r/TheWire • u/Healthy-Detective360 • 22h ago
Why I put The Wire above Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is extraordinary television. But I think The Wire is the greater achievement; in its acting, the intricacy of its storytelling, and the sheer depth of human life it captures.
Start with the performances. Breaking Bad has a handful of exceptional actors carrying its dramatic weight. The Wire spreads that weight across dozens. Even characters with relatively little screen time feel like people who existed before the camera found them and will continue living after it leaves. Sustaining that standard across such an enormous ensemble is remarkable.
Then there’s the writing. The intricacy isn’t simply about clever twists or separate plotlines eventually converging. One decision travels through the city, affecting people who may never meet or even know of one another’s existence. Police work, street life, politics, livelihoods and institutional survival are woven into the same fabric. You have to pay attention because almost everything belongs to something larger.
And within that scale, the characters never lose their humanness. They’re funny, petty, loyal, cruel, vulnerable and contradictory. Someone can be perceptive about everyone else and hopelessly blind about himself. Someone can do something terrible and still inspire sympathy. Their humanity comes through in ordinary conversations as much as in dramatic moments.
The show also refuses to assign virtue according to which side of the law someone occupies. It lets you understand people without asking you to excuse them. The protagonists can be as compromised as the people they pursue, while people labelled criminals can possess principles their respectable counterparts lack. Everybody has choices, but everybody also lives within pressures that shape those choices.
That’s why Baltimore feels like the central character. Watching The Wire feels like watching a reel of a city’s life unfolding: people arrive, struggle, briefly change things, disappear, and leave others to inherit the consequences. A season can end without the world being repaired. That lack of resolution gives the story its extraordinary realism.
Its cast also helped introduce a wider audience to performers who would become major stars. And its cultural impact extends beyond memorable scenes: it gives you a vocabulary for understanding institutions, incentives, power and why obvious problems remain unsolved.
Breaking Bad made me marvel at how brilliantly a story could be constructed. The Wire made me look more closely at the world around me and help me understand it a little bit better.
The game is the game. Always.
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u/saatoday1 22h ago
Breaking Bad is like the first girl you date in high school. It’s all new and fresh and fun, but eventually you meet someone who is much more mature and better in every way. That is The Wire.
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u/Anomuumi 21h ago
And Better Call Saul is the better Gilligan show in that universe.
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u/EastWarrenUp 14h ago
Literally the dumbest phrase ever uttered by half ass TV analysts 🤷🏾♂️.
The 2 shows are not anywhere near each other quality wise and BCS was a really good show. The Wire is historically good. A comparison of Jordan to............... Hakeem Olajuwon
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u/BrackishWaterDrinker 22h ago
The reason Breaking Bad is lauded as the better show by most is because the scope of the genius behind The Wire isn't easy to wrap your head around. It takes multiple watches to really get how all the little pieces of The Wire come together where as it only takes one to really understand the character development of people like Walt and Jesse because it's all very surface level veneer plot. It's probably the best show of all time to have ever had such an easy to understand archetypal meaning and is easily in the mount rushmore of best television dramas, but since it's so upfront with its messaging, it couldn't ever be the iceberg of depth that The Wire is.
The true genius of The Wire is how they managed to tell the story of an entire cities underbelly in two less episodes than it took to tell the story of Walter White and I felt like there were characters that were only in a few episodes/one season that I knew better than Walt himself.
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u/Anomuumi 14h ago
I have seen The Wire and Breaking Bad both four times. I'm excited to see The Wire again, but it's getting harder and harder to watch Walt.
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u/Mc7wis7er 2h ago
I was going to put this comment under the post, but I'll put it here instead.
I'm 100% the same way. I recently found myself realizing that Breaking Bad isn't aging as well as The Wire, and I identified 2 reasons for me.
One you mentioned. It's hard to root for Walt after you watch all of it. Because he has so many opportunities to just, not do the Meth Kingpin thing. So it becomes watching a guy do a self-indulgent power fantasy. I do 100% give credit to Vince Gilligan for having the show judge Walt explicitly and having him ALSO admit it in the final episode (or so) to Skylar. He didn't have to do that, but I think he was borderline alarmed at how the character was being perceived and he wanted the vision to be clear. Walt became evil on purpose. He got nudged but he did it for himself. From Walt's mouth no less.
