71.43% of you shouldn’t be allowed to vote. And I don’t mean just in this poll, I mean the government should disenfranchise you ignorant fucks, and probably take your children away.
Hey, I love The Wire, it’s unbelievably great television, but it’s no Carnivale, and no Six Feet Under. Those were uplifting. The Wire is like a sledgehammer to the face with its truth of life in the dying city of Baltimore.
/me dreams of HBO someday getting a crack at a 12-episode Watchmen series.
A weak episode of The Sopranos is better than 99% of anything else on television, ever.
Also, quick shout-out to Big Love, which isn’t the best HBO show ever by a long shot but is still good enough to include as a poll option.
Would have to say Six Feet Under, although I love the Sopranos, really liked Band of Brothers, Larry Sanders, Dream On, etc… It’s a tough call but on the other hand it’s good to be confronted to this kind of choice - damn, too much quality !
I just got the wife hooked on the Sopranos… we’ve gone back and are watching the full series from the beginning. I can’t honestly say it’s not the best show I’ve ever watched.
Well, based on this thread, I’ve initiated Torrents of Seasons 1-3 of The Wire. It’ll have to wait until I’m caught up on The Sopranos, though.
Thanks for the recommendation, gang.
At the very least you should give The Wire the respect it deserves by Netflixing/renting it rather than torrenting it.
— Alan
Don’t forget season four!
I wish I could go back and watch season one of The Wire again for the first time.
Thinking about it, I would probably put at least 5 HBO shows in my top ten shows of all time. The quality of their shows is just amazing when you stop and think about it.
Currahee!
Man, The Wire is cleaning up. Because it’s THE SHIT.
Who wants to loan me a season of The Wire? Is it something I can’t watch with the wife present? Maybe I should wait a few months since the baby is due any day now.
Another vote for Fraggle Rock.
Agreed. I netflixed it because it sounds too good not to have seen. Is it tonally similar to Oz? Because I love how uncompromisingly gritty and unpleasant that show was.
Tonally I’d say it’s probably the same, but more on the realistic side because it represents multiple layers in a fashion most can identify with: from the mayoral and police bureaucracies, the day-to-day work of multiple police divisions, the drug organizations that grow up and fade away, poverty, the destruction of the working class, election politics, the drug war, drug users, prostitution, the vicious circle of the educational system, white slavery, etc. Way better than Oz on practically every level.
The Wire also adds authenticity because a lot of the background characters and creators were real people who did these things in Baltimore. There are multiple ex-mayors, former detectives, city and police officials, drug users and gang soldiers that show up in a variety of ways. They cast about Baltimore looking for acting talent and they find it everywhere they go, and it shows up in spades.
The only institution that fundamentally doesn’t like The Wire is the government of the city of Baltimore itself.
— Alan
I’ve never really watched a full episode of Oz, but I can imagine how unpleasant some of the scenes are. Most of the harsh, gritty reality stuff in season one is about the kids living in the Pit and Bub’s using. Especially anything that has to do with Wallace. The poor guy is the youngest dealer in the pit, and takes care of like ten kids and makes sure they go to school with food everyday because they don’t want to end up in the system.
Some of the stuff is, while unpleasant to watch, actually quite funny, like McNulty’s alcoholism and the fact that he has no problem drink while slambasted. You know you probably shouldn’t be laughing, but you can’t help it. Like his duel with a bridge pillar.
Despite the tone that The Wire creates, there’s all sorts of humor and here and there, bits of hope. Characters evolve, change jobs, become institutionalized, try to make a new life or get out of the funk they were in. Some fail, others succeed. Despite it all, some of the characters wind up better off as the seasons progress, though it may not always seem that way. That being said, the show can be depressing because while the characters may change and some escape, “the game” remains.
— Alan
HBO DVDs are just ridiculous. 80 or 90 dollars for a 12 episode season. A show like the Wire is heavily under appreciated in part because each season needs to be taken whole and in order. That’s a huge barrier to entry. I’ve noticed Fox tends to sell Season One DVD sets, a full 20+ episode season, as low as 20 bucks. That’s smart, and HBO could learn a think from that.
John Milius created Rome? Ha.
Also: a lot of these programs (FMA) aren’t nearly as appealing or awe-inspiring when broadcast outside the glass case of HBO programming. I know that shows like Sex and the City and Six Feet Under lose a lot in syndication because they are so bowdlerized, but just about any program is going to be more impressive when shown without commercials on a prestigious premium channel. The few episodes of Six Feet Under I’ve seen on Bravo I found no more deep or brilliant (or interesting) than American Beauty. And who would have noticed Lucky Louie if it were being broadcast on CBS?