http://www.arenamagazine.co.uk/filmandmusic/dodgy-wiring/ the world's smartest men's magazine Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:20:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.arenamagazine.co.uk/filmandmusic/dodgy-wiring/#comment-43364 Benjamin Knight Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:19:59 +0000 http://www.arenamagazine.co.uk/?p=1445#comment-43364 Last time The Wire was written about on here I said I'd only seen series one (because, for me, to watch a series involves shelling for the DVDs and then prioritising watching them above things I want to watch that are actually on telly and so can't wait) and that remains the case; I've just seen the one series, having been turned onto it by David Simon's Homicide book. . I think it's really great but its canonisation by the media recently <i>has</i> started to irk me, because most of it seems to imply that 'the best written TV series' and 'the best TV series' are analogous; sorry, but they're not. . No one disgraces themselves in the other departments, but they are bettered by others working on other shows I believe. I can remember watching the pilot and thinking: this came from the same stable as The Sopranos!? Fortunately, the quality shot up almost immediately when the series was greenlit; but you still wouldn't figure the two shows for cousins if you had only seen clips of them; lots of people are saying how novelistic it is... cool, but that doesn't automatically <i>trump</i> cinematic. And the jury over the best TV series could reasonably still be out. Let's just concede that The Wire is the best at what <i>it</i> does, and wait a bit more before anointing it more. Last time The Wire was written about on here I said I’d only seen series one (because, for me, to watch a series involves shelling for the DVDs and then prioritising watching them above things I want to watch that are actually on telly and so can’t wait) and that remains the case; I’ve just seen the one series, having been turned onto it by David Simon’s Homicide book.
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I think it’s really great but its canonisation by the media recently has started to irk me, because most of it seems to imply that ‘the best written TV series’ and ‘the best TV series’ are analogous; sorry, but they’re not.
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No one disgraces themselves in the other departments, but they are bettered by others working on other shows I believe. I can remember watching the pilot and thinking: this came from the same stable as The Sopranos!? Fortunately, the quality shot up almost immediately when the series was greenlit; but you still wouldn’t figure the two shows for cousins if you had only seen clips of them; lots of people are saying how novelistic it is… cool, but that doesn’t automatically trump cinematic. And the jury over the best TV series could reasonably still be out. Let’s just concede that The Wire is the best at what it does, and wait a bit more before anointing it more.

]]> http://www.arenamagazine.co.uk/filmandmusic/dodgy-wiring/#comment-43338 Cynical Scribble Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:00:49 +0000 http://www.arenamagazine.co.uk/?p=1445#comment-43338 Nobody ever mentions the fact that it can be impossible to understand what some characters are saying. I think I only managed to decifer about 10% of words that Snoop said. Nobody ever mentions the fact that it can be impossible to understand what some characters are saying. I think I only managed to decifer about 10% of words that Snoop said.

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