The Wire

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11:49p, 11/10/18
AG
Bunk, Omar, Mcnultly, Freeman, Cutty, Stringer, Avon, Wallace, Shiiiiiiiii - great characters. Midway through season 4 and can't decide if I like madmen or the wire the most. Either way, I can't believe I missed these progrehms When they were originally airing.

Should I watch breaking bad or the sopranos next?
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Render
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11:54p, 11/10/18
AG
Breaking Bad
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Bruce Almighty
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8:09a, 11/11/18
AG
The Sopranos is great but ran 2 seasons too long. Breaking Bad ended at its best. Watch BB first than Sopranos.
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Zombie Jon Snow
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8:42a, 11/11/18
AG

Best drama Tv shows since 2000ish - no order here. If you haven't seen any of these you should.

The Wire
Justified
Sopranos
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
The Americans
Fargo
LOST - yeah it was still worth it, the last great show from traditional network TV

honorable mention cuz they only have 2 seasons so far or are not really a traditional series:
Westworld
The Crown
Stranger Things
True Detective
Sherlock - more of a serial set of miniseries

Edit to add:
Better Call Saul - as noted in discussion below it is worth mentioning, but as it is incomplete I'm hesitant to add it to the top list yet.


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Bruce Almighty
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In reply to Zombie Jon Snow • 8:54a, 11/11/18
AG
Zombie Jon Snow said:

Best drama Tv shows since 2000ish - no order here. If you haven't seen any of these you should.

The Wire
Justified
Sopranos
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
The Americans
Fargo
LOST - yeah it was still worth it, the last great show from traditional network TV

honorable mention cuz they only have 2 seasons so far or are not really a traditional series:
Westworld
The Crown
Stranger Things
True Detective
Sherlock - more of a serial set of miniseries




Your missing the best current show on TV: Better Call Saul.
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Zombie Jon Snow
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In reply to Bruce Almighty • 9:43a, 11/11/18
AG
Bruce Almighty said:
Zombie Jon Snow said:

Best drama Tv shows since 2000ish - no order here. If you haven't seen any of these you should.

The Wire
Justified
Sopranos
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
The Americans
Fargo
LOST - yeah it was still worth it, the last great show from traditional network TV

honorable mention cuz they only have 2 seasons so far or are not really a traditional series:
Westworld
The Crown
Stranger Things
True Detective
Sherlock - more of a serial set of miniseries




Your missing the best current show on TV: Better Call Saul.
yeah... intentional really.

It isn't finished unlike all of those others (in the best of list) except for GOT but thats very close to the end and epic in scope/scale/etc. I can't imagine it not ending on top or hurting its overall rep.

I really kinda withhold final judgment on a series until it ends - endings sometimes have a huge impact on how I view them after the fact. With the possible exception of LOST all of those ended really strong (imho).

I could have put BCS in the honorable mention I suppose - but those were mostly series that don't have near the number of episodes of the top ones or even BCS.


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ORAggieFan
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10:30a, 11/11/18
You're missing The Shield. I'd put it #3 behind The Wire and BB.

An underrated show due to it being on Cinemax was Banshee.
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Orlando Ayala Cant Read
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10:30a, 11/11/18
AG
I loved The Wire.

And everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions but it doesnt even come close to the greatness of Breaking Bad imho.

Of the 3 shows mentioned Id rank em..

Breaking Bad
Sopranos
The Wire

But I think BB is almost untouchable in its its greatness .
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mhayden
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10:42a, 11/11/18
1) Breaking Bad
2) The Shield (my personal favorite, but it's not as overall polished as BB)
3) The Wire
4) Justified (Glad that it's finally getting the credit it deserves. Probably the best dialogue writing in TV history).

Game of Thrones will join the list, probably as #4 as long as it doesn't completely **** the bed in it's final seasons.


I've re-watched all 5 with the SO and they all still hold up very well. Sopranos I have no desire to watch again. I get it's significance in the TV world and how it pushed the boundaries and production quality, but some of the archs are extremely cookie-cutter and all of it seems extremely dated (whereas The Wire can talk about text messaging as a new thing but it still doesn't feel out of date).
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Ag 11
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In reply to mhayden • 9:23p, 11/11/18
AG
Your list is identical to mine.

