"The Wire" on HBO

Wait, Trainspotting was in English?

you know what? I've got a weekend free and I'm going to persevere with this. I want to be a convert. it's the moby dick of tv I think

more dickens than melville iirc lol

ha reminds me I love that bodie line "i'm standing here like an asshole holding my charles dickens"

lol pplains

David Simon interviewed on WTF today btw

Man, watching the Wire got me into Tom Waits. I had tried a few times in the 90s, after the guys in Primus and Phish recommended him (lol). The first time I watched the Wire I went out and bought all those mid-80s records and finally started to dig it.

I can't sit through this theme song again, guys.

someone make a intro edited torrent asap

late to the party, but the "dog" episode of the wire was one of the funniest episodes i'd seen of basically any show.

such a huge beautiful setup to the punchline

marlo literally fuckin getting clean money for vondas

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/16/wendell-pierce-actor-and-social-activist-arrested-for-allegedly-attacking-bernie-sanders-supporter/

bunk (allegedly) smacked a woman around over a hillary-bernie argument

some shameful shit

https://twitter.com/AoDespair/status/778039688879808512

doubling down https://twitter.com/aodespair/status/778048667026616320

really surprised shakedog wasn't beelining for this thread to be all "SEE? SEE? YOU FUCKERS I TOLD YOU!"

in any event, what the holy fuck made simon think that was an ok thing to do, like...god damn man, there are approx 65,000 ways to make the point he was trying to make there that didn't involve doing what he did

Ah, so that's why non-rhotic speakers in Boston think they can get away with that.

Even well-meaning clueless old white guys are clueless old white guys?

racist comment thanatos in full effect lol

wait what

boston residing new jersey expatriate speaking - accusing a certain type of bostonian as racist is generally accurate and extremely unfortunate but I'm not sure I follow the joke here seeing as how simon is, yknow, not from here

(xp pplains)

I'm okay with Simon going there, these are the strangest times.

Saying his excuse of -a instead of -er was lame. Wasn't really trying to call non-rhotic speakers racist.

tiny bit ironic that hannity hosting a town hall on black issues is the thing that sets off dave's "no, black people, it is i who truly knows what is right for you" voice

xp oh lol that shit just totally went over my head my bad

tbf a not-huge-but-still-too-sizable amount of white trash ppl in the dot (dorchester) and similar neighborhoods here DO think it's fine to use the non-rhotic pronunciation of that word as if they're entitled to it solely bc they've lived in relative proximity to a project, and in the admittedly hipsterish or punkish neighborhoods you've got white ppl ironically saying "fam" like it's their job, so I thought you might've been addressing that sort of shit

it's one of the nastiest & truest moments in gone baby gone of all movies when amy ryan's WT mom says "n***a please"

FWIW I live in allston among the hipsters so I'm probably part of that problem

(the hipster part, not the racism, I'm many things that aren't complimentary but not that)

Finished season three last night this show is the greatest

Just wait, season four is the greatest of the great.

get yer hankies out dmac, season four is some of the most emotionally crushing tv i've ever seen

and i'm including the season of gamesmaster where dexter fletcher took over from dominik diamond in that calculus fyi

Running into Maestro 'Randy' Harrell as he left a movie theater restroom (when he was young enough to still look like Randy) is probably the most star-struck I've ever been in my life.

Fuckin Dexter Fletcher ooof I was not ready for that gutpunch

glad we're on the same page on this

Might ask a mod to put a warning on this shit tbh

I'm also working my way through this show for the first time. Up to episode 3 of season 4 at the moment and not really feeling emotionally crushed so far. Rather, reaching for the Wikipedia plot synopsis and trying to work out who all these people are and whether I've seen them before. OMG it's hard to follow the plot.

So far I would say there are diminishing returns. Season 1 was fantastic, season 2 excellent and season 3 still pretty good but didn't hit earlier heights.

so weird ... I think Season 3 is the best, with 2 and 4 being close, and 1 and 5 being the weakest

Up to episode 3 of season 4 at the moment and not really feeling emotionally crushed so far.

give it a few episodes, no need to rush into sobbing right off the bat

Season 1 was great, season 2 great in a very different way, season 3 great in the same way as season 1

E.R. indoors found season 3 a slog tho

all the seasons are great in different ways, i think - season two is definitely the most audacious in the sudden shift in focus and scope, season three maybe the most satisfying overall in wrapping up the story so far, season four is kinda the beating raw heart of the whole thing, and season five suffers a bit from bringing mcnulty back to the forefront alongside the hectoring newsroom scenes but ties a bow on the whole thing really well at the end

see I kinda see season 3 also being the "beating raw heart" of the whole thing

i can see that too! it's all one giant, brilliantly-told story in the end, and the culmination of stringer bell's story in S3 is one of the greatest elements of the whole thing

E.R. indoors found season 3 a slog tho

didn't realise you were watching with the queen

maybe if Cheese had offed a corgi instead of a pit bull ...

That is the origin of the nomenclature yes

so weird ... I think Season 3 is the best, with 2 and 4 being close, and 1 and 5 being the weakest

― sarahell, Thursday, June 1, 2017 5:54 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes. give me the corner over the classroom or the caucus, but not by much

all the seasons are great in different ways, i think - season two is definitely the most audacious in the sudden shift in focus and scope, season three maybe the most satisfying overall in wrapping up the story so far, season four is kinda the beating raw heart of the whole thing, and season five suffers a bit from bringing mcnulty back to the forefront alongside the hectoring newsroom scenes but ties a bow on the whole thing really well at the end

― heck i've even been an 'oyster pirate' (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 1 June 2017 10:01 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is an excellent summary! My opinion did shift quite a bit on the second watch through though - s2 really went up in my estimation, s1 went down (I think mainly because it obviously has to spend a lot of time setting everything up).

season two is such a bracing slap in the face that i think it took a rewatch for me to fully appreciate it

i really love the braveness of basically doubling the size of the cast and throwing viewers back in at the deep end, right after they'd only just worked out how everyone related to everyone else in season one. 'here's a bunch of stevedores and greeks and shit, catch up!'

Season two is the most audacious, but also the one with the hardest task. Season 1 has such a perfect ending, so season two had to reopen it and build a foundation for the show to become a running concern. It's really really slow, the detail is formed even later in season 2 than it is in season 3. But the care pays off in the later season, which really builds on the sturdy foundation season 2 has created.

I always compare it to Homeland season 1, which also told a really self contained story in season one, one that had severe consequences for the people involved. But then, at the end of first episode of season 2, Carrie is back working for the CIA. And the show never really managed to make anything mean anything ever again.

Later in season 2 than it is in season 1, is what I meant to write.

I would never do anything as cruel as to compare The Wire to Homeland.