Breaking Bad, The Sopranos or The Wire

Last week I decided to start re-watching the outstanding BBC series; Luther. All the promise shown by a young Idris Elba in the Wire manifests itself in this great show. Co-starring a mesmerizing Ruth Wilson. The 1st 2 seasons, very short mini-series lengths, are addictive!

 

For me, The Sopranos is the greatest TV show of all time and it doesnt have any close competitors.

I really enjoyed The Wire the first time I watched it through, enough to make it my number 2 show. But on the second watch through, the last season seemed very mediocre and left a bit of a bad taste. I find the seemingly universal dislike for season 2 quite baffling.

I have only seen Breaking Bad once, it was good but not great. I might place it above The Wire, due to that final season, but its certainly not the second, or third, best show I have seen. I would give those spots to Gomorrah and The Shield.

 

The Shield was very good!!

 

I'm actually almost done watching through The Sopranos for the first time, and I'm probably going to start The Wire next as I haven't seen it. Watched Breaking Bad a few years ago.

I prefer Breaking Bad to The Sopranos. I feel like it flows better and I love the intensity. BB has your attention for an entire episode. Sometimes with The Sopranos I feel like I drift off a little sometimes. The first couple seasons were a little spotty to me too, and kinda had a little bit of that late 90's/early 2000's cheese factor sometimes. Another thing I love about BB was when starting a new season, you think "there's no way they can top that." But they do. And each season builds so well. They all start out kinda light, so you think the season will be weaker than the last, but the storylines and plot twists. It just gets better and better. However, there's no doubt that The Sopranos was groundbreaking for its time. All three are groundbreaking but of course The Sopranos gets the "I was here first" benefit.

 

I very much agree with all of this. A short additional note: there is way more humor - often extremely dark - in both shows than is generally talked about. Not so much in The Wire - but it's not at all a depressing or humorless show. It's definitely worth your time - there's a reason it's considered an all-time classic.

 

Yeah, it’s been on my watch list for a few years. Just so much I wanna watch with so little time! Not a big binge watcher either, usually a couple episodes a day. But yes Wire is next on my list for sure. It’s been too long.