.

watching thru this again w/ a friend who's never seen it. we're in s2 and it's kind of a slog; none of the people she's interested in are given enough focus and she doesn't really like the sobotkas & greeks or the dead women plotline. we just got thru the ep where d'angelo gets killed in prison. the next day she texted me saying "I'm still so sad about D'angelo!" and she was already bummed about Wallace in s1. i tried to hint vaguely that there's more coming but it's not a death-y show like Sopranos was. her response: "If Stringer dies I'm out!"

it took a little while for s2 to grow on me, i wasn't happy about shifting focus from s1 either

ime by the time stringer dies you're too far in to be out

Yeah, I think you can get away with lying to her.

I was too far in to be out when Frank gets whacked. I love S02.

s2 is the best imo

my parents just finished watching the wire after me badgering them for years to give it a try. season two was a real sticking point for them too and it reminded me just how bold s2 is - sidelining characters the audience had only just gotten to know, introducing a whole new supporting cast, shifting the entire focus of the show, even changing the title music. it's almost like a challenge to the audience to stick with it.

actually, there aren't really supporting characters in this show, are there? i haven't watched the show since s5 finished airing, and i've only watched it through once, and i was amazed when talking to my parents about it that i could remember basically every character's name, motivations, and interactions with others in detail. there are very few other shows where that's the case.

The Wire is really fucking boring.

only seen s1 though.

http://img.pandawhale.com/post-30325-clay-Davis-cigar-gif-The-Wire-3Eja.gif

I think season 2 might be the most important, in a way. It's through the patient groundwork done in that season, that the rest of the show can be as ambitious as it can. Season 1 breaks down all it builds up, with the Major Crimes unit shut down, and all the people involved scattered to the wind. Some sort of contrivance would be needed to get everyone back into the story again, and season 2 does that masterfully in the end, but it takes a hell of a lot of time. Then season 3 and 4 can hit the ground running, allowing for subplots like Carcetti, Cutty, Colvin and Tilghman Middle School, to be introduced without people thinking of how it impacts the main story. Which they often don't really do.

The Wire is really fucking boring.

― this is just a saginaw (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 January 2015 10:38 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Someone's getting a bit too carried away with this 'freedom of speech' lark

good reaction gif deploy

fwiw I feel like I'm the only wire fan who didn't much like frank sobotka as a character. Something a little too tropey working class hero about him. But w/e, it wasn't a huge complaint. 2 isn't my favorite season but 5 is the only one I really found disappointing.