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The Wire (2 Viewers)

'Good said:
'SacramentoBob said:
'Raider Nation said:
Still hard to watch the scene where Wallace gets popped. :(
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Yeah I caught that again last week or so. Really liked his character. He just wasn't strong enough for what he was involved in.
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Nor was D'Angelo. Nor was Namond. In all three cases, Wallace included, it was a matter of being forced into something they weren't cut out for via their family, if you count Wallace's crew as his family. And I think having D'Angelo and Namond both being pushed/encouraged by women to get into the game really underlines the moral degradation that the drug game has on the family unit. It didn't work out well for two, and Namond was likely headed for a bad end but for Bunny.I like the Top 10, but I don't think of Bodie as a "total badass" the way I think of Wee-Bay or Marlo. Marlo was a sociopath, and Wee-Bay was so inured to violence that he gave up multiple murders while eating his dinner. Bodie (and Poot) seemed like guys who were tough enough for the game, but had they grown up in better circumstances or if they'd been thrown a proverbial rope, would've been productive citizens. Someone like Marlo just seems completely irredeemable, socially.

Top 10 in no particular order:

1) Bunk

2) Lester

3) Marlo

4) Prop Joe

5) Colvin

6) Michael

7) Bubbles

8) Levy

9) McNutty

10) Sobotka

As much as he was deplored and as enraging as he was, Ziggy was a great tragic character. I can't think of a more epic ####-up in TV history.

Really, everyone on this show was awesome. Except for Walon.
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A top 10, for at least a few characters can be debated forever, but how can a Good Posting Judge post have a 'Wire Top 10' and not include Omar?!Come at the king, you best not miss

 
I watched when it was on and received the complete series on DVD and re-watched it. It still was compelling as it was the first time. The docks and the newspaper angles may have not been popular, but they gave different perspectives that needed to be told.

My top 10

McNulty

Omar

Bubs

Bunk

Lester

Michael

Cutty

Stringer

Carver

Slim Charles

 
'anakin said:
I watched when it was on and received the complete series on DVD and re-watched it. It still was compelling as it was the first time. The docks and the newspaper angles may have not been popular, but they gave different perspectives that needed to be told.
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Season two was as good as any. I remember the hilarity of people being all pissed off at the change of scene the first couple episodes. I think of it every time somebody sees a premiere of a new season of a good show now and freaks out about who's gone or who's doing this or that because it's different from the prior season. It's the one you can always point to to shut those people up until the show at least has a chance to unroll what they're doing.
 
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'Raider Nation said:
'Aaron Rudnicki said:
Prezbo is a great character. So is Valchek.
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I liked bumbling cop Prez better than school teacher Prez.Not a fan of the school scenes in general, but they were still a million times better than the scenes at the newspaper plant.
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At first i wasn't thrilled about the school scenes, but really came to like them.Reminded me of HS.

Prezbo really turned into a good character.

I am sure he would have wanted to clock a couple pf those kids in his class with a 9mm across the eye, but it seemed like he earned their respect.

 
Nothing ever came of Rawls in the bar, right?

I have to go back and see, but what was the general "dirt" they had on Daniels?

When that 1st came into play, I thought it was going to be a lot bigger.

 
Almost impossible to limit a list of best Wire characters to 10, but Valchek definitely belongs on the list. Along with Rawls and Clay Davis, gets so many of the best lines and represents a perfect intersection of the qualities that get selected for in our institutions and the results of that reality.

 
'comfortably numb said:
'Raider Nation said:
'Aaron Rudnicki said:
Prezbo is a great character. So is Valchek.
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I liked bumbling cop Prez better than school teacher Prez.Not a fan of the school scenes in general, but they were still a million times better than the scenes at the newspaper plant.
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At first i wasn't thrilled about the school scenes, but really came to like them.Reminded me of HS.

Prezbo really turned into a good character.

I am sure he would have wanted to clock a couple pf those kids in his class with a 9mm across the eye, but it seemed like he earned their respect.
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Agree with CN here - Prezbo very subtly showed a lot of soul and evolved in season four. I thought I was a great character to kind of pull us in as a well-meaning person in over their heads - how a lot of us would fit into that world.
 
Another character that belongs on any all-time best Wire character list is Landsman - poetic, hilarious, crude, even gross at times, but every now and then revealing that he understands what is really happening/has as much soul as much as any character on the show - the way he handles everything with Bubs for starters...

