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I didn't have HBO when The Wire started showing, so I completely missed this series. I picked up Season 1 on iTunes to watch while on long flights to a tropical island, and all I can say is awesome. I also catch myself wanting to swear a lot. The actors in this are amazing (Bubbles especially).

HBO: The Wire (http://www.hbo.com/thewire/)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(TV_series))
IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/)

Someone linked to a (NSFW) YouTube excerpt of the show in the Big TV Thread(tm) awhile ago, so I've had it on my list for awhile.

7 minute recap of the 1st Season here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed0UxGLay_g

Recommended. But not for kids. Or anyone else prone to picking up swearing if heard 100s of times an hour.

Sheeeeeeeeeeet.

I think The Wire is the best thing I've ever watched on TV, no question. I envy you having it all infront of you, fresh :)  I particularly love the way that it goes from being a show about drugs to a show about how everthing works. Amazing stuff.

Yeah this was a fantastic show that never got the viewers it should have.  It's one of those shows that require a little investment, you really have to watch at least two episodes to understand just how deep and good it is.  I didn't really love the fourth season but it was still much better than anything else on TV.

That should be a more common catch phrase damn it!  If only the show had been more popular.

Ranks up there as one of the best TV shows ever. The wife and I watched all 5 seasons from our Netflix account earlier this year.

And since we're quoting catch phrases: "The fuck did I do?"

One of the greatest media masterpieces of our time.

I bought season one for my parents, but they couldn't "follow the dialog".  I was pissed.

Best show ever imo.  A lot of people thought season 2 was the weakest but I'm not sure I agree.  Really all the seasons tie in well together.

Miasma, I hope you meant the fifth season (the somewhat truncated final season focused on the press) instead of the fourth (focused on the school kids).  I think the fourth season is a masterwork.

Still haven't seen Season 5 but, yeah, one of the best shows I have ever watched. I checked it out after 1)Hearing good things about it here and 2)Hearing it get pimped while listening to some BBC radio review that explained some of the history behind the show's creators and what it tries to do. I don't know if Season 5 DVDs have been released in the UK yet but I really wanna know how all this ends.

Definitely some of the strongest character writing I've seen and some really awesome but never unbelievable ones too. Omar rocks my world. Also it surprised me how many people on the show are British/have British connections after watching one of the episodes with commentary. Is McNulty's accent as believable for Americans as I found it?

I love that season five was just a giant fuck you to Simon's old job.

And yeah most people I've talked to didn't realize McNulty wasn't American.  Omar is awesome, but Bunk was always my favorite character throughout the show.

Season four was very good but it depressed me too much, I couldn't watch it on Sunday night because it would destroy any relaxation I got over the weekend and I would start on Monday in a terrible mood.  I usually recorded it and watched it during the week.

McNulty isn't American?  Best American accent ever! (even better than Hugh Laurie's)

The only problem is I thought he had a terrible British accent in 300, at the time I thought he must not be any good at faking foreign accents.

He's in 300? Damn now I have to watch that again.

Dominic West's accent slips a few times early in the series if you are looking for it, but he does do a very good job.

In 300, he's the sleezy Senator who bangs Leonidas' wife.

"If it wasn't for sergei here you and your cousin both would be cadaverous mother fuckers!"

 :drill: "cadaverous mother fuckers"  :drill:

Best series of my lifetime.

That scene in the first season where McNulty and Bunk investigate the crime scene and the dialogue is entirely composed of "fuck" is pure :drill:

That was one of the only scenes I thought was just stupid.  I'm not sure what they were going for with that, maybe they were trying to break a record.

Yeah it was stupid but I thought the actors did a great job of communicating exactly what was going on without dialogue. You know exactly what they're finding and you know how the crime happened purely based on physical cues, I thought it showed just how much information is communicated without words. At least that's what I found to be :drill: about it.

Ya, I'm glad they got away from that. I be there was some pressure to 'lighten up' from producers or some such. I'm glad they ditched the attempt and kept true to the spirit of the show. That's part of what made the show work so well. They stuck to their guns and made no apologies for showing realistic depictions of human atrocity. It is also probably the reason it was not 'well recieved' by media pundits.

I thought it was a fantastic scene. Amazing bit of storytelling - really using the medium well. Reminded me of a Sopranos episode, where the FBI are trying to plant a bug in the Sopranos home and it played out with an alternating sound track and rapid cuts. Awesome television.

Totally agreed.

Oddly, I just finished watching S5 last night... totally finished with the series now, sadly.

It's based on Simon's observations of how homicide detective communicate. Read Homicide: Life on the Streets. The commentary on the DVD for that scene is also good.

One of the best scenes ever filmed IMO.

Agreed. Masterfully done IMO.

Agreed as well. Awesome scene.

