[y66]

My wife and I just finished watching episode 11 of season 1.

Yes, it's an amazing show for all the reasons other posters have mentioned and there's no way I'm not watching it to the end. But after I watch this show I often feel like I've been hit by a truck. It's not like I don't see it coming or that the characters in the show don't see it coming either. Still, it gets me every time. I'm such a jerk.

[Elianna]

Elianna, on Dec 9 2008, 04:10 PM, said:

Best show ever!

I recommend subtitles for non-native English speakers. And for some native ones.

I wasn't as excited with season 1, my favorite is season 4. I'm a teacher, btw.

I meant season 5. I wasn't as excited by season 5. I don't want to spoil anyone by discussing, though.

[Al_U_Card]

Yes, please do watch the spoiler alerts.....thanks.

Sadly, another reminder of the plague that drug addiction has visited on this planet. Crime stats are all about drugs and drugs are all about money and money is all about power....plus ça change, plus ça reste pareil...

[y66]

Drugs are definitely a big problem, not just "out there" either. I don't think drugs are the real problem though. I think the real problem is that people aren't paying attention to what's going on in their families, schools, neighborhoods and cities ... not to mention their own lives. This is why McNulty, in addition to being a very charming, courageous guy is also an asshole. He knows this though so we can easily forgive him and others (ahem) with similar imperfections.

[Elianna]

y66 said:

This is why McNulty, in addition to being a very charming, courageous guy is also an asshole. He knows this though so we can easily forgive him and others (ahem) with similar imperfections.

I think that I started out season 1 viewing McNulty as a tragic character. He wants to be good at his job, he wants to capture bad guys, but he's fettered by his superiors. (in white so those that haven't seen S5 aren't spoiled)

Spoiler

I don't know if I can easily forgive him for the thing with the homeless guys. He didn't kill them, but he DID kidnap one guy. Plus, the area he took him to could STILL get Baltimore/DC news, it was like he was asking to be caught.

I think that my favorite characters from season 1 were Omar and Bubbles. They remained my favorite. I did start sympathizing with Prez, as he became a teacher, but he's also pretty sad.

[benlessard]

Best TV show ever and not close IMO. I lend my dvd to many people and everybody love it.

Each season is quite different from the others and every seasons has closure and hold on it own.

Modern day TV series plans are often

1 -write a pilot
2 - hire a bunch of writers
3 - do whatever you need to get ratings up
4 - When the rating are up do whatever you need to get a new season
5 - put a stupid cliffhanger so that the 2nd season start high.

[y66]

Just finished watching the last episode of season 1.

Loved the scene where Rawls tells McNulty with a straight face “I really want to see you land on your feet here. So tell me, where do you not want to go?”. And the one where Daniels tells Carver “A couple of weeks from now, you’re gonna be in some district somewhere with eleven to twelve uniforms looking to you for everything. And some of them are gonna be good police, some of them are gonna be young and stupid, a few are gonna be pieces of *****. But all of them will take their cue from you. You show them loyalty, they learn loyalty. You show them it’s about the work, it’ll be about the work. You show them some other kind of game, then that’s the game they’ll play.”

That wrap up scene with Omar was pretty amazing. Who'd have thought a scene like that could be so heartening? All in the game, yo.

[y66]

Saw a David Simon story in the Washington Post yesterday

Excerpt:

Quote

BALTIMORE In the halcyon days when American newspapers were feared rather than pitied, I had the pleasure of reporting on crime in the prodigiously criminal environs of Baltimore. The city was a wonderland of chaos, dirt and miscalculation, and loyal adversaries were many. Among them, I could count police commanders who felt it was their duty to demonstrate that crime never occurred in their precincts, desk sergeants who believed that they had a right to arrest and detain citizens without reporting it and, of course, homicide detectives and patrolmen who, when it suited them, argued convincingly that to provide the basic details of any incident might lead to the escape of some heinous felon. Everyone had very good reasons for why nearly every fact about a crime should go unreported.

In response to such flummery, I had in my wallet, next to my Baltimore Sun press pass, a business card for Chief Judge Robert F. Sweeney of the Maryland District Court, with his home phone number on the back. When confronted with a desk sergeant or police spokesman convinced that the public had no right to know who had shot whom in the 1400 block of North Bentalou Street, I would dial the judge.

And then I would stand, secretly delighted, as yet another police officer learned not only the fundamentals of Maryland's public information law, but the fact that as custodian of public records, he needed to kick out the face sheet of any incident report and open his arrest log to immediate inspection. There are civil penalties for refusing to do so, the judge would assure him. And as chief judge of the District Court, he would declare, I may well invoke said penalties if you go further down this path.

Delays of even 24 hours? Nope, not acceptable. Requiring written notification from the newspaper? No, the judge would explain. Even ordinary citizens have a right to those reports. And woe to any fool who tried to suggest to His Honor that he would need a 30-day state Public Information Act request for something as basic as a face sheet or an arrest log.

