The Wire (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore
, Maryland
. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon
, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States. The Wire premiered on June 2, 2002 and ended on March 9, 2008, comprising 60 episodes over five seasons.
Each season of The Wire focuses on a different facet of the city of Baltimore. In chronological order they are: the illegal drug trade
, the seaport system, the city government and bureaucracy, the school system, and the print news media. The large cast consists mainly of character actor
s who are little known for their other roles. Simon has said that despite its presentation as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution they are committed to."
Despite only receiving modest ratings and never winning major television awards, The Wire has been described by many critics as the greatest television series ever made and one of the most accomplished works of fiction of the 2000s. The show is recognized for its realistic portrayal of urban life, its literary ambitions, and its uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes.
Simon has stated that he originally set out to create a police drama loosely based on the experiences of his writing partner Ed Burns
, a former homicide
detective
. Burns, when working on protracted investigations of violent drug dealers using surveillance
technology, had often been frustrated by the bureaucracy of the Baltimore police department; Simon saw similarities with his own ordeals as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun
.
Simon chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his intimate familiarity with the city. During his time as a writer and producer for the NBC
program Homicide: Life on the Street
, based on his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
and also set in Baltimore, Simon had come into conflict with NBC network executives who were displeased by the show's pessimism. Simon wanted to avoid a repeat of these conflicts. He chose to take The Wire to HBO because of their existing working relationship from the 2000 miniseries
The Corner
. Owing to its reputation for exploring new areas, HBO was initially doubtful about including a police drama in its lineup, but eventually agreed to produce the pilot episode
. Simon approached the mayor of Baltimore, telling him that he wanted to give a bleak portrayal of certain aspects of the city; he was welcomed to work there again. He hoped that the show would change the opinions of some viewers but said that it was unlikely to have an impact on the issues it portrays.
The initial cast was assembled through a process of auditions and readings. Lance Reddick
received the role of Cedric Daniels
after auditioning for several other parts. Michael K. Williams
got the part of Omar Little
after only a single audition.
Several prominent real-life Baltimore figures, including former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
; Rev. Frank M. Reid III; former police chief, convicted felon, and radio personality Ed Norris
; Virginia Delegate Rob Bell
; Howard County Executive Ken Ulman
; and former mayor Kurt Schmoke
have appeared in minor roles despite not being professional actors. "Little Melvin" Williams
, a Baltimore drug lord arrested in the 1980s by an investigation that Ed Burns had been part of, had a recurring role as a deacon beginning in the third season. Jay Landsman
, a longtime police officer who inspired the character of the same name
, played Lieutenant Dennis Mello. Baltimore police commander Gary D'Addario
served as the series technical advisor for the first two seasons and has a recurring role as prosecutor Gary DiPasquale. Simon shadowed D'Addario's shift when researching his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and both D'Addario and Landsman are subjects of the book.
More than a dozen cast members previously appeared on HBO's first hour long drama, Oz
. J. D. Williams
, Seth Gilliam
, Lance Reddick
, and Reg E. Cathey
were featured in very prominent roles in Oz, while a number of other notable stars of The Wire, including Wood Harris
, Frankie Faison
, John Doman
, Clarke Peters
, Domenick Lombardozzi
, Michael Hyatt
and Method Man
appeared in at least one episode of Oz. Cast members Erik Dellums
, Peter Gerety
, Clark Johnson
, Toni Lewis
and Callie Thorne
also appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street
, the earlier and award winning network television series also based on Simon's book; Lewis appeared on Oz as well. A number of cast members, as well as crew members, also appeared in the preceding HBO miniseries The Corner
including Clarke Peters, Reg E. Cathey, Lance Reddick, Corey Parker Robinson
, Robert F. Chew
and Delaney Williams
.
, showrunner and executive producer
, much of the creative team behind The Wire are alumni of Homicide
and Emmy
-winning miniseries The Corner
. The Corner veteran, Robert F. Colesberry
, was executive producer for the first two seasons and directed the season 2 finale before dying from complications from heart surgery in 2004. He is credited by the rest of the creative team as having a large creative role for a producer, and Simon credits him for achieving the show's realistic visual feel. He also had a small recurring role as Detective Ray Cole. Colesberry's wife Karen L. Thorson
joined him on the production staff. A third producer on The Corner, Nina Kostroff Noble
also stayed with the production staff for The Wire rounding out the initial four-person team. Following Colesberry's death, she became the show's second executive producer alongside Simon.
Stories for the show were often co-written by Ed Burns
, a former Baltimore homicide detective and public school teacher who had worked with Simon on other projects including The Corner. Burns also became a producer on The Wire in the show's fourth season. Other writers for The Wire include three acclaimed crime fiction writers from outside of Baltimore: George Pelecanos
from Washington, Richard Price
from the Bronx and Dennis Lehane
from Boston. Reviewers drew comparisons between Price's works (particularly Clockers) and The Wire even before he joined. In addition to writing, Pelecanos served as a producer for the third season. Pelecanos has commented that he was attracted to the project because of the opportunity to work with Simon. Staff writer Rafael Alvarez
penned several episodes' scripts, as well as the series guidebook The Wire: Truth Be Told. Alvarez is a colleague of Simon's from The Sun
and a Baltimore native with working experience in the port area. Another city native and independent filmmaker, Joy Lusco
, also wrote for the show in each of its first three seasons. Baltimore Sun writer and political journalist William F. Zorzi
joined the writing staff in the third season and brought a wealth of experience to the show's examination of Baltimore politics.
Playwright and television writer/producer Eric Overmyer
joined the crew of The Wire in the show's fourth season as a consulting producer and writer. He had also previously worked on Homicide. Overmyer was brought into the full-time production staff to replace Pelecanos who scaled back his involvement to concentrate on his next book and worked on the fourth season solely as a writer. Emmy-award winner, Homicide and The Corner writer and college friend of Simon David Mills also joined the writing staff in the fourth season.
Directors include Homicide alumnus Clark Johnson
, who directed several acclaimed episodes of The Shield
, and Tim Van Patten
, an Emmy winner who has worked on every season of The Sopranos
. The directing has been praised for its uncomplicated and subtle style. Following the death of Colesberry, director Joe Chappelle
joined the production staff as a co-executive producer and continued to regularly direct episodes.
, using clips from previous episodes. Each episode begins with a cold open
that seldom contains a dramatic juncture. The screen then fades or cuts to black while the intro music fades in. The show's opening title sequence then plays; a series of shots, mainly close-ups, concerning the show's subject matter that changes from season to season, separated by fast cutting
(a technique rarely used in the show itself). The opening credits are superimposed
on the sequence, and consist only of actors' names without identifying which actors play which roles. In addition, actors' faces are rarely seen in the title sequence. At the end of the sequence, a quotation is shown on-screen that is spoken by a character during the episode. The three exceptions were the first season finale which uses the phrase "All in the game", attributed to "Traditional West Baltimore", a phrase used frequently throughout all five seasons including that episode; the fourth season finale which uses words written on boarded up vacant homes attributed to "Baltimore, traditional" and the series finale, which started with a quote from H. L. Mencken
that is shown on a wall at The Baltimore Sun in one scene, neither quote being spoken by a character. Progressive story arcs often unfold in different locations at the same time. Episodes rarely end with a cliffhanger
, and close with a fade or cut to black with the closing music fading in.
The opening theme is "Way Down in the Hole", a gospel
- and blues
-inspired song originally written by Tom Waits
for his 1987 album Franks Wild Years
. Each season uses a different recording of it against a different opening sequence, with the theme being performed, in order, by The Blind Boys of Alabama
, Waits himself, The Neville Brothers
, DoMaJe and Steve Earle
. Season four's version of "Way Down in the Hole" was arranged and recorded specifically for the show, and is performed by five Baltimore teenagers: Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir, and Avery Bargasse. Earle, who performed the fifth season's version, is also a member of the cast, playing the recovering drug addict Walon. The closing theme is "The Fall", composed by Blake Leyh
, who is also the show's music supervisor.
During season finales, a song is played before the closing scene in a montage showing the major characters' lives continuing in the aftermath of the narrative. The first season montage is played over "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester
, the second "I Feel Alright" by Steve Earle, the third "Fast Train" written by Van Morrison
and performed by Solomon Burke
, the fourth "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" written by Dr. John
and performed by Paul Weller
, and the fifth uses an extended version of "Way Down In The Hole" by the Blind Boys of Alabama, the same version of the song used as the opening theme for the first season. While the songs reflect the mood of the sequence, their lyrics are usually only loosely tied to the visual shots. In the commentary track to episode 37, "Mission Accomplished", executive producer David Simon said: "I hate it when somebody purposely tries to have the lyrics match the visual. It brutalizes the visual in a way to have the lyrics dead on point. ... Yet at the same time it can't be totally off point. It has to glance at what you're trying to say."
A recurring piece of music used throughout the series is The Pogues
' "The Body of an American", which is always played at the detectives' wakes at Kavanaugh's Bar.
Two soundtrack album
s, called The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter—Five Years of Music from The Wire and Beyond Hamsterdam, were released on January 8, 2008 on Nonesuch Records
. The former features music from all five seasons of the series and the latter includes local Baltimore artists exclusively.
In distinguishing the police characters from other television detectives, Simon makes the point that even the best police of The Wire are motivated not by a desire to protect and serve, but by the intellectual vanity of believing they are smarter than the criminals they are chasing. However, while many of the police do exhibit altruistic qualities, many officers portrayed on the show are incompetent, brutal, self-aggrandizing, or hamstrung by bureaucracy and politics. The criminals are not always motivated by profit or a desire to harm others; many are trapped in their existence and all have human qualities. Even so, The Wire does not minimize or gloss over the horrific effects of their actions.
The show is realistic in depicting the processes of both police work and criminal activity. Many of the plot points were based on the experiences of Simon and Burns. There have even been reports of real-life criminals watching the show to learn how to counter police investigation techniques. The fifth season portrays a working newsroom and has been hailed as the most realistic portrayal of the media in film and television.
In December 2006, The Washington Post
carried an article in which local African-American students stated that the show had "hit a nerve" with the black community, and that they themselves knew real-life counterparts of many of the characters. The article expressed great sadness at the toll drugs and violence are taking on the black community.
in the form of voice-over
or flashbacks
, with the sole exception of one flashback at the end of the pilot episode, and even this brief use of the flashback technique is actually replaying a momentary footage clip from earlier in the same episode. Thus, the viewer needs to follow every conversation closely to understand who's who and what's going on. Salon.com has described the show as novelistic in structure, with a greater depth of writing and plotting than other crime shows. Each season of The Wire consists of 10–13 full-hour episodes, which form several multi-layered narratives. Simon chose this structure with an eye towards long story arcs that draw a viewer in and then result in a more satisfying payoff. He uses the metaphor of a visual novel in several interviews, describing each episode as a chapter, and has also commented that this allows a fuller exploration of the show's themes in time not spent on plot development.
Simon described the second season as
, which in Simon's view has failed in its aims and has become a war against America's underclass. This is portrayed by Major Colvin, imparting to Carver his view that policing has been allowed to become a war and thus will never succeed in its aims.
Writer Ed Burns
, who worked as a public school teacher after retiring from the Baltimore police force shortly before going to work with Simon, has called education the theme of the fourth season. Rather than focusing solely on the school system, the fourth season looks at schools as a porous part of the community that are affected by problems outside of their boundaries. Burns states that education comes from many sources other than schools and that children can be educated by other means, including contact with the drug dealers they work for. Burns and Simon see the theme as an opportunity to explore how individuals end up like the show's criminal characters, and to dramatize the notion that hard work is not always justly rewarded.
, City Hall, the Baltimore public school system
, the Barksdale drug trafficking operation
, The Baltimore Sun
, and the stevedore
s' union — as comparable institution
s. All are dysfunctional in some way, and the characters are typically betrayed by the institutions that they accept in their lives. There is also a sentiment echoed by a detective in Narcotics—"Shit rolls downhill"—which describes how superiors, especially in the higher tiers of the police department in the series, will attempt to use subordinates as scapegoats for any major scandals. Simon described the show as "cynical about [its] institutions" while taking a humanistic approach toward its characters.
A central theme developed throughout the show is the struggle between individual desires and subordination to the group's goals. Whether it is Officer Jimmy McNulty using all his cards to pursue a high-profile case despite resistance from his own department, or gang member D'Angelo Barksdale accepting a 20 year prison sentence contrary to his strong desire to turn in his uncle Avon and walk, this type of conflict is pervasive in all aspects of the show.
technologies by the police—hence the title The Wire. Salon.com
described the title as a metaphor for the viewer's experience: the wiretaps provide the police with access to a secret world, just as the show does for the viewer. Simon has discussed the use of camera shots of surveillance equipment, or shots that appear to be taken from the equipment itself, to emphasize the volume of surveillance in modern life and the characters' need to sift through this information.
The show's creators are also willing to kill off major characters, so that viewers cannot assume that a given character will survive simply because of a starring role or popularity among fans. In response to a question on why a certain character had to die, David Simon
said,
(Dominic West
), whose insubordinate tendencies and personal problems played counterpoint to his ability as a criminal investigator. The detail was led by Lieutenant Cedric Daniels
(Lance Reddick
) who faced challenges balancing his career aspirations with his desire to produce a good case. Kima Greggs
(Sonja Sohn) was a capable lead detective who faced jealousy from colleagues and worry about the dangers of her job from her domestic partner. Her investigative work was greatly helped by her criminal informant
, a drug addict known as Bubbles
(Andre Royo
). Like Greggs, partners Thomas "Herc" Hauk (Domenick Lombardozzi
) and Ellis Carver
(Seth Gilliam
) were reassigned to the detail from the narcotics unit. The duo's initially violent nature was eventually subdued as they proved useful in grunt work, and sometimes served as comic relief
for the audience. Rounding out the temporary unit were detectives Lester Freamon
(Clarke Peters
) and Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski (Jim True-Frost
). Though not initially important players in the operation, Freamon proved a quietly capable and methodical investigator with a knack for noticing tiny but important details, and Prez turned out to be a natural at following paper trails and his persistence when dealing with seemingly unbreakable codes paid off eventually.
These investigators were overseen by two commanding officers more concerned with politics and their own careers than the case, Major William Rawls
(John Doman
) and Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell
(Frankie Faison
). Assistant state's attorney Rhonda Pearlman
(Deirdre Lovejoy
) acted as the legal liaison between the detail and the courthouse and also had a sexual relationship with McNulty. In the homicide division, Bunk Moreland
(Wendell Pierce
) was a gifted, dry-witted, hard-drinking detective partnered with McNulty under Sergeant Jay Landsman
(Delaney Williams
), the jovial squad supervisor. Peter Gerety
had a recurring role as Judge Phelan, the official who started the case moving.
