"The Wire" on HBO

oh sorry

I sat down and tried to make a list of as many characters on The Wire as I could remember, the only stipulation being that I had to remember their names, rather than "that young hopper from Season 1" or "McNulty's partner on the boat." I came up with 85 and didn't even remember Mayor Royce until I checked to see who I missed.

boring.xls

lol.zip

When I end up a cat lady I'm totally gonna call them Omar and Stringer to at least give me and mah pussies an edge.

God this show was so fucking good. Five seasons was not enough.

I mentioned this on the Downtown Brooklyn thread, but I saw Rawls eating breakfast at the place I went to last weekend.

Apparently DFW thought it was "the best writing being done in America today."

I would agree.

**SPOILER**

What reason was given to the police force as to why Lester and Jimmy were "retiring"? Obviously no one could know the actual reason.

you don't have to have a reason to quit your job. same for daniels' resignation. "spend more time with the family"

watching Oz has been pretty cool. bodie! avon!

daniels, freamon, herc, carver.

saw Bubs on an episode of L&O:CI

I used to be way into Oz, but I didn't even make it through S1 the last time I tried watching it again. I think it might be the only TV show that doesn't benefit from sustained viewing (vs. week-to-week).

you don't have to have a reason to quit your job. same for daniels' resignation. "spend more time with the family"

uh, "spend more time with the family" was Daniels' "reason". It can be a bullshit reason but I'm pretty sure that people would have been wondering why the two guys left the job at the same time.

they both had pretty bad reputations in the dept, i don't think anyone outside the situation would be surprised to see them go

v. looking forward to seeing Michael K. Williams in The Road

I'm actually re-watching Oz right now. I was obsessed with it in high school and even though it's even more preposterous than I remember it's still great. As long as you view it as a soap opera versus a serious drama.

Inmates
* J.D. Williams played Kenny "Bricks" Wangler on Oz and Preston "Bodie" Broadus on The Wire.
* Domenick Lombardozzi played Ralph Galino on Oz and Thomas "Herc" Hauk on The Wire.
* Seth Gilliam played ex-corrections officer Clayton Hughes on Oz and Sergeant Ellis Carver on The Wire.
* Lance Reddick plays undercover detective Johnny Basil whose cover identity is Desmond Mobay on Oz and ascendant police commander Cedric Daniels on The Wire.
* John Doman played Edward Galson on Oz and caustic police commander William Rawls on The Wire.
* Method Man played Carlton "Tug" Daniels on Oz and East side drug lieutenant Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on The Wire.
* Tom Mardirosian played Agamemnon Busmalis on Oz and FBI agent Kristos Koutris on The Wire.
* Michael Potts played Reinhardt in the Oz episode "Medium Rare" and Brother Mouzone on The Wire.
* Clarke Peters played Afsana in the Oz episode "The Bill of Wrongs" and Lester Freamon on The Wire.
* Tim McAdams played Johnny Post on Oz and a motorist and school teacher in The Wire episode "Transitions".
* Derrick Simmons played Billie Keane and did stunt work on Oz and did stunt work on The Wire.
* Lawrence Cameron Steele plays an Aryan in the Oz finale "Exuent Omnes" and a Western district shift lieutenant in the third season of The Wire.
Prison staff
* Reg E. Cathey played Warden Martin Querms on Oz and political aide Norman Wilson on The Wire.
* Wood Harris played Officer Gordon Wood in the Oz episode "Plan B" and Avon Barksdale on The Wire.
* Cyrus Farmer played Officer Adrian Johnson on Oz and Devar Manigault on The Wire.
* Curtis L. McLarin played Officer Lonnie Smith on Oz and a florist in The Wire episode "Transitions".
* Toni Lewis played dog trainer Alicia Hinden on Oz and an FBI agent in The Wire.
Others
* Frankie Faison played Cornelius Keane in the Oz episode "Capital P" and Ervin Burrell in The Wire.
* Michael Hyatt played Sadia Khayn in the Oz episode "Out O' Time" and Brianna Barksdale in The Wire.

I'm so glad to be able to go into this thread now w/out fear of spoilers (I had the misfortune of hearing about some major deaths thanks to youtube and the wire website).

Funny DFW's take on this should be mentioned. I spent last Sunday just watching the wire partly as relief from the shock of his death.

But honestly, as someone who doesn't really watch TV anymore, has there ever been anything on TV that comes even close to this? (and don't even try to say The Sopranos).

