Completely lost after 5 (6?) episodes

pickarooney

I started watching the Wire about a year back, quite liked the pilot but never got round to watching any more. So recently I watched it again and the next four or five episodes over about two months. For one reason or another - mostly from watching too late or having had a few drinks or basically not feeling anything for any of the characters - I am utterly lost as to what's going on. I just switched off half-way through episode six, unsure if Id already watched it or not, and not knowing who anybody was or what they were doing. Could anyone sum up in a few paragraphs what exactly is supposed to be happening in this show, what the focus is or who the main characters and their motivation is. I know it's lazy, but I can't bring myself to watch six hours of it over again just to get back to square one.

Boston

The Wire is too good for you. You don't deserve to watch it. I really can't believe what I'm reading. If you can't be arsed to watch it properly, you shouldn't watch it.

DeepBlue

pickarooney wrote: »

Could anyone sum up in a few paragraphs what exactly is supposed to be happening in this show, what the focus is or who the main characters and their motivation is.

Sure, no problem.
The first six episodes are about homicide cops and drug dealers and there's a few strippers in there somewhere as well.

Hope that helps .

Jim

Give it some time and watch it from the start again properly. You'll thank yourself.

dubmick

stick with it. It took me until the end of series one to get hooked.

pickarooney

I started reading the recaps on Television Without Pity to fill in the blanks - FFS, after four episodes there are more characters than the whole of War and Peace. So I found this - at least now I have pictures and names (a bit of life imitating art there) and relative positions (and unfortunately a load of spoilers, which I was trying to avoid) but f@ck me if it's not a big old mess of subdivisions and cliques. How on earth do you guys keep tabs on who's who and what's going on?

tvnutz

That's part of what makes it so great,also why it didn't do well in the ratings. I remember by the end of my first watch of season 1 I was still getting a lot of the characters confused,and that was probably due to watching it on FX with week breaks between episodes and ad breaks. Rewatcing it on dvd and not letting 2 months go by and having only watched 5 episodes!, you pick it all up. Best watched on dvd and you have to watch the whole season. I have probably said this a million times but it really is like a novel,you can't read just half the novel or pick it up mid way through,you have to read it all.

godtabh

The HBO website is very good. I always go back there from time to time to check things out.

As tvnutz point out this show makes you think. Its not like the rest of crap out there that tells what to thing (I hate CSI for this reason alone). It makes you work to get invested in it. That doenst go down well in America were the attention span is probably less than that of a fish

Ajos

kearnsr wrote: »

<snip>... It makes you work to get invested in it. That doenst go down well in America were the attention span is probably less than that of a fish

Oh, please. Does it not occur to you that there is no other country in the world that could have produced this show in the first place, and then let it run for five seasons? What paragon of Irish TV would you stack up against The Wire? Or even the relatively poor CSI? And do tell how The Wire is the most watched program in Irish TV history, late nights on TG4.

Lazy thinking. Knee jerk insults. BS.

Jim

Ajos wrote: »

Oh, please. Does it not occur to you that there is no other country in the world that could have produced this show in the first place, and then let it run for five seasons? What paragon of Irish TV would you stack up against The Wire? Or even the relatively poor CSI? And do tell how The Wire is the most watched program in Irish TV history, late nights on TG4.

Lazy thinking. Knee jerk insults. BS.

I reckon England could have produced it. He wasn't making a remark on the American tv industry, but rather the audience (having said that it seems that HBO really make the only tv worth watching). I reckon his remark on the American audience not being interested in tv show like The Wire because it is too indepth and doesn't spoon feed its audience is largely true, although it is a sweeping generalisation. Ratings suggest this. Cancellation of other (excellent) shows on other networks because of poor ratings suggest this. HBO thankfully seem to be more interested in making quality tv rather than the money they make (although I'm sure they made a mint on the dvd sales alone)

Ajos

I know what he was remarking on. It's not really possible to divide the TV industry from the audience they make programs for, is it? No audience for the product = no TV industry. If you think HBO is an altruistic corporation interested only in donating quality TV to the world I have a bridge to sell you.

And sure The Wire is minority programming, but that's true everywhere it's shown, not just the US. And mainstream US shows are routinely better and smarter than those of pretty much anywhere else in the world. Lost, House, 24, The Simpsons... all on mainstream, non subscription, ad supported channels; all uncancelled after a number of years.

I know that naming specific shows is risking derailing the thread completely ("House? Smart? You must be crazy..!" etc.) but knee jerk America(n) bashing really gets on my nerves. I hate Bush too, but please, let's not extrapolate too much!

godtabh

Ajos wrote: »

Oh, please. Does it not occur to you that there is no other country in the world that could have produced this show in the first place, and then let it run for five seasons? What paragon of Irish TV would you stack up against The Wire? Or even the relatively poor CSI? And do tell how The Wire is the most watched program in Irish TV history, late nights on TG4.

Lazy thinking. Knee jerk insults. BS.

Ajos wrote: »

I know what he was remarking on. It's not really possible to divide the TV industry from the audience they make programs for, is it? No audience for the product = no TV industry. If you think HBO is an altruistic corporation interested only in donating quality TV to the world I have a bridge to sell you.

And sure The Wire is minority programming, but that's true everywhere it's shown, not just the US. And mainstream US shows are routinely better and smarter than those of pretty much anywhere else in the world. Lost, House, 24, The Simpsons... all on mainstream, non subscription, ad supported channels; all uncancelled after a number of years.

I know that naming specific shows is risking derailing the thread completely ("House? Smart? You must be crazy..!" etc.) but knee jerk America(n) bashing really gets on my nerves. I hate Bush too, but please, let's not extrapolate too much!