 
I think the biggest message I can take from the show is Bodie's line.

The game is rigged.

I don't think he just meant the dealing game, i think he meant life.

When you see the hands a lot of these kids are dealt from day 1 with their surroundings its hard NOT to think the game is rigged against you.

I just had a thought back to Dookie/Michael's last scene in the car.

Dookie asks Michael if he remembers when they drop piss balloons on those kids.

Michael couldn't remember.

In a short period, they went from kids doing kid things, to a dangerous lifestyle of drugs and crime with very little light at the end of the tunnel.

 
'Sigmund Bloom said:
Another character that belongs on any all-time best Wire character list is Landsman - poetic, hilarious, crude, even gross at times, but every now and then revealing that he understands what is really happening/has as much soul as much as any character on the show - the way he handles everything with Bubs for starters...
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One of my favorite scenes is the Cole/Colesberry wake and Landsman's eulogy. He was a good character, and it's great that the real Landsman had a role on the show. "Don't it make your #### bust concrete to be in the same room with two noble, selfless public servants?" was apparently a real life Jay Landsman quote.Iirc, Daniels stole some money from a bust, not unlike Herc and Carver. Only he kept it.
 
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Steve Earle isn't the greatest actor, but the Walon character was good, and was important for the Bubbles arc. Same goes for Harley in Treme.

 
I have a task...

List the worst 3 characters you did not like. (or i should say, did a poor job)

I don't think I got the scenes with that drunk cop that was stammering around at times.

And that other guy who they would ask about his house on the beach?

What was up with those 2?

 
'Sigmund Bloom said:
Almost impossible to limit a list of best Wire characters to 10, but Valchek definitely belongs on the list. Along with Rawls and Clay Davis, gets so many of the best lines and represents a perfect intersection of the qualities that get selected for in our institutions and the results of that reality.
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It's pretty amazing. You could go Top 20 and still leave out many great characters. Even for some of the best shows in history, I'd have trouble listing more than a Top 5. Put me down for (a list that could change daily):

1. Omar-The popular choice for a reason. Also now my dog's namesake.

2. Bunk

3. Lester

4. Prop Joe-In a show with so many emotional deaths, I found his to be the most troubling for some reason.

5. McNulty-Even with all the great characters, it's hard to put him much lower. If he doesn't knock it out of the park (like he did), the show might not've been the best ever (even though they were just fine essentially being without him for a full season).

6. Kima-I must admit, I might've shed a tear during the "signal 13" scene.

7. Avon

8. Stringer

9. Landsman

10 Pearlman-loved her character. Very funny and the futility of her plight was as compelling as the rest

 
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Happy to see Lester near the top of a lot of these lists. :thumbup:

Three characters that I didn't like (not that they didn't serve their purpose), were Kenard (the obnoxious little kid), Marla (Daniels' wife) and Thomas (the editor above Gus).

 
I didn't like the actress who played Rhonda. I think Amy Ryan would have been much better as her. I did, however, think very highly of the actress who played Eleana and was happy to see her get naked on Californication last season. Bravo. I didn't like Templeton the character, or the guy who played him. I get the sniveling, but I wasn't invested enough to care about him. Otherwise, there really wasn't a bad character. I was tempted to say Cutty, but upon further thought...nope. Cutty was good.

 
'Apple Jack said:
Polk and Mahone? Just a couple dead weight drunks. Not sure there was much to get.
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I don't know, my wife and I still quote the "Sssssshhhhennyority" lineI think they were in the script to show some of the dead weight that real police have to work around - common characters in any major city police department
 
'Sigmund Bloom said:
'Apple Jack said:
Polk and Mahone? Just a couple dead weight drunks. Not sure there was much to get.
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I don't know, my wife and I still quote the "Sssssshhhhennyority" lineI think they were in the script to show some of the dead weight that real police have to work around - common characters in any major city police department
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OK, that is what i figured.They had mentioned a couple times about his house, and I was wondering if I missed something
 
'pollardsvision said:
4. Prop Joe-In a show with so many emotional deaths, I found his to be the most troubling for some reason.
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I think it was because when Prop Joe was knocked off, it signaled that there weren't any rules or honor left in the game - absolutely one of the best characters, such a unique delivery and style. Love that you can see him completely inhabit the character that would earn the name "proposition joe" - pawn shop also the perfect "home" for his character. Love when he imitates someone from the straight world. Can't think of a prop joe line or scene that I didn't enjoy immensely - a real thinker and larger than life presence
 
