Entertainment For Lively Minds
The Wire Series 1
Posted by Lando Cakes on 6 May 2009 - 8:14pm.
Just finished catching up with series 1 on my V box.
Against all expectations, it really is as good as various Word staffers have suggested.
Astonishingly, jaw-droppingly so.
My only comparator is 'Our Friends in the North' - and there were only about 6 episodes of that. The fact that I have another 4 series of The Wire to watch is a source of great joy to me at the moment and the inevitable end of season 5 come-down too far away to let it worry me.
But can it really be right to enjoy a TV series so much?
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I'll chip in
with some words of encouragement before the inevitable backlash.
I felt exactly the same after I'd watched season 1. I thought I'd seen the best TV show ever made and I wanted to tell everyone. However, it seemed everyone wasn't interested or knew all about it before me.
The good news is... it keeps that level of quality throughout the latter series (speaking as someone who's one episode away from finishing series 4). New characters are introduced, old characters disappear then come back and anyone with more than two lines arrives fully-formed and believable. It gets to the point where I smile at the beginning of a scene that features my favourite characters because I know I'm going to enjoy it so much.
I'm almost jealous because you've got so many more unseen episodes than I have. Go on, dive in, enjoy :-)
Season 5
Season 5 is slightly inferior to the others, unfortunately. It's the only one I have to rule out when deciding which season is my favourite (something I still haven't made up my mind about).
Just done series 3
I definately believe the hype...
Fantastic isn't it!
Take your time though - I wish I had. I went through the 5 series in about 2 months last year and didn't know what to do with myself at the end!
Thankfuly, I'm now on The Sopranos, which I never saw the first time around. Just finished Series 2 tonight but I'm going to try and resist digging straight into 3 (which I've aready bought) just yet.
One word of warning re:The Wire. Don't look up anything on Wikipedia / IMDB / Amazon Reviews or anything like that, there are spoilers everywhere and I stumbed across a couple when I was watching it that I'd rather not have known.
I was very annoyed that I
I was very annoyed that I read a season 5 spoiler in Word before I had seen any of the episodes. Even though I didn't know when it was going to happen, I did know it would at some point so it was always at the back of my mind.
I'm in the same position
Embraman, am just coming to the end of Season 1 on Sky +. Was a bit cautious at first, thinking 'no tv series can be this good', but boy i've been proven wrong, it really is terrific stuff.
Me too
Almost resisted at first because of the hype within certain quarters but gave it a go at the start of its BBC2 airing and subsequently couldnt wait for series 2 to start (those late nights are here again!).
You're right Joe about others, a small number are converted and the remainder either still havent heard of it or presume its going to be another CSI etc. (good but not remarkable). I suppose it reminds me of the way I felt about about the first couple of series of NYPB Blue only somewhat magnified
Yes, yes, seen it all, loved it, blah, blah, blah but
...I've also seen Our Friends In The North and I'd really, really like to know why everyone thinks it's so bloody marvellous.
Come on, what's the deal here? Good cast? Good script? Interesting story spanning the decades? Mark Strong's wigs? It's got all these things of course, but there have been some other cracking TV series too that rarely get a mention these days, for example, Edge of Darkness.
Is it always brought up because no one can think of anything else and it's one of those things that people think they should mention because it puts them on a higher cultural plane than everyone else?
Or is it pure and simply a bloody good TV show?
Discuss.
our friends in the north
remembered for 3 reasons.
a) the stellar careers of everyone involved subsequently. (A future Dr Who and James Bond !)
b) For every topic it covers; police corruption/party politicking/housing then its up there with the leading shows of that genre; Law and Order, Red Riding, House of Cards, Cathy Come Home.
c) everyone liked and remembered the last ten minutes when Geordie walks across the bridge to the sounds of Don't Look Back in Anger (before it even released as a single).
the wigs are crap though.
Our Friends in the North
was great. Was also very fond of the early series of ER, which i remember as being fairly radical in its day. Closer to home used to love Cracker.
My favourite UK tv series though were Brideshead Revisted, which was pure class, but top of the tree would have to be GBH, it was truly unmissable TV
Wire or West Wing?
For quite some time I have considered the West Wing the finest TV series ever made. And now thanks to The Word I'm a few shows in to the first series of The Wire (I'm rationing myself to no more than one a week), and from what I've seen and what everyone keeps on saying, I may have to reconsider my opinion. Both assume the viewer has some intelligence and an attention span.
I agree that both Our Friends In The North and The Edge Of Darkness were GREAT shows. Might consider seeking out DVDs of one or both.