What's The Best TV Show Ever?

Battlestar Galactica last episode air tomorrow and brings to an end a fantasic show that I will be truly sad to see come to an end. I am a true sci-fi fan and been watching Battlestar since it aired on SKY1 a few years ago. I have also started to watch the Wire on FX (also airs on BBC2) and it is truly a remarkable complex programme showing the fight against crime in Baltimore from the point of view of the streets, the criminal justice system and the political system. As I have just started watching the programme, I am not in a postition to judge with programme is better. But I always liked the way Battlestar refleceted topical polictical situations, from torture, terrorism, fighting for political befliefs and exploring the human tendancy to self destruct. Battlestar updated the typical SCi fi genre and made it reflect current issues facing society today.

I came across this article from the from the Empire magaizine website, debating which show is better, Battlestar Galactica or The Wire? Read on and let me know what you think?

A terrible schism has split the Empire office. Brother is ranged against brother, editor against sub-editor and workie against tea lady. We've had to lock Sam up, lest his rage cause serious property damage and hamper our ability to put the mag out on time, and James has barricaded himself in the kitchen with the coffee machine, and is refusing to come out until everyone accepts his way of thinking. And the terrible controversy that has sparked this war? It's the eternally thorny question: which is better, Battlestar Galactica or The Wire?

Both have been called the greatest show on TV, both have proponents who argue for their status as the greatest of all time (many right here in this office). The Wire brings an unprecedented level of detail, realism and nuance to what could have been a police procedural; Battlestar Galactica turned a old Star Wars rip-off into maybe the most intelligent, layered and philosophical show on TV.

One has drug dealers, one spaceships; one offers characters like egotistical but idealistic cop McNulty or drugdealing businessman Stringer Bell, while the other has tragic heroes like Kara "Starbuck" Thrace and flawed genius Gaius Baltar. In The Wire, the characters have to deal with the corrosive effects of the drug trade at every level of Baltimore society; in Battlestar, it's the near total genocide of the human race and the question of what it means to be human that preoccupies the show. Both have astonishing performances, great writing, incredible music and so much more.

The Wire finished its five season run just over a year ago, so those watching it now are catching up on DVD; Battlestar finishes in the US on Saturday, with its fourth (or fifth, depending on how you define a season cut in half by the writer's strike) season coming to a mammoth finale. So now's the time to hold a (spoiler free) discussion of the relative merits of the two: does The Wire really transcend all other cop shows? Does Battlestar really emerge from the sci-fi genre as a show really worthy of mainstream contention? Or do you still adhere to the West Wing / Sopranos / Deadwood school of thought?

Where do I stand on this issue? Well, let's just say that only one of these shows has received a retrospective at the UN, with the Twelve Colonies in attendance, and cast members and creators discussing the show and So Say We All-ing all over the place (see the video of that Battlestar Galactica evening here), and that I reckon there's a reason for that. Much as I love The Wire, I adore Battlestar because it's reinvented sci-fi, because it manages to be both sweeping and intimate, because it fraks with my head, and because Kara Thrace may be my favourite TV character ever. James disagrees, and I'm hoping he doesn't see this blog or I may lose my watercooler privileges / job / life.

But where do you stand? Let us know: the battle lines are drawn, and Empire lives may depend on your views.