The article expressed great sadness at the toll drugs and violence are taking on the black community. But, yeah, I originally read for Stringer and then they called me back in for Carver. In another strand, Dennis "Cutty" Wise, once a drug dealer's enforcer, is released from a fourteen-year prison term with a street contact from Avon. The police crack down severely on violence in these areas and also on drug trafficking elsewhere in the city. After 9/11 happened, they changed the FBI. In an interview with Slate, Simon noted “the guys we were stealing from in The Wire are the Greeks. This leads the investigation to areas the commanding officers had hoped to avoid, including political contributions. They opt to retire. Haynes attempts to expose Templeton but the managing editors ignore the fabrications and demote anyone critical of their star reporter. But I heard him on television doing interviews, “Jay Landsman doesn’t get it, because he’s not a professional actor.” We were friends on set and everything, but he never came to me much on anything. [101], Critics have often described the show in literary terms: the New York Times calls it "literary television;" TV Guide calls it "TV as great modern literature;" the San Francisco Chronicle says the series "must be considered alongside the best literature and filmmaking in the modern era;" and the Chicago Tribune says the show delivers "rewards not unlike those won by readers who conquer Joyce, Faulkner or Henry James. (To further complicate the Landsman situation, Munch was also partially based on the real-life Jay Landsman.) He was an honest functionary, an honest bureaucrat and not dishonest and a survivor. [117], In an article published in The Washington Post, Anmol Chaddha and William Julius Wilson explain why Harvard chose The Wire as curriculum material for their course on urban inequality: "Though scholars know that deindustrialization, crime and prison, and the education system are deeply intertwined, they must often give focused attention to just one subject in relative isolation, at the expense of others. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution to which they are committed. Rhonda Pearlman): I asked (David Simon) about the person that Rhonda was based on, because she was based on a real person, who I eventually met a couple seasons down the road, but he did not want any of us meeting our corresponding characters. However, Simon is one of only two screenwriters to have been awarded the prize (two-time Oscar winner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala received one in 1984) and is the only person to have won the award primarily for work on a scripted television series. We’d pass messages here and there. [48][49] The fifth season portrayed a working newsroom at The Baltimore Sun and was described by Brian Lowry of Variety magazine in 2007 as the most realistic portrayal of the media in film and television. Writer Ed Burns, who worked as a public school teacher after retiring from the Baltimore police force shortly before going to work with Simon, has called education the theme of the fourth season. [74] Critics felt the show was testing the attention span of its audience and that it was mistimed in the wake of the launch of the successful crime drama The Shield on FX. With his support system gone, Dukie lives with drug addicts. [34] Staff writer Rafael Alvarez penned several episodes' scripts, as well as the series guidebook The Wire: Truth Be Told. These investigators were overseen by two commanding officers more concerned with politics and their own careers than the case, Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell (Frankie Faison) and Major William Rawls (John Doman). This allegation was never proven, though it was pointed out by the Washington Post that it would be difficult to disprove as well. I have a regard for bureaucrats doing their jobs. Throughout, D'Angelo struggles with his conscience over his life of crime and the people it affects. Levy ensures Stanfield's release on the condition that he permanently retires, while his subordinates will have to accept long sentences. Having gotten a lead on Joe's connection to the Greeks, Marlo begins investigating them to learn more about their role in bringing narcotics into Baltimore. This pair is made of carbon fiber, a super-strong and lightweight material. [32] Reviewers drew comparisons between Price's works (particularly Clockers) and The Wire even before he joined. He was perfection in that part, because I started watching it from there just to see what the show was going to be about. While most academics have used The Wire as a cultural object or case study, Benjamin Leclair-Paquet has instead argued that the "creative methods behind HBO's The Wire evoke original ways to experiment with speculative work that reveal the merit of the imaginary as a pragmatic research device." Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon), and Lance Reddick (Cedric Daniels). The real Barksdale plays up his influence on the show — there’s even a docudrama called The Avon Barksdale Story: Legends of The Unwired that further embellishes his exploits — but Simon has always denied it, stating that no character from The Wire is based on any one person. Simon has identified the organizations featured in the show—the Baltimore Police Department, City Hall, the Baltimore public school system, the Barksdale drug trafficking operation, The Baltimore Sun, and the stevedores' union—as comparable institutions. David Simon (Creator): That was unplanned. [108], Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, is a strong follower of The Wire; he has tried to cast as many actors from it into the television series of the same name as possible, so far having cast Chad Coleman, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Seth Gilliam, and Merritt Wever.