Navinabob

The Wire didn't really "click" for me until the kitchen scene where they look for the bullets while only saying the word "shhhiiiiiiiiiiiit" over and over again. That little spark opened my eyes wide enough to start letting the show really sink in.

professor chaos

They say "fuuuuck" not "shhhiiiiiiiiit". That's Clay Davis's line.

stopgap

That's where it got me as well. And as chaos has said. It was actually 'f***'

Timber

If you don't feel connected to these characters then this show definitely isn't for you. I don't know if I can think of a show that made me feel more connected with the characters. These characters all feel like real people.

Don't read unless you've seen up until at least the 4th season.

TimeandTide

Same here.

But then I pulled a Wire marathon two summers ago and enjoyed The Wire even more, even after almost giving up on it during the plodding dock storyline...had zero interest that season's "villains" and I'd yet to fall in love with the series regulars.

Seasons three to the end are the best TV I've ever seen. Why?













Best ensemble cast in TV history. (With Omar being my all-time favorite character.)

Stick with it.

wirefan

The Wire was a focus on character development through the workings of an inner city / "modern urban crime environment"(), and intentionally done without some of the plot hyperbole. It's hard to really compare this to the Shield as that was a much more stylized plot (the comments about "The Wire on crack" I think are dead on in terms of the plot) For some this will be perceived as slow moving (as folks are used to seeing shows with plot elements moving at 4X the speed of what they normally would be), for others it is uniquely rewarding as it allows a more focused look on the characters in what seems like a more 'realistic' environment and characters can more naturally (?) evolve.

The one issue I have friends bring up when they see the show the first time, is having trouble with the sheer # of characters (and that might be why some people have trouble connecting with characters early on).... Over time it settles down some, but looking back I can definitely see that being an issue for some people. Many shows make it clear who they want you to invest in within the first few shows, The Wire doesn't force this and you'll get an incredible range of answers if you ask fans of the show who they connected with. There are a few "main characters" but after that it spreads rather wide in terms of character development.

He was one of my favorite characters,as well as:

stopgap

Great perspective but to go back to what timber pointed to.

That character really got to me.

I was actually pissed off for the day.

It takes time but you really involve yourself with these people. Good or bad.

Great show. Didn't really like how it ended but it proves it's not all puppies and rainbows.

DWilson

Comparing "The Wire" to "The Shield" isn't particularly fair to either series. I've always thought of "The Wire" as the next generation of "Homicide: Life On The Streets"; Writer/Producer David Simon (who wrote the book "Homicide" was based on) seemed to be taking the structure of the earlier show as a template, but making the show more "realistic" by showing the broader scope of Police work in a city like Baltimore (the "Wire" of the title isn't even in place until mid-way through the series). Basically, he took a "Procedural" (although a very good one) and made it even more procedural. There were several points in the first episode of "The Wire" that immediately struck the same chords as the late, lamented "Homicide", -the style of the conversations, the legal and personal relationships, -but the series is a real study in delayed gratification for the viewer.

7Keys

Ok, maybe "by the numbers" wasn't the best phrase to use. I was trying to avoid using the word "boring" in fear that someone's head might explode for calling the Wire boring. Maybe my expectations were too high since I've heard so many people call it the greatest show in the history of tv. I just don't see what all the hype is about. I know, I only watched the first season, and I realize most shows take some time to hit it's stride. Every episode had a few minutes that interested me, but most of the time I was just bored. The only character I really found interesting was D'Angelo. I just couldn't get into the story, partly because of the slow pacing.

I watched episodes 8-10 this weekend and still couldn't get into it. Read the descriptions and "previously on's" for the next couple episodes. Then watched the finale...and I'm given up on the show.

Thanks for everyone's input. I picked the first season of the Shield, which I started watching during the original run but quit watching after a few episodes because I didn't have a dvr back then.

Navinabob

You will probably like The Shield better as it can't be described as boring at any point in the series (24 might also be a good fit for you). I'd also avoid Sopranos because of its slow pace...

Good luck and let us know how you find the Shield working for you.

7Keys

I've seen the first Season of the Sopranos and really enjoyed it. After the Shield I'm going to go back to the Sopranos and watch that full series.

Slow pacing doesn't necessary bother me, but in the Wire's case it wasn't working.

Dragon Tattoo

I don't know if you were perhaps trying to "cleverly" insult the OP or what, but The Sopranos is a fucking action movie compared to The Wire. They are in no way comparable.

clappj

I agree. After completing both series, "The Sopranos" does not compare to "The Wire."
What a fantastic series!

