I had to take care of my then 55 year old mom after surgery for a month years back and she even got into The Wire. That is definitely no a good sign for the OP.

A lot of things happen in s1 of The Wire, it's not L'Aventurra. A witness is intimidated. McNulty stirs a bunch of **** up, Johnny gets beat the **** up for scamming the pit crew, Bubbles becomes an informant, and a states witness gets murdered.

THIS IS THE FIRST EPISODE

Maybe this will put your mind at ease OP:

Maybe you are wording things wrong and are afraid The Wire is a show without balls that just tells a story where not much ends up happening and you're wording it wrong. If that is what you are afraid about, don't worry, I think everyone can agree that The Wire is the show that has the most balls of all time. Major **** happens, and not once or tweice or five times, a lot of ****ing times. You just have to be a bit patient.

"A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It's the **** that happens while you're waiting for the moments that never come."

Oh man what a great quote for this guy

This guy thinks the acting is terrible and just keeps repeating "the show is boring, nothing happens." He also thinks he can crank out a television show that's just as good in his sleep. He's either a troll, or he's close-minded and delusional.

It is true that a big part of what makes The Wire great is how expansive the story is and how all the pieces fit together, something you may not get in season 1. But this guy right here, this guy's expectations and views on what's happening are so far off from reality that there's no reason to think he'll ever get it.

http://youtu.be/J8OHLy0CIPs?t=1m57s

I was the same way with Season 1 and my rankings are about the same as yours, although I go 1>3. I was already way into David Simon/Homicide/Baltimore crime stuff when I found The Wire, so the back and forth between cops and criminals was always my favorite part. Like the scene where Bunk and McNulty go to The Pit to talk with D'Angelo and whoever else is there is an awesome scene where absolutely nothing happens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ANAtaQsBL4

It's fine if you don't like The Wire, but to suggest that a lot of it is "filler" seems objectively incorrect. The Wire is the most intricately plotted show I have ever seen. A lot of the plot is not made obvious for the viewer by on-screen action, and many conversations advance multiple plot lines at the same time, and you wouldn't understand what was going on unless you were really paying attention. I would define "filler" as stuff that you can ignore and still understand the full story of the show. By this definition, The Wire has just about the least filler of any show.

Season 1 of the Wire is mostly the story of a group of police officers pursuing a drug gang. It is very realistic in its portrayal, and you won't see a lot of "gratuitous" action (the OP seems to suggest that a good plot involves killing off major characters just for the sake of something happening!). If you don't want to watch a story about police pursuing a drug gang, you probably won't like the series. But the characters and how they relate to each other are extremely well-developed, the methods used are very clever, the plot continues to build up layers over the course of the season, and the show manages to fit in some great humor as well. And of course, the story and the message of series widen as the seasons advance.

Luke, it seems all you want to do is argue about a show you haven't seen enough to fully appreciate. The Wire does have a slow-moving pace, unfolding like a novel. It does throw out a lot of characters and it can take a while to recognize and care about them. If this bothers you so much, you should just stop watching rather than argue with people who know how the full series comes together in an epic way. I've mentioned that the season picks up in the next three episodes you have to watch, but you are more interested in arguing than in watching them and seeing if you like it better. You are like a kid who argues with his parents about things he hasn't fully experienced the way they have. If you were to push through the entire series with an open mind, I think you would see what we see. As I said, by the end of Season 4 you can see how everything comes together in a genius way. When you get to the end, you can go back and watch it from the beginning again, knowing the characters, and you will appreciate it more. But since you get so frustrated with the slowness and not knowing the characters, you should probably just quit watching now. Because you will hate Season 2 when it focuses on a ton of new characters with most of the characters from Season 1 are not in it at all.

Last episode I watched yesterday was the one with that quote. One of the best, <3

I think there's a line between not liking and making stupid judgements. Saying that nothing happens in the first season is pretty terrible, or you've been sleeping. There's quite a bit of action, and already development (the witness' murder alone is already a pretty big story).

For sure they need to present the characters and it takes time because there are so many of them, so that might slow down the stuff a bit.

Comparing the characters' development in The Wire to Criminal Minds is rubbish. I've watched all the episodes of both, and while Criminal Minds is good in its genre, there is absolutely no depth whatsoever in their characters besides some personnal stories & all to have a sort of knowledge of who is who. But they're not more developped than any other cop show with one case/episode.

The Wire has a long lasting story, 5 seasons with most of the same characters that you get to know more and more because the show is about them, and not about the weekly case.

I'm not sure I'm making myself clear here but this is my take on the matter. Maybe you don't like it, or you don't like that kind of stories, or you just don't understand the language and making an effort to understand something which should be a relaxing layed back watching TV moment isn't for you, but don't mix everything up.

This is starting to get better. Finished another episode. Through 8 now.

-Luke

I'd say about 3 episodes into S2 and you won't be able to stop.

Season 2 almost had me stop watching, because I didn't care about the longshoremen.

Probably the opposite. Anyone frustrated with the slowness and all the characters of Season 1 will be even more frustrated when he finally started recognizing and caring about some of those characters at the end of the season only to find out most of them aren't in S2 and there's a whole bunch of new characters he doesn't know.