Can someone please, please do me a favor and explain "The Wire" to me? I've been hearing about the greatness of this show for many years now, and I finally broke down a couple weeks ago and checked it out.
The first season DVD arrived via Netflix and I did what I do with every DVD I get in the mail: I didn't watch it for 3 weeks. Your welcome, Netflix.
So I finally watched it and it. is. slow. Really slow. It's the most realistic show I've ever seen. And by realistic I mean they show the boring stuff too. I lasted four episode and then called it quits. And after each episode I said the same thing: "Where's the wire?!" That's right - the first four episodes and a wire is not used once! That's just false advertising, plain and simple.
Now don't get me wrong, it's not a bad show. However, you have to invest 12 hours of your time just to see something happen. Of course that's just a guess that something eventually happens and that's the time it would take. I'm thinking they built the whole first season around why you would use a wire, what it takes to get a wire, and the use of a wire. But in most shows I watch, getting a wire generally takes two minutes and I'm fine with that. Or in the case of "The Departed", it's glossed over entirely.
But I was thinking that maybe the problem isn't the show, it's how good the rest of TV is right now. A lot of people are saying this is the golden age of TV. I agree with half of that. It is the golden age, of TV drama. Cause comedy isn't gold right now. It's crap. So I don't think there can be a golden age with no comedy.
Back to my point: I think with all the great dramas on TV, that first season of "The Wire" pales in comparison. It also feels like a waste of time when I can watch a great hour of a bunch of different things, and yet it will take 12 hours of "The Wire" to get one freaking wire!
Anyway, if there's any rabid fans out there maybe you can explain it to me.
A couple other random TV notes:
--I caught a little bit of the Big in '06 Awards on VH1 last night. DL Hughley was the host, and apparently he playing that character from "Studio 60", you know, the hack black comedian guy. But I was thinking that it's weird that he's been a professional stand up for all these years, yet he ends his jokes with questions. Like "isn't that crazy?" or "what the hell's up with that?" or "that don't make no sense does it? or "what you talkin' about, Willis?"
--I'm confused: is Fergie still copying Gwen or is Gwen copying Fergie now?
--Everyone should watch the much anticipated (by me) Real World episode Wednesday at 10:00. They've been running the previews like crazy, and this is what seems to happen. There's a very large black guy in the house, another religious black guy, and a white religious gay guy. And the commercial shows the gay guy getting into a fight with the black guys and then yelling "I'm gonna get kicked out of the house because some big n----r wants to kill me!" It is insane.
--Here is a list of my top 15 of the current "golden age":
1. Lost
2. Rescue Me
3. Heroes
4. Entourage
5. The Bachelor
6. The Office
7. Sopranos
8. Curb Your Enthusiasm
9. Grey's Anatomy
10. Real World/Road Rules Challenge
11. Friday Night Lights
12. Smith (sigh)
13. How I Met Your Mother
14. 30 Rock
15. Prison Break
Jesus, I waste a lot of time.
12 comments:
The Wire is seriously worth the perseverance. I watched the first season quite sporadically (never a good thing with HBO's DVDs 'you want 'previously on's'? at the start of your episodes, go screw yourself, try and remember the tiny minatue of our convoluted plot yourself - evil laugh') and i was all 'mheh' for the fist 5 or 6, but pleased with the detail of the plodding aspects of policing and then suddenly 'snap' and I was in love, I suddenly got it and I got seriously involved. By the end I was chewing my hair and shouting at the TV.
If you want fast-paced excitment its not for you. But I love the fact that there's no 'maverick' cop (the only type of copper in the vast pile of shite British police drama), the police dont always solve things or get what they want, and the 'goodies' if there is such a thing dont always win out and there's lots of shades of grey. The characterisation builds up over time into a complex, fully fleshed range of characters. Plus its fantastic in comparison with The Shield (where only white people can be 'good'), which I have now fallen out with, in that it actually has a wide range of fully developed black characters.
I do struggle with the local accents at times and have to put on the subtitles, but it is seriously great, you just have to get to know the characters and dig in a bit. The second season is even better, i'm pretty evangelical about it now .
Could someone explain Fergie's performance on the Billboard awards last night? Was she ill, had she injured herself before the performance? She just stood there, pigeon toed and looked constipated. Or maybe I haven't seen enough of Fergie to know that is her "thing"
I agree with the poster about the Wire. Perserverance may be required. I tried to watch it sporadically and couldn't get into it, but then somewhere I went back and started watching the whole thing and it is great. Patience is really required at first, but it does build up and is edge of my seat tv now. I love your tv list, except haven't watched 30 rock (yet).
Nothing much to add to Faye and anonymous...except that both of you and (hopefully someday) Irwin can join the very large club of Wire fans (including me, my parents, my boyfriend, etc.) who had the exact same experience. Watched the first few eps, "meh", tried it again, bang/pow - "this is great!" - totally hooked, loved all four seasons (no spoilers please, I am behind for this year). And as great as the first two seasons are, 3 and 4 are just outstanding.
I can't believe you wouldn't include Scrubs in your Top 15!
jamie it does not matter how good scrubs is, the fact that it is single camera cancels it from any of irwin's "lists."
you are blinded by love on Friday Night Lights, it sucks....i know this because i watched 5 minutes and saw the reincarnation of mischa. enough said.
a third of your list is made of comedies Irwin, hardly a crappy percentage. a case for the golden age certainly can be made.
The Wire always starts slow and then before you know it the suspense starts. The slowness is probably after every season there is talk about cancelling it and then HBO doesn't and before you know it they're on sesaon 5.
Ok I'm from Denver and while I love watching my home city on television, I cannot in good concsience watch the Real World. The group this year is horrible! But I must say the best line of that show so far is, "I think I'm having sex."
What do you call "Curb", "The Office", and "Entourage", Badfish? I call them single camera comedies. But you know what they're not? Single camera comedies that do "wacky" cut aways to "hilarious" sight gags. And yes, there are comedies on this list, but none of them are "Seinfeld" or "Cheers".
Thanks to everyone who had info about "the wire" for me. It's good to know that patience will be rewarded. I'm not sure if I'm gonna go the distance, just because of time constraints, but I might give it a shot.
I don't know about the Fergie thing, I saw her on Big in '06 and she was walking around like normal. Maybe she tripped backstage on one of her humps.
"Plus its fantastic in comparison with The Shield (where only white people can be 'good')"
Huh? I didn't think ANYBODY on that show was "good." Actually, the closest they get to a good person on that show is Claudette, and she sure ain't white.
The Wire is worth the effort. Omar rules.
I guess I should have said "single camera" and "wacky" (rip AD). Why was there no mention of "Golden Girls" with "Seinfeld" and "Cheers?"
I absolutely love The Wire, you really need to give it a second chance. I can't speak to the whole perseverance theory, though, because I adored it from the first episode.
I really don't get how 30 Rock could make your list. Is it a comedy writer thing? Because I've watched the show twice and all I did was yawn through it. Maybe you can explain that one.
Actually, based on the comments here, I did give "the wire" a second chance. and guess what? you guys were right, it's good. for me it clicked in with the episode (5 or 6) that's actually entitled "the wire". i've loved it ever since.
as far as 30 rock goes, it's definitely been inconsistent. and the thing i don't like about it is what you sorta mentioned, which is who cares? the show isn't about anything. HOWEVER, it has been hilarious at times, almost as funny as "the office". alec baldwin and tracy morgan are awesome on it. so even though it's uneven, i still enjoy it for the occasional laugh out moments.
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