I’m in the Midlands unfortunately 😀

Most TV is cr*p, so we watch very little.

We’re currently working through the West Wing(now on series 2)-which I think is superb.

Next on our watching list is either The Wire or The Sopranos.

One point, I’m not setting myself up as any kind of expert but I think the word is nigga (small but crucial difference I think).

Anyway, for further guidelines see this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb2Vc43p9aY

Sopranos is ‘above average’ but The Wire shows up its flaws and makes it look 1-dimensional.

So I guess there’s a dilemma, if you’re sure you want to watch both, do Sopranos first.

** caveat: I quit Sopranos half way through S3, by then you’ve ‘got it’, and there are times when it’s fairly repetitive, brutal and unpleasant, I didn’t see the point of continuing.

Cheers.

Given that I don’t want to spend my life watching less than perfect TV, I think I may just do The Wire.

I watched the Sopranos until the series where his mother tried to kill him. That was awesome TV. It just paled in comparision to itself after that.

Good call.

Sopranos is a great concept and best of breed for its day (pre-Wire I think), but doesn’t have anywhere near the ‘completeness’ of The Wire. I suspect The Wire’s story arc across 5 series was in place before S1 started shooting, whereas Sopranos got caught unawares by its success. That could be factually nonsense but is how it feels.

The other issue is there’s simply nothing to like in the main protagonists of Sopranos, they’re just murderous scum that the world would be better off without, and it’s done. There came a point where I simply didn’t want to spend more time with them.

The ‘enough is enough’ moment for me was when single-mother dancer/hooker was beaten to death in the railings out the back of the strip club by the (mob, not police) lieutenant with the chip on his shoulder. It was just horrible.

Download the whole lot here:
Link removed- mod

Never done this – I guess it’s not legal, but is it safe/good enough quality?

I’m happy to pay if there was a rental type thing – I just checked netflix but it’s not on there.

I’m happy to pay if there was a rental type thing – I just checked netflix but it’s not on there.

I reckon if you bought the DVD 2nd hand you’d get your money back on resale, so total cost will be minimal though perhaps cashflow might catch you out!

The box set is £49 on Amazon. Watch it, then flog it on Amazon Marketplace or wherever. I reckon you’ll make most of your money back; all you’d have to do is resurrect this thread with a sneaky link 😉

It was Omar in our house, I had to keep reminding her she MAY be out of luck

Same.

And we were 3-episode-at-a-time MINIMUM watchers. In many ways, I think it saved our lives at the time.

I loved series 2 – the whole “what if” about it and where it was leading the plot. And, of course, series 4 – magnificent.

Sublime series, the characters get under your skin.

Series 2 was brilliant showing who really pulls the strings, but all other than 5 were immense.

Oh yeah give it at least three episodes – then you will be hooked.

Ah S2: Valchek, McNulty out on the water and still causing trouble, Avon stitching things up in prison.

And we were 3-episode-at-a-time MINIMUM watchers. In many ways, I think it saved our lives at the time.

Funny, I like to savour and digest slowly, an episode at a time, and the day has to be right. We’re mid-S4, 2 years in.

think i watched all 5 series in about 3 weeks, as many episodes at a time i could possibly squeeze in. amazing show. set a standard that’s been unmatched in my humble opinion. yeah there are other good series out there (twin peaks, sons of anarchy, game of thrones etc etc etc) but they’re just shy of awesome.

I watched the first four seasons an episode at a time, but rather lost interest in season five, the journalism series.
Didn’t have any choice but to watch episodes one at a time, unless I recorded several and then sat through them in a batch, ‘cos I started watching from the beginning in 2002…

I finished s1 but think I might have to watch it again as I couldn’t hear most of the dialogue.

I completely forgot about Generation Kill.

Less of a commitment than The Wire but equally brilliant.

What have you lot done. I’ve already paid the price of addiction, the nights with out sleep, the lieing and sneaking to get just one more fix. The heart ache when I found out you only get half a series 5 and no series 6. But I was over it, I’d managed to move one, but in a now duller tv world.

