Amazon sold out. Still available for back order at JB. First time post. I believe this is the greatest show ever created (2nd breaking bad, 3rd the sopranos and 4th GOT s1-s7 only). Lowest price it’s ever been on amazon. Definitely worth it just to watch Michael k Williams performance as Omar little.
JB hi fi also has the same price.
It’s all in the game yo. Shhiieeeetttt.
A man got to have a code
I believe this is the greatest show ever created (2nd breaking bad, 3rd the sopranos and 4th GOT s1-s7 only).
At the risk of starting yet another online debate, you evidently haven't seen Black Sails. Then again, it is a rather hidden gem few know.
Also, GoT S7 was lame, and the series started falling apart from S5.
Nah I haven’t watched black snail. Never heard of it actually. Will give it a go soon.
S6 of got was very good. Battle of the bastards was a great episode.
Black snail XD
Who u calling a black snail?
BotB was too fairytale-like for Got. The demolition of the Sept was the highlight of the season, but the Starks' rise to Mary-Suedom sucked big time.
Haven't finished watching black sails from a couple of years ago, decent show, I'll have to start it again I think.
I can't remember when got started to get bad, I think for me it was a gradual decline from season 6 onwards, but it is what it is.
The Wire is a GOAT, but omitting True Detective S1 and OZ is such a shame
True defective is great. Haven’t seen oz.
You'll recognise a lot of actors from The Wire in Oz.
@Lurk Hartog: Oz was the first hour long HBO show and holds up extremely well (regardless) due to the lack of tech
I preferred The Shield to The Wire - although I enjoyed The Wire, I had been watching fantastic procedurals for a decade: Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Hill Street Blues, The Sopranos, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, then The Shield.
I have owned the complete DVD box sets of The Sopranos,The Shield, Band of Brothers, and 24 since I was last living overseas more than ten years ago, and I don't think I've ever watched them more than once ever. I certainly haven't watched them since 2011, as they are EU region-locked.
I paid 100 Quid for The Sopranos and thought it was a good price - that was about AU$300 back then! Each season of 24 I picked up for a bargain 30-something Quid.
So $40 for five seasons must be a steal. Then again - if you only watch it once…
Oz is awesome! Watching it again on paramount+
The pacing alone went to absolute shiiiet for the last 3 seasons. You can't just change the pacing like that, let alone in the manner they did it [carelessly].
1-4 was incredible, 5-6 were good if uneven, 7-8 were terrible
Blu ray expensive as shhhhhieeeeet.
What the (profanity) did I do?
Money ain’t got no owners. Only spenders
Price of the bluray goin' up
There are a few listings for it?
https://www.amazon.com.au/Wire-Complete-TV/dp/B00TFANQYS
Ships from Amazon UK for ~$87 with prime. Extra $50 over the price of the DVDs.
David Simon would prefer you watched it on DVD anyway: https://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/
Best show ever is red dwarf!!! Though the wire is really good to.
Sheeeeeeeiiit
If on Telstra get 6 months free binge.
The Wire on there
How do you get 6? I got 3 through a telstra promo. Literally watching The Wire right now. It's the wide-screen version. So not the DVD version I think?
Binge is awesome, best catalogue. Shits on Netflix & its glut of crummy in house produced shows.
It's a shame Binge as a service is awful
Best show ever, get it on blu ray though
DVD? What is this, 2001?
Fantastic show, definitely top five all time, but FFS 40 bucks for a low res copy on 20 year old tech is not a bargain.
i spent nearly $1000 on all the Xfiles when they first came out on DVD. Never watch the physicals anymore :(
We used to make s*** in this country, build s***. Now we just put our hand in the next guys pocket.
It's Baltimore gentlemen. The gods will not save you
DVD is the preferred way creator David Simon would like you to watch it: https://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/
Basically, they made creative choices for the show to be viewed in SD, so he believes that is the optimal way to watch.
"When you come at the king, you best not miss."
R.I.P. Michael K. Williams.
