The Wire

[Mr Blue Sky]

Ok, at long last here's a thread dedicated to (almost) everyone's latest favourite TV show - The Wire. Here's an interview with the show's Yorkshire-born star Dominic West. There are some interesting points made about why the show is so popular in the UK at the moment. A big thanks to Wezzo for scanning this from Q magazine...



I imagine the show is very difficult to get into if you can only watch one episode a week as broadcast. It's such a slow burner that I imagine many people will lose interest while the situation and characters are being fleshed out, but it's that kind of detail that sets the show apart IMO. As the article says, I think the show was born for DVD (or copied DivX files in my case! )

Anyway, last episodes watched for me were:-

Backwash - 94% - This season definitely has more humour, and the characters have all really grown on me now. Ziggy's the biggest arsehole of all time, but I even found myself caring what becomes of the young upstart this episode!

Duck and Cover - 96% - Great episode, a strong candidate for best of S2 along with the jaw-dropping All Prologue. Only 4 eps left this season now - I'm running out fast!

[CatNamedRudy]

I was floored when I found out Dominic West was British. He does a white American street cop accent really well!

[Mr Blue Sky]

I was floored when I found out Dominic West was British. He does a white American street cop accent really well!

He's brilliant isn't he. I never suspected he was a fellow Yorkshireman! I'm just watching an ep right now where he has to 'fake' a British accent, and even that sounds authentically fake! DW's superb, I hope he gets a shot at an Emmy for The Wire's final season.

It's also hard to imagine Stringer Bell as British isn't it! Since I found that out I've been paying particular attention to his accent on the show - it seems absolutely flawless to me.

[CatNamedRudy]

Now I'm going to have to pay even MORE attention! Trying to pick up on accents has become a game I like to play!

[Mr Blue Sky]

Just seen a couple more...

Stray Rounds - 90% - Powerful stuff, particularly the pre-credit sequence.

Storm Warnings - 96% - Another classic, and another great character introduction in the form of Brother Mouzone. Proposition Joe was as superb as ever and it was nice to have a limited return for Omar. We're definitely into 'endgame' as far as this season goes...

[Cake for Brains]

Currently watched six episodes from S1. It's excellent so far. I shall be getting S2 for Christmas.

[Moon-Crane]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

[Dorset Girl]

Doh! Now it has it's own thread where you'll all be giving it high marks, and I still haven't seen it! Will it make no sense whatsoever if I start watching it half-way through?

[CatNamedRudy]

Doh! Now it has it's own thread where you'll all be giving it high marks, and I still haven't seen it! Will it make no sense whatsoever if I start watching it half-way through?

You MIGHT be able to get a grip on it but it's really not a show you should pick up in the middle. It's serialized and not episodic so one show leads into the next. Without knowledge of earlier events, you might not understand some of what is going on.

[Dorset Girl]

Doh! Now it has it's own thread where you'll all be giving it high marks, and I still haven't seen it! Will it make no sense whatsoever if I start watching it half-way through?

You MIGHT be able to get a grip on it but it's really not a show you should pick up in the middle. It's serialized and not episodic so one show leads into the next. Without knowledge of earlier events, you might not understand some of what is going on.

Okey-dokey. Never mind.

[woggle]

only watced season one when i found the first season cheap after being bugged by my brother in law its the only boxsets latley that i have rushed out to buy full price becase its that good, seasons 1 and 2 are the best, the characters are so well written and its from the prspectives of the cops and bad guys although sometimes its hard to tell, it doesnt even feel like a tv show its that good... its a brilliant show of acting and writting and is firmly in my fav tv show list....

[Mr Blue Sky]

Doh! Now it has it's own thread where you'll all be giving it high marks, and I still haven't seen it! Will it make no sense whatsoever if I start watching it half-way through?

You MIGHT be able to get a grip on it but it's really not a show you should pick up in the middle. It's serialized and not episodic so one show leads into the next. Without knowledge of earlier events, you might not understand some of what is going on.

I tried that and it doesn't work. First ep i saw was S1's The Pager as Strat gave it so high marks and was briefly his 'ep of the week'. Although I could tell it was something I could possibly see myself getting into, I didn't understand the events at all really until I'd seem them in order. Like I said in my opening post, this show was born for DVD. You need to watch them all in order, and you'll probably want to see them in blocks of two or three eps at a time. Great show though, I'd even rank it above Boston Legal as my favourite show currently in production.

[Mr Blue Sky]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

Pleasure! I want to buy the S2 DVD now so I can listen to McNulty and Omar doing the commentary whilst smacked up to the tits!

[Moon-Crane]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

Pleasure! I want to buy the S2 DVD now so I can listen to McNulty and Omar doing the commentary whilst smacked up to the tits!

Are you sorted for the next season, or will a 'Christmas present' need to be delivered your way?

