After Grog Blog

WRONG WITH A CAPITAL B

Does it render a review worthless when the reviewer makes a fundamental mistake of fact? Not always. But that doesn't mean the mistake won't be plonked on the internet for the whole world to point and jeer:

The Wire
Larissa Dubecki

BALTIMORE, the capital of the US state of Maryland, was meant to be synonymous with the novels of Anne Tyler but The Wire is no finely wrought, keenly observed white-bread kitchen drama with a tear jerking finish. On the contrary, this HBO series does for Baltimore what the Troubles did for Belfast.

Annapolis.

BETTER ELATE THAN NEVER

You read it here first. It is the only TV show to have its own AGB category. Without even clicking - or hovering, you cheat - on the links, regular readers already know what I'm on about.

The Wire: Get. On. Board.

For a year or so, it only appeared on overseas blogs and newspapers. In the last year there has been the occasional article in Australian papers. Last week Ross Stevenson was talking about it on the radio: "Burnso," he announced to his on-air partner at 5:37 am, "get The Wire." The word is starting to spread.

Today there is a review in the Green Guide. But come on: comparing The Wire to Underbelly is like comparing Ripping Yarns to The Body in Question, Herman's Head to Q&A, The Biggest Loser to Crusty Demons Beyond the Apocalypse, or Hugh Jackman to a singer.

The Wire is incomparable... no matter how many times I compare it. I mean, it is better than Packed To The Rafters:

Wired for DVD viewing

An obscure US crime drama, The Wire, goes beyond TV to become a must-watch DVD experience, writes Greg Hassall.

FORGET Underbelly, the most-talked-about show at the moment is The Wire, an obscure US crime drama that wrapped up production more than two years ago. Some people finished it long ago but can't stop proselytising, others are at various points through the show's five seasons. The one thing they have in common is that they didn't watch it on TV — certainly not on Channel Nine, where it aired sporadically over the years in the dead of night; not even on pay TV, where the first four seasons have aired. No, The Wire is a DVD show, pure and simple.

In the opinion of many, this writer included, The Wire is the best television show ever made. Dense and complex, brutally realistic but rich in allegory and symbolism, it demands and rewards a level of engagement that other shows don't.

TURN UP THE VOLUMES

Stephen Matchett, in Saturday's Australian, writes about the literary nature of The Wire:

Literary classic, serially

ANYBODY who argues that television has helped destroy the great tradition of the novel is not paying enough attention to, well, TV, or at least to serial dramas.

This format, born on network TV, now has audiences independent of the networks.

Take The Wire, which has aired here on cable TV and is perhaps the most interesting example of the post-network world. Certainly this show uses the form of the TV drama, those 60-minute series (if you include the ads) that are broadcast at the same time every week and in which the same characters appear in stories that are entirely self-contained or form some sort of serialstory.

And, belatedly linked from last month's Age, Ken Nagoohen compares "sophisticated TV" for "discerning eyeballs", which is less painful than it sounds, with the turd flavoured Chiko roll that is modern film. For me, TV has been better than film since, oooh, around about the most recent fin de siècle.

Idiot box wises up

Kenneth Nguyen finds out why it's now hip to be square-eyed.

A FILM CAN BE SO carelessly made as to be vaguely humiliating. I learned that a few months ago while sitting through the Doug Liman science-fiction attempt Jumper. The young character's habit of jumping around the globe at will seemed a metaphor for the tossed-off screenplay, which did little but leap from one underdeveloped scene to the next with an adolescent's attention span. I read later that the offending script was inspired by a comic book. So too, it seemed, was the acting: the performances of Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson were not just blockish but appeared to have been manufactured wholly from recycled wood. As I sat in the Jam Factory next to my girlfriend - she grimacing at the fact that it was her choice that had subjected us to this profound underestimation of the audience's intelligence - I had but one thought: Oh, to be at home watching television.

