AMC's Breaking Bad vs HBO's The Wire

[Darth Biscuit]

and how would one go about getting a free password that of course i wouldn't get

 

There are some other alternatives... I use HBOGo but there are other sites...  PM me or msg me on fb... not sure Zod wants them posted here.

[JccOldTime23]

Neither one of them can touch the Andy Griffith Show.

[Bronn]

Game of Thrones FTW.

The Wire is actually on my list of stuff to watch, but I haven't had time to yet. Breaking Bad is amazing. I'm just about to finish Lost, and it is up there on the list too.

But I don't think I have seen anything that can touch Game of Thrones as far as writing and stuff, even though the show runners leave a good bit of the writing source material out.

[Bronn]

Writer: Let's have an ENTIRE episode about decoding a beeper and setting up a phone booth!

 

Director: What else happens in the hour episode?

 

Writer: Nothing.

 

Director: Ok!

 

to be fair, lots of people say the same thing about the Fly episode in BB

[Datawire]

The Wire is on Amazon Prime, if you have it, under the HBO collection.

[TheRumGone]

I still think the sopranos is better than both those two shows. They are all fuging amazing though so it's just personal preference I guess. All have amazing writing and acting

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

Still don't get all the hype behind BB. It was just so "meh" to me most of the time, and I felt like I was just pushing through because I expected it to get better. I was waiting for it to live up to all of its hype, but it never did for me.

 

I finally watched the entirety of The Wire, and holy sh*t if it didn't take me the entirety of God knows how long... 8 months maybe? I'll tell you what though, as difficult as it was to get through, I still think it is the greatest TV show of all time (until GOT finishes).

 

There has never been a social commentary nearly as great as The Wire. It breaks down inner city America to its absolute core: the streets, the drugs, the violence, the police work, the bureaucracy, the politics, the corruption, the school system, the laborers and the everyday man, the media, etc. It's just so incredibly real.

 

The characters in The Wire are better than any TV show I've ever seen, again arguably barring GOT, and it's just... I dunno, it's hard to explain, but it is the ultimate social commentary.

 

What really solidified it as an all-time classic is its realism, which I will continue with under the spoiler tag...

 

When characters die, no matter how big or small the character, they just die. It doesn't become some huge spectacle, they don't build it up forever or linger on it forever. It just happens and that's that. Life goes on.

 

I know I wasn't the only one that was so confused at the first real big death (I wont count Wallace because of how early that was, but I loved Wallace) when DeAngelo was strangled in jail. I sat there thinking ".... That's it? He can't be dead, can he?" But he was. That was that.

 

Same happened with Stringer, and don't even get me started with Omar. They killed off television's greatest character in the most anti-climactic way of all time, because that's how life works. He was just dead, all of the sudden, and only mentioned as a f*cking afterthought posthumously. Even his identity tag at the morgue was accidentally on the wrong person, and it was such a nonchalant thing. And the kid that killed him? Kenard, the SAME damn kid that made just one appearance Season 3, where he and some of his friends were seen acting out a shootout in which Kenard was telling his friends that he was pretending to be Omar.

 

The final thing, which is so subtly brilliant, is when Dookie, a bright, driven student that was in an awful situation ended up as a homeless heroin addict whilst Namond, the asshole, lazy, undetermined, f*ckboy son of Wee-Bey ends up getting adopted by a wealthy family and having his life turned around. That's just how the system works. The kids that are deemed as less troublesome are left out to dry and fend for themselves, whilst the troublemakers and jerkoffs are given a support system to try to keep them from being total f*ckups.

 

The good guys don't win in The Wire. Wallace dies, despite him being the smart, kind, and caring kid of season 1. Dookie ends up as a heroin fiend, despite him being Wallace 2.0. DeAngelo is killed despite his respectable character. Bodie dies once you start to really like him. Colvin gets f*cked despite trying to do the right thing. McNulty gets f*cked for the same reason. The list goes on and on.

 

The Wire is so ridiculously real, it just can't be topped by Breaking Bad IMO, especially coming from someone who has intently studied race in relation to space and the urban structure. But then again, I hold just one opinion in a sea of millions.

[Dex]

Still don't get all the hype behind BB. It was just so "meh" to me most of the time, and I felt like I was just pushing through because I expected it to get better. I was waiting for it to live up to all of its hype, but it never did for me.

 

I finally watched the entirety of The Wire, and holy sh*t if it didn't take me the entirety of God knows how long... 8 months maybe? I'll tell you what though, as difficult as it was to get through, I still think it is the greatest TV show of all time (until GOT finishes).

