The Wire
The Wire is the best show on TV and everyone should be watching it. Rent the DVDS. Seasons 1 and 3 are classics. Season 2 is ok (its too much about white people though... :) )...seriously, you're missing out on quality tv if you're not watching the Wire (I'd recommend it over 24, Lost, The Shield, Sopranos etc its that good, but you have to watch it all, not just a random episode):
From Ananth's away message:
Taut 'Wire' has real strength
Having devoured all 13 hours even before sitting down with Simon, I can say I have no need of a refund. If anything, I feel like I should be paying more than my HBO subscription rate for this show. It is the best drama in HBO history -- all due respect to "The Sopranos" and "Deadwood." "The Wire" is deeper, tighter and more ambitious -- and one of the finest works ever produced for American television.
Throughout the show's run, many of its central characters have worked for the Major Crimes Unit, a neglected, disrespected branch of the Baltimore Police Department that, in spite of finite resources and a roster of personnel that the rest of the department would be happy to discard, regularly performs investigative miracles. In that way, the MCU is an echo of "The Wire" itself, which is the least-hyped show on HBO's slate, with a cast full of no-names, yet manages to make the impossibilities of the TV business seem routine.
Where most other dramas are content to include one or two minority cast members and puff out their chests about diversity, "The Wire" features literally dozens of interesting, significant roles for actors of color. Simon, ex-cop Ed Burns and their writing staff (which includes acclaimed crime novelists Richard Price, Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos) juggle what can seem like a hundred different subplots and pay them off in satisfying fashion at season's end. They don't tell you what to think of their characters, or even whom to agree with when characters debate morality, public policy and every problem plaguing urban America today. They just want you to think, period.
From Ananth's away message:
Taut 'Wire' has real strength
Having devoured all 13 hours even before sitting down with Simon, I can say I have no need of a refund. If anything, I feel like I should be paying more than my HBO subscription rate for this show. It is the best drama in HBO history -- all due respect to "The Sopranos" and "Deadwood." "The Wire" is deeper, tighter and more ambitious -- and one of the finest works ever produced for American television.
Throughout the show's run, many of its central characters have worked for the Major Crimes Unit, a neglected, disrespected branch of the Baltimore Police Department that, in spite of finite resources and a roster of personnel that the rest of the department would be happy to discard, regularly performs investigative miracles. In that way, the MCU is an echo of "The Wire" itself, which is the least-hyped show on HBO's slate, with a cast full of no-names, yet manages to make the impossibilities of the TV business seem routine.
Where most other dramas are content to include one or two minority cast members and puff out their chests about diversity, "The Wire" features literally dozens of interesting, significant roles for actors of color. Simon, ex-cop Ed Burns and their writing staff (which includes acclaimed crime novelists Richard Price, Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos) juggle what can seem like a hundred different subplots and pay them off in satisfying fashion at season's end. They don't tell you what to think of their characters, or even whom to agree with when characters debate morality, public policy and every problem plaguing urban America today. They just want you to think, period.