On the other side of the investigation was Avon Barksdale
's drug empire. The driven, ruthless Barksdale (Wood Harris
) was aided by business-minded Stringer Bell
(Idris Elba
). Avon's nephew D'Angelo Barksdale
(Larry Gilliard, Jr.) ran some of his uncle's territory, but also possessed a guilty conscience, while loyal Wee-Bey Brice
(Hassan Johnson
) was responsible for multiple homicides carried out on Avon's orders. Working under D'Angelo were Poot
(Tray Chaney
), Bodie
(J. D. Williams
), and Wallace
(Michael B. Jordan
), all street-level drug dealers. Wallace was an intelligent but naive youth trapped in the drug trade, and Poot a randy young man happy to follow rather than lead. Omar Little
(Michael K. Williams
), a renowned Baltimore stick-up man robbing drug dealers for a living, was a frequent thorn in the side of the Barksdale clan.
The second season introduced a new group of characters working in the Baltimore port area, including Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos
(Paul Ben-Victor
), Beadie Russell
(Amy Ryan
), and Frank Sobotka
(Chris Bauer
). Vondas was the underboss of a global smuggling operation, Russell an inexperienced Port authority
officer and single mother thrown in at the deep end of a multiple homicide investigation, and Sobotka a union leader who turned to crime to raise funds to save his union. Also joining the show in season 2 were Nick Sobotka
(Pablo Schreiber
), Frank's nephew; Ziggy Sobotka
(James Ransone
), Frank's troubled son; and "The Greek" (Bill Raymond
), Vondas's mysterious boss. As the second season ended, the focus shifted away from the ports, leaving the new characters behind.
The third season saw several previously recurring characters assuming larger starring roles, including Detective Leander Sydnor
(Corey Parker Robinson
), Bodie (J.D. Williams), Omar (Michael K. Williams), Proposition Joe
(Robert F. Chew
), and Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin (Robert Wisdom
). Colvin commanded the Western district where the Barksdale organization operated, and nearing retirement, he came up with a radical new method of dealing with the drug problem. Proposition Joe, the East Side's cautious drug kingpin, became more cooperative with the Barksdale Organization
. Sydnor, a rising young star in the police department in season 1, returned to the cast as part of the major crimes unit. Bodie had been seen gradually rising in the Barksdale organization since the first episode; he was born to their trade and showed a fierce aptitude for it. Omar had a vendetta against the Barksdale organization and gave them all of his lethal attention.
New additions in the third season included Tommy Carcetti
(Aidan Gillen
), an ambitious city councilman; Mayor Clarence Royce
(Glynn Turman
), the incumbent whom Carcetti planned to unseat; Marlo Stanfield
(Jamie Hector
), leader of an upstart gang seeking to challenge Avon's dominance; and Dennis "Cutty" Wise (Chad Coleman
), a newly released convict uncertain of his future.
In the fourth season, four young actors joined the cast: Jermaine Crawford
as Duquan "Dukie" Weems; Maestro Harrell
as Randy Wagstaff
; Julito McCullum
as Namond Brice
; and Tristan Wilds
as Michael Lee
. The characters are friends from a West Baltimore middle school. Another newcomer was Norman Wilson (Reg E. Cathey
), Carcetti's deputy campaign manager.
The fifth season saw several actors join the starring cast. Gbenga Akinnagbe
returns as the previously recurring Chris Partlow
, chief enforcer of the now dominant Stanfield Organization
. Neal Huff
reprises his role as Mayoral chief of staff Michael Steintorf having previously appeared as a guest star at the end of the fourth season. Two other actors also join the starring cast having previously portrayed their corrupt characters as guest stars – Michael Kostroff
as defense attorney Maurice Levy
and Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
as senator Clay Davis
. Crew member Clark Johnson
appeared in front of the camera for the first time to play Augustus Haynes
, the principled editor of the city desk of The Baltimore Sun
. He is joined in the newsroom by two other new stars; Michelle Paress
and Tom McCarthy
play young reporters Alma Gutierrez
and Scott Templeton
.
The investigation is triggered when detective Jimmy McNulty
meets privately with judge Daniel Phelan following the acquittal of D'Angelo Barksdale
for murder after a key witness changes her story. McNulty tells Phelan that the witness has probably been intimidated by members of a drug trafficking empire run by D'Angelo's uncle, Avon Barksdale
, having recognized several faces at the trial, notably Avon's second-in-command, Stringer Bell
. He also tells Phelan that nobody is investigating Barksdale's criminal activity, which includes a significant portion of the city's drug trade and several unsolved homicides.
Phelan takes issue with McNulty's report and complains to senior Police Department figures, embarrassing them into creating a detail dedicated to investigating Barksdale. However, owing to the department's dysfunction, the investigation is intended as a façade to appease the judge. An interdepartmental struggle between the more motivated officers on the detail and their superiors spans the whole season, with interference by the higher-ups often threatening to ruin the investigation. The detail's commander, Cedric Daniels
, acts as mediator between the two opposing groups of police.
Meanwhile, the organized and cautious Barksdale gang is explored through characters at various levels within it. The organization is continually antagonized by a stick-up crew led by Omar Little
, and the feud leads to several deaths. Throughout, D'Angelo struggles with his conscience over his life of crime and the people it affects.
The police have little success with street-level arrests or with securing informants beyond Wallace
, a young low-level dealer and friend of D'Angelo. Eventually the investigation takes the direction of electronic surveillance, with wiretaps and pager clones to infiltrate the security measures taken by the Barksdale organization. This leads the investigation to areas the commanding officers had hoped to avoid, including political contributions. When an associate of Avon Barksdale's is arrested by State Police and offers to cooperate, the commanding officers order the detail to undertake a sting operation to wrap up the case. Detective Kima Greggs
is seriously hurt in the operation, triggering an overzealous response from the rest of the department. This causes the detail's targets to suspect that they are under investigation.
Wallace is murdered by his childhood friends Bodie
and Poot
, on orders from Stringer Bell, after leaving his "secure" placement with relatives and returning to Baltimore. D'Angelo Barksdale is eventually arrested with a large quantity of drugs, and learning of Wallace's murder, is ready to turn in his uncle and Stringer. However, D'Angelo's mother convinces him to rescind the deal and take the charges for his family. The detail manages to arrest Avon on a minor charge and gets one of his soldiers, Wee-Bey
, to confess to most of the murders, some of which he did not commit. Stringer escapes prosecution and is left running the Barksdale empire. For the officers, the consequences of antagonizing their superiors are severe, with Daniels passed over for promotion and McNulty assigned out of homicide and into the marine unit.
s in the city port
, as some of them get caught up in smuggling drugs and other contraband inside the shipping containers that pass through their port. In a season-long subplot, the Barksdale organization continues its drug trafficking despite Avon's imprisonment, with Stringer Bell assuming greater power.
McNulty harbors a grudge against his former commanders for reassigning him to the marine unit. When thirteen unidentified young women are found dead in a container at the docks, McNulty successfully makes a spiteful effort to place the murders within the jurisdiction of his former commander. Meanwhile, police Major Stan Valchek
gets into a feud with Frank Sobotka
, a leader of the International Brotherhood of Stevedores, a fictional dockers' union, over competing donations to their old neighborhood church. Valchek demands a detail to investigate Sobotka. Cedric Daniels
is interviewed, having been praised by Prez, Major Valcheck's son-in-law, and also because of his work on the Barksdale case. He is eventually selected to lead the detail assigned just to investigate Sobotka; when the investigation is concluded Daniels is assured he will move up to head a special case unit with personnel of his choosing.
Life for the blue-collar men of the port is increasingly hard and work is scarce. As union leader, Sobotka has taken it on himself to reinvigorate the port by lobbying politicians to support much-needed infrastructure improvement initiatives. Lacking the funds needed for this kind of influence, Sobotka has become involved with a smuggling ring. Around him, his son and nephew also turn to crime, as they have few other opportunities to earn money. It becomes clear to the Sobotka detail that the dead girls are related to their investigation, as they were in a container that was supposed to be smuggled through the port. They again use wiretaps to infiltrate the crime ring and slowly work their way up the chain towards The Greek, the mysterious man in charge. But Valchek, upset that their focus has moved beyond Sobotka, gets the FBI involved. The Greek has contacts inside the FBI and starts severing his ties to Baltimore when he learns about the investigation.
After a dispute over stolen goods turns violent, Sobotka's son Ziggy
is charged with the murder of one of the Greek's underlings. Sobotka himself is arrested for smuggling; he agrees to work with the detail to help his son, finally seeing his actions as a mistake. However, the Greek learns about this through a mole
in the FBI and has Sobotka killed. The investigation ends with the fourteen homicides solved but the perpetrator already dead. Several drug dealers and mid-level smuggling figures tied to the Greek are arrested, but he and his second-in-command escape uncharged and unidentified. The Major is pleased that Sobotka was arrested; the case is seen as a success by the commanding officers, but is viewed as a failure by the detail.
Across town, the Barksdale organization continues its business under Stringer
while Avon
and D'Angelo Barksdale
serve prison time. D'Angelo decides to cut ties to his family after his uncle organizes the deaths of several inmates and blames it on a corrupt guard to shave time from his sentence. Eventually Stringer covertly orders D'Angelo killed, with the murder staged to look like a suicide. Avon is unaware of Stringer's duplicity and mourns the loss of his nephew.
Stringer also struggles, having been cut off by Avon's drug suppliers and left with increasingly poor-quality product. He again goes behind Avon's back, giving up half of Avon's most prized territory to a rival named Proposition Joe
in exchange for a share of his supply. Avon, unaware of the arrangement, assumes that Joe and other dealers are moving into his territory simply because the Barksdale organization has too few enforcers. He contracts a feared assassin named Brother Mouzone. Stringer deals with this by tricking his old adversary Omar
into believing that Mouzone was responsible for the vicious killing of his partner in their feud in season one. Seeking revenge, Omar shoots Mouzone but, realizing Stringer has lied to him, calls 9-1-1
. Mouzone recovers and leaves Baltimore, and Stringer (now with Avon's consent) is able to continue his arrangement with Proposition Joe.
"legalizing" the illegal drug trade, and incidentally prostitution
, within the limited boundaries of a few uninhabited city blocks — referred to as Hamsterdam. The posited benefits, as in Amsterdam
and other European cities, were reduced street crime city-wide and increased outreach of health and social services to at-risk populations. These were continuations of storylines hinted at earlier.
The demolition of the towers that had served as the Barksdale organization's prime territory pushes their dealers back out onto the streets of Baltimore. Stringer Bell
continues his reform of the organization by cooperating with other drug lords, sharing with one another territory, product, and profits. Stringer's proposal is met with a curt refusal from Marlo Stanfield
, leader of a new, growing crew. Against Stringer's advice, Avon decides to take Marlo's territory by force, and the two gangs become embroiled in a bitter turf war with multiple deaths. Omar Little
continues to rob the Barksdale organization wherever possible. Working with his new boyfriend, Dante, and two women, he is once more a serious problem. The violence related to the drug trade makes it an obvious choice of investigation for Cedric Daniels
' now-permanent Major Crimes Unit.
Councilman Tommy Carcetti
begins to prepare himself for a mayoral race. He manipulates a colleague into running against the mayor to split the black vote, secures a capable campaign manager, and starts making headlines for himself.
Approaching the end of his career, Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin wants to effect some real change in the neighborhoods he has long been responsible for. Seeing the spread of drug dealing into previously unscathed areas following the destruction of the towers, he assumes the task of containing the problem. Without the knowledge of central command, he sets up areas where drug trade would go unpunished but still be monitored by police officers, and cracks down on any traffic elsewhere. His scheme achieves his aims and reduces crime in his district, but is eventually exposed to his superiors and city politicians, including Carcetti, who uses the scandal to make a grandstanding speech. With top brass outraged, Colvin is forced to cease his actions, accept a demotion, and retire from the department on a lower-grade pension.
Dennis "Cutty" Wise, once a drug dealer's enforcer, is released from prison alongside Avon. His struggles to adapt to life as a free man show an attempt at personal reform. Cutty tries to work as a manual laborer and then flirts with his former life, going to work for Avon. Finding he no longer has the heart for murder, he eventually uses funding from Avon to purchase new equipment for his nascent boxing gym.
The Major Crimes Unit learns that Stringer has been buying real estate and developing it to fulfill his dream of being a successful legitimate businessman. Believing that the bloody turf war with Marlo is poised to destroy everything the Barksdale crew had worked for, Stringer gives Major Colvin information on Avon's weapons stash. But Stringer is himself being betrayed by Avon: Brother Mouzone had returned to Baltimore and tracked down Omar to join forces. Mouzone tells Avon that his shooting must be avenged. Avon, remembering how Stringer disregarded his order which resulted in Stringer attempting to have Brother Mouzone killed, possibly still furious over D'Angelo's
murder (Stringer having finally confessed the truth), and fearing Mouzone's ability to harm his reputation outside of Baltimore, informs Mouzone of Stringer's upcoming visit to his construction site. There, Mouzone and Omar corner him and shoot him to death.
Colvin tells McNulty about Avon's hideout, and armed with the information gleaned from selling the Barksdale crew pre-wiretapped disposable cell phones, the detail stages a raid, arresting Avon and most of his underlings. Barksdale's criminal empire lies in ruins, and Marlo's young crew simply moves into their territory. The drug trade in West Baltimore continues with little change.
's drug gang, which has grown to control most of western Baltimore's trafficking.
The show introduces Dukie, Randy
, Michael
, and Namond
, four boys from West Baltimore, as they enter the eighth grade. At the same school, Prez has begun a new career as a math teacher. Despite mentorship from the more seasoned faculty, Namond, and later Michael, work as drug runners for Bodie
, who has had middling success selling Proposition Joe
's product independently.
The cold-blooded Marlo has come to dominate the streets of the west side, using murder and intimidation to make up for his weak-quality drugs and lack of business acumen. His enforcers Chris Partlow
and Snoop conceal their numerous victims in boarded-up row houses where the bodies will not be readily discovered. The disappearances of so many known criminals come to mystify both the major crimes unit investigating Marlo and the homicide unit assigned to solve the presumed murders. Marlo coerces Bodie into working under him.
McNulty
has found peace working as a patrolman and living with Beadie Russell
, and refuses promotions from Daniels
, now a major commanding the Western District. Detectives Kima Greggs
and Lester Freamon
, as part of the major crimes unit, investigate Avon Barksdale
's political donations and serve several key figures with subpoenas. Their work is shut down by Commissioner Ervin Burrell
at Mayor Clarence Royce
's request, and after being placed under stricter supervision within their unit, both Greggs and Freamon request and receive transfer to the homicide division.
Meanwhile, the city's mayoral primary race enters its closing weeks. Royce initially has a seemingly insurmountable lead over challengers Tommy Carcetti
and Tony Gray, with a big war chest
and major endorsements. Royce's lead begins to fray, however, as his own political machinations turn against him and Carcetti starts to highlight the city's crime problem. This propels Carcetti to victory in the primary,
Howard "Bunny" Colvin joins a research group attempting to study potential future criminals while they are still young. Dennis "Cutty" Wise continues to work with boys in his boxing gym, and accepts a job at the school rounding up truants. Bubbles
takes a homeless teenager named Sherrod under his wing. He encourages the boy to attend class, which he fails to do.