[Stratman]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

Pleasure! I want to buy the S2 DVD now so I can listen to McNulty and Omar doing the commentary whilst smacked up to the tits!

Sadly, it's actually quite a dull commentary, most of them are dull actually. The David Simon/ George Pelecanos one was super informative though.

[Stratman]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

Pleasure! I want to buy the S2 DVD now so I can listen to McNulty and Omar doing the commentary whilst smacked up to the tits!

Are you sorted for the next season, or will a 'Christmas present' need to be delivered your way?

I was going to send off that gift, but if you can do it any quicker by all means, steal my thunder.

[Stratman]

Season 4 DVD Review

Beware of spoilers.

[Mr Blue Sky]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

Pleasure! I want to buy the S2 DVD now so I can listen to McNulty and Omar doing the commentary whilst smacked up to the tits!

Sadly, it's actually quite a dull commentary, most of them are dull actually. The David Simon/ George Pelecanos one was super informative though.

Yeah, I can imagine actually. There's nothing duller than being the sobre person in a room full of people high as kites!

[Mr Blue Sky]

hey great thread. Cheers for posting that article.

Pleasure! I want to buy the S2 DVD now so I can listen to McNulty and Omar doing the commentary whilst smacked up to the tits!

Are you sorted for the next season, or will a 'Christmas present' need to be delivered your way?

I was going to send off that gift, but if you can do it any quicker by all means, steal my thunder.

Is that ok with you Strat? The last thing I want is to knock you back after such a generous offer but MC's discs have to travel a couple of hundred miles to get to me as opposed to 12,000...

I really appreciate the offer though, and if there's anything I can send you just let me know. How about a Darling Buds of May boxset?

[Stratman]

I'd hand deliver the discs if a Darling Buds DVD was my punishment for being tardy.

If MC is willing to do it, I'm cool.

[Mr Blue Sky]

I'd hand deliver the discs if a Darling Buds DVD was my punishment for being tardy.

If MC is willing to do it, I'm cool.

Nice one. Cheers for the offer though, much appreciated.

[Mr Blue Sky]

Just finished off S2...

Bad Dreams - 94% - Another great ep, you can really feels the noose tightening around Frank Sobotka's neck...

Port In a Storm - 88% - The Wire doesn't do crowd-pleasing finales, but by not [spoiler]capturing The Greek [/spoiler]all the other season-long payoffs, particularly [spoiler]the 14 Jane Doe murders [/spoiler]felt a little flat. Goes towards the show's realism I suppose. I did get the feeling S3 was being trailered in the finale too with various plotlines opening up for the crew.

All in all I enjoyed this season immensely. Even if it didn't quite reach the heights of S1 it had a hell of a lot going for it including a much more varied tone - Carver and Herc are firmly established as the comic relief this season.

Can't wait for S3!

[Stratman]

The real finale is always in the penultimate episode, a brilliant concept started by the David Chase.

I personally love that they didn't capture the greek, it's a very a-typical way to top off a season, and as you said, is a testament to the shows realism. I've said this before, but the second viewing of season 2 opened my eyes big time, it was absolutely as good as the first. Frank Sobatka was a really great counterpoint to the Barksdale crew who were criminals for themselves, it's intriguing watching a guy break the law for all the right reasons. Props to Chris Bauer too, he's always been a top notch, but he outdid himself as Frank.

I look forward to hearing peoples opinions on Bunny Colvin's Hamerstdam initiative.

Btw, upon second viewing of the S1-S3, Idris Elba is the only one whose accent didn't slip. Dominic is terrible for that, and Aidan wasn't nearly as bad, but it's noticable.

[Agides]

I see that 'The Wire' is a nominee for a Best Dramatic Series at the WGA (Writers Guild of America) Awards, which will be held in early February.
Trouble for me is that it's up against The Sopranos (and Dexter, Friday Night Lights and Mad Men) so I'm a bit torn over who should win.

The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, 30 Rock and The Flight Of The Conchords (which I'm gonna champion because I have really enjoyed this) are all nominated for Best Comedy Series. There will be some happy and disappointed FO members when the winner for this category is announced.

Great article to open this new thread, btw. Thanks for posting it!

[Moon-Crane]

I see that 'The Wire' is a nominee for a Best Dramatic Series at the WGA (Writers Guild of America) Awards, which will be held in early February.
Trouble for me is that it's up against The Sopranos (and Dexter, Friday Night Lights and Mad Men) so I'm a bit torn over who should win.

The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, 30 Rock and The Flight Of The Conchords (which I'm gonna champion because I have really enjoyed this) are all nominated for Best Comedy Series. There will be some happy and disappointed FO members when the winner for this category is announced.

Great article to open this new thread, btw. Thanks for posting it!

Those other shows are fine enough, but, for me, The Wire trumps them all without breaking sweat. (Also, I haven't caught any of the latest Curb, but hopefully it's still strong enough that i could put it above those other comedy nominations.)