A few people commenting on this being DVD in 2021, scoff and chortle, and while it might seem ridiculous, there's a very good reason to pick this up if you're a fan and don't already have it!
For the HD Blu-ray release, and in fact anywhere it streams in HD, it only comes in a 16:9 presentation. And while I know, your TV is 16:9 and capable of (at least) 1080p, so obviously that is what you want, the fact remains that the show was shot with the intention for it to be viewed in 4:3. And sadly there isn't, and almost certainly never will be, an HD 4:3 release.
Later seasons were actually shot in 16:9, but they continued to air in 4:3, and David Simon (creator of the show) has said that while he supports the HD version and thinks it should exist, the version 4:3 is definitive. All cinematography was done with 4:3 in mind, and having watched through both back-to-back last year (yes, I'm that nuts, but in fairness I was in Melbourne and it was lockdown), there is real value in owning the 4:3 version, especially as all our TVs are so big now that giving up a bit of screen real estate isn't the end of the world.
And just on the quality; possibly because I was watching on a projector (which can have a smoothing effect) but even on a 90" screen, the DVD quality was very watchable. I did the 4:3 viewing after the 16:9 HD, and genuinely didn't miss it. YMMV, but just saying it possible
What did I just read?
He was saying 480p looks like ass on a modern TV, but flexing that his projector smooths it out nicely.
The thing about the old days: They the old days.
They have done that with many older shows that were originally 4:3 and then cropped to 16:9 full screen.
For example. The Simpsons” aired on Fox in a 4:3 aspect ratio from its premiere in 1989 to 2010. In 2010, partway through the show’s 20th season, it switched to a 16:9 format. The earlier 4:3 episodes have all been converted to 16:9, which ruins many of the visual jokes. Sadly this is the only format they broadcast these in these days.
South Park Season 1-13 was also 4:3 then later they remastered them to 16:9 which they broadcast them in these days.
Sienfeld has also been cropped to 16:9 from its original 4:3 aspect ratio.
Didn't someone point out that the pothole was no longer visible in the pothole episode?
I am generally against it but must admit the Buffy DVDs make my eyes bleed, and I'll accept the (many) cropping sins to not have to watch the crappy SD transfer
The difference with The Wire was it was shot on film open matte, so they had a 16:9 picture, but were framing the shots and making choices for a 4:3 presentation. So when they went back to the original negatives and rescanned them to upgrade to HD, they had the extra visual information there and didn't need to crop into the 4:3 image.
That is better for sure, but still not ideal
ughhhh you're almost convincing me to buy it on dvd also
Why would they shoot "with 4:3 in mind" a show that premiered in 2002?? Widescreen/HD had been around for years by this point. True, most people still had 4:3 TV sets, but almost every show that premiered in 2001 or later was shot in and aired in 16:9.
Check out the article I linked to below. They were given the choice to switch to 16:9 mid-way through, and decided to stay at 4:3. :)
Shit, this genuinely has me torn. I want to own it for sure, and I only want one version, but I want a HD 4:3, so I have to figure out what's less annoying. Studios squibbed it so bad, messed up the blu-ray market from the get-go with pricing and availability. At least I've got another four days to decide with the sale.
Edit: OK, after reading David Simon's take I think I'll go for the DVD! This is OzBargain after all, and I don't want to have to fork up an extra $50 plus a donation to charity as an Indulgence. https://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/
I have watched the HD version, but only own the DVDs, and it didn't cost me anything. I think the Mandalorians have a quote about this…
Is it possible to learn this power?
@Phanatic: It rhymes with 'warrant', which is what you don't want to receive, so you use a VPN while you do it
@TimR31: Hahaha, I was playing for "Not from the Jedi", but I'm picking up what you're putting down.
@Phanatic: I have watched it, but my Mandalorian quote/meme knowledge is weak… Will do another run before next season for sure!
To add to your comment, David Simon says SD is the definitive resolution to watch it at, as they made creative choices about makeup, detail that could be seen in shots etc, knowing that they wouldn't be seen in an SD broadcast. So a 4:3 HD version still would not be seen as superior in David Simon's eyes.
