"The Wire" on HBO

Plus he's confusing two unrelated points. Of course viewers who aren't actually from the ghetto get a vicarious thrill from watching the show. The same can be said about any good television or film drama, not to mention a lot of good feature journalism. And this "thrill" has little to do with the question of whether it's actually a realistic portrait or not, but my guess it's by far the closest thing to a realistic portrait of that life television has ever seen.

freakanomics should show oz to some actual aryan nation lifers.

you can read it from the site? i can't see the link.
there is more about how they caught the guy w/ 90 lbs. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-drugseizure0223,0,4786815.story don't put cocaine in the back of your pickup truck, duh

oh, i was looking at the wrong article, sry

I talked to my dad the other day; he and my mom are halfway through the first DVD of season one. This is going to be hilarious.

I swear there's some episode in season one where Prez is listening to a new wave station that sounds like its playlist comes straight from the 1980's. I'd never take Pryzbylewski for an OMD fan.

Gotta wonder what's on Rawls' playlist.

I can see Prez listening to alt rock or an alt rock for women station that would play new wave songs. I could see him liking Elvis Costello.

Rawls: butt rock. BTO "Taking Care of Business" - maybe "Slow Ride" - dude's a bear. Don't think he'd be listening to Madonna, but maybe Judas Priest.

Wait, what kind of radio format is "alt rock for women," exactly?

All I can imagine is "all Wallflowers, all the time," and the "for women" part is a bit confusing even then

Sarah McLaughlin
Ani DiFranco

http://www.filmquarterly.org/index2.html

basically latecomer anglo wire viewer says it isn't real enough/panders to white hbo viewers, citing... the fucking freakonomics blogger in nyt. no mention of it screening on BET i don't think. us racial politics, brit style.

Hmm, the writer doesn't necessarily seem to be saying that it isn't real enough. He seems to be examining the appeal of the show (and the Freakonomics blog series on the show) to white people, whom the writer seems to portray as a monolithic bloc. I went and read the Freakonomics posts, (academic watches the show w/actual black drug dealers and gang dudes) and they confirmed a significant amount of realism/authenticity.

I think the writer's portrayal of white people interested in the show is overly simplistic. I live in Oakland, and regularly see the dealers and junkies, and recent news stories of the Oakland PD could easily make a Wire season storyline. I watched the show, partly for a "inside view" into what I only observe walking or driving by, as well as noting regional differences -- Oakland's drug trade involves more kids on bikes -- probably in relation to a balmier climate and more spread out geography.

Prez is a Johnny Cash man! Or maybe the point is that he turns into one after going through wallflowers purgatory, and that combined with his Hemingway beard redeems him. David Simon clearly loving "The Man Comes Around" closing Generation Kill w/it too.

Wait, what kind of radio format is "alt rock for women," exactly?

In the SF Bay Area, there's a station called "Alice" - that smacks of being a national format - that consists of (based on overhearing it occasionally, advertised artists on station ads and on the masthead of their website) alt-folk-rock, new wave, lighter rock - like Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Coldplay. I think their target demographic is college educated white women between 25 - 45.

I live in a rural area and the Wire still rings true, just substitute Oxycontin and Meth for Dope and Coke. Our politicians are notoriously corrupt too. There's a Clay Davis in nearly every little, backwoods town.

In the SF Bay Area, there's a station called "Alice" - that smacks of being a national format - that consists of (based on overhearing it occasionally, advertised artists on station ads and on the masthead of their website) alt-folk-rock, new wave, lighter rock - like Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Coldplay. I think their target demographic is college educated white women between 25 - 45.

KFOG, basically.

KFOG is a bit more dudely than Alice - I think KFOG also targets older - like up to age 54. KFOG is radio for baby boomer dad who likes Clapton and sometimes kicks back and smokes weed.

Interesting article on dubbing The Wire into German:
http://blog.babbel.com/the-words-should-roll-out-of-the-mouths-on-the-dubbing-of-the-wire-in-german/

Interview, rather.

David Simon Blasts The New Baltimore Police Department Policy of Withholding The Names of Officers Who Use Deadly Force

another good DS article on the same topic in today's Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022703591.html?hpid%253Dopinionsbox1

THE WIRE COMES TO BBC2 THIS SPRING

good luck uk

http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2009/02/if-rappers-were-characters-from-the-wire

Has this been posted? It's surprisingly decent, tho McNulty was really really robbed.

real pleasure noticing that mcnulty and i were swigging from matching bottles of jameson tonight

There's a Clay Davis in nearly every little, backwoods town.

Boss Hog, pretty much.

Some casting news on David Simon's new project.
http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-3-10-new-oscar-nominee-joins-hbo-s-treme
Finding it kind of hard to visualize how this show will work at the moment, the concept seems quite nebulous

So this starts on BBC2 tonight. You all been good boys and girls telling everyone you've ever met to tune in now it's not on FX at 3 in the morning or whatever?

i bought series 1 on dvd and then lent it to someone after only watching the first 5. that was before christmas...

(am tempted to buy the others as well rather than be a slave to nightly bbc2 showings. is only £15 a season after all)

Best way to watch wire is three-four eps at a time tho. I stand by dvd

OTM. I don't know how I would have handled having to wait a WHOLE WEEK for a new episode.

It's mon-fri, 11:20pm, a bit too late really (projecting my life onto entire BBC2 viewers now), but I can't be bothered starting to concentrate on something at that time.

Was it on weekly when it was first shown (either HBO or FX)? - this seems like such a stupid question, I'm sorry. lol dvd boxsets.

Yeah, it was a weekly show during the HBO original run.

> It's mon-fri, 11:20pm

that would be too easy:

Mon 23:20 The Target
Tue 23:20 The Detail
Wed 23:20 The Buys
Thu 23:20 Old Cases
Fri 23:35 The Pager

With the iPlayer, isn't it now basically on whenever you want though? Just start a day late.

I'm like 80% certain I played craps with Marlo in Shreveport this weekend. Is he in the new David Simon project?

did u get shot? if no, prolly not marlo.

did it have hands? did it have a head?

this seems better, so far, I think:

WH ----??!!

Cagney and Lacey being a better show than The Wire is a special kind of challops.
Thanks for giving me a reason to hear the themesong again, tho'.

that kind of challops will get you a SB, son

I'm not saying it's a GOOD challop, just a special one.

just started re-watching this. <3

Am going to start watching this again this week - excited!

friend of mine the other day telling me how shes watching it for the 1st time - so jealous - already done 1-4 x2

I've only seen like 4 episodes so it kind of is like the first time for me.

yeah i might need to start over

still think the opening scene is G.O.A.T American Drama

like maybe it'll be boring and played at some point, but i bet countless theses/dissertations will use "you got to, man, this is america" as an epigraph or whatever for decades to come

snot boogie

btw 2/3rd seasons of big love are pretty great

Pinefox is autistic, right?

-- Dom Passantino, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 9:38 PM

Half my weekly phone conversation with my mom now revolves around her talking about the Wire. Yesterday she was bitching about Ziggy and telling me what the Greeks are up to now.