• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

The Sopranos is better than The Wire

Status
Not open for further replies.
bunk-the-wire.gif


What took so long?
 
Dax01 said:
Because The Wire is all about grounding itself in realism and no cop would ever do what McNulty did. You could make the same argument for Hamsterdam, but I think it was executed better, so it staved off the believability issue for me. What McNulty did in S5 was just...bad.
Click to expand...

No cop?

"JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police may have altered evidence and planted weapons after they shot dead 34 striking miners near Lonmin's Marikana mines in August, according to photographic evidence presented at a commission of inquiry into the killings.

Photographs taken by police the night after the shootings show more weapons by the dead bodies than there were in photographs taken immediately after the violence on Aug. 16. Thousands of miners had gathered at hills in Marikana about 94 kilometers (58 miles) northwest of Johannesburg where 34 miners were shot dead by police and 78 wounded in the worst state violence since the end of apartheid in 1994.

South Africa is conducting a commission of inquiry to look into the parties responsible for 46 deaths, including two policemen and two security guards, during nearly six weeks of strikes at the Lonmin Marikana mines."

Cops are responsible of much worse than McNulty did. I think it fits his character.
 
MThanded said:
The pure fact that you compared a modern screenplay to literature from a century and a half ago reeks of reaching.

You are attempting to reduce the show down to some small kernel in an attempt to minimize it.
Click to expand...

Actually it's a much better comparison than the one OP made. A relevant one too. Except The Wire isn't a uninspired version of these books, it's a rightful heir.
 
EvaristeG said:
Actually it's a much better comparison than the one OP made. A relevant one too. Except The Wire isn't a uninspired version of these books, it's a rightful heir.
Click to expand...
Having actually read some of the literature he name-dropped. I agree with this statement.
 
Sorry to say the first season of the shield is better than the wire IMO, Sopranos first season is good but not better than the first season of the shield. Now i haven't seen anything past the first season of Sopranos and the Wire. Both bored me to death after the first.
 
The literature comparisons are pointless. So what if The Wire is cribbing from other stories? So what if it isn't as influential or culturally/historically significant or even as good? It's good in its own right and has something to say in its own right.

Art isn't a pissing contest between what came first or what's better.
 
Wilbur said:
No cop?

"JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police may have altered evidence and planted weapons after they shot dead 34 striking miners near Lonmin's Marikana mines in August, according to photographic evidence presented at a commission of inquiry into the killings.

Photographs taken by police the night after the shootings show more weapons by the dead bodies than there were in photographs taken immediately after the violence on Aug. 16. Thousands of miners had gathered at hills in Marikana about 94 kilometers (58 miles) northwest of Johannesburg where 34 miners were shot dead by police and 78 wounded in the worst state violence since the end of apartheid in 1994.

South Africa is conducting a commission of inquiry to look into the parties responsible for 46 deaths, including two policemen and two security guards, during nearly six weeks of strikes at the Lonmin Marikana mines."

Cops are responsible of much worse than McNulty did. I think it fits his character.
Click to expand...
That doesn't matter because that's not from the US.
 
Tamerlane never explained why The Sopranos was like a soap opera and a terrible show! Oh well, he'll have more time to seek out obscure media and champion it elsewhere.
 
Hell no. You are goddamn crazy. Sopranos was good for the first few seasons. Then it became quickly a terrible drama serie. Almost every character annoyed me.
 
The Sopranos doesn't hold up too well. Watched it and The Wire around the same time and some of the early Sopranos stuff is really rough.
 
I really need to watch Sopranos again from start to finish.

Watched most of it when they first started showing it on TV over here. I was just a kid then so I bet a lot of stuff flew over my head.

The Wire is gold though. It only keeps getting better after rewatching.
 
all I have to say is fuck the golden age of TV.

film > TV because fuck episodic/serialized entertainment.

edit: though the sopranos holds up just fine. "ground-breaking" is so often used as a crutch, ie. "it doesn't hold up anymore but it was so groundbreaking back in the day." as if shit like citizen kane or the godfather don't hold up today. good stories are timeless. the sopranos is great.
 
The Wire is grand because it succeeds at selling a compelling story that captures viewers and forces them to experience the content in a raw manner. It connects to people on a fundamental level like all great shows do, while offering a hard look into a culture many people would rather not experience themselves. It speaks to and of society with grace and clarity.
 
I haven't watched all the sopranos yet, but I saw enough to know they don't really relate enough to say one is better than the other. As if one "culture" is better than the other. I think they are more or less alphas in their category though.
 
That fucking pilot for The Sopranos is one of the weirder pilot to actual series I've seen. It's so different. Everything about it down to the editing. It's so strange. I'm glad the series became what it was instead of sticking with the style of the pilot.
 
Shalashaska said:
The Sopranos doesn't hold up too well. Watched it and The Wire around the same time and some of the early Sopranos stuff is really rough.
Click to expand...

you kidding me? its the early stuff thats awesome and the latter stuff thats a bunch of meandering shit treating its viewers in an almost contemptuous manner
 
jtb said:
all I have to say is fuck the golden age of TV.

film > TV because fuck episodic/serialized entertainment.

edit: though the sopranos holds up just fine. "ground-breaking" is so often used as a crutch, ie. "it doesn't hold up anymore but it was so groundbreaking back in the day." as if shit like citizen kane or the godfather don't hold up today. good stories are timeless. the sopranos is great.
Click to expand...

You know we had tv before too, the difference is that it was mostly shit. Well, more so.

It's not a zero sum game between films-tv.
 
The Sopranos and the Wire are my top 2 favorite shows. I actually think that I enjoy the Sopranos more, but I think the Wire is better.

