Breaking Bad, The Sopranos or The Wire

Then I'll check it out. THanks!

 

The Wire is the best show in the history of television.

Sopranos, while good, was an uneven soap opera.

 

"The Sopranos".

If "Boardwalk Empire" was a choice, I think I would vote for that.

 

I have friends who have praised Breaking Bad, so I will try it out. But I'm holding out for the last season to end, when I'll be able to get that complete seasons box that inevitably is coming out. I won't be cool, but at least I won't be deprived.
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Breaking Bad, The Wire, then Sopranos. The only time BB left me in the cold was "The Fly" episode was to out there for me. The last episode of BB this year was absolutely incredible!

 

I completely disagree with this. I think the acting of the Sopranos was much better. Naturalistic, believeable. After about two seasons, I got really tired of Bryan Cranston's "slow burn," which mainly consists of him clenching his jaw ad infinitum. I don't think he has a lot of range as an actor. He feels forced to me. Acting, like any profession, depends on skill and a set of tools. It was pretty easy to pick up on Cranston's arsenal of tricks.

 

Sopranos, easy pick for me.

 

Totally agree about "The Fly". Just about nothing happened in that episode.

 

Had to go with the Wire, although the final season was a big disappointment to me. I tend to view the third season (with Stringer Bell's memorable demise) as the real climax of that show. I loved the first two or three seasons of the Sopranos, but it got really patchy after that (barring the season that featured Steve Buscemi). By the end, Tony became totally irredeemable and unlikable, particularly after killing Christopher, and it became hard to care what happened to him (or his useless son!). Breaking Bad has held up really well so far and I hope it can sustain the brilliance through to the end.

 

BB

 

Same here. BB was three seasons in before it came on my radar as something I should probably be watching, now I'm scrambling to avoid finding out anything about it until I get around to starting from the beginning, which means clearing out several other queued up big runs first.

Of the three in this thread I voted for The Wire, but if either Deadwood or Rome had been included I would have had to think harder.

 

Tough call. The correct answer is probably The Wire, which I just finished watching for the first time about two hours ago. Breaking Bad is powerful entertainment, but it's too intensely focused on dark characters doing dark thing for me to totally embrace it. I voted for The Sopranos. It was just the most enjoyable for me. It lost its way in the later years, once almost every leading character had gotten whacked, but still.

Wish I could have voted for Deadwood, which is just the ****ing best.

 

One could argue that The Sopranos made the others - and many additional shows - possible.

But I picked The Wire - it's just epic, every season. And unflinchingly brutal, honest, clever, and human. And unlike most dramas, it never really jumped the shark or involved a single main protagonist in a soap opera-like spiral of increasing tension and drama.

 

At Deadwood to the options, and you've got yourself a photo-finish horse race.

Well, Oz made The Sopranos possible, and all the brilliant TV shows we've been gifted with over the past decade certainly owe that series a debt of thanks.

 

while this is probably true, that fact also illustrates the problem so many people had with it, and as with the film Tree of Life, I'm not buying the "people didn't get it" argument.
My father still has the best explanation I've heard of the Sopranos ending: The TV viewer gets whacked

 

That was my first impression as well, but after reading the link I concede he's correct. I think that people didn't get it right away is part of it's brilliance; it was debatable, and yet, all so clear if you watch it over and over. That it's so watchable time after time is part of why it's so great, imo, and Chase did that on purpose; it's no one night stand, wham, bam then over.

 

The first couple seasons of the Sopranos were as good as I can ever remember T.V. being, Then, I really got the sense they continued beyond their prime, just for the money. There were still some great moments, just fewer than the first couple seasons. The Wire was great across all it's seasons, never got the sense they overstretched out the storylines. Breaking Bad has raised it up a notch, and has yet to disappoint.

 

You guys have convinced me to check out The Wire. I'm just finishing up the 4th season of BB, and I'm a big fan. It's TV like this that keeps me out of the theaters. I stuck with The Sopranos through thick and thin and in the end, I got whacked.

 

That is awesome!

 

The Sopranos fell to third on this list for me, though at one time it would've been #1. Boardwalk Empire has become my overall mafia fave over The Sopranos by a country mile, especially this season.

I loved The Wire, but since getting into Breaking Bad, I'd have to say that's #1 of those three for me.

 

I'd go B-Bad, Wire, Sopranos in that order. And I'd thrown an honorable mention to Homicide, which deserves a bonus point or two for managine to be such a good show on regular network programming (in other words, it managed to be quite realistic, without being able to use violence/language/sex to the extent of the three above).

 

According to Vince Gilligan on the commentary track on the Blu-ray, budgetary constraints necessitated shooting an episode on one in-studio set rather than going out on location, which is much more expensive, obviously.

For me, it's Breaking Bad, The Wire, Sopranos, but I've only seen seasons four and five of The Wire. I intend to get to all of it someday, and I suspect my order will change.

 

For me it is The Wire, Sopranos and then Breaking Bad with Breaking Bad in last place mainly because of lack of familarity.

I just finished watching the Sopranos from start to finish (for the second time) and I was pretty pleased with it - the episodes were generally beautifully shot, the acting was overall excellent and the character development was interesting.

I prefer The Wire because it had all of the qualities of the Sopranos without any "filler" episodes and, if anything, The Wire was more thought provoking. I remember being extremely skeptical about The Wire (I typically don't like TV shows) and it took a few episodes for me to enjoy it and then I was hooked.

Now that I type this I realize that I have only watched part of the first season of Breaking Bad - I like the premise and thought that it was well shot and acted and I do plan to check it out again when I am looking for a new series.

We recently stuck a toe in the water for the TV shows, OZ and The Shield. OZ doesn't look like it is going to be something that I would enjoy - it is weird and gritty (which I like) but I am having a hard time imaging my attention being kept by a series taking place in a prison - it is just so limited. The Shield looks pretty interesting but maybe I am just a sucker for a gritty cop drama set in LA

 

I really liked the Shield and saw every episode. I've heard it described as The Wire on crack. Vic Mackey is one of the best cop characters I've come across. Shane is also a great character. Just a cracker of a series.