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Have you guys heard of this show, The Wire?

whuppinswhuppins Registered User regular
edited December 2013 in Help / Advice Forum
Hoping H/A is still as helpful as it was 4+ years ago when I last visited... :)

My dad received the DVD box set of The Wire as a gift and I was trying to figure out if it would be appropriate to watch with various family members when we visit this holiday season. I haven't seen the show (OMG YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT IT'S THE BEST THING EVER) but I'm pretty sure my dad and I will like it. What I'm not sure about is which of my family members (of wildly varying ages, upbringings, and sensibilities) I should include. To that end, can someone give me an idea of the more 'mature' content in the series?

For example, this same group of people just went through an epic Breaking Bad binge, so the younger folks witnessed some grim shit going down and some PG-13-type language, but at the end of the day nobody's feathers were really ruffled. But I would say anything much worse than that would make me think twice.

So in general, how's the language? Violence? Sexual content? Everybody's values are different -- that's what makes this kind of tough -- so I'm not asking you to speculate how MY family would react... just let me know what kind of stuff we can expect to see, and I'll figure it out.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I'm not particularly sensitive to spoilers so feel free to post specific details rather than vague references. Of course, for the benefit of others, I guess you should still <spoiler> stuff as appropriate.

whuppins on

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    ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    I feel like if they've watched Breaking Bad in its entirety they can handle The Wire.

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    mr_michmr_mich Mmmmagic. MDRegistered User regular
    Shogun wrote: »
    I feel like if they've watched Breaking Bad in its entirety they can handle The Wire.

    As an HBO show, The Wire has a bunch of nudity (strip clubs, sex scenes) and violence (gang/police stuff) and language (swearing and racial slurs) that probably weren't in Breaking Bad. Plus, there's a healthy amount of drug usage that's about as graphic as Breaking Bad.

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    GrimmyTOAGrimmyTOA Registered User regular
    Violent - yes definitely. Kids shooting kids, kids shooting adults, adults shooting adults. Possibly I've forgotten about an adult shooting a kid, too. Hard to say. Relatively graphic by PG-13 standards.
    Language - foul from all directions. Unrelenting and gratuitous. Funny, too, if there are any copycats in your group.
    Drug use - tons. Obviously. Kid addicts, people shooting up, people going through absolutely shitty shit re: crack and heroin addictions, etc.
    Nudity - maybe? I can't remember. Probably at least a bit.

    Honestly, I'm not sure I'd recommend it for a sensitive crowd. For adults, hell yeah. It's as good as people say it is.

    The real issue, beyond the obvious, is the constant tension. It's one of those shows where your favourite characters can and will die. I was terrified about one character's fate right up until the last frame of the last episode. If anyone's not going to deal well with that, it's not a good show for them.

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    admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    GrimmyTOA wrote: »
    Violent - yes definitely. Kids shooting kids, kids shooting adults, adults shooting adults. Possibly I've forgotten about an adult shooting a kid, too. Hard to say. Relatively graphic by PG-13 standards.
    Language - foul from all directions. Unrelenting and gratuitous. Funny, too, if there are any copycats in your group.
    Drug use - tons. Obviously. Kid addicts, people shooting up, people going through absolutely shitty shit re: crack and heroin addictions, etc.
    Nudity - maybe? I can't remember. Probably at least a bit.

    There are definitely boobs.

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    DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    edited December 2013
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lElf7D-An8

    I think this NSFW scene does a pretty good job of demonstrating the sort of content in the Wire. It's two of the characters examining a crime scene where they thought the initial investigation was botched.

    Yeah, though. Series has quite a lot of nudity, explicit drug use, violence, graphic crime scenes, harsh language, and pretty much everything else that'd tick the boxes on a TV-MA rating.

    Dehumanized on
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    whuppinswhuppins Registered User regular
    Thanks, all. This is just the sort of info I was looking for. And that was a great scene, even without any context.

