How many Awards should the Wire have won?

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Agreed. Lack of starpower and an ensemble cast also factored into this overshadowing.

I don't know that I'd make the argument that any particular actors deserve to bump any of the individual award winners or nominees of years past, but there were multiple amazing and notable performances during the run of the show that went a far way to establish careers.

Very good points.

 

[DeYarmond Edison]

*green day is good but the wire sux*

 

[Belamorte]

Really, none. As much as I love the show, The West Wing is a better show, it is more engaging, more accessible and had better acting and writing. And as far as actor awards...again, other performances were much better. However, it could have knocked 24 out for best Drama nomination but that is about it. All the winners and nominees that year were well deserved (I never watched Alias, and have not seen enough CSI enough to comment).

 

[FLYLine27*]

Says more about you, then it does about the show.

Nah dawg.

 

[Miamipuck]

Meh, Deadwood won crap too and nobody, not a single person on the face of this earth can change my opinion that Al Swearengen/Ian McShane wasn't the single best character on television than and since. Deadwood was and remains my favorite show pretty much ever.

The Wire was great but these 2 shows were overshadowed by the Soprano's and it's over rated mehness.

 

[Player big P]

Meh, Deadwood won crap too and nobody, not a single person on the face of this earth can change my opinion that Al Swearengen/Ian McShane wasn't the single best character on television than and since. Deadwood was and remains my favorite show pretty much ever.

The Wire was great but these 2 shows were overshadowed by the Soprano's and it's over rated mehness.

I like the cut of your jib

 

[Archangel]

year 1 of the wire was great and went down hill quickly. The final year was a joke. The Wire is quickly becoming the most overrated "memory show". Without Homicide life on the street--you do not have the wire. Wire year 1 was great--then it went of the rails

 

[ArGarBarGar]

year 1 of the wire was great and went down hill quickly. The final year was a joke. The Wire is quickly becoming the most overrated "memory show". Without Homicide life on the street--you do not have the wire. Wire year 1 was great--then it went of the rails

Without actually explaining yourself this opinion comes off as incredibly misguided.

And why does the existence of homicide life on the street (not sure exactly what you mean by that) make the show less impressive?

 

[Archangel]

]Without actually explaining yourself this opinion comes off as incredibly misguided.[/B]

And why does the existence of homicide life on the street (not sure exactly what you mean by that) make the show less impressive?

You have never heard of the expression "memory show"? I did explain myself. First year great and the years afterwards got worse and worse. The Wire has become what hipsters now are-A show where people are afraid to disagree with others for fear of being rejected and cast out from the group. Many people who claim the wire is great, have never actually sat down and watched the entire series. But because a small group have done such a hard sell on it being "totally hip"(ala the Hipseter) that they need to conform to the perceived notion that THE ENTIRE RUN OF THE WIRE WAS GREAT--it was not. It got gradually worse and worse and the last season when compared to the first season reflects how bad the series had become.

And by not knowing the history of The Wire linked to Homicide life on the street, you have exposed both you lack of understanding of the etymology of the origins of The Wire and the history of a guy named David Simon. The fact you do not know the history and etymology of The Wire; is sad. You sir are a Hipster and that beanie on your head looks silly.

The Wire is a memory show that people keep propping up. Year 1 was one of the best "limited run series" and that broke ground for shows like Game of thrones, House of cards and other shows where Hollywood suddenly realized people will watch a show for 2 months and wait up to two years(I am looking at you Sopranos) to see what happens next.

Many people feel the need to conform to the mentality that because one or two people like something, they need to fall in line so they wont be ostracized from the group and not be in the minority.

The Wire ran for 60 episodes. Since you claim to be an expert on the show. please post a none coles notes recap of all episodes please.

 

[hoglund]

I'm not sure because I've never heard of it and if I don't know the series, then it's probably not as popular as you or some may think.