Prez has a few successes with his students, but some of them start to slip away. Disruptive Namond is removed from class and placed in the research group, where he gradually develops affection and respect for Colvin. Randy, in a moment of desperation, reveals knowledge of a murder to the assistant principal, leading to his being interrogated by police.
Proposition Joe
engineers a conflict between Omar Little
and Marlo to convince Marlo to join the New Day Co-Op
. After Omar robs Marlo, Marlo frames Omar for a murder and attempts to have him murdered in jail, but Omar manages to beat the charge with the help of Bunk. Omar learns Marlo set him up, and gets revenge on him and Proposition Joe by robbing the entire shipment of the Co-Op. Meanwhile, the co-op members, including Marlo, are furious at Joe for allowing the shipment to be stolen. Marlo demands satisfaction, and as a result, Joe sets up a meeting between him and Spiros Vondas
, who assuages Marlo's concerns. Having gotten a lead on Joe's connection to the Greeks, Marlo begins investigating them to learn more about their role in bringing narcotics into Baltimore.
Freamon discovers the bodies Chris and Snoop had hidden. Bodie offers McNulty testimony against Marlo and his crew, but is shot dead on his corner by O-Dog, a member of Marlo's crew. Sherrod dies after injecting a poisoned vial of heroin that, unbeknownst to him, Bubbles had prepared for their tormentor. Bubbles turns himself in to the police and tries to hang himself, but he survives and is taken to a detox facility. Michael has now joined the ranks of Marlo's killers and runs one of his corners, with Dukie leaving high school to work there. Randy's house is firebombed by school bullies for his cooperation with the police, leaving his caring foster mother hospitalized and sending him back to a group home. Namond is taken in by Colvin, who recognized the good in him. The major crimes unit from earlier seasons is largely reunited, and they resume their investigation of Marlo Stanfield.
, and in fact elements of the plot are taken from accounts of real-life events (such as the Jayson Blair
NY Times scandal) and people at the Sun. The season, according to David Simon
, deals with "what stories get told and what don't and why it is that things stay the same." Issues such as the quest for profit, the decrease in the number of reporters, and the end of aspiration for news quality would all be addressed, alongside the theme of homelessness.
Fifteen months after the fourth season concludes, Mayor Carcetti
's cuts in the police budget to redress the education deficit force the Marlo Stanfield
investigation to shut down. Cedric Daniels
secures a detail to focus on the prosecution of Senator Davis
for corruption. Detective McNulty
returns to the Homicide unit and decides to divert resources back to the police department by faking evidence to make it appear that a serial killer is murdering homeless men.
The Baltimore Sun also faces budget cuts and the newsroom struggles to adequately cover the city, omitting many important stories. Commissioner Burrell
continues to falsify crime statistics and is fired by Carcetti, who positions Daniels to replace him.
Proposition Joe
teaches Marlo Stanfield how to launder money and evade investigation. Once Joe is no longer useful to him, Stanfield has Joe killed and usurps his position with the Greeks and the New Day Co-Op
. Stanfield lures his enemy Omar Little
out of retirement by having Omar's mentor Butchie murdered. Michael Lee
continues working as a Stanfield enforcer, providing a home for his friend Dukie and younger brother Bug.
Omar returns to Baltimore seeking revenge, targeting Stanfield's organization, stealing and destroying money and drugs and killing Stanfield enforcers in an attempt to force Stanfield into the open. However, he is eventually shot and killed by Kenard, a young Stanfield dealer.
Templeton claims to have been contacted by McNulty's fake serial killer. City Editor Gus Haynes
becomes suspicious, but his superiors are enamored of Templeton. The story gains momentum and Carcetti spins the resulting attention on homelessness into a key issue in his imminent campaign for Governor and restores funding to the police department.
Bubbles
is recovering from his drug addiction while living in his sister's basement. He is befriended by Sun reporter Mike Fletcher, who eventually writes a profile of Bubbles.
Bunk is disgusted with McNulty's serial killer scheme and tries to have Lester Freamon
reason with McNulty. Instead, Freamon helps McNulty perpetuate the lie and uses the funds for an illegal wiretap on Stanfield. Bunk resumes working the vacant house murders, leading to a murder warrant against Partlow for killing Michael's stepfather.
Freamon and Leander Sydnor
gather enough evidence to arrest Stanfield and most of his top lieutenants, seizing a large quantity of drugs. Stanfield suspects that Michael is an informant, and orders him killed. Michael realizes he is being set up and kills Snoop instead. A wanted man, he leaves Bug with an Aunt and begins a career as a stick-up man. With his support system gone, Dukie lives with drug addicts.
McNulty tells Kima Greggs
about his fabrications to prevent her wasting time on the case. Greggs tells Daniels, who, along with Rhonda Pearlman
, takes this news to Carcetti, who orders a cover-up because of the issue's importance to his campaign.
Davis is acquitted, but Freamon uses the threat of federal prosecution to blackmail him for information. Davis reveals Levy has a mole in the courthouse from whom he illegally purchases copies of sealed indictments. Herc tells Levy that the Stanfield case was probably based on an illegal wiretap, something which would jeopardize the entire case. After Levy reveals this to Pearlman, she uses Levy's espionage to blackmail him into agreeing to a plea bargain for his defendants. Levy ensures Stanfield's release on the condition that he permanently retires, while his subordinates will have to accept long sentences. Stanfield sells the connection to The Greeks back to the Co-Op and plans to become a businessman, though indications are that ultimately he will not be able to resist the lure of the corner.
As the cover-up begins, a copy-cat killing occurs, but McNulty quickly identifies and arrests the culprit. Pearlman tells McNulty and Freamon that they can no longer be allowed to do investigative work and warns of criminal charges if the scandal becomes public. They opt to retire. Haynes attempts to expose Templeton but the managing editors ignore the fabrications and demote anyone critical of their star reporter. Carcetti pressures Daniels to falsify crime statistics to aid his campaign. Daniels refuses and then quietly resigns rather than have his FBI file leaked.
In a final montage, McNulty gazes over the city; Freamon enjoys retirement; Templeton wins a Pulitzer; Carcetti becomes Governor; Haynes is sidelined to the copy desk and replaced by Fletcher; Campbell appoints Valchek as commissioner; Carcetti appoints Rawls as Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Dukie continues to use heroin; Michael becomes a stickup boy; Pearlman becomes a judge and Daniels a defense attorney; Bubbles is allowed upstairs where he enjoys a family dinner; Chris serves his life sentence alongside Wee-Bey
; the drug trade continues; and the people of Baltimore go on with their lives.
" drama series such as The Sopranos
and Six Feet Under. One reviewer felt that the show was partially a retread of themes from HBO and David Simon
's earlier works but still valuable viewing and described the series as particularly resonant because it parallels the war on terror through the chronicling of the war on drugs. Another review postulated that the series might suffer because of its reliance on profanity and slowly drawn-out plot, but was largely positive about the show's characters and intrigue.
Despite the critical acclaim, The Wire received poor Nielsen ratings
, which Simon attributed to the complexity of the plot; a poor time slot; heavy use of esoteric slang, particularly among the gangster characters; and a predominantly black cast. Critics felt the show was testing the attention span of its audience and felt that it was mistimed in the wake of the launch of the successful crime drama The Shield
on FX. However, anticipation for a release of the first season on DVD was high at Entertainment Weekly
.
The Guardian
described the second season as even more powerful than the first and praised it for deconstructing the show's central foundations with a willingness to explore new areas. One reviewer with the Boston Phoenix
felt that the subculture of the docks was not as absorbing as that of the housing projects. However, the review continued to praise the writers for creating a realistic world and populating it with an array of interesting characters.
The critical response to the third season remained positive. Entertainment Weekly
named The Wire the best show of 2004, describing it as "the smartest, deepest and most resonant drama on TV." They credited the complexity of the show for its poor ratings. The Baltimore City Paper
was so concerned that the show might be cancelled that it published a list of ten reasons to keep it on the air, including strong characterization, Omar Little, an unabashedly honest representation of real world problems. It also worried that the loss of the show would have a negative impact on Baltimore's economy.
At the close of the third season, The Wire still struggled to maintain its ratings and the show faced possible cancellation. Creator David Simon blamed the show's low ratings in part on its competition against Desperate Housewives
and worried that expectations for HBO dramas had changed following the success of The Sopranos.
As the fourth season was poised to begin, almost two years after the previous season's end, Tim Goodman
of the San Francisco Chronicle
wrote that The Wire "has tackled the drug war in this country as it simultaneously explores race, poverty and 'the death of the American working class,' the failure of political systems to help the people they serve, and the tyranny of lost hope. Few series in the history of television have explored the plight of inner-city African Americans and none—not one—has done it as well." The New York Times
called the fourth season of The Wire "its best season yet." Doug Elfman of the Chicago Sun-Times
was more reserved in his praise, calling it the "most ambitious" show on television, but faulting it for its complexity and the slow development of the plotline. The Los Angeles Times
took the rare step of devoting an editorial to the show, stating that "even in what is generally acknowledged to be something of a golden era for thoughtful and entertaining dramas—both on cable channels and on network TV—The Wire stands out." TIME
magazine especially praised the fourth season, stating that "no other TV show has ever loved a city so well, damned it so passionately, or sung it so searingly." The website Metacritic
, which gathers reviews from published news sources and translates them into a percentage score, has assigned to The Wires fourth season a weighted average score of 98%, the highest for any television show since Metacritic began tracking them in 2005.
Several reviewers have called it the best show on television, including TIME
, Entertainment Weekly, the Chicago Tribune
, Slate
, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Daily News
and the British newspaper The Guardian, which ran a week-by-week blog following every episode, also collected in a book, The Wire Re-up
. Charlie Brooker
, a columnist for The Guardian, has been particularly enthusiastic in his praise of the show, both in his "Screen Burn" column and in his BBC Four
television series Screenwipe
, calling it possibly the greatest show of the last 20 years. In 2009, TIME listed it as the best television series of the 2000s.
'The Wire Files', an online collection of articles published in darkmatter Journal critically analyzes The Wires racialized politics and aesthetics of representation. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "The deft writing—which used the cop-genre format to give shape to creator David Simon's scathing social critiques—was matched by one of the deepest benches of acting talent in TV history."
President of the United States
Barack Obama
has said that The Wire is his favorite television series. 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature
Laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa
, wrote a very positive critical review of the series in the Spanish journal El País.
, Brown University
, and Harvard Law School
have offered classes on The Wire in disciplines ranging from law
to sociology
to film studies
. Phillips Academy
, a boarding high school in Massachusetts, offers a similar course as well. In an article published in The Washington Post, Anmol Chaddha and William Julius Wilson
explain why Harvard chose The Wire as curriculum material for their course on urban inequality: "Though scholars know that deindustrialization, crime and prison, and the education system are deeply intertwined, they must often give focused attention to just one subject in relative isolation, at the expense of others. With the freedom of artistic expression, "The Wire" can be more creative. It can weave together the range of forces that shape the lives of the urban poor." University of York
's Head of Sociology, Roger Burrows, said in The Independent
that the show "makes a fantastic contribution to their understanding of contemporary urbanism", and is "a contrast to dry, dull, hugely expensive studies that people carry out on the same issues".
service were able to see each episode of the season six days earlier. American basic cable network BET
also airs the show. BET adds commercial breaks, blurs some nudity, and mutes
some profanity. Much of the waterfront storyline from the second season is edited out from the BET broadcasts.
In the United Kingdom, the show has been broadcast on FX
, and recently aired on terrestrial television on BBC Two
. Although controversially it was broadcast at 23:20 and had no BBC iPlayer catchup available. In a world first, British newspaper The Guardian
made the first episode of the first season available to stream on its website for a brief period. In Ireland, all episodes were aired on public service channel TG4
approximately 6 months after the original air dates on HBO. Season 1 was aired on 3e
in late 2008 but there are no plans to show any further seasons. In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
purchased the rights to show the entire series on its digital station, ABC2
. It commenced screening on September 1, 2009. In France it airs under the title Sur écoute ("wiretapped") on the pay channel Jimmy. The Polish channel TVN
shows the series under the name Prawo ulicy ("law of the street").
The Swedish public service network SVT
has shown the first four seasons of the series. In Norway, NRK aired the first season of the show in the autumn of 2007. In Israel, the show is broadcast on the Xtra Hot channel, under the name HaSmuya (הסמויה – The Covert Unit). The show airs in Canada on The Movie Network
and Movie Central
. In Finland the series is shown on Subtv
and MTV3
channels under the name Langalla ("On the wire"). The show has been broadcast in Hungary on Duna TV
since March 2007 under the name Drót ("Wire"). Since September 2008 the series is broadcast in Germany (Foxchannel, Pay-TV) under its original name, but dubbed into German. The show is also broadcast in Asia on Cinemax
since May 2009. In the Netherlands and Belgium the show has started its first run on June 1, 2009 on the NBC Universal cable channel 13th Street
. In the Middle East, MBC Action
airs the show routinely. After being available only on DVD, the Croatia
n premiere of the series happened in September 2011 on HRT
.
The DVD sets have been favorably received, though some critics have faulted them for a lack of special features.
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States. The Wire premiered on June 2, 2002 and ended on March 9, 2008, comprising 60 episodes over five seasons.
Each season of The Wire focuses on a different facet of the city of Baltimore. In chronological order they are: the illegal drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
, the seaport system, the city government and bureaucracy, the school system, and the print news media. The large cast consists mainly of character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
s who are little known for their other roles. Simon has said that despite its presentation as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution they are committed to."
Despite only receiving modest ratings and never winning major television awards, The Wire has been described by many critics as the greatest television series ever made and one of the most accomplished works of fiction of the 2000s. The show is recognized for its realistic portrayal of urban life, its literary ambitions, and its uncommonly deep exploration of sociopolitical themes.
Conception
Ed Burns
Ed Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
, a former homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
. Burns, when working on protracted investigations of violent drug dealers using surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
technology, had often been frustrated by the bureaucracy of the Baltimore police department; Simon saw similarities with his own ordeals as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
.
Simon chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his intimate familiarity with the city. During his time as a writer and producer for the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
program Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
, based on his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is a 1991 book written by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon describing a year spent with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department homicide squad...
and also set in Baltimore, Simon had come into conflict with NBC network executives who were displeased by the show's pessimism. Simon wanted to avoid a repeat of these conflicts. He chose to take The Wire to HBO because of their existing working relationship from the 2000 miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The Corner
The Corner
The Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on premium cable network HBO in the United States on April 16,...
. Owing to its reputation for exploring new areas, HBO was initially doubtful about including a police drama in its lineup, but eventually agreed to produce the pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
. Simon approached the mayor of Baltimore, telling him that he wanted to give a bleak portrayal of certain aspects of the city; he was welcomed to work there again. He hoped that the show would change the opinions of some viewers but said that it was unlikely to have an impact on the issues it portrays.
