# Convince me to watch THE WIRE \[SPOILERS\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612 "2009-06-03T19:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/61 "2009-06-06T05:47:48Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > You thought Stringer was likeable? He … I was quite satisfied when … He was the only character who had any redeeming qualities displayed on the show. I’m sure all the characters had perfectly good and interesting things about them, but the show gave their personal lives almost no screen time, so you were only left with the major events like when they cheat on their SO or what-have-you. It’s not so much that the characters are assholes, really, as that the show _says_ they’re overall decent people rather than _showing_ that they are for the majority of the time, and only shows the soap opera bits which are nearly universally when they’re doing something bad. Maybe my issue is that I’m not sold by people’s personalities, only by what they do. Stringer certainly does bad things, but he also does good things. I’ll take that over people with a nice personality but who never do anything but sit around and make toy furniture. As to Stringer, I’d say he’s as likable as, for instance, Tony Soprano. Certainly he’s a bad guy, but at the same time, this is a fictional story and it’s not like there isn’t plenty of history in film of having the crooks be the guys you’re rooting for. See, in particular, Breaking Bad. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/62 "2009-06-06T12:56:06Z")
MODERATOR COMMENTS: Sorry to be getting to this so late, yesterday was one of those days. Please, be aware of, and sensitive to, revealing vital plot information to people who haven’t seen a show and don’t want to major plot points revealed. For info about what constitutes a spoiler, and how to do spoiler tags, see the thread [Forum Rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343601), Post #4. This was brought to our attention. However, I don’t watch the show, so I’m not sure exactly what’s “spoiler” and what’s not. I therefore decided to err on the side of more rather than less, and spoiler-boxed most of **joebuck20** ’s post. If that’s not necessary, please hit the REPORT button and let me know what can be open. Finally: if you find open spoilers and want a mod to fix it, please REPORT it (and please be specific about what’s the spoiler.) If you’re going to post, please DON’T QUOTE THE WHOLE POST in your post. That just increases the mod’s workload (and runs the risk that the mod doesn’t even see your later post, and so the spoiler info is still open. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/63 "2009-06-06T16:07:45Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > [Stringer] was the only character who had any redeeming qualities displayed on the show. I’m sure all the characters had perfectly good and interesting things about them, but the show gave their personal lives almost no screen time, so you were only left with the major events like when they cheat on their SO or what-have-you. It’s not so much that the characters are assholes, really, as that the show _says_ they’re overall decent people rather than _showing_ that they are for the majority of the time, and only shows the soap opera bits which are nearly universally when they’re doing something bad. Maybe my issue is that I’m not sold by people’s personalities, only by what they do. Stringer certainly does bad things, but he also does good things. I’ll take that over people with a nice personality but who never do anything but sit around and make toy furniture. I’m sorry, but I don’t think we were watching the same show. Stringer is the **only** one with **any** redeeming qualities? Wasn’t Bunk a decent and hard-working cop, who was loyal to his troublesome partner Jimmy? Wasn’t Kima courageous enough to take on a dangerous undercover assignment? Didn’t Carver grow beyond the immaturity he and Herc originally shared to become a serious and dedicated cop? Didn’t Prez transform himself from a major fuck-up by finding his real aptitude in research work? We learned plenty about the private lives of Kima, Daniels, and many, many other mid-level characters. And what good things did Stringer do, exactly? Take business classes so he could make Avon’s gang more efficient? Set up a real print shop as a front for the drug dealing business? Bribe public officials? Finally, did you not notice that the toy furniture maker was probably the best cop on the show? That he cracked the major crimes of the fourth season, pretty much single-handedly? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/64 "2009-06-06T16:36:55Z")
Agh! Spoilers, **commasense**! As it happens I agree with you, but let people who haven’t seen the show ( which this thread is about ) _experience_ character arcs, not read them. Save the discussion for a marked spoiler thread on the show. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/65 "2009-06-06T16:47:31Z")
Sorry, I didn’t see them as major giveaways, just overall pictures. But if a mod wants to spoiler the second and last paragraphs, I have no objections. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/66 "2009-06-06T16:55:10Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Sorry, I didn’t see them as major giveaways, just overall pictures. But if a mod wants to spoiler the second and last paragraphs, I have no objections. I started the thread, and happily realized that you were giving away information I might want to experience propery, so I skipped your post. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/67 "2009-06-06T16:55:20Z")
Same reason I watched it - a bunch of intelligent people say that it is not just good it is THE BEST TELEVISION SHOW EVER MADE. If I don’t watch it and they are right I am an idiot. If I watch it and they are wrong I can stop watching whenever I want. They aren’t right but it is pretty damn good. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/68 "2009-06-06T17:51:23Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Same reason I watched it - a bunch of intelligent people say that it is not just good it is THE BEST TELEVISION SHOW EVER MADE. If I don’t watch it and they are right I am an idiot. If I watch it and they are wrong I can stop watching whenever I want. > > They aren’t right but it is pretty damn good. So what, IYHO, is better, or the best? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/69 "2009-06-06T18:14:04Z")
The British show _Cracker_ I think. While watching the first episode I was ringing friends telling them to change channels. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/70 "2009-06-06T19:26:31Z")
MODERATOR COMMENTS: Again, I don’t watch the show, so I’m not sure what’s spoilers. I would have said that **commasense** ’s comments were general statements, not spoiling any major plot element, but I don’t know. I’m going by what people have reported. It’s a very difficult line to walk. On the one hand, this thread is about trying to convince some posters to watch a show. The best approach is giving examples of great scenes, great characters, great drama/comedy, whatever, to make folks want to watch. And those examples are going to come very close to (or perhaps be) spoilers. So, I guess I’m just going to suggest people be VERY CAREFUL in what examples they give, and whether to spoiler. If you see something that you think should be spoiler-tag hidden, report it or email me. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612/71 "2009-06-07T04:52:47Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > Whoa---- major spoiler here that needs a box. Mods have been notified. I apologize for this. I guess I just got a little worked up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-to-watch-the-wire-spoilers/498612.md?page=3)