The Wire - Greatest TV show of the decade

Gil-Martin wrote:The Sopranos, or Brotherhood?

The Sopranos. Brotherhood is very good though.

JiggerJay wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:For me the title depends on how they finish Battlestar. If the last few shows are as good as I hope then that will take the title but it could nosedive with a lot of unanswered questions and lose the title to Spooks which has been consistently great.

LOL WUT

What's wrong with having Battlestar as a contender for show of the decade?

JiggerJay wrote:

Gil-Martin wrote:The Wire. Absolutely no doubt.


The Sopranos, or Brotherhood?

Like I have to ask.

Everyone will say Sopranos, as I beleive only about 5 of us here have watched it, I would personally say brotherhood though, it was just fan-fucking-tastic from start to finish, Jason Issac's stole the show in every scene, Sopranos was great don't get me wrong, but the quality dipped towards the last series, and whilst still being a great series, Brotherhood was just so much better!

Yeah, the 2nd half of Season 6 of The Sopranos was pretty crap compared to the 1st half, as Chase seemed to be rushing to bring everything to a climax.

I'd rate the seasons in order of quality viz:

6 (part 1)
2
3
5
4
1
6 (Part 2)

Still, far more depth than Brotherhood. More interesting characters, too. Chris and Paulie's malapropisms were spectacular.

Peter Crisp wrote:

JiggerJay wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:For me the title depends on how they finish Battlestar. If the last few shows are as good as I hope then that will take the title but it could nosedive with a lot of unanswered questions and lose the title to Spooks which has been consistently great.

LOL WUT

What's wrong with having Battlestar as a contender for show of the decade?

It got kinda gooseberry fool after the second season. Or at least less good and with less of the "realism" they were going for in the first season.

The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

From a lost fanboy, you opinion is null and void.

JiggerJay wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

From a lost fanboy, you opinion is null and void.

The Shield is an example of how you do a good cop show. The Wire is not.

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

I'll give you this, you're never afraid to voice an unpopular opinion!

Gil-Martin wrote:Yeah, the 2nd half of Season 6 of The Sopranos was pretty crap compared to the 1st half, as Chase seemed to be rushing to bring everything to a climax.

I'd rate the seasons in order of quality viz:

6 (part 1)
2
3
5
4
1
6 (Part 2)

Say it ain't so GM! Part 1 of six is still goodish, but the best? The critics seem to think The Sops was perfect for the first two seasons and went downhill from there, but I think when it got darker it got better - 3,4 and 5 are the best. I was amazed when I listened to the DVD commentary on that great episode in season 4 where Johnny Sack wanted to whack Ralphie over a joke about his missus; that episode was hastily written from scratch just before filming began because the original script they had in mind had to be scrapped, since the actor who played Paulie injured his back and had to cancel lots of filming.

JiggerJay wrote:From a lost fanboy, you opinion is null and void.

At least his opinion is occasionally valid.

moi wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

I'll give you this, you're never afraid to voice an unpopular opinion!

He hasn't actually seen past the first episode.

moi wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

I'll give you this, you're never afraid to voice an unpopular opinion!

Gil-Martin wrote:Yeah, the 2nd half of Season 6 of The Sopranos was pretty crap compared to the 1st half, as Chase seemed to be rushing to bring everything to a climax.

I'd rate the seasons in order of quality viz:

6 (part 1)
2
3
5
4
1
6 (Part 2)

Say it ain't so GM! Part 1 of six is still goodish, but the best? The critics seem to think The Sops was perfect for the first two seasons and went downhill from there, but I think when it got darker it got better - 3,4 and 5 are the best. I was amazed when I listened to the DVD commentary on that great episode in season 4 where Johnny Sack wanted to whack Ralphie over a joke about his missus; that episode was hastily written from scratch just before filming began because the original script they had in mind had to be scrapped, since the actor who played Paulie injured his back and had to cancel lots of filming.

I loved the early series, so many great moments, even the first episode, where Melfy tells Toni, that she can't hear anything that may be against the law, and he quickly changes what he was going to say to "we had coffee" All the scenes with Big pussy were brilliant, The tension between Toni and Uncle Junior when Junior was made boss, was just utterly brilliant.

OK I retract my previous comment, I think early sopranos does beat brotherhood, I was mainly compairing brotherhood to the lesser sopranos, of series 5 and 6.

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. You're Wrong, you're wrong!!

Sorry was watching season 1 of Scrubs earlier and the Dr Cox Wrong song has been stuck in my head. Mori you should really give it another chance, also what's with all the Superman Returns hate, I quite enjoyed it

moi wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

I'll give you this, you're never afraid to voice an unpopular opinion!

Gil-Martin wrote:Yeah, the 2nd half of Season 6 of The Sopranos was pretty crap compared to the 1st half, as Chase seemed to be rushing to bring everything to a climax.

