re: I'm a free born man of the USA! (The Wire finale, spoilers)

I am always up for a Wire appreciation thread.

This showed really changed my view of the world, and what it means to me to be an American. It should be a jarring look in the mirror for all of us.

The photography, editing, and writing always respected the real world and the intelligence of the audience. Hollywood bullshite was nowhere to be found. (McNulty serial killer is the only exception).

I am currently in a frenzy of Breaking Bad worship, but I never forget the effect The Wire had on me. It's been about three years for me, and its high time I re-watched it.

I still call it the GOAT.

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after watching this clip i youtube'd some scenes, leading up to a 10-minute clip of "best quotes" and i could put myself back in that specific time in that specific episode in almost every quote

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I did the same thing, and I agree.

Also, like I mentioned, this little 5 second scene with Bubbz made me so fricking happy: LINK IMO it's a testament to how deep the characters were and how good of a job the show did of getting you invested and involved with them that such a small clip of someone sitting at a dinner table can make the audience feel so much happiness for that character. Love me some Bubbz.

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I would recommend waiting on this. I jumped right from The Wire to Breaking Bad and I think it ruined Breaking Bad for me. The shows just have such different feels

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the wire is my GOAT, sopranos is my #2 and nothing else i've seen is close. I have just started breaking bad and am about 5 episodes into the first season, and am enjoying it immensely. based on what i've seen so far, it will probably end up #3 on my all time list

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What he said.

When Slim Charles finally popped Cheese, you could have called it right there for me!

"That was for Joe!"

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I admit I am only half into season one, but its really hard for me to imagine this approaching The Wire (reasons above).

The first ep is great.

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I was hooked from the beginning - but, the money train, Kavanaugh and the final 2 season run are well worth the effort. I'm not denying that The Wire is great, but I can't pretend it didn't have down moments. Was it better on a consistent basis than The Shield? Probably, and that's certainly true of The Sopranos. But, The Shield gets some highs and lows that are tough to equal, and that is also true of The Sopranos.

I wasn't even arguing with the guy who said nothing else approached The Wire and The Sopranos, with BB closing - and I was just curious to know if he'd seen The Shield and not considered it in this rarefied company.

Those are really the best 4 dramas with which I'm familiar - again, with their "parents" (so to speak) Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue coming next.

As a caveat: I never watched Homicide, but it has virtually the same source material as The Wire - Belzer and Andre Braugher were exceptional on the crossovers with L&O, and Belzer ultimately brought his character, based on the same source as Jay Landsman to L&O. Okay - stick with me on this trivia (this is a thread about The Wire, after all) - "Jay Landsman" the character on "The Wire" was based on a real Baltimore policeman named Jay Landsman. The real life Jay Landsman was also the character basis for Richard Belzer's multiple series' character John Munch.

But the real life Jay Landsman also played LT/MAJ Dennis Mello on The Wire.

In the month or so after I graduated and didn't have a job yet, I watched, in this order, Cowboy Bebop, Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, and Firefly. That was a good month.

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Agree, I re-watched it twice.

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Although it is just speculation at this point, I suspect that out of all of these, regardless of which is ranked "higher" among the greats, The Wire will very likely end up being the most "rewatchable" because of the nature of it - it is a show about processes, rather than outcomes. BB and The Shield are mainly about outcomes and unintended consequences. The Sopranos is somewhere in the middle.

How my hair look Mike?

What the frick did I do??