The Wire

[xdavex]

FUCK YEAH! The Wire comes back tonight, for those of you who dont know, it's possibly the greatest show on tv ever and definitly the greatest on now.

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm from Baltimore. This show is just pure brilliance, and better than anything in the media depicts just what makes our urban areas as bad as they are across the country.

[Hellfire]

I just started watching this show and it is really good. I watched season one about a week or two ago, and I should be getting the second season tomorrow. It was really hyped to me, but I think it meets the expectations.

[DFF]

This is more for UK audiences...

BBC Two to show US TV's The Wire

Hit US series The Wire is to be shown on BBC Two, it has been announced.

Led by British actor Dominic West, the critically acclaimed drama shows Baltimore life from drug users to politicians to local journalists.

Although it has been aired in the UK on satellite TV, it will be the first time it has ever aired on terrestrial TV.

All 60 episodes across the show's five seasons will be shown stripped across the week. Transmission dates have yet to be announced.

"We are delighted to offer terrestrial viewers the opportunity to watch this ground-breaking series," Sue Deeks, the BBC's head of series, programme acquisition, said.

"It's a wonderful chance for everyone to see what the critics have been raving about for so long."

'Nothing's close'

Created by David Simon, The Wire's first season tells the story of a single drugs-and-murder police investigation from the point of view of both the police and their targets.

The show, which previously aired in the UK on pay-TV channel FX, has been championed by TV critic Charlie Brooker, who told viewers of his BBC Four show Screenwipe: "Quite simply, it's a stunning piece of work."

Author Irvine Welsh called it "the best thing on TV. By far. Nothing's close to it".

The deal to broadcast the series comes after Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan argued the BBC should stop buying shows from overseas and put the cash into original productions instead.

A BBC spokesman said: "The Wire is one of the most acclaimed series in television history. It has not previously been shown on UK free television and in acquiring it the BBC did not compete against any other broadcasters.

"Comedy and drama acquisitions on the BBC such as this make up less than 1.5% of the total primetime output across all four channels.

"The money spent on these programmes is a very cost effective way of bringing original and distinctive shows to UK audiences which complement our UK-originated output."

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7940061.stm

Didn't see the sense in starting a new thread when there was this one lying around. Anywho, I'm looking forward to this as I've heard big things about it. I just hope it's in a good timeslot (ie doesn't clash with Heroes/LOST/24, etc)

[-A-]

WHY DO YOU TEASE ME SO?

The Wire is the greatest thing ever invented by man.

[King Ellis]

Hurray! I will watch this and see what all the fuss is about.

I tell you, this is most definitely not sheeeeeeeeeeeit.

[Skummy]

Omar coming!

[Farmer Reil]

Didn't see the sense in starting a new thread when there was this one lying around. Anywho, I'm looking forward to this as I've heard big things about it. I just hope it's in a good timeslot (ie doesn't clash with Heroes/LOST/24, etc)

How can it possibly clash with Heroes? Are there two BBC2's now?

I might give this a go. Last time the BBC got this hyped about a BBC2 show it turned out to be Heroes. So, yeah... the track record is good.

[GoGo Yubari]

Omar coming!

Oh my god, I thought Michael K. Williams was kidding when he said he was going to do that.

[MDK]

Awesome, this is a good excuse to watch it again!

I love Bunk, he looks like a sad black Labrador when he's upset.

[Lord Nibbler]

Didn't see the sense in starting a new thread when there was this one lying around. Anywho, I'm looking forward to this as I've heard big things about it. I just hope it's in a good timeslot (ie doesn't clash with Heroes/LOST/24, etc)

11:20, Mon-Fri.

[Iain76er]

Bubbles was just on Channel 5. He was playing a part of a snitch.

Poor man seems to have been typecast.

[Lord Nibbler]

Bubbles was just on Channel 5. He was playing a part of a snitch.

Poor man seems to have been typecast.

Well, he did show up on Heroes as a man who could create black holes.

[Iain76er]

Bubbles was just on Channel 5. He was playing a part of a snitch.

Poor man seems to have been typecast.

Well, he did show up on Heroes as a man who could create black holes.

Did he snitch on all the other black hole creators?

[-A-]

Just topping this because it starts tonight. Episodes are on at 11:20 every day this week, so it's a Sky+ job if you've got that. I cannot praise this show enough, anyone in any doubt, please give it a chance.

[Skummy]

First time watching Series 1 in months; everybody looks so young!

Also, I'm reminded how much I <3 Stringer Bell.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Skummy McNulty

[GoGo Yubari]

It's so funny watching Idris Elba on The Office now, playing a... ruthless, humorless upper management type. It's like now he's playing what Stringer was so big on becoming.

[-A-]

Stringer Bell is the scariest motherfucker alive.

It's weird, everyone looks young as you say but the image itself is really good. You can usually get a sense for when something's more than a couple of years old by the quality and I'd never guess this is 7/8 years old.

EDIT:

It's so funny watching Idris Elba on The Office now, playing a... ruthless, humorless upper management type. It's like now he's playing what Stringer was so big on becoming.

And just as bizarre seeing him ride around on a tiny scooter in Rock n Rolla or whatever that film was called. Hearing him speak in a Brixton accent just isn't right

Edited March 30, 2009 by -A-

[King Ellis]

So many, many suits. So confusing.

[-A-]

Suits and black people. And sometimes black people in suits

EDIT: This is what I said on another site about the problem of not remembering who the fuck everyone is and not being able to understand a word some of them are saying:

Yeah, the [Charlie Brooker] video is good but it's still even better than it comes across. It's not even amazing because of the subject matter (though I find that interesting) it's just incredibly well written and acted and it's like nothing else I've ever seen. All the little things you have to ignore in most shows like Heroes and Lost (and everything else for that matter) just aren't there in The Wire. It's like reality. You don't have people speaking in un-natural language they'd never really use because the writers need to explain something to the audience. You don't get clues as to what's about to happen from the way they pace the story. You don't think 'well that guy probably won't die' because he probably will. Anyone can die and a lot of them do.

In a lot of the shows like CSI they basically tell a story in their 45 minutes. You always think something like 'The wife probably did it, they're ignoring her' and that's what I mean by guessing 'from the way they pace the story.' The Wire isn't a murder mystery. You aren't trying to figure out what's about to happen and that's why spoilers (outside of your favourite character dying) don't really exist. One thing happens, then another, then another. It's not a programme where you feel an obligation to try and figure something out and it isn't written to try and push you in one direction and then make you slap your head when they reveal the truth. It isn't the work of a writer obsessed with coming up with an oh-so-smart twist at the expense of any semblance of reality. It's just a really well told story that could be perfectly true and it's totally fascinating.

Over the first few episodes you'll probably find it impossible to remember what everyone's name is but don't worry about it. As I said above, you're not supposed to be trying to figure out something important so you don't need to worry about taking a while to remember someone's name. Half of what they say is unintelligible because of their accent, but you get quickly better at understanding it. Eventually you get so used to it you add -ass onto the end of everything. Gangsta-ass, lame-ass, silly-ass etc.

Edited March 30, 2009 by -A-