Good thread, because for me it's these two TV shows and then everything else is several notches below. In fact, these are the only two shows that have held my attention from the first until the very last episode. For me, it's The Wire, and it's not close. It's the most authentic TV show I've ever seen, with the most brilliant writing and cast of real, believable characters. It also exposed the disastrous infrastructure of modern American cities, bad race relations, police brutality before it became trendy, corrupt city politics, the endless war on drugs, incompetent bureaucracies, etc. The Wire was a good decade ahead of its time. Seasons 3 and 4 are the peak of television. I remember breaking down crying multiple times, especially during Season 4 with the young kids. It's the only TV show or movie that's ever moved me like that. It also shows that your destiny in this country is almost completely determined by the environment into which you're born. Some of those projects guys, like Stringer and Avon, could have been brilliant businessmen and [healthy] community leaders had they been born in different neighborhoods to different parents.
Realism was very popular when the Wire came out. We had lots of TV shows and movies and art where that was the theme around that time but the Wire took it to the extreme. We're talking about seriously going into the Baltimore ghetto, grabbing a dude and telling him to do what he does on camera. WHAM, one day of filming and now the guy was officially an actor playing a drug dealer and not a drug dealer. It was unbelievable. I think that's what sets it apart from a show like Breaking Bad, which had excellent writing and acting, but was a hollywood production. The Wire was almost artwork. You gotta like realism though to appreciate it most and that's not everyone's cup of tea.
The Wire was written by a Baltimore Sun reporter (David Simon) and an ex-Baltimore cop (Ed Burns) who served in the department for decades. I'd call it reality.
Really enjoyed Breaking Bad. It's a great show and I was riveted pretty much the whole time while watching it. But The Wire from my perspective was even better, I've never been absorbed in a TV show like that before.
After reading this thread a while back, coupled with the fact I didn't have much else to watch, I re-watched The Wire over the last few weeks. After doing so I can confirm my vote for Breaking Bad is absolutely the correct vote. The Wire was great, no doubt, but that 5th and last season just completely dragged it down. Had the final season been on par with the other 4 then both shows would have been neck and neck. It was like they were just trying to come up with stuff on the fly in some areas to close out the series. It was nowhere near as good as seasons 1-4.
