Breaking Bad or The Wire

ClydeShebang

ClydeShebang

CAGiversary!
I'm thinking of getting one of these shows on DVD this weekend, if I find them cheap enough might get both but if I can't which should I take preference over?

I will watch both eventually. Theres too much bias over the respective show boards at IMDb.
 
Both shows represent the best TV has to offer. You can't go wrong with either but I would start off with the Wire. For no other reason than for the simple fact that all of Breaking Bad will eventually be on Netflix.
 
Yeah you can watch almost all of BB on netflix (except the final six or so episodes).

I've seen both in their entirety and I have a great respect for The Wire but I think Breaking Bad was more fun to watch.

 
I tried getting into the Wire a couple of times, but couldnt because I felt the show is really slow paced.  Took me awhile to start Breaking Bad because I thought the premise was silly, but once I started I was hooked. So I say go for Breaking Bad.  Then again, I initially thought Mad Men was a really slow paced show, but now I'm a fan (it can still be very slow paced, but the Mad Men world is just so interesting).

Edit: Like others have said, Breaking Bad is on Netflix.  Plus, Amazon is selling the first 3 seasons for $10 each if you want to go that route

 
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^ The wire is slow; you have to make it to at least episode 4 and you also have to have a basic interest in what the show is about. But with that being said by most peoples standard I would consider GOT and Boardwalk Empire to be slow too. I've found that most premium cable shows don't need to be BANG BANG BANG EXPLOSION EXPLOSION EXPLOSION every episode to draw in viewers like what you find on ordinary cable/basic TV.

 
Thanks guys I'm gonna see which ones have the cheaper boxsets. I was watching a documentary about how American television has evolved over the years and they were discussing these two shows and clips were shown,which I was really into.

And thanks for reminding me about mad men, way behind on that too haha. Damn tv is too good.

 
ClydeShebang said:
Thanks guys I'm gonna see which ones have the cheaper boxsets. I was watching a documentary about how American television has evolved over the years and they were discussing these two shows and clips were shown,which I was really into.

And thanks for reminding me about mad men, way behind on that too haha. Damn tv is too good.
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I am almost positive you will be able to buy the individual seasons of BB much much cheaper then the Wire. Note that "The Wire" hasn't been released on Blu-ray and I don't believe it ever will be. The director/writer has said somewhere he plans to keep it in the original format as he thinks the grittyness of how it was filmed adds to the overall feel of the show.

 
The Wire has my vote. Far better than Breaking Bad imo. It kinda feels like the difference between Oz and The Sopranos. I'm guessing that people that like Oz will like The Wire more and people that like The Sopranos will like Breaking Bad more.
 
dohdough said:
The Wire has my vote. Far better than Breaking Bad imo. It kinda feels like the difference between Oz and The Sopranos. I'm guessing that people that like Oz will like The Wire more and people that like The Sopranos will like Breaking Bad more.
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I don't think Oz aged very well (I didn't watch it until recently) but it was/is groundbreaking. The episodes are very long (I think people are trained to watch 24 minute and 45 minute episodes now. Even I have a hard time staying focused for the entire 55-65 minute Oz episodes and The Wire is of a similar length.

But I agree with you on the comparison; I think if people need a lot to happen to keep their attention then Breaking Bad would be more fitting for them.

For me it's more of a style verse substance. I think BB is much more entertaining where The Wire (or Oz) is more emotionally and mentally pleasing.

OT but I watched Oz after I had watched several other HBO series to completion and it was very cool seeing how so many actors from Oz turned up in other HBO series.

 
I don't mind the topic turning into a discussion of quality shows, gives me more stuff to look at. Thanks for the comparison dohdough, I've seen the soprano's and very much enjoyed that, though not seen oz.

HBO in general has some very good shows, whether they be drama or comedy. 

 
Breaking Bad is the best television series ever made IMO. The Wire is good, but it definitely is a slow burn and say more uneven.
 
