The Wire

[Flashman]

Also, I don't think that the writer is very good with black characters.

Some n00b may go for that...

Anyway I'm starting again looking like it's a yearly thing, fucked it really though as I've lent out half the fucking series

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Some n00b may go for that...

Anyway I'm starting again looking like it's a yearly thing, fucked it really though as I've lent out half the fucking series

What is there to go for? Some of the more paranoid types seem to think that everything I type is part of some sort of nefarious plot...... Life's actually too short for that. What I've said, is my opinion about the Wire. It is possible to hold this opinion, you know.

 

[spring-peeper]

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'm not getting involved with you, and I'm certainly not falling for the old chestnut of turning it to be about me.

I refer you to the post you quoted and look forward to a response to the middle para.

But my response sort of is about you.......

You come on calling me names, so it makes me wonder, why is this person getting so hot under the collar about something so trivial. But I agree, best to just let it alone.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Actually,

I'm out of town, just had a nap and a shower, on my way to a nice dinner. Even the cold weather outside is kind of fun..... for a day or two.

 

[Flashman]

What is there to go for? Some of the more paranoid types seem to think that everything I type is part of some sort of nefarious plot...... Life's actually too short for that. What I've said, is my opinion about the Wire. It is possible to hold this opinion, you know.

It is possible of course, but similarly with Dwyer, it's all a bit "the boy who cried wolf" isn't it.

I, and countless others, don't believe a fucking word either of you say. Which is, at the back of it all, a shame really, but you've made your bed...

 

[spring-peeper]

.

 

[spanglechick]

Mad Men is better.

No. No it's not.

more humour in the wire. unless you envy don draper's aesthetic etc (and weird as it is, i have to accept not everyone does), there's little by way of cool character to be rooting for.

that said, Madmen has better writing, design and direction - and is a more creative piece of dramamaking.

and if you do love the aesthetic, it's no less than hypnotic. I lo ve MAd Men more than the wire, but i'd recommend the wire to more people (and true blood to even more than that).

i sent season one of Mad men to my mum. thought she'd like it being born in the mid forties. dunno yet whether she liked itthat said, .

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It is possible of course, but similarly with Dwyer, it's all a bit "the boy who cried wolf" isn't it.

I, and countless others, don't believe a fucking word either of you say. Which is, at the back of it all, a shame really, but you've made your bed...

Flashman doesn't believe a word I say.

Life as I know it is over.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Maybe this is the problem. You're sitting there in your housing, and you're a drug user? And this show comes on, and it's Baltimore, and it's so cool with the hoamees, and it doesn't matter if you can't understand the dialogue, that just gives it more grit , and it's like, unity between people, here and there, and you're a part of it, and like, life is just so hard.

And who am I to come in between this level of unity? If people are grooving with the bros, it can only be a good thing.

 

[DotCommunist]

heh, some of us are young enough to have grown up on a diet of naughty hip hop and and police dramas.

Sorry dude, you are simply to old to understand how the kids get it

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

heh, some of us are young enough to have grown up on a diet of naughty hip hop and and police dramas.

Sorry dude, you are simply to old to understand how the kids get it

The guy who wrote the show, the guy who wrote the words that come out of the mouths of the cool black street people, is a white guy around my age, born in 1960, long before hip hop was invented.

I saw the actor who played Avon Barksdale, in some other drama. He was of average or better acting ability. I'd wondered if the acting in the wire was the fault of the actors or the writers. Seeing this guy in another drama, answered that question for me.

 

[London_Calling]

The guy who wrote the show, the guy who wrote the words that come out of the mouths of the cool black street people, is a white guy around my age, born in 1960, long before hip hop was invented.

The first level of ignorance is in using the faux description "the guy who wrote the show": The choices are either that 'the guy' is the show runner, that he shaped the story arc - the story guy, or he wrote the episide teleplay. These are separate jobs though one person may do more than one.

The second level of ignorance is to iassume David Simon wrote each teleplay when he wrote perhaps 30%, including only the first and last of S5.

The third level of ignorance is to assume steet 'consultants' weren't used at every stage of the writing process.

The fourth level of ignorance is what I've already mentioned, I've seen no criticism from anywhere in the black community whether in Baltimore or more generally - and we're still waiting for your examples, asked for now for the third time.

You'll notice each of those refers to straight forward factual inaccuracies.

 

[Reno]

more humour in the wire. unless you envy don draper's aesthetic etc (and weird as it is, i have to accept not everyone does), there's little by way of cool character to be rooting for.

that said, Madmen has better writing, design and direction - and is a more creative piece of dramamaking.

and if you do love the aesthetic, it's no less than hypnotic. I lo ve MAd Men more than the wire, but i'd recommend the wire to more people (and true blood to even more than that).

i sent season one of Mad men to my mum. thought she'd like it being born in the mid forties. dunno yet whether she liked itthat said, .

There is some very dark humor in Mad Men which is to be gotten out of certain attitudes of that period, but otherwise I agree with you. I don't actually see how the two shows could compare, they are completely different apart from that they both are first rate US drama shows.

The Wire's achievement was that it got me interested in characters and subject matter I generally have no interest in. Mad Men deals with things that are already close to me, like old movies, an approach to period drama that follows the quote "the past as another country", 60s rather than ghetto cool, mid-20th century design. Betty Draper making yet another entrance looking dazzling in a Grace Kelly/Tippi Hedren way just get's me more excited than another gangland killing.

