... while I won't do a Top 50 episodes of 2008, here are the two that stood out to me. Don't ask me to pick. Please?
Lost - "The Constant". If only Heroes had taken notes note on how to properly infuse time travel into a narrative. This episode was just pitch perfect. And that phone call. Just thinking about it makes me come close to tears.
The Wire - "Late Editions". If The Wire had submitted "Late Editions" instead of "-30-" (the series finale) to the ATAS blue ribbon panel, I'm convinced it would have been a nominee for Best Drama Series. "Late Editions" had it all... and didn't have the extra 30-some-odd minute running time and wrap-ups for characters that people unfamiliar with the show wouldn't fully comprehend as genius. Sigh.
Showing posts with label The Wire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Wire. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Monday, March 10, 2008
- 30 -
Not certain how I feel about the finale of The Wire. As always, several notches above basically anything else on television. It's obviously hard to do the finale of a complex series (narratively and morally) like that. If there had been this huge happy ending (which, while muddled muddied and dirty, it almost was), it wouldn't ring true to the rest of the series. Also, last week's episode ("Late Editions") was probably a series-best for even this series. Life in Baltimore just keeps on running...
Monday, February 25, 2008
On Demand
The Wire 5x09... one week (er, plus 6 days, no On Demand until after the actual airing apparently) until the series finale!
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HOLY SHIT THIS IS GOING DOWN.
Dude. Dude. DUDE.
Way to go, Lester, dropping the covert/continuing MCU investigation into Daniels' lap moments after he got an earful from the Mayor's Office about needing a 10% crime reduction in the current quarter.
However, now that basically everyone in Marlo's group is in custody and they're pouring over the information, I'm getting really bad vibes about the outcome of all this. After all, this is The Wire. It doesn't really operate in happy endings. And this case was dirty, dirty, dirty. God help the pólice if this doesn't stick. And you gotta know that the unraveling of the lies Templeton has employed in his various stories is gonna help get Marlo et al off the hook.
The suspense is fucking killing me.
OMG, McNulty isn't drinking.
BUNNY SIGHTING! Can Prez be far behind? I mean, they haven't had him all season, they've GOT to have him in this or the last episode... right??
How does the reporter profiling Bubbles play into things? And Herc working with/for Marlo's attorney? OMG and now Clay Davis is saying that said lawyer has someone in deep at the court house? HOW DEEP DOES THIS SHIT FLOW?
Oh, Kima... your conscience? It's why I told a friend of mine you were my favorite character (he said I was the first to say that, because basically everyone picks McNulty or Omar). The question is... what with Daniels do with it? Er, what do Daniels and Ronnie do with it?
Sigh.
S
P
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L
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R
S
P
A
C
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HOLY SHIT THIS IS GOING DOWN.
Dude. Dude. DUDE.
Way to go, Lester, dropping the covert/continuing MCU investigation into Daniels' lap moments after he got an earful from the Mayor's Office about needing a 10% crime reduction in the current quarter.
However, now that basically everyone in Marlo's group is in custody and they're pouring over the information, I'm getting really bad vibes about the outcome of all this. After all, this is The Wire. It doesn't really operate in happy endings. And this case was dirty, dirty, dirty. God help the pólice if this doesn't stick. And you gotta know that the unraveling of the lies Templeton has employed in his various stories is gonna help get Marlo et al off the hook.
The suspense is fucking killing me.
OMG, McNulty isn't drinking.
BUNNY SIGHTING! Can Prez be far behind? I mean, they haven't had him all season, they've GOT to have him in this or the last episode... right??
How does the reporter profiling Bubbles play into things? And Herc working with/for Marlo's attorney? OMG and now Clay Davis is saying that said lawyer has someone in deep at the court house? HOW DEEP DOES THIS SHIT FLOW?
Oh, Kima... your conscience? It's why I told a friend of mine you were my favorite character (he said I was the first to say that, because basically everyone picks McNulty or Omar). The question is... what with Daniels do with it? Er, what do Daniels and Ronnie do with it?
