The Wire (HBO) (2002- )
I'm just watching HBO's series The Wire. This is exceptional television, extremely powerful stuff. Unfortunately, in the UK it's remained virtually unseen: the first season has been released on DVD, and the second season is due for release before the end of 2005. At this point in time, however, the US has seen four seasons of this show.
The Wire is from the pen of David Simon, author of the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Simon's journalistic account of the trials and tribulations of the 'murder police' in Baltimore, Maryland, formed the basis for one of the greatest crime TV shows ever made: Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999). All too frequently compared to NYPD Blue, Homicide was a far grittier show, less concerned with soap opera-style dissections of the lives of its lead characters, and more frequently comfortable in delivering storylines with either downbeat resolutions or simply no resolutions at all. Homicide was a show that was unafraid to ask questions, sometimes finding the answers impossible to come by.
Like The Wire, Homicide was criminally neglected in the UK: shown on Channel 4, Homicide was moved through various timeslots, ultimately ending up in an irregular early morning slot; and even worse, Channel 4 neglected to screen the seventh and final season of the show.
After Homicide, Simon's equally powerful book The Corner was made into a miniseries by HBO.
With The Wire (co-created with Ed Burns, and with some writing by established crime author George P. Pelecanos), Simon has delivered the most compelling police drama serial for many years. Like Homicide, The Wire is a gritty look at the streets of Baltimore, shot in a cinema-verite style, with location shooting and the use of handheld cameras. The theme of surveillance (signalled in the show's title and in the opening credits sequence) is foregrounded throughout, in shots taken through windows as characters watch other characters, and in an impressive sequence in the opening episode in which one of the lead characters (Dominc West) 'mugs' at a surveillance camera.
The show's first season deals with an investigation into a drugs ring, and in this season the conflicts are established fairly early on. But the show gives even hand to both the police and the drugs dealers they are after: this is not a show in which moral conflicts are presented in simple 'black and white' terms. Our sympathies flit between the detectives and their prey.
The Wire is excellent, complex television: thought-provoking and challenging, it deserves a wider audience in the UK. It is one of the finest dramatic serials to be exported from the US in a long time.
Excellent article about The Wire on MSNBC
Surveillance and the Panopticon in Modern Society
What is the Panopticon?
Michele Foucault and the Panopticon
I'm just watching HBO's series The Wire. This is exceptional television, extremely powerful stuff. Unfortunately, in the UK it's remained virtually unseen: the first season has been released on DVD, and the second season is due for release before the end of 2005. At this point in time, however, the US has seen four seasons of this show.
The Wire is from the pen of David Simon, author of the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Simon's journalistic account of the trials and tribulations of the 'murder police' in Baltimore, Maryland, formed the basis for one of the greatest crime TV shows ever made: Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999). All too frequently compared to NYPD Blue, Homicide was a far grittier show, less concerned with soap opera-style dissections of the lives of its lead characters, and more frequently comfortable in delivering storylines with either downbeat resolutions or simply no resolutions at all. Homicide was a show that was unafraid to ask questions, sometimes finding the answers impossible to come by.
Like The Wire, Homicide was criminally neglected in the UK: shown on Channel 4, Homicide was moved through various timeslots, ultimately ending up in an irregular early morning slot; and even worse, Channel 4 neglected to screen the seventh and final season of the show.
After Homicide, Simon's equally powerful book The Corner was made into a miniseries by HBO.
With The Wire (co-created with Ed Burns, and with some writing by established crime author George P. Pelecanos), Simon has delivered the most compelling police drama serial for many years. Like Homicide, The Wire is a gritty look at the streets of Baltimore, shot in a cinema-verite style, with location shooting and the use of handheld cameras. The theme of surveillance (signalled in the show's title and in the opening credits sequence) is foregrounded throughout, in shots taken through windows as characters watch other characters, and in an impressive sequence in the opening episode in which one of the lead characters (Dominc West) 'mugs' at a surveillance camera.
The show's first season deals with an investigation into a drugs ring, and in this season the conflicts are established fairly early on. But the show gives even hand to both the police and the drugs dealers they are after: this is not a show in which moral conflicts are presented in simple 'black and white' terms. Our sympathies flit between the detectives and their prey.
The Wire is excellent, complex television: thought-provoking and challenging, it deserves a wider audience in the UK. It is one of the finest dramatic serials to be exported from the US in a long time.
Original text: ©Paul A J Lewis, 2005
Excellent article about The Wire on MSNBC
Surveillance and the Panopticon in Modern Society
What is the Panopticon?
Michele Foucault and the Panopticon
posted by Paul A J Lewis at 11:59 pm
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