The Wire: The Complete Series

Great packaging and the discs operate well. However, with season two, instead of seeing disc #4, I have two disc 3s! I didn't notice until after the return window expired. So, if you order this set, my advice to you is to check all of your discs to make sure they are correct. On a flip note, if anyone did order this set and if you have two disc 4s for season 2, I'd be happy to trade :)

great series with good story line and great acting

No cons. All Pros.Although there was no top, it didn't matter. What mattered was the disc's. All in EXCELLENT condition. No scratches or glitches.Seller- babybudman

H.B.O.'s "The Wire" is EASILY the most important television series of all time -- and MY PICK for the very best.Yes, "The Sopranos" is excellent; yes, "Deadwood" is wonderfully profane and Shakespearean; yes, "Boardwalk Empire" is a fun look at the roaring '20s; but "The Wire" -- with its searing "insider's view" into a major (albeit fictionalized) American city -- trumps them all. (I'm sorry, folks, but "Breaking Bad" doesn't even come close!)"The Wire" stands out as the best in television because of its great writing and acting. This show is populated with wonderfully complex characters and very realistic (and explicit) dialogue. The characters and stories are exquisitely detailed and intertwined with others, which requires the viewer to pay attention or "listen carefully." (My Wife is new to the series and she learned very quickly that she can't just watch "The Wire" passively -- like she's watching a "reality T.V." show or an Adam Sandler comedy.)I'm not going to say much more about the QUALITY of the show.... Like a masterpiece of literature, you need to dive into the show (or text) and discover it for yourself.The video and audio qualities are INCREDIBLE. I was initially worried when Blu-ray.com published its review with those 40 screenshots. (Some of them looked a little noisy and strange to me.) But "The Wire" looks BRAND NEW -- and WAY better than I ever imagined it could look. I watched all five seasons on D.V.D. for over eight years (give or take) and this "alternate version" of the series is much, MUCH better.The grain is consistent from episode to episode (and from season to season) and the colors really POP off of my 50-inch screen. Details are RAZOR SHARP. The wider (1.78:1) aspect ratio makes the show look more cinematic -- and I'm not distracted by any black bars on the sides. Also, as the Blu-ray.com reviewer indicated , IF you didn't know that "The Wire" was not meant to be in this wider aspect ratio...you'd never know it! Yes, you lose a little bit of visual information on the top and bottom of each shot...but you GAIN so much more on the RIGHT AND LEFT! The difference is completely NEGLIGIBLE.Indeed, every episode looks and SOUNDS amazing. The folks at H.B.O. did well to REMASTER this show! Hats off!I haven't watched all of the extras, but the content of the show more than makes up for the lack of supplemental material. The commentary tracks are all very interesting. (They've been ported over from the D.V.D.s., but they're still good.)"The Wire" is beyond reproach and this Blu-ray box set is a very attractive package. Admittedly, I'm a little biased -- when people ask me about my favorite movie, I sometimes tell them that "I can't decide" and then I change the subject and start raving about "The Wire" -- but this box set was WORTH the wait and the money.BUY THIS SET!

Never in a million years did I think I would get my hands on this amazing series and for such a decent price. Again thank you Amazon.

One of the greatest TV shows ever, paramount to the art of film and TV. In fact I would argue that everyone interesting in doing anything in Government, leadership, law enforcement, community service, education, and just life in general should be required to watch this show. It is pure genius, although there are many characters that come and go in various ways that are unapologetic the main character is Baltimore but while Baltimore is a unique city the show goes into issues that effect every city in America and society in general. The Wire is a social study of inner city life, law enforcement in big cities, politics and Government, the education system, and the [in]humanity of the streets of Baltimore and any other city. Various universities have used The Wire as the basis for entire classes to teach various social topics. Baltimore is real and The Wire is just as real with the cast being the epitome of Baltimore, a significant majority of the cast is from Baltimore and many cast members know the life of Baltimore because they lived it for better or for worse. In fact several characters are former convicts from everything from hired murder to top end drug king pins all portraying various characters to show us what its like. It would be a moral sin practically to ignore The Wire because David Simon, Ed Burns, and others are giving you a real treat. Other projects that David Simon worked on like Homicide: Life on the Streets (and the corresponding book) give you a glimpse of the broad view of how a city works but they don't go into detail, Homicide shows a law enforcement perspective with a lot of art and detail but only gives you a taste of politics. The Corner shows the other end of Homicide, the people living on the streets, dealing drugs and living in poverty and crime but The Wire ties that all up and adds so much more detail it will blow your mind. It starts off slow but I beg you to stick with it. By the time you finish Season 1 you will see a piece of art in the making of legendary proportions, and by the end of Season 3 you will see the bigger picture forming and a view of a city in an unapologetic and real manner. By the end of Season 4 going to the end of Season 5 you will wonder why other TV isn't as good as The Wire quite frankly. Its a massive learning experience, whoever you are, its a show that should be in everyone's life. This is truly a 5/5 TV series, I don't know how else to put it but this show is legendary. Do yourself a favor and buy the Blu-ray set and be surprised with how amazing it is.

