The Wire

By Buck Davidson In injury news, Brandon Roy of Portland is still nursing his gimpy hamstring, and is hoping to return to action this week. Considering how long this thing has lingered, though, we wouldn’t risk playing Roy in weekly lineup formats. Spurs guard Tony Parker is expected to miss several games d...

By Mike This New Yorker piece provides a fascinating insight behind the scenes of filming in Baltimore: And for those who know the story of Omar, Bubbles, Bunk and McNulty, Rawls, Stringer, Avon, Snoop, Marlo, Cheese, Prop Joe, Clay Davis already, here’s the 100 Greatest Quotes:

By Ivan R. Dee, Publisher Each of the show’s five seasons focus on different factors that together cause an unhealthy environment in a city desperately trying to rebuild itself. The first season introduces the drug organizations; the second season the union longshoremen; the third season moves back to the stre...

By Professor-Robot For those not in the know The Wire is about some police in Baltimore, Maryland and their laying down of some titular wire taps to ensnare their quarry; a drug ring on the west side. It’s an ensemble cast of relative unknowns played to absolute perfection. Dominic West plays the closest there i...

By Buck Davidson Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons: While Big Ben’s 8.4 points per game in 10 January outings doesn’t qualify as an offensive explosion, when combined with his 8.7 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks over the same period it merits Wire Troll notice. Wallace will have stretches like this, but figure...

By Buck Davidson Portland’s Brandon Roy, Utah’s Deron Williams and the Clips’ Chris Kaman are all day-to-day with injuries, but none appears to be of the long-term variety. Until they get back on the court, they are definitely risky plays in weekly lineup leagues. Kevin Garnett of Boston is expected back s...

Fandom: The Wire Characters: Lester Freamon, Duquan “Dukie” Weems, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski, William “Bunk” Moreland A/N: Written for the yuletide 2009 fic exchange. Story requested by ion_bond. Also posted at Archive of Our Own. This story takes place sometime between Season 4 and 5.

at the way you've bundled all of HBO - except The Sopranos, which is hardly the stand-out when considered next to The Wire, In Treatment, Deadwood, etc. ... and more »

Best (Buddhist?) TV Shows of the Decade: Six Feet Under and The Wire blog) That city is Baltimore, and that show is The Wire. I'm not sure any piece of television has interwoven the multilayered legal, cultural, criminal, ...

By Kristoffer Final shot: The pit is deserted. There are no drugs to be found. And hey: that’s all the cops wanted, right? The drug trade is stopped (temporarily halted, but you know, close enough). The dealers are out of work (for the day, I mean, and that’s something, right?). The success of the drug war can b...

By Chris Wassel Michal Rozsival, D, New York Rangers: Look, he is not going to set scoring records on fire, but he is a veteran and is starting to see more Power Play time. Rozsival has played well in his last two games and the Rangers have a schedule that favours a veteran presence on the blue line as opposed to...

David Simon, for example, could push boundaries with "The Wire" on HBO while averaging only 1.6 million viewers per episode, which would have earned him a ... TELEVISION: Best of the DecadeNiagara Gazette Best TV Shows of the DecadeHollywood.com all 15 news articles »

The Star-Ledger - NJ.com Best of the '00s in TV: Best Dramas The Star-Ledger - NJ.com The Wire" (HBO, 2002-2008): The Great American Novel for television, David Simon and Ed Burns' saga of cops, drug dealers ... Best of the '00s in TV: Best MiniseriesThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com all 5 news articles »

In fact, Gomorrah is more like Soderbergh's Traffic, or at least a slice in the same vein as the brilliant HBO's series The Wire, where the viewer ...

By neighbourhoodcat Over here is a review of the book that I like because of its quotes. I don’t have much time for the still rich and obsolete members of the “music industry”, but there’s a lot to learn from Steve Knopper’s book and yea, I’ll probably watch whatever HBO do with it – I mean, The Wire was pretty good ri...

By Buck Davidson Larry Hughes, New York Knicks: Hughes will remain in the Knicks’ starting lineup for the immediate future, at least according to head coach Mike D’Antoni. Hughes has stepped into the void created by the absence of Robinson, who’s expected to miss up to two weeks with a sprained ankle, but t...

