Streaming or currently airing TV shows (AKA Netflix thread) (2 Viewers)

[bryhamm]

Started the Diplomat. Fun ride so far.

I think that might be next for me. I just finished Beef and was looking for another 1 season show.

 

[fatness]

Just started watching a Norwegian drama - Occupied. 3 episodes in. Very interesting concept...
In a post ‘US leaves NATO’ world, Norway PM announces they are getting out of the fossil fuel business upsetting nations of the EU and Russia.

Just watched all 3 seasons of this and it is good. There's no downtime, the pace is good, there are believable characters. The final season felt a little bit rushed but, after I forget it for awhile, I'll probably watch it again.

 

[waiver wire]

Just started watching a Norwegian drama - Occupied. 3 episodes in. Very interesting concept...
In a post ‘US leaves NATO’ world, Norway PM announces they are getting out of the fossil fuel business upsetting nations of the EU and Russia.

Just watched all 3 seasons of this and it is good. There's no downtime, the pace is good, there are believable characters. The final season felt a little bit rushed but, after I forget it for awhile, I'll probably watch it again.

i watched this about a month ago and thought it was pretty good , I do love Scandinavia shows though and agree the final season did seem a little rushed

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I don't know that I'll finish with Beef. I think I watched enough (4 episodes) and....I just don't love it. The entire concept is preposterous.

It gets worse.

 

[Capella]

Mrs. Maisel ended very nicely. Uneven season but good finale.

 

[Don Quixote]

Chimp Empire is best thing I’ve seen on Netflix in awhile. Documentary directed by James Reed of My Octopus Teacher, and narrated by Mahershala Ali. Brilliant cinematography, and treats the power struggles and territorial disputes like stuff out of Succession or Game of Thrones.

If you like nature documentaries, definitely worth a watch.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Chimp Empire is best thing I’ve seen on Netflix in awhile. Documentary directed by James Reed of My Octopus Teacher, and narrated by Mahershala Ali. Brilliant cinematography, and treats the power struggles and territorial disputes like stuff out of Succession or Game of Thrones.

If you like nature documentaries, definitely worth a watch.

will check out Chimp Empire

My Octopus Teacher was fantastic - I guess it checks all the boxes to label it a doc but man I got invested in that story lol

 

[Don Quixote]

Chimp Empire is best thing I’ve seen on Netflix in awhile. Documentary directed by James Reed of My Octopus Teacher, and narrated by Mahershala Ali. Brilliant cinematography, and treats the power struggles and territorial disputes like stuff out of Succession or Game of Thrones.

If you like nature documentaries, definitely worth a watch.

will check out Chimp Empire

My Octopus Teacher was fantastic - I guess it checks all the boxes to label it a doc but man I got invested in that story lol

Agree with that on My Octopus Teacher. This one has a different vibe (more of nature’s realpolitik in Chimp Empire), but similarly engrossing.

 

[Ilov80s]

Mrs. Maisel ended very nicely. Uneven season but good finale.

That is good to hear. Each successive season has lost me more and more. I guess I will half heartdly finish it out if for no other reason than to see more Rachel Brosnahan

 

[Ilov80s]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

 

[BeTheMatch]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I actually thought season 1 was good. But really did not like last year or this year at all. Almost like it was different writers or something.

 

[Capella]

Mrs. Maisel ended very nicely. Uneven season but good finale.

That is good to hear. Each successive season has lost me more and more. I guess I will half heartdly finish it out if for no other reason than to see more Rachel Brosnahan

First two seasons were defintiely the best imo. They lost the plot after that. Way too much time building up her career without actually showing her make it to stardom. Got ridiculous after a while.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

 

[BlackCrowes]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

Nope. At least one.

 

[Ilov80s]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

My wife and friends loved The Wire also. Maybe they have changed in the 10-15 years since The Wire and Lasso.

 

[belljr]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

Love both..

I say goodday

 

[plinko]

I started watching the Arnold Schwarzenegger show, pretty silly but I'll probably watch another one and see where it goes

Another skinny little girl crushing people with her furious fists

Always good to see Jay Baruchel

Stealing the Robert Duvall cow story from "Colors" was awful and just made me miss Robert Duvall

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Barry is really losing me. This last episode was painful.

I give up after episode 5.
So far it's a worse final season then Dexter.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Saw A Man Called Otto over the weekend on Netflix. Enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. The female lead was very good.

My wife was balling...agree it was better than expected, but my expectations were low.

I'm going to assume you mean she was bawling, unless Tom Hanks really does it for her.

There were a few scenes were I had to stop the movie it was getting to me. There was also a scene where I don’t remember laughing so hard.

pretty good

the original Swedish film (A Man Called Ove 2015) was awesome as well, was an Academy Award nominee in the foreign language category - looks like Prime is streaming it, saw it years ago in a theater

If you haven't read the book yet, make sure you do. It's great and definitely the funniest book I've ever read.