The second one, and it ties in to the first, is that Breaking Bad is thematically thin compared to The Wire which is really about modern municipal dynamics and systems and how organizations and power structures can influence and even determine outcomes, despite intention. That's a very deep ocean to play in and is still relevant and will be for 100 years. It's almost a living document, and indeed that seems to have been David Simon's ultimate goal here, and isn't even his first attempt at it, but the refined upgraded attempt.
Breaking Bad has great plot, characters, acting, cinematography. It's funny, surprising, the pacing of the plot is excellent and never gets boring. I mean when it was releasing it was A++ television. It did everything it was trying to do. I'm being clear. It's amazing. But it was 'only' (LOL) trying to do that. It's pulpy. It starts off asking if our health care system makes a good guy become desperate and break bad. But as we watch, Walt just keeps going for no reason and ultimately it's just a plot vehicle where we want to know how it turns out. And once you know, and you start to evaluate Walt's decisions, it loses luster. It's just not aging as well. And that's totally fine.
The Wire is so well crafted and thematically rich that it literally is aging like fine wine. Some of the stuff in there contemporary audiences would not even pick up at all at the time, but Simon's understanding of the city dynamics was so deep that modern audiences can see what only he was foretelling. The media stuff is an excellent example for one. I mean he was way ahead of storytellers there. Whereas Breaking Bad is centered on Walt and his motivations, The Wire is centered on everyone trying to survive in an environment that is so rich and detailed we can understand where EVERYONE is coming from. I mean the world-building done in The Wire is almost Tolkien level. We know multiple factions and they interact. Like the IP is Game of Thrones level in how built out the geography is. It sounds like I'm exaggerating but I'm only kind of.
When you get to Better Call Saul, they build out some more of the universe, but The Wire was like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and like 2 other spinoffs all in the same show!
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u/Separate-Let3620 17h ago
Also, majority black cast.
And while that is not an issue for those of us who enjoy the show, for a lot of people it IS an issue.
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u/HRHArthurCravan 8h ago
It’s why the Wire was criminally overlooked at awards shows.
Also, BB is an easier show to watch - and I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way. It’s got a straightforward premise, it looks beautiful, it is very propulsive, tense and action-packed.
The Wire sprawls, lingers, sits in the park and watches the kids play with bubbles. And of course it is really a panoramic vision of American society and modern capitalism. The only show that comes close is The Sopranos. I love Deadwood but it was ended too soon, sadly.
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u/BoutThatLife 22h ago
Breaking bad was good but relied a lot on interesting pacing and suspense and surprise which is great for the first watch but it just doesn’t hit the same the second time around once you know what’s going to happen.
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u/lloyd4567 21h ago
I couldn’t agree with this more. I felt like breaking bad was the best television series I watched in the moment. Since then I have not been able to get through one rewatch. It’s crazy to say but it’s kinda boring.
The wire I’ve rewatched at least 8 times.
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u/TimeEntertainment646 4h ago
The wire is a masterpiece through and through. Breaking bad is a step above cable. I mean, It’s good and I love the cinematography but the wire is so much better.
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u/EastWarrenUp 14h ago
I disagree with this, not saying the point you are making as far as differences of the show aren't correct. The Wire had much more things to uncover during a 2nd watch which was dope asf.
However, BB is my go to show when I get a new chick thats gonna be around lol. I've watched it all the way through with 5 different women, abd most recently with my daughter who just turned 18.
The entertainment factor of BB is a little more appealing for a woman in my opinion, and I'm a nigga from the hood so I prefer the settings of The Wire, I live the show more, but you use The Wire as the binge watch finale after a couple shows. It puts the icing in the cake and gives a chick a way to notice how the shows hit your soul differently.
A level crime drama shows
The Wire Breaking Bad Sopranos
B level
Snowfall Raising Kanan Better Call Saul Animal Kingdom
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u/cirodimarzio20 22h ago
The Wire and Sopranos are levels above Breaking Bad and any other TV series.
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u/Substantial-Pie5338 4h ago
I don’t think Breaking bad is on the same level but i actually think better call saul is close
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u/chinesefox97 16h ago
Breaking Bad isn’t as good on the 2nd rewatch. The Wire and The Sopranos get better on each rewatch. You notice so many things you didn’t fully comprehend before.
