The Wire is over - discussion, spoilers inside

[hucks]

Oh God, I was with that to some extent until it got to LL as cutty. Wtf?

This is much better

Any fule know A Young = Marlo, but some of the others are belters

 

[nochexxx]

am i to assume that the information regarding Obama's favourite character Omar is what they call a spoiler?
i should probably pay attention to the thread title

god damn that Omar was a cool cat from the one bit i saw.

i.

sheeeeeettttt dude, shut down your screen, and comeback once you've seen everything. i feel bad for ruining this for you.

 

[vimothy]

I is hooked.

 

[crackerjack]

This, quoted in yesterday's Times, is the first time I've ever laughed at the Daily Mash

You’d be forgiven for thinking the show transcends mere television and has somehow entered an almost holy state. The Daily Mash, a spoof online newspaper, captured it perfectly in this item: “A new prostate cancer drug which could save thousands of lives is still not as good as The Wire, critics said last night. Although the drug could potentially treat up to 80% of patients, scientists and television reviewers agreed it lacked the Dickensian scope of the Baltimore crime drama. Professor Henry Brubaker, of the Institute for Studies, said: (...) ‘This drug may attack cancerous cells, but it can’t match the sheer genius of that scene where the big, scary guy says something really profound but does it through the medium of chess.’ ”

 

[zhao]

I is hooked.

even my german girlfriend is hooked now. i'm like so do you want to rent that maya deren collection we were talking about and she's like no... let's see another episode of the wire! but i have to pause it all the time and explain the slang / social context...

 

[vimothy]

Maya Deren or the Wire -- that's a pretty hard call to make... But a very interesting show, some kind of neo-Marxian political economist's wet dream, I guess.

 

[Grievous Angel]

even my german girlfriend is hooked now. i'm like so do you want to rent that maya deren collection we were talking about and she's like no... let's see another episode of the wire! but i have to pause it all the time and explain the slang / social context...

Turn on subtitles!

 

[zhao]

Turn on subtitles!

right. we gon get the official DVDs with german translation i think. have been watching my downloaded version.

from a completely outsider pov, much more so than UK citizens, i mean there's never been such a thing as a proper ghetto in berlin, at least not even remotely close to the devastating poverty in philly, it's a real eye opener for her: "so this is where hiphop comes from..." and "you mean when they rap about guns and prison they're not being funny?!" in wide eyed, sober fascination.

 

[UFO over easy]

baltimore as world and representation: cognitive mapping and capitalism in the wire

http://www.cinestatic.com/infinitethought/2009/03/baltimore-as-world-and-representation.asp

 

[nochexxx]

the worlds gone 'wire' crazy. this morning mcnulty and his funny beard was on bbc's breakfast slot and ferne britton mentioned something about the wire on 'this morning'. glad it's broke into UK mainstream.

 

[scottdisco]

glad it's broke into UK mainstream.

very good point.

i remember years ago - about '96 - getting rather worked up with the crit from The Times, who disfigured their column with a cack-handed remark about my beloved Homicide: Life on the Street (another star in the David Simon constellation), that
"students of political correctness might like to note that the top three figures in Baltimore's P.D. are a black, a woman and a black".

to just even begin to rebut and damn such a stupid assessment, we could note it's a majority African-American city, you dull fucking cock.

the mainstream love is excellent.

(fine linked piece there, UFO. cheers.)

 

[shudder]

so, Homicide is worth seeing? I've been jonesing for some more Simon (GKill was a little so-so, IMO). Have you read the Homicide book too? Any good?

 

[Mr BoShambles]

fine linked piece there, UFO. cheers.

Agreed.... *tips hat*

David Simon:

The Wire ‘is perhaps the only storytelling on television that overtly suggests that our political and economic and social constructs are no longer viable, that our leadership has failed us relentlessly, and that no, we are not going to be all right’

very interesting!

 

[crackerjack]

so, Homicide is worth seeing? I've been jonesing for some more Simon (GKill was a little so-so, IMO). Have you read the Homicide book too? Any good?

The Corner was good - that's the drama/mockumentary based on Simon and Burns' book, the precursor to The Wire with quite a few of the same actors (as junkies - check out Lester Freamon). six eps, takes a wee while (sound familiar?), but two in and you're hooked.

 

[scottdisco]

heartily agree with Crackerjack re the Corner, and i would endorse H:LOTS (although the last coupla seasons pretty much jumped the shark: also in some later episodes there was the odd regrettable bit of cross-over with Law & Order).

the latter very much a police procedural but tending to get a bit existential (there are certainly a few essays about this bad boy online).
TIME once noted

This deeply character-based police drama from Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson was notable for being a show where the murders were less important than the psyches of the cops who solved them (and sometimes failed to)...With an acute sense of the media, political and spiritual ramifications of crime, Homicide drew a broad picture of how many lives were changed when one is taken.

the Dostoyevsky to the Tolstoy of the Wire, if you will.

different sort of burn after the Wire or the Corner of course, back to the cops, but it could be funny, smart and affecting; notable for focusing less on gunfights, more on the weary work of clue-sniffing. it may seem a bit less full colour coming to it from the Wire granted, a bit meh.
though, FWIW, those two and the Shield are in my personal trio of top 'tec shows (or shows with some focus on 'tec, tbc) with early NYPD Blue and early Law & Order scratching at the door.

because of the same sort of stable, lots of actors from the later Bawlmer shows appeared here, eg an ME in the Wire is a major drugs don in H:LOTS (!), and Bodie the dealer shows up too, that sort of thing.
Clark Johnson is deeply entwined with the Wire and H:LOTS as well, acting a major role in both.

never read any of the books, no.

two bits that show its appeal (if you like this sort of thing), one episode has them sat in the squad room just chewing the fat for the duration, and then as the end credits roll, the hotline rings, just conversing for that ep.
another ep shows a real time hour of a guy who fell (or was he pushed?) onto the subway and he's got jammed between a train and the platform and not in good shape: the cops are there because it is literally a potential murder in waiting, it may be homicide/manslaughter when he goes, because of course it might not have been an accident that he ended up on the track.

 

[nochexxx]

the mainstream love is excellent.

I’m by no means an eternal optimist but I honestly hold more belief in the power of ‘the wire’, more so then any political party. I welcome the idea of joe bloggs late night snacking, wire binges and muttering 'trudat' every so often.

 

[crackerjack]

I’m by no means an eternal optimist but I honestly hold more belief in the power of ‘the wire’, more so then any political party.

Simon for president.

You gotta love a man whose motto is "fuck the average viewer".

 

[nochexxx]

You gotta love a man whose motto is "fuck the average viewer".

trudat

 

[scottdisco]

coupla years old but..

...y'all seen this?

 

[nochexxx]

...y'all seen this?

yeah i read an article on these peeps a while back......... pretty cool! aside from felicia snoop, it makes you wonder how close some of these wire characters are to their real personas.


this article has made me wonder if the real life fran was in 'the corner'? as it contains several montages of interviews with locals from baltmore's corners. i honestly can't remember.