The Sopranos Vs. The Wire

In the first season, it seems less like cops=good, drug dealers=bad, than workers=good, bosses=bad. D'angelo and his crew are sympathetic characters, while Stringer and Avon and the muscle are less sympathetic - besides the fact they kill people or give orders to kill people. In the cop sphere, it's similar, the bosses - Burrell, Rawls, even Landsman and Daniels at times, are not as sympathetic as Bunk, Lester, Kima, McNulty.

As the seasons progress - starting in Season 2 and esp. in Season 3 - you see the trials and tribulations of being a boss.

^ I haven't gotten to season 2 yet but that is OTM ^

finished Season 2, sorta on the fence about continuing with this

it seems to be deliberately unsatistifying, the way things never really get resolved - there's a whole tone of no matter what happens, things continue more or less as before, there's a kinda futility/fatalism to the whole thing

The other seasons felt way more like things continuing futilely than season two, which was at least about the ending of a particular way of life that provided people with a decent living, more like the Sopranos with how the good old days of the Mob were ending and it was getting harder to get by doing the same jobs that your parents did.

no more than in the sopranos imo xp

shakey if you stop watching the wire will you stop talking about it

probably

I wouldn't say 'a tone' as much as a point, personally.

Would've come down on Soprano's side before I started season 4 of the Wire, now I'm not sure. The former is more morally complex, poetic and well-acted, but the Wire is actually trying to do something very different. In terms of pure narrative it's much denser, tighter and more propulsive.

its denser, but I basically don't give a shit about any of the characters, everyone is pretty one-dimensional

i recommend ceasing screenings of the wire

there's a whole tone of no matter what happens, things continue more or less as before, there's a kinda futility/fatalism to the whole thing

― Kitchen Paper Towel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, June 22, 2009 12:23 PM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

uh duh

Just FYI no one has solved the "drug problem" yet.

i did

Isn't season 2 the one with the duck? In The Sopranos, birds are purely symbolic contrivances. In The Wire, ducks are given their due as characters with their own arcs.

I don't need a montage to hit me over the head with this message at the end of each season k thx

x-post

OK sorry for the tone but I guess I'm just wondering why you expect the show to avoid futility and fatalism, given that it's invested in a sense of realism?

imagine if that was how season 5 wrapped up, though...Bubbles stumbles upon a miracle drug that cures addiction to all other drugs. (xpost)

If you don't like it why do you want people to convince you to like it?

Also you might want to watch the whole series before deciding that "things continue more or less as before." I'm not saying you're going to change your mind, I'm just saying it seems weird to conclude this when you've only watched 2/5 of the show.

what ears are wounds said. if you're 2 seasons in and you don't like it, maybe just... stop watching it.

even tho i personally think it gets better, it's still the same show.

shakey should stop watching the show and move on with his life imo

fwiw i'm pretty sure if i forced myself to watch every episode of the sopranos i'd probably be acting like shakey by the later seasons

yeah tv rots your brain

haha I acted like Shakey about the Sopranos without watching more than two thirds of it

later I was diagnosed with a special form of autism that makes me unable to recognize or care about the complex emotional interplay of characters on the Sopranos and also Don Draper on season 2 of Mad Men

season 3 and 4 are pretty different from 1 and 2. I could see someone not liking the first 2 and really digging 3 or 4.
but (spoiler) 3 and 4 are duckless

Walnuts-Draper Disorder

there are important pigeons, though!

"things continue more or less as before."

Although to be fair to Shakey if he does watch it all the way through this is one of the main arguments of the show. The individuals involved obviously change in different ways as do their relationships, but their institutions are self-perpetuating, and without reforming them that it is how things will continue. But, I mean really, as someone pointed out if you expect the writers to offer a pat solution to the drug problem at some point, then I'm not spoilering things to say that ain't gonna happen. Some potential solutions will be explored, but they will be shown to be as problematic as the status quo.

But yeah I'd give up now if I were you.

its not that I expect a TV show to solve the drug problem - but seasons 1 and 2 both end with a montage of "...and the drug trade/criminal enterprise GOES ON" shots. Like, is that really necessary? The rat symbolizes obviousness, etc.

what you should do is stop watching the show imho

i for one think it's admirable that shakey is able to type all this to us after 25 hours of keeping his arms folded

i honestly don't get the complaint, not about the wire, but about anything really, that "the characters are one-dimensional". this seems like a readymade to me, that doesn't explain much. second, why is this even bad? most people are one-dimensional, frankly.

anyway, it wasn't any of the individuals, initially, that impressed me about the wire but how they all fit together.

it's hard to really follow the intricacies of the plot when you're yelling "IMPRESS ME, DAMMIT" at the screen every 10 seconds, though

Not that I really think this, but if Shakey really WERE watching the Wire just so he could come here and tell us all that he remained unswayed, I would actually think that was pretty awesome and hardcore

Sort of like the period where I used a Mac just so I could complain to people about how much I didn't like it

420 shoot a cop every day

u shd try 'damages', shakey.

that rose byrne is all kinds of pretty.

nabs, you're a professional critic and you're impressed by the idea of someone consuming a work of art they're sure they won't like just to be able to say with authority that it sucks?

The Wire is a show I totally want to get into but A. my computer is too shitty to actually torrent and d/l the episodes, and the DVD series are expensive.

Though if I wind up being a single man, the money I save on not taking the lady out to dinner could probably buy one season a week.

yes yes yes we get it you're getting dumped

TV series on DVD are made to be rented, that's a lot of money/shelf space/hard drive real estate

first season of damages is geat! and rose byrne is a h-o-t-t-i-e

im sayin

i will gladly watch even "troy" on cable

I was thinking about starting a thread about people who are OMG FRONTING with the Wire

― @kanyewest (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, May 15, 2009 1:35 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

why dont u start a thread about what a stupid douche u are

he's started a few iirc