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I just finished watching all The Wire seasons for the first time and freaked a little when I saw your comment. I often see something on Hacker News that I just

by ssijak 9y ago

I just finished watching all The Wire seasons for the first time and freaked a little when I saw your comment. I often see something on Hacker News that I just recently had contact with and is not that popular.

blueline 9y ago
the wire had something like 30M viewers at peak and was absurdly well received....
- eternalcode 9y ago
  Apparently, Still not enough to get an Emmy. I lost my faith on Emmy's because of that.
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  Do you have any links or citations for a number even close to that? It’s live viewership numbers are lower than current HBO shows like Westworld that don’t overall get 30M viewers per episode. Or did you have a different meaning for 30M than per episode? Usually that’s what people mean for tv so I am assuming that.
  - justinhj 9y ago
    According to wikipedia the peak viewing for individual episodes is about 4m. Although it's not a stretch to assume it reached a lot more people than that via legal streaming services and illegal downloads.
    - Phlarp 9y ago
      It was not incredibly popular during it's time on the air. This is part of the reason for multi-year gaps between seasons. It has become somewhat of a post-airing success / cult classic.
    - kgwgk 9y ago
      And DVDs (this is a 15-10 year old series). Plus the recent re-release on BluRay.
messick 9y ago
I'd be surprised if you could find a "Best TV Show of all Time" list that doesn't include The Wire in the top 5. Most them of them have it #1 or #2 depending on how the ranker feels about The Sopranos.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Curiously, not very well known in Europe, in my experience, whereas everyone has heard of the Sopranos.
ggg9990 9y ago
You’re nuts — The Wire, by acclamation, is to TV as Shakespeare is to literature.
DCoder 9y ago
Welcome to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon [0]. [0]: https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/ https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomeno...

by ssijak 9y ago

blueline 9y ago

the wire had something like 30M viewers at peak and was absurdly well received....

eternalcode 9y ago
Apparently, Still not enough to get an Emmy. I lost my faith on Emmy's because of that.
skinnymuch 9y ago
Do you have any links or citations for a number even close to that? It’s live viewership numbers are lower than current HBO shows like Westworld that don’t overall get 30M viewers per episode. Or did you have a different meaning for 30M than per episode? Usually that’s what people mean for tv so I am assuming that.
- justinhj 9y ago
  According to wikipedia the peak viewing for individual episodes is about 4m. Although it's not a stretch to assume it reached a lot more people than that via legal streaming services and illegal downloads.
  - Phlarp 9y ago
    It was not incredibly popular during it's time on the air. This is part of the reason for multi-year gaps between seasons. It has become somewhat of a post-airing success / cult classic.
  - kgwgk 9y ago
    And DVDs (this is a 15-10 year old series). Plus the recent re-release on BluRay.

messick 9y ago

I'd be surprised if you could find a "Best TV Show of all Time" list that doesn't include The Wire in the top 5. Most them of them have it #1 or #2 depending on how the ranker feels about The Sopranos.

icebraining 9y ago
Curiously, not very well known in Europe, in my experience, whereas everyone has heard of the Sopranos.

ggg9990 9y ago

You’re nuts — The Wire, by acclamation, is to TV as Shakespeare is to literature.

DCoder 9y ago

Welcome to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon [0]. [0]: https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/ https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomeno...