"The Wire" on HBO

i use subtitles as much as possible because i have bad hearing.

It really is as simple as that. You're over-analyzing this.

A couple of things I really liked from the first season: 1) The formulation, repeated two or three times, that if you follow the drugs you find drug dealers and more drugs, but if you follow the money you never know where you'll end up; 2) The way D'Angelo's mom is brought in as a kind of hidden hand right near the end--expect she'll be more prominent in season 2.

Sunny teases me because I watch "The Young Ones" with the subtitles turned on.

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, June 20, 2011 9:42 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the most unrealistic thing in this series were Daniels' abs.

I haven't seen it in years. Time for a re-up?

We watched with subtitles (sometimes) because H's first language is not English, so the slang on top of that was tough for her. I grew up in DC and actually recognized some overlap in the slang, and I knew maryland folks who had similar accents to some of the baltimore accents.

I was able to follow the show well enough without subtitles the first time I watched it, but turning them on the re-watch did help clarify a lot of stuff. There's a lot of cop/drug dealer/city council/shipyard jargon in there.

think there's some specific dc slang in s2 when stringer reaches out to *spoiler*

lol i step away for a minute and the thread goes nuts.

"is you taking notes on a criminal fuckin conspiracy?" is probably too specific to be what roger's been getting mileage out of (tho i don't know his life) but i wanted to post it anyway

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, April 13, 2016

it's totally that i just didn't want to, you know, ruin it for anyone who was watching for the first time. it's handier than you think!

the most unrealistic thing in this series were Daniels' abs.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, April 13, 2016

i used to see lance riddick running runyon canyon in LA. i can assure you the abs are true to life.

Seems like you would have had to actively avoid a wide swath of culture for the past few decades for the wire to be indecipherable

'Indecipherable' I think is not the issue, the issue is 'watching it with one finger hovering over the rewind button', which throws you (some(me)) out far more than the subtitles.

if these shows were "realistic" they would be really boring

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 11:11 AM (14 minutes ago)

I shudder to think at how even more boring Mad Men would be if it were realistic!

― sarahell, Wednesday, 13 April 2016 19:27 (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

See, I found Mad Men kind of boring, but in an interesting way. As, I think it was JBR, said on Facebook a while back 'it's not afraid to be boring', which I agree with, and I think that's why it works so well. It was slow-paced but each episode revealed more about itself and it became one of the best shows I've ever seen. Wire, I'm not convinced quite yet... I'm only half way through S2 though and MM took a good while to get going as well. There are quite a few barriers with Wire that I didn't really get with MM or BB or what have you.

Evidently I lack the capacity to understand the Baltimore accent - a problem with me, not a problem with the show. But even watching along with subtitles, half the time I'm thinking 'how does what just came out of that guy's mouth link up with what he was supposed to be saying?'. There is a ton of jargon and slang, and when it's half mumbled as it often is, I'm totally lost.
Agree with whoever said the cops are the hardest to understand. So much jargon, and referring to off-screen characters - 'Who's he talking about? Who's Mclody? Who's Punt? What are they talking about NOW?!'

The huge ensemble is another stumbling block for me. Even by the end of S1, I didn't really feel like I knew much about any of the characters. With few exceptions, these felt like empty vessels filling the role of cop or drug dealer. There hasn't been a lot of time invested on any one specific character for an emotional connection to be formed. So when McNulty's putting up a cabin bed or Kima's partner's stressing about her workload, I find it hard to care. I get that this adds to the realism. When you start a new job, you don't know the back story of all your co-workers. It can take months, years even to get to know who everyone is and what they're like and their nuances. But I'm watching this show for fun, you know? Trying to understand the complex hierarchies within the police department and the relationships the different characters have to each other can feel like a lot of work that I'm not necessarily up for.

Again, it's still early days and now I'm more involved in S2, things seem to be warming up ever so slightly to it. But yeah, it feels like something I have to put myself through in order to see if I warm up to it rather than something that's instantly grabbing me like with other shows. It's too easy for me to get distracted halfway through an episode and to forget where I was. Once I get into it, it does get involving but I'd say it's the opposite of absorbing. If it were a book, it would be the kind of book where I find myself reading about a page or two a night cos I keep having to go back and parse sentences.

So when McNulty's putting up a cabin bed ... I find it hard to care.

Have you considered you may be a monster, just asking.

How did you feel about Wallace?

It was a while ago that I watched S1, but I remember he was one of the more sympathetic characters.

half the time I'm thinking 'how does what just came out of that guy's mouth link up with what he was supposed to be saying?'.

if the subtitles aren't even matching the actual dialogue, you might be better off listening and getting the actual colloquial vibe of the characters, rather than reading an abbreviated translation and complaining that it's unsatisfying

Remembered hearing Trainspotting was, but apparently it was only partially redubbed.

I seem to remember the conversation leading up to the "football/shopping" line was subtitled when I first saw it.

if the subtitles aren't even matching the actual dialogue, you might be better off listening and getting the actual colloquial vibe of the characters, rather than reading an abbreviated translation and complaining that it's unsatisfying

― glandular lansbury (sic), Thursday, 14 April 2016 10:32 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no the subtitles are fine. it's just i know that if i didn't have the subtitles on, i wouldn't be able to tell that this is what they said. my tv has got shit sound too, so there's that.

Trying to understand the complex hierarchies within the police department and the relationships the different characters have to each other can feel like a lot of work that I'm not necessarily up for.

Not that complex, surely? The police chiefs have their own way of doing things that focuses on producing statistics that can be sold to the press and everyone in the organisation has to deal with this reality. Some chafe against it but are professional about it and do the best they can within those limitations (Daniels, Bunk) and some buy into the system wholeheartedly either through ambition (Rawls) or stupidity (Herc).

McNulty bucks the system completely and does his own thing in the name of what he considers to be "proper" police work. This mightily pisses everyone off but they don't do much about it because he's the best detective on the force. All of this is pretty evident within the first, like, five episodes? It's not rocket science.

i had to look up who three of those characters were just now, so no.

Okay, close it up folks, nothing to see here.

At least I hope he recognized the bunk

Second best detective, Lester walks it.

:-/

Lester is the best at his job, for sure

i think there are subtitles during that scene in trainspotting because the music is too loud to clearly hear what they are saying (i.e. they're partially a joke)

yup.

Agreed.

best Prop Joe line is "for a cold-ass crew of gangsters, y'all carried it like Republicans and shit."

love prop joe is the best

so many great lines

dog latin's befuddled review of The Wire in 2016 is giving me the giggles

Otm so otm give it up guys

DL it's not for everyone don't strain yrself man it's OK there's lots of stuff out there for you, don't tuomas up the thread

Hi horseshoe

Just started watching S2 for the first time in 10 years as a result of this thread. Good stuff. In S2E2, who is the tall actor with the giant hair who plays is investigating the women's bodies in the opening scene? Feel like I've seen him in something before.

I think you might be referring to Erik Dellums, who played the drug kingpin Luther Mahoney on Homicide.

Yes, him! Although I've never seen Homicide. His imdb says he was in a pizzeria scene in Do the Right Thing, so that's gotta be it.

homicide still so great, pre-"golden age" i had it neck and neck w/ hill st blues for best tv drama ever

I never saw it! One of my elementary school friends' dads was a key figure in Simons' book, which I hadn't even realized until way after we grew up. I've had friends who were extras, including my mother-in-law. Is it streaming anywhere?

Buy the DVDs, streaming versions are probably the 16:9 reframes now

oh wait you meant Homicide the series, got thrown by how much of The Wire is from Homicide the book

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