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aggiepaintrain
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8:18a, 11/12/18
AG
Add these:

The Shield
Ray Donovan
Billions
Narcos
Veep
FJB
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Bunk Moreland
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8:55a, 11/12/18
Breaking Bad is a fantastic show but it's a hard 4th for me. Top 3 are in a league of their own:

1) The Wire
2) Mad Men
3) Sopranos

4) Breaking Bad

5-10 can be flip flopped every which way.
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FancyKetchup14
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10:00a, 11/12/18
AG
The Sopranos changed tv. There's a reason why it's considered the greatest show of all time. James Gandolfini was absolutely amazing for that role.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to FancyKetchup14 • 10:05a, 11/12/18
AG
Quote:
There's a reason why it's considered the greatest show of all time.
By who? I usually see that flip-flop between Breaking Bad and The Wire.
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Bruce Almighty
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In reply to Brian Earl Spilner • 10:10a, 11/12/18
AG
Brian Earl Spilner said:
Quote:
There's a reason why it's considered the greatest show of all time.
By who? I usually see that flip-flop between Breaking Bad and The Wire.


Rolling Stone had it number 1. To me, the Sopranos is kinda like The Beatles of tv shows. You can argue they're not the best, but what it's meant for modern tv can't be argued.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to Bruce Almighty • 10:14a, 11/12/18
AG
Won't argue there.

Sopranos kind of kicked off the age of the TV serial, and I think Breaking Bad kicked off the so-called "golden age" that we're still kind of in right now. (Which has expanded to streaming.)

And the late explosion of popularity that BB had was 99% due to Netflix, and I think that was a major factor in how many big budget shows made their way over to streaming.
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ac04
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10:25a, 11/12/18
the answer is sopranos. tony soprano is the original bad guy protagonist you can't help but root for, which is what walter white was as well. both shows are great, but there is more urgency to get to the sopranos as it is starting to age a bit. once you complete that, then i would go breaking bad followed by better call saul.
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Zombie Jon Snow
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10:46a, 11/12/18
AG
It has always been Sopranos for me - always will be I think.

It changed TV forever and it really stands up too...I don't get any criticisms about it being "dated". It's no different than watching a period piece now (like watching Mad Men) so the time period and stuff does not bother me at all. No reason it should matter.

What's incredible is to think of the previous best dramas on TV before this golden age - although some overlapped it a bit - but these shows are almost comical to me now in how simplistic and episodic they were.

NYPD Blue
St. Elsewhere
ER
Hill Street Blues
LA Law
The West Wing
The Practice
The Good Wife
24
any variation of CSI, Law and Order or other crime shows
ST: TNG or other ST variants
Magnum PI

I could never even watch any of those again now I don't think.
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aTmAg
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10:48a, 11/12/18
AG
At the moment I got:

1) Breaking Bad
2) Wire

3) GoT
4) The Americans
5) Sopranos

The Wire's Season 5 keeps from being #1. BB season 5 cements it's #1.

The ending of Sopranos knocks it way down. That was ridiculous.
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mhayden
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12:11p, 11/12/18
The Wire doesn't seem dated at all.

I think Sopranos seems dated because while it may have been one of the (if not the) first, so many other dramas copied the format that going back and watching makes it seem cliche... Who will be the baddy this season?

I loved the genre, but it was a chore to get through the last season and I have absolutely no desire to go back. Not so with many of the others that have been mentioned here.
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mhayden
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In reply to aTmAg • 12:12p, 11/12/18
aTmAg said:
The Wire's Season 5 keeps from being #1. BB season 5 cements it's #1.

Even though The Shield is high on my list as a personal preference, I agree with your quote... I'm re-watching The Wire right now and it's absolutely brilliant and I can't fathom how it's not tops on my list... then I remember that 5th season.
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aTmAg
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In reply to mhayden • 12:50p, 11/12/18
AG
free_mhayden said:
aTmAg said:
The Wire's Season 5 keeps from being #1. BB season 5 cements it's #1.

Even though The Shield is high on my list as a personal preference, I agree with your quote... I'm re-watching The Wire right now and it's absolutely brilliant and I can't fathom how it's not tops on my list... then I remember that 5th season.
I have never seen the Shield. So I can't rank it. I have also never seen Justified or a few of the others that I hear thrown around a lot. So them not being on my list does not mean I think they are bad or not worthy.
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dragmagpuff
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1:09p, 11/12/18
AG
My top 4 (in no particular order) is The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad.