Sigh.
The Wire 5x08
Oh, man, only two to go...
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Sunday's episode's highlights:
- Omar's death. Man, that is just not the way I'd imagined him going. But so freaking poetic.
- The FBI profile of McNulty's faux serial killer... describing McNulty TO A FREAKING T. I kept waiting (and waiting) for Kima to figure this shit out, so I was kinda disappointed that McNulty just confessed the whole thing to her in confidence... but whatevs.
- The homeless ex-Marine calling Templeton out on his fabrications... there are some things you don't lie about. Great stuff.
- Bunk giving in and using McNulty's case priority to get the DNA test on his case processed... and the medical examiner / lab tech calling him out on it (after doing his job and getting Bunk the results he needed).
- Amy Ryan, Amy Ryan, Amy Ryan. That speech about what you really have at the end of the day is just family and maybe a couple of friends who might as well be... powerful. And followed up by possibly my favorite meta-McNulty moment ever (which is crazy) "You start to tell this story and you think you're the hero, and when you get done talking, you're..."
S
P
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I
L
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R
S
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A
C
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Sunday's episode's highlights:
- Omar's death. Man, that is just not the way I'd imagined him going. But so freaking poetic.
- The FBI profile of McNulty's faux serial killer... describing McNulty TO A FREAKING T. I kept waiting (and waiting) for Kima to figure this shit out, so I was kinda disappointed that McNulty just confessed the whole thing to her in confidence... but whatevs.
- The homeless ex-Marine calling Templeton out on his fabrications... there are some things you don't lie about. Great stuff.
- Bunk giving in and using McNulty's case priority to get the DNA test on his case processed... and the medical examiner / lab tech calling him out on it (after doing his job and getting Bunk the results he needed).
- Amy Ryan, Amy Ryan, Amy Ryan. That speech about what you really have at the end of the day is just family and maybe a couple of friends who might as well be... powerful. And followed up by possibly my favorite meta-McNulty moment ever (which is crazy) "You start to tell this story and you think you're the hero, and when you get done talking, you're..."
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Playing Catch Up
Having now caught up on The Wire (through last Sunday's episode), what's really impressed me about the three episodes to far this season is the show's ability to service a truly astounding number of characters while connecting stories that chart back through the first season... plus seeming to bring the second season back into the fray! Beattie (Amy Ryan)! The Greek!
In that spirit, I must ask... where are Prez and Bunny?
Man, season four still brings tears to my eyes.
Ugh, I've spent much of the last few days in seclusion (a combination of attempting to finish work on some projects and strike-inspired antisocial...-ism? -ness?). Plus my ratings source was sick and thus I wasn't getting nationals, meaning nothing to report. Hopefully I'll be getting stuff on time (not to mention waking up on time), since I'll be posting the prelims at PIFeedback.com for Marc Berman while he's in NATPE (fingers crossed).
Moving on to this week's TV (bottom line: not enough to tide me over through a hopeful-May/probable-September). Seriously, I looked at what's scheduled to record for the next 10 days (most shows are in repeats/skips this week... how much can I not wait for Lost's return???) I'm this close to recording Lipstick Jungle on February 7th simply because it'll be on...
Anyway, I'll probably miss some stuff, so... forgive me?
Friday Night Lights: You know, I don't post thoughts on FNL enough. The 2008 string of episode have really been so back-in-form that I (sorta) haven't missed the football games. Nice to have volleyball and some good, fun Tyra action in this episode. And how much fun is Matt Czuchry as something other than a Huntzberger? Not sure how many episodes are left... wonder if we'll actually be able to see any real fallout from Smash not eating his episode-title-humble-pie. He apparently attended the Ben Silverman school of how to talk to journalists.
Chuck: What can really be said about these two episodes except... Chuck, I'll miss you most of all (now that you're out of episodes). Come back soon! Please?