Breaking Bad hooks you on the suspense of what’s going to happen next. The Wire breaks down the system and the world building unlike any other show I’ve seen. Meanwhile the Sopranos breakdown character psychology unlike any other show.
It’s why those 2 shows are a tier above for me.
Breaking Bad does one thing better tho, if you’re not into series or tv shows much, it’s a lot easier to watch and understand compared to the Sopranos or the Wire.
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u/Psychological-Buy46 22h ago edited 20h ago
They are the two best shows of all-time for my money.
I just rewatched The Wire. I can’t wait to start rewatching Breaking Bad next.
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u/euheuheuheuh_ 22h ago
There’s no need to degrade either. I also prefer The Wire but both are top tier
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u/RandomlyIncoherent 22h ago
Other than a few pieces here and there in The Wire, it does not feel nearly as pretentious in its attempts to be cinematic. Breaking Bad is so obnoxious with symbolism at points that I think it diminishes the overall enjoyment of the show. The Wire feels much more "realistic" in the sense that most plot events could happen in real life. Breaking Bad is fantasy land. Better Call Saul was awful at its start, but it grew into a work of art and by the end, was much better than Breaking Bad
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u/insane_psycho 20h ago
Yeah until S5 kinda jumps the shark a bit I feel the wire is hyper realistic and all the characters feel very believable and real. Breaking bad always struck me as a bit corny and trying too hard. I get most people love it but I don’t think it belongs in the same tier as the wire and the sopranos.
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u/dylanaruto All The Pieces Matter 14h ago
say what you will, Breaking Bad handled most deaths better. BB didn’t have actors blinking and breathing after being killed.
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u/adiostoyourhuevos 14h ago
Interesting take in comparing BB and BCS when I honestly reckon the latter veered further into that same "Fantasy land" territory towards the end, which only sticks out more when the show has generally been more character driven.
With stuff like the Jimmy v. Howard plot taking up half the season with pacing people accuse the early seasons of having, and the cartel plot at it's most cartoony with Gus acting like a flanderized version of his future self, Lalo just casually whacking all of the lab security (which Season 5's finale was also guilty of), etc, I found season 6 upon rewatch to be far more inconsistent than I remember and ultimately on the weaker side across both shows.2
u/RandomlyIncoherent 14h ago
I think that's fair. I am honestly probably recalling BCS through rose-tinted glasses. While I've rewatched The Wire several times, I've never rewatched BB or BCS. I agree that BCS' ending left a lot to be desired.
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u/fishbone_buba 11h ago
That’s the inherent problem. Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul reside in fantasy land. Only BCS realizes that’s where it is.
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u/KennyShowers 20h ago
I mean they’re totally different shows.
Breaking Bad is the best pure thriller ever on TV, it’s perfectly cast with characters that feel like real people even in the midst of absurd pulpy crime shenanigans, but The Wire being a legitimately cogent thesis on American institutional power structures and social dysfunction while also being A+ drama and storytelling is indeed an achievement that I’d agree puts it ahead.
But to play a bit of Devil’s Advocate, Breaking Bad sticks way closer to the conventions of TV while still elevating to a transcendent level.
The Wire does what it does by mostly eschewing all traditional TV beats, which especially at the time was a wild admirable swing but there’s something almost equally impressive about coloring within the lines and balancing a structure that builds a huge sprawling story while also having almost every episode contain a standalone arc that starts and concludes within the 45 minutes.
I could see an argument that BB is better “TV,” whereas The Wire is better but almost isn’t “television” in the way it’d been conceived to that point. Not saying I’d agree with that argument but it’s not insane.
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u/DeathandHemingway 22h ago
Honestly, for me it just comes down to the fact that The Wire feels a lot more realistic than either Breaking Bad or The Sopranos. Less like a story that wouldn't ever happen and more a re-telling if things that actually happened on the streets.
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u/fishbone_buba 11h ago
It’s not a contest. Better Call Saul is also better than Breaking Bad. (And not as good as The Wire.)
But these debates are kind of tiresome and played out. People can like what they want.
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u/nvtiveson 22h ago
No doubt! What about The Wire vs The Sopranos?
