Sevket-Erhat
Member
I am watching S04E09 shall I wait or what?
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HBO is airing a marathon of The Wire remastered in HD (one season per day, Dec 26-30)
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Bobby Roberts
Banned
Just watch it. It's how the rest of us all watched it. Including the people who made it 
Yep. As has been said a few times this thread, the first two seasons were shot in 16:9 for safety, but with 4:3 always in mind. From S3 onwards, it was shot in 4:3, so no 16:9 version exists.
neogaffer1
Banned
In all likelihood best case scenario it'll be higher res 4:3 and even that seems unlikely at this point. I'd probably finish the season and then wait for the broadcast to watch season 5.
Some crazy opinions in this thread (Season 4 being the worst...WTF). Then again, I have a pretty dissenting opinion of this show.
I think Season 3 is pretty overrated. Yep, there I said it. I've seen the show 4 times now, and every time I watch Season 3 I think the first 6 episodes are kind of boring and drag on. I also find the new Amsterdam plot to be kind of hokey (IMO it's the most goofy thing besides the Serial Killer plot in Season 5). The second half of Season 3 is pretty amazing though.
Everyone hates on Season 2, and I can totally understand why. You get introduced into the world of The Wire with Season 1. The Barksdale plot is totally engrossing, and as antagonist they are fare more interesting than the Greek. But then the show instantly shifts us away to some other plot in the city, and the story has a very slow burn. But IMO Season 2 has some of the best acting overall. And the way the theme/arc is played out and it comes full circle is pretty masterful. I agree the Greek is kind of silly, and there are other elements to Season 2 that are worth criticizing, but I think it's actually a better season than Season 3 overall (I know..what a crazy opinion!). For me it goes like this:
4> 1 > 2 > 3> 5
I think Season 3 is pretty overrated. Yep, there I said it. I've seen the show 4 times now, and every time I watch Season 3 I think the first 6 episodes are kind of boring and drag on. I also find the new Amsterdam plot to be kind of hokey (IMO it's the most goofy thing besides the Serial Killer plot in Season 5). The second half of Season 3 is pretty amazing though.
Everyone hates on Season 2, and I can totally understand why. You get introduced into the world of The Wire with Season 1. The Barksdale plot is totally engrossing, and as antagonist they are fare more interesting than the Greek. But then the show instantly shifts us away to some other plot in the city, and the story has a very slow burn. But IMO Season 2 has some of the best acting overall. And the way the theme/arc is played out and it comes full circle is pretty masterful. I agree the Greek is kind of silly, and there are other elements to Season 2 that are worth criticizing, but I think it's actually a better season than Season 3 overall (I know..what a crazy opinion!). For me it goes like this:
4> 1 > 2 > 3> 5
I found Oz to be more interesting. I gave them both a shot on Amazon prime video and ended up sticking with Oz.
grosvenor_92
Member
If so I'll just wait till it comes out to rewatch the show again
Did you get to the Wire episode with the FUCK scene? Because I was kind of iffy on the show until that scene and watched the whole run in like 2 weeks after that.
DataStream
Member
I actually never went through seasons 4+5, so I guess its a good time to go through the whole thing and actually finish it.
soul creator
Member
True Detective bro.
HIGH DEF JEFF
Banned
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
Will be a great show to finally see after I finish watching Breaking Bad for 1st time (on Season 4 there). Someone also mentioned Oz, totally forgot about that, might also give that a watch sometime.
MMaRsu
Banned
Hahahahaha gtfo
Bobby Roberts
Banned
The proof is in the thread you're reading. People have posted screencaps of HBO's schedule from their own site showing this is a thing that's happening.
Noisepurge
Member
i will buy a bluray box set at a high price if it's actually a remastered HD transfer, i don't mind it being 4:3.
Now a whole group of people will have every other TV show ruined for them because how good the wire is.
Thank god for the shield to help with my withdrawals
You sure about that?
Wow. Now I really want a widescreen version on blu-ray blessed by David Simon. I only watched the series for the first time through HBO Nordic earlier this year. The quality on that service is straight garbage.
There's a common misconception that the show is lacking in the cinematography. The Style in The Wire is a good video explaining how it's actually got really thoughtful, appropriate cinematography. It's got a look that works perfectly for the show it's serving, which is all you can ask for. That's what good cinematography is: informing and supporting the function of the show to better tell story. I think that's exactly what The Wire does.
Beyond that, there's actually a lot of really well lit and framed shots in the show that are extremely aesthetically pleasing. For sure, it's never quite as pretty or as often as a Kubrick film or Blade Runner, but there's actually a surprisingly high number of beautiful shots. That video above has a few.
I rewatched the whole show recently and I have to say I still don't get the hype behind season 4. My theory is that it's when a lot of people started watching it live and the kids angle really sells it.
