I have not seen previous seasons… I heard good things about the show and want to know if I can start watching this year without background info. Is this chronological and cumulative or is each season an entity in itself?
I’ve only seen the first two seasons so far, so I can only tell you that parts of season two would have made much less sense if I hadn’t seen season one. Season two had its own (mostly) standalone plot, but it did tie into characters from season one, who had their own thing going too.
But it’s well worth seeing on DVD.
Without having seen Season 4 yet (starts Sunday), it’s hard to say how much you’ll benefit from the background.
But, the other seasons have referred back to previous seasons for specific details and just to give you the depth of the character’s relationships.
Howeve,r I don’t think you’ll be saying “what the hell is going on?” or anything, but you just won’t be as tuned into the
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RICH TAPESTRY
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that the show has created.
Season 3 probably tidied up more things at the end than other seasons.
If you have digital cable you should be able to get the early seasons for free On-Demand.
But I have heard that season 4 is more different than the earlier seasons. I’d start watching if I were you, it’s a terrific show.
Here’s a nice long recent thread about it.
With a limited amount of time, start with last season to get a sense of the characters. At the very least, visit HBO’s Wire homepage and read the character bios. It sounds like the storyline for this season is pretty much self-contained, but to get the most out of it you’ll need to know the background story of Carcetti, Colvin, McNulty, Omar, Bodie, etc.
And hopefully this show has finally gotten that critical mass of fans on this board that we can get a good discussion thread going after each episode…
The Wire is the best show on television.
Each installment builds on the past, and it’s tough to get any enjoyment out of the series by watching it intermittantly, but it’s crafted to give new viewers all the necessary information at the beginning of a new season. As mentioned upthread, much of the series is still on On Demand now (under the heading “The Wire Re-Up”), although I think only seasons 2 and 3, not 1. I agree that if you can, watch the third season. It not only provides what background you’ll need, but it was also fucking great. If you do plan to watch S3, DO NOT look at the character “org charts” on the HBO site, as they include some big spoilers, including for the climactic moment of S3.
I know of several people who started watching at the beginning of S2, and a few at the beginning of S3, and while there were holes, they all caught the fever same as the rest of us.
Also, please note that new viewers of The Wire typically (although not always) need three to six episodes to get into the show, as it tells the story in a different way than anything you’ve seen before, even other serialized shows. It takes a while to learn those rhythms. But you will be rewarded.
–Cliffy