Wire or Sopranos?
Because there are like, 87 letters on the topic at Salon right now, and I hate to feel like little miss pile-on me-too, my thoughts are as follows:
1. Fundamentally, you can't compare them all that much, although I think they are both great, in their own ways. They both represent a new era of television with some weight and some heft(apparently still threatening to the letter writers pimping "Your Show of Shows"{seriously? Might your geritol be off, sir or madam? I'm thinking so. Perhaps you have misplaced it with WMD.)
2. Those people accusing Ms. Traister and Ms. Miller of "glorifying violence" in making their "Best" selections, have clearly not seen the shows you've written off so blithely. Never happens. Not once. Hippie ignorance is still ignorance. Sit your granola asses the fuck down.(Dig me...glorifying profanity now.) I know, you only turn your TVs on for "Masterpiece Theater", "Bill Moyers" and maybe the first half of "Countdown"(You never profane yourself with "Oddball", even.) Liars.
3. Deadwood fans...nicely played. You make a good case for the third Dave in the HBO Pantheon Named Dave, but personally? I thought the third season was too crowded to make for a fair match-up. I'd put their season twos in a tie, though. Seriously.
4. Simpsons fans: Okay, I love this show, and I think it's really cool that Groening et al built their world, but it has totally seen better days. In terms of lifetime achievement you may have a case, but as they squeeze out episode 3,000,000, they just are neither as heartfelt or satirical as they used to be.I'd cancel it if it were my choice to make. How many trends out of women's magazines can Marge follow? How dumb and selfish can Homer be(I'm starting not to like him now...except for Spider Pig)
5. Family Guy: My nightly reminder that Olbermann is not perfect. It's not even that I don't ever laugh, but I'm not *proud* about it.(I'm embarrassed for the young man who named it one of the greats in TV history.)
6. Although I hate to choose, I'd have to give it to The Wire, because the Sopranos never had to struggle for recognition from the industry or from viewers. Also, "I got the gun. You got the briefcase." made me look at life in a different way, and that's worth a "Best" vote.
1. Fundamentally, you can't compare them all that much, although I think they are both great, in their own ways. They both represent a new era of television with some weight and some heft(apparently still threatening to the letter writers pimping "Your Show of Shows"{seriously? Might your geritol be off, sir or madam? I'm thinking so. Perhaps you have misplaced it with WMD.)
2. Those people accusing Ms. Traister and Ms. Miller of "glorifying violence" in making their "Best" selections, have clearly not seen the shows you've written off so blithely. Never happens. Not once. Hippie ignorance is still ignorance. Sit your granola asses the fuck down.(Dig me...glorifying profanity now.) I know, you only turn your TVs on for "Masterpiece Theater", "Bill Moyers" and maybe the first half of "Countdown"(You never profane yourself with "Oddball", even.) Liars.
3. Deadwood fans...nicely played. You make a good case for the third Dave in the HBO Pantheon Named Dave, but personally? I thought the third season was too crowded to make for a fair match-up. I'd put their season twos in a tie, though. Seriously.
4. Simpsons fans: Okay, I love this show, and I think it's really cool that Groening et al built their world, but it has totally seen better days. In terms of lifetime achievement you may have a case, but as they squeeze out episode 3,000,000, they just are neither as heartfelt or satirical as they used to be.I'd cancel it if it were my choice to make. How many trends out of women's magazines can Marge follow? How dumb and selfish can Homer be(I'm starting not to like him now...except for Spider Pig)
5. Family Guy: My nightly reminder that Olbermann is not perfect. It's not even that I don't ever laugh, but I'm not *proud* about it.(I'm embarrassed for the young man who named it one of the greats in TV history.)
6. Although I hate to choose, I'd have to give it to The Wire, because the Sopranos never had to struggle for recognition from the industry or from viewers. Also, "I got the gun. You got the briefcase." made me look at life in a different way, and that's worth a "Best" vote.