I've only seen the first three series of The Wire (please, no spoilers!) and then started on 24. Series 1 was fairly enjoyable in a Hollywood action kind of way, but six episodes into series 2 and I'm starting to feel my attention wander.

Also, I swear that in 24 all the women are hopelessly inept and are always relying on strong, macho men to bale them out.

Silly me - clearly tongue in cheek on second reading...

And it's not just series. I watched American Gangster recently, a film I sure I would have really enjoyed a year or two back. Because it covered similar territory to the Wire it just felt rushed and shallow. It was okay and Idris Elba was in it but suffered by comparison.

With all the series of 24 I've seen there's always that nagging feeling from about hour 7 that there's something more useful I could be doing. And yet I watch to the end. Then I know that it was a waste of time and wish I could get the hours back.

series 5 I seriously warn anybody not to start The Wire because when its over it leaves a huge gap in your life.

which was brilliant. Then started Homicide: Life On The Street TV series (my dad has them on DVD). Gave up on episode two. At the back of the book, in the update section, Simon disparages the scene were a Detective searches a house for a gun based on a dream. He pointed out to the makers that search warrants need probably cause, and that dreams are not enough to get a judge to sign one. The makers ignored him and they filmed it as it was written. I got to that scene and had to give up. Once you know it's bulls**t it's difficult to watch.

Amazingly I used to take the CSI series quite seriously. Once I woke up to how nonsensical it was my interest ebbed away. I have not watched any of the current Las Vegas series. Gave up on Miami about two series ago. Watched almost all of the first episode of the current New York series but couldn't stomach it anymore and gave up.

I still watch the Law and Order programmes. They are good although Special Victims Unit can be very variable in both quality and realism.

was a pile of utter poo with no redeming qualities what so ever and should be avoided at all costs.

The current series is, while conforming to all it's usual plot cliches, a major improvement.

The Sopranos is better than The Wire.

There you go!

I watched all of The Wire from October to December last year - I was away working a lot - and it was great. But I think the characters in the Sopranos are richer, it has a more explosive mix of comedy and drama, and there were several parts of The Wire season 5 that felt rushed and forced to me. (I'm not saying anything about any specifics because that would be a spoiler).

I am now re-watching the Sopranos - Season 1 is great, Livia is so selfishly wound up, Tony's caught in the middle of everything, Christopher is trying to make his mark.

I've not tried the same immersion with 24, but I've not found it watchable when I've tried it, I got bored with Lost 3 episodes in, thought Heroes was a load of waffle - so these are the only 2 contenders for me.

People always group the two shows together and I can see why, it's an HBO quality thing, but I would argue, in some respects, they're the exact opposites of each other.

It's well documented that the Wire may be the LEAST episodic TV prgramme ever made. Well, the Sopranos may well be the MOST episodic, in that you'll get an epsiode entirely about, for example, Silvio's private life or the modern-day perception of Christopher Columbus, which bears seeminlgy no relation to the previous week, or the next (some of the episodes join up slightly tighter of course).

The Wire moves around locations, people, storylines - in the Sopranos there's a real sense that the same themes and emotions dominated the charactrs the whole way through - Tony was obsessed with is mother when it started, as he was when it finished.

Also, who the hell is Livia?

damn my memory.....

too much happens in the space of the 24 hours. A nuclear bomb explodes then 6 episodes later it's virtually forgotten.
BROTHERHOOD and BREAKING BAD.
Well worth checking out

I'd better get over to Amazon and hunt down The Sopranos then......there goes even more of my life staring at the tv.

It has spoiled your enjoyment of that sort of drama for ever. Indeed.

Nothing with any sort of "procedural" narrative will satisfy you ever again. You'll be saying, "Why has Hero been assigned this case in another section of the city if he's still the lead investigator on a series of unsolveds?" or "Why is Hero saying, 'Just gimme 24 hours more, lieutenant, and I'll crack this case,' if he should be on automatic suspension for having discharged his firearm multiple times in a manner likely to compromise public safety?" or "How does Hero, a detective 2nd class, not only know the name of the police commissioner - a mere 12 pay grades above him - but apparently have his mobile number and call him 'Vern'?"

The only thing that comes close - and I think I've recommended it here before - is what in many ways was the ur-Wire, inasmuch as it was an unusually lifelike, non-corner-cutting portrayal of dysfunctional scuzzy institutions (the police, the criminal underclass, the prison system, and the law): G.F. Newman's four-part miniseries Law and Order from 30 years ago. Fantastic television, even today - and at under a tenner at Amazon now, it's about as must-see as must-sees can get.

(And Derek Martin's Inspector Pyle makes even Valchek look like "good police".)

but the Beeb are showing an episode each night.
Radio Times also has a handy 'Street Slang Guide' eg; 'Re-Up' - Get a new supply of drugs. Marvellous.

I've just done every single Sopranos episode, all 86 of 'em, soup to nuts, gun to tape, etc. Took about eight weeks. Polished off all five Wires a while back, and now scaling the north face of The West Wing, 33 episodes in as of last night, so a mere 121 to go. Got the entire thing in HMV over Xmas for just £50 or around 35p a show. Can't be bad, eh? Looking forward to tackling Deadwood midsummer at this rate. Any other box sets, based on this sample, that I simply HAVE to see?

Episode 1, Mon 30 Mar 2320hrs. Nice scheduling, Beeb.

Also recently polished off Season 5 and though it towers above most other TV shows, I found the last series to be a little disappointing. Anyone agree?

would certainly have helped, but the real sticking point for me was McNulty & Freamon's plot. Seemed a little unlikely to me.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about in my initial post. 4 seasons of gritty police drama followed by 10 weeks of two guys talking about vegetables. Left me cold.