By RORY MASTERSON
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
The medium of television has taken many forms in its history, with programming as diverse as news, commentary, science, sports and film. At some point, someone decided to move theatrical radio programming onto the television for entertainment purposes, and the world was blessed with gems like The Twilight Zone. Dramas became a prevailing force on the small screen, and people gathered weekly to keep an eye on both beloved and troubled characters. Within the infinitely-attempted, often-trite realm of televised dramas, however, one program from the past decade stands head and shoulders above all others: HBO’s The Wire.
The Wire is the brainchild of former Baltimore Sun reporter and author David Simon, who created another criminally-underrated show in the Law & Order sister series Homicide: Life on the Street. The show is based on the Greek tragedies of Euripides and is an unprecedented insight into the lives of everyone involved in Baltimore criminal activity, from the street peddlers to the addicts to the police officers to the government officials and beyond. While a show like Law & Order focuses on a single crime and its legal fallout within an hour span, storylines on The Wire stretch for an entire season and, in many cases, longer. An attention span of the highest order is a necessity, but the payoff is well worth the time invested, which ends up totaling around sixty hours in front of a small screen. That much time spent in front of a screen can seem daunting, but, as the catchphrase of the series goes, “It’s all in the game.”
The series chooses not to focus on a single protagonist, instead shedding light pretty evenly into the lives of many different people. Critics have noted that perhaps the real protagonist of The Wire is the city of Baltimore and, in a broader sense, the United States of America. Each of the five seasons centers on a different aspect of the city, including the drug trade, unions, politics, education and the print media. Corruption runs rampant throughout each sector, and the viewer is left to decide who appeals most to his or her own personal sensibilities. Favorite characters readily lose their lives to the so-called “game,” and none is safe from the streets. Viewers beware.
Getting through The Wire is tantamount to being admitted to an esteemed social club, one in which everyone relates on an almost spiritual level and adheres to the rules. For instance, under no circumstances does anyone spoil any part of The Wire to someone who is currently watching it. That has become common courtesy for televised dramas in the twenty-first century, but it is of the utmost importance with The Wire, with its twists and turns in nearly every episode. The societal commentary and insight Simon provides do more to stimulate and shock the conscience than CNN, Fox News or any other so-called news media outlet, even five years after the show’s conclusion on HBO.
When I tell my friends to watch The Wire, the defense typically goes like this: “If you never listen to anything I have to say again, you have to watch The Wire. I can’t explain it; you just have to watch it. I don’t even watch television, but this show is different.” The same stands for you, the reader. The space allotted to me now could never do justice to the masterpiece that consumed my Christmas break two years ago. Food for thought: consider the plight of the gay, black stuck-up man who robs from drug dealers and refuses to curse because, as he says, “A man’s got to have a code.” Such is the case of Omar Little, who President Barack Obama has referred as his favorite television character ever.
David Simon once said that if marijuana was made legal in the United States, he would produce a sixth season of The Wire. For the sake of television as a serious medium of art and communication, especially in the age of the Kardashians, Real Housewives of Every County and Toddlers & Tiaras, television viewers should hope the rest of the country goes the way of Colorado, regardless of political affiliation. Critics will continue to lavish praise on the series, and despite numerous reviews claiming The Wire to be the best dramatic series in television history, the majority of viewers might continue to ignore it in favor of less-involved shows. No matter what happens, however, “the game stays the game.” Everyone should play.
