I haven’t seen The Wire on anyone’s list. Does that mean you haven’t seen it, or you saw it and didn’t love it?
HBO will be repeating season four soon (I hope) and season five (the last) starts in February. I haven’t seen four, which explores Baltimore schools. Season five, they look at the media, newspapers in particular, and word from critics who’ve seen it say it’s phenomenal, the best yet. Believe me, that’s saying something.
I’m rewatching season two, which focuses on the docks, but also continues the story of drug dealers Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell. Amazing how the writers could do two different story lines that connect only peripherally, and do such a good job. It never feels jerky or disjointed, or forced.
I’d also pick Sopranos. When I first saw Big Love, I thought it was the best thing ever. Same thing with Rome. But Sopranos…this is truly brilliant TV.
I intended to include a critical review of The Wire in my earlier post, but dinner was burning.
Tim Goodman is just one critic who loves it. He takes a risk by saying it’s better than Deadwood and The Sopranos, but hey, that’s what he gets paid for, alienating fans of other shows. (There are spoilers after the first few paragraphs.)
I spent some time at the Metacritic site and couldn’t find any show rated higher than The Wire – 98 overall. I think some early Sopranos seasons might be that high, but all I could find was season six.
Here is a clip of the confrontation between Omar and Brother Mouzone in season three. The Wire’s writers don’t usually go in for anything this showy, but these characters are fan favorites, and so is this scene.
There are also spoilers on the YouTube site, showing other scenes – so don’t look at anything else.
Seinfeld - Say what you want about its despicable characters and bad acting, but its take on the small details in life is surpassed by none. Taxi - It finds humor in the most depressing situations of life and lets you feel good about your own life. It’s what I think sitcoms were made for.
Drama
The Sopranos - This would get my vote as the best TV show ever. The West Wing - All four seasons of it. Hard to believe it was aired on network television. The Wire - I’m debating whether to watch season five as it airs on TV or wait for the DVD and take it in all at once.
Based on this thread, it looks like I might give **Deadwood **and Northern Exposure a shot.
The Wire, by a good margin ahead of anything else. Deadwood had the potential to be right up there, but blew it by wasting hours and hours on a tedious and pointless 3rd season storyline.
For you Deadwood fans, I believe I read they are filming TWO full length films of Deadwood for cable.
And yes, Wire, Rome and Sopranos were also great.
But greatest of all time?
All In The Family (ground breaking subject material)
Mary Tyler Moore Show (great supporting characters)
Frazier (wittiest show ever)
I Love Lucy (some classic episodes)
Seinfeld (many great moments)
Cheers (great stories and characters)
The Golden Girls (great interaction and character development)
24 (say what you will, it is rarely boring)
Dallas and Dynasty (time capsules of an era, and fun to watch)
The Twilight Zone (original show, very well-written and ahead of its time)
The Shield (this show just zooms through every episode)
American Idol (brilliant concept, guilty pleasure, hugely popular)
The Ed Sullivan Show (where else could you watch The Beatles and an opera singer on the same program?)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (you either love it or hate it)
The Tonight Show (Steve Allen, Jack Parr, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno - every host has brought a different aspect to a show that is like a nice nightcap that I turn on, watch in bed and set the TV to turn off after I have fallen asleep. Don’t know how I am going to like Conan’s version, starting in 2009.)
Another one for Arrested Development. In fact, learning that it was canceled was what made me decide that when the aliens finally come to conquer us, I’m embracing them. No species that allows Arrested Development to be canceled but embraced Cheers for more than a decade deserves to exist.
Full support for The Wire for character development and sustaining quality throughout and between series. I’m with MaxTheVool, Deadwood wasn’t consistent enough in maintaining strong plot lines.
I amazed more people haven’t listed Six Feet Under which blows everything else out of the water as far as I’m concerned. No other show has had me laughing, in tears or on the edge of my seat as much and the finale made me weep my arse off. Such powerful stuff.
Deadwood sounds interesting, I might check it out.
Well, you could also nominate it for “Most colourful language in a popular tv series”…
I thoroughly enjoyed it too. Seeing as we’re on the subject have you all seen the SwearEngine?*
*Extremely un worksafe!! its an episode of DW with everything but the swaering taken out. As such, not for the faint hearted.
I havent checked it for awhile and no way would I look at this at work without headphones
