The Wire questions

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1. Was Season 1 the best season? Is it all downhill from here?

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Season two isn't as exciting, but every season after that has its moments. The series also goes out with a bang.

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2. Are the other seasons about McNulty and the same characters or is each season about different people?

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The emphasis isn't always on the bigger characters from the first season.

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3. Should I watch them all in order

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The seasons are chronological and fit into one another. The later seasons wouldn't make sense unless you watched it in order.

I bought the entire series on DVD, and spent a good week locked inside watching the entire thing.

Season 3 and Season 4 are some of the best television you will EVER see.

I actually think Season Two is one of the best seasons. But S3 has some of the most jaw dropping moments of television anywhere

S3 of the Wire

Season 3 is probably my favorite. All seasons are great though and you should definitely watch them in order.

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Hamsterdam!!!

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The way that idea was presented, it made it sound like it could definitely work.

Season 3 is a do not miss. Stringer Bell is one of the best played characters ever, in any genre. It's hard to believe he's actually an Englishman in real life.

Yeah, me too. I think what I love best about the Wire is the use of mostly unknown actors. "Barney" from Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal was one of the few I recall. Daniels, Bodie, Norman, and a couple of others played roles on Oz.

The number of characters and the way they are ALL tied in together, along with the keen use of different themes for each season are what make this, easily, the most innovative and creative televsion show of its kind. It's much more than a simple cop show. It puts network shows like CSI and old episodes of NYPD Blue in the "unwatchable" category.

Yeah, I thought the decline of the newspaper in Season 5 was so well played and accurately portrayed. It was a bit boring at first, but it quickly got very interesting. The fact that it was the Baltimore Sun made for a very unique twist that only Simon and his writers could pull off.

That's the beauty of the show. It's not set in NYC, nor L.A. There were roughly 80 or so characters that made regular appearances. It's got to be difficult to throw that many actors into a season, yet still allow character development to ensure that the audience has the ability to recognize such.

I loved...I mean LOVED The Sopranos. The Wire, however, absolutely crushes the hell out of David Chase's masterful six-season series. The Sopranos often got too far fetched and overly-fictional and also tried to depict a phenomena that is all but wiped out in the northeast. By Season 6, as good as some of the writing was, the Sopranos reached waaaay too far and tried too hard to make sure each character's last appearance on the show contained some sort of over the top storyline (Chris's death, AJ's suicide attempt, Phil being turned on by his own crew with a drop of a hat and getting shot down in Oyster Bay, Bobby's metaphoric "Blue Comet" murder, etc). Let's not forget the last episode was quite a clusterfrick...but all of the "you just don't get it" types will say that it was a "genius ending" because it leaves everything open to interpretation.

The Wire, meanwhile, tried not to bring closure to every single character. Hell, some were completely ignored. The final episode's main resolution scene was McNulty and Lester being retired (after basically all but quietly fired) in Irish pub mock wake tradition. It was fitting being that the two of them were arguably the show's co-main characters (along with Daniels). There were never many moments in the show where things seemed just too over the top or pushed to get shock value. The show was consistent and the plots were often complicated, but sensible. All I can say is that there likely will never be another show like it and HBO lost its two best shows within a year. Now, Entourage and Big Love are trying to pick up the slack and seem to be doing it...but the audience that watches and loves Entourage, primarily, is not the same one that watched the Wire, either.

I'm making my husband watch the series from Season 1, and enjoy rewatching every bit of every episode of every season.

LOVE. THAT. SHOW.

Breaking Bad is sorta my new favorite. Not nearly as complex and subtle, but pretty damn good.

can't believe Stringer Bell is really British. That guy is on The Office some isn't he?