David Simon was just on the Colbert report, I imagine it will be available on the internet soon.

Having just finished the 5th season, I'd like to reiterate that this show is perhaps the finest I've ever seen.

I think you guys missed the in-joke when they used him as the "client" in the high class hooker bust (season 2). They had McNulty "pretend" to be English and learn all kinds of phrases an Englishman might use. So Dominic West used his own accent, but exaggerated it. The other actors were clearly finding it very funny, but they were acting as if their characters were laughing at McNulty pretending to be English.

And look what has happened to the owner of the Baltimore Sun.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/tribune-hires-bankruptcy-advisers/?em

Disclosure: I'm front and centre in the death of newspapers - I'm a news journalist who jumped from print to online years ago and I've got very strong views on what's happening and who has fucked up what. The depiction of a fictional newsroom in Season 5 was the most accurate I've seen.

I just finished watching this series on netflix and i had to bump this for those who haven't watched the best television show ever made.  Just... wow.

Just started watching it with the wife on Netflix. I am blown away with how good the writing is.

You are both in for a treat.  I'm jealous of you getting to experience it for the first time.

This.

We're currently in season two. I don't know if it's the best series ever made, but we're definitely enjoying it.

Season two was my least favorite. Just takes way too long to get going. Still good, though.

Just started watching this as well, I'm about halfway through season 1 and loving it. Gonna be tough to find time to watch it, however, since the SO doesn't care for it.

Divorce is always an option.

Season two is the "different" season. I like it and it's necessary viewing, but the dock worker plotline is very different from the other seasons.

I liked season 2 a lot.  My wife and I were initially tepid with how slow it started, but it really got interesting.

I loved season two, didn't like but couldn't stop watching season four*.

* Strictly in relation to other seasons of the wire, it was still better than most any other drama series.

Season four was hard to watch because of how relentless it was on the characters. It wasn't a happy season, it was a great on though.

Sign me up as another person who really liked season two as well

Yeah.  You could call Season 4 'The Happy Adventures of Bubbles' and watch the suicide rates amongst viewers soar.  My Wife was in tears almost every time Bubs appeared on screen.  The End of Season Five made it all worth it though.

There's a metric fuckton of acting talent in the show ;  Bubbles was always the standout.

In a strange way I'd also give an honourable mention to Method Man as Cheese, he wasn't the outstanding actor in the show, but as far as musicians-to-actors go, he was way ahead of any others that I have seen.

And yeah, S4 was hard on Bubbles

Also

That wasn't Randy's ending though;  He was back in the fifth season for one scene that confirmed everything you'd feared.

Random other thought

Just watched the episode where they were going over a crime scene and fuck was the only word they used for like 5 minutes.

It was glorious and amazing.

Best series yet put on television.
Echoing the thoughts on Season 2. Stick with it. In the end I was glad they had the guts to change it up so much and drag all the characters through that junk. It just has a rough open.

I enjoyed season 2; but the entire season is worth it for just Omar, especially the court scene. Of all the seasons, I'd have to say season 5 was the least enjoyable for me, largely because of the primary plot line in that season just didn't appeal to me. Still a good season, however it just pales to the other 4. Lots of characters/actors throughout the show I loved (Omar, Micheal, Greggs, 'McNuttie', Bunk, Freamon, Bodie, etc., etc.)

Part of why the show was so good for me was the willingness to simply.. off characters, including ones I liked. Easily the best show I've ever watched, even when it does drag around at times.

K9 ;  No Marlo ?

Really ?

He's an utter psychopath.

Yah, I was going to mention him. 

Marlo will kill you for farting while he's talking.

Bah, you're right. This is what comes from composing the two halves of a response either side of a 2hr meeting, I thought I had him in there.  :oh_i_see:

Also, I cannot think of a show which has such a sizeable cast.

Just looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_from_The_Wire is pretty nuts, and the important thing is that most of the characters are memorable in their own way, they are genuine characters rather than just glorified extras.

It's been re-airing on direcTV for the past couple of months and I've been watching it.

Holy shit it is excellent. Why isn't more TV like this?

Personally, I blame reality TV and shitcoms.

I don't really understand why sitcoms keep being made. It's seems like 90% of them go off the air after one season.

Are they just cheap enough to produce that even with a sky-high failure rate it's a massive return on investment when someone accidentally makes an Everybody Loves Raymond(I hate that fucking show, but it's the only generic sitcom I could think of on the spot that lasted a long-ass time)?

Occasionally we get a good one... Seinfeld, Cheers.  It's like all the writers/producers/owners are chasing that dragon.

Also, it's awesome when Bubbles shows up on other shows.  He did single episodes of Heroes and Fringe so far... wish he would be cast in something a little more frequently. 

Seinfeld eats a bag of dicks.

