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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
No contest. The Wire.
David Simon did say in an interview that the only character in the show not to have been drawn from his and Burns's years on the street is Omar, who might have been the hero of a Sergio Leone western.
-- rebeccah
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Not to dispute David Simon, but I think, besides Omar, there are two other "mythical" characters in THE WIRE, Lester Freamon and Brother Mauzone.
Ernie Kovacs.
What a wonderful topic - one my brothers and I have enjoyed for a long time as our own generation's parlor game.
The only unmentioned one that pops to mind that is a great old-style theme is "WKRP from Cincinnati":
"Got kinda tired of packing and unpacking ... town to town, up and down the dial..."
As for new-era understatedness, "Frasier" is hard to top. Stylish, a hint of pretentiousness...fits the man at the center of the show. Which reminds me, I need to go look for the pilot of Kelsey Grammer's new Fox sitcom I have high hopes for, "Back to You," that offers a LOT of opportunities opening-theme wise.
Oh, and here's another new-era favorite: "30 Rock"! Just a great throwback theme!
I haven't Googled this yet, but curious - what's the best one-stop shop for TV themes? It sounds like YouTube, but not sure I need the video- just the full audio clip would be great!
no doubt
"The Wire" is, by far, the most engaging "TV" I have seen in my lifetime...and I am far from young.
Easily and obviously The Sopranos is best series. Not so obviously, John From Cincinnati had the makings of a great series - instead now it will be one of the best cult classics. Best credit sequence oddly enough the same two.
I think it's interesting how the "best TV show" of all time is assumed, de facto, to be an hourlong drama. Find me a single episode of any show better than Samurai Jack's "Seasons of Death," or the Simpson's "23 Short Films About Springfield," or imagery better than Planet Earth or Blue Planet, or funnier than All in the Family or Arrested Development.
And apparently, the best TV show has to be American. It may shock you to know that they have televisions in other countries and even, sometimes, produce their own shows, like, say, "Traffik."
But even if what you mean by "best TV show of all time" is "best American hour-long drama of the last 15 years," Buffy's a serious contender, and is notable for being, really, the only serious contender from a network. All the others are pretty much from HBO.
The sum of The Wire is even better than its parts.
Can you say that of any other series (including The Sopranos)?
I don't think so.
Unless they screw up the last season, there's not much of a competition.
Three words:
Hill Street Blues.
Neither "The Sopranos" or "The Wire" comes close.
Family Guy. There isn't even any second place.
I vote for THE WIRE, easily, and I'm a big Sopranos fan.
To the person above, Omar Little *was* based on a real guy. In fact I read in the New York Times that he recently married Fran Boyd, one of the three protagonists from THE CORNER (if you haven't seen it, get thee to Netflix immediately). Without Simon's HOMICIDE and Simon's/Burns's THE CORNER, there would be no THE WIRE. When Simon started as a journalist, I can't imagine he would end up where he is today, creating some of the most important art of the last 20 years.
When Season 3 of THE WIRE ended, I was sad. I felt like, as a suburban white guy with no history of trouble, that I was completely powerless to do anything to fix the problems that Simon, Burns, et al have laid out for us. My wife immediately found a great way to help here in Cincinnati - Crayons to Computers (an organization that collects donations for its "store" where inner city teachers can "shop"). We volunteered and will be going again next month. I don't know any other show that flat out makes you want to go out and try to change the world. All Sopranos does is make me want to order ziti.
Would be a black screen displaying white numbers that count the number of viewers tuned in at that moment.
I watched both of these series from the first episodes. I love both of them - but I have to say the Wire is the best TV show of all time (and I'm a Twin Peaks fan too). I realized how truly great this show was when I found myself pulling for the gay drug dealer, Omar. The characters are so well-developed and really pull you in to their story. Every season has concentrated on a different part of Baltimore - drug dealing, the docks, politics, etc. I have a feeling the last season will be the best.
The Wire. No question.
True. But one fantasizes about it, while the other forces us to recognize the reality of it.
My personal top-choice overall is West Wing, but of course my age has denied me the pleasure of chance encounter with many of the other shows mentioned here.
Two other telenovels worthy of mention in this class, neither American:
The Singing Detective
Heimat
Heimat probably comes closer to the heft and intricacy of The Sopranos. Both are worthy of mention, but the Soprano saga is still tops.
I see marathon viewings of Wired dvds in my future...
As funny man Bobby Bittman might say, "In all seriousness," SCTV is the show of shows. All modern kultur comes from under Edith Prickly's leopardskin hat or maybe Johnny LaRue's smoking jacket.(Britney Spears and entourage were better as Lola Heatherton and the Jules Haalmeyer dancers.)
Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar is close, and so is Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven and those Ernie Kovacs specials with Eugene and Bela Bartok's music.
Nit-pick:
". . . moments after having gleefully busted the kneecaps of a gambler while Frankie Vallee trilled, 'Don't know why I love you, don't know why I care.'"
His name is spelled Frankie Valli, but he's not the one trilling. It's Dion and the Belmonts singing "I Wonder Why."
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