Casting
The casting of the show has been praised for avoiding big-name stars and providing character actors who appear natural in their roles. The looks of the cast as a whole have been described as defying TV expectations by presenting a true range of humanity on screen.The initial cast was assembled through a process of auditions and readings. Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
received the role of Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
after auditioning for several other parts. Michael K. Williams
Michael K. Williams
Michael Kenneth Williams is an American actor known for his portrayal of Omar Little on the HBO drama series The Wire, and of Albert "Chalky" White on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.-Early life and career:...
got the part of Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
after only a single audition.
Several prominent real-life Baltimore figures, including former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
Robert Ehrlich
Robert Leroy "Bob" Ehrlich, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. A Republican, he became governor after defeating Democratic opponent Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a member of the Kennedy family, 51% to 48% in the 2002 elections...
; Rev. Frank M. Reid III; former police chief, convicted felon, and radio personality Ed Norris
Ed Norris
Edward T. Norris is an American radio host and former law enforcement officer in Maryland. His talk show, the Ed Norris Show, airs on WJZ-FM in Baltimore, Maryland. Norris, a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, served as police commissioner for Baltimore from 2000 to late 2002...
; Virginia Delegate Rob Bell
Robert B. Bell
Robert B. "Rob" Bell is an American politician of the Republican Party. Since 2002 he has been a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. He represents the 58th district in the Virginia Piedmont, including Greene County and parts of Albemarle, Fluvanna and Orange Counties.-External links:...
; Howard County Executive Ken Ulman
Kenneth Ulman
Kenneth Ulman is currently serving as the County Executive of Howard County, Maryland. He previously served as a County Council member representing District 4 of Howard County. Previously, he served as Secretary of the Cabinet and Director, Board of Public Works in the Glendenning administration...
; and former mayor Kurt Schmoke
Kurt Schmoke
Kurt Lidell Schmoke is the Dean of the Howard University School of Law and a former mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. The son of Murray and Irene B. Reid , he attended the public schools of Baltimore...
have appeared in minor roles despite not being professional actors. "Little Melvin" Williams
Melvin Williams (actor)
Melvin D. Williams , known as Little Melvin, is a former drug trafficker and organized crime figure in his native Baltimore, Maryland. Williams is widely known for his involvement in heroin trafficking in Baltimore in the 1970s and 1980s...
, a Baltimore drug lord arrested in the 1980s by an investigation that Ed Burns had been part of, had a recurring role as a deacon beginning in the third season. Jay Landsman
Jay Landsman
The book was later developed into the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He was the inspiration for the fictional character John Munch on that show and a character named Jay Landsman on the television series The Wire, created by Simon. Landsman portrayed himself in a brief appearance...
, a longtime police officer who inspired the character of the same name
Jay Landsman (The Wire)
Jay Landsman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Delaney Williams.-Policing method:Landsman's role in the police department is that of a supervisory detective sergeant who doesn't participate in much investigation work...
, played Lieutenant Dennis Mello. Baltimore police commander Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967...
served as the series technical advisor for the first two seasons and has a recurring role as prosecutor Gary DiPasquale. Simon shadowed D'Addario's shift when researching his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and both D'Addario and Landsman are subjects of the book.
More than a dozen cast members previously appeared on HBO's first hour long drama, Oz
Oz (TV series)
Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes . It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...
. J. D. Williams
J. D. Williams
Darnell "J.D." Williams is an American actor with starring roles in the HBO television programs Oz and The Wire, in which he appeared as Preston "Bodie" Broadus...
, Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam is an American actor. He is known for his HBO television roles, first as corrections officer-turned-prisoner Clayton Hughes on Oz, and later as Baltimore police detective promoted to sergeant Ellis Carver on The Wire. On both of these series, he co-starred with Lance Reddick and J.D....
, Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
, and Reg E. Cathey
Reg E. Cathey
Reginald "Reg" E. Cathey is an American stage, film and television actor.Cathey is a native of Huntsville, Alabama and a graduate of J.O. Johnson High School. He spent his childhood in West Germany. His favourite band is Blur....
were featured in very prominent roles in Oz, while a number of other notable stars of The Wire, including Wood Harris
Wood Harris
Sherwin David "Wood" Harris is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO television drama The Wire, and as high-school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 motion picture Remember the Titans.-Life and career:Harris was born in...
, Frankie Faison
Frankie Faison
Frankie Russel Faison , often credited as Frankie R. Faison, is an American actor.-Personal life:Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he joined Theta Chi Fraternity...
, John Doman
John Doman
John Doman is an American actor best known for playing Deputy Police Commissioner William Rawls on HBO series The Wire from 2002 to 2008 and Colonel Edward Galson on Oz in 2001....
, Clarke Peters
Clarke Peters
Clarke Peters is an American actor, singer, writer and director best known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon on the HBO drama The Wire.-Early life:...
, Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi is an American actor best known for his role as Thomas "Herc" Hauk on The Wire. Lombardozzi was inspired to act by the film State of Grace.-Filmography:...
, Michael Hyatt
Michael Hyatt
Michael Hyatt is a British-born film and television actress. Before Hyatt's work in film and television, she enjoyed memorable performances on stages throughout the country, particularly in Ragtime on Broadway.-Early life:...
and Method Man
Method Man
Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...
appeared in at least one episode of Oz. Cast members Erik Dellums
Erik Dellums
Erik Todd Dellums is a U.S. actor. He has had parts in television police dramas such as New York Undercover, Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire...
, Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...
, Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson , sometimes credited as Clark 'Slappy' Jackson, Clarque Johnson, and J. Clark Johnson, is an American actor and director who has worked in both television and film.-Early years:...
, Toni Lewis
Toni Lewis
Toni Lewis is an actress best known for playing Terri Stivers on Homicide: Life on the Street. The role led to her receiving a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series...
and Callie Thorne
Callie Thorne
Calliope "Callie" Thorne is an American actress known for her current role as Dr. Dani Santino on the USA Network series Necessary Roughness...
also appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
, the earlier and award winning network television series also based on Simon's book; Lewis appeared on Oz as well. A number of cast members, as well as crew members, also appeared in the preceding HBO miniseries The Corner
The Corner
The Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on premium cable network HBO in the United States on April 16,...
including Clarke Peters, Reg E. Cathey, Lance Reddick, Corey Parker Robinson
Corey Parker Robinson
Corey Parker Robinson is an American actor. He may be best known for appearing on the HBO program The Wire as Detective Leander Sydnor. He also appeared in Wire creator David Simon's earlier The Corner as R.C., a young drug dealer and in ER in episode 19 of Season 5 as student Antoine Bell...
, Robert F. Chew
Robert F. Chew
Robert F. Chew is an American actor from Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in the HBO television drama series The Wire as manipulative drug kingpin Proposition Joe on all five seasons of the show...
and Delaney Williams
Delaney Williams
Delaney Williams is an American actor from Washington, D.C. He appears on the HBO drama The Wire as a recurring guest star playing homicide sergeant Jay Landsman. He also had a small role on HBO's mini-series The Corner which brought him to the attention of the producers, who worked on The prior to...
.
Crew
Alongside Simon, the show's creator, head writerHead writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
, showrunner and executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, much of the creative team behind The Wire are alumni of Homicide
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
and Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning miniseries The Corner
The Corner
The Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on premium cable network HBO in the United States on April 16,...
. The Corner veteran, Robert F. Colesberry
Robert F. Colesberry
Robert F. "Bob" Colesberry, Jr. was an American film and television producer and first assistant director notable for his work as a producer on the Emmy Award winning miniseries The Corner, the Peabody Award winning television series The Wire for HBO, and the Oscar-nominated movie Mississippi...
, was executive producer for the first two seasons and directed the season 2 finale before dying from complications from heart surgery in 2004. He is credited by the rest of the creative team as having a large creative role for a producer, and Simon credits him for achieving the show's realistic visual feel. He also had a small recurring role as Detective Ray Cole. Colesberry's wife Karen L. Thorson
Karen L. Thorson
Karen L. Thorson is an award-winning American television producer. Thorson was married to fellow producer Robert F. Colesberry until his death in 2004. She worked on all five seasons of The Wire...
joined him on the production staff. A third producer on The Corner, Nina Kostroff Noble
Nina Kostroff Noble
Nina Kostroff Noble, aka Nina K. Noble, is an American television producer.Before entering television she worked extensively in film. Initially she was a production assistant and then became a second assistant director after joining the Directors Guild of America in 1984...
also stayed with the production staff for The Wire rounding out the initial four-person team. Following Colesberry's death, she became the show's second executive producer alongside Simon.
Stories for the show were often co-written by Ed Burns
Ed Burns
Ed Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
, a former Baltimore homicide detective and public school teacher who had worked with Simon on other projects including The Corner. Burns also became a producer on The Wire in the show's fourth season. Other writers for The Wire include three acclaimed crime fiction writers from outside of Baltimore: George Pelecanos
George Pelecanos
George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...
from Washington, Richard Price
Richard Price (writer)
Richard Price is an American novelist and screenwriter, known for the books The Wanderers and Clockers.-Early life:...
from the Bronx and Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy...
from Boston. Reviewers drew comparisons between Price's works (particularly Clockers) and The Wire even before he joined. In addition to writing, Pelecanos served as a producer for the third season. Pelecanos has commented that he was attracted to the project because of the opportunity to work with Simon. Staff writer Rafael Alvarez
Rafael Alvarez
Rafael Alvarez is an American journalist, author and television producer and writer. Alvarez worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun prior to starting a career in television. He has worked as a writer and story editor on the Home Box Office drama series The Wire and a writer and producer on the...
penned several episodes' scripts, as well as the series guidebook The Wire: Truth Be Told. Alvarez is a colleague of Simon's from The Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
and a Baltimore native with working experience in the port area. Another city native and independent filmmaker, Joy Lusco
Joy Lusco
Joy Lusco, also known as Joy Kecken and Joy Lusco Kecken, is an American film and television director and writer. She often works with her husband, Scott Kecken. She has worked on the HBO drama series The Wire as a writer on the show's first three seasons....
, also wrote for the show in each of its first three seasons. Baltimore Sun writer and political journalist William F. Zorzi
William F. Zorzi
William F. Zorzi is an American journalist and screenwriter. He worked at The Baltimore Sun for almost twenty years and covered politics for the majority of his career. He has also written for the HBO television series The Wire.-Journalism:...
joined the writing staff in the third season and brought a wealth of experience to the show's examination of Baltimore politics.
Playwright and television writer/producer Eric Overmyer
Eric Overmyer
Eric Overmyer is a writer and producer. He has written and/or produced numerous TV shows, including St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, The Wire, New Amsterdam, and Treme.-Biography:...
joined the crew of The Wire in the show's fourth season as a consulting producer and writer. He had also previously worked on Homicide. Overmyer was brought into the full-time production staff to replace Pelecanos who scaled back his involvement to concentrate on his next book and worked on the fourth season solely as a writer. Emmy-award winner, Homicide and The Corner writer and college friend of Simon David Mills also joined the writing staff in the fourth season.
Directors include Homicide alumnus Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson , sometimes credited as Clark 'Slappy' Jackson, Clarque Johnson, and J. Clark Johnson, is an American actor and director who has worked in both television and film.-Early years:...
, who directed several acclaimed episodes of The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
, and Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten is an American television director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. As a director, Van Patten has directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, Rome, The Pacific, Game of Thrones, Ed, and Sex and the City. Van Patten is perhaps best known for portraying...
, an Emmy winner who has worked on every season of The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. The directing has been praised for its uncomplicated and subtle style. Following the death of Colesberry, director Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
joined the production staff as a co-executive producer and continued to regularly direct episodes.
Episode structure
When broadcast on HBO and on some international networks, the episodes are preceded by a recap of events that have a bearing upon the upcoming narrativeNarrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
, using clips from previous episodes. Each episode begins with a cold open
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
that seldom contains a dramatic juncture. The screen then fades or cuts to black while the intro music fades in. The show's opening title sequence then plays; a series of shots, mainly close-ups, concerning the show's subject matter that changes from season to season, separated by fast cutting
Fast cutting
Fast cutting is a film editing technique which refers to several consecutive shots of a brief duration . It can be used to convey a lot of information very quickly, or to imply either energy or chaos...
(a technique rarely used in the show itself). The opening credits are superimposed
Superimposition
In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something .This technique is used in cartography to produce photomaps by superimposing grid lines, contour lines...
on the sequence, and consist only of actors' names without identifying which actors play which roles. In addition, actors' faces are rarely seen in the title sequence. At the end of the sequence, a quotation is shown on-screen that is spoken by a character during the episode. The three exceptions were the first season finale which uses the phrase "All in the game", attributed to "Traditional West Baltimore", a phrase used frequently throughout all five seasons including that episode; the fourth season finale which uses words written on boarded up vacant homes attributed to "Baltimore, traditional" and the series finale, which started with a quote from H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
that is shown on a wall at The Baltimore Sun in one scene, neither quote being spoken by a character. Progressive story arcs often unfold in different locations at the same time. Episodes rarely end with a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
, and close with a fade or cut to black with the closing music fading in.
Music
The Wire primarily utilizes source cues rather than overlaying songs on the soundtrack, or employing a score. Source cues are pieces of music that emanate from an element within the scene, such as a jukebox or car radio. This practice is rarely but occasionally breached, notably for the end of season montages and occasionally with a brief overlap of the closing theme and the final shot.The opening theme is "Way Down in the Hole", a gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
- and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-inspired song originally written by Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
for his 1987 album Franks Wild Years
Franks Wild Years
Franks Wild Years is an album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators for a play of the same name...
. Each season uses a different recording of it against a different opening sequence, with the theme being performed, in order, by The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel group from Alabama that first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind at Talladega, Alabama in 1939. The three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind....
, Waits himself, The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art , Charles , Aaron , and Cyril The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in...
, DoMaJe and Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
. Season four's version of "Way Down in the Hole" was arranged and recorded specifically for the show, and is performed by five Baltimore teenagers: Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir, and Avery Bargasse. Earle, who performed the fifth season's version, is also a member of the cast, playing the recovering drug addict Walon. The closing theme is "The Fall", composed by Blake Leyh
Blake Leyh
Blake Leyh is a composer, sound designer, and music supervisor.Leyh's prominent credits include music supervising HBO's television show The Wire, most notably the end theme called "The Fall" written by Leyh especially for the show and composing original scores for the films of Kirby Dick Blake...
, who is also the show's music supervisor.
During season finales, a song is played before the closing scene in a montage showing the major characters' lives continuing in the aftermath of the narrative. The first season montage is played over "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester
Jesse Winchester
Jesse Winchester is a musician and songwriter who was born and raised in the southern United States. To avoid the Vietnam War draft he moved to Canada in 1967, which is where and when he began his career as a solo artist. His highest charting recordings were of his own tunes, "Yankee Lady" in 1970...