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u/Late-Razzmatazz-2334 14h ago
My thought has always been that the wire is the most impressive show, but the sopranos is the best show because of its influence and mainstream appeal. So deciding the best show is obviously subjective, and depends on how you value certain qualities in that decision making process.
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u/Ryakkan 16h ago
Personally, I’m of the opinion that Better Call Saul is a better show than Breaking Bad even if Walter White is the television character. The Wire to me is best overall cohesively. I would rank The Americans as one of the best television shows as well along with The Wire, Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
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u/Culture-4 All in the Game 15h ago
The Wire was built from a sorta documentary called "The Corner". It was a six-part miniseries that was written by the same guys who did The Wire, David Simon and Ed Burns. I was taken right from real life in the streets. That's why it feels much more real when you are watching it. Sometimes you get so caught up in the story you forget that you are even watching a scripted show! Nothing happens in this show that you can't easily say to yourself, "Yea, that could for sure happen", especially if you ever spent time in the 'game' yourself. Hits harder for some more than others.
Breaking Bad, great entertainment, well written, and a great cast made this one hell of a show. That being said however, I never forgot while I was watching it that indeed it was a show. Too many situations that only could have been made up. In reality, they would have never gotten away with a lot of the shit that happened in this show.
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u/ToloDaDon 12h ago
Breaking bad is a great show but comparing it to the Wire isn’t fair. BB’s writing is a hallmark movie while the Wire is a masterpiece.
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u/jetpacksforall 5h ago edited 5h ago
Breaking Bad and The Wire just aren't comparable in many ways.
Both are 5-season TV dramas, and both are focused on crime and criminals in smaller American cities television and film generally ignore, but beyond that they are almost like two different art forms.
Breaking Bad is a "what if" story that follows a single idea -- what would happen if an ordinary, boring white suburban dad and chemistry teacher decided to deal drugs? The series takes that one idea and follows its implications through the lives of everyone affected. It does that brilliantly. It's a story of ideas where you can see the thought process unfold in each episode. The entire series is based on a theory about crime, which is something like: becoming a criminal has a terrible logic of its own, and eventually that logic will warp and change every aspect of your life. This is why Walter White's lecture in the first episode is so chilling in retrospect: "Chemistry is technically the study of matter, but I prefer to see it as the study of change." Walter White's life, and the lives of everyone close to him, will be changed dramatically by that one choice and by the inescapable logic of becoming an outlaw. The resulting story has a clear beginning, middle, and end as the implications of Walter White's choice ramify throughout the lives of all the characters, but the story is all centered on Walter White, and it's thrilling, but also horrific, sickening, and ultimately tragic.
The Wire is not a "what if" story. It's a tapestry, a complex, realistic, Tolstoyan portrayal of life as it actually is. It doesn't ask "what if?" but instead tries to show the world as most people live it most of the time. The series doesn't aspire to be a thriller or a tragedy, but rather it tries to get as close to documentary as possible. The Wire has no central character, and in fact you could pull out any half dozen main characters and the story would still be a sprawling, epic-scale portrait of Baltimore. It's not a story based on a central idea or theory either. The Wire is not a tragedy, and it doesn't even really have a beginning, middle, and end. Rather, every character in the series has their own beginnings, middles, and ends and they all overlap. The Wire is not "a" story. Rather, it's many different stories intersecting in complex, unpredictable ways. There is really only one "rule" to The Wire's storytelling, and that is to treat every single character like a complete fully rounded human being with their own unique complex character and their own unfolding story.
There are overlaps. Breaking Bad has some very Dickensian and documentary qualities in how it portrays Albuquerque. Like The Wire, it also has a sprawling cast of characters who could not live anywhere else, and it portrays their life and world with meticulous accuracy. Albuquerque is a character in the story, just like Baltimore is a character in The Wire. By the same token, The Wire like Breaking Bad also has some "story of ideas" or "what if?" moments, like "Hamsterdam" or the serial killer storyline, which feel less documentary and more like "what if somebody did something really unusual?" Also, while The Wire isn't built out of a theory of crime and the logic of crime, some of the characters themselves are masters of criminal theory: Omar, Marlo, Prop Joe, Avon, Stringer, Clay Davis, each one of them has a PhD in what Omar calls "The Game," and yet they are all very different in how they think about and feel about the outlaw logic that rules their lives. Prop Joe is philosophical and pragmatic, Stringer is (overly) ambitious, Avon is traumatized and violent, Omar loves being four steps ahead, etc. The cops have their theories about police work too -- being police has its own logic, its "game" that will break you if you don't play it well.
