RSSBetween the Lines
Last night HBO premiered its fifth and final season of The Wire. I don’t think I have to say much about the series except for the fact that it’s definitely TROUBL. It’s not often that the media explores our issues with the level of relevance as The Wire. And with this season examining the media’s relationship to drug game, politics and policing, it’s only right that we provide a forum for people to discuss the series.
Each week we’ll open up the blog to discuss the real life impact of the issues that arise in the episodes. We’ll provide links to clips and stories surrounding the series. And we’re also working on securing interviews with actors from the show. If you seen last nights episode, let us know what’s up.
Tags: Media, Politics, Surveillance | Jan 7, 2008 |
14 Comments, Comment or Ping
TROUBLMan
Check out the Baltimore Sun’s coverage of The Wire. The Sun is the newspaper being chronicled in the series.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-tv-wirewatch,0,205002.storygallery
[Reply]
Malia
In case you haven’t heard, The Wire is the best show on television today, maybe the apotheosis of the form.
[Reply]
Q.
i’m a loyal The Wire fan, and i was skeptical about this season changing to having a bigger emphasis on the media.. it brought back memories of the season at the docks.. that was horrible.. but i was open to this season, as i do have an affinity for the media (props to TROUBL)..
last night, i felt they tried too much.. had too many stories going on.. i won’t say much, cuz some of y’all might’ve missed it.. but there just appeared to be too many story lines going on.. my ADD is bad enough, and i found myself struggling through the first 30 minutes of it.. but it’s just the 1st episode, so i’m holding out hope.. later this week, i’ll probably say more, but again, i want to be sure i don’t ruin it for others..
[Reply]
Rupe
Sad, but at least they will write it that way and we will get closure on what is easiest the best show on television. Maybe ever. As long as an odd theater troupe doesn’t show up around Baltimore, I am sure it will stay that way.
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TROUBLMan
After last season, I felt good about Carcetti for mayor. Now, I’m not sure he would have got my vote. In real life, he’s not bullish enough to run a city like Baltimore.
[Reply]
Malia
I missed it so don’t say nothin!!!!
[Reply]
Decker
Simon paints pretty much a nightmare scenario for my profession, newspaper journalism — much as he did with public schools and labor unions in seasons past. The Baltimore Sun of “The Wire” is a toothless lion in winter, crippled by corporate cost-cutting and defanged by idiots who sweep in and reorder the paper’s priorities like a decorator moving around settees.
I’M NOT BITTER!
[Reply]
Q.
does anyone have HBO On Demand? They put up the new episodes every Monday on there.. I’m struggling as i try hard not to watch the new episode before it airs on Sundays.. this is torture!!
[Reply]
Malia
HBO On Demand is the BUSINESS!!!!! LOL….I’m a huge entourage fan myself! Sorry, way off the subject - I digress!!!!
[Reply]
Malia
TROUBLMan—–I knew Royce would be defeated by Carcetti after the African-American vote was split by the black councilman. It happened in real life, when a white man, Martin O’Malley, was elected to be mayor of Baltimore, after several black candidates split the black vote in this 70% African-American city. This has happened in other cities too where racial politics are the main issue, and many times the only issue.
[Reply]
C3
Yo, this ain’t television it’s like a real-time documentary. The scary shit is these storylines are playing out across the country without any end in sight.
As the games get played [politcal, drug, law enforcement] who plays the role of the viewer… taking a macro view? While we watch the show we get a glimpse of all of these dysfunctional groups operating at the same time - who is doing that in real life?
I can’t take my eyes off the joint and at the same time I’m horrified to know the stories aren’t really being embellished.
[Reply]
Malia
The Wire is realistic on this issue like they are on so many others. How is gonna play out is the question, right?
This is how it works; a white mayor is elected in a majority black city (such as Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis), and the first thing that mayor has to do is take care of his base. The mayor may not have racial motives, and he probably wants to be a mayor for the entire city, but when he rewards his base he takes power away from the other base, which is African-American. This happens through replacing City Hall and education bureaucrats, city workers, the police brass, and the fire department brass with people who supported his campaign and this will mean getting rid of a whole bunch of well-known black public figures and replacing them with non-blacks ( even if he makes a point to hire and promote a healthy number of African-Americans).
Immediately these actions will pit all of the African-American professional associations, education, fire and police associations against the mayor and the bulk of the black media and activist community will follow. This happened in St. Louis, and in previous years happened in many other cities, and if Carcetti was real then this is what would happen in.
What would also happen is that at the end of the day the whiteboys are all gonna come together. This means that the so-called liberal media, like the Baltimore Sun and local TV and radio, would get in bed with the new administration when they are right – and when they are wrong.
Either way if you want to learn about what is going on in the streets, police departments and city halls of America, and don’t feel like getting car-jacked, locked-up or pick-pocketed to do it, then I highly recommend watching the rest of this season of The Wire and watching the back episodes on HBO In Demand and getting the DVD’s for seasons 1 through 3.
[Reply]
Q.
except for that 2nd season! that joint was garbage.. well, 75% of it was since 75% talked about the docks!
[Reply]
Q.
ok, now i can talk about this, as i’m sure most have seen it.. on what C3 was saying, i was caught between excitement and hurt at seeing the one young dude getting let go of his servers as he watched the corner.. i was happy, cuz he wasn’t built for it.. but then sad at his reaction.. cuz that instantly took me down a path of thinking he was either going to commit suicide or just do something stupid that will get him killed or placed in jail.. i can’t wait to see how that plays out..
i also can’t wait to see how they put the media in a position to unfold things that are going on under the covers.. i’m really hoping that’s the angle they take.. i just hope it’s not about journalists losing their jobs and stories to bloggers!!
[Reply]
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