I've seen a few posts claiming The Wire's superiority but I have to disagree. Admittedly, I've only watched the first two seasons of The Wire and about 70% of The Shields run but the reason why I think The Shield takes the trophy is because it feels more "real". There's something about The Wire's structure which is a bit clichéd (even when it tries not to be clichéd) and it has certain elements of soap opera that is the downfall of a number of so-called great TV shows (The Sopranos comes to mind). The Shield on the other hand is consistently inventful and at the same time gripping with a sure touch in the way it handles it's pace.

ok thats your opinion but in mine: the wire is the realest thing on tv. the shield is hot but it doesn't hold a birthday candle to the wire. and plus the way they take on social issues with the show makes it the best thing on tv. the shield just goes more for action and shock.

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The way how all the original crew reteamed again was just a crude plot device. Also, there was the way Stringer's actions were completely out of character with his experience and knowledge of the whole play. It was a non-too subtle divice to set him up for the next season.

And the idea that The Wire isn't as realistic as The Shield is silly. The vast majority of the characters and story lines on The Wire are based on...real people and events.

make the show real.

OK, I should hold my hands up here and say I'm not from the US so I have obviously no idea what real is. But that's not what I mean by "real". I'm talking about the way the characters behave, the things that happen to the characters, etc. outside of the plot devices. If that makes sense.

>OK, I should hold my hands up here and say I'm not from the US
>so I have obviously no idea what real is.

But since you didn't.

>But that's not what
>I mean by "real". I'm talking about the way the characters
>behave, the things that happen to the characters, etc. outside
>of the plot devices. If that makes sense.

Other than their perfection of story, this is the strongest element of the show.

>OK, I should hold my hands up here and say I'm not from the US
>so I have obviously no idea what real is.

as a person who spent 10 yrs on the mid atlantic coast, living around areas just like The Wire...i assure you The Wire is abt as real as it gets from a street standpoint

>Also, there was the way Stringer's actions
>were completely out of character with his experience and
>knowledge of the whole play. It was a non-too subtle divice to
>set him up for the next season.

It's called character development. All we really knew in the first season was that String was Avon's smooth, level-headed right hand man. In season 2 and 3 we learned who String really was. And we learned that the delicate balance that made up the Avon/String team only really worked as long as there was sufficient muscle and product.

season

But I don't know if I'm left with that taste because of the fault of Stringer's or the show's.

And still, no one has satisfied my "complaints" that the prison would have had security cameras, which would have had an effect on two major plot changes, and then there's the FBI-mole-coincidence storyline.

I thought they told Omar that Muzone was the one that tourcherd his boy in season 1 and that's why Omar wanted Muzone dead......

----for the original poster--------
Shit man, the wire carried 1 arc of a story for 3 seasons, if this were the shield, they never would have brought it up again....

i mean, it was necessary for the plot and all, but if stringer pays a fairly negotiated markup, cheez stays his dumb ass out of the towers, the brother never brings his bowtie south of jersey, and stringer doesn't get shot at a development site.

i still blame hip-hop.

and that's what real people do, they make mistakes......and those mistakes come back to haunt you....see season 3 of the wire....

Psssssssssssh!

GOMD

.

Did you see the season finale?

I like the Shield but c'mon man.
===========================================
-Me

<----What OKP is listening to this week.

I'm not saying it's realistic but it feels more real than The Wire

The Shield has always been about the crazy situations that Vic and crew can get into. I don't think stuff like that really happens.
===========================================
-Me

<----What OKP is listening to this week.

Obviously without commiting the murders.

Rafael Perez and the Rampart Division cops of the L.A.P.D.
__________________________________________________________________________
"But if you brought in the beat, that's all you did, was brought in the beat. You didn't produce this record.
This song says 'Produced by,' not 'Brought in the beat by...'"
-Snoop Dogg

....the Shield is simply not realistic....i honestly can't wait for the strike team to go down now...they all basically suck ass...the fact they squeeze outta trouble every season with no real repercussions (until now) irks the shit outta me...i hope this next season will be the last...

THE WIRE, on the other hand....well, you've heard it's praises shouted enough...shit, i bought season 2 for $25 the other day and i rarely buy "season" DVD's...

the shield doesn't even wrap up stories or even TELL as good a overall story as the wire does...TS tries to do too much sometimes and then they bullshit you with the ending...

"yes, sometimes my rhymes are sexist, but you lovely bitches and hos should know i'm tryin to correct it"- hiphopopotamus

problems I have with The Wire. The whole season aims towards a neat and tidy finish (except for the continuing thread of Stringer et al).

They can end with a tidy finish and I'm fine with it. It's ever forced and sometimes they don't win. Matter fact: most times they don't win.

Vic Mackey and the Strike Team are heels in just about every sense of the world... though we do root for them on a base level, we ultimately hope that they will be brought to the justice that they regularly disrespect... but it wouldn't surprise me if the show ends with Mackey still on the beat...

... on the other hand, you have a show that is quite explicit with its anger with the way things are run in this country... the futility with which law enforcement tries to fight the "war on drugs," the bureacracy and red tape and pissing contests that get in the way of that, along with the ways and codes of the streets, the fight for survival on a daily basis while running the most dubious of businesses...