MIAMI SLICE

What would you do if you found out your adopted son was a bit strange? This is the age-old parental dilemma facing Harry Morgan, a Miami cop, who has discovered his son Dexter is a sociopath with a predilection for dissecting the local wildlife. Initially Harry figures Dexter will grow out of his hobby but as Dexter continues to get caught with bloodied knives, saws, machetes, hatchets, pretty much any shiny implement with a sharp edge, Harry decides his best course of action might be to channel Dexter's talents. So naturally, this being a television show, Harry turns Dexter into a good serial killer.

Dexter, the latest crime drama from Showtime, is based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter and started last night on Foxtel Showcase.

By day, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is a blood-spatter expert with the Miami PD; by night, Dexter is a vigilante who hunts down and slices up criminals who have gotten off on technicalities.

"Another beautiful Miami day: mutilated corpses with the chance of afternoon showers."

Not that Dexter is a good guy, he's not; he's a very bad guy with no heart, no conscience and no self control over his compulsion to chop up people. It's just that, due to his father's guidance, he has been able to fake being normal and rather than chopping up good people, he only chops up bad people.

Nor is Dexter a creepy loner; quite the contrary, he's a creepy Mr Popular. He has a sister who loves him, lots of friends at the PD and a female commanding officer who, as they say in the classics, has designs. (At least in the first episode, anyway.) In fact, the only person who doesn't like him is Sgt Jimmy Doakes, who suspects Dexter is a freak, but doesn't know what sort of freak. Dexter even has a girlfriend, Rita, although she's not your normal girlfriend. Dexter likes her just fine because she hates sex. It's only in her occasional "better" moments when she gets all smoochy that Dexter finds her company distasteful. But he loves her kids, so that's good. Role model, anyone?

One of the great things about The Sopranos, Deadwood and The Wire, apart from their greatness, is that they provide a template for all other TV series to be compared against. (Yes! I should be better at assessing shows on their merit; but I'm not, alright.) The Sopranos' mood, Deadwood's over-the-top dialogue, The Wire's intricate, interweaving plots and all three's superb characters and interpersonal relationships. You can pretty much hold any TV show up against them and say "Well, it's not as good as The Sopranos". Which is what you'd say for Dexter, at least on watching the first two episodes. There's a sense those involved might be trying too hard to copy Six Feet Under for the quirk, Death Wish for the vigilante, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer for the laughs and Dirty Harry for the cool, but not quite yet getting the balance right.

Still, there's plenty of time for the show to settle and the makings of an excellent Series One thread in the form of another serial killer who knows Dexter's identity and seems to want to challenge him to a chop off. And while Dexter is indeed "not as good as The Sopranos", if your taste in TV runs to macabre murders and merry mutilation, Dexter is the show for you.

BALTIMORE RAVIN'

Great news!

The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:

1. The Wire - The Complete Fourth Season - $27.49

Make no mistake. If you haven't gotten into The Wire by now, you are a complete dickhead.

Should you be so stupid as to reject my unimpeachable judgment...

"The Wire, the greatest programme ever produced for American television."

WORLD'S BESS PRACTICE vs. SCHLOCK TUDOR

Just watched The Virgin Queen, a 2005 Beeb mini series starring Anne Marie Duff. It was pretty reasonable viewing, and was certainly much better than a great deal of the Elizabethan gear that's been on film and telly.

Not that there's much point comparing The Virgin Queen with something like Young Bess. You need to compare a granny smith with a golden delicious. Comparing The Virgin Queen with Young Bess is more like comparing a granny smith with Gwanny, Tweety Pie's sometime owner. One is a British mini series, the other is an MGM 50s frock fest.

Best bet would be to compare it with HBO's Elizabeth I starring Helen Mirren, which was also made in 2005 and was recently on someone's ABC.

First off, I'd actually heard of Elizabeth I. The ABC gave it a shed load of publicity, whereas I discovered The Virgin Queen about five minutes before it started last Tuesday on Foxtel.

Second, Elizabeth I was rubbish. Her Majesty Mirren strolled the role, doing what was expected of her and rock all more, while Anne Marie Duff, someone I'd never previously heard of, invested the role with real character. It probably helped, too, that they grubbied her up. Scabby legs and face, lank hair, green-brown tombstone teeth; you could almost smell her.

