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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
A very nice post, thank you. I would like to add/comment on your theme of narrative purity. Your analysis is spot on when it comes to the Wire's writers' unbending loyalty to plot development in in their application of specific devices and story lines, such as sex scenes or a specific character's screen time. That is indeed one of the outstanding components of the show.
What you left out, or rather left as an open-ended question, was how and why the writers made- and were able to stick to- these artistic decisions. You touched on the cause in your distinctions between network shows, and The Wire, which is a Premium Cable network. Therein lies the difference between focus-grouped, market researched, network executive influenced shows, and shows given artistic freedom. While the first- shows carried on networks dependent on ad revenue, which in turn is dependent on the ratings regime- inevitably contain racy sex scenes, audience-dictated character promotion, and other ratings-grabbing add ons, shows carried by subscription-financed networks are immune to the whims of the masses and free to keep their stories pure and dedicated. It is no wonder, then, that the most award-winning, critically acclaimed, DVD-selling shows on television come from those networks whose market interaction is of a far more long term, indirect nature.w2
I'm a native North Jerseyan raised on "fuckin' Ziti" but I have to say that there are who seasons and story arcs of the Sopranos that I skipped because I simply lost interest. Too much meandering, too much eliptical storytelling.
The Wire, on the other hand, is absolutely riveting and I have literally skipped dinners with friends to watch season premieres and other key episodes.
I gotta give it to The Wire - there is nothing better or smarter on TV. And no other show, including The Sopranos has been as smart, informed and honest about race in America. Ever.
The best TV show of ALL time is still the Simpsons. Hands down.
Since when did 'of all time' come to mean 'last two years'?
Essays like this are like listening two drunk college boys on a call in sport shows. Maybe Traister and Miller were drunk when the wrote it - there is no other explanation of such a juvenile waste of space.
actually the end of the series, and the last mini-season, to me anyway pointed out how bored/annoyed Chase had seemingly become with his characters ... he may have intended to usher us through "separation," but I don't think so. By the end, Tony's crew was threadbare. The old gang was mostly dead and everyone else was lazy and bored -- no fire in the belly remained -- the money was drying up, there was stiff competition from New York. The adults and kid had become slackers. I always thought Adriana was the most interesting character because she had genuine AMBITION ... unlike everyone else who just wanted to get laid, get high or get revenge from some shitty little thing. whatever.
The Wire echoes Homicide-Life on the Streets on having long story archs. Remember, was it, Latisha Jackson on Bayless' first day ... and how the series ended. The last season got a bit weird ... I felt there were story arcs / certain plot lines they could bring themselves to abandon when it because more obvious they wouldn't be back ... our loss.
To me, the relative "shallowness" of the Sopranos was summed up when Tony visited Silvio in the hospital in the last episode -- I had no idea what Tony was thinking or feeling ... which made me realize that to a large part I had never had a real clue what made Silvio "tick" ... except inertia. The voids in the characters led to much lively speculation on chat boards, but in the end -- after all those years of "knowing" these characters -- there were remarkable gaps in who they were ... When the remarkably capable actors took off their roles, there was little "there."
While Sopranos and The Wire are in my top 3 Favorite Shows of All Time, the hands-down best is Six Feet Under.
6FU was the most creative, most original show ever to appear on the small screen (or even the silver screen) and deals with death, love and sex in ways that neither Sopranos or The Wire ever could. The character development was so complex and authentic that your affection and frustration with the characters flipped around half a dozen times over the life of the show.
The Wire wins, no contest.
Excellent TV shows come and (sadly) go....but the BEST show of all time??
The Simpsons, of course!
400+ episodes. 18 years. Still can make me - as well as most of my tail-end Gen X peers - laugh faster and harder than any of its numerous (*cough* Seth Mc Farlane *cough*) imitators and clones.
Sorry, Rebecca & Laura...Worst. Omission. Ever. ;-)
Cheers,
lonewolfy (aka real life Apu)
Hill Street Blues, far and away. Catch the DVDs (sadly, only the first two seasons are out, and the first half of the first season is creaky). But it remains the greatest, as Ali said, of all time. You laugh, you weep with these people. You hope with them.
I love both shows, and I think its silly to suggest that either is the best show ever. One thing that strikes me about comparing the two is how the shows' creators wanted you to feel about their characters. It always seemed to me that Chase and Co. despised the characters, and wanted you to despise them -right down to Dr. Melfi and the Soprano kids. With the Wire, it seems to me that it was all about shades of grey. The cops were never that good, and the bad guys were not without their redeeming features. Stringer Bell is hands down one the best criminal characters i've seen on TV or film, just as McNulty, Kima and Daniels were equally flawed protagonists. Both shows tried to show how complicated people are; I just think The Wire did a better job at it.
As for the argument that Hill Street Blues was better; sorry, I watched every episode of that show as well, and i'm not buying it. Homicide, maybe.
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
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
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