, the second "I Feel Alright" by Steve Earle, the third "Fast Train" written by Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
and performed by Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
, the fourth "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" written by Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
and performed by Paul Weller
Paul Weller
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
, and the fifth uses an extended version of "Way Down In The Hole" by the Blind Boys of Alabama, the same version of the song used as the opening theme for the first season. While the songs reflect the mood of the sequence, their lyrics are usually only loosely tied to the visual shots. In the commentary track to episode 37, "Mission Accomplished", executive producer David Simon said: "I hate it when somebody purposely tries to have the lyrics match the visual. It brutalizes the visual in a way to have the lyrics dead on point. ... Yet at the same time it can't be totally off point. It has to glance at what you're trying to say."
A recurring piece of music used throughout the series is The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
' "The Body of an American", which is always played at the detectives' wakes at Kavanaugh's Bar.
Two soundtrack album
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
s, called The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter—Five Years of Music from The Wire and Beyond Hamsterdam, were released on January 8, 2008 on Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
. The former features music from all five seasons of the series and the latter includes local Baltimore artists exclusively.
Realism
The writers strove to create a realistic vision of an American city based on their own experiences. Central to this aim is the creation of truthful characters. Simon has stated that most of them are composites of real-life Baltimore figures. The show often casts non-professional actors in minor roles, distinguishing itself from other television series by showing the "faces and voices of the real city" it depicts. The writing also uses contemporary slang to enhance the immersive viewing experience.In distinguishing the police characters from other television detectives, Simon makes the point that even the best police of The Wire are motivated not by a desire to protect and serve, but by the intellectual vanity of believing they are smarter than the criminals they are chasing. However, while many of the police do exhibit altruistic qualities, many officers portrayed on the show are incompetent, brutal, self-aggrandizing, or hamstrung by bureaucracy and politics. The criminals are not always motivated by profit or a desire to harm others; many are trapped in their existence and all have human qualities. Even so, The Wire does not minimize or gloss over the horrific effects of their actions.
The show is realistic in depicting the processes of both police work and criminal activity. Many of the plot points were based on the experiences of Simon and Burns. There have even been reports of real-life criminals watching the show to learn how to counter police investigation techniques. The fifth season portrays a working newsroom and has been hailed as the most realistic portrayal of the media in film and television.
In December 2006, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
carried an article in which local African-American students stated that the show had "hit a nerve" with the black community, and that they themselves knew real-life counterparts of many of the characters. The article expressed great sadness at the toll drugs and violence are taking on the black community.
Visual novel
Many important events occur off-camera and there is no artificial expositionExposition (literary technique)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...
in the form of voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
or flashbacks
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, with the sole exception of one flashback at the end of the pilot episode, and even this brief use of the flashback technique is actually replaying a momentary footage clip from earlier in the same episode. Thus, the viewer needs to follow every conversation closely to understand who's who and what's going on. Salon.com has described the show as novelistic in structure, with a greater depth of writing and plotting than other crime shows. Each season of The Wire consists of 10–13 full-hour episodes, which form several multi-layered narratives. Simon chose this structure with an eye towards long story arcs that draw a viewer in and then result in a more satisfying payoff. He uses the metaphor of a visual novel in several interviews, describing each episode as a chapter, and has also commented that this allows a fuller exploration of the show's themes in time not spent on plot development.
Social commentary
"a meditation on the death of work and the betrayal of the American working class ... it is a deliberate argument that unencumbered capitalismHe added that season 3 "reflects on the nature of reform and reformers, and whether there is any possibility that political processes, long calcified, can mitigate against the forces currently arrayed against individuals." The third season is also an allegory that draws explicit parallels between the Iraq War and drug prohibitionNeoliberalismNeoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
is not a substitute for social policy; that on its own, without a social compact, raw capitalism is destined to serve the few at the expense of the many."
Prohibition (drugs)
The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent drug use. Prohibition of drugs has existed at various levels of government or other authority from the Middle Ages to the present....
, which in Simon's view has failed in its aims and has become a war against America's underclass. This is portrayed by Major Colvin, imparting to Carver his view that policing has been allowed to become a war and thus will never succeed in its aims.
Writer Ed Burns
Ed Burns
Ed Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
, who worked as a public school teacher after retiring from the Baltimore police force shortly before going to work with Simon, has called education the theme of the fourth season. Rather than focusing solely on the school system, the fourth season looks at schools as a porous part of the community that are affected by problems outside of their boundaries. Burns states that education comes from many sources other than schools and that children can be educated by other means, including contact with the drug dealers they work for. Burns and Simon see the theme as an opportunity to explore how individuals end up like the show's criminal characters, and to dramatize the notion that hard work is not always justly rewarded.
Institutional dysfunction
Simon has identified the organizations featured in the show — the Baltimore Police DepartmentBaltimore Police Department
The Baltimore Police Department provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853...
, City Hall, the Baltimore public school system
Baltimore City Public Schools
The Baltimore City Public School System is a public school district in the state of Maryland, United States, that serves the youth in the city of Baltimore . Its headquarters are the Dr. Alice G...
, the Barksdale drug trafficking operation
Barksdale Organization
In the television series The Wire, the fictional Barksdale Organization led by Avon Barksdale began as the most powerful and violent drug crew in Baltimore, Maryland and was the main focus of investigation in seasons one and three...
, The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
, and the stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
s' union — as comparable institution
Institution
An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...
s. All are dysfunctional in some way, and the characters are typically betrayed by the institutions that they accept in their lives. There is also a sentiment echoed by a detective in Narcotics—"Shit rolls downhill"—which describes how superiors, especially in the higher tiers of the police department in the series, will attempt to use subordinates as scapegoats for any major scandals. Simon described the show as "cynical about [its] institutions" while taking a humanistic approach toward its characters.
A central theme developed throughout the show is the struggle between individual desires and subordination to the group's goals. Whether it is Officer Jimmy McNulty using all his cards to pursue a high-profile case despite resistance from his own department, or gang member D'Angelo Barksdale accepting a 20 year prison sentence contrary to his strong desire to turn in his uncle Avon and walk, this type of conflict is pervasive in all aspects of the show.
Surveillance
Central to the structure and plot of the show is the use of electronic surveillance and wiretapTelephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
technologies by the police—hence the title The Wire. Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
described the title as a metaphor for the viewer's experience: the wiretaps provide the police with access to a secret world, just as the show does for the viewer. Simon has discussed the use of camera shots of surveillance equipment, or shots that appear to be taken from the equipment itself, to emphasize the volume of surveillance in modern life and the characters' need to sift through this information.
Cast and characters
The Wire employs a broad ensemble cast, supplemented by many recurring guest stars who populate the institutions featured in the show. The majority of the cast is African American, which accurately reflects the demographics of Baltimore. This is a rarity in American television drama. On February 3, 2008, with the airing of its 55th episode, The Wire became the second-longest running dramatic series with a predominantly African-American cast in the history of American prime-time television. Only Soul Food has aired more episodes.The show's creators are also willing to kill off major characters, so that viewers cannot assume that a given character will survive simply because of a starring role or popularity among fans. In response to a question on why a certain character had to die, David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
said,
We are not selling hope, or audience gratification, or cheap victories with this show. The Wire is making an argument about what institutions—bureaucracies, criminal enterprises, the cultures of addiction, raw capitalism even—do to individuals. It is not designed purely as an entertainment. It is, I'm afraid, a somewhat angry show.
Main cast
The major characters of the first season were divided between those on the side of the law and those involved in drug-related crime. The investigating detail was launched by the actions of Detective Jimmy McNultyJimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
(Dominic West
Dominic West
Dominic Gerard Fe West is an English actor best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The Wire.-Film and TV:...
), whose insubordinate tendencies and personal problems played counterpoint to his ability as a criminal investigator. The detail was led by Lieutenant Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
(Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
) who faced challenges balancing his career aspirations with his desire to produce a good case. Kima Greggs
Kima Greggs
Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a police detective in the Baltimore Police Department who is a dedicated officer and capable detective with some off-the-job issues. Openly lesbian, she has had problems...
(Sonja Sohn) was a capable lead detective who faced jealousy from colleagues and worry about the dangers of her job from her domestic partner. Her investigative work was greatly helped by her criminal informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
, a drug addict known as Bubbles
Bubbles (The Wire)
Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Andre Royo. Bubbles is a recovering heroin addict. His real name is not revealed until a fourth-season episode when he is called "Mr. Cousins" and in the fifth-season premiere when he is called "Reginald"...
(Andre Royo
Andre Royo
Andre Royo is an American actor. He is best known for his role as "Bubbles" in The Wire , and has had guest starring appearances in Fringe, Party Down, and How To Make It In America.-Career:...
). Like Greggs, partners Thomas "Herc" Hauk (Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi is an American actor best known for his role as Thomas "Herc" Hauk on The Wire. Lombardozzi was inspired to act by the film State of Grace.-Filmography:...
) and Ellis Carver
Ellis Carver
Ellis Carver is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Seth Gilliam. Carver is an African American lieutenant and formerly in command of the Baltimore Police Department's Western District Drug Enforcement Unit...
(Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam is an American actor. He is known for his HBO television roles, first as corrections officer-turned-prisoner Clayton Hughes on Oz, and later as Baltimore police detective promoted to sergeant Ellis Carver on The Wire. On both of these series, he co-starred with Lance Reddick and J.D....
) were reassigned to the detail from the narcotics unit. The duo's initially violent nature was eventually subdued as they proved useful in grunt work, and sometimes served as comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
for the audience. Rounding out the temporary unit were detectives Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
(Clarke Peters
Clarke Peters
Clarke Peters is an American actor, singer, writer and director best known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon on the HBO drama The Wire.-Early life:...
) and Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski (Jim True-Frost
Jim True-Frost
Jim True-Frost, born Jim True, is an American stage, television and screen actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski on all five seasons of the HBO program The Wire.-Biography:...
). Though not initially important players in the operation, Freamon proved a quietly capable and methodical investigator with a knack for noticing tiny but important details, and Prez turned out to be a natural at following paper trails and his persistence when dealing with seemingly unbreakable codes paid off eventually.
These investigators were overseen by two commanding officers more concerned with politics and their own careers than the case, Major William Rawls
William Rawls
William A. "Bill" Rawls is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor John Doman. Over the course of the series he ascends to the rank of Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.-Season 1:...
(John Doman
John Doman
John Doman is an American actor best known for playing Deputy Police Commissioner William Rawls on HBO series The Wire from 2002 to 2008 and Colonel Edward Galson on Oz in 2001....
) and Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show...
(Frankie Faison
Frankie Faison
Frankie Russel Faison , often credited as Frankie R. Faison, is an American actor.-Personal life:Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he joined Theta Chi Fraternity...
). Assistant state's attorney Rhonda Pearlman
Rhonda Pearlman
Rhonda Pearlman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Deirdre Lovejoy. Pearlman has been the legal system liaison for all of Lieutenant Cedric Daniels' investigations on the show...
(Deirdre Lovejoy
Deirdre Lovejoy
Deirdre Lovejoy is an American actress. She is most notable for her role on the HBO television series The Wire as Rhonda Pearlman. She graduated from the University of Evansville with an undergraduate degree in theatre....
) acted as the legal liaison between the detail and the courthouse and also had a sexual relationship with McNulty. In the homicide division, Bunk Moreland
Bunk Moreland
William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore City Police Detective named Rick Requer and nicknamed "the Bunk", an officer who joined the force in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who...
(Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce is an American actor, best known for his work in HBO dramas, including his portrayal of Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme.-Life and career:...
) was a gifted, dry-witted, hard-drinking detective partnered with McNulty under Sergeant Jay Landsman
Jay Landsman (The Wire)
Jay Landsman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Delaney Williams.-Policing method:Landsman's role in the police department is that of a supervisory detective sergeant who doesn't participate in much investigation work...
(Delaney Williams
Delaney Williams
Delaney Williams is an American actor from Washington, D.C. He appears on the HBO drama The Wire as a recurring guest star playing homicide sergeant Jay Landsman. He also had a small role on HBO's mini-series The Corner which brought him to the attention of the producers, who worked on The prior to...
), the jovial squad supervisor. Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...
had a recurring role as Judge Phelan, the official who started the case moving.
On the other side of the investigation was Avon Barksdale
Avon Barksdale
Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire portrayed by actor Wood Harris. Avon is the dominant drug dealer of Baltimore's West Side, running the Barksdale Organization...
's drug empire. The driven, ruthless Barksdale (Wood Harris
Wood Harris
Sherwin David "Wood" Harris is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO television drama The Wire, and as high-school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 motion picture Remember the Titans.-Life and career:Harris was born in...
) was aided by business-minded Stringer Bell
Stringer Bell
Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Idris Elba. Bell served as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second in command, assuming direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment...
(Idris Elba
Idris Elba
Idrissa Akuna "Idris" Elba is a British television, theatre, and film actor. He has starred in both British and American productions. Elba grew up in Canning Town, East London. One of his first acting roles was in the soap opera Family Affairs. He has worked in a variety of TV roles including ...
). Avon's nephew D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo "D" Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Larry Gilliard Jr. D'Angelo is the nephew of Avon Barksdale and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization which controls most of the trade in West Baltimore...
(Larry Gilliard, Jr.) ran some of his uncle's territory, but also possessed a guilty conscience, while loyal Wee-Bey Brice
Wee-Bey Brice
Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Hassan Johnson. Wee-Bey was the Barksdale Organization's most trusted soldier before being sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple homicides....
(Hassan Johnson
Hassan Johnson
Hassan 'Iniko' Johnson is an American actor/producer from Staten Island, NY, born November 19, 1976. His most noted performance was appearing on the HBO program The Wire as Roland Wee-Bey Brice. His first acting role was in the 1995 Spike Lee film Clockers. He also had a significant role in the...
) was responsible for multiple homicides carried out on Avon's orders. Working under D'Angelo were Poot
Poot Carr
Malik "Poot" Carr is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Tray Chaney. Poot is a drug dealer in the Barksdale Organization who slowly rises through the ranks, but ends up serving time in prison as his institution collapses around him...
(Tray Chaney
Tray Chaney
Tray Chaney is an American actor. He appeared on the HBO program The Wire as Poot Carr.Chaney began his entertainment career as a dancer at the age of four winning competitions at the Apollo Theater. He appeared in the 2003 music video "My Baby" by rap artist Bow Wow. He later appeared in The Wire...
), Bodie
Bodie Broadus
Preston "Bodie" Broadus is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor J. D. Williams. Bodie is initially a Barksdale organization drug dealer in "The Pit" who slowly rises through the ranks...
(J. D. Williams
J. D. Williams
Darnell "J.D." Williams is an American actor with starring roles in the HBO television programs Oz and The Wire, in which he appeared as Preston "Bodie" Broadus...
), and Wallace
Wallace (The Wire)
Wallace is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Michael B. Jordan. Wallace is a 16-year-old drug dealer for the Barksdale Organization, who works in the low-rise projects crew known as "The Pit" with his friends and fellow dealers Bodie Broadus and Poot Carr...
(Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan
Michael Bakari Jordan is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as teenage drug dealer Wallace on the HBO drama television series The Wire, for his role as Reggie Montgomery in All My Children, as quarterback Vince Howard on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights, and since...