Heavy promotion on local TV (Australia) for a show called Luther, starring Idris Elba (The Wire's Stringer Bell) with his English accent: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1474684/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSKmVsjFxg

I saw an ad for that on BBCA yesterday, and said HEY THAT'S STRINGER!

Luther wasn't too bad really.

I wish MGM would get their shit together and cast Idris Elba as the next James Bond though.

LOL I'm listening to Sydney community radio station FBi and they did a live interview with Dead Meadow frontman Jason Simon, the nephew of The Wire creator David Simon. He was asked if he'd ever met McNulty, and he replied yes, Dominic West is a creepy guy who was trying to score drugs at David Simon's son's bar mitzvah :)

I don't have much to add besides stating that I watched The Wire for the first time over the course of the past two months, and can only join the chorus of those heaping praise upon it.  It's the best television I've ever seen.

Also, I thought season 3 was actually the weakest, and not season 2.  Mostly because it didn't seem to have as much direction.  The conclusion was thoroughly satisfying, however.  Season 4 is, I think, the show's peak.

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5081818745_0c53dc37ed_o.jpg)

From this guy's flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisculver/5081818745/).

Just finished Season 2; it definitely got better towards the end.

Word.

Finally got a Netflix account and started watching this yesterday. Why the fuck can't this be instant watch? ARRGH. Enjoyed the first 3 episodes. I was wondering if McNulty was supposed to be an Irish immigrant, since hints of some accent definitely slip through. Scarily, I recognized the actor that plays Prez from Singles. I may have seen that a few too many times.

McNutty is British IRL, right?

And +1 to wtf cant this be instant watch.

His character is supposed to be of Irish extraction which is built up a bit more as the series goes on, but mostly that is just West's American accent being a bit sketchy to start out the series.

Sadly, this. It's a pretty fair representation of life as we know it. I'd like to believe things can change. Sometimes they do. Rarely. After great suffering, injustice, and time-wasting.

If you look at the whole story as the story of Bubbles, it makes you feel better.  That's what I do.

Yeah, listening to his commentary was a bit of a surprise to me. Also Stringer Bell is a Londoner and Carcetti's from Dublin (can't remember the actors' names).

Dominic West is British, yes.

Just finished the 1st season yesterday. Wow. This show is awesome.

Just started season four and it feels like the best season so far.

It is.

It's also the toughest season to watch.

Which season had Amsterdam?

The third.

hamsterdam

So is Idris Elba (Stringer Bell).

Yeah, his accent is a lot more convincing though.

Watching him in the cast interviews is fun though, where he defaults back to Hackney and starts calling people 'mate' and 'lads'. The first time I saw that straight after watching the end of season three I was very much 'wait, what?'.

Finished the 2nd season on NYE and got in the mail the same day back to Netflix. Unfortunately due to all the holidays I won't get the first disk of S3 until tomorrow. Realizing it will take me another 6 weeks to get through the rest of the series (and wanting to watch the commentaries and such, which I have been skipping for fear of spoilers), I broke down and ordered the entire series for $92. Should be here within a week.

Now to re-order my Netflix queue....

Order finally arrived. Of course my order for S1-5 of IASIP arrived 3 hours later. TV DVD marathon incoming!

Watched the last episode last night.

Still watching it an episode a week on the ol' directv.

I have been stalled on Episode 3 of Season 3 since my last post in this thread. Exchanged 3 times, and I still couldn't get a set that had a S3 disk 2 that was fucking readable. I finally gave up and returned the whole goddamned mess for a refund. Now I am waiting to find a good sale from a b&m store...not gonna fuck with Internet returns again.

You should just go straight to the source - the internet - for your overall solution.

We're I guess it's three episodes from the end, but nothing, absolutely nothing is going to match Kima saying Goodnight Moon with her son. Most realistic lesbian parenting moment ever on television.

Most unneccesary use of the word lesbian ever.

Actress who played Snoop on The Wire was arrested in large-scale drug operation. (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/the-wire-actress-arrested-in-d.html). I guess she learned something!

She was 'street' way before she got the part.  Her history was all kinds of Um.

Yeah, she wasn't an actress, Snoop was basically playing herself.

Her life story is pretty fucking sad, she never had a chance.

If you have not watched this show, HBO just remastered it in HD (Probably still in 4:3 aspect at least post season 2)

I've heard it starts on Thursday.

No. They are in the process of doing it but that promo leaked prematurely.  There is no set date for when they will begin re-airing it in the HD format.

If ever there was a show that really didn't need an HD remake.  :oh_i_see:

Details are sketchy but apparently it was originally filmed in 35mm so it is a matter of getting it remastered off the original print.

The Wire should have been filmed in black and white.

With McNulty's sled at the end?