A friend of mine buys and lends us all the medium to high quality tv box-sets he can get his hands on, and he had left Season 1 of The Wire round at the house along with several other sets. I kept putting it off because it didn't seem like something i could just throw on when i was tired, and also because Charlie Brooker was going on about it so much it just kind of put me off. I really like Charlie Brooker but he was having that effect on me like when someone you know won't stop going on about how great something is and it just ends up having the opposite effect.

Well, so it had been here a long time and our dvd friend was basically saying "watch it! watch it!". Then i was getting it from my brother who had beasted said box set. So after months and months of it being available to me i caved.

I ended up watching all of season 1 in two sessions split only by approximately 1 hour of sleep on the sofa. This led me to begging our dvd friend to bring more. The following week i tan season 2 in two nights. Halfway through season 3 now. Holy shit this is one good show.

I have now become the bothersome super-recommender that first put me off. That coupled with my constant chat (in a very poor baltimore ghetto accent) of 're-ups', 'the stash', 'packages', 'product' etc etc must make me a very annoying person to know right now.

I finished watching season 3 on DVD last week. What the hell am I supposed to do with myself until season 4 is released? I've never been this sucked into a television show before--not even close.

My only consolation is that I've gotten my mother hooked on The Wire now and am revisiting seasons 1 and 2 with her. Thanks to the excellent writing, the great acting, and the uncanny ear for dialogue, this show really stands up to repeated viewings. Also, it's so complex, I'm noticing stuff I totally missed the first time around.

A great, great show.

Anybody seen The Corner, Simon's pre-Wire HBO mini-series? I just ordered it.

the shit is tight.

Ben Adrian

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:Anybody seen The Corner, Simon's pre-Wire HBO mini-series? I just ordered it.

yes, maddeningly depressing. filmed ten blocks north of my house.

I'm a bit slow on getting to see this, as I had trouble finding Season 1 and ended up watching it online at tv-links.com. I've managed to watch 8 episodes in 24 hours and was itching to get home from the pub last night, so I could begin watching again. I've promised my wife that I won't watch Season 2 until she catches up. The thing is it's so immersive, that I don't think I can wait--I feel like Bubbles trying to go straight.

[Btw: Did anyone catch Steve Earle in a cameo as 'Waylon', the AA meeting leader?]

The plotline with the pagers is really cool, as so much drama has come to rely on cell-phones these days. It's a nice twist.

It's great how the plot is so character driven and how well fleshed out those characters are. Completely edge-of-the-seat viewing; not a wasted moment, which is really rare in television. It makes the The Departed look like Punch and Judy.

This shit is RIGHT!

Steve Earle's character actually recurs a couple of times, that's one perk about the Wire I thought was really cool, sitting there going "Wow, is that Steve Earle?"

Just one of those things that makes a great show even better. It's not the same thing, really, but I got the same feeling when I saw Will Oldham on Wonder Showzen.

Cranius wrote:This shit is RIGHT!

I fear that you too may be falling down with the language affliction that this series causes. Soon you will be talking about getting a re-up when asking for a second cup of tea, getting yourself correct when putting on fancy clothes, and changing up when switching to a new brand of shampoo.

I suffer from this myself. When we met up in the Angel a few weeks back, I used the last phrase on meeting J Hip Priest. He smiled and told me that I had been watching too much of The Wire.

It's spreading. My friend Howard has started teasing his girlfriend Dinah by accusing her of having the Bug. We're a witty lot.

Cranius wrote:It makes the The Departed look like Punch and Judy.

There is a place for Punch and Judy. Running continuously in the back of my brain, probably.

sparky wrote:

Cranius wrote:This shit is RIGHT!

I fear that you too may be falling down with the language affliction that this series causes. Soon you will be talking about getting a re-up when asking for a second cup of tea, getting yourself correct when putting on fancy clothes, and changing up when switching to a new brand of shampoo.

I suffer from this myself. When we met up in the Angel a few weeks back, I used the last phrase on meeting J Hip Priest. He smiled and told me that I had been watching too much of The Wire.

It's spreading. My friend Howard has started teasing his girlfriend Dinah by accusing her of having the Bug. We're a witty lot.

Indeed

I was calling everyone "dawg" for a few weeks, much to their annoyance. I was calling the cat "dawg", even. I've stopped now.