The Sopranos is the first great prestige TV show. The mafia plot points are good, but not what makes it great. The character study of Tony Soprano showed that you could make essential TV of a man talking to his therapist or two people lost in the woods if the writing was great.

The Wire should probably be required watching to graduate high school just to teach people that real life issues are complicated and nuanced, but that nuance doesn't get you promoted or elected. The show is probably some of the best social commentary of all time. (If you like The Wire and how David Simon approached real world issues, you would also probably like "Show Me a Hero", a miniseries about public housing development in Yonkers in the 80s)

Mad Men is the fully character-driven evolution of The Sopranos, IMO. It might be the greatest show of all time that doesn't rely on a dark/crime premise. I also can understand why some people may not have it high on their lists.

Breaking Bad is probably the best plot-driven show of all time. I've never seen a show ramp up the tension as consistently and believably as this show while still relying on excellent characters.
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TCTTS
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In reply to dragmagpuff • 1:13p, 11/12/18
AG
Great rundown. Agree 100%.
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Bruce Almighty
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1:57p, 11/12/18
AG
My top 5

1. Lost
2. Breaking Bad
3. The Wire
4. Better Call Saul
5. GoT
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mhayden
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3:43p, 11/12/18
Gotta be some recency bias on Better Call Saul... It's a very good show, well acted and competent storyline... but Top 5 dramas of all time?
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dragmagpuff
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4:24p, 11/12/18
AG
Sometimes I wonder where Twin Peaks would rank if the network let David Lynch have more control and didn't force there to be way too many episodes and simultaneously rush the main story. I was 3 years old during the original run, and loved watching it last year.

TP obviously doesn't hold up as well as the more modern shows, but it was definitely ground breaking.

Twin Peaks: The Return was one of the most fascinating and unforgettable shows I have ever seen.
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dragmagpuff
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In reply to mhayden • 4:25p, 11/12/18
AG
free_mhayden said:
Gotta be some recency bias on Better Call Saul... It's a very good show, well acted and competent storyline... but Top 5 dramas of all time?
I find it almost impossible to separate my love of Breaking Bad and my love of Better Call Saul. But I have been starting to think that Better Call Saul may actually be better than Breaking Bad.
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aTmAg
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In reply to dragmagpuff • 5:11p, 11/12/18
AG
dragmagpuff said:
free_mhayden said:
Gotta be some recency bias on Better Call Saul... It's a very good show, well acted and competent storyline... but Top 5 dramas of all time?
I find it almost impossible to separate my love of Breaking Bad and my love of Better Call Saul. But I have been starting to think that Better Call Saul may actually be better than Breaking Bad.
I like BCS. It is only show that I currently watch live, but it's not as exciting as BB. It just ended season 4. By now in in BB we've had ABQ, One Minute, Face Off, Crawl Space, Full Measure, Phoenix, etc. All of which are more exciting than anything I can think of in BCS. The acting is top notch, just like it was in BB, but story is not as gripping, IMO.
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bearamedic99
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5:20p, 11/12/18
AG
Sorry but I've never gotten into Mad Men despite multiple tries.
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bearamedic99
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5:21p, 11/12/18
AG
Would MASH be in the running? Or too much of a comedy?
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Bruce Almighty
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In reply to bearamedic99 • 5:22p, 11/12/18
AG
bearamedic99 said:
Sorry but I've never gotten into Mad Men despite multiple tries.


I've tried 3 times and just can't get into it. About 1/2 way through season one is as far as I've gotten.
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aTmAg
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In reply to Bruce Almighty • 5:49p, 11/12/18
AG
Bruce Almighty said:
bearamedic99 said:
Sorry but I've never gotten into Mad Men despite multiple tries.


I've tried 3 times and just can't get into it. About 1/2 way through season one is as far as I've gotten.
I agree. I found it sorta boring.
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johnnyblaze36
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6:33p, 11/12/18
AG
1. The Wire
2. Breaking Bad
3. The Shield

I'm not sure why people have such a problem with season 5 of The Wire. Sure it was the weakest of the five but still had some amazing moments and the series finale is a masterpiece imo.
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double aught
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In reply to johnnyblaze36 • 6:44p, 11/12/18
AG
No doubt. It's still better than 98% of television ever filmed.
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