As well as viewers, cast members of the show have previously said they found it difficult to understand the dialogue used in the HBO series. ... Using subtitles to watch The Wire? The writer says that's criminalBelfast Telegraph all 5 news articles »

By Tim McLeod Michael Saunders, OF, Seattle Mariners: The 22-year-old with five-tool potential was not called up to sit, and being blocked by only Ryan Langerhans should make playing time opportunities a rather safe bet. The Orioles Bullpen: Jimmy Johnson is first in line for the duration of 2009 wit...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) I've been accused in past "Wire" reviews of being too hard on McNulty, so I should say upfront that I don't dislike the guy. As impeccably played by Dominic West -- one of those actors with a gift for becoming more appealing, not less, the worse his behavior gets -- how could you not find Jimmy l...

By davidbarb I first heard of The Wire from Charlie Brooker in his TV show, ‘Screenwipe’.  From his Guardian columns and his TV shows I had come to massively respect his opinions, and his endorsement of The Wire was so warm and sincere that I knew I had to check it out.  If you click here you can see  Charlie’s...

By Tim Weaver Nay, this is about the book that served as the inspiration for The Wire; which affords it an immediate hollowed status in contemporary literature. Clockers by Richard Price is quite frankly one of the best books I have ever read in my life.

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) • "The Wire" is nothing if not patient, as is Jimmy McNulty, and the show is willing to take the time to show Jimmy taking the time to screw over Bill Rawls and Jay Landsman (who, we find out, was the one who gave away Jimmy's fear of the marine unit, rather than Jimmy himself doing it out of self-...

By noreply@blogger.com (Adam Whitehead) The fourth and penultimate season of The Wire sees the show moving into new territory. At the end of Season 3 the Barksdale organisation was finally destroyed for good, McNulty found himself some happiness and Daniels got a promotion. The goals set out in Season 1 had been achieved. So, where...

By Aleks Chan Now for some good news: Amy Ryan, her of the Academy Award-nominee and all-around awesomenes fame, has signed on to reprise the role she played in the fourth season finale of NBC's The Office. She'll continue being Dunder Mifflin's human resources rep for at least five episodes -- or at lea...

By Richard Vine If you're jonesing for more post-Wire sightings, this week's Heroes (BBC2, 9pm) is a good place to start, with Marlo (Jamie Hector) feeding off fear and Bubbles (Andre Royo) summoning up black holes. Both skills you feel they could have put to good use in B-more. Dominic West is next, rompin...

By Alan Sepinwall(noreply@blogger.com) Spoilers for episode 9, "Game Day," coming up just as soon as I put on my sun visor... I just don't wanna play. Don't wanna play no more." -Wallace Coming up next Friday: "The Cost," in which the detail tries to find the stash, Stringer reaches out to Omar and Kima has a night out.

By Media Maven David Simon is a smart, smart dude.  That much is clear.  He never shies away from dealing with important, contemporary issues in important, contemporary ways, like racism, disillusionment, corruption, hope, and many more.  But at the same time, it's also crystal clear that David Simon began his career as a journalist, not an author or screenwriter.  David Simon looks for the story, the verisimilitude, the interesting idea.  He doesn't look for the emotional hook, the character arc, or the vulnerability of his primary players.  And until David Simon can crack this code and find a way to combine his journalistic eye for riveting stories with the human need for emotional connection, not only will his projects struggle to find viewershi...   [read the full post]

By shadowcampaigner It's an absolute travesty that "The Wire" -- probably The Single Greatest Television Series in History -- has for years now been snubbed by people who decide what's best on TV.  After 5 seasons of positively brilliant, wrenching work, the Wire may -- may -- receive an Emmy nomination t...

By marcsteinerblog External Links David Simon: The Wire Exit Interview from Baltimore City Paper Bittersweet Work of Wrapping 'Wire' from The New York Times What Does a Producer Do?by Marshall Persinger Nina Noble from Internet Movie Database Nina Noble and friends accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Mi...

By jason@kottke.org Yanksfan vs. Soxfan views The Wire through the lens of Baltimore sports. Assorted other articles that I'll leave unexcerpted: AV Club interview with Simon, final episode recap from Thoughts on Stuff, and a letter on HBO's site from David Simon to the fans of the show.

By marcsteinerblog This is a selection of images taken at Viva House in West Baltimore.  Move your cursor over the pictures for captions. Baltimore's Viva House from America, The National Catholic Weekly Mildred and Me , from Laura Lippman.com-Laura writes about her experience volunteering at Viva House. Di...

By marcsteinerblog We're back again today with another fantastic interview for you.  Last week Marc sat down with Robert Chew, the Baltimore native who has portrayed the east Baltimore drug lord Proposition Joe for the past several years on the hit HBO series The Wire.  Prop Joe, as he came to be known, was an ic...