 

[Tecumseh]

Never actually seen it but I plan to get to it soon. I'd like to know how a show went from average during the time it was aired to now being considered one of the best shows ever

 

[void]

year 1 of the wire was great and went down hill quickly. The final year was a joke. The Wire is quickly becoming the most overrated "memory show". Without Homicide life on the street--you do not have the wire. Wire year 1 was great--then it went of the rails

Wait.. what? Went down quickly? Season 1 wasn't even close to being the best season. That honor goes to season 4, one of the greatest seasons in television history.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

You have never heard of the expression "memory show"? I did explain myself. First year great and the years afterwards got worse and worse. The Wire has become what hipsters now are-A show where people are afraid to disagree with others for fear of being rejected and cast out from the group. Many people who claim the wire is great, have never actually sat down and watched the entire series. But because a small group have done such a hard sell on it being "totally hip"(ala the Hipseter) that they need to conform to the perceived notion that THE ENTIRE RUN OF THE WIRE WAS GREAT--it was not. It got gradually worse and worse and the last season when compared to the first season reflects how bad the series had become.

I am fine with people not liking the show, but if someone is just going to say "It got worse and worse" without any actual content to discuss how you interpret that to be the case, I am going to challenge you and ask for a more detailed perspective as to why you hold that opinion.

And by not knowing the history of The Wire linked to Homicide life on the street, you have exposed both you lack of understanding of the etymology of the origins of The Wire and the history of a guy named David Simon. The fact you do not know the history and etymology of The Wire; is sad. You sir are a Hipster and that beanie on your head looks silly.

I don't need to know about a previous show to enjoy the show's writing and acting, as well as appreciate how it connects to different aspects of real life crime/politics/drugs/etc. The fact you are acting condescending towards me for not knowing about the show speaks more to you acting like a hipster than myself.

The Wire is a memory show that people keep propping up. Year 1 was one of the best "limited run series" and that broke ground for shows like Game of thrones, House of cards and other shows where Hollywood suddenly realized people will watch a show for 2 months and wait up to two years(I am looking at you Sopranos) to see what happens next.

I have literally never heard of the term memory show, and whether or not it broke ground for something later because of its popularity doesn't speak to the quality of the show.

Many people feel the need to conform to the mentality that because one or two people like something, they need to fall in line so they wont be ostracized from the group and not be in the minority.

I think you are being unfair to those who praise the show for not having minds of their own. Incredibly dismissive of you.

The Wire ran for 60 episodes. Since you claim to be an expert on the show. please post a none coles notes recap of all episodes please.

Can you point out where I claimed to be an expert on the show, and what this has to do with what I originally said to you?

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

year 1 of the wire was great and went down hill quickly. The final year was a joke. The Wire is quickly becoming the most overrated "memory show". Without Homicide life on the street--you do not have the wire. Wire year 1 was great--then it went of the rails

Guessing that you don't remember seasons 3 and 4?

I'm not sure because I've never heard of it and if I don't know the series, then it's probably not as popular as you or some may think.

Explain how you not being aware of something is directly equatable with its popularity.

Never actually seen it but I plan to get to it soon. I'd like to know how a show went from average during the time it was aired to now being considered one of the best shows ever

The Wire has always been pretty much unanimously critically acclaimed and hailed as something that is inextricably linked with any discussion of the pinnacle of television.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

The stuff my eyes is being assaulted with in this thread...

 

[aleshemsky83]

The stuff my eyes is being assaulted with in this thread...

You're honestly misinterpreting a lot of stuff.

The wire was not popular when it was on the air and as you can tell from this thread didn't get very many awards. It got average ratings. Not sure how that's a debate.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

You're honestly misinterpreting a lot of stuff.

The wire was not popular when it was on the air and as you can tell from this thread didn't get very many awards. It got average ratings. Not sure how that's a debate.

I know it wasn't hugely popular when it aired, many HBO series weren't in terms of ratings. But what it was was something that was critically acclaimed and hailed from the get-go. That's not really up for debate, either. In the 7 or 8 years since it ended however, it's gotten increasingly more popular with a ton of people being exposed to it that didn't have access to HBO when it aired or simply were unaware about it. It's constantly talked about as one of, if not the greatest television series ever created... makes it hard to believe that one hasn't heard of it assuming they don't live under a rock and not watch television.

What else am I misrepresenting? That the 1st season was the best and it was all downhill from there?

