Ahhh shit sorry @Castiel I thought you liked The Wire I wasn’t trying to wind you up lol
Oz definitely dropped its quality I have no doubt admitting that but it was a pretty fucking zaney story to begin with,- always leaning into existential rhetoric and usually surrounding it’s narrative in some thought provoking yet wild philosophical viewpoints.
Whereas when the Wire got silly, it felt silly. Realism was a foundation of a show like The Wire, it didn’t have the license to come off the rails like say The Shield, so it just left a funny taste in my mouth.
Also I watched Oz very early in my life, way before stuff the Sopranos or The Wire so in some ways seeing these actors again might have sullied my suspension of disbelief as I thought that they all knocked it out of the park in Oz.
Not a repeat HBO cast member but Jk Simmons in general just didn’t get the appreciation he deserved for his work in Oz, in fact he’s only really getting that type of respect now. Although back in the 90’s he was already showing one of the greatest ever TV performances of any time.
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Agree on this in particular. Theres a compilation on youtube of all the times he got angry about people mispronouncing Schillinger 
Also his casting as J Jonah Jameson is the single best bit of casting in a superhero film ever, hands down.
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Lots of love for Supernatural, Firefly (so unfair), True Detective, True Blood and Justified.
Incredible shows all around, absolutely amazing.
So happy Jensen Ackles is getting to further his career as Soldier Boy and doing such a fucking good job.
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Honestly I’ve only watched Oz through twice as well but when I go back for third it will be because of him and Beecher’s story.
Just an insane fucking relationship and ahead of its time tbh. Certain aspects of the show have aged really poorly but it’s honestly just such a brilliant character study.
Christopher Meloni is another who deserves special mention.
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Yeah, was it Keller he played? Keller added an interesting aspect to the Beecher/Schillinger dynamic for sure.
The Beecher/Schillinger dynamic was the best thing about the show, agree that that would be what would bring me back for another viewing.
It is a brilliant show, I rate you for being such a big fan of it, the show is slept on by far too many people. Don’t know what they’re missing out on. It was miles ahead of its time.
HBO are the absolute gawds
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I’ve always heard so much about Oz but never got around to watching it but definitely will now.
Is it on Sky Atlantic?
Nashville, obviously. Nah, I’d probably say Suits. It’s a tough one though, because there are so many TV series’ I’ve enjoyed, or where I’ve loved some of it, but then it went downhill. Prison Break for example - the first series was absolutely brilliant. But then the third series was an absolute mess. Not many shows are consistently brilliant throughout.
Yeah, the whole cast was great. In both. The acting and the premise was good. I just found both shows too slow. I persevered with both for ages but in the end I found it a chore watching them and would make excuses to myself not to.
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At the time you called me a little saucy hipster for preferring it to the Wire lmao but yeh you’re completely right it’s a total sleeper hit that really started HBO down the path of what they would become.
It’s actually really interesting to me that it hasn’t gained as much of a cult following as other shows especially when you think of how viral Jk Simmons whiplash performance became.
I think maybe it’s because it was a little raw around the edges in parts. Like The Wire and The Sopranos from purely a production stand point just had more refinement.
Yeh he was Keller. He’s a had a pretty good career, recently he was in a show called Happy that was just complete funny lunacy.
Pretty sure it is on there 
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You’d like to think so considering its the HBO original G.
Also did any one follow Sons of Anarchy, it was a wild fucking ride, the period it and Breaking Bad and True Blood were all running way a great era for modern television
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I watched Sons of Anarchy up until the point when his baby got kidnapped or whatever the fuck lol
It was entertaining enough, but absolutely a tier or two below the shows we’ve been discussing in some length this evening, imo.
That’s fair. I’d actually rate it pretty fucking high but it was essentially a spiritual successor to The Shield so I absolutely fucking adored it. It was another one that you couldn’t take too seriously or you wouldn’t enjoy. Also they had like an entire season in Northern Ireland dealing with their IRA connections which was cool to me.
Did you you ever see the episode where Waton Goggin’s was a guest star as a transgendered prostitute? Needless to say he stole the show lmao
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I’m happy my off the cuff post about the Wire has sparked this edifying discourse surrounding American television
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Me too actually, now I just have to pray you find The Wire a touch overrated and I’ll finally have someone else on this hill of mine.
Tbf I got pretty distracted during the first two episodes on my phone but enjoyed them.
I think I’m gonna prefer the Sopranos to the Wire just because the inner-workings of the mob seem more interesting than the bureaucracy of Baltimore PD lol
Yeh the environment the story is set in just wasn’t for me, I mean it’s was cool in the sense it was a little unique but I began to found it all a little stale.
The Sopranos just seemed to have more interesting moving parts, Tony and his therapy could have been a story in itself. Whereas the police going up against the drug culture was interesting but the slow burn got to me. It’s why I liked the second season so much. I won’t say anything to ruin it for you but it’s just a little different than the others.
Also have all the never fucking ending memes about the show done anything to your enjoyment? Has to be one of most memed shows out there, has it ruined any aspects yet? I don’t think any were spoilers mind you, but I can’t recall.
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Tbf the sopranos had a shit ton of memes made out of it as well and it was just one of those “leonardo di caprio sitting up and pointing” moments for me.
Like “ohh now I know where this meme is from” not that it ruins it for me.
In the same way that I knew Darth Vader was Luke’s father going into Star Wars for the first time haha
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Yeh tbf they rarely spoil anything out of context. Although the ending of Sopranos and it’s contraversial nature does get discussed an absolute fuck ton in pop culture
You’ve done well if you went in not knowing about that, or hearing about it much.
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I do genuinely hate to be this cunt as I personally hate this cunt, but I don’t think you can watch The Wire like this.
I always found it too much to keep up with. Knowing who’s who’s ally, who’s who’s boss, what rank people are etc because there’s lots of “we need surname of random lieutenant for this” kind of shit. Part of the reason it gets better with every watch imo (well up to the 3rd or 4th) is this kind of thing being much easier to take in.
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