Just finding out about the greatness of The Sopranos

[Yeagermeister]

Except The Wire doesn't have near the following or the acclaim as The Sopranos. And there's a reason for that.

It's more like comparing The Beatles and some underground local band that has a strong, but small, following.

The Wire wasn't hyped as much.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Except The Wire doesn't have near the following or the acclaim as The Sopranos. And there's a reason for that.

It's more like comparing The Beatles and some underground local band that has a strong, but small, following.

Next you will be in here telling us how great Paris Hilton and The Hills are just because they have a massage following.

100 Best TV Shows of All-Time

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[theogt]

The Wire wasn't hyped as much.

Correction, The Wire never generated as much hype.

Next you will be in here telling us how great Paris Hilton and The Hills are just because they have a massage following.

100 Best TV Shows of All-Time

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Do Paris Hilton and The Hills also have rave critical reviews as well? Of course not.

It's one thing to have rave critical reviews. It's another to be hugely popular. It's a whole other thing to have both rave reviews and be astoundingly popular. It puts you in a different league.

 

[jem88]

Except The Wire doesn't have near the following or the acclaim as The Sopranos. And there's a reason for that.

It's more like comparing The Beatles and some underground local band that has a strong, but small, following.

You obviously haven't been paying attention if you think The Wire doesn't have anywhere near the acclaim of The Sopranos. As for following, I couldn't care less. John Grisham probably has a bigger following these days than George Orwell, yet we all know which is better.

 

[theogt]

You obviously haven't been paying attention if you think The Wire doesn't have anywhere near the acclaim of The Sopranos. As for following, I couldn't care less. John Grisham probably has a bigger following these days than George Orwell, yet we all know which is better.

You obviously didn't read my latest post in this thread.

 

[jem88]

For me, The Sopranos reached levels that no other show has reached. Examples of the top of my head:

- I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano
- The Test Dream
- Pine Barrens
- Fun House

However, The Sopranos was also capable of the occasional throwaway plot-line. The best example being Vito's arc in season six. In fact, I'd say season six was a 50/50 proposition in terms of excellent vs. mediocre fare.

The Wire on the other hand, didn't have a single episode that compared to those that I mentioned. But, I also can't think of a single bad episode, nor a plot-thread that was irrelevant to the series arc.

Again, for me, it's just about impossible to choose one over the other. I've been more into The Wire lately, but on balance, it's a tie for me. I'm incredibly thankful that I've been around for two such incredible pieces of art.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Correction, The Wire never generated as much hype.

Do Paris Hilton and The Hills also have rave critical reviews as well? Of course not.

It's one thing to have rave critical reviews. It's another to be hugely popular. It's a whole other thing to have both rave reviews and be astoundingly popular. It puts you in a different league.

You have your opinion and I have mine. The Wire is just as good as The Sopranos IMO. If you don't agree.....well then you are wrong

 

[jem88]

You obviously didn't read my latest post in this thread.

Sure I did, but that doesn't change what you originally said, that The Wire doesn't have the following or the acclaim of The Sopranos. Maybe it doesn't have the combination of the two, but it certainly has the acclaim. As for following (ie. popularity), I've explained why that's irrelevant.

 

[theogt]

Sure I did, but that doesn't change what you originally said, that The Wire doesn't have the following or the acclaim of The Sopranos. Maybe it doesn't have the combination of the two, but it certainly has the acclaim. As for following (ie. popularity), I've explained why that's irrelevant.

No, you didn't explain why it's irrelevant. You explained why popularity alone is irrelevant.

 

[jem88]

No, you didn't explain why it's irrelevant. You explained why popularity alone is irrelevant.

Yes, that's exactly what I just said. Following (ie. popularity) is irrelevant to quality (unless you feel American Idol is the pinnacle of artistic achievement.)

You claimed The Wire doesn't have the acclaim or the following (ie. popularity) of The Sopranos. You didn't say the combination of the two (to which I'd concede that Sopranos has the edge.)

