The Wire

I've heard this is the best show on TV. Is a. that true and b. is it worth buying on DVD? I assume I should start with Season 1, is that correct also?

 

I don't know if it's THE best, but it's certainly among the best.
Gotta start with season 1, or you will be lost.
As for buying the DVDs, I'm not sure. HBO jacks its DVD prices so high, might be better just to rent them.

 

Doc loves it.  I don't like it that much because it's not my type of show, but the acting is solid and I suppose if I liked shows like that, I'd probably like it, too.

 

It it's not the best, it's tied.

You HAVE to start with season 1. My girlfriend tried to jump in wiith the replays of season three, and she doesn't understand shit.

If the DVD has dropped from its original price of like $80, get it.

 

Definitely start with season 1. If you don't want to buy it, it's avaliable on Netflix. But it's worth buying. It's absolutely the best show on TV, perhaps ever. Give it three or four episodes, and you'll be hooked.

 

I'm gonna get season 1. I've found that the Amazon marketplace sellers are, by in large, reliable. You can get a good deal from those.

 

you should definitely peep it.
i was in the same boat, then I noticed that HBO put Season 1 On Demand in July, so I watched the entire first season real quick. it was ill.
yesterday, they put Season 2 On-Demand, and next week Season 3. So if you hurry, you can catch up for relatively cheap -- though, I think Season 1 is gone and you'd have to rent it...

 

Why wouldn't you just rent it? Hell, for like $6 at Blockbuster you can get an entire season. Even if you don't get finished inside the five days, call 'em up and re-rent the thing for $6. You'll be saving at least $50.

I think everyone has clued you in sufficiently that you've gotta start at the beginning. This show is great from the start, but I just wonder how many people never gave it a chance because they caught an episode in season 2 and were completely lost.

 

I think you can still get into it late without starting at the very begining, but only if you start at the begining of a season. Each season is a like a novel, and you can just open up a novel and start reading on page 50. Unless it's the Da Vinci Code.

Season 2 starts so slow, but it is absolutely my favorite season of television ever. Better than any Sopranos season, in my opinion.

 

Really? You liked season 2 more than 1?

I loved the Barksdale chase and all the little ins and outs of the drug trade. The guys playing the drug dealers were absolutely wonderful, especially D'Angelo and Bodie.

The dock workers deal in 2 -- and I'm not saying it wasn't great TV, it was -- I just didn't find it as compelling. The actors, outside of Frank, weren't nearly as good as the pushers from the first season.

 

I really don't think season two makes sense unless you've seen season one.

I do think that's the source of the show's baffling lack of popularity. You can't start watching it at any old time.

But trust all of us -- and Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, the Sports Reporters and rough and tuble "corners" everywhere -- it's absolutely worth the effort.

(FYI: All of my posts will now have a gratuitous plug for Whitlock, whose name does not come up here anywhere near often enough.

 

Season 2 represents the most honest and genuine portrayal of working-class America that's ever been filmed on television. Frank Sobatka's character is Shakespearian in the way he's conflicted about where is the line between right and wrong. I love the fact that there's no attempt to leave you feeling uplifted at the end. There is a scene in the penultimate episode of Season 2 where Frank goes to visit his older brother and Frank tries to explain why he did what he did for the Greeks. The docks, and all they represented, meant something to him, and he was simply trying to hold onto that way of life, even though he knew it probably wasn't possible. Working class America rarely gets that kind of honest treatment on television because it's not sexy. We'd rather watch shows about doctors who can't keep their hands off one another, or lawyers who deliver snarky one-liners in the courtroom. There are so many great scenes like that one in Season 2, stories about people who built this country, but now are slowly being left behind.

Season 2 also has the Great Gatsby episode with DeAngelo, which is heartbreaking and honest at the same time. Sometimes the people who deserve a second chance the most don't get one. The fact that David Simon was willing to do what he did with DeAngelo's character, and not have it be some kind of hokey trick, was incredibly ballsy. DeAngelo wanted to change, to be someone else, but he knew it wasn't possible. He was who he was. He was born into something, and there wasn't really a way out for him. No moral here, no attempt to inspire or explain. Just life.

Plus, Season 2 gives us the courtroom scene where Omar testifies against Byrd, which is one of the funniest episodes ever.