), all street-level drug dealers. Wallace was an intelligent but naive youth trapped in the drug trade, and Poot a randy young man happy to follow rather than lead. Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
(Michael K. Williams
Michael K. Williams
Michael Kenneth Williams is an American actor known for his portrayal of Omar Little on the HBO drama series The Wire, and of Albert "Chalky" White on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.-Early life and career:...
), a renowned Baltimore stick-up man robbing drug dealers for a living, was a frequent thorn in the side of the Barksdale clan.
The second season introduced a new group of characters working in the Baltimore port area, including Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos
Spiros Vondas
Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Paul Ben-Victor.-Biography:...
(Paul Ben-Victor
Paul Ben-Victor
Paul Ben-Victor is an American actor.Ben-Victor was born Paul Friedman, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Leah Kornfeld, a playwright, and Victor Friedman. Ben-Victor debuted on the small screen in 1987 in the made-for-TV movie Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife and on an episode of Cagney &...
), Beadie Russell
Beadie Russell
Beatrice "Beadie" Russell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Amy Ryan. She was featured prominently in the second season, after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks....
(Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
), and Frank Sobotka
Frank Sobotka
Francis "Frank" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Chris Bauer.-Biography:Frank is a respected Polish-American secretary treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores at the Baltimore docks...
(Chris Bauer
Chris Bauer
Mark Christopher "Chris" Bauer is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Bauer was born in Los Angeles, California and attended high school at Miramonte High School in Orinda, California. He played on Miramonte Championship football team his senior year, 1984...
). Vondas was the underboss of a global smuggling operation, Russell an inexperienced Port authority
Port authority
In Canada and the United States a port authority is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body to operate ports and other transportation infrastructure.Port authorities are usually governed by boards or...
officer and single mother thrown in at the deep end of a multiple homicide investigation, and Sobotka a union leader who turned to crime to raise funds to save his union. Also joining the show in season 2 were Nick Sobotka
Nick Sobotka
Nickolas Andrew "Nick" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Pablo Schreiber. the character of Nick is cousin to, Ziggy Sobotka, the wayward and rebellious son to his uncle Frank Sobotka...
(Pablo Schreiber
Pablo Schreiber
Pablo Tell Schreiber is an American actor known for his dramatic stage work and for his portrayal of the Polish-American character Nick Sobotka on HBO's Baltimore drug-related crime drama The Wire. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Awake and Sing! on Broadway...
), Frank's nephew; Ziggy Sobotka
Ziggy Sobotka
Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor James Ransone. Though his father Frank Sobotka was a well-respected stevedore union leader, Ziggy's often reckless and juvenile behavior gained him little respect among other members of the union and...
(James Ransone
James Ransone
James Ransone is an American actor and former musician from Baltimore, Maryland. He is best known for his roles as Ziggy Sobotka in the second season of HBO's The Wire, and Corporal Josh Ray Person in the Iraq War-based mini-series Generation Kill...
), Frank's troubled son; and "The Greek" (Bill Raymond
Bill Raymond
Bill Raymond is an actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre since the 1960s.-Life and career:He featured in the second and fifth seasons of the HBO drama The Wire as "The Greek", the mysterious head of an international criminal organization. Other TV appearances include Miami Vice,...
), Vondas's mysterious boss. As the second season ended, the focus shifted away from the ports, leaving the new characters behind.
The third season saw several previously recurring characters assuming larger starring roles, including Detective Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Corey Parker Robinson. Sydnor is a young, married Baltimore Police detective who was a member of the Barksdale detail and later worked in the Major Crimes Unit.-Season 1:...
(Corey Parker Robinson
Corey Parker Robinson
Corey Parker Robinson is an American actor. He may be best known for appearing on the HBO program The Wire as Detective Leander Sydnor. He also appeared in Wire creator David Simon's earlier The Corner as R.C., a young drug dealer and in ER in episode 19 of Season 5 as student Antoine Bell...
), Bodie (J.D. Williams), Omar (Michael K. Williams), Proposition Joe
Proposition Joe
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible...
(Robert F. Chew
Robert F. Chew
Robert F. Chew is an American actor from Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in the HBO television drama series The Wire as manipulative drug kingpin Proposition Joe on all five seasons of the show...
), and Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin (Robert Wisdom
Robert Wisdom
Robert Wisdom is an American actor. He is a graduate of Columbia University.-Biography:Wisdom was born in Washington, D.C. to Jamaican parents. He appeared in four of the five seasons of HBO program The Wire as Howard "Bunny" Colvin...
). Colvin commanded the Western district where the Barksdale organization operated, and nearing retirement, he came up with a radical new method of dealing with the drug problem. Proposition Joe, the East Side's cautious drug kingpin, became more cooperative with the Barksdale Organization
Barksdale Organization
In the television series The Wire, the fictional Barksdale Organization led by Avon Barksdale began as the most powerful and violent drug crew in Baltimore, Maryland and was the main focus of investigation in seasons one and three...
. Sydnor, a rising young star in the police department in season 1, returned to the cast as part of the major crimes unit. Bodie had been seen gradually rising in the Barksdale organization since the first episode; he was born to their trade and showed a fierce aptitude for it. Omar had a vendetta against the Barksdale organization and gave them all of his lethal attention.
New additions in the third season included Tommy Carcetti
Tommy Carcetti
Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious Baltimore politician who rises from a seat on the city council to the office of the Mayor of Baltimore, and to the office of the Governor of Maryland by the...
(Aidan Gillen
Aidan Gillen
Aidan Gillen is an Irish stage and screen actor and television presenter. He is known in Ireland for his role in Love/Hate, in the UK for his role in Queer as Folk and in the US for his role in HBO's television series The Wire in which he plays Tommy Carcetti and for his role in Game of Thrones as...
), an ambitious city councilman; Mayor Clarence Royce
Clarence Royce
Clarence V. Royce is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Glynn Turman-Biography:Mayor of Baltimore Clarence V. Royce is a deft political figure and is fixated on remaining in power. Royce is the incumbent Mayor of Baltimore who was elected into office in 1998 and is in the...
(Glynn Turman
Glynn Turman
Glynn Russell Turman is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a writer, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson in the 1975 coming-of-age film Cooley High, math professor and retired Army colonel Bradford...
), the incumbent whom Carcetti planned to unseat; Marlo Stanfield
Marlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
(Jamie Hector
Jamie Hector
Jamie Hector is an Haitian-American actor who is known for his portrayal of Marlo Stanfield on the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire.- Biography :...
), leader of an upstart gang seeking to challenge Avon's dominance; and Dennis "Cutty" Wise (Chad Coleman
Chad Coleman
Chad Coleman is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing the character Dennis "Cutty" Wise from The Wire.-Life and career:...
), a newly released convict uncertain of his future.
In the fourth season, four young actors joined the cast: Jermaine Crawford
Jermaine Crawford
Jermaine Crawford is an actor best known for appearing on the HBO original series The Wire as Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is a cousin to fellow Wire castmember and actor Tristan Wilds....
as Duquan "Dukie" Weems; Maestro Harrell
Maestro Harrell
Maestro Harrell is an American actor who starred on the HBO original series The Wire as Randy Wagstaff. He was also on the NBC drama ER on April 26, 2007....
as Randy Wagstaff
Randy Wagstaff
Randy Wagstaff is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Maestro Harrell. Randy is an enterprising student who is dependent on social services. During season 4, he was an 8th grade pupil at Edward Tilghman Middle School and is friends with Namond Brice, Michael Lee and Duquan...
; Julito McCullum
Julito McCullum
Julito McCullum is an American actor of Afro-Colombian descent best known for his role as Namond Brice on the HBO series The Wire. Currently lives in Staten Island....
as Namond Brice
Namond Brice
Namond Brice is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Julito McCullum. Namond is the son of Wee-Bey Brice and De'Londa Brice and was a middle school pupil during season 4. He is friends with Michael Lee and Randy Wagstaff and often bullies Duquan "Dukie" Weems...
; and Tristan Wilds
Tristan Wilds
Tristan Paul Mack Wilds is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Michael Lee on the HBO original drama series The Wire and as Dixon Wilson on the CW drama series 90210.-Life and career:...
as Michael Lee
Michael Lee (The Wire)
Michael Lee is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Tristan Wilds. He is a middle school pupil and is friends with Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is more soft-spoken than his friends, and appears to have a leadership role among his peers...
. The characters are friends from a West Baltimore middle school. Another newcomer was Norman Wilson (Reg E. Cathey
Reg E. Cathey
Reginald "Reg" E. Cathey is an American stage, film and television actor.Cathey is a native of Huntsville, Alabama and a graduate of J.O. Johnson High School. He spent his childhood in West Germany. His favourite band is Blur....
), Carcetti's deputy campaign manager.
The fifth season saw several actors join the starring cast. Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga Akinnagbe is an American actor, best known for his role as Chris Partlow on the HBO original series The Wire.-Early life:...
returns as the previously recurring Chris Partlow
Chris Partlow
Chris Partlow is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Gbenga Akinnagbe. Partlow is Marlo Stanfield's best friend, bodyguard, and second-in-command in his drug dealing operation. Despite his quiet demeanor, Partlow commits more on- and off-screen murders than any other...
, chief enforcer of the now dominant Stanfield Organization
Stanfield Organization
On the fictional television drama The Wire, the Stanfield Organization is a criminal organization led by Marlo Stanfield. The Organization is introduced in Season Three of The Wire as a growing and significantly violent drug syndicate...
. Neal Huff
Neal Huff
Neal Huff is an American actor. He received his MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University. He has appeared on Broadway in revivals of The Tempest and The Lion in Winter and the Tony Award-winning Take Me Out...
reprises his role as Mayoral chief of staff Michael Steintorf having previously appeared as a guest star at the end of the fourth season. Two other actors also join the starring cast having previously portrayed their corrupt characters as guest stars – Michael Kostroff
Michael Kostroff
Michael Kostroff is an American actor. He appeared on the HBO program The Wire as defense attorney Maurice Levy. Kostroff starred in the fifth season of the series and appeared in all four earlier seasons as a guest star.- Biography :...
as defense attorney Maurice Levy
Maurice Levy (The Wire)
Maurice "Maury" Levy is a fictional lawyer on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Michael Kostroff. He is a skilled defense attorney and was kept on retainer by the drug-trafficking Barksdale Organization, representing the organization's members at trials and advising Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell...
and Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. is an American actor.He is most famous for his role on the HBO television series, The Wire as corrupt state senator Clay Davis. He also is notable for appearing in Spike Lee films She Hate Me and 25th Hour as Agent Amos Flood...
as senator Clay Davis
Clay Davis
State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Davis is a corrupt Maryland State Senator with a reputation for pocketing bribes...
. Crew member Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson , sometimes credited as Clark 'Slappy' Jackson, Clarque Johnson, and J. Clark Johnson, is an American actor and director who has worked in both television and film.-Early years:...
appeared in front of the camera for the first time to play Augustus Haynes
Augustus Haynes
Augustus "Gus" Haynes is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clark Johnson, who is also a director for the series. Haynes is the dedicated and principled editor for the Baltimore Sun city desk.-Character depiction:...
, the principled editor of the city desk of The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
. He is joined in the newsroom by two other new stars; Michelle Paress
Michelle Paress
Michelle Paress is an American actress. She starred in the HBO program The Wire as reporter Alma Gutierrez. Paress joined the cast in the show's fifth season. She is married to a former star of the show, actor Larry Gilliard Jr.-External links:...
and Tom McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy (actor)
Thomas Joseph McCarthy is an American actor, writer, and film director who has appeared in several movies, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television shows such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe...
play young reporters Alma Gutierrez
Alma Gutierrez
Alma M. Gutierrez is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Michelle Paress. Gutierrez is a dedicated and idealistic young reporter on the city desk of The Baltimore Sun.-Biography:...
and Scott Templeton
Scott Templeton
M. Scott Templeton is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Thomas McCarthy. The actor joined the starring cast as the series' fifth season began.-Biography:...
.
Season 1
The first season introduces two major groups of characters: the Baltimore police department and a drug dealing organization run by the Barksdale family. The season follows the police investigation of the latter over its 13 episodes.The investigation is triggered when detective Jimmy McNulty
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
meets privately with judge Daniel Phelan following the acquittal of D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo "D" Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Larry Gilliard Jr. D'Angelo is the nephew of Avon Barksdale and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization which controls most of the trade in West Baltimore...
for murder after a key witness changes her story. McNulty tells Phelan that the witness has probably been intimidated by members of a drug trafficking empire run by D'Angelo's uncle, Avon Barksdale
Avon Barksdale
Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire portrayed by actor Wood Harris. Avon is the dominant drug dealer of Baltimore's West Side, running the Barksdale Organization...
, having recognized several faces at the trial, notably Avon's second-in-command, Stringer Bell
Stringer Bell
Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Idris Elba. Bell served as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second in command, assuming direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment...
. He also tells Phelan that nobody is investigating Barksdale's criminal activity, which includes a significant portion of the city's drug trade and several unsolved homicides.
Phelan takes issue with McNulty's report and complains to senior Police Department figures, embarrassing them into creating a detail dedicated to investigating Barksdale. However, owing to the department's dysfunction, the investigation is intended as a façade to appease the judge. An interdepartmental struggle between the more motivated officers on the detail and their superiors spans the whole season, with interference by the higher-ups often threatening to ruin the investigation. The detail's commander, Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
, acts as mediator between the two opposing groups of police.
Meanwhile, the organized and cautious Barksdale gang is explored through characters at various levels within it. The organization is continually antagonized by a stick-up crew led by Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
, and the feud leads to several deaths. Throughout, D'Angelo struggles with his conscience over his life of crime and the people it affects.
The police have little success with street-level arrests or with securing informants beyond Wallace
Wallace (The Wire)
Wallace is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Michael B. Jordan. Wallace is a 16-year-old drug dealer for the Barksdale Organization, who works in the low-rise projects crew known as "The Pit" with his friends and fellow dealers Bodie Broadus and Poot Carr...
, a young low-level dealer and friend of D'Angelo. Eventually the investigation takes the direction of electronic surveillance, with wiretaps and pager clones to infiltrate the security measures taken by the Barksdale organization. This leads the investigation to areas the commanding officers had hoped to avoid, including political contributions. When an associate of Avon Barksdale's is arrested by State Police and offers to cooperate, the commanding officers order the detail to undertake a sting operation to wrap up the case. Detective Kima Greggs
Kima Greggs
Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a police detective in the Baltimore Police Department who is a dedicated officer and capable detective with some off-the-job issues. Openly lesbian, she has had problems...
is seriously hurt in the operation, triggering an overzealous response from the rest of the department. This causes the detail's targets to suspect that they are under investigation.
Wallace is murdered by his childhood friends Bodie
Bodie Broadus
Preston "Bodie" Broadus is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor J. D. Williams. Bodie is initially a Barksdale organization drug dealer in "The Pit" who slowly rises through the ranks...
and Poot
Poot Carr
Malik "Poot" Carr is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Tray Chaney. Poot is a drug dealer in the Barksdale Organization who slowly rises through the ranks, but ends up serving time in prison as his institution collapses around him...
