SO i recently just purchased the complete series.
I had previously watched the first two series sets 4 years ago and found them to be ok at best but realized I may not have been mature enough to appreciate the series for all it was worth or something. SO I hear for years about how this is one of the best series of all time and blah blah blah. I love most all of HBO's original series and my top favorite tv ever is the Sopranos and Six feet under. I also love Deadwood, Big Love and Carnivale.
Anyways I decide to have a marathon and try to watch the complete series a couple of weeks back. I get to about the 3rd episode of season two before I give up and instead decide to re-watch t he last 3 seasons of six feet under again. I liked The Wire even less this time watching it and an unable to describe why I can't get involved in this show. I find it boring most of the time or at least uninvolving. Easily this has to be the most overrated show of all time IMO.
Does the series get better after the first two seasons or am I just not gonna be able to get into this? I really tried to like this show but dont think its gonna be possible.

I really tried - I watched the first 5 or so episodes On Demand several years ago, but I just couldn't get into it. Some HBO shows I love - Deadwood, Sopranos, Big Love, Oz, but some I just don't care for - Six Feet Under and The Wire.

If you're not hooked after the first season it's not going to get any better for you after that. The third season is great but again if you're not hooked after the first season you won't get it.

It's not for everyone. I had a couple of friends who absolutely loved The Shield, so I recommended The Wire (knowing that they aren't necessarily same type of cop show), but they just couldn't get into The Wire the way they got into The Shield. I think part of it was having to be a lot more patient with The Wire, where other shows (even "slower" ones like Deadwood) had more plot development per episode than the Wire sometime had over the course of several episodes.

I LOVED the Wire but like the others said if you don't like it after the first season I doubt you'll end up enjoying it much more. That's a shame,great show!

i'm halfway through the 3rd season and i'm wondering were the greatness is.

Sure it is a good show and well worth watching, but i keep hearing people
say it is one of the best shows ever.

Is this really how police act towards each other?
do they really call each other "POH-LEECE"?

So halfway through the series i'm just kind "yeah it's good but still waiting for the great to happen."

I'm having some trouble with the season 3 police created drug neighborhood too.

Interesting. I almost blind bought the complete set during these recent sales. The Shield is one of my favorites, and I just had a feeling I wouldnt like it as much, and also wouldnt give it a fair shake either.

in Ballmere murrland yes they do lol. Thats the baltimore accent.

I guess what i menat to say is they apparently just say "police"
and dispense with "the" and "officer" .

As in "that mcnullty, he's good police."

the problem with the wire is that that are so many characters in the show. sometimes it's daunting to remember all of them. that said, it was probably the best show in the history of television to portray the police and what they deal with on the streets.

I watched season 1 and was really bored.

Season 4 was far and away the best IMO, but if you're that far along and aren't hooked you will never be.

I hate cop shows, but fell in love with this show after Netflixing the first disc of season 1. I'm halfway through the fifth season now.

Pretty sure it has something to do with the lack of a soul.

Its closer to a novel than a traditional TV show. In its pacing, wealth of characters, the way it tells a story. That may not be everyone's cup of tea. Nothing can be all things to all people. I'm sure alot of people don't Like Citizen Kane.


Oh yeah and this.

I watched the first season a couple years ago on DVD and didnt really care for it. The one day during the summer it was on sale as a Gold Box deal and I got the whole series. I blew through it in less than a month. All 5 seasons. I just loved it. You really gotta pay attention when you watch it.

My own experience (not that it matters ):

I only liked the first two seasons, but starting with season 3, I started to love it.

I agree with the "novel" comment: it's not MTV paced, it slowly builds and builds within every season.

I couldn't because its just so deliberatley paced.

It's not a typical series. It requires a lot from the viewer. I guess it's really not for everybody, but I thought it was brilliant.

Normally if I like a show I can blitz through a 5 season marathon in a week. I normally do this for shows just before they start their new season. The wire though, I can't do that. I watched 1-3 back when 4 was on and although I liked it, I just couldn't bring myself to keep on with it. Recently I just watched seasons 4 and 5 and I take back my reservations. Absolutely first rate television. Certainly in the top 10 of all time (with the Shield).

My experience:

I watched two episodes of S1 about a year ago and was confused, bored, and almost drifted off a few times.

Decided to give it another shot 2 weeks ago, and I'm now about done with S2. After about 5 episodes of S1, I couldn't stop watching. There's just so much going on, but once you start getting a feel for the characters, it all starts to click. There's still a lot I don't understand or pick up on and sometimes wonder who a certain character is, but I just sit back and soak it all in and it all comes together at some point. It's all about the characters.

Definitely like the comparison to a novel in that you can't just start watching at a certain point, or skip an episode or two. The way a character behaves in a certain scene might be because of something that happened in an earlier episode. I'll be both happy and sad to finish off the series so that I can stop staying up until 4am on marathon watches.

I was a huge fan of Homicide, so naturally I tried to watch it when it first aired. I saw the first four or five episodes and I was enjoying it, but real life got busy and I fell behind, at which point I realized I wasn't enjoying it enough to catch up.

So now when the complete series came out, I decided to give it another try and I was completely blown away. Absolutely great stuff. I've seen the first two seasons so far and I loved them. My faith in David Simon is renewed and all is right in the world once again.

I hope I enjoy this one. I blind bought the complete series set at Best Buy during that 50% off sale. I haven't even started it yet.

I wonder if it may be because a show as deeply layered as The Wire doesn't lend itself to watching it in marathon sessions. I watched them as they aired..sometimes watching them a second time before the next one aired and discovering many things I missed during the first viewing.

To each, his (or her) own, I guess...

Thos.