The Sopranos Vs. The Wire

xp - how is that trolling? He is otm.

if i were trolling id be on the breaking bad thread telling ye that sons of anarchy is better

which btw i also believe to be true

some of these criticisms fail to acknowledge that the Sopranos did wide-lens stuff on systems to great effect: police, local and state govts, schools, etc.

― The Ravishing of ROFL Stein (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, October 8, 2019 2:40 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

I didn't mean those things as criticisms at all. But I didn't really feel like those moments were "wide lens" -- it more felt like the larger forces' presence was mostly implied and occasionally came directly into the frame. The Wire felt much more about how all of the different pieces were interwoven, the Sopranos seemed very much about the mafia while acknowledging the presence and influence of those other pieces.

ill bump the thread sarahell but thx as always for yr otm support

Just two different approaches to making a show, neither superior. xp

Having watched the Sopranos before the Wire, didn't know there were connections between 'em like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQjtvBpUSF4

dude, jim, you are going total Turrican rockist about the Sopranos itt ...

ah lets not lose the run of ourselves its just getting started in here

sil: OHHHHWWW

Breaking Bad is better than both the Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy

ok what other shows now make the inevitable poll

sons of anarchy apparently?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Sons of Anarchy is basically a "Born to Be Wild" Peaky Blinders

statements about sons of anarchy itt:

its of a type with the sopranos ito focus on characters and their development

its better than breaking bad

its better than the sopranos

wheres the lie

xp also what omar little said tho youd imagine he may be biased

not to accuse anyone of sexism who is saying "how dare you call the Sopranos a soap opera" -- I think structurally, with the popularity of multi-season "premium" dramas, with seasonal "arcs," that there is a tendency to emulate the structure and content of soap operas, and, there is a tendency for certain viewers or critics or creators to not see that they are basically reinventing the soap opera, as opposed to creating something totally different, because, the soap opera was seen as not-serious and deemed a pejorative

― sarahell, Tuesday, October 8, 2019 9:35 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Booming post.

Sopranos obviously fell prey to this tendency. It played out good, not bad, imo, but denying this seems silly. The Wire was an entirely different beast imo.

"One thing you can never say, is that you haven't been told." Best line in all of The Sopranos.

― henry s, 8. oktober 2019 21:35 (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, agreed. Just thought of it the other day while watching another film. Such a damning phrase.

And yeah, the shit to the port, and the way the plot is even slower in season 2 than in season 1, is where The Wire really builds itself into something great.

almost stopped watching the wire at the beginning of season 2.

the actors in sons of anarchy were more attractive than those in the sopranos -- esp. the men

also, realizing that the actor who played the Irish priest in SOA frequently was cast as a crime boss in British tv.

i forgot BOSCH was on SOA as an Irish crime lord

i want to watch bosch

boy SOA really did have some of the worst characters in the "golden age" of "prestige" TV, in terms of conception and execution

iirc sarahell and i were comparing BOSCH and the wire awhile back, there's a lot of crossover with actors and a bit with the politics/system stuff. but it's pulpier and not as funny. Good cast tho, solid entertainment.

almost stopped watching the wire at the beginning of season 2.

― Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, October 8, 2019 3:03 PM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's such a great fuck you move: "Stay tuned for the action packed Season 2 of Cops vs Drug Dealers: White People Unloading Stuff From Container Ships"

Tbf they deployed boobs to keep the audience engaged

also, realizing that the actor who played the Irish priest in SOA frequently was cast as a crime boss in British tv.

― sarahell, Tuesday, October 8, 2019 3:09 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's jeor mormont from GOT

I've probably mentioned it before, but when Homeland destroyed Carries career at the end of season 1, they contrived a reason to have her back on mission in episode 1 of season 2. In The Wire McNulty isn't back with the detail until episode 8. It's that patience, and the willingness to get rid of characters when their stories ended, that meant it stayed so great for four seasons, and had a pretty good season after that.

for me Dominic West is such an awful actor I think The Wire would have been much better without him tbh

he is kind of bad and yet iconic to that show somehow

MVP* of Sopranos: Ulver poster in Meadow’s bedroom

Also Nicky Sobatka in The Wire: a Guided by Voices and Disturbed fan, apparently!

*Most Valuable Poster

I liked when McNulty went to visit his kids and you could tell they were growing up because they were listening to Dead Meadow now.

meadow's bedroom poster collection is very eclectic.

i seem to remember her having girls against boys and lisa loeb also.

aj wears marilyn manson, coal chamber and pantera t-shirts iirc

west is a great mcnulty he doesn't need to be any better than that

Best McNulty moment IMO is when the FBI is “profiling” McNulty’s fake serial killer and he’s just describing McNulty.

west is a great mcnulty he doesn't need to be any better than that

yes

I've probably mentioned it before, but when Homeland destroyed Carries career at the end of season 1, they contrived a reason to have her back on mission in episode 1 of season 2. In The Wire McNulty isn't back with the detail until episode 8. It's that patience, and the willingness to get rid of characters when their stories ended, that meant it stayed so great for four seasons, and had a pretty good season after that.

west is a great mcnulty he doesn't need to be any better than that

― too many cuckth thpoil the broth (darraghmac), Tuesday, October 8, 2019 11:28 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hear, hear. I've always found the criticism of West as McNulty ill-informed at best. West is a very limited actor, which is totally what the role of McNulty asks. West is always ok-ish, hardly ever great. He's lost a lot of the time. Which is the whole damn point.

another thing about the wire

four and half seasons of cop drama

cops in actual physical danger- like, twice?

if I hadn't watched every season of The Wire then my feeling that West is a hack actor and the McNulty character is an uninteresting composite of cop cliches might be a bad opinion but certainly not ill-informed.

He essentially plays a lost, easy to corrupt, snowy white cop in a world of crime he cannae hack. Let alone his personal life, which is a mess. It takes a mediocre actor like West to portray this character truthfully.

he plays a midlevel charisma hot jock who is also good at his job who is also interestingly willing to totally fuck things up for his peers and superiors

its not cliche imo

there's cliche aspects to the mcnulty character.

detective who is great at police work but terrible at the office politics, drinks too much, and with a personal life in disarray. it's been done a bunch.

the facet i like, which i feel we don't often see in tv/movies is the fact that he broadly doesn't give a shit about the crimes, and is concerned primarily with solving cases to gratify his ego.

It’s kinda both I think, the writers being crime fiction & cop show lifers seem to have some affection for him & indulge themselves with the whole charming antihero thing, but they also obv enjoy tearing it down & showing him (through the eyes of every single character he interacts with) as contemptible

another thing about the wire

four and half seasons of cop drama

cops in actual physical danger- like, twice?

― too many cuckth thpoil the broth (darraghmac), 8. oktober 2019 23:37 (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

A cop is killed in season 3, but it's by another cop. In general, the cops are untouchable, and when a suspect hits one of them in season 1, everybody beats him up, even the most sympathetic of them.

McNulty is sort of like a Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon character if that character were just the delusional self-fantasy of a cop with a more mundane existence.

Griggs nearly died in a shooting in season 1, but whatever. The show’s portrayal of police as primarily bureaucratic creatures and not as action heroes was an interesting choice, and one that illustrates the very different game that cops like McNulty and street guys like Bodie are playing.

griggs shooting is the noted exception

But I couldn't deal with all the sad sack men bitching all the time. It's not my genre.

This for me with the Sopranos. I just wanted those dudes to shut the fuck up, never made it past one season.

universal remote... put it down on docking station