The Best Show on Television - The Wire

I'll do what I can to help y'all. But, the game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple. - Omar


I love storytelling. Always have. I remember laying my head against my mother's shoulder, closing my eyes, and listening to her read stories to me since I can remember memories. Storytelling has pulled me to rock, country, hip-hop, blues and folk music, spoken word monologues, books, books, movies, storytelling festivals, television and more books in my life. And though my taste has gotten more complex since the days of The Mouse and the Motorcycle, I am drawn to a great yarn like a dog to a bone, whether fiction or non-fiction.

Though books will always be what I consider the ultimate of the storytelling templates, the visual filming of a story is one of the most intriguing, as it can assault your senses not only with words, but images and sounds as well. I love television ("good" TV, that is, though "The Soup" is a "bad TV" guilty pleasure of mine) that tells a good story, whether it be in half-hour sitcoms and animated comedies (Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Arrested Development) or hour-long dramas (The Sopranos, The West Wing, The X-Files, Deadwood).

However, the most effective, engrossing and well-written stories to ever grace the small screen is creator David Simon's ode to Baltimore, The Wire. It is the tale of a decaying urban American city, the tale of the fogotten people who are casualties of the machinary of class and inhuman institutions. It is the tale of the police who chase the drug pushers and hitman, of the individuals who try to beat the shitty hand that was dealt to them. It is the tale of a broken society, where hope is sometimes spoken of, but only cautiously and by those who can afford to say it.

The Wire is, on surface, a show about cops and the criminals they deal with. But when discovered, it is the tale of the modern American city, warts and all. There is no solidified group of good guys and bad guys. The overall theme would have to be the way the machine of the institutions crush the individuals, no matter whether the individual is deserving or not, or if the institution is ideal (justice system) or a reality to be dealt with (the drug trade). The way that the issues and characters are dealt with are why it is often referred to by critics as a "visual novel." You get to know the lives of those who push drugs in western Baltimore and the police who pursue them (season 1); the unionized longshoremen trying to survive and the smugglers who take advantage of the situation (dwindling boats to unload) on the docks (season 2); the politicians and powerbrokers vying for positions, sometimes with good intentions, sometimes bad and the way that redevelopment can shake up a city (season 3), and; the children who suffer through a woefully underfunded education system, with bad role models or no role models at all at home and tough choices about their reality at such young ages (season 4). All the while, the storylines are followed by elements of the Baltimore legal system-- some admirable characters, some unctuous ones, and a couple who are just plain corrupt. Each season unravels slowly, building characters and story while depicting the harsh realities of a dying industrial city on a level unprecedented in television.


Because each season is 12-13 hours long, it is much more densely layered and rich than films can be. Characters and storylines don't end with a season, either. The show is more like a 60-hour movie than anything else.Creator David Simon approached the serial from the beginning like it was a novel, unfafraid to let it be a slow and intense burn or to throw popular characters in the background for long lengths of time (or kill them off) so the story can develop.

Season 5 (starting tonight and available on HBO OnDemand) will focus on the media and its contribution/detraction to the realities of the world in which it works through journalists at the fictional (of course, not based on the real newspaper that Simon worked at) Baltimore Sun. The season premier is tonight on HBO.

I got into The Wire late in the game. A friend and I were void of a television show to watch on our usual Sunday night get-together that was usually augmented by HBO, so we decided to check out the hype we had read about. I was hooked. Although the show offers the most rich and rewarding viewing to those viewers who know the characters and storyline from the beginning, the beginning of a season is a good time to jump on board and you won't be lost.

The show has been characterized by some as a downer, as it observes some of the brutality and sadness that is reality to some in this land, but there are acts of heroism and times of joy littered throughout the series, as performed by the individuals who fight against the odds stacked against them. It is the most rewarding television you'll experience. Simply put, it is television as art. And if you watch, you'll have a symbiotic relationship with your television to see what is to come of McNulty, Bubbles, Omar, Kima, Namond, Dukie and the rest.