Breaking Bad vs Mad Men vs The Sopranos vs The Wire

[Upgrayedd]

Breaking Bad easily for me, didnt really care for the other 3 listed, found them kind of boring personally...with the wire being the worst of them.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

I think you wormy cock suckers know which way I’m voting

 

[Martinez]

Sopranos for sure, loved the characters, consistently great the whole time. The wire kinda seemed dull after season 3, loved stringer bell.

 

[Shareefruck]

I never found The Wire boring. The fact they kept me enthralled despite not having hardly any big gun fights and major action sequences in a crime drama is a testament to the writing of the show.

I understand the sentiment to some extent-- If you're not used to that pace, there is a likely adjustment period. But it's up to the viewer to make that adjustment and improve their sensibilities, not any show to cater to our crappy base attention spans. It's higher investment, higher reward than the other shows, IMO (Sopranos is debateable).

 

[frisco]

Mad Men is probably my favorite show all-time. Breaking Bad was great but not quite on Mad Men's level. The other two I really never gave a chance to. Maybe binge them in the future.

My Best-Carey

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Mad Men. Crime shows and movies are too derivative and one dimensional. Even in film, Godfather II is the last crime film I can't live without. It's top 30 all time imho.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Mad Men. Crime shows and movies are too derivative and one dimensional. Even in film, Godfather II is the last crime film I can't live without. It's top 30 all time imho.

well you clearly never watched The Wire as it is as far from either of those things as you can be.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I understand the sentiment to some extent-- If you're not used to that pace, there is a likely adjustment period. But it's up to the viewer to make that adjustment and improve their sensibilities, not any show to cater to our crappy base attention spans. It's higher investment, higher reward than the other shows, IMO (Sopranos is debateable).

I don't care for action, I just found the majority of the characters in The Wire boring, ... maybe there was just a tone to the show I didn't care for. It's dated now and I think the last time I watched it on HBO it was still 4:3 format. That typically takes me out of show. I felt like I was watching real people, not actors which is good - but predictable and boring at times.

 

[les Habs]

1 Deadwood
2 The Wire
3 The Sopranos
4 Mad Men

I haven't seen Breaking Bad and have little interest in doing so any time soon, but I'd be shocked if I didn't rank it 5th.

I normally wouldn't vote on such a list with Deadwood being excluded, but The Wire is the answer here. Personally were I to choose which I'd watch tomorrow, I'd be Mad Men again simply because of what it's about. Storyline for me is important. I'll just add that while The Sopranos is excellent, it's overrated in my opinion.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

well you clearly never watched The Wire as it is as far from either of those things as you can be.

Yeah, not to sound condescending but I’m guessing that poster has never seen the show all the way through. If he/she had there’s no way they’d use those descriptors.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Can we at least acknowledge that The Sopranos has the worst main character of the four shows? AJ is one of the most god awful characters (in both the writing and acting departments) and ruins every scene he’s in. For all the hate Skylar gets on BB, AJ is 1000x worse.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

I personally got the most enjoyment out of Mad Men, and if it weren't for the flashback scenes, it's the one iis be most likely to ever rewatch start to end.

It was just so on point in every regard.

For a show of such high quality, those scenes really did stand out for how poor they were.

 

[chicagoskycam]

Six Feet Under better than any show on this list other than the Sopranos,
However I feel HBO has an advantage over AMC with no commercials and more freedom on content. Narcos is another show I would put over a coupe of them

 

[Eisen]

Mad Men
The Sopranos
The Wire




Breaking Bad

I haven't finished any of them, though.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Can we at least acknowledge that The Sopranos has the worst main character of the four shows? AJ is one of the most god awful characters (in both the writing and acting departments) and ruins every scene he’s in. For all the hate Skylar gets on BB, AJ is 1000x worse.

