The Wire, Season 5

[cleech74]

+k fo' dat. :-)

[Caravan2001]

We had to stop it with like 25 minutes to go and were a little disappointed at first....finished it last night, and the last half hour really changed our opinion...they wrapped it up really nice, and there were some great scenes....I wasn't expecting it when Cheese got smoked.....it was good shit...the montage was good too....great way to end the series I think they did it justice...

[ytowndan]

A nice thank you letter from the creator David Simon...

http://www.hbo.com/thewire/finaleletter/index.html?ntrack_para1=feat_sec1_text

The Wire show creator David Simon imparts his final words about the series
David Simon
It wasn't for everyone. We proved that rather quickly.

But episode to episode, you began to understand that we were committed to creating something careful and ornate, something that might resonate. You took Lester Freamon at his word: That we were building something here and all the pieces matter.

When we took a chainsaw to the first season, choosing to begin the second-story arc with an entirely different theme and different characters, you followed us to the port and our elegy for America's working class. When we shifted again, taking up the political culture of our mythical city in season three, you remained loyal. And when we ended the Barksdale arc and began an exploration of public education, you were, by that time, we hope, elated to understand that whatever else might happen, The Wire would not waste your time telling the same story twice.



This year, our drama asked its last thematic question: Why, if there is any truth to anything presented in The Wire over the last four seasons, does that truth go unaddressed by our political culture, by most of our mass media, and by our society in general?

We've given our answer:

We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end, bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first step to solving any of them.

The Wire is fiction. Many of the events depicted over the last five seasons did not, to our knowledge, happen. Fewer happened in the exact manner described. Fiction is fiction, and it should in no way be confused with journalism.

But it is also fair to note that the problems themselves — politicians cooking crime stats for higher office, school administrators teaching test questions to vindicate No Child Left Behind, sensitive prosecutions and investigations being undercut for political motives, brutal drug wars fought amid a police department's ignorance of and indifference to the forces involved -- were indeed problems in the recent history of the actual Baltimore, Maryland.



Few of these matters received the serious attention — or, in some cases — any attention from the media. These problems exist in plain sight, ready to be addressed by anyone seriously committed to doing so. For those of us writing The Wire, a television drama, story research involved dragging the right police lieutenants or school teachers, prosecutors and political functionaries to neighborhood diners and bars and taking story notes down on cocktail napkins and paper placemats. To be more precise with their tales? To record it and relay it in a manner that can stand as non-fiction truthtelling? Yes, that's harder to do. But there was a time when journalism regarded that kind of coverage as its highest mission. The true stories that The Wire traded in are out there, waiting for anyone willing to take the time. And it is, of course, vaguely disturbing to us that our unlikely little television drama is making arguments that were once the prerogative of more serious mediums.

We tried to be entertaining, but in no way did we want to be mistaken for entertainment. We tried to provoke, to critique and debate and rant a bit. We wanted an argument. We think a few good arguments are needed still, that there is much more to be said and it is entirely likely that there are better ideas than the ones we offered. But nothing happens unless the shit is stirred. That, for us, was job one.

If you followed us for sixty hours, and you find yourself caring about these issues more than you thought you would, then perhaps the next step is to engage and to demand, where possible, a more sophisticated and meaningful response from authority when it comes to such things as the drug war, educational reform or responsible political leadership. The Wire is about the America we pay for and tolerate. Perhaps it is possible to pay for, and demand, something more.

Again, accept our sincere thanks for making the commitment to watch a show as improbable and problematic as ours and for considering the arguments and issues seriously. We are surprised as you are to be here at the end, on our own terms, still standing. As a cast and crew, we're proud. But the credit is not all ours. It's yours as well for believing, year after year, in this story.

David Simon
Baltimore, Md.
March 10, 2008

[cleech74]

Nice.  Another good read:

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/03/10/the-wire-30-series-finale/

[StCarl]

Snoop gets picked up by Baltimore City Homicide for not witnessing, weed.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.snoop22aug22,0,6280287.story



Good luck, Snoop.

[ytowndan]

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, the actress who played a cold-blooded killer of the same name on the HBO series The Wire, was arrested on minor drug charges yesterday after police picked her up for refusing to cooperate as a witness in a murder trial, records show.

Sounds a lot like her character on the show. 

That's too bad.

[StCarl]

It does, and it is.  From what I've read, it really sounds like being on the show turned her life around.  I hope for her it sticks - she seems tough.

But the street is the street and the game is the game.  You know how it can go for people who've been witnessing. 
What's she going to do?  Leave Baltimore?

It sounds to me like she is in a rough spot.

[Poster Nutbag]

WoW!!! Interesting read...I would also have to say that she played bits and pieces of her self on the show,but shes obviously not a hard core cold blooded murderer...But her act was probably her basic personality...I also hope the best for her, And man! what a person to pick to play on the show, considering she was a convicted murderer...I loved this show!!!!

[ytowndan]

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/index.php/2010/10/07/the-wire-monopoly-game-2/

Monopoly, the iconic board game that for decades has instilled the values of aggressive capitalism into the young, joined forces today with the hit TV show 'The Wire'.

"The Wire is all about corners," says Hasbro spokesperson Jane McDougall, "and the Monopoly board is all about corners. It was a natural fit."

Based around the journey a young gangster might take through the fictionalised Baltimore of the show, players move from corner to stoop, past institutions featured in successive series like the school system and the stevedores union, acquiring real estate, money and power before ending up at the waterfront developments and City Hall itself.

"Where the original game has 'Community Chest' and 'Chance'," McDougall continues, "we have 'Re-up' and 'The Game' which reflects the chance element of life on the streets. If you draw a 'The Game' card you might for instance get 'Prop Joe calls a meet – go straight to Collington Square' or 'Drive-By! You get shot. Miss a go' or even 'Chris and Snoop are looking for you! Hide! Miss 2 goes.'"

"We hope The Wire Monopoly game will go down well not just with fans of the show, but everyone who secretly wishes to be a poor violent black drug dealer from America."

See the full-size image in the link above.

Too bad this website is the UK version of The Onion, because it really would be hilariously awesome if it were real.  "Omar's coming!  Lose $10,000"

[VA $l!m]

wish i had this series on dvd or somethin.
would love to watch all these again.

[gah]

wish i had this series on dvd or somethin.
would love to watch all these again.

It's available on Netflix. I just added all the discs to my queue, because I never saw it.

[aphineday]

wish i had this series on dvd or somethin.
would love to watch all these again.

It's available on Netflix. I just added all the discs to my queue, because I never saw it.

Get ready to be addicted. Incredible show.

[Multibeast12]

I have torrented the first two season of this show, and i'm halfway through the first.

Amazing show!!!!

[emay]

wish i had this series on dvd or somethin.
would love to watch all these again.

I have all the seasons cuz I fuckin love this show, but when I am not around the DVDs I use this....
http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/

[gainesvillegreen]

wish i had this series on dvd or somethin.
would love to watch all these again.

I have all the seasons cuz I fuckin love this show, but when I am not around the DVDs I use this....
http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/

+k on that link