You didn't even try and use what I actually said.

The last season of a show should be near the best season. The whole point of a serialized show is to have a good end to the story. If The Wire was a book and the last 20% of it was not anywhere close to as good as the other 80% that would be a disappointment.

I haven't seen all of those shows but of the ones I have I thought the ending was in line with the quality of the best seasons.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I did use what you said, and you just repeated it.

I think most critics would disagree with your last sentence. To each their own, though.

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"The best season of a show is usually the last" is not the same as "should be near the best season of any show."

A noticeable drop in quality for the last season is a bad thing.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

very few shows are completely mapped out from the beginning. writers can't predict whether their show will get picked up or cancelled, so it's nearly impossible to make a conclusion when you're developing a show. the rarest exception is always "babylon 5" because j. michael straczynski had actually completely treated the entire series before it was picked up, so it followed his total vision.

it's a normal thing. there's a lot of turnover the more a series gets longer in the tooth. staff writers either go on to write their own shows or go into films or something. showrunners change, executives leave, etc. it's very difficult for a show to see itself through.

Good thing The Wire didn't have one!

The other shows I listed did though.

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Fare you well, fare you well
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Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

98 to a 92 would be a noticeable drop.

Are you now arguing that Season 5 was just as good as any other season?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I am not. I am disagreeing with you on your definition of noticeable. I think it is slightly worse than the other four seasons in the same way Kevin Durant is slightly worse than LeBron James.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Noticeable really doesn't have a lot of analysis required. Now, go ahead and tell me it's always black and white with me.

I'll just say I disagree that Season 5 is close to as good as any of the other seasons. I think it's a big difference.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Noticeable has a definition and I don't think that definition accurately describes the differences between seasons 1-4 and season 5. Not sure how much more clear I can be.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Yeah, and it means that you can tell one is not as good as the others, which you seem to agree with.

If someone came in this thread and said "I just finished The Wire, and I noticed that Season 5 was worse than the other 4 seasons" would you tell them they are wrong?

I understand if you think I am overstating how bad Season 5 is but arguing that there isn't a noticeable difference between 1-4 and 5 seems strange.

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no·tice·a·ble
ˈnōdəsəb(ə)l/Submit
adjective
easily seen or noticed; clear or apparent.
"a noticeable increase in staff motivation"
synonyms: distinct, evident, obvious, apparent, manifest, patent, plain, clear, marked, conspicuous, front-and-center, unmistakable, undeniable, pronounced, prominent, striking, arresting; More
noteworthy.
"a noticeable new phenomenon"

Since we are arguing degrees now, I don't agree that applies to the differences between seasons. Not sure what else to tell you. I think Season 5 is great and I wouldn't say the difference between it and seasons 1-4 are noteworthy, clear, apparent, or easily noticed. I think it's a very slight drop off. I think the latter seasons of Sopranos and Game of Thrones are examples of noticeable drop offs between seasons.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

They sped up his inevitable conclusion.

And he's not going back to being king either. He has no connection. He probably goes to NY or somewhere and try to buy in to the game and then he gets jail for good or murder.

Also, Hank's point is valid. The whole concept of the show was that nothing gets done. I think to put a Happy ending on it would have sucked and ruined how realistic it was overall.


Point of clarification. I do not disagree with all your criticisms. We agree on Scott and the newspaper in general.

It's not a big deal compared to a guy who has murdered dozens of people.


If there was a murderer in your neighborhood and the cops could take him down that way, would you prefer they keep using the by the book stuff that doesn't work?

Which great shows had their best season in the final one?

I know some will say Breaking Bad. I like season 4 better.

BB definitely, IMO.

I wouldn’t say The Shield but I think it absolutely nailed the finale so that counts for a lot.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

The last season of Oz was terrible.

Dexter, too.

The consensus for Justified is season 2 is the best but I think the final season has a strong claim to that title as well.

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I love you more than words can tell
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To rock my soul

It loses points for a de-mustachioed Sam Elliott.

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Most don't have it as their best season but almost all great shows have it as one of the best seasons.

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Is that worth watching? Never attempted it.

Heard mixed things.

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You know me like that.

it's been a long time since i watched it. the CGI effects looked terrible, as i recall, but the storyline was pretty intriguing. it's extremely complex, like "game of thrones" in space. except without all the graphic stuff.

i would give the pilot a try. i remember there was some wooden acting in there. mid 90's sci-fi was pretty rough. although i do remember "farscape" being pretty good too.

I havent found that to be true in the shows I've watched.


Its hard to have a great last season in a show where great characters die off.

Gus Fring
Liv Soprano
Ned Stark and 50% of the GOT cast
Shane and 50% of TWD cast

The killing off of great characters is a relatively new thing, and if done with no plan for the ultimate ending that is a problem.

I can't think of many shows I loved that I didn't really enjoy the final season of outside of shows with strange circumstances like Scrubs which was actually a spin off they made into the last season of the normal show.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yea, we have different expectations.

Luckily some asshole told me Season 5 was terrible before I got there, so my expectations were even lower.

So, honestly, this whole thing is your fault.

Don't get me wrong. The last season of The Wire was good enough to exist and it was nice to get some final closure on some of the other characters. I just think if they had a do-over they could make it as high quality as the other 4 seasons. I think the big problem was that the newspaper guy wanted to do a show about newspapers and forced much of the storyline to make them relevant in a show that was always about the police and the criminals. It would be like if Breaking Bad decided to make the last season about the high cost of healthcare.

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It was too late. Newspapers were dying. If he does that season in 98 or 88 it's a rousing success.


I read they were thinking about Immigration as the topic for season 6. That would have been interesting but out of Simon's expertise unless Im mistaken.

The natural ending to the show would have been an emphasis on the international parts of the drug trade along with a better emphasis on the political corruption that goes all the way to Washington.

But hey, a reporter who made up fake quotes was cool too and not noticeably worse than the rest of the series!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Dont swim back into unreasonable waters. We all agree season 5 is the weakest.

I was playing off FarveFan who claims there is no noticeable difference between Season 5 and Seasons 1-4.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!