The Wire or The Sopranos?

david75

Dead right about the grim factor in sopranos though. It's relentless.
There's barely any humour to act as a counter balance, powerful enough to redeem it.

If you're going into the sopranos, take a good long break between seasons. It's all a bit heavy handed IMO.

Elbaston

david75 wrote: »

Wrong. The wire is definitely older than breaking bad so the character copying you mention is by breaking bad.

"not copied, ive checked" might have given you some indication.

david75

Elbaston wrote: »

"not copied, ive checked" might have given you some indication.

Which character was 'borrowed'?
And who was his counterpart in the wire?

Ps Wikipedia isn't a reliable source for anything.

Elbaston

david75 wrote: »

Which character was 'borrowed'?
And who was his counterpart in the wire?

Ps Wikipedia isn't a reliable source for anything.

I aint said borrowed ...did you ?

Can you believe this fvckin guy.
Makes Stevie wonder look like one a them falcon birds.

Hey tony you hear what I said?

david75

English motherfvker!! English!!

gaffer91

Sopranos for me. Both are excellent though and I would say both are better than Breaking Bad. One slight complaint I would have about the Sopranos is that they seem to get away with murders a bit too easily.

The Wire's final soon is also pretty poor and a bit far-fetched.

Whoever mentioned Band Of Brothers I'd have to agree with, that was an excellent mini-series.

david75

gaffer91 wrote: »

Sopranos for me. Both are excellent though and I would say both are better than Breaking Bad. One slight complaint I would have about the Sopranos is that they seem to get away with murders a bit too easily.

The Wire's final soon is also pretty poor and a bit far-fetched.

Whoever mentioned Band Of Brothers I'd have to agree with, that was an excellent mini-series.

Agree completely about BOB. excellent stuff.

But does anyone even know Deadwood? The writing is Shakespearean level good and the whole thing is so consuming in the best way.

I heard it was the most expensive series HBO ever made, and they just weren't getting the numbers to keep it going which is such a shame. 3 seasons if pure genius and it was really just taking off when It was cancelled.

Voodoomelon

The official order is:

The Wire -> Breaking Bad -> Sopranos

Lots of Tony Soprano arse lickers on here, it's good to very good but doesn't exceed the other two.

Nailz

I think the Wire is great and all, but the Sopranos is by far the best television series I even saw, it's was nothing short of class.

I liked Breaking Bad, it was good; but believe me it was totally overhyped at the same time and could not possibly hold a candle to either of those two, particularly not the Sopranos.

david75

Voodoomelon wrote: »

The official order is:

The Wire -> Breaking Bad -> Sopranos

Lots of Tony Soprano arse lickers on here, it's good to very good but doesn't exceed the other two.

Good point. In fairness the OP should never have asked this question in after hours

Loads of little 30+ wanna be hardmen wishing they were funny posting from their room in their ma's house which they actually haven't moved out of ever. It's only natural they look up to Tony

Howard Juneau

Voodoomelon wrote: »

The official order is:

The Wire -> Breaking Bad -> Sopranos

Lots of Tony Soprano arse lickers on here, it's good to very good but doesn't exceed the other two.

The Wire is good, but lacks the grit & hard hitting reality of The Sopranos. Bada-bing all the way!

SEANoftheDEAD

For me The Wire wins hands down.
Sopranos close 2nd.

After that it'd be Game of Thrones and that aint even finished yet. When it is tho, the aftermath of that finale will blitz Breaking Bad.
Dont get me wrong, BB was savage, but there we're one too many far-fetched scenes that watered it down for me.

This topic should really be decussed in 6 months time when the BB buzz have clamed a bit, for now it ranks in 3rd for me, but time will tell.

anncoates

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Lots of Tony Soprano arse lickers on here, .

He's actually a TV character and as such it would be pointless to try and impress him?

Yamanoto

Howard Juneau wrote: »

The Wire is good, but lacks the grit & hard hitting reality of The Sopranos. Bada-bing all the way!

Really?

I watched both shows in their entirety & though the Soprano's had some horribly stark scenes, The Wire was often unremittingly bleak in a very ordinary kinda way - touching as it did on how poverty, drug-abuse and all pervasive sense of desperation could turn whole swathes of a city to absolute sh1t.

Dyr

I watched the sopranos series 1-4 or so over the course of a weekend.

I was referring to people as "this cocksucker" etc for about a month afterwards

david75

Yamanoto wrote: »

Really?

