Episode 73 – TV G.O.A.T. Pt. 3: 'The Wire' - a podcast by Phi Phenonenon

The last pick in this series of TV G.O.A.T.s is mine and an obvious, modern one: HBO’s The Wire. On this episode, joined by Ted Heycraft, we discuss:

- Why a friend’s recommendation of many hours of content, even why the say it a show is “the greatest,” might lead towards a long time before following up;
- how the literary social novel survive into the genre of Peak TV, in which a story might take a long, boring time, to setup its reveals?;
- when the payoffs start happening, how this seems like some of the most sophisticated filmed entertainment ever when it comes to cause and effect.
- and how a pristinely plotted show could still do throwaway actions such as putting a reference line from Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch into ever episode of its second season.

Also:

- Why everyone’s favorite “definitive” character from the show has their fate end in a Jesse James / Robert Ford fashion;
- why the show’s real definitive character, beyond the city of Baltimore itself, may have their big moment in a monologue in the show’s penultimate episode;
- how this murder’s row of novelists filled into a writers-room leads to the first three seasons “being better than the first two Godfathers”;
- the beauty of each season withholding music until its final 20 minute montage;
- and if this show’s legacy of delegitimizing the War on Drugs is still enough.

The Wire is available from HBO, currently streaming on their MAX service, and also on Blu-ray.

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