The Wire Series 1

[DCI Harry Batt]

God, I'm glad I missed this thread at the time. Why are so many white men so desperate to be "allowed" to use the n-word?

Anyway, it's the best thing there's ever been on telly, for sure. One of a few the best things ever, but still the best thing ever. I guess I watched it in about a year, 2018-19 or so. Put off to an extent by the hype, as happens to me. Glad I stopped being put off, as it was excellent.

[Tratorello]

My girlfriend had never seen it so I'm rewatching it with her and its just as brilliant as I remember it. We're currently halfway through season 4 and I'm already feeling sad that we've only got another dozen hours or so of it.

[danielmak]

I haven't fully thought through but I wonder what the Wire will preview for us about the distribution of a COVID vaccine. The stuff about stats in the Wire (both schools and crime stats) and the problems with materials just sitting in a storage room (schools) have me thinking we are about to witness some of the same bureaucratic insanity.

Another issue that I think about is the war on drugs (such a funny phrase -- as if someone can fight a thing in the same way that a person fights another person). In the US, marijuana has been legalized in many states, Oregon just made many drugs basically legal. Yet the federal government has not made the same move.

Finally, the actress that played Snoop died a few years back. I don't think she had much success finding work after The Wire.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/facethenation/status/1345773800500170758

[Janik]

I haven't fully thought through but I wonder what the Wire will preview for us about the distribution of a COVID vaccine. The stuff about stats in the Wire (both schools and crime stats) and the problems with materials just sitting in a storage room (schools) have me thinking we are about to witness some of the same bureaucratic insanity.

Another issue that I think about is the war on drugs (such a funny phrase -- as if someone can fight a thing in the same way that a person fights another person). In the US, marijuana has been legalized in many states, Oregon just made many drugs basically legal. Yet the federal government has not made the same move.

Finally, the actress that played Snoop died a few years back. I don't think she had much success finding work after The Wire.

Er, are you sure about the last bit? Here she is being interviewed just 16 months ago. And in a print interview dated to May 2020.

One character who was vile but absolutely brilliantly played was Snoop. I have seen that character so many times (albeit invariably male). Indeed, I wonder if the real life Snoops that I see are actually her percolated through popular culture onto the streets of London, Bristol, Swindon and even Bath.

And whilst on the subject, the actress of Snoop is a real-life Snoop (who is actually called Snoop!). Did a number of years time for homicide prior working on the Wire, and another multi-year sentence for drug dealing after it.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Wow. Just read her entry on Wikipedia. Born a premature crack baby to two incarcerated addicts.

Felicia Pearson - Wikipedia

[Incandenza]

By the way, the Steve Earle cameo didn't work for me. Not that he didn't play his character well, it's just that it was always Steve Earle in The Wire - the band logo tattoo and jacket didn't help either. Apologies for the comparison but Little Steven worked much better in The Sopranos as he changed enough.

I knew the name Steve Earle, but had no idea what he looked like, so I never knew that was Steve Earle until the show was almost over, so I never had that issue. I wouldn't think that David Simon would put him in because he's Steve Earle and he didn't think he was the best person for the role.

[danielmak]

My mistake about Snoop. It was the second drug bust that I read about: https://www.baltimoresun.com/marylan...808-story.html

I have spent very little time in Baltimore but I think the casting of Steve Earle was meant to help bridge the southern and northern vibe of that city. Simon cast Earle in Treme as well, where Earle was maybe a better fit. I'm a big fan of his music but I don't know if he is the best actor. I didn't really have a feeling one way or the other about him in the role at the time, but then after seeing him in Treme, Simon seems to like Earle as this wise old head musician. That does feel a bit like Earle playing Earle more than playing a role (i.e., I don't think Earle seems very different when being interviewed about his music and the causes he supports than hearing him talk about the topics at hand in fictional TV shows).

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I've watched the first four series so far and I never knew Walon was played by Steve Earle. I have a Steve Earle CD that I listen to every now and then but I had practically never seen him or any photo of him so I didn't have an image to recognise. To me, he was just Walon.

[Bored Of Education]

Oh, it's probably only an issue for me and the tiniest scintilla of an issue at that.