I'd rate the seasons in order of quality viz:

2
6 (part 1)
3
5
4
1
6 (Part 2)

Say it ain't so GM! Part 1 of six is still goodish, but the best? The critics seem to think The Sops was perfect for the first two seasons and went downhill from there, but I think when it got darker it got better - 3,4 and 5 are the best. I was amazed when I listened to the DVD commentary on that great episode in season 4 where Johnny Sack wanted to whack Ralphie over a joke about his missus; that episode was hastily written from scratch just before filming began because the original script they had in mind had to be scrapped, since the actor who played Paulie injured his back and had to cancel lots of filming.

OK, OK. Yeah, maybe I need to watch it again (my parents have all the seasons at the moment, so Ill get it back soon), so I'll renege and put season 2 at the top. For me, though, the 1st half of season 6 was so excellent because of the fantastic way it dealt with Tony's coma and the hugely symbolic sequences it featured, as well as the superb storyline concerning Vito's homosexuality. Plus the 1st Ep of Season 6 had me coming out in the biggest goosebumps when it did the usual season opener of focusing on the main characters to music - that music being Material's 'Seven Souls' with Willaim S Burroughs' musings on the ancient Egyptians' souls, being very cleverly matched to certain characters. So, yeah, anyway, season 2 is the best, then. Not taking that back.

It sounds like you've got the same fancy hardback The Sopranos: The Complete Book that I've got, the way you know about the stories behind some of the episodes. Amirite?

Anung wrote:

JiggerJay wrote:

moi wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:The Wire is the most boring show I've ever seen. It's television's version of Superman Returns.

I'll give you this, you're never afraid to voice an unpopular opinion!

Gil-Martin wrote:Yeah, the 2nd half of Season 6 of The Sopranos was pretty crap compared to the 1st half, as Chase seemed to be rushing to bring everything to a climax.

I'd rate the seasons in order of quality viz:

6 (part 1)
2
3
5
4
1
6 (Part 2)

Say it ain't so GM! Part 1 of six is still goodish, but the best? The critics seem to think The Sops was perfect for the first two seasons and went downhill from there, but I think when it got darker it got better - 3,4 and 5 are the best. I was amazed when I listened to the DVD commentary on that great episode in season 4 where Johnny Sack wanted to whack Ralphie over a joke about his missus; that episode was hastily written from scratch just before filming began because the original script they had in mind had to be scrapped, since the actor who played Paulie injured his back and had to cancel lots of filming.

I loved the early series, so many great moments, even the first episode, where Melfy tells Toni, that she can't hear anything that may be against the law, and he quickly changes what he was going to say to "we had coffee" All the scenes with Big pussy were brilliant, The tension between Toni and Uncle Junior when Junior was made boss, was just utterly brilliant.

OK I retract my previous comment, I think early sopranos does beat brotherhood, I was mainly compairing brotherhood to the lesser sopranos, of series 5 and 6.

The show has 1 thing that makes it better than any other. Silvio Dante!

Silvo Dante was amazing! I loved seeing him mess about with the ww2 memorabilia!

Nah, just listened to the DVD commentaries. I sort of want to be a script writer, so I delude myself by telling myself I'm doing research, when of course all I'm doing is anything to put off the moment when I actually do some work. I am a bit of a 'Pranos nut though, could probably do it as a subject on Mastermind - I went to New York in 2007 and took the Sopranos tour (can't recommend it really, it seemed ridiculous that we drove from New York, one of the most photogenic places in the world, to visit some of the most nondescript locations I've ever been to), where the gameshow host type bloke who conducted the tour asked a bunch of questions, almost all of which I knew the answer to (though I kept my mouth shut after the first few, nobody likes a smart arse).

Hey, you like what you like mate. Just a mildly surprising opinion cos quite a few people including myself thought that season you single out as one of the best was a little disappointing. Still lots of great bits though.

While I think that The Sopranos probably has the best ever episodes of TV, I just don't think that it had the consistency of constantly brilliant episodes that The Wire had. There were some really self-indulgent, clunker episodes of The Sopranos while The Wire barely put a foot wrong for its entire run.

For that reason, The Wire has now overtaken The Sopranos as my all-time favourite TV show. That said a rewatch of the entire Sopranos saga is long overdue - and the pendulum may once again swing from Maryland towards New Jersey.

Lost > All because The Constant > Everything ever in the universe

PsychoPriest wrote:Lost > All because The Constant > Everything ever in the universe

The best episode of Lost but the phonecall at the end was gooseberry fool.

moi wrote:...the gameshow host type bloke who conducted the tour asked a bunch of questions, almost all of which I knew the answer to (though I kept my mouth shut after the first few, nobody likes a smart arse).

Indeed.

You should get that book. My brother gave it to me for Christmas, and on top of loads of trivia I didn't already know, it's packed with great photos and art.

I'm bloody desperate to watch it again. I think my folks are on season 5 or 6 by now, so it shouldnae be long.

Cuttooth wrote:

PsychoPriest wrote:Lost > All because The Constant > Everything ever in the universe

The best episode of Lost but the phonecall at the end was gooseberry fool.

The phonecall was great and was integral to the story.