The Sopranos vs The Wire

[The Fly]

Critical opinion would place both as the greatest dramas ever made for TV and I agree. The Sopranos comes out on top for me but which do you think is better?

(there's only one way to find out..............fffffiiiiiiight!):D

[Neish]

The wire for me but there is not too much in it. The Wire was more real life and challenged some of the american institutions ie schools politics and media

[Dodge]

Well we're guessing at real life as not many of us know too much about the Baltimore city machinations. However it does feel real. Big fan of both, but the Sopranos wins for me. Luckily we don't have to choose and can watch DVDs of both.

[Docboy]

Would have to go for The Sopranos myself although it's close. Just finished watching The Wire, loved the characters, and have started back to series 1 in North Jersey. Both worthy of the title...

[Neish]

Well we're guessing at real life as not many of us know too much about the Baltimore city machinations. However it does feel real. Big fan of both, but the Sopranos wins for me. Luckily we don't have to choose and can watch DVDs of both.

Its not just an attack on baltimore it attack on the whole american society which puts up a front of being thw world leader on equality fairness and justice but the reality is very similar to how the wire show it

[Dodge]

I didn't take it as an attack on Baltimore. I was just saying that if we take it that Baltimore is a metaphor for the US, or even the world, there are bits that are overplayed. Meaning its not 100% realistic.

No problems there as real life is boring. Most who have seen both will agree that they are both worthy winners

[Neish]

I didn't take it as an attack on Baltimore. I was just saying that if we take it that Baltimore is a metaphor for the US, or even the world, there are bits that are overplayed. Meaning its not 100% realistic.

No problems there as real life is boring. Most who have seen both will agree that they are both worthy winners

Who said it was 100% realistic. I was only suggesting the the wire showed what goes on behind the scenes of the pollished american establishment. And how people with good intentions often get corrupted by the systems or get fed up with their lack of progress due to the corruption of others

[Dodge]

Yeah we're having a stoopid arguement over linguistics

basically, Wired = top, top show

[shakermaker1982]

The wire for me and by some distance. The Soprano's is my second favourite show of all time but a few too many filler episodes for my liking. Ok I understand we couldn't have Pine Barrens every week but Tony losing it with Dr Melphi did start to lose its appeal after the 4th series.

I'm in need a fix for a top class show to replace the two of em. Generation kill looks promising but I think we'll only see 1 series. Any ideas?

[Neish]

I'm in need a fix for a top class show to replace the two of em. Generation kill looks promising but I think we'll only see 1 series. Any ideas?

If you havn't seen OZ its definitive viewing (my fav show after the wire and sopranos) if your into si-fi get Battlestar Galactica what I watching now

[The Fly]

Other contenders for the title, after asking others their opinion, are The Shield and The West Wing. Got the box set of the West Wing at Xmas and will give it a go.

Shakermaker - try Mad Men, it's a quality drama. It concentrates of the advertising business on Madison Avenue in New York in the 1950's. It's written by some of the writers who worked on The Sopranos. Good dialogue and good acting. It's not as 'masculine' a show as The Sopranos or The Wire but is definately worth a go.

[Docboy]

Other contenders for the title, after asking others their opinion, are The Shield and The West Wing.

Was given The Shield by a pal having just finished The Wire and I have to say they're world's apart in terms of the quality of both storyline and acting. Probably something to do with the fact that quite a few of the cast from The Wire seem to have played characters fairly similar to their own. I'd steer clear of The Shield.

[Neish]

I'd steer clear of The Shield.

Watching season 1 at present its no where near as good as The Wire but not a bad show

[town73]

Another new show on at the moment which isn't too far off both The Wire and The Sopranos - Underbelly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underbelly_%28TV_series%29).

It's a 13-part show based on real events in the 1995 to 2004 gangland war in Melbourne. It's on FX UK on Monday nights. It screened in all States in Australia except Victoria because of a court injunction.

[Burny89]

You should check out 'Crash' with Dennis Hopper

[Closed Account 2]

If you havn't seen OZ its definitive viewing (my fav show after the wire and sopranos) if your into si-fi get Battlestar Galactica what I watching now

Agree with Oz, I first watched it in the UK about 7-8 years ago, it's gripping drama but also one of the most brutally violent things you can watch on tv.



The wire for me and by some distance. The Soprano's is my second favourite show of all time but a few too many filler episodes for my liking. Ok I understand we couldn't have Pine Barrens every week but Tony losing it with Dr Melphi did start to lose its appeal after the 4th series.

I'm in need a fix for a top class show to replace the two of em. Generation kill looks promising but I think we'll only see 1 series. Any ideas?

I think Pine Barrens is probably the finest episode of any serialised show ever on tv. It's wonderfully shot, and should look great if they ever port that series to HD media.

