Finished all five seasons over the summer.
This is, without a doubt, the single most overrated show in the history of the medium.
I'm not saying it wasn't good. It was clearly put together with love and care and it had its moments, but there are shows out there that have done a better job at telling a story, providing suspense, creating memorable characters, and accomplishing just about every other aspect of a television series than this show has.
The fact that it is lauded by its fanbase as flawless and God's gift to mankind is stupefying.
People typically defend it by saying that it's a perfect depiction of many facets of American culture: from the drug war/trade, to bureaucracy, politics and overall plight of the lower-class, but I think that was my problem with it:
It felt like a documentary with fake people. This of course has to be attributed to the fact that David Simon was a career journalist before creating the show, and I think that I would've respected the content matter much more had he simply gone down to the streets and docks of Baltimore and made a documentary about all of this.
Maybe I'm jaded because I've had enough schooling and personal interest in the flawed machinations of America to the point where this show left me with the thought "Yeah, and?" one too many times. Maybe it's the fact that it simply tried to tackle too many perspectives where every character's story really did become that of a poor player strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage.
And I know that people will say "Yeah! That's exactly the point! Look at how they are all cogs in the big heartless machine!"
I don't need a TV show to tell me that, but I suppose some do.
Characters create plot through their actions, and I find it far more interesting to see them play their parts and deal with their issues against the backdrop of the situation they find themselves in rather than being used as props to illustrate that background.
Started Dexter for the first time.
Stop after Season 4. Do yourself a favor.
