TheWireTheWireTheWire: Who is your favorite character?

[Ason]

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.

I like both shows for different reasons
I also thought that Frisky Dingo was some excellent TV
those dudes can WRITE.

[Dorvid Barnas]

Two new Wire specials, The Wire: Odyssey and The Last Word are on HBO On Demand and are excellent.
The three mini-flashback episodes, which I call The Wire Babies, are not so good.

[B_Buster]

Speaking of those specials on HBO On Demand, David Simon comes across as a really pretentious guy in them. He seems to have a hard time admitting that The Wire, in the grand scheme of things, is essentially a cop show. He keeps pushing the idea that The Wire is something completely different. It's like a book (the critics have gone nuts with this one). It's a sociology lesson. It's "a calling." Give me a break. He also seems to be one of those conflicted people who doesn't think it's enough to entertain a television audience; we've all got to learn something, too. My question to all The Wire fanatics out there: what have you learned from watching The Wire?   

[Chris L]

Mike, it may be pretentious to say The Wire is more than a cop show but neither is it inaccurate.  Simon seems like enough of a cynical guy that I doubt he's under the delusion that he's going to change things or teach people through a tv show.  Yes, among other things, he and Burns set out with the hugely ambitious goal to portray the life of a city and show how, in their experience, its institutions have failed people and ruined lives time and time again.  That he and the writers are able to do this - to realistically show the decay of a public school system as it's almost never portrayed on television, for instance -  and still keep the show entertaining and often very funny is the measure of their success, not their ambition.  I'm not on the edge of my seat by the end of each season dying to find out what lesson Simon is going to impart; it's to find out the fate of the characters and marvel at how the frequently disparate season-long threads eventually tie together. 

That said, I think the biggest lessons I specifically have learned involve ways to foil police investigations and evade surveillance.  Don't think I'm not planning to capitalize on this info to become Bethesda, MD's most dangerous crime lord either. 

[John Junk]

I learned that "shorty" can refer to a child, a girlfriend, an attractive woman, a short person, or an attractive short woman.

I like The Wire because it's kinda like watching the bureaucratic mechanizations of my day job, but with the consequences ratcheted up for dramatic effect. 

I think people are mad at Mike because he picked the "I like The Wire" thread to take a dump on The Wire.

Can anyone post a link to one of B. Buster's first ever posts where he was slagging off Gerard Cosloy?  From Humble Beginnings he strode forth and now he resides in the Hall of Fame.

[Jouster]

I think people are mad at Mike because he picked the "I like The Wire" thread to take a dump on The Wire.

It just hit me: Mike wants to be on The Wire!  After all, this is the man, is it not, who landed a sweet cameo in a Kevin Smith movie essentially by attacking Kevin Smith movies online?  All the pieces matter - Mike just wants to be in the game.

[Tom Scharpling]

Score one for Jouster!

Jouster v B Buster - IT'S ON!

Tom.

[Omar]

I think people are mad at Mike because he picked the "I like The Wire" thread to take a dump on The Wire.

It just hit me: Mike wants to be on The Wire!  After all, this is the man, is it not, who landed a sweet cameo in a Kevin Smith movie essentially by attacking Kevin Smith movies online?  All the pieces matter - Mike just wants to be in the game.

Mike with his two cinematic heroes.

[B_Buster]

Good point, jouster. And now that I've finished Season 4, I think my true intentions are clear: I want to be Bubbles' new sidekick. I can't wait till I get to croak!

[jane]

Two new Wire specials, The Wire: Odyssey and The Last Word are on HBO On Demand and are excellent.
The three mini-flashback episodes, which I call The Wire Babies, are not so good.

I just finished watching season 3 of The Wire and am now scouring this thread for stuff to read/see about the show.  I'll look for these, Dorvid.  Thanks.

Also, thanks Omar for posting that 12 page New Yorker article way up on the thread.

Since I probably won't get my hands on season 4 for about another 3 weeks I may re-watch season 3 with the commentaries.  The extra features with interviews and panel discussions were interesting.  Wow, the actor who played Stringer Bell has an English accent (!).   

B_Buster, I have a feeling you started out as a fan.  I haven't seen season 4 yet and don't have your perspective or insight, so I may end up getting sick of it too, who knows.  In the interviews I've seen and read with David Simon, he doesn't seem to come off as pretentious at all - just the opposite.  He fumes about New Yorkers feeling like they're the centre of the universe in the extra features in season 3 - I would think that that alone would endear him.  Well, looking forward to season 4.


Some of my favorite moments from season 3
*spoiler alert*
















-String drones on about the trials and tribulations of getting building permits while Avon sits in a Marlo hate infused haze

-Theresa D'Agostino rejects McNulty on their date, making him feel small for not fitting into her world, then, in a later episode, McNulty kisses her off when she clumsily attempts to get information from him.  It was kind of nice to see Theresa's incompetence in an area in which McNulty excels.

-the way my sympathies shifted from String to Avon leading up the final mutual betrayal.  When Avon gets out I hate him for his short sighted corner grabbing preoccupations while I feel for String's frustration in trying to get him to move beyond his street level pettiness.  Later, String comes across as the loser when Clay Davis hoodwinks him, and Avon appears the sympathetic one who is shocked that his crew would attempt to get Omar while he is at church with his granny,  and later gives Cutty not 10 but 15 Gs for his youth boxing club.

-and I loved the numerous exchanged glances between Herc and Carver

and on and on... those are the ones that come to mind

[Dorvid Barnas]

Two new Wire specials, The Wire: Odyssey and The Last Word are on HBO On Demand and are excellent.
The three mini-flashback episodes, which I call The Wire Babies, are not so good.

I just finished watching season 3 of The Wire and am now scouring this thread for stuff to read/see about the show.  I'll look for these, Dorvid.  Thanks.

I highly recommend waiting until you're done with season four.  They cover it pretty thoroughly in those specials.

I'm currently re-watching that season(also on HBO On Demand), and I'd like to formally change my choice for favorite character:


Michael

[jane]

will do, Dorvid.
cheers, and happy new year.

[Dorvid Barnas]

Right back atcha!

[masterofsparks]

Two of the only truly one-note characters I can think of are Maury Levy the evil lawyer and Namond's mom in season 4.

Also, Officer Walker from Season 4. He's a relatively small character, but very one-note.

[Dorvid Barnas]

 

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