The Sopranos Vs. The Wire

def annoying

annoying when the wire won again

call me foolish but I honestly think sopranos would win

if we’re gonna judge filmmakers/showrunners based on whether they’re good on twitrer, that would be pretty unkind to basically everyone but the safdie bros

AOC would only need to release a 5 minute short to be the best filmmaker then

if we’re gonna judge filmmakers/showrunners based on whether they’re good on twitrer, that would be pretty unkind to basically everyone but the safdie bros

xavier dolan should really be doing more with social media

i still think about show me a hero, which was excellent. maybe that's because i'm a westchester county native.

― boz conspiracy by toby hus (voodoo chili), Thursday, January 21, 2021 10:10 AM (thirty minutes ago)

I think about it a lot because I have to deal with city governments and affordable housing stuff for work ... I'm tempted to rewatch, but the ending will make me cry even more now.

Seriously though, the male gaziness of Sopranos is totally ... a lot of it takes place in a fucking strip club ffs but the strippers are just "kinda there". Yes, parts of the Wire also take place in strip club but the women in that context are presented more as actual people and not like literal set dressing. Neither win prizes for feminism though.

that's fair. otoh Sopranos has a much greater number of well-realized female characters than The Wire does

*disputed

(going by memory, anyway)

And also the fact Sopranos is pretty much affluent middle-aged straight white male problems -- like, I watched it, and I enjoyed parts of it, and apparently the actor that plays the nephew who has all the problems -- I forget the character name, but basically the Ziggy Sobotka / Jimmy Darmody character is actually a cool dude who is into No Wave. But still, I don't really have much empathy for or interest in these people, apart from the wife, who was pretty awesome tbh. Idk, it wasn't bad. It was as good as a good season of Game of Thrones, which I did watch to the bitter end. The Wire, however, seriously stands the test of time in many ways.

xpost Meadow
Adriana
Carmela
Janice
Rosalie
Annalisa Zucca
Dr Melfi

Maybe it's just that the Wire is more relevant to me? I am sure there are ilxors who are affluent middle-aged straight white males who find the Sopranos personally relevant in ways I do not.

like, I watched it, and I enjoyed parts of it, and apparently the actor that plays the nephew who has all the problems -- I forget the character name, but basically the Ziggy Sobotka / Jimmy Darmody character is actually a cool dude who is into No Wave

different folks different priorities I guess

I'm a middle-aged straight white guy and I'd still vote for The Wire. I thought the exploration of oppressive capitalist systems was more interesting than mob boss goes to therapy.

god im going to be getting tired fingers with all these fps

the wire is didactic doggerel written by middle-aged white men if that will help people be more critical about it

(overstating things, i actually like the wire and rewatched it last year)

xpost Meadow
Adriana
Carmela
Janice
Rosalie
Annalisa Zucca
Dr Melfi

also Livia, Ade's FBI handler, Charmaine Bucco off the top of my head

the wire is didactic doggerel written by middle-aged white men if that will help people be more critical about it

now we're cooking

look on the bright side this is keeping me out of US politics threads

haha

Watched both long after the fact: I liked The Wire, but easily The Sopranos for me.

imagine if McNulty went to therapy

that reminds me (lol), the acting is quite possibly the main reason sopranos is better

(tbc most of the acting on the wire is at least fine and some of it is great)

except for AJ

AJ is a perfectly awkward and whiny teen boy

having been a doughy white 14 y/o with ill fitting clothes just starting to read books for adults, I thought he nailed it

I thought the exploration of oppressive capitalist systems was more interesting than mob boss goes to therapy.

yeah, the one scene with McNulty and the FBI profilers pretty much captured the heart of that premise the Sopranos spent so much time on.

Honestly, though, in some ways, if you are looking at the two shows from a radical intersectional leftist lens, it's kinda like the shit that went down on election certification day -- cops vs. fascist idiots -- both problematic.

AJ suffers when he's doing scenes with Gandolfini and Falco, they are giving the greatest performances in TV history and he's just giving nothing back. He looks the part, and he has some good moments, and I think he's better in the last season. But he can be distractingly blank.

he was very much a line-reader only

his best delivery in teh entire series was "what? no fuckin ziti?"

i will say his suicide scene in the pool was one of the few times I saw him show legit terror in a believable sense as an actor

if you are looking at the two shows from a radical intersectional leftist lens, it's kinda like the shit that went down on election certification day -- cops vs. fascist idiots -- both problematic

hmmmm

they are giving the greatest performances in TV history

damn, people really like this show that much?? Okay.

The Sopranos is as much about capitalism as The Wire is, smdh

xp Simon -- seriously, all these people (except maybe the therapist) would be Trump supporters, you know this.

it's my favourite television drama and i don't think anything is close

xp Simon -- seriously, all these people (except maybe the therapist) would be Trump supporters, you know this.

if you watched The Sopranos and thought "the people making this think these people are cool and good" idk what to tell you

The Sopranos would be split with Tony voting Trump, Carm and Meadow voting Hillary, and Anthony Jr would fuckin vote Jill Stein

Part of the fanbase thought so, sure, and Chase wound up more or less attempting to punish them in later seasons. xp

if you watched The Sopranos and thought "the people making this think these people are cool and good" idk what to tell you

lol, I really don't understand how hard it is to grasp that someone might not want to spend that much time watching horrible stupid people deal with their horrible stupid lives, regardless of whether they are supposed to be "cool and good" or not.

The Sopranos would be split with Tony voting Trump, Carm and Meadow voting Hillary, and Anthony Jr would fuckin vote Jill Stein

Paulie would be a Marianne Williamson guy for sure.

Tony wasn't meant to be a hero, they showed him as a more likable, 'grounded' mobster early on but you definitely see his code to be bullshit the further and further he goes. sure, he doesn't hit his wife like some of his partners in crime, but he fucking ruins lives by murdering husbands then lying to their wives that they abandoned them, he certainly abuses women that aren't his wife, he's a misogynist, a racist, and he eats capocollo while standing up

lol, I really don't understand how hard it is to grasp that someone might not want to spend that much time watching horrible stupid people deal with their horrible stupid lives, regardless of whether they are supposed to be "cool and good" or not.

I find it hard to grasp in this context given who the people are on that other show

to be corny and earnest for a sec, the reason I think repolling this would be annoying is pitting these shows against each other makes no sense to me -- if someone liked one I wouldn't hesitate to rec the other. throw in Deadwood and you've got three differently compelling perspectives on american capitalism + crime, and the desire to rank them over each other is weird to me

but anyway, are there sopranos writers who aren't middle-aged white men? (genuine q!)

Carm and Meadow voting Hillary

Carm is openly pro W in the final season iirc, a smart character note imo

Silvio whacking Adriana was one of the horrifying moments in the series, because while you knew it was coming, the transformation in Silvio's angry, flaring eyes towards someone who up until then had been a friend that he'd cared for, and him calling her a "c***" right before he does it, in the middle of an empty forest....eesh.

She’ll probably be the Republican Congresswoman from Inbredsville in two years. https://t.co/uYs7b1VBQ2

— Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) January 19, 2021

the actor who plays Johnny Sacks is hardcore MAGA now, on the other hand

My review from a million posts ago:

The Sopranos always felt very dumbed-down to me whenever it got outside of its comfort zone of a bunch of assholes hanging out shooting the shit. I was always thinking "have the writers ever actually talked to a real therapist/liberal college kid/gay person?" That, and it got repetitive after a while with the "who's gonna be the rat/get whacked this season?"