To put it in football terms, what you said was the equivalent of saying Tony Dorsett didn't have the skill or productivity of Emmitt Smith. To which any right-minded football fan would argue that in fact, Dorsett did have the skill but not the productivity, and if we go on a combination of the two, Emmitt was better.

Understand?

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Normally I typically only watch Japanese Anime. But in the last year or so, I have been watching highly regarded series that ended such as The Wire and The West Wing.

I have now just started the first season of The Sopranos to see what the big fuss is about. I have to tell you Tony Soprano has to be one of the greatest TV Series characters I have ever seen.

As I stated, I am on Season one, but which season is regarded as the best season? A friend of mine said Season two is the best.

This show is extremely good.

The show is good show. Definitely not written in the conventional sense.

For me, I didnt even watch season 1 when it started. I went to my parents house and my parents were watching it. I said what is this... they said The Sopranos. I wasnt interested. I saw Tony and company and they just looked funny.(If you look back now even moreso lol)

But come season 2. I was watching every episode. I didnt miss one from that point on.


The BEST seasons. For me... the seasons in which their is the whacking of the most hated Tony rivals(I wont say how many or who they are).

Get back to me when you wrap up all the seasons lol

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Why do people think The Wire didn't have any critical acclaim?

Yes, HBO's 'Wire' is challenging. It's also a masterpiece.

The best TV show of all time

The 100 Best TV Shows of All Time

100 Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart
To me, what allows “The Wire” to surpass “The Sopranos” in the pantheon of greatest American TV shows is its ambition and its anger.

100 TV Guide Matt Roush
This is TV as great modern literature, a shattering and heartbreaking urban epic about a city (Baltimore) rotting from within.

100 Newsday Verne Gay
A critic for this paper once declared "The Wire" "the greatest dramatic series ever produced for television" and as the fourth season gets under way Sunday night, there's no reason to quibble with that assessment.

100 San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman
The breadth and ambition of "The Wire" are unrivaled and that taken cumulatively over the course of a season -- any season -- it's an astonishing display of writing, acting and storytelling that must be considered alongside the best literature and filmmaking in the modern era.

100 Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
If you have only one hour a week for television, give it to "The Wire."

100 Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray
The best show on television.

100 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
If there ever was a series that makes HBO a necessity, "The Wire" is it.

100 USA Today Robert Bianco
Brilliant, scathing, sprawling, The Wire has turned our indifference to urban decay into a TV achievement of the highest order.

100Variety Brian Lowry
When television history is written, little else will rival "The Wire," a series of such extraordinary depth and ambition that it is, perhaps inevitably, savored only by an appreciative few.

100 Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn
The best series on TV, period. [15 Sep 2006, p.63]

100 New York Post Adam Buckman
One of the finest TV shows ever made.

100 The New York Times Virginia Heffernan
This season of “The Wire” will knock the breath out of you.

100 San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
If you stick with it, you will be rewarded with some of the most compelling, provocative drama ever produced for television.

100 Washington Post Tom Shales
So is "The Wire" as good as ever? Perhaps even better.

100 Slant Magazine Keith Uhlich
David Simon and his writers... aren't out to change the world; the slippery slope of civilization is already in place on The Wire and Simon is just out to document how each and every person survives. Or doesn't, as this season quite devastatingly proves.

100 LA Weekly Robert Abele
A vibrant, masterful work of art, HBO’s novelistic urban saga The Wire is the best show on television.

100 Salon Heather Havrilesky
Yes, it's tough to trace the relationships between various ranks within the police department and the city and state governments, but that doesn't mean this is an incredibly serious drama it takes a degree in literature to understand. "The Wire" is funny and odd and sad and, above all, engrossing.

90 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Tony Norman
"The Wire" is as complex a picaresque as one is likely to find this side of Dickens.

90 Time James Poniewozik
They have done what many well-intentioned socially minded writers have tried and failed at: written a story that is about social systems, in all their complexity, yet made it human, funny and most important of all, rivetingly entertaining.