I would recommend Band of Brothers if you can get a hold of it, another great mini-series. Also if you like comedy I'd recommend Curb Your Enthusiasm or, to a lesser extent, the last few series of Seinfeld.

[jebus]

Sopranos for me, although the Wire is a really good show.

At the moment I'm going through Dexter and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a new show to watch. There's three series at the moment and there's a fourth in the pipeline. Basically it's a show about a forensics officer who is also a serial killer, catch is is that he is a murderer, but he has been trained to only kill people who deserve it

Band of Brothers I'm hoping everyone has seen by now, if not do so before the follow series set in the Pacific during WW2 comes out at the end of this year

Oz was great, loved it back in the day, although I have to say it gets a bit too ridiculous at times in the last 2 seasons, still good mind

[RonnieB]

The Wire for me, check out Brotherhood as well a very good show, got through three seasons of it over the xmas. Checked out underbelly and stopped after episode six it failed to hold my attention.

[Pike B]

The Sopranos, even though its what Dodge voted for.. shudder...

[SaucyJack]

The Wire for me, loved the Sopranos, but the NJ accents of Carmela and Dr.Melfi were insufferable., and if it's not on the deceased thread, "Johnny Cakes" committed suicide a couple of weeks back http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=345321&affid=100055

Have started watching Dexter, really like it.

[Macy]

The West Wing would trump both imo.

[RonnieB]

Great value on the wire to be had according to this thread on boards.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055455930

[ken foree]

I didn't take it as an attack on Baltimore. I was just saying that if we take it that Baltimore is a metaphor for the US, or even the world, there are bits that are overplayed. Meaning its not 100% realistic.

No problems there as real life is boring. Most who have seen both will agree that they are both worthy winners

actually dodge if you get the chance, have a look at the two documentaries appended to the last disk of season 4 (the school/political season). loads of current and former baltimore city officials testify as to how realistic the show actually is. many of the major characters (e.g. omar, avon barksdale, bunk moreland, bubbles) are composites of real-life individuals. and there are actually real-life baltimore gangsters in the show (the girl snoop, the older deacon guy). the former mayor of baltimore even has cameos - and during his tenure as mayor he recommended the U.S. de-criminilize drugs and treat it as a public health problem rather than a law enforcement one (like the cop bunny in season 3). he was widely ridiculed of course. remember the show is written and produced by an ex-baltimore cop and a former reporter for the baltimore sun newspaper so it's dramatized to be sure but not way, way out there by any means.

for me this is what gives the wire the edge; the sopranos is more romantic, poetic, of a piece with the italian mob movies of american cinema. it's about "family". the wire is about familial destruction and has an extraordinary level of realism i feel. but you're right, 2 great programs to have, aren't we lucky.

[OwlsFan]

Currently on my third watching of the whole series of the Sopranos. Interesting that Vito appears as a different character as a member of joe public in a sandwich bar as Christopher beats up the sanwich guy behind the counter in either the 1st or 2nd episode. Other than the dream episodes, I could watch this time and time again.

[TonyD]

The West Wing would trump both imo.

I liked the West Wing - but The Wire is comfortably the better show IMO. In fact it's probably the greatest drama I've ever seen on screen. Epic stuff.

[shakermaker1982]

I gave up on the West Wing mid way through the third series. Well written but not my cup of tea. The structure of the episodes were near identical at times.

1: Problem
2: Uh oh what are we going to do
3: Some smart ass wise crack from one of the male characters.
4: Problem is resolved
5: The end

It also annoyed me how often the President was in the 'West Wing'. He never bloody left the place!!!

The Wire has always received praise for its accuracy. Homicide by David Simon is a fantastic book on the city of Baltimore (re-released before xmas) and well worth a read.

[Longfordian]

Homicide by David Simon is a fantastic book on the city of Baltimore (re-released before xmas) and well worth a read.

Read that recently. Great read, you really got a feel for the police work done in the city at the time (it was written back in 1987 or 1988). It was interesting to read it after having seen The Wire and see the way certain incidents referred to in the book had popped up in The Wire.

[Scrufil]

Neither. I watched a small amount of each and didn't like them one bit.

[Pike B]

Just started The West Wing. Great stuff, but no Sopranos..

[Row Z]

Just watched the last episode of the Wire last night.
Have to say its the best programme ive ever watched. thought it excellant, with some great charachters.altho it can be difficult at times trying to keep up with some of them. very intelligent programme. think it trumps Soprano's just on the story lines alone. What i really liked about it is when they bring back charachters for cameo appearances, did anyone notice Nick Sobotka at the Docks shouting at Carcetti? when he was press conference-ing a redevelopment?
Dont get me wrong, i love Soprano's and thought it the best thing ever, until the Wire.
have the book from David Simon to get me through the next few months...