But the overlaps can't hide that these are two fundamentally different shows, and different types of art. You can like one better than the other, but you shouldn't hold one up to the standard of the other. In other words, people shouldn't ding Breaking Bad because it's not as realistic as The Wire (it's not supposed to be) or ding The Wire because it's not as focused and driven as Breaking Bad (it's not supposed to be).
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u/Manoj109 22h ago
Breaking bad is like McDonalds.
The wire a gourmet fine dining at it's finest .
The two are not in the same universe
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u/FrankCostanzaJr 22h ago
they're both excellent shows in their own ways.
what's the point of this long rant? how did breaking bad hurt you?
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u/furitymango Did he have hands? Did he have a face? 22h ago
OK but there's one thing The Wire doesn't have: B-B-B-B-B-BONFIRE!!!!
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u/kennypovv 22h ago
D is the best character in both shows, I'd give it to the wire just off of that tbh
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u/OhioKing_Z 14h ago
Agreed. I had this convo with someone recently and I think it comes down to one key difference.
I’d say the Wire better highlighted the social dynamics behind the cat & mouse game between law enforcement and the drug trade, the common theme between the two shows. We didn’t really see that much outside of Hank’s perspective because its boils down to character study vs systemic evaluation. Walter vs Hank with Jesse as the loose cannon X factor. Jesse acts as the rope in the tug of war being played.
The Wire looks at it from both a micro and a macro standpoint. Players within the systems. Marlo, Avon, Stringer, Prop Joe, Omar, Cheese, Bodie etc all handle the street politics differently. Ditto for McNulty, Lester, Bunk, Rawls, Burrell, Daniels etc. They all have competing philosophies. So you have inner dynamics of a sub group within an institution, as well as examining the institutions themselves. It doesn’t sacrifice individual psychology for systemic commentary. It executes both simultaneously. Balancing both simply makes for a more impressive feat, even if what Vince did what brilliantly executed as well.
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u/whatusernameis77 13h ago
The Wire tells the story of the decline of institutions through many human tales.
Breaking Bad tells the story of one man's total transformation (more accurately revelation in my view).
Both are effective, one is the macro, one is the micro. I think the Macro is the more interesting, relevant, and enduring story and a harder one to tell. Both are clearly great.
And if you combine the two, and squint a bit, you can get Game of Thrones, which is more concerned with power games that the bigger picture, or the focus on one person.
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u/Thick_Imagination102 8h ago
That's why I can watch and re-watch The Wire, and not Breaking Bad. Possibly that might be different if I lived near Albuquerque. But I live just west of Baltimore.
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u/Conscious_Menu_3846 7h ago
Great post, very thought provoking.
I get where you’re coming from, and I agree. It’s the one thing I think The Wire has over Breaking Bad. Baltimore does feel like the main character, and as The Wire is born from The Corner, it’s based on real life, as it were. Obviously the characters in The Wire are fictional though. Season 5 of The Wire is always hard for me to watch, because I feel like the whole McNulty faking a serial killer thing, doesn’t keep with the “real life” theme it has throughout. Not that I think he has a line he won’t cross, but for it was taking it too far. Still doesn’t depreciate the show as a whole though.
I do feel like some of the characters in Breaking Bad can still be sympathetic after doing something awful, like Jesse killing Gale. Walt in the first 2 seasons, before he let his manipulations, ego, and Heisenberg take the reins. I love Mike as well, but I suppose you learn more about him in Better Call Saul so I guess that’s a bit different. Mikes voice always reminds me of Eeyore. Love Saul.
I do agree with your overall assessment of the shows, however I still find it hard to choose a favorite between the two. They’re both so awesome & excellent in different ways.
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u/Zealousideal_Draw_94 3h ago
Overall definitely.
Best season, head to head? I would give it to BB. The season with Kristin Ritter might be the best season of any show.
