Or is this?First, a little introduction: You know that guy who is a total condescending jerk to everyone who hasn’t watched The Wire? That’s me. I’ve watched the show all the way through three times. If you’ve had a conversation with me at any time in the last five years, it’s a virtual certainty that I’ve dropped a reference to the show, whether you realized it or not. To be completely honest, when I find out someone I know has started the show but given up on it, or refuses to watch it for some reason, I lose respect for that person, even flat out like him or her a little bit less. Not only is The Wire my favorite show, I think it might be both the defining work of art and the most important political statement about America created in the 21st century.
So, it was a shock to me that, as I watched the the final season of Breaking Bad over a couple months back, I actually found myself seriously considering the question: Had Breaking Bad leapfrogged The Wire as the greatest TV show of all-time?
(Don’t even try to say Mad Men or The Sopranos, by the way: I like Mad Men and think it’s generally entertaining and well-written, but it shortchanges its more interesting characters and storylines–ahem, Peggy Olson–in the name of focusing on a character, Don Draper, who has barely evolved in five seasons; and The Sopranos, while it gets credit for ushering in the renaissance of television, is actually a show with a great first season and occasional great episodes (“Pine Barrens” is epic), but vast swaths of episodes that are pointless and boring (that multi-episode dream sequence where Tony is a stranded traveling salesman? Come on), not to mention a number of horrid actors (the Soprano kids, who at times made me want to dismember myself so I wouldn’t have to watch or listen to them)).
So, it’s time to do some soul-searching. I’m going to look back over the histories of both shows and, attempting to be as objective as possible, determine which is superior. Needless to say, from here on out, the spoiler alert is in effect.
Main Character
All true fans of The Wire know that the main character of the show is actually the city of Baltimore. But for the purposes of this comparison, I’ll choose the individual character around whom the show circles most often, Detective Jimmy McNulty. McNulty is, without a doubt, the most complex, interesting television cop ever. He’s a philandering, drunken disgrace. His ex-wife hates him. He barely knows his kids, who he puts in danger in one memorable scene by having them follow a drug dealer around a crowded marketplace. He has some of the most memorably hilarious sexual encounters in film history, including banging a homely waitress after drunkenly wrecking his car and having a threesome with two Russian hookers at a brothel while he’s on a sting operation. His calling card expression is “What the fuck did I do?” although his more telling quote is “Fuck the bosses.” He doesn’t give a fuck about who he steps on our burns along the way, as long as he can make a case. Which he gets away with, kinda sorta, because he’s the best homicide detective on the Baltimore PD. “Natural police,” as Sergeant Jay Landsman says.
It’s hard to believe there could be a more awesome character than Jimmy McNulty. But here’s the thing: The Wire offers a true ensemble cast, with a wealth of storylines going on at once. McNulty isn’t always the focal point. But Breaking Bad is all centered around one man, Walter White, who show-runner Vince Gilligan famously took “from Mr. Chips to Scarface.” Everything in Breaking Bad circles around Walter White’s descent into darkness, and the show is held together by the unparalleled performance of Bryan Cranston
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