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>I haven't watched The Sopranos or Breaking Bad. I get the >feeling these series will have very little value against the >test of time. After you take away the 'whodunit' >element...they're actually quite vacuous. The Wire too. >None of this shit will mean anything later on.
What an asinine comment to make about things you haven't seen. I expected better from you, Denny. There's literally no "whodunit" aspect to the Sopranos, and it arguably has the richest character development of any series, ever. Much more so than The Wire IMO. (The only thing close in terms of character development is Mad Men IMO.)
I actually came in hear ready to agree with your general premise, because I'm a movie head through and through and the best cinema is still far better than the best TV IMO.
With that said, though, there is plenty of very worthwhile TV, and a lot of it is not entirely plot driven. The Sopranos is damn near Shakespearean in its brilliance, especially in the middle seasons. It's also fucking hilarious, in a dark way.
I'm not a die hard Breaking Bad guy, but the video essay below does a great job of showing how exceptional the visual storytelling is, and how deeply thoughtful the creators of the show are in terms of subtle references and symbolism. (The essay focuses on the next-to-last episode, so don't watch it if you don't want spoilers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZllwNlyTfLs)
>Film lives on because you experience it. Television, at it's >peak, offers you a mental distraction. A puzzle to put >together.
Again, I don't entirely disagree, but you're wildly unqualified to make this statement having, you know, never watched any of the television you're talking about.
NBC's Hannibal starts out like the TV you described in Season 1, then gets deliciously weird in season 2, then completely goes into fever-dream nightmarish david lynchian surrealism for the first half of season 3. I've never seen anything on TV like it, and it was on a fucking network!
If I were you, I'd watch the Sopranos start to finish after you finish The Wire. It's a complete masterpiece, and was arguably my gateway drug into art house cinema.
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