Anybody ever watch The Wire more than once?

BallzDeep

My all time favorite HBO series... probably my all time favorite show.

So I know lots of you ride for this show... ever watch it again?
If so, is it as rewarding?

big ear

my son is old enough to watch it now, so I'm watching it again at the moment with him (only about 7 episodes in though).
I liked it a lot the first time, and while there's not many surprises to be had the 2nd time I'm still really enjoying it again.

rootlesscosmo

Im gonna give it a couple more years.

I'm ready to re-watch the Sopranos though I think.

Hotsauce84

I've watched the entire series 4 times now. Rewarding every time.

mattB

Im definitely ready to re-watch.

But 4 times? wow.

Junior

Funnily enough watched it again recently and it mainly held up though the final series felt even more rushed watching it in concentrated batches.

Trying to watch the Sopranos again now and struggling with that one.

DB_Cooper

Yeah. Twice. Once myself, once with the lady. It was rough having to hold back spoilers, but I couldn't stop myself from shit-talking little bitch-ass Kenard all through season four. Tess didn't really understand why I hated the kid so much until he shot Omar.

djkingotto

got wire season 1 for christmas, season 2 arrived yesterday. i'm on my 3rd viewing of the entire series.

got 2 seasons of the sopranos too, gonna get the rest of them and i have no idea how many times i've watched it. they played them on a&e in the afternoon so i used to peep after the gym eating lunch...

DJ_Enki

Herm said:

I've watched the entire series 4 times now. Rewarding every time.

And I've watched individual seasons more than that. And yup, rewarding every time.

dollar_bin

All the pieces matter.

rootlesscosmo

I think I'm finally ready to watch "Friends" from start to finish again.

You wanna talk about a rewarding experience....

Hollafame

Herm said:

I've watched the entire series 4 times now. Rewarding every time.

I honestly think I'm at 5....and I could easily go again

So, yes, I'd say a re-watch is definitely rewarding.

Brian

y r ppl still h8ing on kenard da god???

LaserWolf

I'm starting to feel ready to watch it a second time.
It was time consuming and emotionally draining the first time.

I have watched many seasons, especially season openers, on youtube hundreds of times.

Had to, this is America.

bassie

Yes, but I always skip past Wallace's death.

I've been trying to get through The Sopranos in order - only have seen it fits and spurts til now - and I am telling you, it is damn hard. As stated above, The Wire can be emotionally draining...as well as incredibly frustrating and tragic; yes, I have bawled at scenes. But it always has heart and hope. The Sopranos is so bleak, so ugly, with no one to admire or root for.
Even at its ugliest, The Wire never seemed to have as grim a comment on life as The Sopranos.

DJ_Enki

LaserWolf said:

I'm starting to feel ready to watch it a second time.
It was time consuming and emotionally draining the first time.

It's probably not a coincidence that the best seasons--2 and 4--are the ones that put you through the emotional wringer the most. Season 2 in particular...that ending montage gets to me every time.

rootlesscosmo

Whenever I am ready to re-watch, Im not sure I'll bother with Season 5.

HarveyCanal

While I've probably watched and rewatched the entirety of The Sopranos like 5-6 times over, I still can't bring myself to get past 10 minutes of The Wire. Shit is maaaaad boring, y'all.

rootlesscosmo

There's a lot of backhanded ways you could describe the pace of the Wire: "plodding," "deliberate." Shit, I'll even accept "slow."

But it is not remotely boring.

Hotsauce84

rootlesscosmo said:

There's a lot of backhanded ways you could describe the pace of the Wire: "plodding," "deliberate." Shit, I'll even accept "slow."

But it is not remotely boring.

We watch it, Harvey LIVES it.

phatmoneysack

DB_Cooper said:

Yeah. Twice. Once myself, once with the lady. It was rough having to hold back spoilers, but

Same

DB_Cooper said:

I couldn't stop myself from shit-talking little bitch-ass Kenard all through season four. Tess didn't really understand why I hated the kid so much until he shot Omar.

aahaha

DuttyBabylon

Yeh ready.. First run through was dvd quality and took me up until episode 3 to start understanding the parlance (being English). Awaiting HD release before a subsequent viewing... News?

Jonny_Paycheck

rootlesscosmo said:

Whenever I am ready to re-watch, Im not sure I'll bother with Season 5.

Season 5 is a drag, but there's too much classic material in there for me to just jettison it.

I think I've watched it straight through twice - I've watched seasons 1-4 in various intervals at least three or four times.

I wanted to do it again recently but with the little one the vibe just ain't right. Maybe when she gets old enough.

dollar_bin

DuttyBabylon said:

Awaiting HD release before a subsequent viewing... News?

You might be waiting a long time???The Wire was filmed in standard definition, so the DVD is the best you're going to get.

dollar_bin

As far as The Wire's re-watchability, you're definitely going to notice things upon repeated viewing that you missed the first time through, there's just so much detail and too many characters to get every reference and call back. In episode four of season three for example, Colvin attends a community meeting where one of the people complains about the death of their cousin William Gant, who was killed in season one for testifying against D'Angelo Barksdale. There's a multi-season arc with a minor character played by Richard Price's daughter, you see her buying drugs in season three, working as a prostitute in season four, and speaking at Bubble's Narcotics Anonymous meeting in season five.

Watching this supercut of all of the opening epigraphs from the Wire really made me want to go back and go through the series again:

BallzDeep

Cool.
Thanks.

Junior

The sham handling of what was essentially a stupid plot idea with the fake serial killer in the fifth series stands out even more when the series are viewed back to back. I can just about handle the righteous symbolism of the press office but the whole serial killer just feels horribly horribly fake.

On the other hand, I'm really struggling with the Sopranos and wondering to give up in series 4. I'm sure there weren't as many dream sequences the first time I watched it.

batmon

dollar_bin said:

DuttyBabylon said:

Awaiting HD release before a subsequent viewing... News?

You might be waiting a long time???The Wire was filmed in standard definition, so the DVD is the best you're going to get.

David Simon decided years ago that he liked the 'gritty look' of SD and didn't want to have that looked changed part-way through the show's run. That's why its basically the ONLY HBO show not in HD... though they would be a lot happier if it was.

The episodes on HBO HD are 4:3 and upconverted. They look pretty darn good actually... but its still upconverted SD material. Interestingly, the show is shot on film (with the last two seasons being on Super 35), so a 16:9 HD version of the show is certainly possible, though they really don't want to do it.

As much as I would love to see this in true HD... I gotta respect the wishes of the producers and DPs on this one. If they released an upconverted 4:3 version of the show on Blu-ray, though, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.