"The Wire" on HBO

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it's interesting to think of it in comparison to non-American shows that have similar premises and construction -- I'm thinking "Spiral" from France, and "Powder" from India

sarahell, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 17:45 (five years ago) link

there was also this British show that ran only a couple series in the late 90s "Supply and Demand" that is kinda a proto-Wire and has Eamonn Walker in it, who played Kareem Said in Oz, which was also a proto-Wire show

sarahell, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 17:48 (five years ago) link

It doesn’t get lumped together with its mosaic contemporaries like Traffic and Babel, though it shares an ambition.

... (Eazy), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 17:50 (five years ago) link

I finished watching Oz fairly recently, which is itself something of a proto-Wire and features a number of the same actors. I might have to check out Supply and Demand

Neil S, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 17:55 (five years ago) link

BOSCH has some faint Wire echoes but that's really only because the cast has included Lance Reddick, Jamie Hector, and James Ransone, plus the politics of Reddick's character moving up the LAPD command chain are somewhat Ced Daniels-ish.

omar little, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:00 (five years ago) link

Wondering if, in 3 years time,, The Wire will get the same 20-year fanfare currently being enjoyed by The Sopranos. Hope so!

henry s, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:00 (five years ago) link

I'm rewatching the Sopranos at the moment, Michael K Williams turns up as the guy who shelters Jackie Aprille Jr towards the end of S3

Neil S, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:03 (five years ago) link

im still on season 4 first time round i like to take this stuff at my own pace

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:05 (five years ago) link

Sopranos? It's worth taking your time over!

Neil S, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link

xxp - re Bosch -- that character is way more sympathetic as played by Reddick than in the books, where the character is white.

sarahell, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link

like, they kinda grafted some Cedric Daniels onto the book character

sarahell, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:07 (five years ago) link

xps nah the wire

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:09 (five years ago) link

also worth savouring

Neil S, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:13 (five years ago) link

yep

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:19 (five years ago) link

JD Williams had a bit part in The Sopranos, part of a crew (hired by Christopher) robbing one of Corrado's trucks in the first season. Also, Michael B. Jordan had a blink-or-miss-it turn as one of a group of kids tormenting a young Tony in a flashback sequence.

henry s, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:21 (five years ago) link

lady gaga was a friend of meadows iirc or is that a well-worn fact at this stage

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:22 (five years ago) link

lady gaga wasn't in the wire

sarahell, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:23 (five years ago) link

also a well known fact

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:24 (five years ago) link

her environmental activism is well known, yes

calumy (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:24 (five years ago) link

Gaga had a bit as an extra/friend of AJ's

xp

legislative fanboy halfwit (Οὖτις), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:24 (five years ago) link

Wondering if, in 3 years time,, The Wire will get the same 20-year fanfare currently being enjoyed by The Sopranos. Hope so!

― henry s, Wednesday, February 6, 2019 1:00 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it will not

Rhine Jive Click Bait (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 20:31 (five years ago) link

wondering if there would be so much fanfare without the passing of Gandolfini

(•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 20:38 (five years ago) link

There would not - but that is not why it will not.

Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 20:47 (five years ago) link

It didn't have the same fanfare of the Sopranos 18 years ago!

pplains, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:01 (five years ago) link

I think it most definitely will? Sopranos, Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, those are kinda the big four.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:02 (five years ago) link

it absolutely will

Number None, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:03 (five years ago) link

yeah, the wire was nowhere as feted as the sopranos at the time.

( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:06 (five years ago) link

I mean it's the most thinkpiece-friendly show ever made

there will be multiple articles about the cultural impact of weebey.gif alone

Number None, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:07 (five years ago) link

I feel like, if anything, the fact that it was less feted than The Sopranos initially was a contributing factor to its subsequent canonisation. For much of its run, it was the "best show you're not watching". By the last season it was "the greatest show ever made, and you never watched it, idiot"

It then really blew up in the box-set era, while still retaining a sort of cultish appeal. Kind of a shorthand for the in-the-know TV viewer: "Oh, you still haven't seen The Wire?"

