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FTA-TV The Wire

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The DVD set that I bought a few years back won't fit my big screen TV Get two dirty grey bars at each side...got 5 minutes into S01ep2 and gagf ...couldn't watch.

Wtf to do.
Play around with the screen size on the T.V, should be able to get it to fit the screen properly
 
Am about to finish reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon from the early 90s.
Despite being set ~10 years earlier, and from a police-only perspective (rather than the whole big picture type of thing that the Wire is famous for), it is easy to see where much of the detail and stories that were seen in the Wire come from. Its also easy to see the disdain that Simon has for bureaucracy and upper echelon of the police department. I highly recommend it to any fans of the Wire, although it is quite a long book (well for me at least anyways)
 

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Rewatching it myself. Agree on those 3 seasons. Season 2 I liked better on the rewatch. Season 5 is more excrutiating.

I just finished a rewatch myself. I agree 5 is the weakest but I still enjoyed it for the focus it put on the characters we loved even if it was mostly fan service. The newspaper storyline was garbage though and I dont think it came out how Simon intended. He said his aim was to show why the public dont know what goes on behind the scenes but thinking about that just now, it really is a weak issue compared to what the show had tackled previously. I guess why they threw in that bs about the journo who was making stuff up.

Anyway I have to say its they best show ever in my opinion. Season 3 loses a tiny bit on re-watch because you know what happens between Stringer and Avon, but that story line was done to perfection.

So many great characters and acting.

Omar still the king though.
 
One of the problems with the newspaper was that Simon, being a former journo, held a few grudges about his old job and that really showed in the way some it was written.

Apparently the writers had a plan for season 6 which would focus on illegal immigration and the hispanic community, which personally I think would have made a better focus for season 5.

Got to say the ending was very good in the way it wrapped up (or rather didn't wrap up and continued the cycle).
 
I just finished a rewatch myself. I agree 5 is the weakest but I still enjoyed it for the focus it put on the characters we loved even if it was mostly fan service. The newspaper storyline was garbage though and I dont think it came out how Simon intended. He said his aim was to show why the public dont know what goes on behind the scenes but thinking about that just now, it really is a weak issue compared to what the show had tackled previously. I guess why they threw in that bs about the journo who was making stuff up.

I'm about half way back through season 5. The overall story is not too bad IMO but I just can't stand McNulty tipping completely over the edge and the douche up and coming journo that makes the news up, the story around Marlow is still ok and the editor/sub editor whatever he is at the paper is an ok character.
 
Showing some again on fox at the moment. Got sucked in watching all of season 1 again the other night, finished after 2am on a work night, but you just can't stop watching. Every time I watch , appreciate something new re the characters or dialogue. All were perfectly cast and written for - hard to believe actor playing Daniels auditioned for the Bubs role originally !

My number 1 show all time.

re season 5 it was the weakest, I did not mind what they did with Mcnulty - it was the ultimate consequence of his narcissism.

As Rawls so eloquently put it " You McNulty are a gaping a*sehole.....this is true".
 
Season two is heartbreaking, man.

It's hard for white people to fully tap into the sadness of cyclical oppression in the other seasons, even though it is so well presented, but seeing the end of an industry and that type of person... loved the characters, all of them, all flawed by the modern world and heartbroken and angry in that outward way only those people are.

In a way, people like Ziggy are more relevant today. He slipped through the cracks via his generation and time. No place, no compartment...
 
Am about to finish reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon from the early 90s.
Despite being set ~10 years earlier, and from a police-only perspective (rather than the whole big picture type of thing that the Wire is famous for), it is easy to see where much of the detail and stories that were seen in the Wire come from. Its also easy to see the disdain that Simon has for bureaucracy and upper echelon of the police department. I highly recommend it to any fans of the Wire, although it is quite a long book (well for me at least anyways)
A fantastic read I've been planning to return to soon, one of my favourite ever non-fiction reads. I read it at the turn of the decade whilst I was working through Homicide: Life on the Street (my favourite tv show), and like you say so much of that book is throughout his shows and colours the characterisations and cases on television. The Corner is also a decent read.
 
Season two is heartbreaking, man.

It's hard for white people to fully tap into the sadness of cyclical oppression in the other seasons, even though it is so well presented, but seeing the end of an industry and that type of person... loved the characters, all of them, all flawed by the modern world and heartbroken and angry in that outward way only those people are.

In a way, people like Ziggy are more relevant today. He slipped through the cracks via his generation and time. No place, no compartment...
First time through did not like series 2 as much but it has grown on me - spot on about the hitting somewhere white people will relate to more. Ziggy ....the ultimate loose cannon
 

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Ziggy is a loser, plain and simple. But there's something in him I relate to. I can imagine lots of guys like that who are way too soft, sensitive, and emotional (and basically selfish and cowardly) to fit into what they could have 25 years ago. Ultimately he had no real reason to lash out, but his story is just one of relevance.

The look on Frank's face when he visits him in jail is one of the great scenes of the series and one of the finest little bits of acting I've seen. Really normal. Frank's just sad, man. Not even all at Ziggy. He goes between angry and compassionate but there's this look and atmosphere where Frank's thoughts are just 'this was always going to happen.'
 
Agree with othesr re season 2. First time was like ugh. Get off the wharf and get back to the projects.

But after a few full run throughs it definitely comes across much better. Really enjoy it now.
 
Nah, loved it first time through. It ties in well.

If you think the Wire is a show about ghetto America, it isn't. It's about the American Dream failing. It's about life not working out. It is about systematic, cyclical oppression and issues – and the way they extend that to white America is really useful.
 

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It's been a long time in between drinks for me. I think my last go around finished in October 2009 (other than watching S5 2-3 times once it hit Australian DVD in early 2010). My last go round with Oz and Six Feet Under was also in 2010. Criminal, I know, but gonna feel so fresh and nostalgic when I finally crack them open again.
 
GoT without doubtr has to be the most overrated show ever. Its easy like Wire>TDs1>BB>>>>>>>>>Everything else. Even season 1/2 of Dexter was pretty legit.
 
I don't mind Game of Thrones but it's not my thing. I find it hard to engage in period pieces, fantasy, or anything not really 'modern.' Even Boardwalk Empire was pushing it. I kind of like commentary and critique in my tele, and for me, it has to be modern to really pull that off.
 
So without going through this thread, am I alone in thinking that season 2 is the best season?
 
So without going through this thread, am I alone in thinking that season 2 is the best season?
I agree.

But it's not really one of those shows where it massively peaks and after that, it gets tired or runs out of gas or brings in stupid characters and unbelievable arcs. It's a show about the condition of the US. I think every series offers something. I personally liked season four, too.

Season five would have been sick but it is very cool to sit here and think how they would have done it, what would have gone down... I love the Sopranos, and prefer it, but that show doesn't have many avenues to further explore in a full series – yes characters, or plots, or themes could have been explored, but one more season... what would have been the focus? It would have been overdone. They did everything there. The Wire could have been teased more.
 

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