Even in Norway, city’s reputation precedes it
June 9, 2008
The talkative 19-year-old on his way home by train to Oslo, Norway after a year in the navy asked my family where we were from. We gave our typical response to foreigners: Washington, D.C. It’s not that we are ashamed of our Baltimore roots, it’s just easier for non-Americans to place Washington on their mental maps.
Then we started talking about television and the teenager mentioned one of his favorite shows was “The Wire.” So when told him we were from Baltimore, his eyes lit up. “Is it really like that?” he asked. “Does everyone own guns over there?”
So, Charm City’s place in the global community is secure… and if you want to read more observations from my 10-day trip through scenic Sweden, Denmark and Norway, check my post on the Exhibit A blog.
DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentWrite your own ending to “The Wire”
March 5, 2008
There are only five days left until the conclusion of “The Wire,” a show that’s brought national attention to Charm City, and we want to know what you think will go down in the series’ final epsiode.
Will McNulty meet his maker? Will Marlo finally get what’s coming to him, or get off scot-free? And what will happen in the faux Baltimore Sun newsroom between Gus and Scott? What will become of Bunk, Lester, and Kima, to name a few?
Here’s your chance to end it your way. Comment below (anonymous, if you’d like) and tell us what you hope Sunday’s episode will bring.
If you need some inspiration before crafting your version, listen to former WYPR host Marc Steiner’s countdown-to-the-end interviews with writers and cast. Here’s a link to the one with Ed Burns. (Or maybe you’d like to go straight to the one with David Simon?)
Here’s what Simon told Steiner about season five: “I don’t believe [society] can actually even recognize our fundamental problems, much less begin to address them. And that is what the last season of The Wire was about…“
What was the fifth season about for you?
Don’t forget to comment, and don’t be afraid to start the conversation!
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Update: When you’re done, you may want to check out this Bloomberg review of the final episode (note: there are some spoilers).
Sphere: Related ContentFan favorite killed off on “The Wire” (Episode 8 recap)
February 25, 2008
Did you foresee the murder of stick-up man Omar Little in last night’s episode?
The antihero, who has been on the show since the first season - and is hard not to like, aside from his violent behavior - was shot in the back of the head while buying cigarettes at a convenience store.
From his Wikipedia page (already updated with his demise):
Omar was a renowned stick-up man who lived by a strict code and never deviated from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robbed or menaced people who are not involved in the drug trade. Omar, who was gay, has had three partners on the show. Omar is the only major character on the series who claims to make a point of not using profanity.
In 2004, writers at USA Today named Omar’s portrayer, Michael K. Williams, one of the ten reasons they still love television, and our own Baltimore City Paper said Omar was “arguably the show’s single greatest achievement” in 2005.
Was it Omar’s time to go?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentAttorney Billy Murphy on “The Wire”
February 19, 2008
Did anyone see Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy’s cameo performance on “The Wire” Sunday night?
Here’s a synopsis of one scene with Murphy in it, from the HBO’s synopsis of the episode, Took:
State Senator R. Clayton “Clay” Davis tries to talk defense attorney Billy Murphy into taking on his case without receiving his full fee up front. Davis offers $25k up front and $25k when Murphy seats a jury. Murphy insists on his full $200K fee, but Davis counters that he’s giving him a great publicity opportunity going up against State’s Attorney Rupert Bond. Charmed, Murphy tells Clay to save his silver-tongued salesmanship for the jury.
And here’s from the ep’s Wikipedia entry:
Senator Davis appears in court, and it looks as though he is going to be heading to prison. With the amount of paperwork that Freamon and Sydnor got on Davis, it didn’t seem like he could get off. That was until he hired Billy Murphy to help him out with his case.
Let us know what you thought of Murphy and “Took.”
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related Content“Wire” fix: Ever wonder what the other half thinks?
January 21, 2008
If you’ve ever pondered how a “thug” would react to watching a couple eps of “The Wire,” you should read the second installment of NYT guest blogger Sudhir Venkatesh’s account, published Friday. The first installment lives here.
An intro:
“A few weeks ago, I called a few respected street figures in the New York metro region to watch the upcoming fifth season. I couldn’t think of a better way to ensure quality control.”
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentThe Wire fix: Kurt Schmoke on “the real Baltimore”
January 14, 2008
Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke tells readers of The Guardian what “the hit television drama … tells us about the city I governed and America’s war on drugs.”
Make sure you check out the comments below the column - where readers debate the merits of Schmoke’s opposition to the “War on Drugs” during his tenure as mayor.
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentDaily Record mentioned in “The Wire” premiere
January 7, 2008
Did anyone catch the mentions of The Daily Record in the season premiere of “The Wire” last night?
In the episode, “More With Less,” fictional city desk editor Gus Haynes asks a colleague at The Sun about a wire story on city bus line cutbacks. He hears that the story was “broken by The Daily Record” and is disappointed in the lost opportunity. Later, at an editors meeting, the staff downplay the story’s importance and blame the missed story on staff buyouts that left the paper without a transportation reporter.
Self-promotion aside, what did you think of the episode?
If you missed it, it’ll air multiple times later this week on HBO.
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
P.S. Speaking of “The Wire,” check out Robbie Whelan’s story today on local hip-hop producers, featured on the show, who just signed a worldwide distribution deal.
Sphere: Related Content“The Wire” creator cast as the angriest man on TV
January 1, 2008
“The Wire creates a vision of official Baltimore as a heavy, self-justified bureaucracy, gripped by its own byzantine logic and criminally unconcerned about the lives of ordinary people, who enter it at their own risk."
So writes Mark Bowden in the January issue of Atlantic Monthly, in a piece entitled “The Angriest Man on Television.” It might be of no surprise that the title references “The Wire” creator (and former Baltimore Sun reporter) David Simon.
In his lengthy look at Simon, Bowden aims to reveal differences between the real Baltimore and Simon’s fictional Baltimore (”like Dickens’s London, Simon’s Baltimore is a richly imagined caricature of its real-life counterpart, not a carbon copy”). He also writes of Simon’s distaste for his former employer, The Sun, and the paper’s role in the upcoming final season of the series.
Read for yourself, and let us know whether you think Simon’s portrayal of “Body-more, Murdaland” is dead accurate or embellished for HBO.
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Down to The Wire
September 4, 2007
The Wire has reached the end of the reel…
Yep, after five years of portraying Baltimore as a den of sleaze and corruption with ambitious young politicians making hay out of troubled schools, rampant murder and drug trafficking, production has shut down.
And I, for one, am thrilled! Baltimore, a city beset with violence and drugs? Come on, gimme a break!
That’s not my town. Baltimore is a place where people BELIEVE and Get In On It, not shoot each other on the street. Portraying it otherwise is a disgrace and scares away tourists who are afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.
Right? Well…
There are those who have said exactly that—that The Wire has somehow helped give Baltimore a bad name, as if we haven’t done a bang-up (pun intended) job of that ourselves.
What do you think? Are you happy to see The Wire coming to an end? What do you think of it as a television show? What about the estimated $100 million in direct spending and $200 million in economic impact during its five-year run, according to the state Department of Business and Economic Development? Are you glad to see that go, too?
Sound off! Let us hear from you.
As for me, when I leave my downtown office before sundown today and head north on the subway to my home in the suburbs, I will shout out a hearty farewell. At least until the show’s last season surfaces on HBO, likely early next year.
-LOUIS LLOVIO, Business Writer
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