Ranking The Top 50 Characters From "The Wire"

"The Wire" is one of the greatest television drama's in television history. Entertainment Weekly and other respected television outlets have called it the "greatest show of all-time". While it may not be my favorite show of all-time, it is definitely up there with the likes of "Breaking Bad", "The Sopranos", and "Game of Thrones". That's how good it is. I would get into more detail about the show, but something tells me that if you're reading a list of the greatest Wire characters ever....you've probably seen it for yourself. So, without any further adieu....here we go......

50 Best Characters From "The Wire"

Voting Criteria

1: They HAVE to be interesting. This is probably the most important key to any character on television (duh).

2: I have to like them. "The Wire" may be full of characters that you like. But it also features tons of characters that you would like to go through your television screen and punch them in the throat (looking at you William Rawls). You won't see those guys ranked here.

3: This is MY list. If you don't like it, make your own. You know what's great/not-so-great about humans? Everyone has an opinion.


Warning: This list is meant for fans of "The Wire" who have already seen the show, so it's chalk filled with spoilers. If you've never seen the show and have intentions on watching it, DO NOT read this column until you have. I can't express that enough.

The Wire: Season 5

Best Episode: "30"


Worst Episode: "The Dickensian Aspect"


Favorite Characters: Jimmy McNulty, Bunk Moreland, Lester Freamon, Omar Little, Slim Charles, Tommy Carcetti, Chris Partlow, Snoop Pearson, Bubbles, Michael Lee, Dukie, Ellis Carver, Sydnor, Prop Joe, Norman Wilson, Augustus Haynes, Kima Greggs


Least Favorite Characters: Ervin Burrell, William Rawls, Clay Davis, Cheese Wagstaff, Proposition Joe, Marlo Stanfield, Scott Templeton, Maurice Levy, Michael Steintorf


Overall Grade: 8.0 out of 10. And here we are at the end of one of the greatest television shows of all-time. I have to admit. When I first started this "Wire" re-watch, I never thought I would enjoy the whole overall series this much, but I did. It's more than likely definitely jumped into my top 5 shows of all-time and that's something I never thought I would say back in January. As great as the series itself is, it's unfortunate that the show went out on a shortened 10-episode season that seemed extremely rushed when compared to other season's of the show. The fifth season gets a lot of flack from "Wire" fans for not being as good as the others, but I thought it was fine. The whole McNulty/serial killer storyline was interesting and was a great way to send McNulty and Lester out with a bang. The newspaper storyline wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, but it served it's purpose and helped shed some light on an industry few people know the inner workings of. We also saw the end of one of the greatest television characters of all-time and it came at the hands of someone that no one expected.

As for the ending, I was completely satisfied with everything that happened. All throughout the series "The Wire" has felt like a horrible reality show (in a good way...) and we all knew it wasn't going to end with everyone holding hands and singing songs. Some people got what was coming to them in the end (Cheese) and some people ended up getting the short end of the stick regardless of how much we like them (poor ol' Dukie). That's how life is on the streets of Baltimore and god bless "The Wire" and David Simon for taking us along for the ride. I highly recommend this series to anyone who hasn't watched it. It's one of the best written and acted television shows ever produced and there's a reason Entertainment Weekly named it "the best television show of all-time". It's pretty damn good people. 

Better Call Saul: Season 1

Best Episode: "Mijo"


Worst Episode: "Marco"


Favorite Characters: Jimmy McGill, Mike Ehrmantraut, Kim Wexler, Tuco Salamanca, Chuck McGilll (for most of the season anyway)


Least Favorite Characters: Betsy Kettleman, Craig Kettleman, Howard Hamlin (for most of the season anyway)


Overall Grade: 7.0 out of 10. It's hard to grade "Better Call Saul" right now. Why? Because most of us (Breaking Bad fans that is....) know where the story goes, and we all love what happens when we get there. Therefore, most of us are going to put up with whatever the writers and everyone involved with the show put forward, because we want to see what happens. That moment when we first see characters like Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Gus Fring, etc. That's the reason most people are watching this show and that's the reason most people put up with prequels to begin with. However, let's take all that out right now and just focus on "Better Call Saul" as it's own TV show and not a part of something bigger.

On it's own, "Better Call Saul" is a good TV show that is on the cusp of being great. Much like "Breaking Bad", the camera visuals, writing, and acting are all outstanding. "Breaking Bad" was constantly taking home awards and it wouldn't surprise me to see "Better Call Saul" end up the same way. The people involved with the show know what they are doing and they know what needs to happen in order for the show to be successful. My main problem with the show is the flow of the story. Sometimes it feels like the story is dragging and that's one of the main problems with prequels. You can't get too ahead of yourself and you also have to be careful not to contradict anything that happens in the future.

Another problem is, I never felt like anything big happened. When the season ended, it almost felt like someone could just sit down and tell me everything that happened in season one in 10 minutes and I would be all caught up. That's not good. Shows like "Game of Thrones" have so much happening in every episode that you can't afford to miss one or you'll be stuck on an island by yourself. That wasn't the case with "Better Call Saul" and hopefully that's something that changes in the future as we move closer to Saul Goodman coming out.

Either way, regardless of how I feel about season one, I'm 100% on board with the show. It's a good show and I'm still extremely interested to see if guys like Walter White and Gus Fring end up appearing in some cameos and that alone is enough to get me to keep watching. Something tells me that's the reason most of you will continue watching as well.....