the BEST SHOW on television EVER!!!

[Ason]

Well, in all fairness, the Coens are masters at genre formula.  They usually take every single convention of a particular film genre and tweak one or two elements, modernize it, and voila.  This isn't a criticism at all - better this than quirky-cute indie movies that pretend to be original but are infinitely more formulaic.  For example, The Big Lebowski contains pretty much all of the elements of a typical noir like The Big Sleep, but all of the characters are these weird modern-day LA types.  And who doesn't love that movie?

I think The Wire is pretty fucking great.  But what does it say about me that I maybe like Lost just a little bit better?

You don't identify with "urban" culture as much?

I should say I really like Lost too
for different reasons, I'm not attacking.

[dave from knoxville]

I really like Lost too, although sadly when it comes back in 1 week, I will be accompanying my Mom to a George Jones concert, her Christmas present.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Well, in all fairness, the Coens are masters at genre formula.  They usually take every single convention of a particular film genre and tweak one or two elements, modernize it, and voila.  This isn't a criticism at all - better this than quirky-cute indie movies that pretend to be original but are infinitely more formulaic.  For example, The Big Lebowski contains pretty much all of the elements of a typical noir like The Big Sleep, but all of the characters are these weird modern-day LA types.  And who doesn't love that movie?

I think The Wire is pretty fucking great.  But what does it say about me that I maybe like Lost just a little bit better?

You don't identify with "urban" culture as much?

I should say I really like Lost too
for different reasons, I'm not attacking.

You calling me racist, Ason?  Just kidding.

Actually I've lived in "urban" areas (in both the literal and euphemistic meanings of the word) for almost my entire life and wouldn't change it.  I've just been reading sci-fi and comics that whole time.  I guess my ideal show would be something akin to Octavia E. Butler novel - The Wire with space travel and cyborgs.

[TremblingEagle]

Well, in all fairness, the Coens are masters at genre formula.  They usually take every single convention of a particular film genre and tweak one or two elements, modernize it, and voila.  This isn't a criticism at all - better this than quirky-cute indie movies that pretend to be original but are infinitely more formulaic.  For example, The Big Lebowski contains pretty much all of the elements of a typical noir like The Big Sleep, but all of the characters are these weird modern-day LA types.  And who doesn't love that movie?

I think The Wire is pretty fucking great.  But what does it say about me that I maybe like Lost just a little bit better?

You don't identify with "urban" culture as much?

I should say I really like Lost too
for different reasons, I'm not attacking.

You calling me racist, Ason?  Just kidding.

Actually I've lived in "urban" areas (in both the literal and euphemistic meanings of the word) for almost my entire life and wouldn't change it.  I've just been reading sci-fi and comics that whole time.  I guess my ideal show would be something akin to Octavia E. Butler novel - The Wire with space travel and cyborgs.

Not at all (this is me by the way, decided to split into a new persona)
Not everything is for everybody....I'm not into Swedish Death Metal, not a value judgment-just not for me.

As Tom is fond of saying life is short, do what you enjoy.

Don't waste time trying to get into something thats not for you.


Octavia Butler is awesome!

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

As Tom is fond of saying life is short, do what you enjoy.

Don't waste time trying to get into something thats not for you.


Octavia Butler is awesome!

Don't get me wrong, I love The Wire, but I'm watching Lost season 3 right now and it's like crack.   Whereas The Wire is like a fine scotch, or maybe a rarefied variety of heroin. 

And yes,  we love Octavia Butler over here...

[Fido]

I've only seen a few Wire episodes and I have to say I loooooooovvvvee it.  I'm pretty sure I'm hooked.  So does this mean I'm a junkie now?  I guess I have things like night sweats, jonesing, collapsed veins and armed robbery to look forward to.  Great!

[jane]

I've only seen a few Wire episodes and I have to say I loooooooovvvvee it.  I'm pretty sure I'm hooked.  So does this mean I'm a junkie now?  I guess I have things like night sweats, jonesing, collapsed veins and armed robbery to look forward to.  Great!

golden, armed robbery, maybe

[TremblingEagle]

That happened already.  One of her first appearances, she's on the back of a motorcycle and does a drive-by from it.

whadda ya' know

you're right

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJqHjBcE-ro[/youtube]

[dvdv]

One difference between The Wire and the Sopranos... I'm not going to say which show has the better approach... is the way the Wire is just really, really tight and self-contained.  Characters run in to each other all the time, and reappear.  Plotlines get resolved.  It feels much more planned out.

The Sopranos, by contrast, would just introduce characters and have them fade away.  Whole, suggestive storylines would appear, and then fade into nothing-- like the terrorism angle towards the end of the series.

The Wire approach to storytelling might seem more satisfying.  But it's certainly not more "realistic."

Anyway.  Anyone here like the show Brotherhood?  I'm about midway through the first season, and I just can't get into it.  Tom was saying (well, guessing) that The Wire isn't funny.  Compared to Brotherhood, the Wire is Laugh In.

I thought that made Sopranos more realistic, though I wont say its more or less so than The Wire because that wouldnt even make any logical sense. Sopranos focused on one mans life, where The Wire focuses more on a community of characters. But, as in life, things come and go, much like the writing of The Sopranos, I think, did a solid job of portraying.

I think both shows actually saw pretty similar things about the world but Sopranos tackles it through the story of man, Tony Soprano where as The Wire deals it from the perspective of an entire season.  Im hoping some magazine has D. Chase and D. Simon interview each other when The Wire (sadly) comes to an end.

[erika]

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/85-the-wire/

[Emily]

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/85-the-wire/

i was actually surprised that i like The Wire. i just watched the first episode last week (season 1) and i wasn't sure at first. thought maybe it was a guy show, that i couldn't relate to it or find it interesting, but now i think i'm hooked.

people like to put things in neat little boxes.

Exactly! Like this Reuters reporter on "No Country for Old Men":

"No Country," directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, is a gory meditation on slipping moral values presented within the framework of a highly stylized chase movie.

http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2054595020080122?sp=true

A highly stylized chase movie? Really?

anyway i just wanted to comment on the boxes thing. though people like to put things in little boxes i think there's something to be said for, in writing, capturing a large, complex concept in a concise sentence. i think that's what good writing is, mostly.

so maybe that is why it can sound like people are sort of reducing an entire movie or television series into a definitive sentence.  that it's just a fine line between being effectively concise and summing things up (if that makes sense)?  also, that's a news article so their sentences are usually short so people can read them quickly. 

 i know this is an old discussion  - just the first time i'm reading it.

[dave from knoxville]

I keep reading this topic, incredulous that 25 notes in, there's STILL no one talking about The Match Game.

[buffcoat]

I keep reading this topic, incredulous that 25 notes in, there's STILL no one talking about The Match Game.

My brother had boy-and-girl twins - I held out until the bitter end for "Charles" and "Brett."

[Jason]

I thought this thread was going to be about Blakes 7.

[Matt]

I thought this thread was going to be about Blakes 7.

Consider me equally crestfallen - I assumed this was a Suite Life thread.