TV Weekend: Darkly Dreamy Dexter; Also, Is Brotherhood a Keeper?

Totally with you on Brotherhood. People told me, "Man, it's just like The Wire." Well, people. I have served with The Wire. The Wire is a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Wire.

It's a mediocre all-white Wire yet for some reason I watched the whole season. I can't honestly recommend it. It's more like an anthropological study for me.

Well, here's a paragraph from my sneak preview review of Brotherhood ... "Brotherhood has good echoes of The Sopranos. But the great strength of the series for me has always been the Providence politics. It's not only Rich Man/Poor Man, brother who made good and brother who didn't. It's a show about getting things done - the hard mobster way as does Michael, and the hard political way, as does Tommy. The first ends in blood more than the second, but otherwise they're no less painful, no less easy as paths to success."

The rest is at http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/09/brotherhoods-back-sneak-preview.html

I've seen the first four episodes, and it's better than last year.

By the way, although I see connections to The Sopranos, I see little relationship to The Wire, which is also one of my all-time favorite shows.

Reviews of all are on my InfiniteRegress.tv

Anyone who is going to compare Brotherhood to The Sopranos and The Wire is setting themselves up to be disappointed. I think Brotherhood is a good show. The Wire and The Sopranos are two of the best shows I have ever seen. So yes, compared to those two shows Brotherhood is inferior. Brotherhood explores the life in the old neighborhood. No one is rich like Tony Soprano. Everyone is struggling just to be middle class.

I feel the need to represent the other side. "Brotherhood" is Better then "The Sopranos". Its easy to say they are doing the same thing. They are both dealing with family, blood and mob versions. Yet where "The Sopranos" dealt with the last gasp of "The Mob" as we know it, where the lifestlye is far less glamoureous and flashy as it once was, yet Tony was still rich, still powerful, living off his crimes. "Brotherhood" is about standing up against "The Powers That Be". Trying to make a life for your family when the only way to stay above water is to not walk the straight line. Sure Micheal is a criminal, and he does detestable things, but he's more everyday joe then Tony Soprano ever was. He's much more relatable.