TheWireTheWireTheWire: Who is your favorite character?

[masterofsparks]

Is anyone else reminded of Officer Tom whenever Herc is on?

[Tim K in DC]

I'm with Mike on this, except I don't hate The Wire, I've just never watched it and at this point can't imagine that I ever will.

[B_Buster]

Just for clarification, I don't hate The Wire. I wouldn't have made it this far along if I hated it. I hated John from Cincinnati and Tell Me You Love Me (based on the 10 minutes I was able to stomach). I just think The Wire is overrated by the critics who keep going on about it as if it was the greatest television show ever.

[erika]

I will say this about the Wire:

Every year my father tried to get me to watch the Wire, and every year I started by watching 2 or 3 episodes and then just completely lost interest. When I watched the little quickie wrap-ups that HBO did for each season (I think there was 45 minutes each for seasons 1, 2 and 3) I felt like that was sufficient and I wasn't compelled to watch more.

The only exception was season 4 which I really loved, but I think that had more to do with an emotional investment in the kids in this community and the Baltimore City School System which is a complete nightmare. I'd say that's the only season worth watching, from my limited perspective on the matter.

It's not a terrible show but it never grabbed me. And being that I love all things Baltimore, am a sucker for any HBO drama and love crime shows, etc... I think that says something about the quality of the show.

The Corner and Homicide did a much better job at giving a glance at Baltimore.

[Chris L]

The use of Duran Duran's cover of "White Lines" in the new trailer may have ruined The Wire for me forever.   

[B_Buster]

I've noticed that some of their soundtrack choices are a little obvious or silly. Does poor Cutty get saddled with The Greatest Soul Hits of the 70s in his scenes because he hasn't heard any music since he got sent to the can? Or because he's Old School? He's almost like a character out of Peter and the Wolf. If I were blind, I could easily pick out all his scenes.

[Tom Scharpling]

What are these Wire fans so scared of? Mike don't love it like you do, that's all! It doesn't mean you have to take shots at another show in defense - defend your own turf, Wire Lovers! Launching broadsides at the Sopranos or any other program isn't helping your case.

Go, Mike, go!

Tom.

 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

OK, but then: Mike, what do you think the best TV show ever is?  I'm saying all of TV, not just the HBO shows Tom gave you last week.  I wouldn't say The Wire is the greatest work of narrative art of all time, but as far as TV goes, it's definitely up there, if not the best by default.

[B_Buster]

That's a tough one, Jasongrote. I'll stick to dramas to narrow it down. Because it raised the bar for a lot of shows that followed (including Deadwood which I thought was more consistent due to its shorter run), I'm going to have to say The Sopranos. I realize I'm contradicting myself a little here, but the fact is The Sopranos finished strong and it was compelling enough even when it went on tangents I didn't find that interesting to keep me watching until the end (I don't think there's another show I've followed that long).

Twin Peaks might have been a contender if it didn't fall off the cliff. I've really got to revisit that show to see if it's as good as I remember.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Twin Peaks still holds up, but good lord, when it falls off the cliff, it really falls.  The non-Lynch episodes are some of the worst crap that's ever been aired on television.  Seriously, it's like if you took the writer's room from Passions, gave them all head injuries, and forced them to write twenty episodes in a row on a twinkie-only diet.  It's great when Lynch came back and gave us that hopeless, horrifying ending.

I'm not a particular Wire/Sopranos partisan, but I do think the former has a little more heart.  In a good way.

I'm also glad you didn't say something like I Dream of Jeanie.

[Wes]

I've noticed that some of their soundtrack choices are a little obvious or silly. Does poor Cutty get saddled with The Greatest Soul Hits of the 70s in his scenes because he hasn't heard any music since he got sent to the can? Or because he's Old School? He's almost like a character out of Peter and the Wolf. If I were blind, I could easily pick out all his scenes.

I look at it the other way, - what else would he be listening to other than what he was apparently into when he went to jail? I'd rather they stick with the show's technique and have the characters actually listening to what they'd have on their radios than shoehorn something in to underline in bold what they want you to think the characters are thinking. Plus, come on, this is what leads to great scenes like Chris Partlow going crazy for Lean Wit' It, Rock Wit' It.

What else did they show Cutty listening to besides the part where he's got Curtis Mayfield on his Walkman, anyway?

It's perfectly fine to not like the show, I just disagree with most of the reasons in the thread so far. Why can't a character be "hardboiled" and still be a strong female character? Women can't be hardboiled? Especially women dealing with this environment and having to put up with people like McNulty every day? I also wouldn't say that Beadie Russell is all that similar to Kima.

In any event, I'm all for more discussion of it - positive, negative or anywhere in between - as long as people are interested.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Wes, no zinger?  I kept waiting for it.  It's hard to top Mike's "Peter and the Wolf" comparison, though.

[Wes]

There's a very subtle one in there that will pay off handsomely when we reach page eight of the thread, drawing from an actual conversation I had with Ed Burns when he sent me to prison 20 years ago.

While it was disappointing when at the time, when the show was still airing and we all had hopes it could keep up the momentum, I now think that there's no better way that Twin Peaks could have gone out than with the spectacular, awful flame-out of that second half of the second season. Evil drug-dealing lumberjacks, a psychotic chess-obsessed former FBI Agent, Link from the Mod Squad, hints of Project Blue Book, Billy Zane...it really couldn't have ended any other way, could it?  Though I loved what happened when it was forced to be a movie, I still wonder whether we might have missed out by not seeing Mullholland Drive play out on TV the same way.

Regarding the actual topic, my favorite characters on the respective shows discussed are: Bunny Colvin, Albert Rosenfield, the cardboard cutout of Little Steven in Tony's safehouse, Pembleton and Jeannie's Evil Twin Sister.

[Dorvid Barnas]

I read chapters 3, 4, and 11 of Moby Dick, but it never grabbed me, and I love all things whale.

Edit: Ugh, I was in a bad mood when I posted that.  Sorry, POB. 

[Tyrannosaurus Rocks]

What are these Wire fans so scared of? Mike don't love it like you do, that's all! It doesn't mean you have to take shots at another show in defense - defend your own turf, Wire Lovers! Launching broadsides at the Sopranos or any other program isn't helping your case.

Go, Mike, go!

Tom.

 

I only act like this when someone else starts it. I was working at a bar over the summer, and a guy at closing asked me what my favorite show on TV was. I said "Oh, The Wire, hands down. I think it's some of the best television out there." His response was "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? LOST SHOULD BE YOUR FAVORITE SHOW! IT'S SO MUCH BETTER!"

That was a particularly long drunken rambling night.