[Sam]

EEG, while perhaps not as good as the others (although I rewatched the lot and my girlfriend saw it all for the first time about a year ago, and it stood up better than I remembered), series 5 is still better than any other TV ever. It's just got an astonishingly high bar to try and clear, especially following right on from S4.

Since we're on music artists showing up in non-cameo roles, no problems with Method Man in his role, Bored? (I thought both him and Earle were fine, FWIW.)

[Bored Of Education]

I'm not the hugest Wu-Tang fan so I spent a fair bit of time thinking, "I know him...." so no. I have to say that, with Steve Earle, it was his logo on his tour jacket that broke the fourth logo initially and then his tattoo of the same. It almost happened again when McNulty did his Dick Van Dyke accent. It would be like Silvio bringing out a guitar. Which, of course, Steve Van Zandt does in "Christmas Chronicles" and that doesn't spoil that film.

Anyway, as I said, the most minor of quibbles, it's brilliant.

[Lang Spoon]

I really don't want to restart the most boring conv in the world but Sopranos has it over the Wire for me cos: no Aiden Gillen. No McNutty drifting accent faux pas either. Nothing as awful as the serial killer story in S5, and the awful sad face Caruso schlub journo. Not his fault he was like a puffy face csi sunglasses prick to me but there you go. He doesn't even look like that ginger fuck but still. And Hamsterdam in S3. That shit (specifically the way it was kept secret) needed sooo much suspension of disbelief . And general didacticism throughout when Burns wasn't punching Simon in the back of the head enough.

no too on the nose Circle of Life ending montage to finish the Sopranos thanks be to fuck.

season 2 was fucking magnificent though. Poor Frank.

[Lobachevsky]

I’ve watched the whole thing 3 times except the Wallace episode which I haven’t been able to bear seeing again. The most affecting fictional scene ever and I still want him to stay down out his Grandma’s. Second time round it was the docks I loved and third time it was the schools,

[Incandenza]

I'm not the hugest Wu-Tang fan so I spent a fair bit of time thinking, "I know him...." so no. I have to say that, with Steve Earle, it was his logo on his tour jacket that broke the fourth logo initially and then his tattoo of the same. It almost happened again when McNulty did his Dick Van Dyke accent.

Again, for me and I'm guessing some other Americans, I had no idea who Dominic West was before seeing him in the Wire. I had no idea he was British until much later.

Which reminds me of the story of Idris Elba auditioning. He told it in his Hot Ones episode. Apparently Simon wanted only Americans being cast. The casting director snuck him in.

https://youtu.be/tYRS0aXaBC8?t=987

[Bored Of Education]

I’ve watched the whole thing 3 times except the Wallace episode which I haven’t been able to bear seeing again. The most affecting fictional scene ever and I still want him to stay down out his Grandma’s. Second time round it was the docks I loved and third time it was the schools,

********************************************MASSIV E SPOILER AND I CAN'T WORK OUT HOW TO HIDE IT!!********************************************** ***************
When Bodie had the same treatment as Wallace, my wife said, "Oh no!" and I had to remind her of what he did. I don't know whether it was a strength or not of the show that it made you warm to characters like him.
************************************************** ********************END OF MASSIVE SPOILER******************************************* **********************************

[RobW]

I really don't want to restart the most boring conv in the world but Sopranos has it over the Wire for me cos: no Aiden Gillen. No McNutty drifting accent faux pas either. Nothing as awful as the serial killer story in S5, and the awful sad face Caruso schlub journo. Not his fault he was like a puffy face csi sunglasses prick to me but there you go. He doesn't even look like that ginger fuck but still. And Hamsterdam in S3. That shit (specifically the way it was kept secret) needed sooo much suspension of disbelief . And general didacticism throughout when Burns wasn't punching Simon in the back of the head enough.

no too on the nose Circle of Life ending montage to finish the Sopranos thanks be to fuck.

season 2 was fucking magnificent though. Poor Frank.

All this. Have recently finished watching The Wire again, having lent it to my parents to watch (they watched one episode and fell asleep). The quality of season 5 is so down on the others, thanks to McNulty and the awful Baltimore Sun story. Season 4 is wonderful, mostly down the kids, but also because less screen time is devoted to McNulty. Unlike the Sopranos, which I can watch every year, I think i'll leave it another few years before watching The Wire again. The more I watch, the more I pick it apart (usually to do with the police aspect). Still seasons 2 and 4 are masterpieces, closely followed by 1 and 3.