 

[fruity pebbles]

I think it was mentioned once or twice but Somebody Somewhere on HBO is fantastic. Second season just finished. Quick watch, seven episodes each, 30 minutes apiece.

 

[El Floppo]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that 9oooshow, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

Love both..

I say goodday

The Wire is all time, s1 of Ted Lasso worked as an unexpected foil with the Covid/political doomy zeitgeist.

I started off disliking Lasso, but it won me over in a big way S1. Maybe it helps that I'm a soccer guy, but it felt good to laugh at nice people and not have to be in a conspiracy or dark, angry world... shows I'm usually more into. We had enough of that in real life at that point.

I became a bit disinterested in S2, and never bothered watching S3.

But doesn't take away from a show that genuinely worked for me in its first season. But isn't close to the pantheon of greats like the Wire.

 

[belljr]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that 9oooshow, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

Love both..

I say goodday

The Wire is all time, s1 of Ted Lasso worked as an unexpected foil with the Covid/political doomy zeitgeist.

I started off disliking Lasso, but it won me over in a big way S1. Maybe it helps that I'm a soccer guy, but it felt good to laugh at nice people and not have to be in a conspiracy or dark, angry world... shows I'm usually more into. We had enough of that in real life at that point.

I became a bit disinterested in S2, and never bothered watching S3.

But doesn't take away from a show that genuinely worked for me in its first season. But isn't close to the pantheon of greats like the Wire.

Sure but comment I replied too was that no one could like both

 

[El Floppo]

I think it was mentioned once or twice but Somebody Somewhere on HBO is fantastic. Second season just finished. Quick watch, seven episodes each, 30 minutes apiece.

We stop/start our HBO subscription and I never remembered to finish S1.. which I loved. It has some of the sweetness of Ted Lasso, but not too much, and has the acerbic side I kept waiting for in Lasso (I started liking Lasso when I gave up waiting and allowed myself to wallow in the sweetness)

 

[El Floppo]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that 9oooshow, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

Love both..

I say goodday

The Wire is all time, s1 of Ted Lasso worked as an unexpected foil with the Covid/political doomy zeitgeist.

I started off disliking Lasso, but it won me over in a big way S1. Maybe it helps that I'm a soccer guy, but it felt good to laugh at nice people and not have to be in a conspiracy or dark, angry world... shows I'm usually more into. We had enough of that in real life at that point.

I became a bit disinterested in S2, and never bothered watching S3.

But doesn't take away from a show that genuinely worked for me in its first season. But isn't close to the pantheon of greats like the Wire.

Sure but comment I replied too was that no one could like both

I was replying to 80s, agreeing with you.

ETA... Ivan, not 80s

 

[Gally]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

Love both..

I say goodday

Put me down as another that really liked both a lot.

 

[beer 30]

Didn't see this mentioned:

Jury Duty (Amazon): A fake trial with actors and one jury member who isn't in on it. I think the creators of the Office were involved (it feels very Officeish). I've watched all the released episodes and am hooked. Very well "acted" and hilarious at times.

Daughter called me last night 5 episodes in and recommended to me. I've watched 2, enjoyable so far.

 

[Gally]

Didn't see this mentioned:

Jury Duty (Amazon): A fake trial with actors and one jury member who isn't in on it. I think the creators of the Office were involved (it feels very Officeish). I've watched all the released episodes and am hooked. Very well "acted" and hilarious at times.

Daughter called me last night 5 episodes in and recommended to me. I've watched 2, enjoyable so far.

I watched it. It was fine. Episodes go quick and that is probably the best thing about it. Seemed like it should have been better than it was.

 

[krista4]

The Wire is my all-time favorite show, and I think Ted Lasso is brilliant. Haven’t watched Season 3 yet, though, and am based on some of the comments.

 

[Zow]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

The bold is what keeps me out of your subset as I don't just "like" The Wire, I love it and it has been and probably will forever be my favorite show of all time.

I did like the first season of Ted Lasso. That was good television that I can watch with my wife and family (and did). But, it's not even in the same stratosphere of the love I have for The Wire. Just two totally separate and distinct viewing experiences.

 

[beer 30]

The Wire is my all-time favorite show, and I think Ted Lasso is brilliant. Haven’t watched Season 3 yet, though, and am based on some of the comments.

Don't, season 3 is fine. The first few will probably have you wondering but it comes around. I just think we were so spoiled with S1 & 2 with almost all the shows being great that it made it hard to do a final season and wrap stuff up without having a few plot movers along the way.

 

[Schmeabs]

I continue to be shocked that people rank The Wire anywhere near their top 10 of shows all time.

 

[El Floppo]

I continue to be shocked that people rank The Wire anywhere near their top 10 of shows all time.

Ok... I'll bite. List some of your top 10.