By marcsteinerblog Here are just a few of the thousands of interviews with and articles about David Simon. Stealing Life: The Crusader behind The Wire in the New Yorker, October 22nd, 2008.Interview: Talking With the Creator of One of T.V.'s Best and Smartest Shows in Rolling Stone, September 25th, 2005.Under t...

By marcsteinerblog HBO: The Wire: Interview: Ed Burns Ed Burns on Fresh Air in November 2006 The Ethical Scumbag (blog) interviews Ed Burns Edutopia: Edward Burns: Bringing Education Reality to TV The Wire Links (blog) Links to articles and info on THE WIRE   Ed Burns on the set of The Wire As we promised last w...

By Mark Namond is the lucky one. Someone pulled him from the soup. The "system" failed him as much as it did the other kids, it's just that he was lucky enough to end up where there was someone with a hand to lend. Dukie was too smart and Michael too functional to be in the "corner kids" program, never got a c...

By Mark Freamon and Leander crack Marlo's code. Marlo is going down, and so is Chris, thanks to Bunk. Now, we know Micheal didn't sell out Chris but he's sure to be blamed - probably not by Chris, though. Marlo may go down due to the cell phone number that Herc stole from Levy's office. Levy is sure to figur...

By mcnulty Bunk seem to be about to crack soon, don’t think he’ll rat on McNulty or Freamon, but he’s pretty pissed off. Also liked the scene when he’s interrogating Michael. Hope he gets to Chris and Snoop soon. btw, did you notice that Dominic West (playing McNulty) directed this episode? How cool is th...

By Nick Denton Devotees of The Wire, myself among them, should be delighted by this hint given by one of the HBO drama's actors. Dominic West, who plays the increasingly manic police detective, Jimmy McNulty, tells the Los Angeles Times some of his colleagues are lobbying David Simon for a movie spinoff...

Related articles from Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress and more.

By mcnulty And Omar, what a mess he got himself in. Hope I gets out on top, but from the looks of it that won’t happen. Yepp, a little bit late I know. But I’ve finally got the time to type up my impressions of episode 5 (just in time for tonights episode 6, can’t wait!). For the first time during the course of this...

By jason@kottke.org How are they going to wrap this up? I don't care what happens to Carcetti or McNulty or Freamon or Daniels and we're obviously going to get some sort of closure on either Omar or Marlo, but if they leave the Dukie, Bubs, and Michael threads significantly hanging, I'm gonna be pissed. (Predict...

By Rick Monaco In a mildly radical departure from traditional political values, I've decided to endorse Omar Little from "The Wire" as my choice for presidential candidate. Let me be clear about this: I'm not endorsing Michael Kenneth Williams, the actor who portrays Omar on the show, but rather the ch...

By Tempo Sen. Barack Obama has previously said that HBO’s "The Wire" is his favorite show. But now Obama's revealed another tidbit. In a story from Monday's Las Vegas Sun, the presidential candidate said that the bold thief Omar is his favorite character on "The Wire."

By Tempo Here is a feature/review of Season 5 of "The Wire," as well an interview with the HBO show's creator and executive producer, David Simon. The full interview, which is below the story, does not contain Season 5 spoilers.There's also a transcript of my talk with John Carroll, Simon's former e...

By mcnulty Another bright point was the journo crew at the Baltimore Sun which seem to be just as much of a  motley crew as the gangsters and police. It was great to see so many familiar faces in one single episode - McNulty, Bunk, Kima, Herc, Marlo, Prop Joe, Bubs, Carter, Carcetti, Chris, Snoop, Michae...

Arts, Briefly New York Times, United States - “The Wire,” HBO’s urban drama, has won critical acclaim and honors including the prestigious Peabody Award. But one of its stars, Wendell Pierce, said, ...

With strike, it comes down to 'The Wire' By Chuck Barney "The Wire," one of television's best shows -- if not the very best -- returns to HBO for its fifth and final season on Jan. ... The Wire' loses spark in newsroom storyline Baltimore Sun Inside 'The Wire' Wall Street Journal

By Tempo The innovative, addictive, Emmy Award-winning television series 24 resets the clock for “Day 7” with a special two-night premiere event beginning Sunday, Jan. 13 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and continuing in the series’ regular time period Monday, Jan. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The sea...

By paula@writingshow.com With David Simon, creator of "The Wire," featuring host Bob Andelman

By Eric Berlin Like a new chapter in a grand and sweeping novel, The Wire returned tonight, opening up its fourth season on HBO. Perhaps The Great American Novel is making way for something else. If that's so, I'd argue that The Wire is a Great American Story, made up of some of the richest and most fully reali...