 

[McOilers97]

year 1 of the wire was great and went down hill quickly. The final year was a joke. The Wire is quickly becoming the most overrated "memory show". Without Homicide life on the street--you do not have the wire. Wire year 1 was great--then it went of the rails

That's interesting, because I bet at least 80% of the fans will say that their favorite season is either 3 or 4. And if you say that The Wire "went off the rails", then how critical are you of other shows that experienced bigger drops in quality (basically 90% of every other show in existence)?

And why does Homicide - Life on the Street matter here? We're not talking about The Wire's existence, we're talking about how well we think it stands on its own.

 

[Ensane]

For those who haven't seen Homicide, David Simon got his "masters" in television through that experience and ultimately led to, what most of us perceive as, the genius that was the Wire. Perhaps most importantly, he learned that he needed to control the entire process if he wanted to see his creative vision played out to the fullest--which is what we got with the Wire. He was only an adviser on Homicide, and accordingly, the show went to **** after the showrunners ran out of stories from his book of the same name and allowed it to devolve into a typical crime drama. Many of the true anecdotes from the book evolved into those used in a refined version in the Wire.

So Homicide was a precursor to the Wire for sure, as was the Corner, but I too don't understand how that takes away from the Wire's greatness or how that fact is relevant to this discussion. This is coming from someone who read both of Simon's books and finished the Wire in realtime (though I didn't start watching until Season 4 was running), but I can't be a hipster...I mean, I look awful in skinny jeans... sooooooo

 

[Shareefruck]

Yikes-- the level of discourse in this thread really took a nosedive

What the hell is a memory show? What does popularity have to do with quality? Why did that question get met with "It isn't popular and it's not up for debate."? Why did "What does Homicide awareness have to do with how good it is?" get met with "Aha! You've exposed your lack of understanding of David Simon!-- Hipster fail!"

So much reasoning in this last page that incoherently jumps from B to X to D to Z without rhyme or reason.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Wait, I can't tell, are some of those quotes attributed to me, Sharee?

Memory show is a phrase that is going to become a part of my lexicon. Even though I don't understand what it means either. But it seems a good way to be contrarian and have everybody too confused to refute it.

 

[Shareefruck]

No (after a second look, I think the fact that Ales Hemsky replied to your gif by talking about what you were saying in your other posts threw me off). So scratch all that, pretty much just Archangel's posts.

I'm really curious what a memory show is now-- Is it a show that is so convoluted that people who like it only do it to show off their ability to remember detailed facts about it? Is it a show that people remember as being better than it actually was because of a few good moments? Or is it a show that people only have a vague enough memory of to allow them to name-drop it in a conversation to up their credibility?

 

[Laser Rayzor]

Some of the responses ITT were to be expected when cult classics like this get discussed. Some people go overboard in their love for the show without having watched it attentively and talk it up mainly because they feel they should because a lot of people say it's great TV (basically the TV equivalent of bandwagon fans). Which leads to other judgemental people writing off the entirety of the shows fandom as hipsters or lemmings.
I've met both types of people, people who tell me I've got to watch it because "it's one of the greatest shows" but when talking to them they can't get half of the characters or storylines right. And people who accuse me of being a hipster bending to societal pressure when I say it was a great TV show. (the TV equivalent of being a die-hard fan of a team with lots of bandwagoners)


Doesn't deserve it's own thread so I'll ask in here, how do you guys rank the seasons? I'm finishing up my 2nd re-watch now and I'd go

3
4
1
2

5

 

[Shareefruck]

3
2
4

1

5

But the top three are all in the exact same tier.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

No (after a second look, I think the fact that Ales Hemsky replied to your gif by talking about what you were saying in your other posts threw me off). So scratch all that, pretty much just Archangel's posts.

I'm really curious what a memory show is now-- Is it a show that is so convoluted that people who like it only do it to show off their ability to remember detailed facts about it? Is it a show that people remember as being better than it actually was because of a few good moments? Or is it a show that people only have a vague enough memory of to allow them to name-drop it in a conversation to up their credibility?

Yeah, re-reading through this last page, it kind of melds into one big confusing mess.

I'm inclined to believe your 2nd theory is the most plausible as to what constitutes a "memory show", but all three options seem like they could easily apply. Hopefully Archangel can provide a bit of clarity.