In other words, one show is more about the machinations of the system, the other is more of a critique of the system itself and all that it entails...
______________________________________________________________________________
"But if you brought in the beat, that's all you did, was brought in the beat. You didn't produce this record.
This song says 'Produced by,' not 'Brought in the beat by...'"
-Snoop Dogg

The Shield peaked for me with the last episode of Season 1. When Vic was on his knees at the end I FELT that.

But now it has it's great moments, and a lot of tacky ones too. It's like that season of Homicide that focussed to omuched on Luther Mahoney, and then that season that focussed on his siter too much.

And everyone hates The Wire Season 2 for some reason? Tell me that Ziggy Prezbalouski (SP?) was not one of the greatest TV losers ever.

not prez

Go ahead and be a cop yourself if you're looking for such a high degree of realism. This is TV.

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only foul note in the whole series has been bro. mouzon IMO


im just a notch in your bedpost but youre just a line in a post.

>only foul note in the whole series has been bro. mouzon IMO
>
>
>im just a notch in your bedpost but youre just a line in a
>post.


true true, but I bet he's based off of some real person that Burns knew or heard about.

The Shield feels more real? Nah, it feels more intense and is alot more action driven than the wire. They're edgy on the shield but come on, how can the strike team get away with all the shit they do and mind you, you're only 70% done with it.....I mean come on, the first episode they killed a cop and if I remember correctly, the invesitgation was minimum at best....please....The Strike Team has no friends, everyone knows they're dirty, yet nobody can prove it cause Mackie is so smart....Please...At this point the Shield is almost drama free cause you already know the strike team is going to get away with whatever they do....I still watch cause I like the show, but it's not touching what The Wire brings to the table.

This is the first time I've ever heard someone say the wire is cliched. WOW.....how is that exactly? You mentioned how corny it was for the Team on the wire to get back together, but I guess you didn't find it corny when the strike team got back together?

The Shield is always dropping story lines, basically forgetting about shit that's happened and real life just don't work like that.

similar stuff very well but it still feels like it's been done before. Here's an example : McNulty - split from his wife and kids, drinks a lot and sleeps around. If that isn't a cliché of a rogue cop I don't know what is. An example of a cliché that is trying not to be a cliché is having a black lesbian cop. For me that's trying too hard to be different and seems lame. This last one is admirable but in my opinion it feels like a gimmick.

Having said all that I think the best part is showing the drugs scene based at the towers. That's very well done.

*******************************************************
i will not let finite disappointment undermine infinite hope
- Cory Booker

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win
- Gary Lineker

WIRE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SHIELD

GOMD

....

but i have to say that im rewatching the wire starting with the first season and i have to say that im starting to notice things about it that i overlooked the before...its a lot more contrived than i think a lot of ppl gave took note of..and while that doesnt necessarily make it suddenly less great, it is something that people who want to go on about how its the greatest show ever made would have a hard time admitting.
as creative and realistic as it can be, it still has really corny (MESSAGEEEEE!!!!), cliched moments that are odd now that im looking at it more critically.

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What the blood claaat ???

Biggest being that in a given episode the self-contained sub-plots were very hit and miss, as were the actors hired outside of the main cast.

Id also say they were different kind of shows, the Shield was very action focused...it was like a really well made smart hollywood picture.

The Wire was anything but action focused...

>I've seen a few posts claiming The Wire's superiority but I
>have to disagree. Admittedly, I've only watched the first two
>seasons of The Wire and about 70% of The Shields run but the
>reason why I think The Shield takes the trophy is because it
>feels more "real".
if you're talking the grainy look of the picture sure, but the wild cowboyish notion of the strike team pushed beyond the limits of unbelievable. never getting caught or catching heat until like the very end? i mean that was just too much of a stretch compared to the wire, where bureaucracy was fucking people steadily and made it easy for the main plot in the last season to even take place. i liked both shows but in terms of grounded in reality, the wire takes it.

i don't compare them to each other though because they are very different. the shield is cop-centric. the wire gives the perspective of cops, politicians, dealers, kids, and media.

>There's something about The Wire's
>structure which is a bit clichéd (even when it tries not to be
>clichéd) and it has certain elements of soap opera that is the
>downfall of a number of so-called great TV shows (The Sopranos
>comes to mind). The Shield on the other hand is consistently
>inventful and at the same time gripping with a sure touch in
>the way it handles it's pace.
>

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As mentioned in another post, one of the knocks on The Shield was it's strick focus on Vic and his actions. While they had some wild story lines, Vic was the centerpiece of the show, and any storyline that didn't relate back to him was eventually dropped (or at best not given the run it deserved).

The Wire, on the other hand, focused more on a topic: drugs in the city and how it affected everyone: dealers, users, cops, polititions, etc. Since it wasn't focused on one character, it was much deeper in scope, as story lines were able to develop for the entire run of teh show.

This isn't a knock on The Shield at all. I think it's probably in the top 3 cop shows on TV (behind The Wire and H:LOTS, which I think is better than both, but that's another thread) and was very well acted and written, for the most part. But it just wasn't as good as The Wire, plain and simple


And if you think some of the shit Vic pulled off was 'real' you have to be crazy.

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