The TV thread

Search Party (Season One) from TBS. One of the best TV watching experiences in ages.

 

Rewatching the first season of The Wire. The scene with Bunk and McNulty where all they say is fuck or some variation of fuck is one of the most outstanding scenes of all time.
In hindsight, The Wire is superior to The Sopranos. Best series in tv history.

 

The Fuck scene is gold.


George Clooney is making a six part series of "Catch-22" for Hulu. This sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and I have no doubt that it will sideswipe Trump along the way.

 

I think Clooney gets more credit as a director than he probably deserves. He's no Affleck here.

 

I thought that "Good Night and Good Luck" was pretty well done, but in a general sense I agree with you.

A "Catch-22" remake has a lot of potential, though. "That's one hell of a catch, that Catch-22."

 

I had always been meaning to watch the show and was holding off doing so for reasons which are probably best explained by a therapist. Finally watched in the past couple of months and I think that I reluctantly have to agree.

Season 5 is very weak to me, but The Sopranos had lower lows.

 

One way I’ve thought about it: The Wire may be a better TV series but Sopranos is a better TV show. The Wire isn’t really made for episodic viewing, whereas I think you could flip on a random episode of the Sopranos (setting aside a few real clunkers) and still enjoy it. While I can think of a number of memorable scenes on the Wire, I’m not sure I can identify a single memorable episode. The Sopranos, on the other hand, has lots of those.

 

The Wire has magnificent scenes that even though they help tell the story, they can be watched by themselves and still be greatly enjoyed.

The Fuck Scene is wonderful even if you have never watched an episode. The Chess Scene is another along with The Lie Detector Scene.

Are there similar Sopranos scenes?

The Office and Parks and Rec were also great for having the wonderful pull out scenes that stood on their own.

 

I have just re-watched Season 1 and most of Season 2 of The Wire and there is one thing that really bugged me. The show is known for it great writing and great writers, but there are many times in season when a character will clearly and simply explain some element of a case or a detail of the police department that the other character would know. It's an obvious explanation written for the audience and it should come with flashing lights and an alarm going off, it is so obvious. A big flaw in the writing.
The oral history of the show is a good read. It is interesting how invested the actors got into their characters and the show.

 

I have been trying to track down The Wire on streaming recently. Only thing I see is that Netflix has it via DVDs. Is it streamed anywhere?

 

Amazon Prime has it.

 

Jimmy: "Bunk, you're burning your clothes. Stop. Don't do that. Why are you burning your clothes?"
Bunk: "They smell like pussy."