Biggest disappointment about the Season 5 DVD: hearing the actor who plays Norman's real voice (high pitched and whiny!) in the special features.

they both had pretty bad reputations in the dept, i don't think anyone outside the situation would be surprised to see them go

Freamon was older and everyone would have probably believed he was just going to do dollhouse miniatures full-time. McNulty may have had a bad rap in certain circles but I can't imagine that people would have just accepted his retirement without asking questions. I assumed that maybe there was a cover story I missed, but maybe they left it unsaid.

dude

everybody always makes up shit after people quit anyway. have you ever worked at a job?

what do you think the cover story was for busting whatsisface back to the copy desk?

"irreconcilable differences"

dude I KNOW they made an excuse up, I was just wondering what the excuse was!

Watched all of it over the last month and it was great up until the end. Season 4 my absolute favorite.

It kind of seems like at least a couple people knew why McNulty and Freamon were leaving - Landsman at least seems to have reconciled himself with it after bitching at McNulty for so long. Or something. That's just the vibe I got at the fake wake.

Also, fuck this guy:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/The_Wire_Templeton.jpg/250px-The_Wire_Templeton.jpg

I didn't find the Sun stuff as compelling as the rest of the season's narrative are; here's where I felt David Simon's bitterness strangle the development of situations beyond the most obviously cartoonish. The McNulty-Templeton Secret Sharer stuff felt cheap.

*the rest of the season's narrative ARC

The McNulty-Templeton Secret Sharer stuff felt cheap.

yeah, but without it you don't get this:

"You... you can't be serious"
"You're right. I'm a joke. And so are you."

One of the most powerful elements of the show was how very few got what we thought they deserved. Namond was the last kid in season 4 anyone would have picked to be saved, but he was the one who gets a second chance at life. The Jayson Glass character gets the Pulitzer while his honest colleagues get the shaft. Valchek makes commissioner. Poot stays alive and becomes a taxpayer while Wallace (and to an extent, a redeemed Bodie) die in the game.

But at the same time, there was a hopefulness and optimism to the show; bad things happened to good people and good things happened to bad people, but unlike Oz, which reveled in piling on sadness and despair, there was always a layer of sanguinity on The Wire. Enough to make it tolerable but not enough to make concessions to the viewer.

Eh. Generally you're right, but in the newspaper scenes I suspected that, for Simon, shit happens = truth. You know, that old canard about how sad songs say so much.

I noticed that the kid who played Mike is in that new excruciatingly-well-intentioned and painfully-awful-looking Queen Latifah movie.

Michael was also playing lacrosse in the 2 minutes of the new 90210 that I saw.

Michael as the new Omar and Dukie as the new Bubs was kind of awesome / sad / expected.

and randy as the next... bodie?

Don't forget Sydnor as the new McNulty

Biggest disappointment about the Season 5 DVD: hearing the actor who plays Norman's real voice (high pitched and whiny!) in the special features.

What? No. Smooth and deep. Here:

I'm watching the Wire all weekend at the Curzon in Soho! SO HYPED!

pls let Dominic West be in character at the bar after.

The Wire Weekender Schedule

Saturday 20th September
10.30am
Ticket collection, coffee and croissants available at special rate.
11.00am
EPISODES 1 and 2 plus Q&A # 1 – David Simon and Misha Glenny on crime writing
3pm
EPISODES 3 and 4
5.30pm
Episode 5 Short intro by David Simon
6.30pm
Book signing by David Simon and informal drinks at the Curzon Soho bar

Sunday 21st September
9.30am
Ticket collection, croissants and coffee available at special rate
10am
EPISODES 6 and 7plus Q&A # 2 – David Simon Mark Billingham
2pm
EPISODES 8 and 9
4.15pm
Q&A # 3 Dominic West and David Simon in conversation with Kirsty Lang from Front Row. 5.30pm.
EPISODE 10
7.00pm
DVD signing and informal drinks at the Curzon Soho bar.

So here's what I know so far:

Season 1 = about the drug trade
Season 2 = about the port
Season 3 = about how Daniels looks with his shirt off

Season 4 = how Daniels looks like in a kepis.

Season 5 = How McNulty looks in a spacesuit.

Rawls: "McNulty, you've done good work here, and I just want to make sure you don't end up where you don't want to be."

cut to Freamon watching through porthole as McNulty picking up space-junk. "You never learn, McNulty."

Seriously, though, that guy must work out a LOT

Yeah, he has one of those comic book hero bodies.

Saw Freamon on the way out of Chris Rock at the Apollo; dude couldn't walk five steps without someone giving him love. He's a smooth dude.

let's not custos the wire thread, gents

Aren't you supposed to be packing up your stuff?

anyway I laughed at thought of mcnulty in space suit

but of course I would