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HBO's The Wire: Why You Should Tap into It
Lance Reddick in The Wire by Paul Schiraldi/HBO
The when: Sundays at 9 pm/ET, with the fifth (and final) season premiering Jan. 6.
What's what: A complex and panoramic portrait of American society's waste of human potential and betrayal of its own stated ideals, as demonstrated by the lives of Baltimore drug dealers, the police who attempt to break up their operations, and the regular citizens affected by their activities.
Who's who: Probably the largest cast of any U.S. open-ended television series, with a constantly shifting group of current and former gangsters, the street peddlers who work for them, their neighbors, cops, lawyers, politicians, teachers, social workers, prisoners and dockworkers.
What's next: Each season has focused on some segment of Baltimore society affected directly by the drug trade and/or by the attempts to stop it; this fifth and final season will examine how newspaper journalism and related media play their roles. We also see the ongoing turf battles within the illegal drug business and within police and other government agencies, particularly the schools and the rivalry between and within the Baltimore city and Maryland state governments.
Why watch?: The breathtaking ambition of the series, and its wit, grit and sophistication. While the show can occasionally offer excessive speechifiying and, rarely, an awkward infodump or strained irony, it's a natural extension of what the creative staff was attempting to do with previous projects Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Corner: an indictment of what is wrong with the way things usually go, never failing to make its case with brilliantly drawn characters in believable and often morally and ethically ambiguous situations that have no quick or easy fix. As with any complex serial, there is a lot of backstory that new viewers might want to catch up on (all previous seasons are available on DVD; shop Amazon.com), but if the past is any indication, jumping in midstream will still make for compelling entertainment.
Say what?: Along with the Homicide folks, such noted crime-fiction writers as Richard Price (Clockers), Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), and particularly Baltimore/D.C. specialist George Pelecanos have been tapped to write for the series. — Todd Mason
Use our Online Video Guide to find clips from Season 4, a Season 5 preview and a cool compilation of cast interviews and character discussion.
See Interviews & Features for our fresh Q&A with The Wire's Clarke Peters.
More Strike Survival guidance from TVGuide.com:
• Do NBC's Gladiators Deserve a Fighting Chance?
• Showtime's The L Word: Why You Should Go that Way
• What to Watch: Your Guide to January Premieres
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Jan 3, 2008 4:26 PM
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The picture misindentifies Frankie Faison as Wendell Pierce. Great to see critical love for The Wire continuing.
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Jan 3, 2008 9:56 PM
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I'm so ready for this season i've been a fan since the first season. I will be very sad to see this come to and end such a great gritty show how they can cancel this and leave so much crap on the air is beyond me.
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Jan 4, 2008 10:54 AM
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The Wire wasn't cancelled, it's just coming to its natural conclusion. Such an amazing, challenging show! Well worth tracking down DVDs of the previous seasons.
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Jan 4, 2008 11:50 AM
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I've seen the first two eps of Season 5. Brilliant stuff. This is probably going to the finest season yet.
It's a real shame this will be the final season. Imho, it's the best TV drama ever made, and the most realistic one as well. David Simon is a genius.
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Jan 4, 2008 12:42 PM
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gmmp if you are such a fan as you say, then you should be aware that David Simon had intended for this series to go for only five seasons. To quote texasannie, "The Wire wasn't cancelled, it's just coming to its natural conclusion."
I've already seen the first episode and as always, first class. The Wire is an intelligent, thought provoking series with an excellent cast of actors and writers. A rarity in today's television landscape.
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Jan 4, 2008 12:55 PM
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I'm anxious for the season to begin, but then I don't want it to because it's the beginning of the end of the best show that's ever been on tv. I have been caught in its grips since the first episode, and was blown away by last season. The 4 boys who played the kids in school gave absolutely brilliant and heartbreaking performances. The inner city school story line was eye opening and devastating.
Having been an avid fan of Homicide: Life on the Streets from the beginning, I am a huge fan of David Simon, and I can only hope he can create other works that are as good as both shows. I don't know that anything else can top The Wire though. It is so real, raw, gritty, I just can't come up with the words to adequately describe it. It's like watching a well written book. As Lester Freamon said in season 1, 'All the Pieces Matter'.
It's a shame that it's too smart a show for most of the viewing public, which is why it never had high ratings. You have to pay attention, you have to think to watch it. John Q Public doesn't want to do that. Small details show up in an early episode, & then are part of a later episode. You have to have caught it the first time, or you don't get it. They don't dumb down the show, explaining everything as they go.
That's ok fellow fans, we're part of an exclusive club that's been along for an incredible ride. I thank David Simon, the writers, & the excellent cast for an incredible 5 seasons.
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Jan 4, 2008 2:30 PM
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