 

There has never been a social commentary nearly as great as The Wire. It breaks down inner city America to its absolute core: the streets, the drugs, the violence, the police work, the bureaucracy, the politics, the corruption, the school system, the laborers and the everyday man, the media, etc. It's just so incredibly real.

 

The characters in The Wire are better than any TV show I've ever seen, again arguably barring GOT, and it's just... I dunno, it's hard to explain, but it is the ultimate social commentary.

 

What really solidified it as an all-time classic is its realism, which I will continue with under the spoiler tag...

 

When characters die, no matter how big or small the character, they just die. It doesn't become some huge spectacle, they don't build it up forever or linger on it forever. It just happens and that's that. Life goes on.

 

I know I wasn't the only one that was so confused at the first real big death (I wont count Wallace because of how early that was, but I loved Wallace) when DeAngelo was strangled in jail. I sat there thinking ".... That's it? He can't be dead, can he?" But he was. That was that.

 

Same happened with Stringer, and don't even get me started with Omar. They killed off television's greatest character in the most anti-climactic way of all time, because that's how life works. He was just dead, all of the sudden, and only mentioned as a f*cking afterthought posthumously. Even his identity tag at the morgue was accidentally on the wrong person, and it was such a nonchalant thing. And the kid that killed him? Kenard, the SAME damn kid that made just one appearance Season 3, where he and some of his friends were seen acting out a shootout in which Kenard was telling his friends that he was pretending to be Omar.

 

The final thing, which is so subtly brilliant, is when Dookie, a bright, driven student that was in an awful situation ended up as a homeless heroin addict whilst Namond, the asshole, lazy, undetermined, f*ckboy son of Wee-Bey ends up getting adopted by a wealthy family and having his life turned around. That's just how the system works. The kids that are deemed as less troublesome are left out to dry and fend for themselves, whilst the troublemakers and jerkoffs are given a support system to try to keep them from being total f*ckups.

 

The good guys don't win in The Wire. Wallace dies, despite him being the smart, kind, and caring kid of season 1. Dookie ends up as a heroin fiend, despite him being Wallace 2.0. DeAngelo is killed despite his respectable character. Bodie dies once you start to really like him. Colvin gets f*cked despite trying to do the right thing. McNulty gets f*cked for the same reason. The list goes on and on.

 

The Wire is so ridiculously real, it just can't be topped by Breaking Bad IMO, especially coming from someone who has intently studied race in relation to space and the urban structure. But then again, I hold just one opinion in a sea of millions.

I really never saw of the The Wire's characters as completely good and moral. There was a lot of grey which made the show so amazing. Bunny Colvin and Frank Sobotka are the true "heroes" of the show though in my opinion. Ahh the feels are coming on stronk. I actually wrote a letter to David Simon telling how The Wire molded me and my career path. I started off in marketing but after a few personal tragedies with me and my family I had my Martin Luther moment. I won't get into the other stuff in my family but in 2010 my childhood epilepsy returned and I had an accident. I was in the hospital for a few weeks and started watching The Wire. After taking a semester off I changed my major to Video Production and took classes in history, sociology, philosophy and creative writing. Currently working with a charity in developing a marketing and social media campaign. I owe a lot of this to The Wire. No show had such a strong emotional effect on me. All the pieces matter.

[Lumps]

Both shows appealed to the masses, clearly. No one is special for liking the wire.

I thought breaking bad was way better.

I can't understand the love for GOT for people 25+, it's awful.

[Goondal]

I actually rewatched The Wire again a couple months ago. It remains the greatest show off all-time. Breaking Bad is great but it simply cannot compare, nothing can.

Number two on my list would be The Sopranos, which was not as good overall but did have the greatest character ever and really did change television for the better.

The only show that I felt had the same quality as The Wire was Deadwood, but it ended after three seasons and never had a proper ending so it too falls short.

In the end the better question would be what is the second best television show off all-time, the top spot is no contest.

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

Both shows appealed to the masses, clearly. No one is special for liking the wire.

I thought breaking bad was way better.

I can't understand the love for GOT for people 25+, it's awful.

 

There are very few people I know that didn't like GOT, and none of them liked LotR either.

 

Just out of curiosity, does that stand for you as well? Just the fantasy thing that doesn't get you into it, or is it something else?

[Mojo]

The characters on The Wire are pretty unparalleled. Stringer Bell? Avon Barksdale, Mcnolte, Omar? Snoop? Mike? Woo.

Jesse and Walter and Gus Fring are fantastic but I still think the wire takes it. The show really captures Bmore too.

Speaking of I need to rewatch it.

[Jeremy Igo]

Breaking Bad is a better show on so many different levels, imo.

[Dex]

Breaking Bad is a better show on so many different levels, imo.

Stick to photography. Still love you though.