, on orders from Stringer Bell, after leaving his "secure" placement with relatives and returning to Baltimore. D'Angelo Barksdale is eventually arrested with a large quantity of drugs, and learning of Wallace's murder, is ready to turn in his uncle and Stringer. However, D'Angelo's mother convinces him to rescind the deal and take the charges for his family. The detail manages to arrest Avon on a minor charge and gets one of his soldiers, Wee-Bey
Wee-Bey Brice
Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Hassan Johnson. Wee-Bey was the Barksdale Organization's most trusted soldier before being sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple homicides....
, to confess to most of the murders, some of which he did not commit. Stringer escapes prosecution and is left running the Barksdale empire. For the officers, the consequences of antagonizing their superiors are severe, with Daniels passed over for promotion and McNulty assigned out of homicide and into the marine unit.
Season 2
The second season, along with its ongoing examination of the drug problem and its effect on the urban poor, examines the plight of the blue-collar urban working class as exemplified by stevedoreStevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
s in the city port
Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore
Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, consists of seaport facilities for cargo, especially roll-on/roll-off ships, and passengers operated by the Maryland Port Administration , a unit of the Maryland Department of Transportation....
, as some of them get caught up in smuggling drugs and other contraband inside the shipping containers that pass through their port. In a season-long subplot, the Barksdale organization continues its drug trafficking despite Avon's imprisonment, with Stringer Bell assuming greater power.
McNulty harbors a grudge against his former commanders for reassigning him to the marine unit. When thirteen unidentified young women are found dead in a container at the docks, McNulty successfully makes a spiteful effort to place the murders within the jurisdiction of his former commander. Meanwhile, police Major Stan Valchek
Stanislaus Valchek
Stanislaus "Stan" Valchek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Al Brown.-Biography:Valchek is the Polish-American commander of the Southeastern district, home to many of the remaining white ethnic neighborhoods in Baltimore...
gets into a feud with Frank Sobotka
Frank Sobotka
Francis "Frank" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Chris Bauer.-Biography:Frank is a respected Polish-American secretary treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores at the Baltimore docks...
, a leader of the International Brotherhood of Stevedores, a fictional dockers' union, over competing donations to their old neighborhood church. Valchek demands a detail to investigate Sobotka. Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
is interviewed, having been praised by Prez, Major Valcheck's son-in-law, and also because of his work on the Barksdale case. He is eventually selected to lead the detail assigned just to investigate Sobotka; when the investigation is concluded Daniels is assured he will move up to head a special case unit with personnel of his choosing.
Life for the blue-collar men of the port is increasingly hard and work is scarce. As union leader, Sobotka has taken it on himself to reinvigorate the port by lobbying politicians to support much-needed infrastructure improvement initiatives. Lacking the funds needed for this kind of influence, Sobotka has become involved with a smuggling ring. Around him, his son and nephew also turn to crime, as they have few other opportunities to earn money. It becomes clear to the Sobotka detail that the dead girls are related to their investigation, as they were in a container that was supposed to be smuggled through the port. They again use wiretaps to infiltrate the crime ring and slowly work their way up the chain towards The Greek, the mysterious man in charge. But Valchek, upset that their focus has moved beyond Sobotka, gets the FBI involved. The Greek has contacts inside the FBI and starts severing his ties to Baltimore when he learns about the investigation.
After a dispute over stolen goods turns violent, Sobotka's son Ziggy
Ziggy Sobotka
Chester Karol "Ziggy" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor James Ransone. Though his father Frank Sobotka was a well-respected stevedore union leader, Ziggy's often reckless and juvenile behavior gained him little respect among other members of the union and...
is charged with the murder of one of the Greek's underlings. Sobotka himself is arrested for smuggling; he agrees to work with the detail to help his son, finally seeing his actions as a mistake. However, the Greek learns about this through a mole
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
in the FBI and has Sobotka killed. The investigation ends with the fourteen homicides solved but the perpetrator already dead. Several drug dealers and mid-level smuggling figures tied to the Greek are arrested, but he and his second-in-command escape uncharged and unidentified. The Major is pleased that Sobotka was arrested; the case is seen as a success by the commanding officers, but is viewed as a failure by the detail.
Across town, the Barksdale organization continues its business under Stringer
Stringer Bell
Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Idris Elba. Bell served as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second in command, assuming direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment...
while Avon
Avon Barksdale
Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire portrayed by actor Wood Harris. Avon is the dominant drug dealer of Baltimore's West Side, running the Barksdale Organization...
and D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo "D" Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Larry Gilliard Jr. D'Angelo is the nephew of Avon Barksdale and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization which controls most of the trade in West Baltimore...
serve prison time. D'Angelo decides to cut ties to his family after his uncle organizes the deaths of several inmates and blames it on a corrupt guard to shave time from his sentence. Eventually Stringer covertly orders D'Angelo killed, with the murder staged to look like a suicide. Avon is unaware of Stringer's duplicity and mourns the loss of his nephew.
Stringer also struggles, having been cut off by Avon's drug suppliers and left with increasingly poor-quality product. He again goes behind Avon's back, giving up half of Avon's most prized territory to a rival named Proposition Joe
Proposition Joe
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible...
in exchange for a share of his supply. Avon, unaware of the arrangement, assumes that Joe and other dealers are moving into his territory simply because the Barksdale organization has too few enforcers. He contracts a feared assassin named Brother Mouzone. Stringer deals with this by tricking his old adversary Omar
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
into believing that Mouzone was responsible for the vicious killing of his partner in their feud in season one. Seeking revenge, Omar shoots Mouzone but, realizing Stringer has lied to him, calls 9-1-1
9-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
. Mouzone recovers and leaves Baltimore, and Stringer (now with Avon's consent) is able to continue his arrangement with Proposition Joe.
Season 3
In the third season, the focus returned to the street and the Barksdale organization. The scope, however, was expanded to include the city's political scene. A new subplot was introduced to explore the potential positive effects of de factoDe facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
"legalizing" the illegal drug trade, and incidentally prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, within the limited boundaries of a few uninhabited city blocks — referred to as Hamsterdam. The posited benefits, as in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and other European cities, were reduced street crime city-wide and increased outreach of health and social services to at-risk populations. These were continuations of storylines hinted at earlier.
The demolition of the towers that had served as the Barksdale organization's prime territory pushes their dealers back out onto the streets of Baltimore. Stringer Bell
Stringer Bell
Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Idris Elba. Bell served as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second in command, assuming direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment...
continues his reform of the organization by cooperating with other drug lords, sharing with one another territory, product, and profits. Stringer's proposal is met with a curt refusal from Marlo Stanfield
Marlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
, leader of a new, growing crew. Against Stringer's advice, Avon decides to take Marlo's territory by force, and the two gangs become embroiled in a bitter turf war with multiple deaths. Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
continues to rob the Barksdale organization wherever possible. Working with his new boyfriend, Dante, and two women, he is once more a serious problem. The violence related to the drug trade makes it an obvious choice of investigation for Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
' now-permanent Major Crimes Unit.
Councilman Tommy Carcetti
Tommy Carcetti
Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious Baltimore politician who rises from a seat on the city council to the office of the Mayor of Baltimore, and to the office of the Governor of Maryland by the...
begins to prepare himself for a mayoral race. He manipulates a colleague into running against the mayor to split the black vote, secures a capable campaign manager, and starts making headlines for himself.
Approaching the end of his career, Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin wants to effect some real change in the neighborhoods he has long been responsible for. Seeing the spread of drug dealing into previously unscathed areas following the destruction of the towers, he assumes the task of containing the problem. Without the knowledge of central command, he sets up areas where drug trade would go unpunished but still be monitored by police officers, and cracks down on any traffic elsewhere. His scheme achieves his aims and reduces crime in his district, but is eventually exposed to his superiors and city politicians, including Carcetti, who uses the scandal to make a grandstanding speech. With top brass outraged, Colvin is forced to cease his actions, accept a demotion, and retire from the department on a lower-grade pension.
Dennis "Cutty" Wise, once a drug dealer's enforcer, is released from prison alongside Avon. His struggles to adapt to life as a free man show an attempt at personal reform. Cutty tries to work as a manual laborer and then flirts with his former life, going to work for Avon. Finding he no longer has the heart for murder, he eventually uses funding from Avon to purchase new equipment for his nascent boxing gym.
The Major Crimes Unit learns that Stringer has been buying real estate and developing it to fulfill his dream of being a successful legitimate businessman. Believing that the bloody turf war with Marlo is poised to destroy everything the Barksdale crew had worked for, Stringer gives Major Colvin information on Avon's weapons stash. But Stringer is himself being betrayed by Avon: Brother Mouzone had returned to Baltimore and tracked down Omar to join forces. Mouzone tells Avon that his shooting must be avenged. Avon, remembering how Stringer disregarded his order which resulted in Stringer attempting to have Brother Mouzone killed, possibly still furious over D'Angelo's
D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo "D" Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Larry Gilliard Jr. D'Angelo is the nephew of Avon Barksdale and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization which controls most of the trade in West Baltimore...
murder (Stringer having finally confessed the truth), and fearing Mouzone's ability to harm his reputation outside of Baltimore, informs Mouzone of Stringer's upcoming visit to his construction site. There, Mouzone and Omar corner him and shoot him to death.
Colvin tells McNulty about Avon's hideout, and armed with the information gleaned from selling the Barksdale crew pre-wiretapped disposable cell phones, the detail stages a raid, arresting Avon and most of his underlings. Barksdale's criminal empire lies in ruins, and Marlo's young crew simply moves into their territory. The drug trade in West Baltimore continues with little change.
Season 4
The fourth season expanded its scope again to include an examination of the school system. Other major plots include the mayoral race that continues the political storyline begun in season three, and a closer look at Marlo StanfieldMarlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
's drug gang, which has grown to control most of western Baltimore's trafficking.
The show introduces Dukie, Randy
Randy Wagstaff
Randy Wagstaff is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Maestro Harrell. Randy is an enterprising student who is dependent on social services. During season 4, he was an 8th grade pupil at Edward Tilghman Middle School and is friends with Namond Brice, Michael Lee and Duquan...
, Michael
Michael Lee (The Wire)
Michael Lee is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Tristan Wilds. He is a middle school pupil and is friends with Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is more soft-spoken than his friends, and appears to have a leadership role among his peers...
, and Namond
Namond Brice
Namond Brice is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Julito McCullum. Namond is the son of Wee-Bey Brice and De'Londa Brice and was a middle school pupil during season 4. He is friends with Michael Lee and Randy Wagstaff and often bullies Duquan "Dukie" Weems...
, four boys from West Baltimore, as they enter the eighth grade. At the same school, Prez has begun a new career as a math teacher. Despite mentorship from the more seasoned faculty, Namond, and later Michael, work as drug runners for Bodie
Bodie Broadus
Preston "Bodie" Broadus is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor J. D. Williams. Bodie is initially a Barksdale organization drug dealer in "The Pit" who slowly rises through the ranks...
, who has had middling success selling Proposition Joe
Proposition Joe
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible...
's product independently.
The cold-blooded Marlo has come to dominate the streets of the west side, using murder and intimidation to make up for his weak-quality drugs and lack of business acumen. His enforcers Chris Partlow
Chris Partlow
Chris Partlow is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Gbenga Akinnagbe. Partlow is Marlo Stanfield's best friend, bodyguard, and second-in-command in his drug dealing operation. Despite his quiet demeanor, Partlow commits more on- and off-screen murders than any other...
and Snoop conceal their numerous victims in boarded-up row houses where the bodies will not be readily discovered. The disappearances of so many known criminals come to mystify both the major crimes unit investigating Marlo and the homicide unit assigned to solve the presumed murders. Marlo coerces Bodie into working under him.
McNulty
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
has found peace working as a patrolman and living with Beadie Russell
Beadie Russell
Beatrice "Beadie" Russell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Amy Ryan. She was featured prominently in the second season, after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks....
, and refuses promotions from Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
, now a major commanding the Western District. Detectives Kima Greggs
Kima Greggs
Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a police detective in the Baltimore Police Department who is a dedicated officer and capable detective with some off-the-job issues. Openly lesbian, she has had problems...
and Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
, as part of the major crimes unit, investigate Avon Barksdale
Avon Barksdale
Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire portrayed by actor Wood Harris. Avon is the dominant drug dealer of Baltimore's West Side, running the Barksdale Organization...
's political donations and serve several key figures with subpoenas. Their work is shut down by Commissioner Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show...
at Mayor Clarence Royce
Clarence Royce
Clarence V. Royce is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Glynn Turman-Biography:Mayor of Baltimore Clarence V. Royce is a deft political figure and is fixated on remaining in power. Royce is the incumbent Mayor of Baltimore who was elected into office in 1998 and is in the...
's request, and after being placed under stricter supervision within their unit, both Greggs and Freamon request and receive transfer to the homicide division.
Meanwhile, the city's mayoral primary race enters its closing weeks. Royce initially has a seemingly insurmountable lead over challengers Tommy Carcetti
Tommy Carcetti
Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious Baltimore politician who rises from a seat on the city council to the office of the Mayor of Baltimore, and to the office of the Governor of Maryland by the...
and Tony Gray, with a big war chest
War chest
In arms and armor, a war chest is a container for the personal weapons and protective gear of a citizen-soldier, kept in the household, and is the origin of the term.-In politics:...
and major endorsements. Royce's lead begins to fray, however, as his own political machinations turn against him and Carcetti starts to highlight the city's crime problem. This propels Carcetti to victory in the primary,
Howard "Bunny" Colvin joins a research group attempting to study potential future criminals while they are still young. Dennis "Cutty" Wise continues to work with boys in his boxing gym, and accepts a job at the school rounding up truants. Bubbles
Bubbles (The Wire)
Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Andre Royo. Bubbles is a recovering heroin addict. His real name is not revealed until a fourth-season episode when he is called "Mr. Cousins" and in the fifth-season premiere when he is called "Reginald"...
takes a homeless teenager named Sherrod under his wing. He encourages the boy to attend class, which he fails to do.
Prez has a few successes with his students, but some of them start to slip away. Disruptive Namond is removed from class and placed in the research group, where he gradually develops affection and respect for Colvin. Randy, in a moment of desperation, reveals knowledge of a murder to the assistant principal, leading to his being interrogated by police.
Proposition Joe
Proposition Joe
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible...
engineers a conflict between Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
and Marlo to convince Marlo to join the New Day Co-Op
New Day Co-Op
The New Day Co-Op is a fictional criminal organization on the HBO drama television series The Wire. The New Day Co-Op, commonly referred to as the Co-Op, is a democratic alliance of drug dealers formed in the interests of promoting business and reducing violence. There are at least a dozen members...