Ugly Betty: Gene Simmons can't be Amanda's father. It's way too easy (although, very, very, very fun to have "It's Mandy, Bitch" rocking out with the IRS). Not that we should really put stock in what any TV psychic played by Annie Potts has to say, but she did say "the kiss will lead [Amanda] to [her] father." So... where was Gene taking our Mandy? I couldn't care less about what Wilhelmina's sister's secret is. And someone needs to remind the writers (when they return) that Betty has a family, and they used to have plots of their own.
Big Shots: It's over. I'm pretty sure I can delete it from my FauxVo/TiFaux's fake Season Pass.
Make Me A Supermodel: The reviewer at Zap2it.com misses the point of the show's title. The "Make" isn't about the judges creating a supermodel (and while there was no instruction in this episode, they did have runway sessions in the first two... they also had the good-to-know measurement system to track fitness). The "Make" is about the viewer vote. Though I do agree on the point that the show is too slow moving and we don't get a real look at the "characters" (as I noted last week, I get it because of the rush-job the show's post-production schedule requires... it would be too difficult to include non-task related stories from the time between putting wannamodels up for elimination and the elimination ceremony). Man, if Frankie (tres annoying, no?) were up for elimination this week, he'd be so very gone. I sincerely hope that Jay leaves this week because I like both Aryn (she is part of the hilarious extra-marital Ronnie/Ben/Aryn sandwich... oh, dear, I wonder what Ben's wife thinks...) and Holly (in the words of Roxette, she's got the look).
American Idol: Zzzzz. What a terrible week of auditions. "Limited" by the one-hour running time each night, the show failed to feature much real talent, and the "freak" portions weren't even that terribly funny (more of just terrible). Ordinarily I'd be really happy about Idol's ratings decline... but not so much this season (no, I don't have money on it... yet...) With Idol no longer breaking 30 million viewers, it points to really, really bad signs about broadcasting television in general. We're pretty much guaranteed a post-strike world were the networks act more like cable and ordering precious few pilots to series (ordering, perhaps, more scripts of pilot scripts they like before giving the series order) and far smaller writing staffs on shows (so, yay to being a baby writer). Though, perhaps, a new development system will help Hollywood inch closer to being a meritocracy instead of a place where the shit and the gold both float to the top (and you know it does in the current system). I'm getting away from myself here... and with my foot squarely secured in my mouth.
Project Runway: Oh, Ricky. You cry even when you're complimented. You should've been booted episodes ago. Anyway, do we hear me complaining about Victorya getting auf'd?
Nip/Tuck: What's really left to say about this show? I wasn't even aware the show had set this episode up as a "we're going to kill someone" episode. So the (I guess) fake-outs with Julia's illness only bothered me inasmuch as they were just... blech. Shame the bring Gina back for two episodes (and to only have her serve as a plot device to wedge in between Christian and Julia) and kill her. Although I was definitely surprised by it. And a bit put off by the over-black "This is love" echo.
In that spirit, I must ask... where are Prez and Bunny?
Man, season four still brings tears to my eyes.
Ugh, I've spent much of the last few days in seclusion (a combination of attempting to finish work on some projects and strike-inspired antisocial...-ism? -ness?). Plus my ratings source was sick and thus I wasn't getting nationals, meaning nothing to report. Hopefully I'll be getting stuff on time (not to mention waking up on time), since I'll be posting the prelims at PIFeedback.com for Marc Berman while he's in NATPE (fingers crossed).
Moving on to this week's TV (bottom line: not enough to tide me over through a hopeful-May/probable-September). Seriously, I looked at what's scheduled to record for the next 10 days (most shows are in repeats/skips this week... how much can I not wait for Lost's return???) I'm this close to recording Lipstick Jungle on February 7th simply because it'll be on...
Anyway, I'll probably miss some stuff, so... forgive me?
