2,4, 3, 5, 1

I used to rank 5 last, but gotta admit that the writing got very creative (and may have strayed from the formula). I just finished One again a few weeks ago and I rank it last because it was obvious they weren't sure just how successful they were going to be. Don't get me wrong, ranking One in last place is like Mila Kunis being the 5th best girl I screwed. Some of the newspaper shite got old, I know, but Clark Johnson as "Gus" was pretty damn good. Also, the scene where McNulty uses the voice modulator to call Scott - that whole show was hysterical.

Neverthless, Idris Elba as Stringer Bell had not found himself yet. he did in season 2 and 3 and I am talking of the way he acted (not that he caught on to the game and the way it was REALLY played). He tried too hard in the first season as every line had to have sauve perfection behind it and "the game" was part of every one of his sentences. Bell became the best actor of the show -- as far as a character who had played in all 3 seasons to that point -- as his character was much more human and maybe it had to do with becoming naive and vulnerable once he stepped out of the drug and into the politics and money game, but I got tired of him sounding like s script reading badass who always had the coolest, most perfect thing to say in a conversation. By season 2, Stringer's character became much more likable and again, talking from an acting standpoint by Elba and not Stringer Bell's character.

Season One was weakest within Homocide (no Crutchfield, one-dimensional Rawls, and Santangelo was boring). The streets aspect was strong but some of the characters were flat like Stink 'Em and Savino and Little Man. They were basically just bodies.

As far as best actor of the show of all? Chris Bauer as Frank Sobotka, hands down. He is the only other guy I can think of who might have worked as Tony Soprano if there was no such thing as Jim Gandolfini.

This post was edited on 1/15/12 at 3:36 pm