BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) THE LOOK
Each episode starts with a short segment that relates to the big picture of the shows premise. There was some hilarious ones, some sad ones, and some shocking ones but they were just as much part of the show than the main portion. Then we kick into the opening theme “Way Down in the Hole”. Each of the five seasons “The Wire” was on it was sung by different performers. From season one to season five we got the Blind Boys of Alabama, Tom Waits (the writer of the song), the Neville Brothers, “DoMaJe”, and the awesome Steve Earle. The theme and opening video fade into a quote. This is a quote that you’ll hear someone, or in one or two cases read, before the show is out. From there we bounce around all over the city of Baltimore. The locations are as realistic as possible because quite frankly you can’t get much more real than the genuine article. Nothing was over done or made any flashier than what you’d find in a real city atmosphere like that. This show gets tons of praise for just about every aspect, but I think many people ignore the directing that was done on the show. It never puts you in a spot where you’re thinking “ugh, this is a television show”. It’s nothing too flashy to the point that you’re annoyed by someone’s art project being disguised as an episode. It’s straight and to the point, but still with a signature style that carried through out. I’m not saying it was conventional or bland, but it was very easy on the eyes and at times perfectly inspirational. If you’re going to sit down with 60 hour long episodes of something it should probably look good, even if you don’t notice it.
(THREE)THE REALISIM
David Simon put together an awesome team for the show. With his own experiences in Baltimore, he already had an “in” with the culture and lifestyles of the city. Many of the characters are what Simon considered composites of real people. Then when he wasn’t making characters based off Baltimore residents, actually cast and hired untrained Baltimore residents to fill in smaller roles. And it’s not as if Simon just pulled off this from nowhere, he spoke to people, consulted with those who lived it, and put together a very vivid view of the gritty streets, the schools, the docks, the media, and the government officials letting everything happen. You find yourself shocked and surprised by some of the events and characters in the show, but there’s really never any point where you’re thinking “this could never happen”.
(TWO) THE ACTING/THE CHARACTERS
The wide variety of great characters that were performed by great actors could take awhile to fully get into. With each season, the “world of Baltimore” expanded more. With that each season added many new faces and characters to the show, while still focusing on a main core throughout the series. There are stints in the show where one character is featured more due to their current storyline arch, but ultimately there really is no one main character in the show. The group of cops was fun to watch and all had their own depths and stories to intertwine with the bigger picture of the show. “McNulty” played by Dominic West kind of serves as the main character at start. He’s a bit of a cliché in the fact that he’s a divorced alcoholic cop, but there’s much more to him and his story than just the stereotypes. The rest of the cop casting is just as strong and they’re lead by a strong Lance Reddick(of “Fringe” fame) playing Lt. Cedric Daniels. On the gang side of things we cover a few different gangs, but my favorite was the “Barksdale” crew. Avon Barksdale was played by Wood Harris and his top confidant “Stringer”, played by Idris Elba (of “The Office”/upcoming “Thor”), run the drug game on the streets. We get a glimpse of the shipping centers and docks as union man Frank Sobotka(Chris Bauer of “True Blood”), dock cop Beadie Russell(Amy Ryan of “The Office”, “Gone Baby Gone”, etc.), and the Greek mob. We later follow a politician through a portion of his career, the school and the kids who acted their asses off, and even the media covering these events. Two characters stand out to me as my favorites. First is the on and off again junkie named “Bubbles”, played by Andre Royo. “Bubs”, as he’s often called, worked with the cops as a criminal informant after dealers killed his friend. We follow his struggles and life as a junkie, which makes for some funny and downright depressing situations. Royo does it with so much charisma that you can’t help but continue to cheer the character on and wish the best for him. And of course, my and President Barack Obama’s favorite character was Omar Little. Played by the badass Michael K. Williams, Omar had one of the most interesting characters, stories, and personal mantra of anyone. He was a homosexual gangster that pretty much the entire city feared and talked about. He could walk down a street whistling and the crowded stoops and sidewalks would literally clear in his path. The thing is that Omar would never hurt a civilian, only drug dealers and other criminals. With his own set of morals and the power the character had, I can without a doubt say that Omar is one of the best television characters of all time.
(ONE) THE WRITING
By this point, you could imagine that the writing for this show was pretty huge in scope. David Simon along with Ed Burns, a former Baltimore homicide detective and school teacher, put together a masterpiece. The cops aren’t painted as do-gooding supermen, the criminals aren’t always vile and sadistic, and the world isn’t black or white. Not at all. This show paints almost everything in its own vivid shade of gray. I think the acting, production, and everything about this show worked perfectly together to craft the “perfect show”. But most of all, it’s got to given up for the writing. Many publications, critics, and fans are quick to call “The Wire” as the greatest television show of all time. It’s hard to even call “The Wire” a television show as it’s much much more. I’ve seen thousands of movies in my life and I would put the talent, production, and writing up against any of those movies. And I do honestly mean ANY of them. Not saying “The Wire” is better than some of the movie classics, but it’s surely on par with the best of the best. This is the best hour long cop drama of all time and there no show that has or does come close to it. In my humble view, I appraise “The Wire”, along with HBO’s “Six Feet Under”, “MASH”, and “The Simpsons” as the best television shows of all time. If you’re in the same boat with the other three, then “The Wire” is something you should see and see again. HBO should be praised for giving this to us. “The Wire” is being shown again on DIRECTV’s “101” in its uncut entirety starting this weekend. DIRECTV or not, you should own all five seasons and all 60 episodes on DVD. You are an incomplete television viewer, and possibly a person, without it.
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