TVSquad

definitely a great show--I've been waiting almost a year for the third season to come out on dvd, because I'm too cheap to pay for cable...

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Because people are stupid!!! The second season of The Wire was hands down the best television I have ever saw. on HBO. This show starts out slow but by the last episode you are forming at the mouth. Rent the DVD'S it is worth it.

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I've been catching up with The Wire on HBO OnDemand.

It grabbed me midway into the first episode. The writing and the acting is first rate and it seems very realistic.

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I think that The Wire is bar-none the best show on TV, but it has several things working against it. Firstly, you absolutely must watch the show from episode 1. It's very difficult to come into the middle of a season and figure out what's going on. I also know at least a few people who lost the show because they couldn't follow the dialogue spoken by the characters on the street side of the show.

Still, I think it's the best thing currently on TV, and pretty much the only cop show I've ever watched that rings absolutely true. Every character in that show is absolutely believable. I defy anybody to watch the first three episodes and not end up burning through the three current seasons in a 32 hour long viewing binge.

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Why dont more people talk about it? Because it is glacially paced, Syriana-like in it storytelling, and the dialogue is often undecipherable. It is also compeltely serial and cannot be watched out of order.

A random episode of The Wire would be an excellent spotlight for the Dave Letterman game show - 'Is it Anything?'

Thats not to say its not a good show, I just dont have the patience for it personally - I was amazed it had a second season. I am glad it has a following though as it is truly different.

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It's a difficult show to watch. The main characters are all kind of...pathetic. And they lose. A lot. The criminals aren't that different from the cops (which, from my standpoint is what makes it such a brilliant show). And, of course, as others have already said, it's impenetrable unless you watch from the beginning.

The fact that The Wire is the most realistic cop show on TV is both the best and worst thing about it. Arguments about procedure and protocol and the intracacies of department politics are all fascinating, but also very frustrating. Sometimes you want them to just go get the drug dealers off the street already.

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There is also the elephant in the room: "The Wire" has a mainly African-American cast. That is seen by many people as a primary reason that its ratings/buzz/hype never reach the level of the other HBO series. Heck, "The Comeback" had more buzz than "The Wire" ever had.

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i watch ALOT of TV and even i have had a hard time watching the show. It has nothing to do with a major African American cast or even the fact that you have to watch it from the start (which i do for every show that i want to start watching) but mostly to do with it being confusing. Its kind of like The Shield but with even slower plots and less Michael Chiklis(?) ass-kicking.

I finally got over the hump and am almost done with the first season. I like it and since i hear the second season is good, im sure i'll make my way through all three seasons by the end of september and then catch up with season 4 on hbo.

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The Wire is the most brilliant show I have ever seen, even better than The Sopranos and Deadwood. It's beautifully written and brilliantly acted. It's amazing the number of characters there are, and each one brings something different.

I have to agree though, it's not a show for everybody. It requires patience, and it took me a few episodes to get into it. Still, the 2nd season is the greatest TV season ever but the 3rd season was maginificent too.

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It boggles my mind more people don't watch this. In a world where Freddy Prinze Jr has a successful sitcom and The Wire is struggling for viewers...What a world.

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The Wire is the best show on TV. No offense to those that don't like it but it requires a certain type of person (with a certain type of brain) to love it. I have tried to get others into it and they were addled after one show.

1. You have to be interested in not only crime solving but drug culture and urban politics.

2. You have to follow a lot of characters and keep a lot of story lines straight.

3. It's much better if you've watches it from the beginning and seen every show in all three seasons from the beginning. That way a lot of what goes on (esp. the interpersonal issues or the relationship with the top brass and individual characters) makes more sense. In this way it's tougher to watch than the Sopranos, where the plotlines come and go.

4. You have to be ready for behavior where the cops don't look so good (the episode where the various districts and law authorities are trying to insist that the dead russian girls are on someone else's turf so they have to deal with it is classic), and where the bad guys don't always get caught.

So not sure if the show is a success or failure measured on audience appeal. I enjoy it.