[Pike B]

Just watched the last episode of the Wire last night.
Have to say its the best programme ive ever watched. thought it excellant, with some great charachters.altho it can be difficult at times trying to keep up with some of them. very intelligent programme. think it trumps Soprano's just on the story lines alone. What i really liked about it is when they bring back charachters for cameo appearances, did anyone notice Nick Sobotka at the Docks shouting at Carcetti? when he was press conference-ing a redevelopment?
Dont get me wrong, i love Soprano's and thought it the best thing ever, until the Wire.
have the book from David Simon to get me through the next few months...
Sopranos was the best thing ever, until The Wire?? And I suppose next month something will takeover from that??

Class is permenant my friend, I suggest you get the Sopranos boxset and realise why you once thought it number one. Because it is number one..

[Docboy]

I'm back watching The Sopranos again at the moment and was surprised to see Omar popping up in season 2, where he houses Jackie Jr before he gets whacked.

Funny the amount of people that dislike his character at first in The Wire, presumably because he's gay, only for him to turn into one of their favourites. And I'd include myself in that list before anyone asks..

[Row Z]

Pike B, ive watched the Soprano's, twice(and am a proud owner of the boxset) and only finished watching it the second time in Sept and i do think The Wire is a better programme than it, "my friend". im not knocking the Soprano's at all, just feel the Wire has better story development than soprano's altho some of the charachters in New Jersey are streets ahead of their B-more counterparts....

[Neish]

I'm back watching The Sopranos again at the moment and was surprised to see Omar popping up in season 2, where he houses Jackie Jr before he gets whacked.

Funny the amount of people that dislike his character at first in The Wire, presumably because he's gay, only for him to turn into one of their favourites. And I'd include myself in that list before anyone asks..

Always liked Omar the man had Principles

[geysir]

Nothing more reassuring than the sight of Omar striding down the hood with the dealers shaking at the mere mention of his name and throwing their readies out of the window.

The Sopranos had a very good first series, after that it veered towards soap and didn't interest me. The various plots in the later series were stretched out and didn't even get me curious.
The Wire is tops, not perfect but utterly compelling, an education. I'd rank series 2 (on the waterfront) as my favourite.

[cheifo]

Somebody, somewhere said the Wire is due to be shown on BBC2 sometime.
Sorry to be so vague:) but I am looking forward to seeing it.

[Hitman]

Somebody, somewhere said the Wire is due to be shown on BBC2 sometime.
Sorry to be so vague:) but I am looking forward to seeing it.

Starting on Monday 30th at 23.20.

[Neish]

Starting on Monday 30th at 23.20.

Are they starting from season 1?

[Hitman]

Are they starting from season 1?

Indeed.

[Neish]

Indeed.

Cool will be good to see it all from the start again

[Rashers Baptisa]

I prefer the Wire. I would also suggest the Shield and Battlestar Galactica are worthy contenders for best TV show!

[Wangball]

I prefer the Wire. I would also suggest the Shield and Battlestar Galactica are worthy contenders for best TV show!

100% agree about the Shield....not so sure about Battlestar Gallactica though!

Have been long advocating The Shield, would watch it over the wire any day of the week, thats not to say I didn't enjoy the Wire though....Am quite embarrassed to admit that I have never ever watched a single episode of The Soprano's....its my (not so) secret shame and I realise it needs to be urgently remedied....box sets are on order!

[jumping jac]

Sopranos.

[OwlsFan]

Just watched the 5 series of the Wire through on dvd. As a huge Soprano fan (the dream bit aside), I would still prefer the Sopranos. No sure I was gone on the docks, schooling and newspaper angles in some of the series. I also felt the characters weren't as scary as they are in the Sopranos. That said I enjoyed the Wire hugely and both series are excellent.

[Boo_Boy]

Never seen the Sopranos, wish I had watched It now growing up, would always turn the channel. So I have to go with The Wire, terrific show. But I'll start watching The Sopranos when I'm finished with Entourage(Season 2).

[drummerboy]

Loved The Sopranos. Only got into The Wire when BBC2 started showing it a few months ago and am absolutely hooked. Season 5 started last night and its even more promising that the other four.

[don ramo]

watched the sopranos, great show, half way through the west wing, so far i think its better than the sopranos, theres a lot to take in in the west wing, so i had to take a break half way through season 3 (my brain was being fried:o), and now im making my way through house, im on season 5 now, so i can get back to the west wing as soon as im done,

the buddy has the shield and the wire, seeing as i gave him sopranos i see no problem getting them off him:D,

also battlestar gallactica is a great show, not my favourite sci-fi show but up there, caprica should be a good show when its out, itll be set on a planet rather than space, watched the pilot looks like itd be a good show to get into,

anyway to get a poll going between the sopranos, the wire, the shield, the west wing and battlestar gallactica

[gilberto_eire]

Only finished watching The Wire now.

