To mark the release of HBO's masterpiece series The Wire, the Museum of Moving Images presented a "Making The Wire" panel with David Simon, the series creator and co-producer; novelist and screenwriter Richard Price, who wrote several episodes; and four of the show's stars: Seth Gilliam (who played Ellis Carver), Clark Johnson (city editor Gus Haynes), Clarke Peters (Lester Freemon), and Wendell Pierce ("Bunk"), moderated by David Schwartz, Chief Curator.
Listen to the free 73 minutes-long podcast right here.
I used to tout Homicide: Life on the Streets as the premiere cop show and the most compelling and comprehensive look at the city of Baltimore. When The Wire came along and people kept telling me it's the best television series ever made, I was skeptical. I knew it would be good since it's got a lot of the same people from Homicide (Homicide was based on a book by David Simon, who created The Wire), but does The Wire have Frank Pembleton? No, I didn't think so. Soon, though, I started watching it and pretty quickly it became apparent how unbelievable the scope of this show is. I still prefer Homicide's more likable cop characters, their rambling philosophical dialogue and sense of humor; but there's no denying that The Wire is on a level above any other TV shows in its frank portrayal of the many institutions that make a city tick. I don't think there has ever been a show or a movie that evoked the feeling of a real working city so thoroughly before, and one that does it while criticizing its problems and humanizing its inhabitants at the same time.
The Season 5 DVD comes out this Tuesday. The complete series box set was announced by HBO back in June and is coming out later this year. I can't wait to get that and re-watch all five seasons in one sitting, to get the full effect of the show's epic Baltimore portrait. I might either die or smell really bad by the end, but it still sounds like a good idea!