 

[goldenecitrone]

Try reading The Corner. They spent over a year hanging out with dealers and users in Baltimore. A couple of the people in the corner ended up working on or being in The Wire.

Forgot about that one. So that's where he got his other side of the dialogue from. May give it a go after I've finished with the Pregnant Widow.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

The first level of ignorance is in using the faux description "the guy who wrote the show": The choices are either that 'the guy' is the show runner, that he shaped the story arc - the story guy, or he wrote the episide teleplay. These are separate jobs though one person may do more than one.
.

Simon was the executive producer, head writer, and show runner. The show is his baby, and his vision and direction will inform every episode, and all that occurs within.

The fourth level of ignorance is what I've already mentioned, I've seen no criticism from anywhere in the black community whether in Baltimore or more generally - and we're still waiting for your examples, asked for now for the third time.

Back when I cared enough to do so, I researched the makeup of the Wire's audience. Although it wasn't nonexistent, a black viewership was notably absent. In fact, a viewership was notably absent. The show received poor ratings.

 

[belboid]

your 'research' was quickly shown to be ill-informed bollocks tho JC. Utterly worthless

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

your 'research' was quickly shown to be ill-informed bollocks tho JC. Utterly worthless

Perhaps in your recollection.

Given that you responded within two or three minutes, it means you didn't have time to go back and review the old thread, meaning that you're going by memory, about a thread more than a year old.

 

[Orang Utan]

The guy who wrote the show, the guy who wrote the words that come out of the mouths of the cool black street people, is a white guy around my age, born in 1960, long before hip hop was invented.

I saw the actor who played Avon Barksdale, in some other drama. He was of average or better acting ability. I'd wondered if the acting in the wire was the fault of the actors or the writers. Seeing this guy in another drama, answered that question for me.

i've seen him playing hendrix in some tv biopic on youtube - not good!

 

[belboid]

Perhaps in your recollection.

Given that you responded within two or three minutes, it means you didn't have time to go back and review the old thread, meaning that you're going by memory, about a thread more than a year old.

well your attempts to justify your argument were spectacularly awful. dismissing the superbowl as a minor game

 

[Nanker Phelge]

In fact, a viewership was notably absent. The show received poor ratings.

It was getting around 4.4million viewers across all HBO Platforms up until Season 5...which had around 3.4 million for the first Episode.

This quickly tailed off to under a million per Episode (around the 800,000 mark).

Additional viewers caught up via HBO's on demand services, which for the final season was 5 times as many as previous Season.

In short viewers began to access the show in different ways.

I suspect it had also picked up a lot of viewers via DVD.

I never saw it on TV.....and have stopped watching any news shows as they air.

 

[Yossarian]

The fourth level of ignorance is what I've already mentioned, I've seen no criticism from anywhere in the black community whether in Baltimore or more generally

Has JC2 been expelled from the black community or something?

The Wire's a great show and fine entertainment but you seem to have mistaken it for a documentary.

 

[Yossarian]

Stuff White People Like #85: The Wire

For the past three years, whenever you say “The Wire” white people are required to respond by saying “it’s the best show on television.” Try it the next time you see a white person! Though now they might say “it WAS the best show on television.”

So why do they love it so much? It all comes down to authenticity. A long time ago, someone started a rumor that when The Wire is on TV, actual police wires go quiet because all the dealers are watching the show. Though this is not true, it seems plausible enough to white people and has imbued the show with the needed authenticity to be deemed acceptable

If you need to impress a white person, tell them you are from Baltimore. They will immediately ask you about The Wire and how accurate it is. You should confirm that it is “like a documentary of the streets,” the white person will then slowly shake their head and say “man” or “wow.” You will be seen in an entirely new light.


http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03/09/85-the-wire/

 

[Reno]

If you need to impress a white person, tell them you are from Baltimore. They will immediately ask you about The Wire and how accurate it is.

...unless they are a white gay person. In which case they will immediately ask you about John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Hairspray) and how accurate it is.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

...unless they are a white gay person. In which case they will immediately ask you about John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Hairspray) and how accurate it is.

Before I watched The Wire I thought all men in Baltimore dressed like this...

 

[Dillinger4]

I would like to see a collaboration between John Waters and David Simon.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

dismissing the superbowl as a minor game

Are we talking about the same thread?

 

[Orang Utan]

...unless they are a white gay person. In which case they will immediately ask you about John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Hairspray) and how accurate it is.

he's in homicide a couple of times as a barman

 

[Reno]

Waters is a fan on the Wire and he turns up on some of the extras on The Wire DVDs in interviews.

 

[Idris2002]

Stuff White People Like #85: The Wire

For the past three years, whenever you say “The Wire” white people are required to respond by saying “it’s the best show on television.” Try it the next time you see a white person! Though now they might say “it WAS the best show on television.”

So why do they love it so much? It all comes down to authenticity. A long time ago, someone started a rumor that when The Wire is on TV, actual police wires go quiet because all the dealers are watching the show. Though this is not true, it seems plausible enough to white people and has imbued the show with the needed authenticity to be deemed acceptable

If you need to impress a white person, tell them you are from Baltimore. They will immediately ask you about The Wire and how accurate it is. You should confirm that it is “like a documentary of the streets,” the white person will then slowly shake their head and say “man” or “wow.” You will be seen in an entirely new light.


http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03/09/85-the-wire/

Someone needs to take the wee lad who does 'Stuff White People Like' aside and tell him 'dude, don't be a hater'.