Sopranos, hands down the winner..

Not a fight worth having, since it boils down to personal preference. "Is not, is too, is not, is too."

I think they're both marvelous. Personally, I find The Wire more satisfying because I feel The Sopranos is often too episodic, starting interesting sub-plots and then dropping them half-resolved. But that's a minor quibble given the powerful character arcs of the series. The Wire is less sloppy in this way, more coherent in terms of dealing with every sub-plot introduced, which is why it has the edge for me.

Others may feel the characters in The Sopranos are better realized, more complex and ultimately more genuine. I won't argue the point.

But in the end, they're both subline. I watched both obsessively, unlike just about any other television series I've ever seen.

There was a time that I would have claimed you were both wrong.

The abusive great-granddaddy of them all, "OZ", is arguably better as it was the first to treat its viewers like adults and give us the burning realism and *blood* television so desperately needed. The Greek Chorus narrations of Augustus Hill combined with some of the most flawed "good" guys and vile, yet eerily charming "bad" guys drew the viewer into a world unmatched until "Deadwood" and "The Wire" (which I will get to in a moment). Unfortunately, the plotlines collapsed under their own convoluted weight by Season 5 and the final episodes (which still had a few flashes of brilliance) were painful to watch, and not in a good way.

"Oz, that's the name on the street for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary. Oz is retro, Oz is retribution. You wanna punish a man? Separate him from his family, separate him from himself, cage him up with his own kind."

While The Sopranos was very, very good (a word that doesn't do any of these shows justice), I think "Deadwood" far outshines it as a cohesive entity. One small, illegal town on the boundaries of civilization asserting itself and reacting to outside forces. An attempt at balancing the anarchic wild with the corruption that is inherent to human organization while maximizing one's personal profit. And Albert Swearengen, the greatest character on any HBO series, ever. Anyone who disagrees sucks cock by choice.

Watching the last 4 seasons of "The Wire" in two months (thanks, Bittorrent!) has changed my mind about all of this. I don't think I can improve on Laura Miller's case except to emphasize the necessity of taking in the show as a whole. Each volume brings its focused part of Baltimore to life, but the show taken in its entirety cannot be matched by any television out there. Even the term "television" does not seem to do any of these shows justice.

Port cities have tails to tell. But, as this article makes clear, without happy endings they often don't get heard. Baltimore, in fact, goes back to "On the Waterfront" with rich drama. Steiger hanging from a meathook resonated more than Brando's "I coulda been a contenda." That's a city that will never die, even though it's often in the death grips of the day labors of the dock.

But ulimately humor is going to be part of the equation. The Sopranos were married to it, and, consequently, we got to understand much more about the seedy underside that makes us what we are. Being a Mob Boss in Jersey is the biggest joke of all. And, sure, Tony loved animals and cultivated himself with history. But in the end we got the point. Over-fed, over- anxious, cruel to the point of murderous...King of his Castle Tony, added to our lexicon an ethic of "Yea, I'll be human. Just as soon as the rest of the world gets its shit together and stops scaring me half to death."

You don't get that from The Wire. You get enough, but The Sopranos give you just a little bit more.

Great article guys, thanks!

Personally I'd take "The Singing Detective" over either of these soaps.

THE WIRE is the best show ever, no doubt. THE SOPRANOS is terrific also, but there isn't one character that the audience can identify with. They were, to a man and woman, utterly loathesome, and I would have been perfectly happy if Chase had killed them all off.

THE WIRE on the other hand brings out the humanity in even the worst criminals. As I just noted on the BUFFY AWEARD thread below, THE WIRE, when all is said and done, will be considered the greatest artistic accomplishment of the 21st Century.

The Wire. End of discussion.

I love you, David Chase, but David Simon has you here.

xo,

CMN

The best show ever on TV, cable or otherwise, was Six Feet Under.

Be gracious and admit defeat.

I've gotta go with The Wire. The Sopranos is a great show, but The Wire just seems more relevant, more real.

One thing I like about The Wire is how it reveals major plot twists with no fanfare, no string music, it just assumes that the viewer will get it, which adds to the realistic feel. For example, there is a certain extremely foulmouthed character who is a pain in the ass in the first two seasons. There is one quick wordless scene in Season 3, just a quick scan of a man in a place, that changes the entire way that we look at the character. No fanfare, no exposition, you either get it or you don't.

Also, the Wire never flinches while showing us how rotten the system is in a way I don't think we've ever seen on television before. In real life, intelligent caring professionals who know how to effect real positive change if allowed are instead forced to spend their time catering to the whims of their superiors, as seen with the pissing contest between Valchek and Sobotka in Season 2. This is contrasted with the cold blooded efficiency of the drug dealers, who play a real-life game of Risk with street corners and project buildings.

To put it in a nutshell, the Sopranos may be a bit more entertaining, but the Wire is a lot more important.