i'm a big fan of the wire and during lockdown have taken to watching short clips on youtube of some of the iconic scenes. These are a few highlights:
I was thinking about watching the whole thing again but I must've seen it 3 or 4 times in full and the last one was only a few years ago so I went for "The Corner" instead, having never watched it in full.
It's the older, 6 part miniseries that came just before the Wire. Very similar really, but I did try watching the first episode years ago and found it pretty unrelenting grimness, so never bothered with the rest. But this time, I have watched all 6 and can recommend.
It definitely is more downbeat, with the focus more on a family and their bouncing in and out of addiction, so it lacks some of the drama of seeing all the "bad guys" on the wire.
But good to spot some of the actors in different roles eg the woman who plays the very clean cut marla daniels in the wire as a party mate of on of the main characters.
and clarke peters (lester freamon in the wire) as dope fiend fat curt
some interesting "techniques" that were later dropped for the wire - there's this breaking of the 4th wall thing going on, with people being interviewed in a sort of fly on the wall / mockumentary way.
and also there's lots of flashbacks to the past to show the contrasts.
Neither of these techniques work very well, they serve to dissipate the focus a little, so i can see why they dropped them for the wire.
The mockumentary thing does work for the ending, which is quite powerful, as the actual people are revealed and interviewed briefly.
Good show overall though, the whole thing is up on youtube.