I watched both shows in their entirety & though the Soprano's had some horribly stark scenes, The Wire was often unremittingly bleak in a very ordinary kinda way - touching as it did on how poverty, drug-abuse and all pervasive sense of desperation could turn whole swathes of a city to absolute sh1t.

True but the wire actually manages to be funny and often hysterically funny in parts without being tv/slapstick about it.

The scene with Bunk & McNulty examining the dead girls apartment and they each only say f***************ck for the whole scene. It's genius.

DazMarz

"Are you fúcking kidding me?!" -Tony Soprano

It's The Sopranos by a country, urban and nautical mile. Brilliant so it is.

peckerhead

Retrovertigo wrote: »

The Wire and Sopranos are both decent but pale in comparison to Deadwood if you want a grittier, more brutal show to watch.

Sopranos.

Swearengen.

C***suckahhhhh!

david75

Tony! Cocksuckah! Wu! No cocksuckah!

Bak laio!!

david75

Lest we forget Calamity Jane. Dunno the actresses name but she played it brilliantly

'Be quick? BE FVCKED!!'

Elbaston

Paulie - words dont do him justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2LpILuko7w

david75

Paulie is so detestable. Yer man plays him so well.


Spoilers







Also the only other character who gets away. He just runs off in the car park. No closure on his character either way.
None on Tony's either though I guess

david75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0xulrOsgQ

[/quote]

MickFleetwood

Both are two of the best shows ever, but I prefer The Sopranos.

Dempsey

why one or the other? watch both!


im interested in deadwood now!

jd007

Go back and watch Breaking Bad again

Welruc

Cannot believe six pages and no-one has mentioned "Terra Nova"..........The mind boggles

Elbaston

Terra nova ?

lets see.

"The series follows the Shannon family as they travel 85 million years into the past to an Earth of a parallel universe"

- ah.

Fiery biscuits

It's quite pointless to compare two great shows on the premise of which one is better and it's all completely subjective. Just respect them for what they are- two of the greatest tv shows ever!

onemorechance

They are both great shows. The Sopranos edges it on humour, The Wire edges it on realism.

kowloon

anncoates wrote: »

Had high hopes but just could not get into it.

Boardwalk is treading water, I wouldn't bother giving it another shot.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Sopranos definitely

ringadingding

Season 5 of the wire was crammed full of self indulgent storylines about journalism. But Season 2 and 3 of the wire could match anything I think.

Breaking bad is the first show I've seen that carried that level of excitement into a 5th season.

The wire probably has 6 out of my top ten all time characters

Shhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttt

Seachmall

The Wire definitely takes it.

Although the final season is "meh".

zl1whqvjs75cdy

The Wire for me, although I'm on my second run through Sopranos now and have to day I'm enjoying it a lot more this time through. In my mind that's what sets Sopranos and The Wire apart from breaking bad. Now don't get me wrong I loved breaking bad, third in my list of all time shows, but I think there's more depth in the Wire and the Sopranos that is seen with subsequent watches. I'll re watch breaking bad in a years time to re assess that but for now that's what I think.

tallus

The Wire.

All I'm going to say is "the speech" that bibs gives towards the end. Unbelievable. Wire was amazing and had so many great characters.

Cienciano

ringadingding wrote: »

Season 5 of the wire was crammed full of self indulgent storylines about journalism. But Season 2 and 3 of the wire could match anything I think.

Breaking bad is the first show I've seen that carried that level of excitement into a 5th season.

The wire probably has 6 out of my top ten all time characters

Shhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttt

The journalism storys in the wire is a vital part of the entire picture.

smurgen

The sopranos,there's a lot of depth and detail to the show,I'm still noticing new things in some episodes and it's my third run of the boxset.also the humour is fantastic and very subtle.
The wire is an excellent show too,with great realism and grit,really shows you what life is like from the characters perspective.
I don't think breaking bad stacks up to these two at all,its too cartoonish.good for a bit of easy watching but cannot be mentioned in the same breath as sopranos of the wire.

Seachmall

smurgen wrote: »

I don't think breaking bad stacks up to these two at all,its too cartoonish.good for a bit of easy watching but cannot be mentioned in the same breath as sopranos of the wire.

Nail on the head.

sbsquarepants

Prodgey wrote: »

So ... Breaking Bad is finally over (RIP)

What would you recommend for someone who has watched neither, The Wire or The Sopranos? ( I understand neither will live up to BB)

The wire probably just wins by a whisker but the sopranos is easier viewing, you've got to really follow the wire to get the most out of it.
Both are better than breaking bad btw, though i'll tell you out straight when you get to the final episode of the sopranos you'll want to kick in the telly screen - it's shíte!

sbsquarepants

ringadingding wrote: »

Season 5 of the wire was crammed full of self indulgent storylines about journalism. But Season 2 and 3 of the wire could match anything I think.