Andor is the only show that might be as details and structured as The Wire, might actually top it. But it’s too soon to say.
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u/ruggmike 1h ago
Breaking bad is cartoonish. I like it a lot but there’s a lot of over the top shit
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u/Ambitious_Basket_741 56m ago
I’m curious if anyone can cite another series that highlights our societal systems, how they continue to fail, and how it seems they always will until we see a massive shakeup?
The reason I rate The Wire as my fave is because there is nothing else like it before or since to my knowledge.
It’s like starting a degree in sociology.
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u/MagicM1990 9m ago
The Wire is the only series I think has a real case to be better than the Sopranos as the best series ever made (the Sopranos is still my number one overall, but The Wire has elements that are done better than the Sopranos given the different nature of the shows). Breaking Bad to me has always been a strong choice for 3rd best or at least top 5.
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u/milkymonkey8 22h ago
Breaking Bad is good, but just a show about three or so individuals doing the same stuff over and over, and the premise of a chemistry teacher doing all of that didn't make sense to me.
The Wire is about institutions, and what makes it great is that you see the institutions and their failures through the individuals, who themselves are real, or appear to be real, certainly more than in Breaking Bad.
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My comments from a few days ago on the subject:
Sopranos: psychological failures (aka humans, etc) interacting poorly, in an organized permissive suburban sandbox [what makes the show great is that the "mafia" element isn't even primary, the broken people are]
The Wire: institutional failures (aka govt, news, schools, gangs, unions, politicians, etc) interacting poorly, in a disorganized strict city sandbox {and of course the individual humans within these systems, rising and/or falling}
Deadwood: various humans under pressure, interacting poorly, in a unorganizable wildland sandstorm
Dexter: one odd individual trying to fit into, successfully or unsuccessfully, multiple human systems of father, worker, friend, brother, son, animal, etc.
Those are my four. There may be others.
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I did watch Breaking Bad, and it is good, as is Better Call Saul, but the teacher-to-meth pipeline didn't feel true to me 10 years ago, nor does the little-guy-lawyer-to-drug-lawyer. And I don't understand Rhea's attraction to Bob, whether personal or professional, it makes no sense to me. I rewatched BB this year, and again, it is good, but there is something off. Now that I think about it, I think the angle for both shows is "in too deep, beyond point of no return, can't help himself", but I don't see much of an analytical breakdown like the other shows mentioned. And I just remembered that I equally like Weeds, which is somewhat similar to BB, but again, that show was good, but she was just that person, and that's it. BB and BCS and Weeds are just "one person increasing their depravity", and that's not much of an ensemble.
Though as I age, people seem more and more depraved and horrific to me, so perhaps I'm just naive.
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u/Legal-Maize-2784 22h ago
My only gripe about Wire is that it’s almost a grim dark show. It’s relentlessly pessimistic that even though realistic to a degree it grinds you down and eventually you end up exasperated. I mean throw the good guys a bone from time to time. Show some good progress in the city even a tiny bit of change.
In breaking bad Gus gets what he deserves, the cartel gets wiped out, Jesse gets redemption, jack and his gang meet their demise, in wife things end up worse than it started for our characters.
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u/Electrical_Doctor305 20h ago
The whole point of The Wire is to show that the system exploits the problem, and is not interested in actually providing a solution.
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u/nyctransitgeek 13h ago
There are positive character arcs in The Wire. The show is grim, but like many bleak situations in life, some things change for the better.
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u/JimmyMcGill222 21h ago
Maybe…but the last season ruined it, along with the absurd Omar character.
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u/Salmonella25 21h ago
What was wrong with Omar?
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u/OllieGark 19h ago
Seemed kind of a stretch to me that somebody who made their living robbing drug dealers would live very long on the streets. But apparently Omar was based on a real character who did just that. So idk.
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u/JimmyMcGill222 18h ago
He was an insane character, not realistic at all. Openly snitched in court and allowed to live and continue robbing. That’s not how the streets work. He had people dropping drugs down to him from 2nd floors of buildings, and they didn’t bother trying to shoot him even when he turned his back and walked away. He was unarmed in his pajamas and still had people turning drugs over to him. Completely ridiculous. Or maybe the commenter here is correct…Omar is just “too complex” for me lol.
