Watch This Show!

Last year, the last episode of the fifth and final season of HBO’s The Wire was aired (Alston). For many viewers this was a sad day because The Wire is a truly amazing show and more importantly, meaningful show. Although The Wire was never a commercial hit like HBO’s Entourage or The Sopranos or broadcast shows like 24 or Lost, The Wire is critically acclaimed and deserves to be watched by every serious fan of television (Is this the best TV series ever made?).  The Wire is in fact so good, that some articles written it about are called “The best TV show of all time: A classical masterpiece: Laura Miller argues for “The Wire”” and “The Wire on Fire: Analyzing the best show on television.”

At first glance The Wire may seem like a cop show. At its most primitive, the plot of the show is about cops trying to arrest drug dealers.  The show is not about on specific individual or group, rather it is about the city of Baltimore. Jacob Weisberg of Slate writes, “Its protagonist is the broken American city of Baltimore, depicted with obsessive verisimilitude and affectionate rage” (Weisberg).  Each season has a different focus of an aspect of Baltimore: the first one on drugs dealers, the second on dockworkers, the third on reform, the fourth one on Baltimore public schools, and fifth one on the decline of newspapers. Each season’s focus is intertwined with the Baltimore Police Department and to a lesser degree the Mayor’s Office.

The Wire is an extremely complex show, which has multiple plots, sub plots, and many characters. Sometimes an extremely important plot development happens very quickly and it will not be returned to. The characters are complex as well. No character is a stereotype and the characters are not stagnant, just as in real life. There is the serial killer Omar, who refuses to kill people who are not in the drug game.  There is the drug lord Stringer Bell, who wants to become a legitimate businessman and who takes economics class at a local community college (McCabe and Smith). Laura Miller of Salon explains this complexity very well: “The series is complex, with a lot of characters, and its never going to hold your hold through the intricate curlicues of each season’s story. You have to pay attention, even when you’re not sure what’s going on” (Miller).

Another reason The Wire is great is its realism. It is not a show that is filled with feel good stories and characters. It is not a show which is about a world that does not exist or the world as we want it to be. Rather it is a show about the world how it is. Weisberg explains The Wire’s realism by writing “No other program has ever done anything remotely like what this one does, namely to portray the social, political, and economic life of an American city with the scope, observational precision, and moral vision of great literature” (Weisberg). The Wire’s realism is heightened because it is an unsentimental show. This is epitomized by the fact that one of the most beloved characters in the show, Stringer Bell, is killed in the third season (Ogunnaike). As in real life, anyone can die at any time on The Wire. Much of its realism comes from its creator, who was a Baltimore Sun crime reporter before The Wire. Moreover, Ed Burns, Simon’s writing partner is a former homicide detective (Weisberg).

Another reason The Wire is great is because it is an angry show. This is because David Simon is angry about the state of the American inner city and the lives people live in them. In the article “Arrogant? Moi?” Oliver Burkemen writes about his interview with Simon.  About the show’s creator, Burkemen writes, “Simon the other hand is very angry indeed.” Simon sees Baltimore as an indicator, which reveals The American Dream is dead. In his interview with Burkemen Simon states “You are sitting in the deconstruction of the American Dream,” he says, indicating Baltimore” (Burkemen). The anger found in the show gives it real meaning, something all too missing today on today’s television shows. Watching the show causes viewers to think about parts and people of our society that do not get enough attention, parts of our society that are too often forgotten.

The Wire is more than entertainment, which makes it truly great television. It is great on so many levels, that almost all viewers will find something to like about it. Whether it’s the realism, the characters, or plot, there are many elements of The Wire which different viewers like best. Give it a shot and more than likely you will immediately become a fan.

Weisberg Article

Miller Article

Burkeman Article

More info on the characters in the show

Episode Guide

Interviews with cast members

Here are some great scenes from this show:

Works Cited

Alston, Joshua. “Hanging Up ‘The Wire’” Newsweek. 10 Mar. 2008. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.newsweek.com/id/120319>.

Burkeman, Oliver. “Arrogant? Moi?” The Guardian. 28 Mar. 2009. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/28/david-simon-the-wire-interview>.
McCabe, Bret, and Van Smith. “Down to The Wire: Top 10 Reasons Not to Cancel The Wire.” Baltimore City Paper. 12 Jan. 2005. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.baltimorecitypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=9538>.
Miller, Laura. “The best TV show of all time: A classical masterpiece: Laura Miller argues for “The Wire”" Salon. 15 Sept. 2007. <http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/feature/2007/09/15/best_show/>.
Ogunnaike, Lola. “Whacked! Another HBO Main Player Meets His End.” The New York Times. 13 Dec. 2004. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/arts/television/13wire.html>.
Weisberg, Jacob. “Why The Wire the best show on television.” Salon. 13 Sept. 2006. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.slate.com/id/2149566/>.
Welsh, Irvine, John Harvey, Dreda Mitchell, Mark Billingham, and John Williams. “Is
this the best TV series ever made?” The Guardian. 20 July 2008. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/20/television.irvinewelsh>.

FW: Stupid Thing

The most stupid thing I have ever done was hold an open house party my sophomore year of high school. My parents went away for the weekend and I had the house to myself. I had always wanted to hold one and it was the perfect opprotunity for me to do. Preparing for the party and the actual party were a lot of fun. However, looking back on having around 150 kids cram in my house seems like a pretty dumb thing. Although I personally knew most of these people a lot more things could have gone wrong, then what did go wrong. I dodges bullets of people stealing stuff and of anyone getting alcohol poisining. Further, I dodged a bullet that I did not get arrested. The police did come, but luckily all they were interested in was making sure the party was over. Holding house parties sounds good, but in reality it is not.