'Sigmund Bloom said:
'pollardsvision said:
4. Prop Joe-In a show with so many emotional deaths, I found his to be the most troubling for some reason.
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I think it was because when Prop Joe was knocked off, it signaled that there weren't any rules or honor left in the game - absolutely one of the best characters, such a unique delivery and style. Love that you can see him completely inhabit the character that would earn the name "proposition joe" - pawn shop also the perfect "home" for his character. Love when he imitates someone from the straight world. Can't think of a prop joe line or scene that I didn't enjoy immensely - a real thinker and larger than life presence
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yep, not to mention sold out by cheezewas real happy when slim took him out.Brother Mouzone: You know what the most dangerous thing in America is right?lol
 
I don't even know if I can make a good top 10 Wire characters in the police department (in no particular order):

McNulty

Bunk

Lester

Landsman

Valchek

Daniels

Rawls

Kima

Herc

Bunny

Top 10 outside of police department (in no particular order):

Omar

Stringer

Avon

Prop Joe

Bodie

Snoop

Slim Charles

Clay Davis

Bubs

Deacon Williams

ETA: And then CN mentions Mouzone... how can I leave him off?

 
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'Apple Juice said:
Funny none of the politicians get mentioned as good or bad when such a huge portion of the latter seasons were devoted to them.
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Politicians in general make for uninteresting characters. They are usually ciphers for ambition, greed, desire, power - rarely having much complexity beyond the forces that pull at them from the outside and their drive to succeed.
 
'Apple Juice said:
Funny none of the politicians get mentioned as good or bad when such a huge portion of the latter seasons were devoted to them.
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I think it was because we generally only saw them "working" and we rarely, if ever, saw any of them in their home or personal lives. As funny as they were, they were often more caricatures than actual characters. Not that they weren't great. Just a bit one-dimensional in terms of the way the story was told.As great as Clay Davis was, he was pretty much just "faceless corrupt state senator with really funny schtiiiiiiick."The exception would be Carcetti. We saw more of him, but he was a smarmy, annoying little *******. A good character, but not likeable enough in any way to be in a Top 10 list. Just a theory. The right answer is probably just that there were tons of great characters and it's a coincidence that they haven't been mentioned on the 15 or so lists posted here.
 
'jdoggydogg said:
'Apple Jack said:
Steve Earle isn't the greatest actor, but the Walon character was good, and was important for the Bubbles arc.
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:goodposting:
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Yup. I thought Walon's best scene, and Earle's for that matter, was this one: My linkI love that all this time has passed since the show ended and this thread still keeps popping up with some good stuff every now and then. It's a slow-burning thread, kind of like the show.

 
'Apple Jack said:
Steve Earle isn't the greatest actor, but the Walon character was good, and was important for the Bubbles arc. Same goes for Harley in Treme.
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One thing I'll say about Earle is that even though he's probably not a trained actor, he is pitch perfect for that character. Much like Snoop, these are brilliant casting decisions. Man, this show is just so good, it's good on a molecular level. I bet even the ####ing catering was good.
 
'Sigmund Bloom said:
I don't even know if I can make a good top 10 Wire characters in the police department (in no particular order):McNultyBunkLesterLandsmanValchekDanielsRawlsKimaHercBunnyTop 10 outside of police department (in no particular order):OmarStringerAvonProp JoeBodieSnoopSlim CharlesClay DavisBubsDeacon WilliamsETA: And then CN mentions Mouzone... how can I leave him off?
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That's the problem with the top tens... I mean, how can you leave snoop or stringer or prop joe off any list? Or Omar, bubs, Clay Davis, etc etc etc.Easily my favorite show of all time. When you have 20 legit favorite characters, it was a great show.
 
'jwb said:
'shuke said:
'Apple Jack said:
'shuke said:
'comfortably numb said:
I have a task...List the worst 3 characters you did not like. (or i should say, did a poor job)
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WalonSnoopChick who was Carcetti's campaign manager
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Snoop? Every second Snoop was on scream I was captivated.
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I was too distracted by her asexuality and horrible acting. :shrug:
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That wasn't acting
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My point exactly. It was too obvious in every scene that she was reciting lines from a script.
 
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