The Wire vs Sopranos vs Breaking Bad vs Justified
 

Hard shows to compare, but not really. All of them are excellent, but which is the best of the lot?

For me it goes like this:

The Wire > Justified > Sopranos > BB


The Wire is miles ahead of the others. Justified is honestly the best show I've seen since The Wire. The Sopranos was an amazing show in it's time and paved the way for the others that came. BB is edgy and cool.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wTaCK7ntIq..._life_1963.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ToJ2gR25u4...ll+your+tv.jpg

Did not vote - never watched any of them... :)

:stoned

ADG

Game of Thrones
The Suits
News Room

All great shows arggg.. but breakingbad wins my vote

all great show, but THE WIRE was so fucking good!

Justified is a good show, but it's not on same tier with the other three. The Wire is perfect.

comparing the wire to breaking bad is like comparing war and peace to the old man in the sea. Both great, one has more depth.

I liked deadwood...

BB Sucks

ha going to get killed for this but wire was overrated

Totally :thumbsup

The Wire
Breaking Bad
Justified
The Sopranos

:2 cents::2 cents:

lots of good work here, but ffs.

If you haven't seen Battlestar Galactica from start to finish yet... watch it.

Breaking Bad

The quality is much more consistent than The Wire

I really like Justified - can't wait for it to start up again - but honestly there is nothing earth shattering about it, and the Sopranos was much better. I don't have HBO and I watched it from start to finish over a two month period and it was awesome.

So Sopranos gets my vote.

Although I loved Battlestar Galactica when I was a kid, for some reason I didn't watch the new version when it came out. I watched the entire series from start to finish over two months or so and I thought it was great...

Just for that, I know your Homeland recommendation is worthless.

Anybody putting BB over The Wire, or saying The Wire is overrated, you cannot be taken seriously and your taste sucks.

Breaking Bad seems to be breaking some ass... BAD! :thumbsup

The Portlandia episode about binge-watching Battlestar Galactica was perfect

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gzY7POVQhp0

haha don't get me wrong, its good. i just maybe had too high expectations when i ran through it. i can't remember what season but the shipping one was so slow and boring. i really only care for season 1 and the new hamsterdam storyline. rest of it was good, but not earth shattering to me

haha i'll buy you two pizzas if you don't like homeland

Why the fuck is "Justified" in there and how can anyone vote anything but THE WIRE? Amateurs.

Justified kicks ass. The characters are amazing, the show is realistic and gritty. I get the feeling some of the people talking it down in this thread have hardly watched it. I finished season 4 a few months ago and it was AMAZING!

i've gone through all the seasons of the wire more times than i would admit. I find something i've missed before every time i go through it because it is just that deep in character and story development... I couldn't stand the second season the first time around, but going over it again, its probably one of the best.

A lot of people find the second season (the ports) boring. It is my favorite.

The Wire
Sopranos


Breaking Bad




Justified

Justified is good, but second top shelf quality. Any TV show fan understand that. Amateurs can not see that.

Looks like I will have to try The Wire

Right. Amateur what? Television viewer lol? It may just be my opinion, but Justified is better written than Breaking Bad. Nothing amateur about it. The episodes are actually believable. The villains are cool and actually believable, unlike the Pollo Hermanos bs on BB. In fact, I would say the Walter White character (and maybe his brother in law) are the only interesting characters in BB. Whereas Justified has a shitload of cool and intereting characters, better action scenes (if you like realistic stuff anyway), MUCH better dialogue (and I do mean MUCH), storylines are deeper and more complex, and an overall more intelligent show.

Just an amateurs :2 cents:

Best writing does not warrant best series. I agree that Justified is better written than BB.
And I mean amateur viewers who watch one or 2 series once in a while. They can not see the difference in the quality. Just look at "whats your favorite TV shows" threads, many post B or C rated shows as their best.
Justified is top shelf, but second top shelf.

I wholeheartedly disagree.

Breaking bad is a great show but not on the level of The Wire. Sopranos was good but I never got pulled into the story. I watched it but never felt like I couldn't miss a episode.

Deadwood may of been number 2 under the wire for me if HBO would of continued it.

Could not agree more. What an amazing show. Breaking Bad is killing it right now though.

LOL, just LOL

The Wire
Breaking Bad
Sopranos

I've never seen Justified.

I am currently re-watching the wire and it still stands up and in many ways made shows like Breaking Bad sellable to the networks.

I enjoy Newsroom a great deal but West Wing was the better Sorkin show. He's generally a god though.

They also had a bunch more episodes to cover and a lot more stories to tell within them.

Justified is good, but should not be even mentioned with these shows.

BB, I've never watched TW nor J

I've never seen Justified. If the remaining three here is how I rank them.

1. The Wire - A simply stunning achievement.
2. The Sopranos - Groundbreaking and set the table for anti-hero shows.
3. Breaking Bad - Brilliant in every way.

To me they are like 1. 1a. and 1b. They are all amazing in their own ways, but I give the slight edge to The Wire.

The Shield > The Wire. Maybe because I'm from the west coast.


No mention of Sons of Anarchy!?! Can we count Californication or is this strictly a 60 minute action/drama discussion...

Having just finished Breaking Bad, watched every episode from start to finish, I can be positively sure that Justified is just as good or better. In fact, I would say Boardwalk Empire is just as good or better, too. These shows are all in the same category of quality, to say they aren't is absurd. Ray Donovan (just finished the first season) should also be in the same list, and is better written that BB.

dont forget The Shield

Actually i liked the Shield as well

as for Justified its a great example of a show that is great because of amazing character development, Elmore leonard is absolutely the best american writer of my generation...he is missed already.

The wire had its moments in character development but it was outstanding storytelling AND film making a great example of people working way above their heads and pulling it off.

The thing about Justified to me is that Walron Googins seems to carry the show more than Olyphant, Boyd crowder is a much more entertaining character and without him the show wouldnt be nearly as great.

and is it just me or does it seem like Olyphant should be billy bob thorntons kid

I've never seen The Wire.

I couldn't get into Breaking Bad... But loved the wire!! :)

The Wire > Breaking Bad > Sopranos > Justified

The Wire
Breaking Bad
The Sopranos
Justified

All 4 are outstanding though. Honor mentions from me to:

The Shield
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Deadwood
Sons of Anarchy