The Wire is firmly there for me.

 

[bigbottom]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

 

[Schmeabs]

I continue to be shocked that people rank The Wire anywhere near their top 10 of shows all time.

Ok... I'll bite. List some of your top 10.

The Wire is firmly there for me.

Breaking Bad is clearly #1 for me. In no particular order Better Call Saul, Mad Men, Ozark, Sopranos, Succession, GOT are all great. Many, many more shows that are mentioned in this thread I found more enjoyable than The Wire, which I stopped watching in season 3.

 

[AAABatteries]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

Not sure you could be more wrong if you tried.

 

[AAABatteries]

Kind of over Ted Lasso. Watched the first one tonight and it’s just more of the same. I’ll watch the entire season but they are right to finish it.

The biggest fraud of a loved show I can remember in awhile. I watched about half of S1 and coudn't do it anymore. My wife and friends have watched and re-watched. I am not at all surprised to hear that S3 will be the last and that it's seen as garbage. It was always garbage.

I watched the first four episodes on a transatlantic flight, and that was more than enough to convince me never to watch another episode of that show, ever. It may be a perfectly fine television program, but it is the diametrical opposite of the kind of programming I like. I imagine the Venn diagram of people who like Ted Lasso and people who like The Wire is an empty set.

I like both.

 

[AAABatteries]

The Wire is my all-time favorite show, and I think Ted Lasso is brilliant. Haven’t watched Season 3 yet, though, and am based on some of the comments.

First half of the season definitely was a lull and didn’t bring the funny or the drama - really picked up in the last 3 episodes and the last one was fantastic.

 

[AAABatteries]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

It is slow - I just last week tried to get my wife to watch it with me and it was too slow for her. It pays off in spades if you stick with it however.

 

[Capella]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

Yea it’s one of those shows that is universally acknowledged as starting slow.

I liked it but I found it more informative and necessary than entertaining. I don’t think it’s a top-5 show.

 

[Don Quixote]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

I was in similar boat. My wife gave up early on. I kept going a little bit more without her, but I probably stopped somewhere in season 2 about five years ago and haven’t gone back to it. I should probably revisit for similar reasons, but if my evening choices are continuing a show that I wasn’t feeling, checking something else out, or reading a book, The Wire just hasn’t won that battle.

 

[El Floppo]

I continue to be shocked that people rank The Wire anywhere near their top 10 of shows all time.

Ok... I'll bite. List some of your top 10.

The Wire is firmly there for me.

Breaking Bad is clearly #1 for me. In no particular order Better Call Saul, Mad Men, Ozark, Sopranos, Succession, GOT are all great. Many, many more shows that are mentioned in this thread I found more enjoyable than The Wire, which I stopped watching in season 3.

Thanks... All solid to pantheon level shows for me (Ozark way off the list, imo, and I didn't like succession, but not for quality of tv reasons).

Given that list... To use your phrase- I'm shocked you don't also rate the Wire. But we don't all have to agree about everything. It would have made more sense if your list was all crappy...

 

[Zow]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

No, but I've heard non-fans share your criticism. Heck, I've had colleagues of mine that work in that "world" that I thought for sure would love the show come back and complain that it's way too slow for them.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

I've long believed not many shows really carry a second season and almost no television shows deserve a 3rd. Sopranos ended well, but the writers were clearly bored with the show through several of the middle seasons. Great television, but at most that story was worthy of 3 seasons. Lasso is on my long list of shows that should have ridden into the sunset after one great season as the writers just didn't have the enthusiasm anymore to keep it fresh (I tapped out 3 eps or so into season 2.) Barry was the same for me - great idea and great first season then it just got old and uninteresting. I get that the producers will never end a cash cow like Lasso. The difference with The Wire is that they really did come up with almost completely new and different stories each season. Absolutely brilliant writers year after year.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

I do think The Wire takes a few episodes to get going. My recollection from the first time I watched it is that it doesn't really properly introduce any characters like other shows do. S1E1 feels like you're dropping into a show that's already in it's third season, and I found that a little off-putting.

 

[Scoresman]

I've long believed not many shows really carry a second season and almost no television shows deserve a 3rd. Sopranos ended well, but the writers were clearly bored with the show through several of the middle seasons. Great television, but at most that story was worthy of 3 seasons. Lasso is on my long list of shows that should have ridden into the sunset after one great season as the writers just didn't have the enthusiasm anymore to keep it fresh (I tapped out 3 eps or so into season 2.) Barry was the same for me - great idea and great first season then it just got old and uninteresting. I get that the producers will never end a cash cow like Lasso. The difference with The Wire is that they really did come up with almost completely new and different stories each season. Absolutely brilliant writers year after year.

