A couple of good articles on The Wire for your delectation. The first is from the Columbia Journalism Review, which discusses the history behind The Wire, as well as David Simon’s views on journalism and his relationships with his ex-colleagues. The Chicago Tribune has a similar piece as well, but is more focused on the TV show than the CJR piece.
The Wire
US TV
Review: The Wire 5×1
In the US: Sundays, 9pm, HBO
In the UK: FX at some point. Hopefully
Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: Unknown. Some still MIA
Major new characters: Dozens
Format change percentage: 75%
There was a criminal injustice committed last year. In March’s list of the 50 greatest TV dramas ever, The Wire wasn’t even mentioned. It came nowhere. Something called The Sopranos (sp?) came in at number one. What’s up there?
There are many theories as to why this should have happened. Some say it’s because The Wire is set in a poor city in the US – Baltimore – rather than something a bit more visually arresting and familiar like New York or Los Angeles. Some argue that it’s because the cast is mostly black and filled with unfamiliar faces. Some believe the level of patience required to follow it, picking up small details and touches of character that become important only after episodes or even seasons have gone by, is too much for the average viewer. Others yet claim it’s the fact it’s on a channel like HBO or FX in the UK that reduces the audience to negligible numbers.
Yet, as I’ve been bleating on at you for ages, The Wire is one of the finest TV programmes ever made. A devastatingly realistic look at policing, the underclass, politics, institutions and why meaningful change is almost impossible, it’s back for its last ever season.
Yes, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth at the end of its run, because it doesn’t look like the show’s creators have reduced the show’s quality one iota.
Monday’s negotiated interim news
Don’t forget to vote for the daily news in the reader survey if you want it to continue – particularly you lurkers!
Film
- Interim deal settled over writers strike
- Gemma Arterton confirmed as new Bond girl
- Hulk and Iron Man crossover scene filmed?
- Guillermo Del Toro planning Frankenstein remake now
- Marlon Wayans join GI Joe
British TV
- Idiots complain about Hootenanny being pre-recorded
- Nuts TV, Adult Swim and Cartoon Network to go mobile
- Golf Channel stops broadcasting
US TV
- Marlo from The Wire joins Heroes
- Matthew Fox discusses Lost season four (and three)
- Lost using stealth promos
What would your Mastermind subject be?
Just caught tonight’s episode of Celebrity Mastermind with Danny Wallace, Nicholas Parsons, that bald veggie restauranteur and that Scottish one off Loose Women who looks like she’s sucking a wasp (and acts like it). An interesting collection of specialist subjects: the history of Tranmere Rovers; the life and works of Edward Lear; the lives of the Pankhurst women; and, erm, Ghostbusters. See if you can match the subject to the celebrity. It’ll be really easy.
Anyway, I got to pondering a couple of things. You see, there’s a thin line you have to tread with your specialist subject. Obviously, you have to be good at it for one thing. But there’s a kind of social snobbery with it. “What’s that? Your specialist subject is ‘Chantelle off Celebrity Big Brother‘? Okay… Mine’s the Aeneid and its relationship with medieval Latin poetry. Is that you fetching your coat?”
I’m not sure I’d have had the balls to go on with Ghostbusters as my specialist subject.
But I’m not sure what my specialist subject would have been. ‘TV’s a little too broad. ‘US TV’ would confine me to a dungeon of Dallas, Dynasty and Dawson’s Creek, knowing my luck. ‘Doctor Who‘ really wouldn’t get me anywhere at all, since the questions would be set by someone who’s memorised every second line from the annuals and wants to know what kind of toy Davros used to entertain baby Daleks with. Plus it would be a bit nerdy. But picking a non-nerdy TV subject (eg Play for the Day, the works of Carla Lane, The Sopranos) carries with it all the joy of learning the Highway Code and eating your greens, and I don’t really have the time to brush up on four seasons of The Wire (fifth starting on Sunday).
So I’m still thinking.
How about you? What would your socially acceptable, TV-related specialist subject be?
News
Thursday’s first news of 2008
Welcome to 2008, news readers, the year everything changes. Don’t forget to vote for the daily news in the reader survey if you want it to continue!
Doctor Who
- Danni Minogue to appear in Torchwood?
- Sun spoilers plus the suggestion of a movie
- Phil Collinson not producing the four specials?
Film
- Stills from The Time Traveler’s Wife
- Tyler Perry to appear in Star Trek XI?
- Trailer for Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Books
- Eighth Harry Potter novel a possibility – in ten years’ time
Theatre
- Kristin Chenoweth to make her ENO debut
British TV
- Kudos to make Law and Order: London?
- The Catherine Tate Show under investigation
US TV
- Bust ups behind the scenes at Brothers and Sisters
- Fox moves its mid-season schedule around
- Is The Wire‘s depiction of the Baltimore Sun realistic?
- Big Shots not cancelled?
- Eight Fox affiliates sold