From a storytelling perspective I don't think it's as good as the earlier seasons. Marlo and his crew just arent as interesting as Avon and Stringer and I never thought the political side was that insightful. For me season 1 is still the best and it could really stand alone as a miniseries
From a storytelling perspective I don't think it's as good as the earlier seasons. Marlo and his crew just arent as interesting as Avon and Stringer and I never thought the political side was that insightful. For me season 1 is still the best and it could really stand alone as a miniseries
Summer Haze
Banned
I strongly disagree. I find the absolute focus, determination, and cold-heartedness of Marlo's quest to the top, and his crew, to be fascinating. Especially contrasted against the Barksdale crew, who are much more laid back and 'old-school'. Marlo is like a filtered-through-the-generations gangster, a bi-product of what people like Avon and Stringer helped create.
Avon Barksdale
Member
Now I can watch Stringer Bell explain what a 40 degree day is in HD.
Summer Haze
Banned
Beer Monkey
Member
I'm a big advocate for Original Aspect Ratio presentation. I for one am extremely glad that Twin Peaks, for example, is 4:3 windowboxed 1080p on the new Blu-Ray set.
That said, when I watch The Wire in both formats, I'm not so sure if the DPs and David Simon were on the same page regarding composition.
Either way, David Simon's idea of presenting this show in deinterlaced 480p for posterity when it was shot on film is just freaking silly.
That said, when I watch The Wire in both formats, I'm not so sure if the DPs and David Simon were on the same page regarding composition.
Either way, David Simon's idea of presenting this show in deinterlaced 480p for posterity when it was shot on film is just freaking silly.
Sevket-Erhat
Member
I have finished season 4 anyway. The best season with lots of social messages
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Girlfriend and I just finished season 1. We've been delaying starting season 2, we apparently need to get on that.
*sigh*
Well, here it goes. *raised shield*
I just finished episode 6 of season 1. Each episode I basically shrug to myself and say "mmm well that was boring, maybe the next one is better"...
I would have given up on this show by the 3rd episode but Gaf loves it SO much I figured I'd try and give it a solid shot.
Nothing....really happens at all in the show so far. They follow some guys around and are tapping pagers and making stakeouts and interviewing suspects but man its just so, I dunno, bland.
Does it get better or is this just obviously not for me?
Well, here it goes. *raised shield*
I just finished episode 6 of season 1. Each episode I basically shrug to myself and say "mmm well that was boring, maybe the next one is better"...
I would have given up on this show by the 3rd episode but Gaf loves it SO much I figured I'd try and give it a solid shot.
Nothing....really happens at all in the show so far. They follow some guys around and are tapping pagers and making stakeouts and interviewing suspects but man its just so, I dunno, bland.
Does it get better or is this just obviously not for me?
I had the same feeling. I actually gave up and returned months later. Stick with it; it'll all make sense later.
Sevket-Erhat
Member
You know I gave up on S02e03 for almost a year. Then I have read an article about 5 shows that awards your patience few weeks ago and has not stopped since. Best series I have ever seen
blainethemono
Member
What you're describing about tapping pagers and stakeouts and stuff is one of the main draws of the series - the fact that instead of blazing through police procedure stuff, they instead follow every single bit of bureaucracy that the detectives have to go through in order to build a case. It also never holds your hand or dumbs things down for the viewer, which I really appreciate about HBO's shows in general. And not only that, but how the show depicts the other side of the story and how most of the kids stuck in that life really never had any other choice. That was completely fascinating to me and I was hooked about 4 episodes in. So yeah, it's not for everyone, but I think if you give it time you'll probably find something to like.
Summer Haze
Banned
It's slow burning, especially the first handful of episodes of each season. It takes time to create the foundations. I actually had to re-start the first episode of season 1 like...6 times before I managed to watch it all. Then it took around episode 6-8 before it clocked with me.
Now it's my favourite show of all time.
I'd recommend reading up about the show, how it's structured, and what it's about, before carrying on. I don't want to offend you and say "ugh, you just don't get it", but I've found that some people go in not really knowing what to expect, and up not enjoy enjoying because they don't really understand what type of show it is. Even just a quick read of the wiki will give you a better understanding and might make you appreciate the show more.
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Fun Wire fact: Andre Royo's portrayal of Bubbles was so authentic and convincing that when filming the show, a junkie/homeless man approached Andre and gave him his heroin, saying "Man, you need a fix more than I do."
angular graphics
Banned
Moving to HD they can retain the fuzziness and whatnot they feel is important to the show AND not have upscaling artifacts. Which were never a part of the creator's vision. If his vision was for the show to have upscaling artifacts he would beg everyone to watch the DVD on big HD screens instead of SDTVs because on SD there wouldn't be any upscaling done.
The 101 Network ran the entire series in HD back in 2010. What's on Amazon and what HBO is going to be broadcasting is most likely this version.
blainethemono
Member
I hope they're planning on also keeping the standard 4:3 version up on HBO Go instead of just replacing it completely with the new widescreen pan & scan upscale that Amazon has right now. Either way I still have my DVDs but i'd hate to see the original version lost from streaming options like that
Sevket-Erhat
Member
Bubbs is my second favourite after Omar in the series
Summer Haze
Banned
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