He says it in a couple of comments on his blog here: https://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/comment-page-…
DVD….
Maybe binge?
Omar comin
Can't believe I had to scroll this far down for this comment.
Best TV show I've ever watched.
I’ve only watched season 1 but holy moly it was damn good. Very slow but so good omg I need to watch all of it!!!
Your mind will truly be blown when you've seen all five seasons then. The scale and scope of the whole show, and how the seasons link together is quite incredible.
All the pieces fit.
Nothing will ever de-throne Sopranos, but this is up there. On DVD tho.. you are doing yourself a dis-service.
And screw the season 2 haters!
S2 got a bad wrap for the same reasons the whole show did (from some critics anyway): it wasn't what people expected.
The Wire was seen as a cop procedural, but it doesn't have any inkling of a story-of-the-week. It's told in seasons, if that; really, it's across the entire run.
Season 2, upended the norms of most shows; that we would come back and just get more of all of our favourites from S1. It changed the crims, the cops (to a lesser extent), and the setting. Watching it now, especially if you're watching it for the second+ time, it hits beautifully. But that initial watch, with those expectations, I'm not surprised it had backlash (I was absolutely guilty of thinking it was a misstep at the time).
i hated season 2 on the first time watching the show.
now its my favourite season
I started to watch this show last year (in HD courtesy of BT) but I just couldn't really get into it. It wasn't boring by any means but it just didn't grab me the way the Sopranos did. I think I saw about 4 episodes.
Hmm, if you're not into it by episode 4, then it may not be for you. Rule of thumb for the show is to give it at least 3 or 4 episodes, because the show is very slow compared to most TV.
The flipside to the pace is that it has a depth not usually seen in TV, especially at the time it was made.
By 4 episodes in, if you were genuinely concentrating and not half-watching and half playing with your phone (as we all do sometimes, no slight), then I think it's safe to say it's just not for you. If you were distracted though, this is the Nutri-Grain of shows: you only get out what you put in! It's so dense that it becomes easy to miss many of the things that make the show great if you're not giving it your full attention.
My personal story is that I watched the first episode, thought it wasn't for me, than let it sit for 2 years. I eventually couldn't ignore the tsunami of praise, and went back for another go. Same story: episode 1, nah this isn't for me. Episode 2, still not digging it. Then, half way through episode 3, I remember it was something with Prop Joe, and it just clicked, and now I can't stop until I've binged all 5 seasons (thankfully the show had just finished airing at that point).
The funny thing is, when you go back to watch it for a 3rd time, you realise it has one of the greatest opening scenes to a show ever, and it mystifies you how you didn't immediately love it…
I always tell my friends who I convince to watch the show, give it six episodes. It's such a slow burn and you might not like it initially but it clicks six episodes in. If you don't like it after that then feel free to give it up.
I find that I need the first episode of a show to grab me. Whenever this doesn't happen, if I continue watching more episodes, I eventually give up on it.
I'm watching the 1st season of The Wire and I just got done watching the episode where DeAngelo teaches the younger kids chess. I was blown away! I had to watch it a couple times to really pick up on it, but did you guys realize that when he was teaching them about the chess pieces, he was really referring to THEM being the pawns! What an amazing metaphor!
It was so deep and meaningful, I am amazed by the deep symbolism of this.
Do the later seasons continue on with masterful symbolism like this? This was truly the pinnacle of storytelling that I have ever seen on a television show, and I think I can confidently say The Wire is the best show ever made without even having seen the entire series.
Just for people who loved The Wire - check out David Simon's other awesome TV:
Generation Kill
Treme
The Deuce
The Plot Against America
Show Me a Hero
all amazing…
![[Back Order] The Wire Complete DVD Series $38.49 + Post ($0 C&C) @ JB Hi-Fi (Expired @ Amazon AU)](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/57/666757.jpg?h=998fc590)
It doesn't matter what you believe, this is the best show ever!