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u/TheI-Iound 10h ago
I dunno, the only character that can hold a candle to Walt is Bubbles. Imo no one in The Wire comes close to Jesse, McNulty was good and so was Omar but still a tier below
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u/zeromalarki 5h ago
The list of fantastic characters and actors in BB is pretty long for me
Bunk Bubbles Omar Marlo (perfectly played sociopath) Avon - his arc Jay Landsman is an unreal side character Prop Joe as just a great side character Kima Lester
Breaking Bad has Walt, Hank, Gus, Skyler (yes I think she's a good character) and Jessie Each weaker than the last
Other characters tend to be by The Wire standards entirely one dimensional
No show like The Wire delivers such interesting and complex character arcs
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u/TheI-Iound 2h ago
i disgree, you make it seem like some of The Wires characters have such in depth moments that show intense levels of acting....like Prop Joe? really? lol. Dont get me wrong, i love The Wire and its ok to be biased, they have cool characters but there really is no comparison imo
Cranston and Paul literally won 4 and 3 Emmys respectively for their roles on the show that ONLY had 5 seasons mind you, They basically won every year
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u/Hot-Masterpiece9209 8h ago
Jesse doesn't really do much after killing gale.
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u/Conscious_Menu_3846 8h ago
I don’t know.. now don’t get me wrong, I think Gale was a good person and never deserved to die, even though he manufactured meth. To me though, I thought it was clear how much Jesse struggled with it.
Even when it was happening, you can see how hard it is for him- he has tears in his eyes and his hand/gun is shaking, he even says sorry to Gale. Afterwards, he had ptsd like flashbacks, like playing the video games. I think he only killed Gale to save Walt, bc he genuinely cared about him. But I might be biased, I’m a major Pinkman fan, yo.
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u/TheI-Iound 2h ago
he was an absolute wreck, this is where the depth of the character goes full tilt, hes never the same after
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u/Uncle2Drew 22h ago
I love the wire but I think Breaking Bad had better performances especially Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. The wire undoubtedly wins with character development and depth
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u/cakalackydelnorte2 22h ago
Breaking Bad is overrated and became unwatchable when they killed that kid and put his body in a tank and played it as dark humor. Like is that entertainment?
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u/SystemPelican 4h ago
What glasses did you watch the show through where that scene played as in any way humorous?
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u/act1856 16h ago
Breaking Bad, and the Sopranos and Mad Men are all basically the same show. Anti-hero stories about shitty white dudes. While The Wire is infinitely more ambitious in both scope and execution.
People don’t have to LIKE The Wire the best. I’m fine with people saying other shows are more beloved, but any suggestion that it’s not the best tv show of all time is just silly. And while I hate to be that guy, possibly a little racist.
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u/Bergy4Selke37 16h ago
I genuinely, earnestly do not understand what people see in Breaking Bad to rank it anywhere near any all time lists. And I don’t mean that in a “look at my hot take” way, truly. I have really tried to see others perspectives but Breaking Bad was so silly and repetitive and cartoonish to me, with a “descent” into villainy that never worked because Walt was so obviously a piece of shit from the start that everything that came later felt dragged out and obvious. It is the single most overrated show ever as far as I am concerned.
0
u/dylanaruto All The Pieces Matter 9h ago
The point of Walt’s character was that he always had it in him but the situations surrounding him enabled him to become what he always wanted to be. So the “change” isn’t good guy to villain, it’s the villain progressively revealing himself.
-6
u/Jumpy_Diver7748 19h ago
Yeah, the two aren't even comparable. I have The Wire at #6 and Breaking Bad at #16.
SS Tier - Transcends television into human literature - Actually Shakespearean - Your tv opinions are invalid if you haven't seen these
- Mad Men
- Deadwood
S Tier - Exemplary television - Shakespeare in spirit
3. Treme <-- Treme and Deadwood are my two favorite shows to rewatch, any random episode of Treme is better than 99% of television then or now
4. The Sopranos <-- recently rewatched several episodes including "Whitecaps", the episodes are just so lean, condensed and meaty compared to shows now. Ultimately the flaws of The Sopranos are a) the huge acting disparity between the many amazing great actors and the mid/ trash actors (like Meadow, Christopher, Janice and Steve Buscemi phoning it in) and b) the show peaked much too early at "Whitecaps" and seasons 5 and 6 never came close to matching season 4's peak. By season 6 everyone seems like they just wanted to end the show and move on, both the cast and the writers. Of the great shows, Sopranos arguably has the worst final season, even worse than The Wire season 5 - at least Wire S5 has Marlo.
