# Why didn't The Wire get as much attention as Game of Thrones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029 "2013-06-03T13:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/21 "2013-06-03T15:54:47Z")
The OP seems to expect some sort of correlation between quality and popularity. This is often not the case. I’ve just finished watching the second season of _The Wire_. It is an excellent show for what it is. It’s well crafted, has something to say, and is interesting enough to keep me coming back to see the next episode. I’ve just ordered the third season. But, while I got it because of its reputation as one of the best TV shows ever made, I don’t find it nearly as compelling as, say, _The Sopranos_ or even _Breaking Bad_ (which is the other dramatic show I am currently watching in rotation with _The Wire_). It’s maybe because its focus is comparatively narrow. I have neither read nor seen _Game of Thrones_, but from what I have heard it’s not hard to understand why it might be more popular. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/22 "2013-06-03T15:56:57Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > While Game of Thrones is complex (for fantasy), it also has boobies and dragons and any time they need to explain a complex plot point, they do so while two hookers go down on each other. Exactly. It’s not rocket science. You can get much better ratings with good writing and boobies than you can with good writing alone. It’s a dual threat:Announcer: _The success of the show is linked to its two creative consultants: Author George R.R. Martin…_ George R. R. Martin: _I’m on-set to ensure that the show honors the spirit of my books._ Announcer: _And Adam Friedberg, a 13-year old boy._ Adam Friedberg: _I make sure there are lots of boobs in the show!_ [http://gawker.com/5902076/snl-explains-the-nudity-in-game-of-thrones](http://gawker.com/5902076/snl-explains-the-nudity-in-game-of-thrones) ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/23 "2013-06-03T16:00:44Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > When the Wire trotted out cop show formulas it did so to turn them on their heads, the cop who plays by his own rules is a barely functional alcoholic who not only pisses off everyone of his colleagues, he ends up being kind of shitty at his job. The bad guys often get away with it and make a lot of money doing so. Plus the in depth depiction of institutions that most cop shows aren’t remotely concerned with. Education, inner-city politics, unions, manufacturing. To me the classic formulaic cop show has the crime solved by the end of the episode, such as Law and Order. More sophisticated cop shows such as The Killing and The Bridge (both Scandinavian) focus on a single crime or set of crimes over a series, but still would never look at the entirety of a city in the way The Wire does. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/24 "2013-06-03T16:04:15Z")
I think HBO is also a bigger deal now than it was then - it was far from unknown, but shows like The Sopranos and The Wire did a lot for its reputation and for the reputation of dramas on cable in general - and there’s the whole social media thing. Nobody was tweeting about The Wire because Twitter didn’t exist. And it’s true that in addition to being bleak The Wire was tough to get into. It was a show that developed slowly and didn’t do a lot of things TV shows often do to make life easier for viewers. I think it’s more than worth it, but they made it tough sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/25 "2013-06-03T16:37:00Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I also think that GoT came out in a time of more mature social media, so it’s easier for things to get talked about and tweeted and retweeted and so forth. Not like The Wire (which is amazing) came out all THAT long ago, but one might imagine it being more likely to find a fan base today because of that. +1 for truth. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/26 "2013-06-03T16:55:47Z")
The GoT [audience](http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/06/women-game-of-thrones/) is nearly half female; that helps with the social media buzz, and it means that it’s something that couples can watch and talk about together. My recollection is that The Wire’s audience skewed much more predominantly male. Remember too that at its peak, The Wire was averaging more than 4 million viewers, which isn’t far off from where GoT is now. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/27 "2013-06-03T17:10:27Z")
Not meant as a threadshit, but relevant… I couldn’t get into The Wire. Then after reading the great praise on these boards I ordered it from Netflix to give it another try. I just fail to see what all the hubbub is about. Another cop show with average writing. After the first two episodes I pulled the plug and returned it. Despite its good critical praise it might not be as appealing to mass audiences as GOT. ---