"What do you need the thirty days for?" the judge once asked a police spokesman on speakerphone.

"We may need to redact sensitive information," the spokesman offered.

"You can't redact anything. Do you hear me? Everything in an initial incident report is public. If the report has been filed by the officer, then give it to the reporter tonight or face contempt charges tomorrow."

The late Judge Sweeney, who'd been named to his post in the early 1970s, when newspapers were challenging the Nixonian model of imperial governance, kept this up until 1996, when he retired. I have few heroes left, but he still qualifies.

To be a police reporter in such a climate was to be a prince of the city, and to be a citizen of such a city was to know that you were not residing in a police state. But no longer -- not in Baltimore and, I am guessing, not in any city where print journalism spent the 1980s and '90s taking profits and then, in the decade that followed, impaling itself on the Internet.

The complete story, which is a constructive rant of sorts and a warning, appears here.

[Al_U_Card]

Just starting in on Season 2......what a delight! I can see McNulty on the prowl with every glance and statement. The game is afoot!

[1eyedjack]

Heh

Never heard of the program until reading this thread. Now got through the first 3 series in a week!

I could probably understand about 1 word in 3, for the first 3 episodes or so, and reckon I am now up to about 4 words in 5. I just realised that I can get it with English subtitles, but probably will not bother now.

It was a good job someone told me to stick with it for the first 3 episodes, or I might have given up after the first, and that would have been a mistake.

I bet the Baltimore tourist board is regretting that this program was made

[Al_U_Card]

I am halfway thru season 3....a real slice of (the underside of) life.

Gritty, intriguing and most of all, entertaining. The acting is superb.

How does everyone feel about the theme song? I really still prefer the season 1 version but enjoy the spin of each different interpretation.

[blackshoe]

y66, on Mar 2 2009, 09:55 AM, said:

Saw a David Simon story in the Washington Post yesterday

Reminds me of an incident in San Diego about 25 years ago. Cops "raided" a private home, did not identify themselves on entry, and one of them ended up struggling on the floor with the homeowner (who was innocent of any wrongdoing). Another officer walked up and shot the man six times — in the back. The DA's official pronouncement: "Yeah, they screwed up. But I'm not gonna prosecute." :-(

[Al_U_Card]

Similar thing happened here. Cops felt that a man was involved in drugs/guns and they broke into his home in the small hours of the morning.

Failing to indentify themselves properly (we were having a rash of home invasions at the time with beatings and deaths the result) the man defended himself by firing his gun thru the door that the "invaders" were trying to break down.

Result, 1 cop killed, 1 prosecution for 2nd deg. murder of a man defending himself in his home and 1 not-guilty verdict handed down.

btw no contraband nor illicit activities were uncovered. It appears that the intel was of the WMD variety...

[1eyedjack]

Al_U_Card, on Mar 27 2009, 03:19 PM, said:

How does everyone feel about the theme song?  I really still prefer the season 1 version but enjoy the spin of each different interpretation.

I agree with you. The second season was the "original" by Tom Waits, but to my mind not a patch on the blind boys of alabama. Probably heresy to say so.

Another thing: What happened to the rank of Captain in the poh-leece? Seems like it goes from detective, to sergeant, to lieutenant, then leapfrogs captain to major, then colonel. I remember when Starsky and Hutch used to report to a captain (Dobey?), but there ain't no captains in Baltimore.

News flash: I have just noticed that it is finally coming to terrestrial TV here in UK, next week (Mon 30 March 2009, BB2, 23:30). Always behind the times.

[Al_U_Card]

Maybe the pejorative assignation of the typically black "captain" as bell-captain or pullman railcar captain.....there are a lot of black officers in the BPD.

[1eyedjack]

Al_U_Card, on Mar 27 2009, 05:13 PM, said:

Maybe the pejorative assignation of the typically black "captain" as bell-captain or pullman railcar captain.....there are a lot of black officers in the BPD.

I suspect that it has more to do with the number of officers under your command. In some back-country no-account town, the "boss" would be in charge of a relatively small unit, justifying a captain's grade. In something the size of Baltimore I suspect that once you get above Lieutenant the number of Lieutenants etc under you would be enough to justify a majority (sic).

[y66]

If you missed the Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival, you can get the scoop on David Simon's new project from Dave Walker here.

[Al_U_Card]

On the last episode of season III. B&B has become D&B.....nice touch. I feel for Prez tho... and Bubs is still my man!

[Al_U_Card]

Just finished the last episode (5-10). Certainly solidly in my top 5 ever.
I especially liked the wrap-up element of the final 10 minutes. Very satisfying.

[jonottawa]

Rented the whole series over the past 6 weeks or so (in part because of this thread.) I liked the first season best. Snoop's my favorite character (even though she didn't appear until Season 3, if memory serves. Kenard's another great character but didn't get much screentime.) I can't stand the theme music, it's goddawful, and I don't care for McNutty, but otherwise great show.