But now having read this thread (ironically it was a head up on here that the BBC where going to run it that first got me addicted) has brought back the need and for me it is just too easy to get a fix, the other half bought me (her) the boxset a few Christmas ago as she said she want to see this series that was keeping me up all night.

So bring it on, 60 hours of my life to disappear. My only worries are can I resist the running commentary and worse still, what, god forbid, if she doesn’t like it, grounds for divorce?

I couldn’t really get into generation Kill. Then read the book and now I want to check it out again as I’ve got a better idea of the characters etc.

Best. Television. Ever.

sc-xc whereabouts in the midlands are you – I’m in Mansfield and may be able to help you out.

Near Dudley unfortunately Mr_C

I’ll keep looking!

Email me, sx-xc. Might be able to help a brother out.

If you want true obsessiveness check out the Guardian’s episode by episode blog

johnikgriff – Member

So bring it on, 60 hours of my life to disappear. My only worries are can I resist the running commentary and worse still, what, god forbid, if she doesn’t like it, grounds for divorce?

Mrs Eye though she wouldn’t like it and it took her 3 or 4 episodes to key into the language but then after that she was hooked. Like Bubbs was hooked only Bubbs kicked it and came good but Mrs Eyes aint never gonna kick The Wire.

As Clay says SHEEEEEEEEEEEET

Superb series, you even feel sorry for the bad guys. Apart from the Greeks, they’re evil and not even Greek.

Omar and bodie were 2 of my favourites.

ironically it was a head up on here that the BBC where going to run it that first got me addicted

Thats when I first came across it. I was going to be working with Idris Elba so I thought it would be polite to catch a few episodes. I was working away from home staying in a shite hotel and it was screening late at night. The only thing I knew about it was that there were a lot of plot lines, the characters are really well written and that it has a few british actors in it.

Lying in bed watching it I blinked (for what turned out to be about 45mins) and the action had jumped from baltimore to brighton. It took me a long time to figure I was watching a completely different drama but I was really admiring how well written these british characters were for an american drama 🙂 I fell asleep again before it ended and for quite a while that was all I knew about it

Later we bought the box set and for a while I was waiting for the brighton storyline to emerge before it properly dawned on me what had happened

Series one of The Wire is truly excellent. I started watching series two but it seemed significantly less gripping so I didn’t bother. Maybe I should revisit.

I’ve just started watching for the first time, TV not up to much in Doha.

Watched the first three episodes in one sitting, I’m a big fan of the Sopranos but so far the Wire really does live up to the hype and I’m hooked.

Right. Just started watching Prison Break while I wait…looks like I’ll enjoy it.

Jamie – I’ll mail you…but if it involves eggs or labradors I’m out.

Jamie – I’ll mail you…but if it involves eggs or labradors I’m out.

*checks watch*

*drums fingers on desk*

*checks watch*

They are showing series one late at night on Sky Atlantic if you have it and can record. With a bit of luck they will be showing the whole 5 series, FX channel just did that. Set series record, get series one out from blockbuster and watch first.

Thats it going to watch it all over again! It was that good.

The Killing S1, Danish version with subtitles (especially good with a young baby in the house).

I’ll second the Killing….even the US version was ok (and a different killer).

I found a few other series’ that I’ve had the priviledge of seeing and have helped to fill the void of quality drama benchmarked by the Wire, although they’ve never come close…:

-Life (Damian Lewis is excellent – cheap as chips on Amazon as mostly overlooked)
-Homeland (coming soon on c4, truly the best thing in a long time)
-Underbelly Series 1-4!….cheap on DVD and based on true stories, if you can handle the Australian accents!

+1 for The Killing, of course, and if forrin stuff is OK for you, then Spiral is fantastic.

-Homeland (coming soon on c4, truly the best thing in a long time)

Sky+* set to series link. Looking forward to it.

*Other PVRs are available…

Though white people have a natural aversion to television, there are some exceptions. For white people to like a TV show it helps if it is: critically acclaimed, low-rated, shown on premium cable, and available as a DVD box set

#85 The Wire