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oops need to edit. wish i could preview.

"watched" (of course)

meant to say "seen all the shows twice"

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There is one answer IMHO - intelligence. The show is the most intelligent, deep, realistic, layered drama on TV, far surpassing any other drama. But as others have said, it requires serious patience and commitment. You must be prepared to watch the show, and you must be smart enough to follow very intricate, interwoven story lines that demand your absolute attention.

With all that said, if you can make the commitment to it, you will be richly rewarded. Like I said, it far surpasses anything else on TV, broadcast or cable. Seriously, even the most talked about dramas, like Lost, Deadwood, The Sopranos, etc. don't hold a candle to it.

Bob plan a weekend around watching Season One. I warn you it's slow to start, but within an hour or two you'll be hooked and will want to watch one ep after another.

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Good points...also, I think that to you have to have a working knowledge of urban city (and more specifically Baltimore city) politics. I live near Baltimore and actually know people who have been extras in the wire, and I think the show is spot on with its representation of the city. However, people in middle America just might not get it.

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#13 hit it on the head. It is the best show on TV, but too many people want "stupid TV" that don't require them to think or remember storylines, characters, etc. between episodes. Sort of reminds me of Fight Club with the "single serving" everything. Most people want to turn on and tune out their minds. This show is not for them.

For me, I love this show and have loved it since ep 3 of season 1. I hate waiting a week in between episodes.

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I gotta tell you, I did not like the show much at all. We actually rented season one from NetFlix. We got the first three disks, and sat down last Saturday for a marathon. After disk one, we seriously thought of stopping. We just could not get into it. Then half way through disk two, we finally quit. Sorry, but I personally did not like the show at all, and would not recommend it to anyone. I really like finding shows like this that are not heavily watched. Firefly, Veronic Mars and Boomtown are three of my favorite shows to come out in the last 5 years (two are now cancelled). I tried to give it the good old college try, but simply could not get into The Wire.

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I love the show. I think its the best show on TV. I'm surprised people have trouble following the plot. I'm not very bright and I don't have a problem keeping up with The Wire. I have much more trouble with Deadwood, probably because I just can't make out half the dialog. But that's another story.

It probably is tough to jump in the middle of a season, but in one or two episodes you could figure out what's going on. And Netflix is a wonderful thing for catching up on shows you missed the first time around.

To those who haven't been watching The Wire. Please rent the first or second season and give it a chance.

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I think the analogy to make with both The Wire and Deadwood is to think of them as novels, rather than TV shows. The writing is densely layered, the plots take a long time to build, the characters are all intertwined, often in ways they themselves don't understand, and the language is filled with argot. Like a thick novel, the work is challenging and time-consuming, but the end result is so much richer than something like Lost (which I enjoy, but not with the same degree of ardor I have for The Wire or Deadwood).

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#18 does such a nice job with the "novel" analogy that makes me want to add to my post (#13). It is not only a novel, it is a DIFFICULT novel. Anyone who has ever finished Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow will tell you it's the greatest novel ever written. However, to finish it requires a serious commitment and alot of work. Some people don't want to give that commitment or do alot of work to be entertained (especially when it comes to TV - it's the "Idiot Box" after all). They want to sit back and let it come to them. That's why few people have read Gravity's Rainbow, and few have watched The Wire. But to finish that commitment is the greatest reward.

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If someone has trouble understanding the dialogue, the accents of the drug dealers, my advice is the same as for someone who gets lost with the dialogue on Deadwood or a BBC America presentation: Turn on the closed captioning. I'm not hard of hearing, but I've found it useful for these shows.

The Wire isn't completely incomprehensible to "Middle America," either. I grew up in a town of 5,000 in Tennessee, and now live in a small city of about 50,000, but I have no trouble grasping the storylines, relating to the characters or seeing the broader implications of what's discussed.

It's the best show on American television -- possibly the best show anyone's doing anywhere -- and David Simon really deserves a shot at wrapping it up with a fifth season.

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