DestroVega said:
Breaking Bad is the best television series ever made IMO. The Wire is good, but it definitely is a slow burn and say more uneven.
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I think there is a lot of dead weight on Breaking Bad in regards to characters who don't pull their own. What was awesome about BB was watching Walter's character development. The episodes are much more intense, that is for sure.

 
dohdough said:
The Wire has my vote. Far better than Breaking Bad imo. It kinda feels like the difference between Oz and The Sopranos. I'm guessing that people that like Oz will like The Wire more and people that like The Sopranos will like Breaking Bad more.
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I didnt like Sopranos and liked Breaking bad, liked Oz and hated the Wire. So I dunno if that holds up. But yea, best bet would to be getting Netflix and watching Breaking Bad on there. Also watch the first two seasons of The Killing which is better than Breaking Bad by a lot. Then just buy The Wire on DVD. Watch them all.

 
MushaOne said:
I didnt like Sopranos and liked Breaking bad, liked Oz and hated the Wire. So I dunno if that holds up. But yea, best bet would to be getting Netflix and watching Breaking Bad on there. Also watch the first two seasons of The Killing which is better than Breaking Bad by a lot. Then just buy The Wire on DVD. Watch them all.
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This dude loves rain and illfitting sweaters
 
I've only seen the first season of The Wire but I got to go with Breaking Bad. If you want another good cop show you should check out Southland. Damn shame they canceled it.

 
confoosious said:
Breaking bad is a great show. The wire is the greatest show in the history of television.
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I understand that some people feel that the Wire is the greatest show ever, but seasons 2 and 5 have major flaws.

Not saying that a TV show is ever perfect, but those Sbotka kids suck and some of the stuff in season 5 is way out of character.

 
CaseyRyback said:
I understand that some people feel that the Wire is the greatest show ever, but seasons 2 and 5 have major flaws.

Not saying that a TV show is ever perfect, but those Sbotka kids suck and some of the stuff in season 5 is way out of character.
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I liked Ziggy and Nick. Frank was the one I didn't really like.

 
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Here's why Wire > BB

You know who exactly isn't going to die in BB.  

I'm talking seasons 1 through 5.5.   There is never a chance that jesse or walt are gonna get killed.  NEVER.  Obviously once they announce the series was ending, then that was on the table.

  I havent seen the final eps yet.

 
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IMO, The Wire is a cut above the rest because it was a perfect marriage of great writing, characters and a socio-political message.

Here's a pretty good article by Chuck Klosterman arguing that Breaking Bad is the best TV show ever.  I disagree with his conclusion but I think this quote sums it up best "of the four shows I've mentioned, The Wire absolutely exhibited the finest writing; Mad Men has the most fascinating collection of character types, and The Sopranos was the most fully realized (and, it's important to note, essentially invented this rarified tier of televised drama)." Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of them and all should be watched.

 
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These are all excellent points, I've seen the soprano's and am in the middle of mad men but stopped watching it in the middle for quite some time. As amazing as mad men is, it's not one where you can marathon on due to it's slow burning, at least to me.

The documentary on the evolution of American tv i watched was called The United States of Television, if anyone's interested in that kind of stuff. It was a 4 parter, ranging from comedy to the changing nature of hero's and villains.

 
kill3r7 said:
IMO, The Wire is a cut above the rest because it was a perfect marriage of great writing, characters and a socio-political message.

Here's a pretty good article by Chuck Klosterman arguing that Breaking Bad is the best TV show ever. I disagree with his conclusion but I think this quote sums it up best "of the four shows I've mentioned, The Wire absolutely exhibited the finest writing; Mad Men has the most fascinating collection of character types, and The Sopranos was the most fully realized (and, it's important to note, essentially invented this rarified tier of televised drama)." Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of them and all should be watched.
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Yep. And there was nothing fancy about the Wire. They didn't use fancy actors, or fancy effects, or fancy locations, or fancy writers. It was much deeper then BB which focused solely around Cranston and his characters turn from good to evil with some others thrown in. As I said before BB was much more entertaining but The Wire was more of an emotional series.

 
ClydeShebang said:
Bought seasons 1-3 of breaking bad and season 1 of the wire. Found them all cheap, so why not lol.
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Good for you! I hope you enjoy them! And the only advice I can give you is really try to get through at least the third episode of the wire before deciding if you want to continue on with the show. I gave up a few minutes into the second episode a few years back before I decided to rewatch it and it quickly became my favorite show of all time.

It's just not a "hold your hand; provide lots of over-the-top action sequences to keep your attention" type show.

