HBO's The Wire

[Andrew]

If you're looking for some great summer entertainment, check out HBO’s "the Wire". I've enjoyed some other HBO shows (Deadwood, Rome) but consider the Wire the best TV series I've ever seen. The story's five seasons play out like a 60 chapter novel, with consistently outstanding writing, character development, and acting.

The Wire is a good name for the first season, which starts out as a somewhat standard police drama. Over the course of its five seasons, however, the show unfolds as an epic story about a city, its people, and their motivations - be they to steal, exploit, make a difference, or merely survive.

Among the topics covered are: race, addiction, poverty, bureaucracy, corruption, the working class, the media, the school system, the police force, city hall, and crime.

It hasn’t had the mainstream popularity of other TV shows, probably because of its complexities and carefully developed story lines - which is not to say that it's ever complex to the point of being confusing, or boring. It's just a very well written show, where every line of dialog serves a purpose - making it all the more rewarding in both the short and longer term.

Seasons 1-4 are out on DVD, and season 5 aired a few months ago (I'm guessing it'll be on DVD soon).

Wikipedia page:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_%28TV_series%29

Season 4 reviews on Metacritic:
www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/wireseason4?q=the%20wire

[LoupDogg]

I have to agree with that.

Best TV show ever made. Not exageration.

[jkr]

I've always liked HBO (Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood) but don't have it so, I wait for it to come out on DVD. And then I go to the library because it gets kind of pricey to rent a TV series.

I have been curious about The Wire for a while. The short clips I saw always looked intriguing. The summer is a great time to catch a series like this because the network lineups are usually awful. Maybe I can convince my library to buy it.

[jkr]

Jun 10, 2008 10:14:42 GMT -5 jkr said:

I've always liked HBO (Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood) but don't have it so, I wait for it to come out on DVD. And then I go to the library because it gets kind of pricey to rent a TV series.

I have been curious about The Wire for a while. The short clips I saw always looked intriguing. The summer is a great time to catch a series like this because the network lineups are usually awful. Maybe I can convince my library to buy it.

My library finally got this & I have just finished season one. I'm hooked & can't wait to get my hands on season two. My problem is that this library only gives me a week so I have to squeeze in 13 hours of TV into a week but if you get up early enough it can be done.

Excellent stuff.

[Andrew]

Oct 6, 2008 7:34:49 GMT -5 jkr said:

Jun 10, 2008 10:14:42 GMT -5 jkr said:

I've always liked HBO (Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood) but don't have it so, I wait for it to come out on DVD. And then I go to the library because it gets kind of pricey to rent a TV series.

I have been curious about The Wire for a while. The short clips I saw always looked intriguing. The summer is a great time to catch a series like this because the network lineups are usually awful. Maybe I can convince my library to buy it.

My library finally got this & I have just finished season one. I'm hooked & can't wait to get my hands on season two. My problem is that this library only gives me a week so I have to squeeze in 13 hours of TV into a week but if you get up early enough it can be done.

Excellent stuff.

Glad to hear you finally got a hold of it. Enjoy season two - it has some great scenes, and new characters.

I want to re-watch the whole series soon, but like you don't always have enough hours in a week - especially with a new hockey season starting.