Reply With QuoteMy all time favourite "The Wire"
I've just finished watching the entire run of The Sopranos on Sky Atlantic and I can't quite sort out in my head whether it is quite as good as people make out. It consistantly ranks high in many "best ever" surveys, but I did feel at times it was a little bit "soap opera with wiseguys". Dont' get me wrong, it was good (better than 90% of the stuff on TV), and on the whole I enjoyed most of it, but I can't help thinking I've enjoyed other series more. Examples (of admittedly different types) are The Shield, Rescue Me, and currently Dexter. The Shield in particular is a series that as a whole barely put a foot wrong in it's entire run.
BTW I did think the divisive end scene of The Sopranos was brilliant though.
My all time favourite "The Wire"
Brilliant. I'm in the middle of the box set third time around.
If you're a fan and you're ever visiting New York I can recommend the tour. Being able to buy a drink in the 'Bing was worth the $ alone!
Why does it have to be either brilliant or over-rated?
Why cannot it simply be "good" or even just "enjoyable"?
That could have been the pitch for it, couldn't it?Originally Posted by robcat
It was sometimes brilliant (Lost In The Barrens episode, for example), but it was never less than very good.
______
Jim.
I found the Sopranos enjoyable but the Wire is simply brilliant
grant
+1million. Best television series ever.
Simply brilliant. No other words for it. And the final episode was the best piece of American television: more questions than answers.
Braking Bad is very good too!
Menno
Superb drama. Watching it is a notable life experience.
I've only ever watched two of these American series - The Wire and The Sopranos.
The Wire I saw first a couple of years ago and thought was fantastic. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
The Sopranos - watched earlier this year and it took me almost 3 seasons to get into. I just didn't see the fuss. Just 'good', nothing more.
The last few seasons were better but even then, I would still rate the whole series as good. 3 stars.
I'll raise your million by a billion.... The Wire was genius..... That would be my desert island box set...
Cheers..
Jase
The Soprano's along with The Wire are my all time favorites.
Not watched The Shield yet though.
Brilliant, and yet still overrated... as is The Wire.
I'm more of a West Wing man myself.
I thought it was brilliant - completely swept up in the characters and plots. Treme was also amazing taking you right into the shattered life of post-Katrina New Orleans.
I somehow managed to miss The Wire first time round and am catching up only now. Gobsmacked. I don't think anyone will ever make a better show.
I enjoyed it up to series 3/4...not sure which. Channel 4's musical time slot scheduling finally made me give up. One of these days I'll watch the rest, if only to decide if it was as good as most people reckon. The West Wing was a similar casualty, but I have now watched all of them and loved it all.
Anyone else enjoying Lilyhammer on BBC4?
I met Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) at the Orchard Beach car show a few weeks ago. He was the one that requested the 501st to be there. I have never seen an episode.
http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/...2/DSC_9204.jpg
Sopranos & The Wire are both brilliant.
I thought Sopranos was very good but did disappoint occasionally. The Wire, I thought, was consistently excellent.
And yes to another question, I am watching and enjoying Lillyhammer.
I've not tried The Wire, but having seen the whole Sopranos series I'd rate them as very good to excellent.
And mine
And mine!
thats how i feel
Sopranos is brilliant, second only to The Wire as my all time favourite TV show.
Thoroughly enjoyed the sopranos, although I've not seen the last disc of the box set so still waiting to finish the box set. The wire? Wow, bought the box set and watched 2-3 episodes a day as of recently. I'm now waiting to start season 4. Just wish Avon could have had the new kid Marlow taken out before he got sent down again. Marlow seems like a little weasel, how did Avon and stringer let him terrorise his crew? Little punk a** motherfu***r!!
The Soprano's.............my all time fav
The Wire.........excellent
Lillyhammer......great but only because I can't watch The Soprano's anymore
Breaking Bad............watch it, better than all the above.........has anyone seen it yet?
Hill Street Blues.
Brilliant...The acting in The Wire may be better and the writing harder hitting but as an overall package to watch again and again The Sopranos every day of the week!!!
It took me years to finally watch the sopranos, and I loved it. Great tv show and fine acting.
I've watched them all, for me the wire wins it, without doubt it finished on a high, whereas others seemed to finish a little rushed or too slowly, Breaking Bad is looking good for a great finish though, but still a season to go.
As stated though, for me:
The Wire - Best of the bunch, each season gave a different perspective of life in the city, so many memorable characters and memorable scenes, i really was sad when it ended, as it could easily have gone on, but the writers stated they had it as a 5 season show, with each season focusing on one of five areas, and they did it brilliantly.
The Sopranos - Great characters, great intertwined storyline that kept it going all the way through, as with the wire it had so many memorable scenes, you really didn't know what was going to happen in it as well.
The Shield - I loved this show, but for me it went a bit awry at the end with the Shane storyline and the way they followed that plot with Vic and Shane misinterpreting things, a bit too forced, the ending as well was a little weird as well, but all in all, a great cop show that was the best on tv for a long time, but as stated, they just seemed to rush, or force an ending.
There's a lot more good shows out there just now, if you want a good cop show, a bit like the shield, but with a different slant, then check out 'Southland', gritty LA cop show with some great acting and storylines, for those missing Sopranos, HBO are doing Boardwalk Empire, not too sure what to make of it, but it may come good, and of course, for everyone, a show that i think is just great, hell it could better the wire for me as my favourite show of all time, Game of Thrones!
