The Sopranos vs. The Wire

First off, apparently not everyone is watching The Wire on HBO. Fix that.

I myself recently began watching The Wire. I expected it to be good. What show on HBO isn't? But you may know me, and if you do, you know that I think The Sopranos is the best show ever produced. And I am not one to change my favorites often. It's a long process that necessitates much mental paperwork in triplicate.

But The Wire made me consider: Is this the best show ever? And I mean "ever." Such large pronouncements from people tend to make me cringe unless it's said with a minimum of 10 years' hindsight, but we are living in a golden age of television. Not since television's inception have we really utilized the medium to its fullest potential.

But back to the question. And the answer: It is one of the best television shows ever. It, along with The Sopranos, is a show that demonstrates exactly what TV can do. One is not better than the other. They are simply different beasts.

The Sopranos focus is character, mainly Tony Soprano. There is not a facet of him that the show has not explored. Many have complained about Season 6: Part 1, but I found it to be one of the best. It placed Tony in new circumstances and showed us what he would do. The other characters are just as rich: Carmela, Paulie, Silvie, Christopher. That is what The Sopranos is about. There are excellent plots lines (Season 1 concerning Tony's mother is probably my favorite), but that is secondary. The plot is there to reveal character. Character is what moves the story.

The Wire is plot. I have not seen anything more intricately plotted. In the first season, a character has a monologue relating their life to a chess game. The metaphor is true for the entire show. And that is what keeps us involved. So many shows create tension by keeping things from the audience. That's cheating. As Hitchcock would define it, that is surprise, not suspense. The Wire provides true suspense. We watch both sides of the law squaring off while we hold more pieces of the puzzle than they do.

The show doesn't use short-cuts in any area. That's what I appreciate the most about it. Almost any show or movie that you watch assumes that you have seen something like it before, and it will use that knowledge to make short-cuts. This is how CSI and Law & Order exist. They know that you've seen police and law procedurals before, so they gloss over some things so they can get to what they really want to show you. The Wire assumes you've never seen anything before. It shows you every detail that goes into making a case. And not in a pedantic way. Everything is handled with such finesse that you feel as if you've never seen, for instance, a courtroom scene. And you probably haven't. You've only seen an approximation. Each season of The Wire is essentially a 12 or 13-hour movie, so they have the freedom to do this.

They apply this same thoroughness to their characters. A stock character is a short-cut. When a stock character is used, there is not much set-up that needs to happen. We've seen them before. They can be thrown into a situation with immediate emotional dividends. While you may initially think you recognize a character on The Wire, they pretend that you don't. They present every situation so that when an emotional payoff arrives, it has been paved and payed for with toil on their parts. It makes it all the more powerful. Characters die on the show, and when they do, you have truly lost someone.

So treat yourself. TV is being used to choose pop stars and a cast for a musical , and that's great. It's a new facet of TV not previously explored. But as an art form, there are people doing incredible work here. If you don't have HBO, rent The Wire or The Sopranos. That's how I'm doing it. Some things are too good to pass up.