Ranking Every HBO Drama Series From Worst To Best
2. The Wire
Falling just shy of the top spot is David Simon’s genre defining cop show. Of course, anyone who’s seen The Wire will know that this is a huge understatement - The Wire is a show about a city, and by extension a show about America at large: its class system, its ineffectual institutions, and its total reluctance to change.
The Wire’s purview begins with one renegade cop beginning a crusade against a ruthless drug lord, and from there expands to investigate corruption on the docks, the steady progress of younger, hungrier dealers, the broken school system that serves as the source of the problem, and the media that fails to see the real story.
Simon’s complex, multifaceted tales are told by way of a colossal cast of characters. Among the best are Stringer Bell (Idris Elba), a drug lieutenant and part time economics student; Frank Sobatka, a stevedore and good man driven to bad things; Bubbles, a savant-like heroin addict; and Omar (the late Michael K Williams), a poetic and moral stick up artist.
If you’ve been put off The Wire due to the incessant praise it receives, it’s in your best interest to reconsider. It’s worth every bit of the hype, living up to and exceeding it. A deeply layered show that stands up to multiple viewings, this is game changing telly that will likely never be topped in its genre.