"The Wire" on HBO

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/09/the-wire-was-really-a-victorian-novel/261164/

Most people know The Wire as the HBO police drama set in Baltimore—an intricate five-season exploration of the brokenness of the inner-city's war on drugs, education system, politics, and policing, and one of the most lauded television shows of all time. Fewer people know that it was originally a Victorian serial by the almost forgotten writer H.B. Ogden. Such, at least, was the claim of Sean Michael Robinson and Joy DeLyria, who created a virtuoso analysis of Ogden's work and an airtight argument as to why The Wire, with its serial format, moral message, and sympathy for the downtrodden, was quintessentially Victorian, and could never be reproduced in our own time. They accompanied their text with drawings (by Robinson) from the original Wire, including a striking depiction of Omar Little walking down a London street as urchins scatter around him.

Robinson and DeLyria's essay appeared on my blog, the Hooded Utilitarian, and quickly went viral. A year later, powerHouse books is publishing an entire novel/critique/parody called Down in the Hole: The unWired World of H.B. Ogden, out this week. The book resets numerous scenes from The Wire in a 19th-century London setting—whether it's D'Angelo, Bodie, and Wallace discussing processed chicken parts, or McNulty and Bunk investigating a crime scene while spewing colorful Victorian slang. DeLyria and Robinson also analyze the serial's structure, themes, and canonicity—and provide a copious helping of new illustrations I spoke to the two last month about H.B. Ogden and The Wire.

taking the dialogue out of the context of the show and placing it into a cultural context that we see as much more stuffy and restrained as our own creates a very jarring effect that certainly could be seen as some kind of commentary of both.

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I did end up rewatching this, in the middle of season two now

one of my housemates just watched S1-S3-S4-S2. annoyingly, she is a grad student so is home watching TV all the time and I couldn't take part

did come home one night in time to watch the last two docks eps though, <3 Frank Sobotka

why did she watch it in that order

my S2 was on loan and she disregarded my imprecations to wait

a friend of mine started with S3. It made me so mad

haha i went s2-s3-s1-s4-s5, but i was watching them on tv rather than via boxset/internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTaxGPrg5ew

fuzzy dunlop

i'm about four eps into season three

i've been rewatching w housemate (his first time), about 3/4ths through s2, omg frank. "you know what she said?" "what?" "i been flagged. says it says it right there on the computer: do not disconnect for non-payment. flagged. what the fuck does that mean?"

WHAT DO YOU SAY, JOHNNY? WHAT DO YOU SAY TO ANY QUESTION?

i take the fifth commandment.

AND IF THEY OFFER YOU IMMUNITY TO TESTIFY AGAINST YOUR UNION BROTHERS?

i don't remember.

DON'T REMEMBER WHAT?

nothing.

as for fuzzy dunlop, carver's face when the truck runs over the tennis ball is endless lols.

i've been rewatching w housemate (his first time), about 3/4ths through s2, omg frank. "you know what she said?" "what?" "i been flagged. says it says it right there on the computer: do not disconnect for non-payment. flagged. what the fuck does that mean?"

― difficult listening hour, Friday, 26 October 2012 03:43 (10 minutes ago) Permalink

omg just watched this ep

it's a new world, frank. you should go out and spend some of the money on something you can touch. a new car. a new coat. it's why we get up in the morning, right?

I like when he tells Spiros to stop being emo and eat some lamb.

that episode's titanic.

okay watch the trailer to the dumfuck RED DAWN remake and tell me you don't see ziggy bopping around in there

I HAVE COMPLETED THE WIRE ON HBO

is there anything worth living for now, y/n

yes, watching it again

i'm one of those jerks who doesn't have a tv and apologies for not having a tv and not knowing what's going on, and watches "one show at a time" by binging on DVDs. so this is a big moment. now it's time to be the jerk who is picking a new show to watch

i am also that person, except i have a tv and all i watch on it is basketball and sometimes the news

but yeah, i remember being super bummed out when season 5 ended. like, now what? i'm on the sopranos now which i also love, but only have like 20 eps left :(

Z S watch this you'll feel so awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX1Du7d4gTU

uuuuuuugh, awesome video!

^^^^

now it's time to be the jerk who is picking a new show to watch

this is a fascinating time, you feel like a roman emperor giving the thumbs up or down on whether someone will live or die. people are all six feet under, all sincerely, almost pleadingly, & you turn your thumb downwards

hahaha.

Z S have you watched twin peaks

Watch The Shield.

There are lots of series to enjoy post-Wire (Justified,Walking Dead,Boardwalk Empire etc) but I can't get past the feeling that I am slumming it and dumbing down.

lol schlump

I have watched twin peaks, but at about episode 18 on season two i just kinda stopped.

i don't know what to do. i've heard the shield is good, but not sure i'm up for a show with the imdb description "The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact." directly after watching the Wire! maybe in a year or two.

i finally watched some of the bonus features after finishing the final episode and saw that mcnulty is english! felt like discovering samus was a girl again, in a faint desperate echo of childhood discovery kind of way

Z S you can't go for any cop/police procedurals/crime thingies because they'll just remind you longingly of the wire

like you don't want to be that guy who goes to a singles bar and just takes out a picture of his ex from his wallet and looks at it w/ melancholy

you need to go hanggliding or cow tipping

hmmm maybe i should download the first season of that show where a wall quickly approaches and you have to slip through the human-shaped cutout

or is that like being in the singles bar and playing big buck hunter by yourself for 2 hours

that's like watching the simpsons, there's always time for the simpsons

oooh, or maybe i'll go in the opposite direction and start watching Empire every night. and when i go out i'll tell everyone "I'm watching Empire every night, I am so obsessed", and they'll start talking about steve buscemi, and i'll disdainfully cut them off and say "No, I mean Andy Warhol's Empire, of course. It's brilliant".

/intenselook

dude watch deadwood if you haven't already. Equally brilliant but in a way absolutely non-reminiscent of the wire and, in its way, utterly unequaled in the medium.

Also it is very fun. After the wire you can use some fun.

Just finished season three for second time this weekend.
On to pryz and the school system

watch prime suspect next

there so many good bbc miniseries from the 70s/80s that come close to or surpass the wire in quality and also require way less commitment

prime suspect chief among them but also tinker tailor soldier spy, house of cards, edge of darkness

diners, drive-ins and dives

^^ I'm home full-time right now and all I do is watch Wire in the Blood, MI5, George Gently, Taggart. Things I might watch next: Prime Suspect, Collision, Place of Execution, Midsomer Murders. Don't bother with Rosemary & Thyme imo.

xp obvs jeez

Actually MI5 is remarkably good I think and there are 10 seasons so it will love you back for a while. Maybe you don't want that kind of commitment but I say, try it.

laurel you havent watched prime suspect yet?!?!?