I can turn on any episode of the Sopranos and be entertained. It does an excellent job of not just creating a serialized story, where one episode ties into the next and forms a story arc, but every episode has its own story in it and is enjoyable on it's own. Even having had watched the entire Wire series -- TWICE -- if I turn on a random episode in season 2, 3, or 4, I have to really think about what's going on.

The Wire is better. But I like watching the Sopranos more.
Scullibundo said:
Shit, Boardwalk Empire already en route to take the mantle of #2 HBO series.
Click to expand...

Man, Boardwalk is so weak. And I am all about period anything. It's just so weak. Season 1 was good; Season 2 was okay, and it just fell off the rails.
 
Scullibundo said:
Shit, Boardwalk Empire already en route to take the mantle of #2 HBO series.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it can do that, but it's definitely the best thing they've got going right now. Although I haven't seen the Newsroom, but given my dislike of Sorkin, I doubt I'd like it better.

This September will be pretty awesome with Boardwalk Empire and Eastbound and Down.
 
Count of Monte Sawed-Off said:
I don't know if it can do that, but it's definitely the best thing they've got going right now. Although I haven't seen the Newsroom, but given my dislike of Sorkin, I doubt I'd like it better.

This September will be pretty awesome with Boardwalk Empire and Eastbound and Down.
Click to expand...

Newsroom sucks. I doubt it'll get a 4th season (I assume it'll get a 3rd just because they went all in with 1 season, already have a second, but it's gotten lousy reviews and didn't hook anybody). But, True Blood is still on so who knows.

I watched that show Family Tree, and that's really bad. I think it's supposed to be funny, and I wanted to like it, but... There weren't any funny parts. Everything that could have been funny was already the premise of the show, and so you knew it was coming.

Also, confused about the new Larry David movie.
 
Scullibundo said:
Miniseries is different. BoB is the best thing HBO's ever done. I didn't think I would have to make the distinction between longform tv series and miniseries, but there you go.
Click to expand...

Distinction made, appreciated. Yet you are still saying that Boardwalk Empire is better than Deadwood.
 
Tolstoy has definitely had his share of criticism regarding female characters. Also, people like and respect authors like Tolstoy and Dickens for their looks at social structures, not merely for the artistry of their writing and narrative. What is the criticism of the Wire's attempt at laying the flaws of our modern structures out before us other than some dialog is heavy handed? I guess we should look to Russian realism and plays from Ancient Greece for discussion of how stat juking, a failing public school system, the collapse of blue collar jobs, black on black violence, etc. are affecting major American cities.

Oh, that guy's banned. Nevermind then.

freenudemacusers said:
The Wire is like the shenmue of television.
Click to expand...

Right, the best thing in its medium and under-appreciated.
 
The Albatross said:
I watched that show Family Tree, and that's really bad.
Click to expand...

Family Tree is actually pretty solid. You approached it wrong - but by no fault of your own. Newsroom does suck, however.

nomis said:
Distinction made, appreciated. Yet you are still saying that Boardwalk Empire is better than Deadwood.
Click to expand...

If you like action and big thrills, Boardwalk is much better than Deadwood. If you like characters, writing, dialog, set design, and acting - then I think you're insulting Deadwood by comparing it to Boardwalk.

And I love Boardwalk.
 
Macmanus said:
Family Tree is actually pretty solid. You approached it wrong - but by no fault of your own. Newsroom does suck, however.



If you like action and big thrills..

And I love Boardwalk.
Click to expand...

This is hilarious to me if only because the people who don't like Boardwalk complain that it's because it is apparently VERY SLOW and moves at a snail's pace.

The character work is exactly why I love Boardwalk. Every character is fleshed out to the point where each can hold their own episode without it ever feeling like filler. It's what makes me compare it to The Sopranos so often. That and its occasional sense of black comedy/irony.

That you're suggesting the set design, character writing and acting in Boardwalk is bad is kind of mind blowing to me.
 
jtb said:
all I have to say is fuck the golden age of TV.

film > TV because fuck episodic/serialized entertainment.

edit: though the sopranos holds up just fine. "ground-breaking" is so often used as a crutch, ie. "it doesn't hold up anymore but it was so groundbreaking back in the day." as if shit like citizen kane or the godfather don't hold up today. good stories are timeless. the sopranos is great.
Click to expand...

I don't think Citizen Kane actually holds up that well. You'll be hard pressed to find modern audiences appreciating it for anything other than being ground breaking. Casablanca holds up better but was much less of an achievement.

Aaanyways, the claim that The Wire is a work of realist fiction is entirely valid, and I think really explains the divide between those who think it's the best thing ever and those who don't. There is a perception among many people that realism is something that art should aspire to, and that things that aren't realist are falling short of describing human experience. If you think that's the case, The Wire is the best thing since sliced bread. If you don't, you'll probably go to something that lives more inside the head and less in the real world, which could easily describe both The Shield and -- really strongly -- The Sopranos. Or Mad Men. Or Breaking Bad.

To me, non-realist stuff just works better on television. It's more powerful when it gets a chance to stick around in your brain for a while. It also allows the visual aspect to really come out, and this is an area where The Wire was pretty dull compared to the other shows being mentioned.
 
The soprano's is a glorified soap opera with its few sets its not even in the same league as the wire.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Is there any combination of juices better than cranberry and orange?
32
822
Nintendo's Witch replied
David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, developing Project: MKUltra limited series for HBO
27
890
BadBurger replied
Grok is so much better than ChatGPT now
2 3 4 5
208
12K
Critical Hit replied
  • Poll
Who is the better actor, Will Smith or Maggie Smith?
12
611
Avid Reading Horse replied
  • Poll
Top 100 Films of the 90s (Which is better, this or the New York Times list?)
16
3K
Donald mac Ronald replied
Top Bottom