I had watched through The Sopranos twice before i came across this thread MANY months ago, and having only heard of the The Wire by name(or nothing more) decided i'd stop reading the thread and bookmark it to watch, got through the first two seasons a while back and only got the chance to watch 3,4,5 over the past few weeks.

Up to season 3 The Wire was flawless IMO, easily the best show i've ever watched, i was hooked. But i feel it went down a bit for the last 2 seasons. The introduction of all the young boys was a bit off key with the setting up till then, and they abandoned the majority of them again for season 5, replacing the air time with the newspaper crew. The whole newspaper angle was the biggest let down, the kids at least fed into the whole education side of it, but the newspaper piece just seemed to start and stop with the guy who was lying.
I think maybe if they went like season 2 and a fresh case while Marlo played off in the background(as Barksdales crew did in season 2) it might have been able to produce 2 more epic seasons.

Overall i'd prob give it to The Wire, mainly because it kept switching things up and the only factor that stayed the same were the characters themselves while everything around them changed as the years passed, it provided a lot more character development which was most evident in Bubbles journey. The only obvious thing that happened was the poisoned heroine, but from a wider POV it linked his whole story up magically.

Omar was probably the pick though. A bit like Tea Bag in Prison Break you really get to like him and i'd say most were certain he'd have the perfect ending,(take down Marlo and ride off into the sunset) and then your hit with his demise in a way you never expected.

[gilberto_eire]

Only finished watching The Wire now.

I had watched through The Sopranos twice before i came across this thread MANY months ago, and having only heard of the The Wire by name(or nothing more) decided i'd stop reading the thread and bookmark it to watch, got through the first two seasons a while back and only got the chance to watch 3,4,5 over the past few weeks.

Up to season 3, The Wire was flawless IMO, easily the best show i'd ever watched, i was hooked. But i feel it went down hill a bit for the 3rd and 4th seasons.

The introduction of all the young boys was a bit off key with the setting up till then, and they abandoned the majority of them for season 5, replacing the air time with the newspaper crew.

The whole newspaper angle was the biggest let down, at least the kids fed into the whole education side of it, but the newspaper piece just seemed to start and stop with the guy who was lying.

I think maybe if they went like season 2, and introduced a fresh case while Marlo played off in the background(as Barksdales crew did in season 2) it might have been able to produce 2 more epic seasons.

Overall i'd prob give it to The Wire, mainly because it kept switching things up and the only factor that stayed the same were the characters themselves while everything around them changed as the years passed. It provided a lot more character development which was most evident in Bubbles journey.

The only obvious road the show took was the poisoned heroine, but from a wider POV it linked his whole story up magically.

Omar was probably the pick though. A bit like Tea Bag in Prison Break you really get to like him and i'd say most were certain he'd have the perfect ending(take down Marlo and ride off into the sunset) and then your hit with his demise in a way you never expected.

[Neish]

Only finished watching The Wire now.

I had watched through The Sopranos twice before i came across this thread MANY months ago, and having only heard of the The Wire by name(or nothing more) decided i'd stop reading the thread and bookmark it to watch, got through the first two seasons a while back and only got the chance to watch 3,4,5 over the past few weeks.

Up to season 3, The Wire was flawless IMO, easily the best show i'd ever watched, i was hooked. But i feel it went down hill a bit for the 3rd and 4th seasons.

The introduction of all the young boys was a bit off key with the setting up till then, and they abandoned the majority of them for season 5, replacing the air time with the newspaper crew.

The whole newspaper angle was the biggest let down, at least the kids fed into the whole education side of it, but the newspaper piece just seemed to start and stop with the guy who was lying.

I think maybe if they went like season 2, and introduced a fresh case while Marlo played off in the background(as Barksdales crew did in season 2) it might have been able to produce 2 more epic seasons.

Overall i'd prob give it to The Wire, mainly because it kept switching things up and the only factor that stayed the same were the characters themselves while everything around them changed as the years passed. It provided a lot more character development which was most evident in Bubbles journey.

The only obvious road the show took was the poisoned heroine, but from a wider POV it linked his whole story up magically.

Omar was probably the pick though. A bit like Tea Bag in Prison Break you really get to like him and i'd say most were certain he'd have the perfect ending(take down Marlo and ride off into the sunset) and then your hit with his demise in a way you never expected.

TBH Season 4 was my 2nd favourite after Season 2. I liked all the young'uns in it, afaik it meant to show how not many last long in the game they are either dead or in jail and the crews get younger and ypounger every year. Season 5 was my least favourite but I think they were trying to show how the American(not just the American media I may add) media only report on what they think will sell and will go with a story and the facts and truth often are ignored