Third, the main support character in both shows was the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley. In The Virgin Queen he was played by Tom Hardy, while in Elizabeth I it was Jeremy Irons. Hardy wins hands down with his measured, slightly cheeky performance. Irons, on the other hand, must have thought he was in a pirate movie, poncing around like Geoffrey Rush at full schtick.

Fourth, and too often neglected, The Virgin Queen support cast was leagues clear of the one in Elizabeth I. You actually realised there were other actors in The Virgin Queen, most notably Ian Hart as William Cecil, whereas they may as well have been drawn into Elizabeth I like its clunky backdrop. I'm not saying The Virgin Queen was a paragon of set decoration, but it was much better than Elizabeth I which reminded me of Dr Who circa 1979.

Then again, maybe I could compare it with Aussie Cate's Elizabeth, but then I'd have to put up with you going "she should have won the Oscar" or some such rot. Yeah, it was ok, but naaa. (Aussie Cate redoes Bess in The Golden Age.)

Or a summer's day...

I'm a big wrap for HBO, but maybe they should stick to American shows and leave the British to the British. The Sopranos, Deadwood and The Wire are three of the best television shows that have ever been made, but the two HBO co-productions I've seen, Elizabeth I and Rome are duds.

Nope, if you need your fill of Elizabethan historical drama, forget Elizabeth I and Elizabeth, and instead check out The Virgin Queen and  Elizabeth R, the series from the 1970s.

COPS ARE ROBBERS

By quite a distance, my favourite television program of the 1990s was Between The Lines. Neil Pearson, Tom Georgeson, Siobhan Redmond and especially Tony Doyle as Deakin, were simply sensational in the Beeb's internal affairs police thriller which ran here in 1994 (Season 1) and 1995 (Season 2).

There was a Season 3, but despite loving the show I never saw it, which brings me ever so artfully to my point: if you love good television programs, stop watching television.

How's that?

Well, for a start, I'm not talking about schedule shifts, cuts, or advertisements; it's a given (mainly commercial) TV stations in Australia will butcher their product. No, what I'm talking about are three words that came to mind over the course of watching the DVDs of The Wire and Rome - expectation, situation and momentum.

(Not at Rome Season 2 yet, Wicky. Nor did Season 1 entirely deliver on its potential.)

When I first saw BTL Season 1 back in 1994 it grabbed me like only the great shows can. But Season 2, aired the next year, was nowhere near as good. Was it bad? No, I don't think so. S1 was simply much more enjoyable than S2.

Nor am I suggesting BTL had vaulted the toothy fish (carcharodon carcharias). That term's better applied to sit-coms that have tried in vain to wring any last vestige of amusement out of what may or, more pointedly, may not have once been a successful show. BTL S2 was nowhere near that bad. What I'm suggesting is that had S2 run hot on the heels of S1 then I would have continued to enjoy it to around the same degree as S1, without batting an eyelid, because I was in the same time, place, mindset and had the viewing momentum.

The long break between S1 and S2 allowed me time to overexcite that dreaded 'sense of anticipation'. Shows are never as good as you want them to be, they just are what they are. Allow time for your expectations to build up and you'll almost always be disappointed. Thus S2 was a lesser experience than S1.

A change to a much busier job also meant Tuesday nights at home watching telly were a less relaxing affair than they had been when I was plugging away at the previous year's vegie job. (There's a whole post in "What's the best job for watching TV?") The same thing happened with Cracker which, coincidentally, also ran in 1994 and 1995. Season 1 was fabulous, Season 2 much less so.

My advice to those of you with the money to buy DVDs, or with a talent for theft, is get the DVDs. Watch the episodes one after the other, like I have with The Wire. (The elder is right.) Don't give the bastard a chance to disappoint you. The Wire is fantastic, but I'm going to watch it, and watch it, and watch it until it's done. All in one time in one place. The same goes for Battlestar Galactica. Who'd have thought a show that was a remake of a cheap series that was based on a cheap movie would be this good. Sure, it's got the odd dumb moments - Starbuck going from pilot to biologist to fly the Cylon fighter, for one - but it's a ripper.

