"The Wire" on HBO

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

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.