My buddy said The Wire is overrated and now I don't know if we can be friends

Met up with my old crew from high school at a bar in Pittsburgh last Saturday. We were talking best shows ever and my friend Mark straight up said The Wire is overrated and slow. Said he skipped season 2 entirely. I was floored. He's usually got good takes on stuff but that one hit different. How do you even judge a show if you skip a whole season? Makes me wonder if I'm overrating it just because of nostalgia. Has anyone else had a friend totally dismiss a show you thought was untouchable?

2 comments

2 Comments

murphy.barbara16d ago

Call your friend out on skipping season 2, that's like saying you read a book but you skipped the middle chapters. The Wire is slow because real life is slow, it's not made for people who need explosions every five minutes. The whole show is about how systems fail people, the drug trade, the docks, the schools, the media, it all connects. If he can't handle the slower burn then maybe his taste is just stuck on flashy stuff like Breaking Bad or whatever is popular now. You're not overrating it because of nostalgia, it holds up better than most shows from that era. Don't let his bad take make you doubt your own judgment.

wyattrobinson16d ago

Oh man, I've been there. My buddy Dave trashed Mad Men once and I seriously questioned our whole friendship. What worked for me was just being real with him, not trying to change his mind but asking why he felt that way. Turns out he only watched a few episodes and decided it was just people smoking and being miserable. So I told him that's fair, but you really gotta get through at least the first season to feel the payoff. I didn't push it too hard though, I just said "idk, maybe it's not your thing and that's fine, but skipping a whole season of a show you're judging is kinda wild." After that we just agreed to disagree and moved on. Honestly, some people just want different things from TV and that's okay, even if it stings a little when it's a show you love.