Breaking bad is the first show I've seen that carried that level of excitement into a 5th season.

The wire probably has 6 out of my top ten all time characters

Shhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttt

Actually now that I think about it a bit more - the wire has far more in depth individuals than the sopranos - there are tons of amazing characters from all sides of the spectrum, cops, gangsters, junkies, lawyers, politicians, crooked dock workers, even kids and school teachers, all fleshed out and given key roles - way too many to list in fact. The sopranos is a 3 or 4 man(and 1 woman!) Tony, Chris, Paulie, Carmela band, breaking bad the same, it's really just Walt, Jessie, Hank and Saul for me.

The wire it is - definitely.

Ironman76

Sopranos by knockout.

Banjo String

sbsquarepants wrote: »

The wire probably just wins by a whisker but the sopranos is easier viewing, you've got to really follow the wire to get the most out of it.
Both are better than breaking bad btw, though i'll tell you out straight when you get to the final episode of the sopranos you'll want to kick in the telly screen - it's shíte!

I don't think they were expecting James Gandolfini to die unexpectedly.

I think it was left that way with a view of leaving viewers anticipating a return of some shape or form.

One episode of the Sopranos stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Pine barrens, mini movie in itself.

sbsquarepants

Banjo String wrote: »

I don't think they were expecting James Gandolfini to die unexpectedly.

I think it was left that way with a view of leaving viewers anticipating a return of some shape or form..

Fúck that shít, that's just trying to milk a few more quid out of it. The wire ended, you knew where you stood, breaking bad ended, you knew where you stood. The sopranos - pile of shíte of an ending, it was a cop out and a cheap trick that just let down what was otherwise an amazing show.

Banjo String wrote: »

One episode of the Sopranos stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Pine barrens, mini movie in itself.

I've heard a lot of people say that, but it wasn't one of my favourites at all. I mean they never tied up what happened to the Russian guy (as far as I can remember anyway)

crockholm

Loved watching them both,in terms of which had more reality? That would have to be the wire,for evidence,just look at the murder stats in black american cities.I remember reading David Chase' take on the amount of murders in "The Soprano's" whereby they had to exaggerate the amount of murders to keep people watching the show.It would have been more believable if it were set in the 70s.
The characters from the wire are all still there,plugging away in Chicago,Detroit,New Orleans,Baltimore,St. Louis.

Loved both shows for the amazing entertainment they provided,but I do admit to preferring "The Wire"

Favourite scene was when McNulty and Bunk interveiw D'angelo,with the attorneys present,and the pictures of the carnage(esp wallace) are a weight too heavy for young Barksdale to bear.

Banjo String

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Fúck that shít, that's just trying to milk a few more quid out of it. The wire ended, you knew where you stood, breaking bad ended, you knew where you stood. The sopranos - pile of shíte of an ending, it was a cop out and a cheap trick that just let down what was otherwise an amazing show.

The song in itself, don't stop believing was deliberately chosen to get the imagination going imo.

Also Tony had numerous conversations about death, one with Bobby in particular about how you wouldn't even hear it happen.

I've heard a lot of people say that, but it wasn't one of my favourites at all. I mean they never tied up what happened to the Russian guy (as far as I can remember anyway)

Again, I think it's safe to say he died. But they didn't find a body, and never heard of him again.

Was he a ghost? Evil spirit?

Lots of heaven and hell scenes in the series. Even purgatory.

Those scenarios were meant to get the mind activated.

--Kaiser--

The Sopranos has far better acting, plotting, coherent story lines, cinematography, directing, dialogue, humour....the list goes on.

Anyone who voted The Wire either doesn't understand how great TV is supposed to be or is just trying to be alternative with their viewpoint

theteal

Flip a coin, OP. Both are great but I did prefer the wire, it's the only series I've wanted to watch more than once and it's even better with subsequent viewings.

As you can see, the poll is split down the middle so you will have to watch both to make up your own mind and if you can find the time, throw in the shield, entourage, game of thrones. . . .

Lucena

Too Tough To Die wrote: »

Check out Monk.

Someone actually lent the first two seasons to my OH!:eek:

Every episode is exactly the same. And not in a good way.

Who the hell buys seasons of Monk, ffs?