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Bushgjl OP t1_j5n87ov wrote

Reply to comment by retroman1987 in I like The Wire but it's seriously flawed by Bushgjl

Maybe but I'll list out the flaws I had with it more concisely

  1. I hate Tom Waits(personal opinion)

  2. The acting on the "white cast" for the most part was lacklustre, Dominic West in particular could not carry his character. When you write a character this flawed you need really good writing and acting to keep the audience invested. West is ok but he is no John Hamm, James Gandolfini, Bryan Cranston, etc. He's kind of a charisma drain.

  3. Leaving "events" or major plot points out of the series is a mistake for a multi-season show. Watching The Wire past the first season is real slog because the stakes aren't raised, the characters are not facing some new threat or something. There are shows like Deadwood and The Sopranos that are light on plot but even they have something driving them forward, raising the stakes, things progress(or regress) from season to season.

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retroman1987 t1_j5n8tjx wrote

I also hate Tom Waits so I'm with you there.

I might also agree that none of the main characters match the actors you mentioned (though Idris Elba might come close), but the Wire isn't a vehicle for a single lead. It is a much, much better show than either Mad Men (which is just really boring and has no stakes) or Breaking Bad (which gets too stylized and has an absolutely awful final season). I've never seen the Sopranos, so I couldn't say.

I think you just like shows made for mushy-headed dumb dumbs with predictable action and traditionally structured plots. That's ok.

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Bushgjl OP t1_j5n9ewl wrote

Man I don't know because I went from watching The Sopranos which felt like a timeless masterpiece of drama/comedy to The Wire which was barely a step above daytime TV.

You think about what acting powerhouses James Galdolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Braco, Michael Imperioli, Nancy Marchand, Frank Vincent, Dominic Chianese, Steve Buscemi, Joe Pantoliano, etc all are and then look at The Wire....

The only actors that stuck out to me in The Wire were Idris Elba(who unfortunately felt underwritten) and Michael Kenneth Williams. These were shows that came out at the same time and differ in acting and to a lesser extent writing capabilities a lot.

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retroman1987 t1_j5n9pvj wrote

>barely a step above daytime TV.

Lol. Ok you just have no taste. No fixing you.

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Bushgjl OP t1_j5na46h wrote

I'm not even joking man, if it wasn't for any of the violence or swearing I would think I'm watching a completely episodic crime show like CSI at parts.

It feels like a network police show that wanted the exceed the boundaries of what it was but never fully could.

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