Not close. Even the best episodes of Snowfall paled in comparison and now Snowfall completely sucks. Agree, and totally agree.
I'd have to go with Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire (which I'm currently rewatching), The Wire, Game of Thrones...and probably another HBO show. They consistently do the best multiseason shows.
You’re an HBO guy. Probably why Snowfall doesn’t do it for you. Nothing wrong with that. My top 5 are all FX shows. Sons Of Anarchy, Justified, Damages, and now The Mayans and Snowfall.
Snowfall is just as good as anything of the same genre that’s been released in the same time frame. I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. Comparing it to The Wire is pretty pointless really. They aren’t really trying to do to the same thing. The Wire is seriously creeping up on overrated status.
Snowfall's writing and acting is easily as good as the Wire, and I loved the Wire. IMO Deadwood was a better series then the Wire. Treme might've been also. But as the man says, it's pointless to compare and I'd rather be grateful that there's at least some excellent series' on tv to watch, as long as you don't mind paying extra for a lot of it.
Listen to what the CIA guy says throughout the 3rd season and watch what happens to him. It is totally unrealistic. Same with the drug dealers, the politicians, the mother, the father, it's just all a big mess of inauthenticity. In contrast, The Wire had writing informed by insiders, and the cops, drug dealers, politicians, teachers, news room staff, etc--everyone had an authentic feel. Better camera work, better representation of the realities in Baltimore vs LA (I've spent significant time in both areas). It's just no contest. Deadwood was cut short. I found it difficult to get into due to the characters. Tried twice. Maybe time to try again? Indeed, it's a golden age of television. I credit HBO and Sopranos for showing a better way to approach TV shows. Atmos, 4K and big screens can deliver movie theater quality for the masses. But sadly I think most people stream on their phones with earbuds.
Personally I place more importance on the acting and story lines then whether it's a highly authentic retelling. I know little to nothing about the daily lives of cops, newspapers, politicians. I know a little more about drug dealing, but not at the level that these shows go to. Parenting I know more about. So a story being told on tv being as true to real life as possible just isn't that important to me as long as it makes sense, more or less. I'm more then willing to let my imagination be stretched if the result is a show that grabs me and doesn't let go. I don't go in for complete and utter fantasy, which is why movies/shows based on comic books do nothing for me. But if the story is good and the people making it have to skirt 1oo% authenticity to get there, I'm ok with that. Yeah, I would recommend watching Deadwood again. It takes some time for character development, but it's worth the wait. I've also found that repeat viewings, and subtitles really help. I'm not generally a fan of westerns but this one has all the important elements that made me a huge fan. Great story telling, great acting, great writing with just the right amount of humor. I feel the same way about The Knick, BTW. Another period piece, perhaps not 100% accurate but fantastic writing, story telling and acting.
I thought that last episode was bad, everyone who died was too conveniently stupid. Like Irene trusting Teddy after he broke into her house and injected her with drugs. But the acting on the show is pretty good. I don't even like Franklin or Teddy's character but their actors are killing those roles.
Definitely agree here for the most part... I thought this ep was so exceptional -- the acting and the burgeoning dichotomy between Franklin and Leon will be a great evolving story, but... the Irene plot-line was by far the weakest in the whole series -- that bordered on some type of "soap opera" logic. So, Irene was just threatened with death by Teddy and she's just come from a radio broadcast in which she promises to spill the beans... so, that night, she goes to her usual bar? Where her steps can easily be traced? Would it have not been better to lay low somewhere outta Dodge? Then psychotic Teddy shows up, and she's so casual about his presence? Would that not have been the best time to turn to someone/anyone -- say the bartender -- and say, "Please get a good look at this man's face. If anything happens to me, please remember who I was sitting with here tonight right now." The idea of her even thinking about sitting with PsychoTeddy and having a drink with him is so preposterous -- She's either the dumbest person in the world or the sorriest alcoholic. In addition, Teddy's plan' had way too many holes. So he spikes her drink, which could cause her to fall asleep behind the wheel... what if she ran into pedestrians? What if she ran into another moving car? What if she crashed in a more public area? Teddy's plan of suffocation on the crowded streets of LA seemed like lazy writing.
I love all those HBO shows but they’re often way too slow and artsy fartsy. Same with AMC. FX, Amazon Video, BBC, USA Network, TNT, Cinemax etc shows have much better pacing to them.
Well, so you're ok with a trained CIA agent getting blindsided by a lady in a quiet jungle? I'll try to get into it again, but it can take an entire season to really get hooked into the characters and cut short at 2 seasons, I'm not sure that's a worthwhile investment. Understood, I agree that complete realism is not what you want in a show, but by the same token you don't want to constantly be thinking: this isn't what such a character would say or do; this is stupid; this is completely out of character. The Snowfall journalist for example was just an assinine portrayal of anyone who works in a print presscorps newsroom. I hear you but disagree. What is arsy fartsy about The Wire or Curb Your Enthusiasm? And the stuff you might call artsy fartsy in Sopranos is hugely entertaining, like in Tony's dream he shows up with Carm in his living room while he's mounted on a horse, a homophone for whores. Carm tells him that's not allowed in the house. Later he is scrounging around on the floor of his high school gym locker room for bullets to put in his gun, but as he tries to pick them up they all turn to excrement. Sorry, but what you call artsy fartsy elevates the shows and provides more insight into the characters. Also, in FX, Amazon Video, BBC, USA Network, TNT, Cinemax, etc., the pacing seems much more conventional, juvenile and almost everything gets resolved and tied up neatly without lingering too long. This completely destroys the ingrigue of the shows, but I agree it makes them faster paced. I've spent a lot of time in SoCal before and after the crack problem emerged, and I also spent a lot of time in Baltimore in the mid-'90s. Trust me, The Wire is far more realistic than Snowfall--in the broad strokes of government involvement on down, from how police, journalists, teachers, parents and kids behave in those areas, and also in portraying dealer territory. In Snowfall, the timeline is a bit messed up, and the entire crack epidemic as an upshot of the Iran/Contra affair was made to look like the not-so-unintended consequence of a single CIA operative. The truth is more complex and The Wire is more nuanced in showing the complexities, dialing in the script, getting the right performances out of the actors, etc.
The slower paced HBO shows like Game Of Thrones, The Wire, & Boardwalk Empire and AMC shows such Mad Men, Breaking Bad, & Better Call Saul are great shows but require a lot of concentration and endurance to focus through the slower parts and keep track of the huge casts of characters that often go episodes without making an appearance. Reading recaps is often necessary. Series on the other mentioned networks are usually written more concisely without the drawn out slow parts, but this doesn’t make the pace “juvenile” or destroy the intrigue of the show lol! Here’s a fast paced crime drama from each of those other networks that’s on par or better than those HBO and AMC endurance marathons. BBC: Luther Start: High Town FX: The Shield TNT: Animal Kingdom Amazon: El Candidato Netflix: Narcos USA Network: Queen Of The South Cinemax: Warrior
Agreed on everything. Everything had to go right for Teddy for that plan to work. They shouldn't have even included Irene if they were going to make her that dumb or her efforts that fruitless.
The plot moved by such leaps and bounds the final three episodes of the season and so many plot lines - and characters - were wrapped up I'm wondering if they're thinking the show might not get renewed for another season.
Phew! That said, it's going to look very different in season 5 due to what's recently transpired on-screen.
Agreed, except for it starting out strong. The show is now a total joke. I was half watching while working, and predicting the dialog before the characters said it. They're just mailing it in now that Singleton is gone.