 
GBAstar said:
Good for you! I hope you enjoy them! And the only advice I can give you is really try to get through at least the third episode of the wire before deciding if you want to continue on with the show. I gave up a few minutes into the second episode a few years back before I decided to rewatch it and it quickly became my favorite show of all time.

It's just not a "hold your hand; provide lots of over-the-top action sequences to keep your attention" type show.
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Thanks. I've seen clips of a character called Omar, who feels like he's out of a western, so gonna stick with it to see him. Hoping breaking bad lives up to the hype. My friend told me he's tried it twice due to hearing the people at his office talk about it but couldn't get into it.
 
confoosious said:
Here's why Wire > BB

You know who exactly isn't going to die in BB.

I'm talking seasons 1 through 5.5. There is never a chance that jesse or walt are gonna get killed. NEVER. Obviously once they announce the series was ending, then that was on the table.

I havent seen the final eps yet.
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So The Wire is better because Breaking Bad wouldn't kill off its two main characters in the first 5 seasons? Thats the worst reasoning I've ever heard. Literally. The writers were going to kill Jesse off during Season 1 but his character was too good to do so. How would they have made a series if Walt or Jesse were dead? Jesse I could understand but that would have been an awful decision. His character was too good.

The wire is really boring right now in Season 1. If it doesn't pick up I'm out. I love cop shows but nothing is hooking me there. It feels like an early 2000's sitcom made its way onto HBO.

 
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NinjaPenguin777 said:
So The Wire is better because Breaking Bad wouldn't kill off its two main characters in the first 5 seasons? Thats the worst reasoning I've ever heard. Literally. The writers were going to kill Jesse off during Season 1 but his character was too good to do so. How would they have made a series if Walt or Jesse were dead? Jesse I could understand but that would have been an awful decision. His character was too good.

The wire is really boring right now in Season 1. If it doesn't pick up I'm out. I love cop shows but nothing is hooking me there. It feels like an early 2000's sitcom made its way onto HBO.
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Sitcom? You must be a Michael Bay fan.

 
GBAstar said:
Sitcom? You must be a Michael Bay fan.
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I hate Michael Bay movies. This show is just boring. I'm supposed to take a show seriously that has a cop firing his weapon off in the office because he's showing off the trigger pull? I'm sorry but that's just stupid.

It gets better. The guy they bring in requests his lawyer, they keep interogatting him before he gets to talk to his lawyer. That's illegal. Witness from previous murder case is killed, higher ups just brush it off. Cliched characters and boring writing so far.

 
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NinjaPenguin777 said:
So The Wire is better because Breaking Bad wouldn't kill off its two main characters in the first 5 seasons? Thats the worst reasoning I've ever heard. Literally. The writers were going to kill Jesse off during Season 1 but his character was too good to do so. How would they have made a series if Walt or Jesse were dead? Jesse I could understand but that would have been an awful decision. His character was too good.

The wire is really boring right now in Season 1. If it doesn't pick up I'm out. I love cop shows but nothing is hooking me there. It feels like an early 2000's sitcom made its way onto HBO.
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So BB is good because it took 5 seasons to grow balls/have huge stakes?

 
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When this pic makes sense, you'll realize how wrong you were. :D
 
Wow. Just wow. Perhaps the wire isn't for everyone.

If the wire is a sitcom, then the godfather is a romantic comedy.

NinjaPenguin777 said:
It gets better. The guy they bring in requests his lawyer, they keep interogatting him before he gets to talk to his lawyer. That's illegal. Witness from previous murder case is killed, higher ups just brush it off. Cliched characters and boring writing so far.
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Guys, face it. Anyone who says that is never going to like the wire. or get it. Omgz the higher ups don't do the right thing!

I don't think the standard "give it more time" recommendation is in order here.

Maybe he'd be more comfortable with Rizzoli and Isles.
 
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Now that I have seen the first season of both shows, outside of the fact they are both highly regarded and based in crime, I can't see how they get compared a lot. There's just such a big difference between the two shows to me and they both are excellent in what they do.

 
Both are fantastic, but I find The Wire to be slow paced at times. So Breaking Bad is my choice. Both are good shows and are both worth checking out though. 

 
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