88 New York Daily News David Hinckley
It just might be the kids, the ones who grow up too soon in the hard world of "The Wire," who steal opening night.

88 Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
Despite high praise, there are two serious problems: (a) The first new episode is crazy confusing, and (b) over the course of the first batch of episodes, the story lines don't develop quickly enough.

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If this isn't acclaim, I don't know what is...

 

[Maikeru-sama]

The show is good show. Definitely not written in the conventional sense.

For me, I didnt even watch season 1 when it started. I went to my parents house and my parents were watching it. I said what is this... they said The Sopranos. I wasnt interested. I saw Tony and company and they just looked funny.(If you look back now even moreso lol)

But come season 2. I was watching every episode. I didnt miss one from that point on.


The BEST seasons. For me... the seasons in which their is the whacking of the most hated Tony rivals(I wont say how many or who they are).

Get back to me when you wrap up all the seasons lol

Interesting.

I just bought The Season 3 Boxset.

I am in the middle of Season 2 and Chris Multisanti was just shot.

Oh, I don't think I have ever seen a bigger drama queen than Tony's mother.

I also like how they are setting up the eventual Tony Soprano/Richie Aprieu confrontation.

What is also interesting is how they depict successful Italians with ones from the Working Class and how the former is disgusted at the depiction of Italians.

 

[theogt]

Why do people think The Wire didn't have any critical acclaim?

Who said that? It didn't have the same level of critical acclaim as The Sopranos did, however.

 

[theogt]

Yes, that's exactly what I just said. Following (ie. popularity) is irrelevant to quality (unless you feel American Idol is the pinnacle of artistic achievement.)

You claimed The Wire doesn't have the acclaim or the following (ie. popularity) of The Sopranos. You didn't say the combination of the two (to which I'd concede that Sopranos has the edge.)

To put it in football terms, what you said was the equivalent of saying Tony Dorsett didn't have the skill or productivity of Emmitt Smith. To which any right-minded football fan would argue that in fact, Dorsett did have the skill but not the productivity, and if we go on a combination of the two, Emmitt was better.

Understand?

I understand that you misunderstood my posts. The Wire didn't have equal acclaim, following, or combination of the two as The Sopranos.

Understand?

Hence, not in the same league.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I have one other question. If the answers is revealed in future episodes (Season 2 and beyond) please don't answer.

In Season 1, they thought Sal or Uncle P was the informant. He disapears and then they start thinking it was Jimmy and kill him.

Of course in Season 2, we know it was Uncle P. So was Jimmy in Season 1 really an informant as well or did they make a mistake?

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Also, I would love to keep this thread about The Sopranos.

Thanks

 

[Yeagermeister]

I have one other question. If the answers is revealed in future episodes (Season 2 and beyond) please don't answer.

In Season 1, they thought Sal or Uncle P was the informant. He disapears and then they start thinking it was Jimmy and kill him.

Of course in Season 2, we know it was Uncle P. So was Jimmy in Season 1 really an informant as well or did they make a mistake?

Yes he was an imformant......hence the rat in his mouth when his body was found.

 

[jem88]

I understand that you misunderstood my posts. The Wire didn't have equal acclaim, following, or combination of the two as The Sopranos.

Understand?

Hence, not in the same league.

Except that you are in incorrect in the acclaim area. The Wire is most certainly in the same class as The Sopranos when it comes to acclaim.

Class dismissed.

 

[jem88]

Yes he was an imformant......hence the rat in his mouth when his body was found.

But I think he's asking whether that wasn't a case of mistaken identity, as Big ***** really was an informant after all.

I think you could make a case that Tony wanted it to be Jimmy to alleviate the pain of it being his best friend. He decided it was Jimmy after speaking with him in the basement. I don't believe they ever showed Jimmy working with FBI as they did with ***** and others (god I almost let slip a couple of names!)