**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 3, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/28 "2013-06-03T17:27:48Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > After the first two episodes I pulled the plug and returned it. This is very common experience - I have a heard a legion of people say exactly the same thing ( including several that now praise it to the high heavens after giving it a second chance 🙂 ). As **Gangster Octopus** noted it’s a tough, somewhat complex show to get into. This is neither a sneering put down of people that don’t care for it nor an indictment of the show itself - it’s just a fact that it is slow-going early on and not all of the quality of it is immediately evident on first exposure. It really is a bit like a slow-starting but ultimately very satisfying novel. I got hooked only because I was ill and off work for a couple of days and started watching them on On Demand out of boredom - the first few I was mildly interested, but sorta indifferent. It does reward patient viewing, but I fully understand why not everybody wants to put in that much effort. And of course not everybody will enjoy it as a matter of taste. But I will say that in my case, I really have never cared for cop shows. Not even most good ones. From Hill Street Blues, to the hoards of CSI shows, to everything in between - I don’t much like them as a group. But I do love _The Wire_. It transcends the genre IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/29 "2013-06-03T17:46:57Z")
Yeah, I can’t remember where I read it but somebody said you need to make it through the first four episodes, before the quality starts to come out. I started it three times before finally getting the patience to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/30 "2013-06-03T18:08:57Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I also think that GoT came out in a time of more mature social media, so it’s easier for things to get talked about and tweeted and retweeted and so forth. Not like The Wire (which is amazing) came out all THAT long ago, but one might imagine it being more likely to find a fan base today because of that. I think there are a lot of reasons, but I agree with this the most, or more generally - a lot of the difference in popularity is due to timing. Also, are these shows really analogous, except that they both star Aidan Gillen? IMHO a better analogy is GoT:Rome, as both are period pieces with war and such. GoT had a higher budget, but I think at the time Rome was more niche-y. Although, if I am reading correctly, Rome premiered high in ratings but petered out, while GoT’s Nielsen ratings have increased each season. My memory may be fuzzy, but I remember most of the media buzz for Game of Thrones appearing somewhere in the middle of the second season? Although it’s possible I wasn’t paying attention, I didn’t hear about Emilia Clarke every 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/31 "2013-06-03T18:33:02Z")
If you watch only the first couple episodes, then you might be left with the impression that it’s just another police procedural, instead of a show that has more to do with Dickens than Law and Order. And if you’re white, the large focus on black street folk, and heavy use of ghetto vernacular, may have been off-putting if you place it within the context of a police procedural show, mainly because much of it is hard to understand. In that respect, if it had just begun airing this year, our more developed social media could have been holding our hands, helping us understand what was happening from the very beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/32 "2013-06-03T20:13:50Z")
The Wire was a complicated show that takes a lot of effort in the beginning to follow. You need 4-5 episodes just to learn who everyone is (and on top of that each season introduces a whole new set of people). It was a show designed for the internet age that aired before that age really started. On top of that, it is bleak, cynical and isn’t a genre show. It isn’t really even a cop show. It is about America in general and how it is crumbling apart. I think if it were released today or even a few years ago it would have done better but it was never going to be a big hit. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/33 "2013-06-03T21:21:34Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The Wire was a complicated show that takes a lot of effort in the beginning to follow. You need 4-5 episodes just to learn who everyone is (and on top of that each season introduces a whole new set of people)… The same can be said of Game of Thrones, and pretty much every character is maeked for death. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/34 "2013-06-03T22:25:37Z")
**Game of Thrones** is about another world. **The Wire** was about Baltimore. That’s all you need to know. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/35 "2013-06-03T22:34:29Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > … I’ve had to work with Baltimore criminals in one way or another for the past several years of my life. And the idea of them waxing poetically about their Machiavellian power struggles is laughable. Most of them are so stupid that they actually have great difficulty even communicating with other human beings. I just want to be a counter voice for anyone who reads this post. I also have been close to Baltimore criminals, as well as many sad and fucked up drug dealers and criminals from all over the east coast, and I testify that many of them damn sure did sit around waxing philosophical about their Machiavellian power struggles. Many criminals I know and have known are extremely intelligent, very well read and far from being unable to communicate, many of them ooze with charm and can talk the skin off a snake. And some of them were dumb. And some were smart in some ways and dumb in others. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/36 "2013-06-03T22:40:54Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > It’s really simple and it actually doesn’t have anything to do with book sales (though that matters a bit) or ratings (again, sort of important, but not the big reason). Instead, it’s because… > > The Wire was a very good cop show. There have been dozens, maybe hundreds, of good cop shows in the history of television. > > Game of Thrones is a sprawling medieval epic. This has never really happened on TV before. So it’s a BIG HAIRY DEAL. Exactly what I was going to say. I’d also say a big part of it is Game of Thrones is good from the get go (the book being first certainly helped) where the Wire, like a lot of shows took time to find its footing. I don’t even bother with Season 1 of The Wire. That how you get a lot of people saying “I gave it a chance but.. ::meh::.” I think you see that a lot less with people who gave Game of Thrones a shot. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/37 "2013-06-03T23:04:51Z")
I think that AGOT benefited in large part from the popularity of the “Lord of the Rings” movies- they were immensely popular epic-scale fantasy sword and sorcery movies, and as far as I can remember, the next big-time fantasy project to come along is AGOT, even if 8 years later. Cop/criminal/court procedure shows are a dime a dozen. Even at the time, you had several highly acclaimed shows competing with The Wire. I remember thinking at the time that I didn’t really give a shit about a cop show set in Baltimore. I’ve seen cop shows, and I know that Baltimore was (is?) a shithole, and I really wasn’t interested, especially after hearing how bleak it was after a few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/38 "2013-06-03T23:42:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **Game of Thrones** is about another world. **The Wire** was about Baltimore. > > That’s all you need to know. Beyond the joke, there’s something ha-ha-only-serious there. Both shows are spinning around an axle of “everything and everyone is terrible, everybody’s fucked, if you think this has a happy ending you haven’t been paying attention”. Which is fine, excellent even. But the change in context make the difference with the similarity in content. When everything is shit in dragon kingdom and everyone’s backstabbing each other or working at cross purpose in a continent-spanning feudal crab bucket ; that’s captivating. When the same thing happens in Real US City, and the issues at hand feel very reminiscent of the ones plaguing you own and there’s no end in sight and it’s all spinning ever downwards ; that’s fucking depressing. Don’t get me wrong, I love _The Wire_ and re-watch it every so often. It’s aged beautifully (even though it’s made all the more depressing each year because… yup, same shit, different day). But I don’t remember waiting on the next episode back then with the same trepidation and speculation as I do\* GoT\* episodes, nor was I rooting for or against anybody with the vehemence with which I love Varys or loathe Daenerys. It was a gripping show, a gut-punching show. Not a \*fun \*show, despite all the funny bits. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/39 "2013-06-04T00:01:54Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I just want to be a counter voice for anyone who reads this post. I also have been close to Baltimore criminals, as well as many sad and fucked up drug dealers and criminals from all over the east coast, and I testify that many of them damn sure did sit around waxing philosophical about their Machiavellian power struggles. Many criminals I know and have known are extremely intelligent, very well read and far from being unable to communicate, many of them ooze with charm and can talk the skin off a snake. And some of them were dumb. And some were smart in some ways and dumb in others. Nope, every single individual of a group that encompasses a wide variety of different lifestyles is exactly the same. 😉 It’s just sort of a pet peeve of mine when someone from Holland or South Dakota tries to start telling me about the way things work in Baltimore because they saw The Wire. Which has actually happened to me. Do people ever do this with New Jersey and The Sopranos? The communication dig was another pet peeve of mine. Every goddamn day I have to try to drag accurate information out of people who say things like “I seen them when they was walking to the store yesterday,” and it was driving me a little nuts today when I made that post. It’s always those same two mistakes, and it gets under my skin. I’m not a grammar nazi and I’m only a little snobbish, I swear. But those are extremely common words and very simple concepts. On the other hand, those errors are hardly the exclusive domain of criminals so I’ll end my little rant by apologizing to the good criminals of Baltimore for painting them with too broad of a brush. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029/40 "2013-06-04T00:30:49Z")
> [@JeffB](#): > > Game of Thrones also started off with a built in fan base from the books. Yep I read the books first, plus it has more boobies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-wire-get-as-much-attention-as-game-of-thrones/660029.md?page=3)