Now it's firmly established as one of the cornerstones of the golden age of TV, and it's also just an extremely popular TV show that millions of people have watched, loved, and memed

It will be feted

Number None, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:40 (five years ago) link

otm

legislative fanboy halfwit (Οὖτις), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:42 (five years ago) link

also Sopranos is better :)

legislative fanboy halfwit (Οὖτις), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:43 (five years ago) link

yeah and i think will be boosted by having that little bit more cachet for the ppl who tend to write these pieces wanting to be seen to have been itk at the time

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:44 (five years ago) link

It was pretty much rolling daily coverage in The Guardian when it aired on the BBC for the first time

and that was a year after the final season

Number None, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:50 (five years ago) link

The fact that it's appeal had a slower burn would seem to make a big-deal anniversary less, and not more, likely

Anyway there is really no comparison btw the cultural impacts of these shows

Rhine Jive Click Bait (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:54 (five years ago) link

its!

Rhine Jive Click Bait (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:54 (five years ago) link

Just finished S4 last night (last 9 episodes over 2 evenings) and damn, this is where it finally kicked into gear for me. Dukie, Randy, Namond and Michael are the heart of everything the show's trying to get at.

ILX Moderator: It's Like a Pressure Wash for Your Insides (WmC), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:58 (five years ago) link

so good & so ;_;

Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 18:17 (five years ago) link

All 60 episodes of #TheWire, ranked from worst to best https://t.co/nZVxtO7xFa

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) February 23, 2019

This is ... not ... how you're supposed to watch this show?

ebro the letter (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:42 (five years ago) link

All the pieces matter (but some matter more than others)

Number None, Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:47 (five years ago) link

This just...yeah. I can understand better when people do this with songs.

Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:51 (five years ago) link

I finished S5 Thursday night btw. Good-to-great show despite some big surface-level flaws.

ILX Moderator: It's Like a Pressure Wash for Your Insides (WmC), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:52 (five years ago) link

rankers gonna rank

A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:54 (five years ago) link

I will say this about the article - the author chose the right #1.

"US."

Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:55 (five years ago) link

WmC, what did you think of S5 in comparison to the rest?

Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 23 February 2019 18:56 (five years ago) link

besides being a very dumb premise, the rankings themselves are insane

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Saturday, 23 February 2019 19:07 (five years ago) link

all the chapters of 'great expectations', ranked from worst to best

j., Saturday, 23 February 2019 19:11 (five years ago) link

xp to Raymond
SPOILERS, assuming Dmac hasn't finished it yet --
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I think it was roughly on par with S1 & 2 in quality. I liked the series-long notion of seeing the core story through a different lens, and I liked the S5 lens of the Sun newsroom since I have a rough familiarity with daily newspapers via my wife's old career. Sydnor figuring out the picture code was just too big a deus ex machina for me and I think Simon et al knew it because they spent as little time on it as possible, but ok whatever. Omar's death shocked the hell out of me -- I thought he'd make it through. McNulty's and Templeton's parallel deceptions were a clever construction. Michael's fate as the new Omar bringing harsh moral judgment to The Game is the most satisfying story arc in the series, imo. The least satisfying was McNulty, who too-conveniently careened from hero to heel as needed over the seasons. Namond's rise and Duquan's fall were clever story constructions -- every time I try to talk myself into thinking they ring false, I think a little harder and feel the pathos.

ILX Moderator: It's Like a Pressure Wash for Your Insides (WmC), Saturday, 23 February 2019 19:17 (five years ago) link

tyvm for the thought!

cristiano ornaldo (darraghmac), Saturday, 23 February 2019 19:20 (five years ago) link

I won't disagree that S5 was the weakest by far, but at that point I was so wed to the show that I didn't really care/notice

calumy (rip van wanko), Saturday, 23 February 2019 20:20 (five years ago) link

I can’t hear season five over all the axe grinding

YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Sunday, 24 February 2019 05:53 (five years ago) link


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