[danielmak]

Like Inca, I didn't know any of these characters before the Wire so never caught onto accent issues, esp. since there a bunch of different US accents in the show.

Method Man as a character didn't really bother me. I'm not a huge Wu Tang fan and never saw any of Method Man's stoner movies. One more thing about Earle, he had a heroin problem and was in prison for a drug-related offense if I remember correctly. So, I assume Simon felt like those experiences would bring authenticity to the character.

Season 5 was poor. I think he could have done something much better with that. I would have blended something with hospitals and journalism. There was no way Simon was moving off the JOUR angle given his past, but the serial killer angle was so stupid. But something with drugs and hospitals (a la the movie, Fort Apache the Bronx) would have be interesting. I posted this in one of the Wire threads. Simon said he had hoped for a sixth season focused on immigration and the drug war. I'm sure he would have done that better than other shows, but that is a saturated topic. Simon didn't follow through because the strength of the show was writers writing from experience and they didn't have anyone in their team that had expertise. I assume he also couldn't find a good fit to join the team.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I deliberately didn't read the final paragraph of danielmak's post for fear of spoilers, as I've just started watching S5 for the first time this evening, so am one episode in so far. I was a bit distracted by seeing David Costabile playing that managing editor bloke - to me he will always be Gale Boetticher.

[Bored Of Education]

Yes, we had a bit of that as well.

One more thing about Earle, he had a heroin problem and was in prison for a drug-related offense if I remember correctly. So, I assume Simon felt like those experiences would bring authenticity to the character.

Oh aye, I am aware of all that and appreciate it. Indeed, there is nothing particularly unrealistic about Earle's portrayal, indeed, I wonder how much of it is acting. Also, it is really just my issue that i couldn't disconnect him from being Steve Earle. Perhaps it was because he was playing someone so close to his real character but I wonder how wide his acting abilities are outside that sort of characters. Mind you, I think the main issue for me was him having his logo on his jacket.

[danielmak]

Also, it is really just my issue that i couldn't disconnect him from being Steve Earle. Perhaps it was because he was playing someone so close to his real character

I agree with this part off the quote. As I posted upthread, his character in Treme wasn't radically different. FYI, Treme took me 3 episodes. I was ready to quit, but the third into the fourth worked for me. It's very dated I think because so much surrounds the immediacy of Katrina. I think I've been to New Oreleans once since Katrina, was only there for 3 days, so I can't speak to the lingering effects. I never left the French Quarter because my work stuff was there, but the Quarter seemed to have rebounded totally by that time. Anyway, Treme is a good drama.

[Lang Spoon]

Taking the sheen off my Sopranos stanning slightly, our rewatch took us to the Columbus Day episode last night, and that's as crappy as anything in season 5 of The Wire. Everything just feels off and badly directed, the demo/"riot", Montell on the telly, the old time Native American actor who (gasp!) might really have been Italian, it's just shit.

[E10 Rifle]

Maybe it's my own work background that makes me stick up for season five a bit. It's the least brilliant of the five seasons for sure but still has loads of brilliant elements. David Simon's clearly giving it both barrels with his own bitterness at the state of his industry but he's absolutely right to do so, and the stuff going on with Cutty, Dukey and others is still well worth following. In fact if there was one bit of dialogue that encapsulated, more than any other, what The Wire was about it's Dukey responds to some wise words from Cutty about the nature of the world with the question, "So how do you get from here to the rest of the world". Cutty just pauses, shrugs and says, "I dunno". All the sense of being trapped and powerless and fucked - even when full of wisdom and compassion - is summed up there.

The serial killer thing's a load of gibberish obviously, mind.

[Bored Of Education]

I really liked the newsroom parts of it as well and, like I say, Gus Haynes is one of my favourite characters. As you say, it is only the serial killer thing that is silly.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Chatting with my siblings over Zoom today, my eldest sister said she reckoned Spiral was better than The Wire because it didn't have the "American sentimentality" of the latter. She still thought the Wire was great, mind, but wow, that's some austere attitude. We need a bit of sentimentality.