Back on topic please. No more ranting. No more warnings. Any one mentions Bush or any crap like that they'll be saying bye bye for awhile.

Jimeatsmenu is spot on with what I was thinking. It was a generalisation but I think it was a very balanced generalisation in that it can be backed up with things like ratings and awards.

Ajos

Apology proffered.

Sherifu

pickarooney wrote: »

I started reading the recaps on Television Without Pity to fill in the blanks - FFS, after four episodes there are more characters than the whole of War and Peace. So I found this - at least now I have pictures and names (a bit of life imitating art there) and relative positions (and unfortunately a load of spoilers, which I was trying to avoid) but f@ck me if it's not a big old mess of subdivisions and cliques. How on earth do you guys keep tabs on who's who and what's going on?

At the start it can be a bit hard to remember everything but once you get into it... It's damn good storytelling.

tvnutz

Ajos wrote: »

I know what he was remarking on. It's not really possible to divide the TV industry from the audience they make programs for, is it? No audience for the product = no TV industry. If you think HBO is an altruistic corporation interested only in donating quality TV to the world I have a bridge to sell you.

And sure The Wire is minority programming, but that's true everywhere it's shown, not just the US. And mainstream US shows are routinely better and smarter than those of pretty much anywhere else in the world. Lost, House, 24, The Simpsons... all on mainstream, non subscription, ad supported channels; all uncancelled after a number of years.

I know that naming specific shows is risking derailing the thread completely ("House? Smart? You must be crazy..!" etc.) but knee jerk America(n) bashing really gets on my nerves. I hate Bush too, but please, let's not extrapolate too much!

I like House,I watch Lost,not sure what I think about it at the moment even tough I am enjoying this season,the Simpsons is a joke compared it what it was. The point is all these shows are neat and tidy (except for Lost) and they tie up all your loose ends at the end of the episode because people don't like to think that far ahead. There will be maybe one or two storylines that arch over the whole season but beyond that American audiences can't handle that.Veronica Mars did that in season 1 but people couldn't handle it,they couldn't follow all the storylines. There is a reason reailty tv shows are so high rated,in every country really. intelligent comdies like Arrested Development don't do as well as friends because it has no laugh track telling people when to laugh.

Ajos

Kearnsr has pointed out that this isn't the place for this discussion, and he's right. But I feel I have to defend my point. Mods, delete at will.

You are right that neat and tidy shows do better than open ended shows. My point is that this is not a uniquely American phenomenon. Has The Wire been beating Lost in the Irish viewing figures? And in fact in Ireland The Wire is more widely available than it is in the USA, where only about 10% of homes receive HBO. Everyone can see TG4. So why say that Americans are stupid when Irish people display very similar viewing tastes?

On topic:

As others have said, The Wire needs more attention than other shows, but it really pays off. It always takes a few episodes to get the new characters straight even if you're watching carefully, and there are new characters in every season.

I recently watched the first four seasons for the second time, and I was blows away by how much detail and foreshadowing I had missed in the early episodes of each season because I hadn't got the characters straight yet. Plus hindsight, obviously!

Dennis the Stone

pickarooney wrote: »

but f@ck me if it's not a big old mess of subdivisions and cliques. How on earth do you guys keep tabs on who's who and what's going on?

Just like a real big city police department... God forbid that there should be some realism on television

Dennis the Stone

Ajos wrote: »

Everyone can see TG4. So why say that Americans are stupid when Irish people display very similar viewing tastes?

The general public [Ireland and America] are dimwits. Or at the very least have extremely bad taste in everything. Look at the music charts, the book charts, etc. etc.

godtabh

Tago Mago wrote: »

The general public [Ireland and America] are dimwits. Or at the very least have extremely bad taste in everything. Look at the music charts, the book charts, etc. etc.

Thats just free choice. People can watch want they want when they want.

Last time.

Stay on topic

tvnutz

kearnsr wrote: »

Thats just free choice. People can watch want they want when they want.

Last time.

Stay on topic

I don't see how this is off topic. Based on the OP's first post we have gone into the discussion of why the Wire does not get good ratings. David Simon himself has had discussions about tv viewers in general. To quote him "Some people are actually watching this Paris Hilton $hit".

As for Ajos' point,I agree that it is not just American Viewers,I mean you can see that Godforsaken Your a Star is highly rated,but on your point about Tg4,it may be available but in general people don't wtch it because it is an Irish language tv station. The top rated show this week was a GAA match which only got 212,000 viewers,not a lot overall. The Wire has gotten up tp 80,000 on TG4,not bad at all when you see what the top rated show is getting.

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

I don't see how this is off topic. Based on the OP's first post we have gone into the discussion of why the Wire does not get good ratings. David Simon himself has had discussions about tv viewers in general. To quote him "Some people are actually watching this Paris Hilton $hit".

Fair enough but a least try and keep it focused on The Wire. Thats what I was trying to say!

tvnutz

kearnsr wrote: »

Fair enough but a least try and keep it focused on The Wire. Thats what I was trying to say!

Ye I agree there,no going off on tangents about Bush or anything of the like! But it is an interesting discussion about exactly why such a great show doesn't get the viewers.

Lainey

i am addicted to this show.. only seen bits and pieces on tv (fx) and was too impatient to wait on next episodes.. rented first three series in xtravision last two long weekends and loved it.. thinkin i'll just buy them now.. little bit of everythin in there, murder, office politics, street politics, a whole new english language to be learned, few heartstrings tugged, naughtiness and of course, a few fine bodies thrown in for the easily distracted AHEM..