I only started watching this HBO series recently with the aid of Netflix, but without a doubt this is personally one of the best HBO series ever produced. I absolutely love this show and unfortunately I learned this show garnered little attention at the time (mostly explains why I never saw more than a few episodes until now -- also, I didn't have subscription-channel cable).

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
Despite never seeing a large commercial success or winning major television awards, The Wire has been described by many critics as the greatest television series ever made and one of the most accomplished works of fiction of the 2000s.[2][3][4][5][6][7] The show is recognized for its realistic portrayal of urban life, its literary ambitions, and its uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes. ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire

With all the realistic and gritty intrigues of the series, I would expect it to appeal to most Diplomacy players. As the characters' refrain: it's all in the game, but the game is rigged!

http://www.hbo.com/the-wire/index.html

I completely agree. My wife and I watched all of them on DVD a couple of years ago. Fantastic TV. I would say that the series actually got better after the first season, which was great. Season 4, focused on the schools and follows a group of kids, is the season that really sticks with me.

Yes, season 3 & 4 were the best, in my opinion (probably most fans would agree). Outstanding writing.

"Corner Kids"
http://www.edutopia.org/the-wire-troubled-students

I don't have HBO either, but I do have Netflix. I'll have to check out the Wire.

Another series that was on HBO that my wife and I discovered and loved is "Band of Brothers." We watched all 6 discs in the course of one week, it was awesome. It's Steven Spielburg and Tom Hanks (who put together "Saving Private Ryan") producing this series about the Echo company of in the US Airborne Division in WWII that fought in several major battles. It's basically a recreation of real events, and with interviews from the men who were actually there on the bonus DVD.

If you liked Band Of Brothers you will also like The Pacific; Oorah!

I was actually very disappointed by The Pacific. I stopped watching it after Episode 5.

Archduke Russell John wrote:I was actually very disappointed by The Pacific. I stopped watching it after Episode 5.

Actually, I didn't think The Pacific was good UNTIL episode 5 or 6. It definitely wasn't as well-written as Band of Brothers, but the series did get better about half way through.

I caught myself doubting the Pacific too for a bit, but stopped my doubts when I realized that the writers invested much more energy into bringing to life the impact the war had upon the lives of these specific Marines. The Band Of Brothers did some of that too of course but there was more balance in telling of the stories of the spefiic strong of circumstances / battles and the Soldiers that fought through them.

Both were fine pieces of work, do yourself a favor ARJ and finish the series.

p.s... sorry if I contributed to the hijacking of this thread away from The Wire, which I have never seen

GMPatrick wrote:p.s... sorry if I contributed to the hijacking of this thread away from The Wire, which I have never seen

No worries! HBO puts out the best series.

I was a pretty big Dexter fan (Showtime) until last season.

The Wire is great! Definitely the best series I've ever watched. Anyone who hasnt seen should get on it! The characters are so good and you really connect with them.

Ok, recommendation heard loud & clear. I will look out for The Wire.

That is if I can ever get any TV time, my wife is addicted to every damn reality housewife show on this planet and the next.

ok, getting even further off topic (but at least about recommended TV shows you may not have seen)
I "discovered" a little gem in "Face Off"
It's yet another reality show with the same formula as every other reality show, do a contest and the worst gets voted off. But while the formula is same old - same old, the theme is reallllly cool, the contestants are special effect makeup artists and each week they have a different task that's incredibly interesting to follow. They get more into the task and how it is accomplished than they do about the social dynamics of the group. One week they had to make a model half human, half animal. Another week they had to do nude body painting where they painted their nude model into a backdrop, Another had them do a slasher villain, another had them presented with facts about a new planet discovered that might support life and they made the model into that alien based on the facts about the planet.

Dorky cool!
It's on the SyFy channel(Wednesday nights and re-runs through the week) and you can find the past episodes on Hulu as well.

A thread about The Wire? Awesome! In my considered, artistic and critical opinion, it is the best television drama ever made. I've watched through the whole series four or five times. Some days, I just pop the DVDs in and let them play all day as I perform household chores. If a TV show is so good that Harvard, Duke, UC Berkley, and a number of other universities have courses explicitly devoted to it, then you must check it out.

Michael_Xavier wrote:If a TV show is so good that Harvard, Duke, UC Berkley, and a number of other universities have courses explicitly devoted to it, then you must check it out.

Awesome! I didn't know that...