The Student Room Group

Charlie Brooker and The Wire

A great void is in my life now that I've finished watching 'The Wire'. It was Charlie Brooker who introduced me to this incredible show when I read an article by him in the Guardian 's Saturday TV Guide praising the show.

Naturally, I ‘m interested in what other shows he watches and want to know which Brooker-recommended show I should watch next.

I've read in various columns and shows of his he likes

Battlestar Galactica
The State of Play
The Shield
Columbo
Deadwood
Curb your enthusiasm

Does anyone here watch any of these shows? Were you introduced to them (and The Wire for that matter) by Charlie Brooker? I’d like to here your opinions please.

PS I know the above list isn’t exhaustive, for example he likes the first few seasons of 24 but I’ve already seen those so I didn’t include it.

PPS Apologies if there is a similar thread out there. I know that in the TV.com forums people get irritated by similar threads.
Reply 1
In one of the first seasons of ScreenWipe he talked about all of the great programmes you can get on DVD. But as such I've never had the time (ie. procrastinate in another way) to watch many of the shows he recommends. Though I take everything he says as gospel, and recognise him as King of Greatness.

Wiki 'sup

"Despite his derogatory and insulting remarks aimed at many television shows, people, and near enough everything and everyone, Brooker does show his happier side and has spoken of his liking for certain US drama series including The Shield; Deadwood; The Wire; and the most recent version of Battlestar Galactica; as well as the current series of Doctor Who; and older British programmes such as Jacob Bronowski's documentary The Ascent of Man. Brooker singles out Bronowski for praise regarding his style of presentation describing it as 'a bit like taking a warm bath in university juice' .

Brooker often makes a point laying light praise upon unlikely targets, such as Five's morning programmes aimed at pre-school age children, stating, "There isn't a single piece of negativity in the whole thing and that's what you need at this time in the morning.""
Reply 2
You should watch CYEnthusiasm. It is really great. My favourite comedy. Glad you enjoyed The Wire as well, I think it is the best TV series ever made.

The Shield, albeit very good, is not the Wire. It is much more hollywood than the Wire, in terms of an episode will end with a suitable conclusion. You may have heard Simon Sebag Montefoire saying that the Wire has a 'better' political aspect than the West Wing, a 'better' gangster aspect than the Sopranos, and a 'better' police aspect than NYPD Blue and The Shield. So clearly, no matter what drama you watch now, nothing will live up to the Wire, but still, I do highly recommend the said shows in this paragraph.

ALSO, DEFINITELY get State of Play (BBC Series I take it? Not the 2009 remake for film?) You can get it on amazon for around £4 (when I bought it) and it is six 1-hour episodes of intensity. Very good. Worth every penny. Great acting.
Reply 3
I would say that Deadwood is in the same league as The Wire. True it is not as comprehensive nor textured but I prefer the script and some of the performances. I have never seen a television character more fascinating than Ian McShane's portrayal of Al Swearengen.

Never really watched the Shied but from what I've heard it lacks the scope and intelligence of The Wire. Though the odd critic says it should be mentioned in the same breath as The Wire, few seem to think it a Wire or Sopranos.

I agree with Domnicokey's quotation that The Wire explores politics far better Than The West Wing. The latter is all lovey-dobby whereas The Wire demonstrates why a change in politician makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. It's always a chance of style but never substance. I admit that I did find TWW to be very overrated. I liked the first season a lot because it was original and engaging. However, after that, despite the odd v good episode, I just couldn't engage with the characters nor the storylines.

I'm currently watching Six Feet Under which is great. The more I watch it, the more I realise that American Beauty was Alan Ball's film and not Sam Mendes'. I hope that it remains consistent. I've often heard that it has one of the best tv conclusions of all times.

I'm always curious to see BSG as a lot of people are saying it's the best sci-fi series ever made. Anyone here seen it?

Once I finish BSG, I'll finish The Sopranos.
Reply 4
Curb Your Enthusiasm is good, I personally prefer Arrested Development, but it's very good so definitely check it out.

And I NEED to see more than the first season of The Wire, I've heard that's when it really goes into its own league.

edit: oh and I originally thought this thread was gonna be about how much the Guardian team loves the Wire, something many of the people who comment on their website mention quite often.
The Shield is good and Columbo is just legendary. Good to see some decent American crime drama.