The Wire vs The Sopranos

[Money 23]

I knew most here would pick "the Wire" for obvious, or not so obvious reasons.

But The Sopranos is better, easily.

[LA Lakers]

Im going with The Wire. I think its the greatest tv show of all time. The Sopranos peaked in season 3 with the Italy trip for me. The show was never as good once Nancy Marchand passed away RIP. The Wire was the most complex, consistent and thought provoking show Ive ever seen. I think it could have kept going and hit every strata of Baltimore/Americas cities. Maybe the healthcare institutes would have been Season 6? And yeah, Omar Little was the Doc Holiday of Murdaland.

[eliteballer]

Game of Thrones is better than both.

[miller-time]

Game of Thrones is better than both.

Different type of show. But Breaking Bad is better than all!

[LA Lakers]

With Game of Thrones I dig the books over the tv series.

[Money 23]

Different type of show. But Breaking Bad is better than all!

God no.

Breaking Bad has it's moments, but jesus no ...

[SilkkTheShocker]

I love both, but its definitely The Sopranos. It's close, but season 5 of The Sopranos is my favorite of any show.

[SilkkTheShocker]

I knew most here would pick "the Wire" for obvious, or not so obvious reasons.

But The Sopranos is better, easily.

I just think the characters are more interesting on The Sopranos. Don't get me wrong, The Wire had great acting. But there was no Tony Soprano, Christopher, Ralph Cifaretto, etc.

[TheMan]

Italian mobsters>>>>black hoodrats

Fogedaboudit, Sopranos and it ain't even close.

[SilkkTheShocker]

Italian mobsters>>>>black hoodrats

Fogedaboudit, Sopranos and it ain't even close.

I have seen every episode of The Wire and The Sopranos, and The Wire doesn't come close to having The Sopranos rewatch factor.

[Nick Young]

That's what I'm saying though.

You have a show that strikes a very serious drama tone when they have a realistic rape scene (or whatever, just an example), and then the next scene you have a guy like Pauly Walnuts or Dante who are clearly a (bad) parody characters. I couldn't really get into the seriousness of the story because of that.

Sopranos was pretty Shakespearian like that, for me that was one of the best parts of the show.

[guy]

Sopranos isn't even close to the greatest show for me. In fact, I don't see how it could be for any other reason but that's it's the first of its kind. To each his own though.

[Bano114]

Breaking Bad.

I watched both shows twice, very closely. Once the hype of Breaking Bad dies down and people take a hard look at both shows, I feel like most people will agree that The Wire is better.

I do think Breaking Bad is better than the Sopranos though.

[Pointguard]

Originally Posted by miller-time
wasn't exactly the way i wanted to see omar go out, but i think the point is that he had built up a reputation and even though anyone could have taken him out pretty easily their fear held them back. the kid was really the only one who could have taken omar out 1 on 1. he had no fear and omar wasn't expecting him to come at him so he let his guard down.

I don't think thats what they were trying to show. I think they were trying to show that anyone can get got at anytime by anyone. It doesn't matter who it is and it doesn't matter how much build up, drama, and backstory there is behind it i.e. Stringer or Bodie's death. It can be as completely random as it was. IMO it captured that aspect about that environment and because of that I thought it was pretty brilliant.

I think it's a combination of what both of you are saying. There was a steady theme in the show of the ruthless younger generation coming up and their disregard of prior rules/standards/ways and how this made everything unmanageable. Check the links below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wmgghlEagA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw_xy2kltvY
Herc and Carver pick on Poot to question how he is working for Marlo and Poot says "Uh, then you hear, the next generation is going to be the worse ever."
Marlo is also part of the theme.
Kinard always was doing things just to test how far it can go.

The biggest difference between the shows, to me, was that "the Wire" showed how societies outcast created an environment where a lot of people were locked into their universe and how their eat or be eaten world shaped the outside world. The dynamics of being being crazy had ramifications to the top man in the city. A true case of chaos affecting order and the delicate balance within. And how the inner city reality breeded an evolving culture of madness that was capable of genius.

Even with a keen eye you can't tell what twist and turns will make a Bunk, Omar, Marlo or Stringer and thats the reality of inner city characters.

[Loneshot]

I knew most here would pick "the Wire" for obvious, or not so obvious reasons.

But The Sopranos is better, easily.

the obvious reason being that the Sopranos comes off like a cartoon in comparison to the Wire.