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The Sopranos Vs. The Wire Vs. Breaking Bad

Which series gets to continue its existence

  • Total voters
    105
The wire has many characters I like. I loved the first and fourth season and liked 235.

I love Sopranos too, I usually flip flop between these 2. They both would be included in my top 10 shows all time
 
OK. So I guess I need to give Sopranos another shot. I made it through like 10 episodes and just wasn't pulled in the way I was with BB or Wire.

I hear people calling it GOAT and they rewatch it. For me I've rewatched BB many times and like it. The Wire is awesome........but I have no desire to rewatch it all, it's very heavy.
 
TheNinja said:
OK. So I guess I need to give Sopranos another shot. I made it through like 10 episodes and just wasn't pulled in the way I was with BB or Wire.

I hear people calling it GOAT and they rewatch it. For me I've rewatched BB many times and like it. The Wire is awesome........but I have no desire to rewatch it all, it's very heavy.
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Funny, I struggled with BB to begin with. It was a couple of guys here goading me into it that made me take it seriously.
Sopranos. All me. Love everything gangster wise so I was in immediately.
 
Diogenes of Sinope said:
Hypothetical scenario:

You have to choose 1 of these series.

the other two are erased from existence and wiped from everyone's memories.



discuss.
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Interesting question. I'm currently re-watching The Wire. I'm up to pretty late in season 2. I should probably re-watch the other two as well when I'm done with The Wire.

If I had to make a decision right now, I guess I'll go with The Wire. The Italian-American mafia has been explored many, many times in American culture. The Sopranos did a great job with it, and it was the first time that it'd been explored deeply in a TV series on premium cable that didn't have the constraints of network TV, but still, it's basically a story we'd seen before.

Breaking Bad also tells a less familiar story, similar to The Wire. Still, I think The Wire tells the most unique and most interesting story. They're all great series, though and I suppose I could change my mind after re-watching all three...
 
Diogenes of Sinope said:
Very close poll results
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You wouldn't believe it but earlier on I think The Wire had a 8-10 vote lead to second place which was Breaking Bad. And Sopranos was way behind. Funny how the voting is so close now and The Wire is sitting in third. lol
 
MXZT said:
I pick Breaking Bad, but The Wire will win this, based on the history on here.
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Oddly enough, right now The Wire is losing. The Sopranos is in 2nd place and Breaking Bad is winning. It's real close, though. The Wire has 21 votes, The Sopranos has 23 and Breaking Bad has 24. I was the 21st vote for The Wire.
 
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Jackie Blue said:
Oddly enough, right now The Wire is losing. The Sopranos is in 2nd place and Breaking Bad is winning. It's real close, though. The Wire has 21 votes, The Sopranos has 22 and Breaking Bad has 23. I was the 21st vote for The Wire.
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lol yeah what a change in the voting, I just posted that The Wire had a very good lead early on and now it's last place but barely. Funny shit.
 
I haven’t watched the Wire but I have watched Sopranos and BB.

I love both shows and feel like they have their distinct strengths. Sopranos has a humorous undertone, some episodes are just pure comedy gold. But imo it doesn’t do as good of a job in capturing intense moments like BB.

BB starts strong and finishes even stronger. Sopranos simmers and gets very good in the middle seasons but then drops in quality (not by much) towards the end.

Overall, very tough to pick but I would favour BB because it’s cinematography is just off the charts and just pure eye-candy.
 
Trax said:
The Wire flew under the radar at the time because HBO were too busy with Sopranos,
golden boy who got all the promotion of the world. Just because its more crowd appealing plot. They knew that anti-hero mobster with "family code" would be a blockbuster like it was in hundreds of movies before. Where on the other side you have Baltimore city as a main character, lineup of unknown actors and some legitimate residents of Baltimore in TV show.
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I'm not entirely sure I agree with this narrative. The Sopranos had already been in production for five years (and had been on the air for almost four) when The Wire aired. And they gave The Wire the key spot right after The Sopranos to give them a lead-in audience. That's how I found the show.

The Sopranos was the #1 show on HBO. They earned their stripes. If anything, having The Sopranos in the first place helped boost The Wire. They gave David Simon as many seasons of The Wire as he wanted, they worked with him on half a dozen other series or min-series before and after The Wire as well. It's not like David Simon had a tough time at or with HBO at all.
 
Breaking Bad Season 5 and horrible finale drags the show down so I'm gonna go with The Wire
 
D3THRONED said:
Breaking Bad easily.

Wire is solid but aged terribly with awful cinematography and pretty shitty acting. Definitely overrated by boomers.
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Breaking Bad easily has the best cinematography and The Wire has the worst, but I wouldn't call the cinematography on The Wire anywhere near awful and I don't get the part about shitty acting. I'm re-watching The Wire right now and I was thinking about how good the acting on the show is, even in relatively small parts like Isaiah Whitlock Jr. as corrupt state senator Clay Davis or Michael Kostroff as CRIMINAL lawyer Maurice Levy. I'll give you that The Wire doesn't have an iconic lead performance like Bryan Cranston as Walter White or James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, but it does have a great ensemble cast.
 
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