From: John Cuccia 

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:52:50 -0500, Monte Davis
 wrote:

>John Cuccia  wrote:
>
>> Heck sometimes I think that
>>I prefer the Wire to Deadwood (and sometimes the opposite).
>
>There may not be one single role/actor in The Wire that's as
>consistently riveting as Swearingen in Deadwood, or Tony Soprano at
>the peak of that series, but the ensemble and cumulative effect in The
>Wire is better than either.

Yep.  I find it absolutely compelling and can't tear my eyes away from the
television when it's on.

>Just as important, maybe more so: I have to take much of the Deadwood
>and Mafia milieux on faith... but The Wire is so consistently 100% on
>target with what I know from decades of living in an American city,
>and occasional involvement in its politics and law enforcement. It
>just feels REALer to me than 99% of TV and 95% of movies, because
>Simon cares as much about getting all the textures right -- office
>politics, street life, career ambitions and compromises -- as he does
>about plot turns and dramatic payoffs.

Unfortunately, that authenticity, including the amorphous (but oh so
lifelike) conclusions to many plot lines, is what put people who were
weaned on network television crime shows, in which the good guys always win
in 60 minutes, off.  I keep telling people that they can't just watch one
episode, to really get the show they need to watch three or four.

I assume that next season will lean more heavily on political corruption
and less on street crime.

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