Timber

I don't know, I thought at times The Sopranos was painfully slow. The difference was that outside of the main players in Sopranos I didn't care about any of the myriad of characters they had on there. The Wire used it's down time to make me care about the characters, the city, and the stories.

HeilHeiser

You gonna look out for me, Sgt. Carver? You mean it? Your gonna look out for me? You promise? You got my back, huh?

Navinabob

Nope, I was being sincere. The Sopranos can go two or three episodes without action as well as take long detours to what the kids are doing. For every beating up someone you get three stealing truck loads of coats. I see a strong comparison to the pacing of The Wire.

The Wire is a stunning work of TV (as is the Sopranos) that some could easily get turned off too if they crave a faster pay-off to their drama.

Bill Needle

Just wrapped up watching the series this past weekend. Very, very enjoyable, though I did find it slow paced at times. The school plot line in season 4 in particular really dragged IMO. Might not have noticed so much if I hadn't watched them all so close together though. Some truly great characters in the series, that's for sure.

bullwinkle

For me, the season 4 school plot line is my favorite of the entire series. The fact that they introduce this whole new set of characters (though tangentially related to the previous seasons), and achieve such a tragically-realistic depiction of the crumbling education system really hit home for me.

I loved the series overall, and thought that the only season that wasn't nearly perfect was the last one, where the plot seems to go a bit over the top for my tastes. Still one of the best series of all time, though.

Living Dead

Maybe when the OP mentioned feeling the show was "by the numbers" he was feeling the same thing that turned me off at the beginning: I thought the villains were original and interesting while the good guys were boring and cliche. However, what the Wire did that most shows don't was to transcend the cliches -- the alcoholic cop, the cop who breaks all the rules, the cop who's always by the book no matter the cost -- and turn these overused character types into completely original creations.

I only watched the first 3 eps when the show first came on and wasn't interested. It was only years later when I kept hearing how great it was that I watched it in it's entirety. I definitely don't think the show is all there in the first half of the first year, but it matures magnificently season by season. It just needs time for the characters to overcome their "by the numbers" origins and mature into some of the most realistic characters ever portrayed on TV.

mwbmis

There is a reason why fans of the Wire are very protective of the actors in the Wire. Most of them are not famous. I know when I see them on another show I feel like I'm part of a special club who knows how good that actor is.

What was great about some of those characters is that they could still surprise you.

About the season four spoiler...

FinkPish

I can see why it would be difficult for some people to get into the show; I had a friend who tried to get into it and just couldn't after the first season. It doesn't do anything like almost any other show on TV: it doesn't use standard character and story beats that people are used to in most shows, it doesn't tidily wrap up each episode and bring things back to status quo, it doesn't even use music to underscore the emotion of a scene (well, hardly ever).

Many shows have dealt with drugs and gangsters and guns and cops, but this show chooses to deal with what could be really cliched concepts and situations in a much smarter and more mature way, one that feels closer to what it's like to be a cop in a big city, surrounded by big political, bureaucratic machines.

Throwing Copper

Me too. The Wire just bored the shit out of me. I could never get in to any of it in the first season.


I'll probably give it another try at some point because people rave over the damn thing so much, but it just didn't do anything for me.

Daryl

First, I'm firmly in the "it's my favorite TV show of all time" camp. So grain of salt and all that. Anyway, the thing that gets me with The Wire is this: I've watched the entire series more than I care to admit. I'm rewatching it now weekly on DirecTV's The101 channel on Sunday nights and there are still parts where I'm like "ohhh, NOW I understand why [insert later plot point here]" or "holy crap, I never even noticed that before!". The show is so beautifully set up from beginning to end. It sounds weird, but what makes Season 1 even better than I originally thought is re-watching it after you've finished the series. I can't think of any show like that, even as I'm in the midst of going through The Shield all over again (which I love, as well)

Tom Creo

Just reading those words makes me incredibly sad. I hated what happened to those four boys . Powerful.

superfro

I find that I do that a lot with large enable cast shows. (Deadwood was another one.) But The Wire is completely building a castle of cards from the beginning, and unlike any other show. You look at one section and it may not seem like much, but once it's completed and you step back it's amazing to see how the pieces all stacked on top of each other. Hardly anything about the show is throw away even if it seems like it at the time. The parts are great, but somehow the show in it's entirety is still greater than their sum.