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Matthew Rekoske's avatar

I know this is an old post, but I'm curious if you have any other TV shows you have particularly enjoyed? I too found the Wire a fascinating portrayal of both institutions and individuals, and desperately looking for more.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Supposedly someone once asked Joseph Heller why he was never able to match the greatness of his first novel Catch 22, to which he replied, "Who has?"

Treme lacks the immediacy and accessibility of The Wire, which was built on an extremely familiar foundation of cops vs. criminals. It's hard to grab people's attention with "Musicians in New Orleans" as your building block. But I think it's worth giving Simon a pretty long leash here, especially if you believe, as Robin does, that the show is better than average. The first few episode of The Wire were pretty engaging, but the real payoff didn't occur until later.

For anyone desperate for more Wire-caliber TV, the closest thing I've found is the Canadian TV series Intelligence. It's similarly patient in developing its stories and detailed in exploring institutions, with a large cast.

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