Right then help me out here we love quality dramas like breaking bad etc we tried to watch the wire when BBC2 were showing it nightly but we just struggled with the constant ghetto talk and we just couldn't be bothered with it!!!! Now with this many people on here rating it so highly I know it is obviously good so were we hasty in not giving it a chance?
The best HBO show imho is Oz. I've never seen a better series.
The Wire is next in line, followed by The Sopranos. Both very good, not overrated in the slightest.
Pulling off "mafia boss goes to see a psychiatrist" - what part of that is not sheer genius?!
The Sopranos is class and i just finished watching them again a few weeks ago.
The Wire was something i watched but after 6 episodes i never got into although i'm about to give it another go.
I do love Dexter and my favourite at the moment is Sons of Anarchy which is excellent.
That's kind-of what I was getting at. There's no doubt that it was good, but the debate is whether it was as good as some think.
Oz was brilliant in parts, but got a little silly later on, especially with e.g. the "aging drug" storyline.
I agree that Boardwalk Empire is shaping up very well - it's a little Sopranos-like in tone and pace, and the characters are similarly morally ambiguous.
Breaking Bad seems to have been criminally neglected. We loved the first 2 seasons, but have not managed to see the last two.
Soutland is shaping up well.
Game of Thrones is also interesting. Normally I don't like that sort of thing, but it has a depth and complexity that you don't normally see in sword-and-sorcery stuff.
Slightly different in tone is Nurse Jackie - it's a little like Rescue Me in that it's more of a "dramedy", but it's wonderfully dark.
I'd buy the box set if I were you. Waiting a week or even a few days between episodes is far too long...with us, it was always..."just one more?" often watching two or three in one evening. I'd still pace it out though and not watch all 5 seasons in a week...digest.. and enjoy it!
Give it at least 3 or 4 episodes to get into the first season..it's slow-going at first but worth it. For me, it peaks at Seasons 3 and 4 but all are very good.
No shame in havng the subtitles on. It is indeed very difficult to fathom what they're saying a lot of the time and I thought I was good with accents. In fact, we could have used the subtitles earlier...and not in Season 4 or whatever it was.
And yes, you were hasty.I'd never watched any boxsets before a couple of years ago despite all the hype around 24, Prison Break, The Sopranos etc.
Now I can say I've seen two of the best-known ...with one being truly deserving of the hype.
Loved the Sopranos which surprised me as I'm not really a drama series type bloke.
That said I am really enjoying Lillyhammer at the moment, very quirky.
Cheers,
Neil.
It's all in the game yo, all in the game
I really enjoyed The Sopranos. It had the best bits of mafia films and a much more involved storyline.
The ending was poor though.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
I gave up on Southland after two series. I kept hearing it referred to as being as good as The Shield (excellent all the way through by the way) and The Wire. My first impression was "it's the Bill set in LA!" and I just couldn't get into it.
The Wire. "Oh Indeed!" Sopranos comes in second for me.
Pine Barrens
Paulie: "You're not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator."
Chris: "His house looked like sh*t!"
Am i the only person in the world that didn't get the Wire ? I really wanted to but after about 10 episodes of the 1st series i kinda got bored as it was very slow.
However I'm determined to pick it back up as so many people rave about it .
For me they all go on for far too long.
The Sopranos is good, I've watched it a fair bit but never could really get into it.
Going to start watching The Wire, currently watching Breaking Bad it's ok (on beginning of series 2) i hope it gets better.
A few recommendations from me would be Dexter, Homeland and Person of Interest.
After watching the Sopranos, you should watch now THE SHIELD. You'll love it even more.
Because it's generally perceived to be brilliant - so if not it's over-rated?
Personally I've never seen it so no opinion but loved The Wire so maybe I should watch it sometime.
The Wire had the story for all five series (Seasons? Pah!) fully written from the start. I believe that The Sopranos was written series by series. Consequently the 'story arc' through The Sopranos is much weaker, and there are quite a few stand alone episodes that add little or nothing to the overall experience. A few of the story lines seem a little contrived, but it's nothing like 'Lost' where they seemingly made it up episode by episode and the title referred mostly to the plot. It is a bit like a soap opera in some respects though.
When it started (14 years ago!) it was head and shoulders above almost everything else on television, so it fully deserves its reputation. If you're going to watch TV, then you can do a lot worse than watch the Sopranos.
Well to play the 'What if they were watch brands' game.......
Oz = Patek
The Sopranos = Rolex
The Wire = Omega
The Shield = Breitling
Sons of Anarchy = Girard Perregaux
24 = Tag H
The West Wing = Corum
still thinking about: Supernatural, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead,
Cheers
Joe
Yes, I'm glad nobody suggested that Lost is in the same league as any of these other series. The way it was resolved was one of the greatest missed TV opportunities of recent years. They knew that they would only be doing two more seasons, so had ample time to draw the threads together, and still only managed to come up with some vague supernatural mumbo-jumbo. It did indeed prove that they never really knew where it was going, and were just making up questions with no idea of the answers. It's a shame, because it had moments of true greatness.
Soprano's was great, but The Wire is to my mind one of the very best TV series ever.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
I thought Jack Bauer wore a fake Rolex and a Doxa military in 24?
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