The show is great, but the discs and cases they come in are utter garbage. The entirety of season 5 is scratched to the point where every disc skips 3/4 of the episodes and it will even restart my dvd player back to the menu half of the time.

I watched The Wire when it was on TV, bought the DVDs (no Bluray at the time) when they were available, and just recently bought this BluRay box set to revisit the entire series in a few binge sessions. And a few sessions will be needed as there's 20 BluRays to go through! Not just the episodes, which are nicely presented and in excellent video quality, but the additional content including prequels, all of which add depth to the series.The Wire was a shift in television series because of the way it viewed the subject: it was "nitty-gritty" in the real sense. You felt immersed in the story, but not always happy about it. It was raw, rough, and brutal, on both the side of the law and the other side, but that's what held the attraction. This wasn't "nice" television, it was, more than anything "reality" television! This isn't trivial TV with a small handful of leads, but a huge cast of characters, and keeping the story lines apart and understood is an effort in the early episodes. But that was part of the attraction for me: this wasn't typical TV light fare, but a deep, brooding, brutal view that both shocked and fascinated. And some of the characters in the series became legend.I managed to purchase this box on sale, but that was just lucky timing as I wanted to get the series anyway. Even not on sale, this is worth every penny. This is television history, and it's fascinating.

This is a must-see series, probably one of the best ever written,among the ranks of NYPD Blue, Law and Order, and Breaking Bad. Terrific characters that are so well-developed, it's hard to adjust to some of the murders, but it makes sense for the plot-lines and the realistic nature of the drug trade. Sad that life still imitates art after a few years, but this series has relevance and raw truth that is both shocking and riveting at the same time. I'll miss some of the characters like Avon Barksdale, Stringer (played by the amazing and talented Idris Elba), Jimmy McNulty, Bunk, and, believe it or not, Bill Rawls (probably one of my favorites because I can't believe he rose to the highest ranks of the Baltimore Police Department being the person that he was). A tremendously well-done series that should be watched in its entirety. Binge-watch!

Love this show. One of the greatest of all time.Unfortunately this box set is terribly misleading. It’s advertised as Blu-Ray + Digital Copy but there is no digital copy because as you can see on the attached image that it expired in 2018! Why is Amazon still selling this product advertised that way? I bought this because I wanted to watch it on my iPad on iTunes and had to return it. Very misleading. Just beware if you wanted the digital copy.

Series is amazing, goes without saying.The code said it expired in 2018, but it still worked! So this review won't cover the box-set because I ended up (unintentionally) binging the whole series on iTunes. FYI it comes with 2 short clips of young Prop Joe and Omar.Besides that, the box-set came in a hard cardboard case like all HBO bluray sets. There was only a little squished corner.Advice to future buyers: season 2 is actually REALLY good! I've read some reviews where people didn't count season 2 as their favourite, or they've recommended others to skip season 2. On the contrary, my favourite seasons were 1, 2 and 4. I'll just say it'll start slow, as every one of these seasons take time to build. And, like every season, you'll be on the edge of your seat watching all the pieces come together.

One of my favourite T.V. series of all time, decided to finally spend the $130 to own it on blu-ray rather than pirating it. Box arrived all scuffed up and the blue plastic blu-ray cases were all broken and busted up, with bits of plastic rattling around inside each case! So far the first disk is working, I hope the rest do too. I'm honestly on the fence of whether I or not I should return it, this shouldn't be acceptable for $130. I know packages get beat on during shipping but this is ridiculous straight out of the box. HBO stuff like this is why people pirate! You do everything right and still get burned, thanks a lot.