[109]. [75], After the first two shows of season two, Jim Shelley in The Guardian, called The Wire the best show on TV, praising the second season for its ability to detach from its former foundations in the first season. Get exclusive deals, product news, reviews, and more with the Mental Floss Smart Shopping newsletter. [73] Another review postulated that the series might suffer because of its reliance on profanity and slowly drawn-out plot, but was largely positive about the show's characters and intrigue. The second season, along with its ongoing examination of the drug problem and its effect on the urban poor, examines the plight of the blue-collar urban working class as exemplified by stevedores in the city port, as some of them get caught up in smuggling drugs and other contraband inside the shipping containers that pass through their port. He really wanted us to be our own people. Richard Price, who has writing credits on five episodes, was already an accomplished writer before getting hired for the show, having written several novels and screenplays, including the critically-acclaimed 1992 crime novel Clockers, as well as the script for Spike Lee’s 1995 film adaptation of his book. Beabadoobee’s Debut Album Is An Epic Film Score For Growing Up, Walton Goggins On ‘John Bronco,’ His Life And Career, And Running Through The House With A Pickle In Your Mouth, The ‘SNL’ You Remember Isn’t Coming Back Anytime Soon, The Greatest Food Porn Scenes In Cinema History — From Timpani To Big Kahuna Burgers — And What We Can Learn From Them, Iraqi-Canadian MC Narcy Explains The Danger Of Internet Deep Fakes, The Best Ways To Research Down Ballot Candidates And State Measures, Talking With NBA Veteran Al Harrington About Black Representation In Cannabis, Master Brewer Jaega Wise On Getting More Women Into The Beer Industry And Brewing During A Pandemic. Episodes rarely end with a cliffhanger, and close with a fade or cut to black with the closing music fading in. Interestingly, Rawls' suggested homosexuality never comes up again throughout the rest of the series. Central to the show's aim for realism was the creation of truthful characters. "[5], The Wire is lauded for its literary themes, its uncommonly accurate exploration of society and politics, and its realistic portrayal of urban life. Bubbles turns himself in to the police and tries to hang himself, but he survives and is taken to a detox facility. What does that mean, exactly? Sydnor, a rising young star in the Police Department in season 1, returned to the cast as part of the major crimes unit. [3], In distinguishing the police characters from other television detectives, Simon makes the point that even the best police of The Wire are motivated not by a desire to protect and serve, but by the intellectual vanity of believing they are smarter than the criminals they are chasing. Michael realizes he is being set up and kills Snoop instead. In the fourth season, four young actors joined the cast: Jermaine Crawford as Duquan "Dukie" Weems; Maestro Harrell as Randy Wagstaff; Julito McCullum as Namond Brice; and Tristan Wilds as Michael Lee. However, when former Attorney General Eric Holder, yet another powerful fan of the show, gently joked in 2011 that he’d like to see another season, he received a not-so-joking response from Simon, who retorted “we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanizing drug prohibition.” Unfortunately, it didn't work out. He tries to work as a manual laborer, but struggles to adapt to life as a free man. [34] Pelecanos has commented that he was attracted to the project because of the opportunity to work with Simon. Then, I believe the second year, he came by the set. Jay Landsman, a longtime police officer who inspired the character of the same name,[17] played Lieutenant Dennis Mello. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. Its 3-inch-by-5-inch profile won’t take up much room in a pack or purse. At the end of the sequence, a quotation (epigraph) is shown on-screen that is spoken by a character during the episode. Petit's "artistic crime of the century" inspired the films 'Man on a Wire' and 'The Walk.'. Kima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) was a capable lead detective who faced jealousy from colleagues and worry about the dangers of her job from her domestic partner. George Pelecanos, one of America’s most successful and well-respected crime fiction writers, on five episodes, was already an accomplished writer before getting hired for the show, having written several novels and screenplays, including the critically-acclaimed 1992 crime novel, When it comes to pop culture, the word “best” is tossed around so often that it’s hard to take it seriously. Soon, that streak will end. [3] The writing also uses contemporary slang to enhance the immersive viewing experience. Finding he no longer has the heart for murder, he quits the Barksdale crew. The Major is pleased that Sobotka was arrested; the case is seen as a success by the commanding officers, but is viewed as a failure by the detail.