Season 2 of the Wire is underrated as f*ck. (Spoilers)

[hex]

The sad truth is, if the majority of the Wire was like season 2 in terms of story line, it would've won at least 3 or 4 emmys for best drama.

Nah. If I remember correctly season 2 had even worse ratings than season 1. Each season the ratings got progressively worse according to David Simon.

People just weren't checking for the show, it is what it is. Then around the same time you had ratings juggernauts like "24" and "Lost", there was virtually no chance an extremely underground show like "The Wire" would be on the Emmys radar.

Fred.

 

[Black Ball]

Nah. If I remember correctly season 2 had even worse ratings than season 1. Each season the ratings got progressively worse according to David Simon.

People just weren't checking for the show, it is what it is. Then around the same time you had ratings juggernauts like "24" and "Lost", there was virtually no chance an extremely underground show like "The Wire" would be on the Emmys radar.

Fred.

I need to verify, but I'm almost certain the viewership peaked in Season 2 of the show.

 

[hex]

I need to verify, but I'm almost certain the viewership peaked in Season 2 of the show.

In a recent interview he said "the ratings declined from season 2 onward", so I dunno. If season 2 was the peak I assume he would say "from season 3 onward".



Fred.

 

[hex]

This was heavily slept on when I posted it a few months ago, but here's a "The Wire" reunion interview with David Simon, the actors, etc. It's 1 hour and 22 minutes long, they discuss all kinds of stuff:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...eunite_for_an_hour_long_panel_discussion.html

Fred.

 

[Super Cheech]

GOAT show

 

[Black Ball]

In a recent interview he said "the ratings declined from season 2 onward", so I dunno. If season 2 was the peak I assume he would say "from season 3 onward".



Fred.

I remember an Interview he did with the Guardian a while ago about the rating peaking in Season 2 and did he think it was because of the bigger White cast on the show.

Also I think once they started counting cumulative viewers through on demand and multiple channel broadcasts, Season 4 had the highest viewers(4.4 Million).

 

[Goat poster]

Nah. If I remember correctly season 2 had even worse ratings than season 1. Each season the ratings got progressively worse according to David Simon.

People just weren't checking for the show, it is what it is. Then around the same time you had ratings juggernauts like "24" and "Lost", there was virtually no chance an extremely underground show like "The Wire" would be on the Emmys radar.

Fred.

I can never excuse the show not getting an Emmy.

Every year there are shows that could be considered "underground" winning.

"Transparent" is underground as hell and still won.

The Wire was CONSTANTLY being called one of the greatest if not the greatest series by hollywood journalist.
They ignored the show for obvious reason IMO.

 

[JahBuhLun]

Nah. If I remember correctly season 2 had even worse ratings than season 1. Each season the ratings got progressively worse according to David Simon.

People just weren't checking for the show, it is what it is. Then around the same time you had ratings juggernauts like "24" and "Lost", there was virtually no chance an extremely underground show like "The Wire" would be on the Emmys radar.

Fred.

True, and I should probably rephrase my initial statement. If the cast of The Wire was majority white, then they would've garnered some emmy nods. Yet, every one of the major characters on The Wire gets work to this day. You can't say that about The Sopranos or any other show of that era. It had one of the strongest ensemble casts ever put together.

 

[Goat poster]

True, and I should probably rephrase my initial statement. If the cast of The Wire was majority white, then they would've garnered some emmy nods. Yet, every one of the major characters on The Wire gets work to this day. You can't say that about The Sopranos or any other show of that era. It had one of the strongest ensemble casts ever put together.

Plain and simple.

 

[Uncle_Ruckus]

Worst season of The Wire.

3>4>1>5>2

 

[hex]

I can never excuse the show not getting an Emmy.

Every year there are shows that could be considered "underground" winning.

"Transparent" is underground as hell and still won.

The Wire was CONSTANTLY being called one of the greatest if not the greatest series by hollywood journalist.
They ignored the show for obvious reason IMO.

It not even receiving an Emmy nod is bullshyt, but you're comparing apples and oranges. We're in a different era now, "Transparent" is on Amazon.com. Stuff like that didn't even exist when "The Wire" started.

Nor did "Transparent" win an Emmy....they won a sub category on lesser award shows, "Best Comedy Or Musical".

"Underground" shows do not win Emmys. None of the major categories anyway....and there is several prestige dramas with 99% white casts like "Justified", "Boardwalk Empire", etc. that have 1 or 0 wins in any category for their entire run. It's just how it is. If all it took was an all white cast to get an Emmy nod, why didn't season 2 get nominated?

For an HBO show "The Wire" was considered a failure. It was cancelled after season 3, David Simon had to beg to get renwed. A few critics praised it, but it wasn't "The Wire" like we consider it now, back when it was on the air.

Fred.

 

[hex]

True, and I should probably rephrase my initial statement. If the cast of The Wire was majority white, then they would've garnered some emmy nods. Yet, every one of the major characters on The Wire gets work to this day. You can't say that about The Sopranos or any other show of that era. It had one of the strongest ensemble casts ever put together.

There is a ton of shows with majorly white casts that don't get Emmy nods. There is only a handful of shows that get nominated, period.

Both shows have actors that "get work", but nothing on the level of their respective shows....but that's just how it is for any show. The cast of "Lost" ain't getting that caliber work any more....neither did the cast of "The X-Files", or more recently "Breaking Bad". It'll be the same when "Mad Men" ends, too.

Fred.

 

[JahBuhLun]

There is a ton of shows with majorly white casts that don't get Emmy nods. There is only a handful of shows that get nominated, period.

Both shows have actors that "get work", but nothing on the level of their respective shows....but that's just how it is for any show. The cast of "Lost" ain't getting that caliber work any more....neither did the cast of "The X-Files", or more recently "Breaking Bad". It'll be the same when "Mad Men" ends, too.

Fred.

Yes, but many people argue that The Wire is one of the best television shows period. Like, top 5 all time, We're not talking about shows like "Perception" or "The Following", we're talking about an all time great series not being recognized.

 

[hex]

Yes, but many people argue that The Wire is one of the best television shows period. Like, top 5 all time.

Breh, a bunch of TV critics talking about a show is the GOAT doesn't mean much if it doesn't translate into anything concrete, like awards or viewership. That's just how it is.

I'm not saying there wasn't a racial component, I'm saying there's a fukk ton of reasons for "The Wire" to be snubbed totally independent of race. David Simon doesn't know how to write for a major audience....he followed up "The Wire" with "Treme", a show about New Orleans after Katrina....his next miniseries "Show Me A Hero" is about housing projects in the U.S....basically what I'm saying is, dude doesn't write material that is readily accessible to award shows. Then on top of that he's kind of an a$$hole and doesn't campaign for his shows....he flat out publicly said "I don't give a fukk about winning awards" during "The Wire". That doesn't exactly inspire anyone to nominate him.

Fred.

 

[MenacingMonk]

I need 3 more eps of season 2 and I gotta say I appreciate it more. Like many others, I was about season 2 on my first watch; I think it's because season 1 was so damn good with dealing with the street level of drugs that we were expecting it to be focused on. Not only that, but a lot of season 1 regulars on the street side were featured less. S2 showcases the bigger picture of the drug game, human trafficking, and more dirt people get into.

Definitely doesn't deserve the disrespect it gets.