Why wasn't The Wire a big hit on HBO?

[Wise]

I didn't watch it from when it started (I believe I was like 12).

I watched all the episodes in like a month though and caught up to it a week or 2 before season 5 started.

My question is why did it not have big ratings or award acclaimed like other HBO shows (i.e. Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos and Game of Thrones). Hell, I heard Sex and the City and Six Feet Under (don't know anyone who has watched this show) had higher ratings.

Looking at HBO's line up now I'm assuming Game of Thrones, Boardwalk and Girls have it's ratings high. Who the hell watches True Blood and Treme? lol

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

Because the majority of white people don't want to see shows where most of the cast is black.

It developed a cult like following after season 4 being so critically acclaimed but before that it wasn't that popular for the reason I stated above.

 

[The G.O.D II]

^^^^^Yea cacs didmt really get into until college kids started watching it. Then you had all this bandwagon universal praise from critics and whites alike when they use to shyt on it during its original run (I remember it getting mixed reviews. Now you got tv guide naming it the greatest show ever.)

 

[Black White Sox Hat]

Didn't they have like 6 seasons.That's pretty good if you ask me.

 

[Ice Water]

It's simply because most of the stories in season one revolved around black characters. Season 2 is still their highest rated season. This is when it went to the docks. I don't blame them for relating though, because season two was such a turn from season one, that I didn't appreciate it when I first saw it. I wanted to see more rough and tumble street stories like season one. So when a majority of people can't find a common interest to watch the show, I can see why it was never a ratings hit.

 

[Monoblock]

Because black faces don't draw white audiences in immediately on TV. The Sopranos was king on HBO at the time and when it went off people just turned the TV off or changed the channel not knowing that the superior show (yea I said it) was following. All the people I know were watching from day one or I put them on Season 1. I remember after Season 2 I felt betrayed as fukk which is why I still dont like Season 2. I remember the dude playing Slim Charles even went on 106 and Park at the time and told people not to worry that Season 3 was gonna be more about Avon and pretty much apologized for Season 2.

 

[STAN JONES]

I didn't watch it from when it started (I believe I was like 12).

I watched all the episodes in like a month though and caught up to it a week or 2 before season 5 started.

My question is why did it not have big ratings or award acclaimed like other HBO shows (i.e. Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos and Game of Thrones). Hell, I heard Sex and the City and Six Feet Under (don't know anyone who has watched this show) had higher ratings.

Looking at HBO's line up now I'm assuming Game of Thrones, Boardwalk and Girls have it's ratings high. Who the hell watches True Blood and Treme? lol

True Blood averages like 12 million viewers per episode breh

Its one if their most watched shows

 

[jay211]

The WIRE is one of HBO's highest selling DVDs. And don't worry I've heard rumblings HBO is looking for another WIRE type show. With black and minority leads in the crime world. HBO will bless us again.

It's unfortunate THE WIRE didn't get its due until it's later years. But it will go down as the GOAT TV series in history, so it's all good.

 

[Real]

There were alot of ppl watching the wire...i'm pretty sure that show avg'd about 6 million viewers. The Nielsen way is so fukking outdated and flawed

There has to be a way to actually tell who's watching what with today's technology. I think that's why alot of black shows get cancelled, or don't get any shine.

 

[infamousred]

Because black faces don't draw white audiences in immediately on TV. The Sopranos was king on HBO at the time and when it went off people just turned the TV off or changed the channel not knowing that the superior show (yea I said it) was following. All the people I know were watching from day one or I put them on Season 1. I remember after Season 2 I felt betrayed as fukk which is why I still dont like Season 2. I remember the dude playing Slim Charles even went on 106 and Park at the time and told people not to worry that Season 3 was gonna be more about Avon and pretty much apologized for Season 2.

i hated season 2, when i first watched the show, but when i went back and watched it for the 2nd time, i realized that the rest of the series wasn't even possible without 2. i'd go on and explain why, but i don't want to ruin the show for anyone who hasn't seen all of it, cause just like the rest of the series, it all ties into one. damn shame the last season didn't even get it's full episode amount, or it would've ended even better than it actually did. yes, the wire is the greatest show ever made. i remember actually getting into it, right before season 4 had aired. hbo went and threw the first 3 seasons on demand so that everyone could catch up. i think this was right around the time that weeds and breaking bad had first started airing...

 

[The Phoenix]

To me, Season 2 was one of the better seasons. It was undervalued by a lot of the people who were attracted to the show for the hood aspect. They felt that they had been suckered into watching season 2 because of the events of season 1. I just felt that it was a natural progression. In this thread I broke down one of my more recent revelations about that season which made me love it even more. http://www.thecoli.com/threads/who-was-the-best-enforcer-lieutenant-on-the-wire.101942/page-4#post-3823392

 

[the cac mamba]

id put the sopranos over it by a hair and ive seen both complete

hbo

 

[wise prophet]

Looking at HBO's line up now I'm assuming Game of Thrones, Boardwalk and Girls have it's ratings high. Who the hell watches True Blood and Treme? lol

GoT is probably the most popular HBO show right now. Boardwalk gets average ratings, and Girls gets crappy ratings. True Blood is right there with Game of Thrones and I dunno about Treme.

 

[Spaceman Piff]

as soon as they showed the street side.. you know white people were like

 

[Ayo]

"Black people yadda yadda yadda"

All wrong.

People didnt watch The Wire the first few seasons because it took too long to pay off. It's format of slowly building up and presenting small pieces of a larger plot was still pretty new to television.

By Season 3 jumping in to the middle of something that was already building wasnt appealing to a lot of people. It was the resounding critical acclaim that forced people to give it another shot. OnDemand and the eventual DVD release helped too.

Read "The Revolution Was Televised" if you want to know more about The Wire and other TV shows that changed television as out parents once knew it. The idea of carrying a major plot across a season is still a fairly new one.

Read the book and have a half a brain unlike the rest of these "run to the race card for everything" simple idiots. Their argument quickly dies when you realize Season 2 was all white people and its universally criticized as the worst season (by black and white alike, season 5 up there too) and its ratings were still poor during its initial run.

The end.