The Wire by Kwicko

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The Wire

POSTED BY: KWICKO
UPDATED: Monday, December 29, 2008 17:42
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Monday, December 29, 2008 10:11 AM

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

M'kay, so I'd been hearing how great The Wire was, and I don't have HBO, so I've been waiting and waiting for it to go on sale. I rented the first couple disks of Season One, and my wife and I got hooked on them, so I knew we'd have to see all five seasons of it, but no one would ever put it on sale - and HBO seasons ain't cheap!

Well, just after Thanksgiving, it came out in a complete-series boxed set, but the price was a bit steep. I started doing the math - $5 a disk, some 22-25 disks in the series, and I was going to be paying around $110-125 to see it all. Then BestBuy put the box set on sale for $134.99. We talked it over, and that was our big Xmas gift for each other this year. (Of course, BestBuy then put it on sale at $89.99, so that's just gravy...)

We DEVOURED this show. We're done. Finished it last night. All I can say is.... WOW. Sometimes it feels like it takes forever for a season to get rolling, but it's not boring when it does so - it's just lining up all the pieces, setting up all the background story so when the pieces start to fall it all makes sense. And it's heartbreaking. It's bleak, it's hopeful, it's never-ending bad and all too little good in the world, it's the stuff real life is made of. People you want to die, don't; people you hope will live, don't - and they die in the stupidest possible ways, just out of the blue. Just like in real life.

Seasons Four and Five brought tears to my eyes, watching these kids have their very last days as carefree children, getting to play and not having to worry about things in the outside world - and then getting thrown into the world of dealers, hoppers, fiends, police, and kingpins. Watching them grow from boys into men, and hoping that just maybe one or two would get out before they got sucked down into The Game, it just broke my heart.

My favorite character? Omar Little. Dude is no good, and knows it, but he still lives by a strict code, even when no one else will. And if you pay attention, you'll notice he's the only one who never uses profanity, as if it's beneath him.

I also loved the realism of the police and courts - for the cops, the worst thing in the world is to get stuck with another case. For the courts, all the hard work by police is too quickly thrown aside for a quick plea bargain - and the kingpins rarely get anything stuck on them.

It's bleak, and it's hard to take, but it's simply astonishing television if you get the chance to see it. Rent it, buy it, borrow it, steal it; whatever you have to do, SEE IT!!

I'll be watching it all again, I'm sure.

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Monday, December 29, 2008 10:46 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Everything you said. Brilliance across the 5 seasons, actors, writers, everyone. As you say, the journey is a bit painful - it's hard to call it "entertainment" isn't it? It seems more important than that.

The season that revolved around the Baltimore Mayoral race was so good - you just know that that's how city/state politics is conducted. When I saw David Axelrod on Meet The Press last Sunday, shaking his head and smiling about contacts between Obama and Blagojevich, I know he's thinking, "Oh God, if only you people KNEW how things got done everyday. We dodged a bullet this time because we were actually pretty innocent."

It underscores the need for change - lots of change.

You might check out Generation Kill next - also David Simon & Co.

"Omar comin'!"

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Monday, December 29, 2008 12:54 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I've only seen the first three seasons so far, rented through Netflix, and I think it's one of the best things I've ever seen. That $90 price tag looks awful good (and amazon has it for the same price), only I've spent too much money this month already. My son, who has seen all of the show, used some of his Christmas money to order the set a couple of days ago, although it hasn't shipped yet.

I'll be getting the first disc of Season Four from Netflix in a week or so.

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Monday, December 29, 2008 1:18 PM

KWICKO

Well, for those who are reading this thread and HAVEN'T seen it all (or any of it) yet, let's try to keep on our toes and keep the spoilers to a minimum.

The political angle was nothing less than disturbing, because I'm a political junkie, and I *know* damn well that that's exactly the kind of crap that really goes on behind the scenes. It ain't the way it should be - not by a long shot - but it's the way it is.

Again, it's one of the things that makes me admire Omar. He just is what he is, and makes no apologies for it. If he says he's coming to get you, you best know Omar comin'!

I'd put The Wire in the same league with The Shield in my pantheon of law-n-order shows. But The Wire brings something none of those other shows ever have. More grit, more realism.

I'm still a bit shaken by the show. Just watched "The Dark Knight", and it certainly seemed tame in comparison, and all too cartoonish.

I fear The Wire may have ruined "mere TV" for me...

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Monday, December 29, 2008 1:24 PM

GRIZWALD

We're about halfway thru season 1 (Netflixing) and, like you say, we're hooked but can't say we honestly enjoy it, it's painful but we have to keep watching.

So Omar lives, huh?

___________________________________________________
High Priestess of Pork and Ag-Related Activities of the MYTHICAL LAND OF IOWA

Click on my profile for my Annoyingly Long List of Firefly Links.

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Monday, December 29, 2008 1:24 PM

KWICKO

Oh, and another thing that invites comparison to The Shield: both shows are marked by the fact that the same person - Clark Johnson - directed both shows' pilot episodes AND series finales.

Some of you may know Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis from the show Homicide: Life on the Street - also set in Baltimore!

Small world, huh?

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Monday, December 29, 2008 1:38 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Some of you may know Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis from the show Homicide: Life on the Street - also set in Baltimore!

Small world, huh?

Also, David Simon created both The Wire and Homicide, and was once a reporter for a Baltimore newspaper.

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Monday, December 29, 2008 1:54 PM

KWICKO

I knew Simon wrote for Homicide, but the series creator is listed as Paul Attanasio. Simon also wrote for NYPD Blue, back when it was good. Homicide was another of my favorite cop shows back in the day, and Meldrick was smooooooooth.

Looking up David Simon on IMDB, it looks like there was an earlier show, The Corner, that he did before The Wire. It's also set in Baltimore, and appears to be centered around the projects and the corner boys. I'll have to see if I can dig it up.

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Monday, December 29, 2008 2:03 PM

KWICKO

And yeah, I'll definitely have to check out Generation Kill. Dang - I just missed it being on sale at BestBuy for half off! :(

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Monday, December 29, 2008 5:42 PM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Looking up David Simon on IMDB, it looks like there was an earlier show, The Corner, that he did before The Wire. It's also set in Baltimore, and appears to be centered around the projects and the corner boys. I'll have to see if I can dig it up.

By all means dig it up (I found a used copy at Blockbuster of all places, "what the eff is this doing here?!"), it's almost a companion piece. But be warned... it's even bleaker and "realer." Bet you didn't think that was possible, huh?

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