The Wire why not.
Allison and I recently got into The Wire. Thank you, Netflix! We've seen all of season 1 and four episodes of season 2. It's remarkable to me that, despite people calling it the best show on TV, it may well be the best show on TV. Some things about that:
* For the first season, everything was spot-on: the directing, the acting, the writing, everything. The second season, not so much. Like, there was a noticeable quality drop between the last episode of the first season and the first episode of the second season. It's getting better, though.
* It's a rare show whose comic relief involves police brutality, but there it is.
* The show is confusing, but not because of the slang, which is pretty easy to pick up. It's the narrative structure, which is light on the exposition, and the camera work, which doesn't make it easy to distinguish characters. If it weren't for Television Without Pity, I'd be even more lost than I am now.
* How does a show with a majority black cast still manage to have a magical negro?
* I don't care nearly as much about the dock workers as I did the Barksdalies. And I could do without seeing so much of Ziggy's penis, thank you very much.
* Maybe my favorite dialogue, so far:
Bodie: Think the man got paid?
Wallace: Who?
Bodie: Man who invented these [Chicken McNuggets].
Wallace: Shit, he richer than a motherfucker.
D’Angelo: Why? You think he get a percentage?
Wallace: Why not?
D’Angelo: Nigga please, the man who invented them things just some sad ass down at the basement of McDonald’s, thinking up some shit to make some money for the real players.
Bodie: No man that ain’t right.
D’Angelo: Fuck right. It ain’t about right. Its about money. Now you think Ronald McDonald go down to that basement and say “Hey Mr. Nugget, you the bomb. We selling chicken faster then you can tear the bone out. So I’m gonna write my clowny ass name on this fat ass check for you.” Shit. Man, the nigga who invented them things still working in the basement for regular wage thinking up some shit to make the fries taste better or some shit like that. Believe.
[pause]
Wallace: Still had the idea though.
That's some top-notch writing, right there.
* For the first season, everything was spot-on: the directing, the acting, the writing, everything. The second season, not so much. Like, there was a noticeable quality drop between the last episode of the first season and the first episode of the second season. It's getting better, though.
* It's a rare show whose comic relief involves police brutality, but there it is.
* The show is confusing, but not because of the slang, which is pretty easy to pick up. It's the narrative structure, which is light on the exposition, and the camera work, which doesn't make it easy to distinguish characters. If it weren't for Television Without Pity, I'd be even more lost than I am now.
* How does a show with a majority black cast still manage to have a magical negro?
* I don't care nearly as much about the dock workers as I did the Barksdalies. And I could do without seeing so much of Ziggy's penis, thank you very much.
* Maybe my favorite dialogue, so far:
Bodie: Think the man got paid?
Wallace: Who?
Bodie: Man who invented these [Chicken McNuggets].
Wallace: Shit, he richer than a motherfucker.
D’Angelo: Why? You think he get a percentage?
Wallace: Why not?
D’Angelo: Nigga please, the man who invented them things just some sad ass down at the basement of McDonald’s, thinking up some shit to make some money for the real players.
Bodie: No man that ain’t right.
D’Angelo: Fuck right. It ain’t about right. Its about money. Now you think Ronald McDonald go down to that basement and say “Hey Mr. Nugget, you the bomb. We selling chicken faster then you can tear the bone out. So I’m gonna write my clowny ass name on this fat ass check for you.” Shit. Man, the nigga who invented them things still working in the basement for regular wage thinking up some shit to make the fries taste better or some shit like that. Believe.
[pause]
Wallace: Still had the idea though.
That's some top-notch writing, right there.