The rough concept – three TV critics meet for lunch to discuss their choices for the best TV show of all time. Each one picks a different HBO drama (The Wire, Sopranos and Deadwood), but invariably has to agree that any one of the three is likely as worthy of the title as the other two. Interestingly enough, as I read through the piece, it seemed that all three agreed that Sopranos and Deadwood, while brilliant in their own rights, tended to be uneven visions, while The Wire launched with a level of quality rarely seen on television and never had an actual bad episode or season in the bunch.
MZS: Talking about degree of difficulty, about the variety of things that a show does, one of the things that I appreciated so much about Deadwood was that, whereas The Wire is great at putting you in the moment, and The Sopranos did that, I think, as well, except when it was getting into Tony’s dreams, what I loved about Deadwood was that you got the sense of an entire community simultaneously. You get a sense of the entire community with The Wire, certainly, and sometimes with The Sopranos. But [with Deadwood] you got the sense of [elements of] an entire organism functioning, sometimes at cross-purposes with each other, and also, sometimes, [of] people doing or saying things for a particular reason and not knowing why they did it, and having an effect other than the one that they intended. That happened constantly and consistently on that show in a way that felt very true to life for me.
AS: I would say it happens pretty consistently on The Wire as well, where you see how a decision that’s made in city hall winds up affecting a kid in the eighth grade; how Herc the cop does something, doesn’t even know what he’s doing [and] destroys some other kid’s life; things along that line. If it seems more like a whole organism on Deadwood, it’s just because the show took place over about three square blocks, so it’s very easy for Swearengen to stand on his balcony and see everything that’s going on at the high and low ends of the town, whereas Carcetti has no idea what Bubbles’ life is.
MZS: That’s true, and maybe the caveat we should have thrown in at the beginning is, we know that we’re comparing apples and oranges and pears here.
I think you need MORE posts about the Wire.
Your wish, our command. Three days left, plus the weekend!
It’s Wire week! Let’s all celebrate the collapse of America’s institutions.
If you’re going to keep calling THE WIRE the best TV show ever, you really need to post a Top Ten list so we can really see where you’re coming from (of course,odds are pretty much EVERYONE will find at least one choice to disagree with!)
Dr. Medula is correct. I think I know some of Steve’s (M*A*S*H*, Arrested Development, Veronica Mars…)
Are we talking Best, Favorite or Most Important? Because that would make for 3 different lists.
Tae named one that would be on all three of mine.
Me and the other writers over at Highbrid Nation loved The Wire. Actually, one of our guys just did a post today talking about how important The Wire was to viewers as well as the cast.
I think The Wire is one of those shows that most people won’t truly get until years from now. 20 years from now people will look back on the Wire as one of the greatest shows ever created.