WIRETIP

Amanda:

So T, did you ever get to The Wire? I finally got around to it recently and have watched most of the first four seasons (half way through the most recent series) in the space of a couple of weeks. Am totally addicted and looking at the handful of eps I have left to go with trepidation because when its over, I'll be bereft. Just have to go back and watch them all over again I guess.

I did. To date I've watched Season One and Season Two, and completely agree with Amanda. The Wire is fantastic and I have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be the best thing on television last year, even though it wasn't on television last year. I've got Season Three on order. Watching a show on DVD is so much better than watching on telly. In fact, if you wanted to you could watch The Wire on Channel Nine at the moment, it's on late Tuesday night. But then you'd miss the extra commentary, and have to put up with the various retail opportunities.

The cast is superb. At the risk of cherry picking from a sensational ensemble, Stringer Bell, Brother Mouzone and Omar Little are three particularly good baddies. The plotlines are tight and clear despite having to incorporate intricate surveillance details. Mind you, I could be a little hazy here; it's been a while since I've bugged a scag baron. The bluesy soundtrack, while slightly repetetive, works well.

Then again, it is HBO. The Sopranos, Deadwood, Oz, Rome, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Larry Sanders Show, Six Feet Under, if that's your thing, Sex in The City, if you're gay or a guy out to impress the girls. Has there been a better production house/TV station? Can I make a bold statement? I prefer The Wire to The Sopranos. I'd almost go so far as to say it's better than Deadwood. A tough call. Deadwood's impact lessened slightly across the three series whereas after two series The Wire shows no sign of slackening off. It's a beauty. If you are going to criticise the show at all, you could maybe have a pop at the acting, which can be a little ropey. And I assume having a wise old black guy named Freaman is a bit of a gag.

In December my best mate came back from a year working in Broken Hill and asked if I had any new DVDs. I told him I had this show called The Wire. "Is it as good as The Shield?" he asked. To which I replied "much better." (I'm not massive on The Shield, although it goes alright.) He gave me a look that was all 'yeah, right', but took Season One nevertheless. The following night he rang up "Got Season Two?" He'd watched the whole season back to back. I took round Season Two and two days later - he spent a day moving furniture - he rang again "When you getting Season Three?" High praise, indeed.

The AGB Verdict: "The game's out there, it's play or get played." 9½/10.

CIVIL PHWWARRR

Venit, vidi, blogi. Rome arrived this week and so far I've watched the first three episodes, the three that were already on Channel Nine. I watched them again for two reasons. One) to see if the show is any better than it first appeared; and two) to see which bits they'd cut.

Regarding the first point: is it better? Most definitely, yes. Regarding the second: which bits were cut? Those bits, if you catch my meaning. Rome on DVD is a lot more revealing than it is on television. Not sure if there is any cause-and-effect. Is Rome better because it's being shown in full? Well, how much does the addition of sauce advance a story? Bugger all, I would have though. But watching anything without the ads, or fast-forwarding through them, is a definite advantage. One wonders how concerned television stations are about this becoming a full-blown phenomenon. If viewers (who can afford it) regularly "go to the videotape" the likes of Nine might seriously have to rethink their modus operandum. (Latin for modus operandum.) That would include passing up the rights to so-called quality programs, which would suit me fine.

Anyhoo, Rome's a winner and so far there hasn't been even one "You would do well to remember it" or even a "Come, let us hurry".

When I ordered Rome, I also ordered a show called The Wire. No idea whya*. I'd never previously heard of it, but when it popped up on Amazon and said buy me, I bought it.

On the drug-infested streets of West Baltimore, there are good guys and there are bad guys. Sometimes you need more than a badge to tell them apart.

Sounds just the thing. However, Tuesday night I noticed it's on Fox 8 which surely means it's a load of rubbish. Hope I'm wrong.

* Bakelite encased electrical joke, circa 1943.