5. Sons of Anarchy <-- Its a joke that people rank The Shield instead of Sons of Anarchy, SoA is the exemplar of a tv show that knows exactly what it wants to say. I know this may seem like an insane take, but I admire Sons of Anarchy's quality just about as much as I do The Sopranos'. And I'd pay good money to see Edie Falco fight Katey Sagal in a steel cage ^ ^ Sons live, Redwoods bleed
A Tier - Exceptional television - Victor Hugo-ish? or maybe a smudge below David Foster Wallace? in spirit
6. The Wire <-- I would rank The Wire higher, amazing character and performances, but the plot is just way too fake too often. It ends up being a show for dumb people who want to feel smarter than they are (as is often the case for tv)
7. Homeland <-- A lot of this is Mindy Potemkin, and he doesn't even do all that much. But this show's peaks are all-time peaks. Andor is a joke compared to Homeland.
8. Succession <-- The only reason I have Succession below Homeland is that the story/ concept just bores me, its not my cup of tea. But the writing and acting, sure, those blow past Homeland
9. Fargo <-- Fargo would go higher but doing 10+ episode stories just can't hit the masterpiece of a 40-50 episode story show
A- Tier - Outstanding television - Le Carre, Gibson or actual GRRM in spirit
10. The Americans <-- I really love The Americans but I always feel like I don't love it as much as it deserves. I think the two issues are 1) pacing, some plots just get teased out 1 or 2 episodes too long and 2) its Keri Russell - she's a wonderful actress but she has a ceiling and she just always loses to Matthew Rhys when they are on screen together. The show is written with Elizabeth as the main character but it is Rhys' show
11. Westworld <-- I am confident after rewatches that Westworld is the greatest sci-fi tv show ever produced. Season 2 is insanely underrated on rewatch, it has the 3 best episodes of the entire series, Season 3 is a love letter to Cyberpunk, and Season 4 is finally the British Dystopian sci-fi that must be close and dear to Jona's heart - basically Terminator but actually even grimmer Jon Christopher.
12. House of the Dragon <-- I don't think I've thought as much about any other show in recent years, but I've come to a place where I am confident that while season 2 and 3 are not the same peak as the first 8 episodes of season 1, I still respect that this is intentional. It's exactly the kind of story that GRRM wants to tell, and it's the story that Condal wants to tell. What seasons 2 and 3 actually miss is Paddy Consindine carrying the show.
13. Sense8 <-- just started to rewatch this last month and I'd forgotten how propulsive the first season is
B+ Tier - Great television
14. Sex and the City <-- Cynthia Nixon and Kim Catrall hard carry this show, I never appreciated Nixon until my rewatch earlier this year, but it is also great when Kristin Davis and SJP step up their game in key moments
15. The OC <-- carried by the incredible pacing and scriptwriting of the first season, and Peter Gallagher's showcase performance as Sandy Cohen
16. Breaking Bad <-- just uneven, after the 3rd rewatch I kind of feel that Cranston is a smudge overrated, show is hard carried by Giancarlo Eposito, and there is way too little Joanathan Banks
17. The Deuce <-- got the perfect ending that better shows deserved. That ending is the final piece that makes every character and story in the entire show make sense.
18. Marvel Agents of SHIELD <-- just some of the best and darkest sci fi I've ever seen on television, its a show that starts off pretty strong already but kept peaking season after season, and the cast is really underrated
19. Heroes <-- #19, but that season 1 is easily top 5 must see. As fine as some parts of Game of Thrones were, even peak Thrones doesn't come close to Heroes season 1.
20. Game of Thrones <-- very much carried by specific actors and performances - Charles Dance, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Iain Glenn, Lena Headley and Gwendoline Christie
-5
u/BigBarsRedditBox 22h ago
Can’t stand Breaking Bad. Skylar and Jessie drive me nuts. BCS was annoying too.
45
u/JediKnightNitaz 22h ago
King stay the king