Friday Night Lights: You know, I don't post thoughts on FNL enough. The 2008 string of episode have really been so back-in-form that I (sorta) haven't missed the football games. Nice to have volleyball and some good, fun Tyra action in this episode. And how much fun is Matt Czuchry as something other than a Huntzberger? Not sure how many episodes are left... wonder if we'll actually be able to see any real fallout from Smash not eating his episode-title-humble-pie. He apparently attended the Ben Silverman school of how to talk to journalists.
Chuck: What can really be said about these two episodes except... Chuck, I'll miss you most of all (now that you're out of episodes). Come back soon! Please?
Ugly Betty: Gene Simmons can't be Amanda's father. It's way too easy (although, very, very, very fun to have "It's Mandy, Bitch" rocking out with the IRS). Not that we should really put stock in what any TV psychic played by Annie Potts has to say, but she did say "the kiss will lead [Amanda] to [her] father." So... where was Gene taking our Mandy? I couldn't care less about what Wilhelmina's sister's secret is. And someone needs to remind the writers (when they return) that Betty has a family, and they used to have plots of their own.
Big Shots: It's over. I'm pretty sure I can delete it from my FauxVo/TiFaux's fake Season Pass.
Make Me A Supermodel: The reviewer at Zap2it.com misses the point of the show's title. The "Make" isn't about the judges creating a supermodel (and while there was no instruction in this episode, they did have runway sessions in the first two... they also had the good-to-know measurement system to track fitness). The "Make" is about the viewer vote. Though I do agree on the point that the show is too slow moving and we don't get a real look at the "characters" (as I noted last week, I get it because of the rush-job the show's post-production schedule requires... it would be too difficult to include non-task related stories from the time between putting wannamodels up for elimination and the elimination ceremony). Man, if Frankie (tres annoying, no?) were up for elimination this week, he'd be so very gone. I sincerely hope that Jay leaves this week because I like both Aryn (she is part of the hilarious extra-marital Ronnie/Ben/Aryn sandwich... oh, dear, I wonder what Ben's wife thinks...) and Holly (in the words of Roxette, she's got the look).
American Idol: Zzzzz. What a terrible week of auditions. "Limited" by the one-hour running time each night, the show failed to feature much real talent, and the "freak" portions weren't even that terribly funny (more of just terrible). Ordinarily I'd be really happy about Idol's ratings decline... but not so much this season (no, I don't have money on it... yet...) With Idol no longer breaking 30 million viewers, it points to really, really bad signs about broadcasting television in general. We're pretty much guaranteed a post-strike world were the networks act more like cable and ordering precious few pilots to series (ordering, perhaps, more scripts of pilot scripts they like before giving the series order) and far smaller writing staffs on shows (so, yay to being a baby writer). Though, perhaps, a new development system will help Hollywood inch closer to being a meritocracy instead of a place where the shit and the gold both float to the top (and you know it does in the current system). I'm getting away from myself here... and with my foot squarely secured in my mouth.
Project Runway: Oh, Ricky. You cry even when you're complimented. You should've been booted episodes ago. Anyway, do we hear me complaining about Victorya getting auf'd?
Nip/Tuck: What's really left to say about this show? I wasn't even aware the show had set this episode up as a "we're going to kill someone" episode. So the (I guess) fake-outs with Julia's illness only bothered me inasmuch as they were just... blech. Shame the bring Gina back for two episodes (and to only have her serve as a plot device to wedge in between Christian and Julia) and kill her. Although I was definitely surprised by it. And a bit put off by the over-black "This is love" echo.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Wire - The Rewatch
It's been so long since I've watched The Wire that I've decided to rewatch the entire series prior to the fifth and final season's premiere on Sunday, January 6th (well, I might not get all the way there by the premiere... that depends on Netflix's speed, but I'll definitely be caught up by the series finale). Just from the first disc of the first season, it's so very clear that this is the best show on television, bar none. Possibly ever. The storytelling... this series is what great literature should aspire to be.
A shame the series has been so consistently under the radar.
A shame the series has been so consistently under the radar.
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