Osiris3657

I STILL need to watch The Wire. I voted for The Shield. Top 3 show of all time for me.

Phodg

The Wire for me. Just. Both were superb.

barelypure

I agree

bunkaroo

I Just rewatched The Wire since it was in HD and I still get completely engrossed in it.

I haven't rewatched the Shield since it ended but likely will soon. But the fact I haven't felt as compelled to do so tells me The Wire is the better show.

davidh777

No poll, but yes:

The shield Vs. The Wire

To be fair, almost all the discussion was from 2009 other than a bump last year for a streaming option.

jjcool

Surprised this is tied as I am posting this. i would have thought THe Wire would be the clear favorite here. Personally, I could never get into The Wire. I found the first few epsiodes so boring and tedious that I gave up on the series several times. Given that fact, the choice for me was pretty simple.

rocket1312

Boring and tedious? That's quite the double whammy.

I haven't seen anything past the first four or five episodes of the Shield, but I'm pretty sure that the Wire is the best show I've ever seen. I can't imagine the Shield being better.

bluetoast

Definitely check out whole series. It keeps getting better.

jjcool

It is. Describes the portion of the show I have seen perfectly, though.

PacMan2006

Granted, I only made it through two and a half seasons of The Wire, but I was disappointed that there just weren't any really interesting characters. I didn't feel like, despite watching so much of the show, that I was getting to know them better.

Someone said The Shield is story driven and The Wire is character driven. I disagree. I think it's the complete opposite. And I think TV is a characters medium.

This is of course the writer or producers choice, but to me, I felt about as connected to the characters on The Wire as I did some Co workers at a job. You just know them on a surface level. There just didn't seem to be a whole lot of scenes "off the clock" where you had quieter moments and more vulnerability.

On The Shield, I felt I saw characters struggle a bit more with their choices or the choices of others. I felt Vic's pain to keep his family together, or Kavanaughs consuming obsession for justice. I feel the complete opposite with The Wire--I feel it's so utterly story driven that it squeezes out all passion and vulnerability from its characters.

I don't want to say that definitively - - I'm only halfway through season 3. But I'm almost three seasons deep and I don't really feel like I know any one character very well, and it really hurts my overall enjoyment of the show.

slop101

I picked Wire, mostly because the first few seasons of Shield kept treading the same ground over and over; they pull some shenanigans, almost get caught but come out okay. Rinse & repeat. Of course the last few seasons were amazing, but Wire just had a lot more going on in its head and under the hood.

Raul3

If you google best tv show of the last 20 years, The Wire is #1 or top 5 in most of those lists. The Shield doesn't even show in some of them. The Wire is always the safest bet if someone asks you what's the best show. It has that much prestige.

My favorite is between Lost (yeah) and Breaking Bad. But favorite != best.

Also, season 5 of The Wire > 90% of what's currently in TV.

Jackskeleton

I'm surprised that The Shield is holding its own in this poll simply because everyone just falls to suck it off as the best show. While I do believe the shield deserves it and doesn't get the credit for being so amazing.

chino77

ive marathoned the shield twice and will do it again in a few yrs im sure. i marathoned the wire once and will probably never do it again.

both are great shows...the wire just isnt very re watchable or as memorable to me. plus i never connected or felt anything for the characters(i did hate seeing omar killed though).

for me of the big serialized shows its breaking bad>the shield (almost a tie for first)>sopranos>the wire

chino77

i really like the wire but damn that show has some extremely boring episodes. it took me a few tries just to get through the first episode.

eXcentris

I liked "The Shield", but I'd have a hard time fitting it in a top 10. So, "The Wire" by a mile although I understand why it's "literary" nature would put some people off.