Late, late

[gwyn]

Catching up!! (But hey, how 'bout that World Cup, huh?)

Day 19 - Best TV show cast
I could say a lot of things here about some of my favorite shows, because I discovered long ago that what often cements my feelings about a series is the cast, and how they interact. So you got your Buffys, your Fireflys (which is probably the first time I have ever loved every single character in a show with an ensemble with equal devotion), your Deadwoods (which was so expertly cast that I sometimes felt like I was in a time machine -- I mean, I have one word for the incredible verisimilitude of that cast: Richardson), your Treks... but I'm not sure I've ever seen such a sprawling cast handled as well as The Wire did.

The cast was also constantly changing, and made up frequently of nonactors, and yet it was one of the most well-oiled machines ever, and all of them, newbies and old pros alike, brought such life and depth to the scripts that you felt like you were in the middle of their lives each episode. Like most people, I expected to hate S4, with its focus on kids in an inner city, crumbling school, and yet that is still one of the most powerful and affecting stretch of episodes on TV ever. Maybe THE most powerful.

Even though this video is about the 100 greatest quotes on the show, I think it's a great example of the incredible range of the cast, and how brilliant this show is. And the fact that it starts with Omar, maybe the greatest character ever created for TV, whistling Farmer in the Dell, is bonus points.

Day 20 - Favorite kiss

Oh wow. I have a lot of these. But it's pretty hard to decide if the Buffy -Spike kiss in Tabula Rasa wins, or the kiss Omar gave Brandon in the "dirty language" scene in S1. Don't ask me to choose! The former left me pretty much breathless when it happened, and the latter just surprised me so much, because it came in the middle of a scene when two drug thieves are preparing for a raid, in a culture that is hugely homophobic... just so surprising, and I thought showed what kind of guy Omar really was.

I can't find a Buffy clip with the original music by Michelle Branch, and a lot of the power of that kiss was the way the music was building up, and the camera came sneaking around the stairway to find Buffy and Spike kissing so passionately. It was all so cinematic. I assume that every clip a fan has put up with music has been taken down by the evil powers that be.

I can, at least, show the Wire clip.

And a recent one I might consider adding to the kiss pantheon (I love a good kiss, I really do) is Nate kissing Sophie at the end of the S2 Leverage episode. That was just hot. It's been a long time since I saw a kiss on TV that didn't feel rote or forced or actorly, and that one succeeded on all levels.

Comments

Huh...that's odd...FYI

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

There's something a bit odd going on with these video embeds. They come up fine when I'm on the comment page here, but when just browsing the f-list, the first is an SPN/J2 vid, and the second is a video sharing widget-thingie.

I've got no clue what would cause that.

ETA: Never mind, it seems to have fixed itself. Gotta love the glitches, I guess.

Re: Huh...that's odd...FYI

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's some crazed SPN fan who hates that people are doing this meme and not including SPN, so they're hacking videos. It could happen!

Re: Huh...that's odd...FYI

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

That would be a very entertaining scenario!

Unfortunately, I think it was more of a glitch in the web page reading the embed codes.

Your idea is way more fun...

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU3KLxDsxrs) you go :)

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! Apparently my youtube fu is incredibly bad, because I tried so many searches and never found that. The only one I could find was minus sound, which... no.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

Wow that Wire quotes vid just made me NEED to do my re-watch immediately. Damn I love that show.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

If you want company let me know! ;-)

Favorite Kiss--Really?

[(Anonymous)]

I would have bet money, real folding money, that your choice for best kiss would be Captain Jack-Captain John from Torchwood. --Jay

Re: Favorite Kiss--Really?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Well, to be honest, I totally forgot about it! Which, yeah, I don't know why I did, other than that right now I'm really in a hatey frame of mind towards the whole Whoniverse people. I did really like that kiss, though -- fists and kisses, always a good combo.

[dine.livejournal.com]

damn, now I want to rewatch The Wire! sadly, I don't own it, so I'll need to get my hands on the DVDs. oh what an awful summer project *g*

Omar's whistle at the beginning of the quotes clip is eerie as hell. I dearly love that kiss scene - I know he's a bad guy, but Omar owns me

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I have wanted to rewatch the Wire for a long time now. I've tried, for years, to get some of the others in Seattle to watch it, but they always make it sound like they're interested and then bail.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks for the 100 greatest quotes retrospective of the awesomeness of "The Wire." I want to rewatch so badly, but I need to be able to give it 100% of my attention!

[unovis.livejournal.com]

From reading this post and Killa's, also for best cast, I began watching The Wire. I'm 3/4 through Season 1 and completely hooked. Fascinated, appalled, and hooked.

From what I've seen so far, I completely agree on the brilliant casting and acting. Interacting. I'm avoiding watching the 100 quotes so far.

I'm flinching a bit now, thinking of Season 4.

I'm fascinated and sad and resigned as an invisible, unconsidered audience for the show as well. It's a man's world onscreen and behind it, with women firmly pushed to the margins, in spite of Kima (love Kima!). I don't know if that changes at all.