Bruno Movie

This July the Bruno movie will come out. For those who don’t know, Bruno is another one of Sacha Baron Cohen’s characters from Da Ali G Show. Cohen’s first movie was Ali G in Da House, which is hated by fans. I have never met someone who liked it. It failed because it was scripted and a is  “regular” movie. His second movie Borat, was filmed like Da Ali G Show was: unscripted and improvised. Borat was obviously an extremely popular and great movie. The Bruno movie is being billed as even more outrageous than the Borat movie was. The reviews of a 20 minute screening of the movie were good, but not great. Bruno is hilarious in Da Ali G Show, but the preview and clips that have came out are underwhelming for Cohen, but still ridiculously funny. He may have just set the bar too high with Borat for anything to top it. What do you think?

Baseball Season

Yesterday was the first full day of the Baseball season. As a Yankees fan I am extremely excited this season for a number of reasons. For one, I think the team finally has enough pitching to win its 27 World Series. CC Sabathia and AJ are aces, and when you add them to a rotation of Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettite, and Ching Ming Wang, you have a great rotation. Further, the new Yankee Stadium looks incredible. I cannot wait to go to it and experience what people are calling the best baseball stadium ever made. I am hoping the Yanks play the Mets in the World Series for another Subway Series. It is going to be a great season. What do other people think about who is going to win it all this season?

FW: First Concert

The first “real” concert I ever went to was a festival when I was in sixth grade. At the concert the two best bands that played were The Strokes and The Beastie Boys. Other bands that played were The Darkness and Cypress Hill. The Strokes were my favorite band at the time and they did not disappoint. The Strokes have a great stage presence and of course play great music. I was also a big fan of the Beastie Boys at the time and they were very fun to see. The concert took place in a big outdoor venue and we had field tickets. However, my friends and I got into the seating area and then we got to the standing only section right by the stage. It was a great first concert!

INF: Focusing The Research Question

Title: Thinking Outside The Box To Help The Economy

I came into class with two topics: one about lowering the drinking age and one about legalizing marijuana. personally am “straight edge”–I don’t do either. I have chosen legalizing marijuana because last week President Obama was asked in his virtual town hall the country should do so. He said no. However, I believe with the state of the economy, we must think outside the box to help bring in revenue. California a state with huge budget problems looks like they might begin taxing it. However, our country wastes a lot of money on arrests and jail time because of the fact that marijuana is illegal. We need to divert this money to help people have things like health care and avert more people from loosing their homes. This is a big issue in pop culture, as their is always a new stoner movie coming out. I am not arguing for people smoking marijuana, I am simply arguing that we must get creative in the crisis we face.

I know that public polling shows that the country is divided on this issue. I also know that millions are spent on enforcing the law. I know that there are millions of dollars to bring in if we taxed it marijuana. I also know that where places like marijuana is legal, people use it less.

I want to find out just how much is spent on enforcing the law each year and how much states could bring in if it was legal and taxed. Further, I want to know more about public polling about the issue, to see if it is at all politically possible, in “real politik” terms.

INF: Myth of the Boring Topic

Name of item: Liter. Lighters should be illegal because they are used to do destructive activities?

Name of item: USB Drive. With high speed internet readily available, USB Drives already an old and useless technology?

Cross: Should the cross and other religious paraphernalia be banned in schools?

Film Cannister: Film cannisters are relics of an old technology, that is out of place in modern America.

Buffalo Wild Wings: Food chains like BBW’s epitomize corporate America’s place in everyday life.

Jim Cramer vs. John Stewart!

During Spring Break John Stewart and Jim Cramer go into a big verbal arguement which got national media attention. Jim Cramer is the host of Mad Money and John Stewart is of course the host of the Daily Show. Stewart singled out Cramer for his antics on television and calling himself a so called “expert” when he has given much bad advice in this current financial mess. I believe Stewart captured a lot of what the county was thinking about last week in the AIG fallout and about the financial crisis as a whole. Americans are frustrated, annoyed, and angry that Wall Street and corporations lead us down this path. Enjoy the video.

FW7: Hot Topic

What pisses me off are events in the world. Without getting too partisan, I often get annoyed by our national political debate. Too often politicians will vote on issues a certain way to simply get re-elected. When this happens the good of the country is forgotten and replaced with a narrow self interest. This has had devastating effects on our country in some many ways, the current economic crisis being only part of the problem.Further, the media is also very annoying these days. I think John Stewart did a great job when he faced of against Jim Cramer. We see the media often trying to frame our debate and tell us certain things that are not necessarily true. For example we heard everyone was “outraged” by the AIG bonsus scandal. I wasn’t and I know a lot of people people who weren’t. To not expect these corporate CEO’s and fatcats to be anything but greedy is not looking at the whole picture. Other things in life annoy me, but it is the state of country that annoys me the most.

FW6: Headline

New Jersey Student Is Killed By Plow

If a headline were to be written about my sudden death tonight, the title above would be used. Going beyond the headline, I believe it would explain what I have done with my life and my family. First it would explain that I am survive by two brothers and my mom and dad. The article would say I grew up in Teaneck NJ, one of the first towns in the nation to integrate its public schools on its own. I would be described as someone who has been involved with politics, from interning at my local State Senator’s office, to running a Students for Obama organization, to interning on the Obama campaign. I also think I would be described as someone who was committed to social justice and change. Further, it would describe me as a hard worker and a serious student.