    I'll have to think about it... being a typical American family, we are much more comfortable with graphic violence than a naked tit or two :\

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    QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I don't recall the nudity being especially bad. It definitely wasn't in Game of Thrones territory. It was more like every now and again there'd be some naked lady.

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    VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    the nudity may not have been gratuitous but you definitely have a few graphic scenes in the show involving sex or heavily implied sexual acts

    I do not think Breaking Bad is as intense as the Wire in terms of nudity and the graphic delivery of some of the messages could be upsetting to those with delicate sensibilities

    it is definitely not appropriate for anyone younger than 16, imho, probably 18 to be more realistic

    there are also two openly homosexual main characters; if anyone in your family has issues with that, it will not be for them

    XBOX: NOVADELPHINI | DISCORD: NOVADELPHINI #7387 | TWITTER
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    Anarchy Rules!Anarchy Rules! Registered User regular
    Nudity was more prevalent in series 1 (the antagonists are based in a strip club), through out the rest of the series nudity is on a similar scale to the average film/programme (the occasional non-gratuitous sex scene).

    I agree with the previous poster in that the Wire is at times far more upsetting and harder hitting than Breaking Bad ever was.

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    schussschuss Registered User regular
    Honestly, the Wire is so engrossing you probably won't notice the nudity for more than the context it is (previously mentioned strip club). Definitely not GoT gratuitous, just note that it's a pretty gritty show with a lot of not-so-happy-endings

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    joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    Vivixenne wrote: »
    the nudity may not have been gratuitous but you definitely have a few graphic scenes in the show involving sex or heavily implied sexual acts

    I do not think Breaking Bad is as intense as the Wire in terms of nudity and the graphic delivery of some of the messages could be upsetting to those with delicate sensibilities

    it is definitely not appropriate for anyone younger than 16, imho, probably 18 to be more realistic

    there are also two openly homosexual main characters; if anyone in your family has issues with that, it will not be for them

    While BB never really had a whole bunch of overt nudity (other than Walt in his tighty whities a few times), there was some pretty racy stuff, including Walt and Skyler having vigorous sex in the very first episode as well as ridiculous backseat-of-the-car sex/Walt getting handsy under the table later on in the same season.

    The sexual stuff in The Wire seems comparable to me if my memory holds, although the nudity is definitely present. If you want, you can find one of those parental advisory sites that documents potentially offensive material in shows and movies and prescreen those episodes, and fast forward through the scenes with that content, summarizing the plot effects for your sensitive family members.

    The Wire really is too good a show for people to miss.

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    DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    The biggest thing that might be a problem for random middle america family would be the homosexual relationship which includes at least one bedroom scene if not an actual sex scene. It's been a long time since I saw it so I can't remember how far it goes.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
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    joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited December 2013
    I don't recall any girl on girl sex, though there was definitely some affection going on. Also some scenes with a man cuddling with another man.

    Most of the raunchy stuff was good old-fashioned debauchery and fornication involving a man and a woman.

    joshofalltrades on
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    Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    I know there's at least one pretty explicit girl on girl scene. Also a couple of dudes doing the make outs

    it's not really a family show for lots of reasons though; if you have to ask, they won't be with it

    it was the smallest on the list but
    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
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    HedgethornHedgethorn Associate Professor of Historical Hobby Horses In the Lions' DenRegistered User regular
    There's also, IIRC, a number of penis shots in season 2. At the least, there's a character who exposes himself to other characters regularly, and I think the viewer gets a good shot of it a couple times.

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    joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    I forgot about that! Mostly because it didn't look realistic to me and I thought it was a prosthesis the first time I saw it. But yeah.

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    Giggles_FunsworthGiggles_Funsworth Blight on Discourse Bay Area SprawlRegistered User regular
    Honestly I would say if everybody present is at least a teenager just watch it. It is actually an important piece of television because of the societal ills it puts on display and everyone involved will probably be better off having seen it. This may totally blow up in your face if anyone involved is overly conservative, but if you marathoned BrBa I feel like they're probably not?

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