You can hate AJ but he was very well written, he is supposed to be a bratty mommas boy that will contradict/say anything to get out of something

The scene where they give Carmela her birthday gifts sums up both kids. AJ gives her the Matrix (right up her alley) and doesnt even wrap the gifting stating, probably on the spot, that its wasteful to the environment

 

[Neutrinos]

Six Feet Under better than any show on this list other than the Sopranos,
However I feel HBO has an advantage over AMC with no commercials and more freedom on content. Narcos is another show I would put over a coupe of them

Six Feet Under gets my vote as the most overrated show in television history

Most of the characters weren't likeable, and all they seemed to do was fight

The actors themselves weren't great either

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

You can hate AJ but he was very well written, he is supposed to be a bratty mommas boy that will contradict/say anything to get out of something

The scene where they give Carmela her birthday gifts sums up both kids. AJ gives her the Matrix (right up her alley) and doesnt even wrap the gifting stating, probably on the spot, that its wasteful to the environment

Completely disagree. He was a one-note character from the start and didn't evolve at all over the course of the show. It's actually surprising how poorly written a character he was, considering the show is full of interesting, three-dimensional characters.

 

[chicagoskycam]

Completely disagree. He was a one-note character from the start and didn't evolve at all over the course of the show. It's actually surprising how poorly written a character he was, considering the show is full of interesting, three-dimensional characters.

Maybe he was just written to be a jackass spoiled kid and that's all he was. Sometimes people do not grow.... AJ in his later 20's or after Tony's death provides the opportunity for him to step up. We just don't get to see that part of his life.

He's overshadowed by his larger than life father the entire series. He doesn't have an identity outside of that, he's not gifted or all that intelligent,,. It's fairly simple., Why does every character have to have all these levels, that's not real life!

 

[chicagoskycam]

Six Feet Under gets my vote as the most overrated show in television history

Most of the characters weren't likeable, and all they seemed to do was fight

The actors themselves weren't great either

The cast was brilliant and yes, there was a ton of conflict in that show but it was so very well done. Dark, but visceral and real. Probably not for everyone.

 

[John Price]

Sopranos

Wire

Bb

Mad

 

[John Price]

Can we at least acknowledge that The Sopranos has the worst main character of the four shows? AJ is one of the most god awful characters (in both the writing and acting departments) and ruins every scene he’s in. For all the hate Skylar gets on BB, AJ is 1000x worse.

Aj Livia and Janice are awful.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Maybe he was just written to be a jackass spoiled kid and that's all he was. Sometimes people do not grow.... AJ in his later 20's or after Tony's death provides the opportunity for him to step up. We just don't get to see that part of his life.

He's overshadowed by his larger than life father the entire series. He doesn't have an identity outside of that, he's not gifted or all that intelligent,,. It's fairly simple., Why does every character have to have all these levels, that's not real life!

I'm not saying they do. Hell, in the Sopranos alone there are several one-note characters who don't really evolve (Richie and Livia being two prime examples). That said, at least those characters were well-acted and somewhat compelling.

And at the end of the day, it's still a TV show, and I never understood why Chase and the writing team would create such a bland, irritating character and place him in the central family. It's as if they just needed to fill the one daughter, one son quota and didn't have a plan for how to develop him or successfully weave him into the story.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I'm not saying they do. Hell, in the Sopranos alone there are several one-note characters who don't really evolve (Richie and Livia being two prime examples). That said, at least those characters were well-acted and somewhat compelling.

And at the end of the day, it's still a TV show, and I never understood why Chase and the writing team would create such a bland, irritating character and place him in the central family. It's as if they just needed to fill the one daughter, one son quota and didn't have a plan for how to develop him or successfully weave him into the story.

I didn't see it that way. It really showed how Tony despite being this mob boss had to deal with the same issues all parents do. AJ not doing well in school, lazy, unmotivated, confused, depressed, suicidal and finally gifted an opportunity by his wealthy parents. If that doesn't describe many kids these days I don't know what to tell you.. He was annoying but not half as annoying as Janice. Carmela was too at times but Falco absolutely nailed this role as Anna Gunn did in Breaking Bad.

The female leads in these series did not get enough credit because they are often the antagonist to the leads.

 

[Neutrinos]

Other than maybe Ro Aprile, none of the female characters in The Sopranos were particularly likeable

 

[chicagoskycam]

Other than maybe Ro Aprile, none of the female characters in The Sopranos were particularly likeable

That’s because she’s the only one not nagging Tony, oh his mother was miserable as well. The show really did a great job with these characters we hated.

I thought Adriana was fine “ christofer”.... "christoferrr"