What will you be watching on TV tonight?

[Niall_Quinn]

He's British but that shouldn't be an excuse but no, it doesn't get any better.

You won't be able to stop once you get past 4 episodes. It goes pretty far and wide into Baltimore across the five seasons.

A complimentary mini-series to watch after is The Corner, which I've just started. Same writer and city, made before The Wire and looks exclusively at the addicts in Baltimore. Bleaker and without the humour of The Wire. A lot the same actors too, although in vastly different roles.

Starting to binge now. It's slow. Very, very slow. And they use that slow to build every single character. Somehow they are doing it without cliffhangers. Wish they'd picked a different lead though. It's weird. Everyone else is top notch, Idris Elba is spectacular, Andre Royo is ridiculously good, but they go with this guy as a lead? Is he related to the director or something? Very distracting to what is otherwise absorbing.

[Kano]

Starting to binge now. It's slow. Very, very slow. And they use that slow to build every single character. Somehow they are doing it without cliffhangers. Wish they'd picked a different lead though. It's weird. Everyone else is top notch, Idris Elba is spectacular, Andre Royo is ridiculously good, but they go with this guy as a lead? Is he related to the director or something? Very distracting to what is otherwise absorbing.

That's the beauty of David Simon's shows, all character, none of that typical weekly series tripe that exhausts itself very quickly. It's still TV drama of course but he at least acknowledges that people are full of contradictions and there isn't necessarily one clear cut solution or moral code.

Is it the accent that's still bugging you, West's acting, the character or just everything? McNulty's a fuck-up but probably the poster boy for the blurred lines shown throughout the show. He gets the job done no matter what the collateral cost, which happens at every level of command in the street and in his own police department. Some found the second series a bit jarring as it shifts focus to the white working class at the docks but it just adds to the themes and subtext that surround the show, bringing out the full character of the city around these people.

[Letters]

I don't have Sky but can get access to that NOW TV thing. How long do The Walking Dead episodes stay on catch-up?

And has anyone watched Fear The Walking Dead?

'Cos of everyone going on about it on here I downloaded the first series, it's on the Sky Box Sets thingy.
Watched the first one last night. Quite good. Not sure it grabbed me like Breaking Bad did right from the start but it was enjoyable enough. Will probably watch another one and see how I get on with it.

[GP]

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

Fear the Walking Dead wasn't very good. It might get better, who knows?

[Marc Overmars]

Class of 92: Out of Their League.

Quite entertaining.

[Niall_Quinn]

Stayed up until 5am finishing off The Wire Season 1.

It's worse than heroin. And it didn't have the mushy American must-have ending. I'd pay for that alone.

[Kano]

Finished the six episodes of The Corner. Nice companion piece to The Wire, charting how a family (also based on real people) become dragged down by drug addiction in Baltimore. A lot of familiar faces who would go onto appear in The Wire and more serious in tone but similarly very well written characters that you become attached to.

Might start digging back into Homicide Life On The Streets next.

[Niall_Quinn]

Season 2 of The Wire is (almost) being ruined by that cunt who screeches through the opening credits. Fuck. Desperate stuff. Fortunately it doesn't take too long to get over it once the action starts. Lots more gratuitous sex and nudity this season, all gravy.

[Kano]

Tom Waits? He's an acquired taste.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

Class of 92: Out of Their League.

Quite entertaining.

Yeah, not bad.

Not exactly sure what Nicky Butt does though. As relevant as Terry Cooke.