While I definitely think a lot of shows overextend their welcome, I think this is a little harsh. Sure The Sopranos had a couple of lulls, but it was by far better than 99% of other things on at the time. I'm thankful we got the long saga we did and I wouldn't give any of it back (except maybe the episode with his dad's goomah). Same with Breaking Bad and even Better Call Saul. I don't know how less of a great thing is good and I'm glad these didn't end after three seasons. It really depends on the show. I do agree though that there are more shows that go too long than otherwise.

This is the downside of long serial shows. If they start to suck, it's hard to come back. Shows like 24 or Picard, which are serial but each season is self contained, have the advantage of being able to reset with a new serial story every season and potentially erase the suck.

 

[Zow]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

I do think The Wire takes a few episodes to get going. My recollection from the first time I watched it is that it doesn't really properly introduce any characters like other shows do. S1E1 feels like you're dropping into a show that's already in it's third season, and I found that a little off-putting.

Wow I generally have no idea where these comments arise from, though I recognize they're common. I found the opening scene of The Wire S1E1 (re: the death of "Snotboogie" and why they had to let him shoot dice) to be one of the greatest opening scenes of all time where we got immediate insight to the whole point of the show and into its arguable main character.

Personally, I don't understand how anybody could describe it as "slow" or not properly introducing characters. Though, again, I get these are common criticisms...

 

[Osaurus]

Just watching the Wire now. Finished 3 seasons so far.

 

[bigbottom]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

I do think The Wire takes a few episodes to get going. My recollection from the first time I watched it is that it doesn't really properly introduce any characters like other shows do. S1E1 feels like you're dropping into a show that's already in it's third season, and I found that a little off-putting.

Wow I generally have no idea where these comments arise from, though I recognize they're common. I found the opening scene of The Wire S1E1 (re: the death of "Snotboogie" and why they had to let him shoot dice) to be one of the greatest opening scenes of all time where we got immediate insight to the whole point of the show and into its arguable main character.

Personally, I don't understand how anybody could describe it as "slow" or not properly introducing characters. Though, again, I get these are common criticisms...

I have no idea whether the criticisms are common. I just know that my wife and I were super bored through the first couple episodes. I think part of the boredom was due to listening to long extended dialogue that was hard to follow. But it was 10+ years ago so my memory is hazy.

 

[Gally]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

I do think The Wire takes a few episodes to get going. My recollection from the first time I watched it is that it doesn't really properly introduce any characters like other shows do. S1E1 feels like you're dropping into a show that's already in it's third season, and I found that a little off-putting.

Wow I generally have no idea where these comments arise from, though I recognize they're common. I found the opening scene of The Wire S1E1 (re: the death of "Snotboogie" and why they had to let him shoot dice) to be one of the greatest opening scenes of all time where we got immediate insight to the whole point of the show and into its arguable main character.

Personally, I don't understand how anybody could describe it as "slow" or not properly introducing characters. Though, again, I get these are common criticisms...

I started (and finished) The Wire within the last year. I thought it started slow and took some time to get invested in the characters and think @IvanKaramazov 's description was spot on for me. This show doesn't spoon feed you anything so you have to be invested to get into the ride. It's not something to have on while you are checking emails or surfing your phone. I really enjoyed the overall series but it took awhile to grab me completely. I plan to go back to the start of it now that I know the characters to see if that helps the start go faster and I think it will.

 

[Zow]

re: The Wire, I missed the boat when it originally aired. Have always heard rave reviews about it, so about 10 years ago, the wife and I set out to watch it. We were incredibly bored through the first two episodes and ended up watching something else. I'm guessing I need to revisit since it is widely known as an all-time great. But for fans of the show, do you agree that the first couple episodes were very slow?

I do think The Wire takes a few episodes to get going. My recollection from the first time I watched it is that it doesn't really properly introduce any characters like other shows do. S1E1 feels like you're dropping into a show that's already in it's third season, and I found that a little off-putting.

Wow I generally have no idea where these comments arise from, though I recognize they're common. I found the opening scene of The Wire S1E1 (re: the death of "Snotboogie" and why they had to let him shoot dice) to be one of the greatest opening scenes of all time where we got immediate insight to the whole point of the show and into its arguable main character.

Personally, I don't understand how anybody could describe it as "slow" or not properly introducing characters. Though, again, I get these are common criticisms...

I started (and finished) The Wire within the last year. I thought it started slow and took some time to get invested in the characters and think @IvanKaramazov 's description was spot on for me. This show doesn't spoon feed you anything so you have to be invested to get into the ride. It's not something to have on while you are checking emails or surfing your phone. I really enjoyed the overall series but it took awhile to grab me completely. I plan to go back to the start of it now that I know the characters to see if that helps the start go faster and I think it will.

Who knows maybe I've re-watched it too many times now (5x IIRC) that the character development aspect for me is just automatic because I go into each re-watch heavily invested in the characters already.

But I don't recall ever being bored or confused though on my first watch.