Tuesday 31 March 2009

The Wire - finally

At last, we get to watch 'The Wire' in this country.

The measure of how long it has taken to get to our TV screens lies in its being in the old 14:9 format (like below), not the new widescreen 'letterbox'. I had to juggle with the settings on my TV to get a sensible sized picture.

So far - utterly brilliant, beginning with the opening scene of a slow dialogue about a murder victim who always used to steal the 'pot' in a street crap game. Asked by a detective why the others used to let him play if they knew this was what he would do, the answer was, "Y'got to. This is America, man."

Don't watch if you don't like swearing, though.

And why, why, was it on at 11.20pm?



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4 comments:

  1. Hello,

    It is a great show.

    I think it's on late because the content gets quite explicit in later episodes. And they know a lot of people have watched it on DVD - I wouldn't be surprised if the ratings aren't that great.

    Phil Craig, London

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  2. I've seen the first three series on DVD and it is utterly brilliant. However, the language and sex scenes are very explicit which I guess is why the BBC are showing it so late. The same rubbish scheduling was employed for The West Wing.

    John, is this one thing that you and Giles Fraser agree about?

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  3. Woo! I've watched and obsessed over all 5 series and I love the idea of others now discovering it. For anyone scared off by language etc I would strongly contest that a show like this - with a real heart for social justice and the revealing of truth - is infinitely more worthy and important than any number of cuss-free but vacuous 'lifestyle' shows leading us to the idolatry of fashion/wealth/whatever...

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  4. "Snot Forever" describes neatly the misconception of reality our world has fallen for!

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