On why I love The Wire
I have just watched The Wire’s last episode. For those who don’t know about it, The Wire is the greatest TV series ever created (Salon and Slate back me on this). It’s been acclaimed by critics, but widely disregarded by the public.
I’ll never forget Jimmy McNulty, a troubled Irish American dipsomaniac murder detective (played by brilliant Brit Dominic West) or Omar Little, a Robin Hood-like stickup homosexual man in west Baltimore. The rest of the deeply portrayed characters of the show are great too, but above all of them, the real starring role belongs to Baltimore. I am sure Baltimore’s reality goes way beyond this show, but I don’t think a show can get more real than The Wire.
Each season focuses on a different topic, such as drug-dealing, unions, politics, the press, always keeping the police department around. The story arcs are really long and complex, The Wire is not the kind of show you can enjoy watching a single episode of, but more like, as its own creator – a former Baltimore Sun journalist – put it, a “66 hour movie”.
Well, I could keep praising it for hours, but lots of people have done that already, even Barack Obama loves it (:P, let’s ride the hype). Praise available in Spanish too 
Besides, Eliot Spitzer has made wiretaps really popular again these last days 
Really, you must see it.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
As someone who lived in Baltimore and hated every minute of it, I keep having trouble imagining what might be appealing about this show. Many ppl I know have praised it but none of them were ever subjected to the horrible reality that is living in Baltimore (or Brawltascore as we so affectionately refer to it as).
Seriously, I don’t get it. If I wanted to think about this stuff, I’d just move back.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
for the saca, i mean, i’ve just put the first forth seasons to download
,
i’ve always seen around the show, but i’ve never try to watch it because there were already several season finished. but if u recommend it, i haven’t any excuse.
ps: hallowed are the ori
March 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Do you read the Freakonomics blog? They’ve had a really interesting series of posts where an anthropologist who studies gangs sat down with actual gang members to watch the show. You can find them here.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Jaldhar: Yes, I have read that study, it was quite interesting. Thank you anyway
March 18th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Aye Isaac,
just saw the first one, and I have to fully agree with you. Even if it’s not “the greatest TV series ever created”, it comes pretty damn close. The characters are fantastic, the actors really awesome, and I was reminded of another one of David Simon’s words – he said something like: “We are bored with good and evil…” – and that’s true.
In this one, you understand both sides.
It’s not being planned to broadcast this in Germany, for reasons which are beyond me. For it is at the very least the best cop series I ever saw. So I have to get the stuff from Amazon in the UK, because not even their German site lists it.
Thanks for the hint, man. Give us more of those if you have some (read you on the Planet)…
cheers,
wjl
March 18th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Hi Wolfgang, I am glad you liked it. Anyway if you liked the first one, you will love the series as a whole
Which TV shows would you recommend?
March 19th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hi Isaac,
just waiting for the second season to arrive here. Oh, and I must confess that I’m a big fan of “Lost” – that one’s getting better from season to season. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any harder (like after Charlie’s death close to the end of S3), it sure does…
One of the guys is a blogger, tho he keeps everything “Lost” out of it as much as possible. See and meet Jorge Garcia (Hurley) at his Dispatches from the Island…
Also forgot to say thanks for your work that you do for Debian – and so for all of us. People like you *do* make a difference!
best,
Wolfgang
March 31st, 2008 at 4:52 am
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March 31st, 2008 at 6:50 am
Kashin: Sure, no problem.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Oh wow, Isaac,
you were right, and I have to correct myself. This is way beyond everything I saw so far. A piece of art, unmatched by anything else which I ever saw on TV or in the cinema.
One more teaser for those who might be interested? Stephen King says in http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1333799,00.html : “…makes Miami Vice look like a Saturday-morning cartoon”, and: “Welcome to Hell”.
And indeed, against what’s happening here, the picture of hell like our elders painted it to us looks very much like Kindergarten to me
I understand now why German Television isn’t interested. First: you cannot translate this; never. It would lose everything. Second: probably not many people would be able to understand it. Third: you can never interrupt this with ads, without killing it also. Plus, for the really long story archs, there is in fact only one way to see this – you have to have the DVDs, and best would be if you have all of them in advance. Because this *will* get you addicted; no question about that.
Only problem with that show is, that after watching this, you could never go back to something like CSI (or any other 45-minute-storyline interrupted by ads). That would be like reading Superman right after Tolstoi or the Greeks, right?
Thanks again for recommending it (I almost added: “Feel me?”).
best,
Wolfgang