. After Omar robs Marlo, Marlo frames Omar for a murder and attempts to have him murdered in jail, but Omar manages to beat the charge with the help of Bunk. Omar learns Marlo set him up, and gets revenge on him and Proposition Joe by robbing the entire shipment of the Co-Op. Meanwhile, the co-op members, including Marlo, are furious at Joe for allowing the shipment to be stolen. Marlo demands satisfaction, and as a result, Joe sets up a meeting between him and Spiros Vondas
Spiros Vondas
Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Paul Ben-Victor.-Biography:...
, who assuages Marlo's concerns. Having gotten a lead on Joe's connection to the Greeks, Marlo begins investigating them to learn more about their role in bringing narcotics into Baltimore.
Freamon discovers the bodies Chris and Snoop had hidden. Bodie offers McNulty testimony against Marlo and his crew, but is shot dead on his corner by O-Dog, a member of Marlo's crew. Sherrod dies after injecting a poisoned vial of heroin that, unbeknownst to him, Bubbles had prepared for their tormentor. Bubbles turns himself in to the police and tries to hang himself, but he survives and is taken to a detox facility. Michael has now joined the ranks of Marlo's killers and runs one of his corners, with Dukie leaving high school to work there. Randy's house is firebombed by school bullies for his cooperation with the police, leaving his caring foster mother hospitalized and sending him back to a group home. Namond is taken in by Colvin, who recognized the good in him. The major crimes unit from earlier seasons is largely reunited, and they resume their investigation of Marlo Stanfield.
Season 5
The fifth season focuses on the media and media consumption. The show depicts the newspaper The Baltimore SunThe Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
, and in fact elements of the plot are taken from accounts of real-life events (such as the Jayson Blair
Jayson Blair
Jayson Blair is an American reporter formerly with The New York Times. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2003 in the wake of the discovery of plagiarism and fabrication in his stories. Since 2007 he has worked as a life coach in the field of mental health.-Background:Blair was born in...
NY Times scandal) and people at the Sun. The season, according to David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
, deals with "what stories get told and what don't and why it is that things stay the same." Issues such as the quest for profit, the decrease in the number of reporters, and the end of aspiration for news quality would all be addressed, alongside the theme of homelessness.
Fifteen months after the fourth season concludes, Mayor Carcetti
Tommy Carcetti
Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious Baltimore politician who rises from a seat on the city council to the office of the Mayor of Baltimore, and to the office of the Governor of Maryland by the...
's cuts in the police budget to redress the education deficit force the Marlo Stanfield
Marlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
investigation to shut down. Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
secures a detail to focus on the prosecution of Senator Davis
Clay Davis
State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Davis is a corrupt Maryland State Senator with a reputation for pocketing bribes...
for corruption. Detective McNulty
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
returns to the Homicide unit and decides to divert resources back to the police department by faking evidence to make it appear that a serial killer is murdering homeless men.
The Baltimore Sun also faces budget cuts and the newsroom struggles to adequately cover the city, omitting many important stories. Commissioner Burrell
Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show...
continues to falsify crime statistics and is fired by Carcetti, who positions Daniels to replace him.
Proposition Joe
Proposition Joe
Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible...
teaches Marlo Stanfield how to launder money and evade investigation. Once Joe is no longer useful to him, Stanfield has Joe killed and usurps his position with the Greeks and the New Day Co-Op
New Day Co-Op
The New Day Co-Op is a fictional criminal organization on the HBO drama television series The Wire. The New Day Co-Op, commonly referred to as the Co-Op, is a democratic alliance of drug dealers formed in the interests of promoting business and reducing violence. There are at least a dozen members...
. Stanfield lures his enemy Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
out of retirement by having Omar's mentor Butchie murdered. Michael Lee
Michael Lee (The Wire)
Michael Lee is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Tristan Wilds. He is a middle school pupil and is friends with Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is more soft-spoken than his friends, and appears to have a leadership role among his peers...
continues working as a Stanfield enforcer, providing a home for his friend Dukie and younger brother Bug.
Omar returns to Baltimore seeking revenge, targeting Stanfield's organization, stealing and destroying money and drugs and killing Stanfield enforcers in an attempt to force Stanfield into the open. However, he is eventually shot and killed by Kenard, a young Stanfield dealer.
Templeton claims to have been contacted by McNulty's fake serial killer. City Editor Gus Haynes
Augustus Haynes
Augustus "Gus" Haynes is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clark Johnson, who is also a director for the series. Haynes is the dedicated and principled editor for the Baltimore Sun city desk.-Character depiction:...
becomes suspicious, but his superiors are enamored of Templeton. The story gains momentum and Carcetti spins the resulting attention on homelessness into a key issue in his imminent campaign for Governor and restores funding to the police department.
Bubbles
Bubbles (The Wire)
Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Andre Royo. Bubbles is a recovering heroin addict. His real name is not revealed until a fourth-season episode when he is called "Mr. Cousins" and in the fifth-season premiere when he is called "Reginald"...
is recovering from his drug addiction while living in his sister's basement. He is befriended by Sun reporter Mike Fletcher, who eventually writes a profile of Bubbles.
Bunk is disgusted with McNulty's serial killer scheme and tries to have Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
reason with McNulty. Instead, Freamon helps McNulty perpetuate the lie and uses the funds for an illegal wiretap on Stanfield. Bunk resumes working the vacant house murders, leading to a murder warrant against Partlow for killing Michael's stepfather.
Freamon and Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Corey Parker Robinson. Sydnor is a young, married Baltimore Police detective who was a member of the Barksdale detail and later worked in the Major Crimes Unit.-Season 1:...
gather enough evidence to arrest Stanfield and most of his top lieutenants, seizing a large quantity of drugs. Stanfield suspects that Michael is an informant, and orders him killed. Michael realizes he is being set up and kills Snoop instead. A wanted man, he leaves Bug with an Aunt and begins a career as a stick-up man. With his support system gone, Dukie lives with drug addicts.
McNulty tells Kima Greggs
Kima Greggs
Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a police detective in the Baltimore Police Department who is a dedicated officer and capable detective with some off-the-job issues. Openly lesbian, she has had problems...
about his fabrications to prevent her wasting time on the case. Greggs tells Daniels, who, along with Rhonda Pearlman
Rhonda Pearlman
Rhonda Pearlman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Deirdre Lovejoy. Pearlman has been the legal system liaison for all of Lieutenant Cedric Daniels' investigations on the show...
, takes this news to Carcetti, who orders a cover-up because of the issue's importance to his campaign.
Davis is acquitted, but Freamon uses the threat of federal prosecution to blackmail him for information. Davis reveals Levy has a mole in the courthouse from whom he illegally purchases copies of sealed indictments. Herc tells Levy that the Stanfield case was probably based on an illegal wiretap, something which would jeopardize the entire case. After Levy reveals this to Pearlman, she uses Levy's espionage to blackmail him into agreeing to a plea bargain for his defendants. Levy ensures Stanfield's release on the condition that he permanently retires, while his subordinates will have to accept long sentences. Stanfield sells the connection to The Greeks back to the Co-Op and plans to become a businessman, though indications are that ultimately he will not be able to resist the lure of the corner.
As the cover-up begins, a copy-cat killing occurs, but McNulty quickly identifies and arrests the culprit. Pearlman tells McNulty and Freamon that they can no longer be allowed to do investigative work and warns of criminal charges if the scandal becomes public. They opt to retire. Haynes attempts to expose Templeton but the managing editors ignore the fabrications and demote anyone critical of their star reporter. Carcetti pressures Daniels to falsify crime statistics to aid his campaign. Daniels refuses and then quietly resigns rather than have his FBI file leaked.
In a final montage, McNulty gazes over the city; Freamon enjoys retirement; Templeton wins a Pulitzer; Carcetti becomes Governor; Haynes is sidelined to the copy desk and replaced by Fletcher; Campbell appoints Valchek as commissioner; Carcetti appoints Rawls as Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Dukie continues to use heroin; Michael becomes a stickup boy; Pearlman becomes a judge and Daniels a defense attorney; Bubbles is allowed upstairs where he enjoys a family dinner; Chris serves his life sentence alongside Wee-Bey
Wee-Bey Brice
Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Hassan Johnson. Wee-Bey was the Barksdale Organization's most trusted soldier before being sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple homicides....
; the drug trade continues; and the people of Baltimore go on with their lives.
Prequel shorts
The Season 5 DVD contains three short prequels depicting short moments in the history of characters in The Wire. The three prequels depict the first meeting between McNulty and Bunk; Proposition Joe as a slick business kid; and young Omar.Critical response
The first season received positive reviews from critics, some even calling it superior to HBO's better-known "flagshipFlagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
" drama series such as The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
and Six Feet Under. One reviewer felt that the show was partially a retread of themes from HBO and David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
's earlier works but still valuable viewing and described the series as particularly resonant because it parallels the war on terror through the chronicling of the war on drugs. Another review postulated that the series might suffer because of its reliance on profanity and slowly drawn-out plot, but was largely positive about the show's characters and intrigue.
Despite the critical acclaim, The Wire received poor Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, which Simon attributed to the complexity of the plot; a poor time slot; heavy use of esoteric slang, particularly among the gangster characters; and a predominantly black cast. Critics felt the show was testing the attention span of its audience and felt that it was mistimed in the wake of the launch of the successful crime drama The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
on FX. However, anticipation for a release of the first season on DVD was high at Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
.
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described the second season as even more powerful than the first and praised it for deconstructing the show's central foundations with a willingness to explore new areas. One reviewer with the Boston Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
felt that the subculture of the docks was not as absorbing as that of the housing projects. However, the review continued to praise the writers for creating a realistic world and populating it with an array of interesting characters.
The critical response to the third season remained positive. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
named The Wire the best show of 2004, describing it as "the smartest, deepest and most resonant drama on TV." They credited the complexity of the show for its poor ratings. The Baltimore City Paper
Baltimore City Paper
Baltimore City Paper is a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. Current owner Times-Shamrock Communications purchased the paper in 1987...
was so concerned that the show might be cancelled that it published a list of ten reasons to keep it on the air, including strong characterization, Omar Little, an unabashedly honest representation of real world problems. It also worried that the loss of the show would have a negative impact on Baltimore's economy.
At the close of the third season, The Wire still struggled to maintain its ratings and the show faced possible cancellation. Creator David Simon blamed the show's low ratings in part on its competition against Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
and worried that expectations for HBO dramas had changed following the success of The Sopranos.
As the fourth season was poised to begin, almost two years after the previous season's end, Tim Goodman
Tim Goodman
Tim Goodman was born in San Francisco in 1952 and briefly spent his high school years attending the American School in London. Upon returning to San Francisco, Goodman began touring and performing during the late 1970s, becoming a mainstay in the genres of Country, country rock and Bluegrass music...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
wrote that The Wire "has tackled the drug war in this country as it simultaneously explores race, poverty and 'the death of the American working class,' the failure of political systems to help the people they serve, and the tyranny of lost hope. Few series in the history of television have explored the plight of inner-city African Americans and none—not one—has done it as well." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the fourth season of The Wire "its best season yet." Doug Elfman of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
was more reserved in his praise, calling it the "most ambitious" show on television, but faulting it for its complexity and the slow development of the plotline. The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
took the rare step of devoting an editorial to the show, stating that "even in what is generally acknowledged to be something of a golden era for thoughtful and entertaining dramas—both on cable channels and on network TV—The Wire stands out." TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine especially praised the fourth season, stating that "no other TV show has ever loved a city so well, damned it so passionately, or sung it so searingly." The website Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which gathers reviews from published news sources and translates them into a percentage score, has assigned to The Wires fourth season a weighted average score of 98%, the highest for any television show since Metacritic began tracking them in 2005.
Several reviewers have called it the best show on television, including TIME
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
, Entertainment Weekly, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
and the British newspaper The Guardian, which ran a week-by-week blog following every episode, also collected in a book, The Wire Re-up
The Wire Re-up
The Wire Re-up: The Guardian Guide to the Greatest TV Show Ever Made is a book edited by Steve Busfield and Paul Owen.The book is a collection of the Guardian website's episode-by-episode blogposts on the TV series The Wire, as well as some features and interviews that have appeared in the...
. Charlie Brooker
Charlie Brooker
Charlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism...
, a columnist for The Guardian, has been particularly enthusiastic in his praise of the show, both in his "Screen Burn" column and in his BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
television series Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe is a British television review programme broadcast on BBC Four by Charlie Brooker. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced.-Format:...
, calling it possibly the greatest show of the last 20 years. In 2009, TIME listed it as the best television series of the 2000s.
'The Wire Files', an online collection of articles published in darkmatter Journal critically analyzes The Wires racialized politics and aesthetics of representation. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "The deft writing—which used the cop-genre format to give shape to creator David Simon's scathing social critiques—was matched by one of the deepest benches of acting talent in TV history."
President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
has said that The Wire is his favorite television series. 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
, wrote a very positive critical review of the series in the Spanish journal El País.
Academia
In the years following the end of the series' run, several colleges and universities such as Johns HopkinsJohns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
have offered classes on The Wire in disciplines ranging from law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
to sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
to film studies
Film studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies...
. Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
, a boarding high school in Massachusetts, offers a similar course as well. In an article published in The Washington Post, Anmol Chaddha and William Julius Wilson
William Julius Wilson
William Julius Wilson is an American sociologist. He worked at the University of Chicago 1972-1996 before moving to Harvard....
explain why Harvard chose The Wire as curriculum material for their course on urban inequality: "Though scholars know that deindustrialization, crime and prison, and the education system are deeply intertwined, they must often give focused attention to just one subject in relative isolation, at the expense of others. With the freedom of artistic expression, "The Wire" can be more creative. It can weave together the range of forces that shape the lives of the urban poor." University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
's Head of Sociology, Roger Burrows, said in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
that the show "makes a fantastic contribution to their understanding of contemporary urbanism", and is "a contrast to dry, dull, hugely expensive studies that people carry out on the same issues".
Broadcasters
HBO aired the five seasons of the show in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2008, respectively. New episodes were shown once a week, occasionally skipping one or two weeks in favor of other programming. Starting with the fourth season, subscribers to the HBO On DemandVideo on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service were able to see each episode of the season six days earlier. American basic cable network BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
also airs the show. BET adds commercial breaks, blurs some nudity, and mutes
Bleep censor
A bleep censor is the replacement of profanity or classified information with a beep sound , in television or radio...
some profanity. Much of the waterfront storyline from the second season is edited out from the BET broadcasts.
In the United Kingdom, the show has been broadcast on FX
FX (UK)
FX is a television channel in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, owned by Fox, launched in 12 January 2004. It was originally branded as FX289 in reference to its Sky EPG number. It was rebranded to FX in May 2005 as the channel moved in the Sky EPG.FX targets a demographic between 25...
, and recently aired on terrestrial television on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. Although controversially it was broadcast at 23:20 and had no BBC iPlayer catchup available. In a world first, British newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
made the first episode of the first season available to stream on its website for a brief period. In Ireland, all episodes were aired on public service channel TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
approximately 6 months after the original air dates on HBO. Season 1 was aired on 3e
3E
3E or 3-E may refer to:*3e, general entertainment channel operated in Ireland*3rd meridian east*Third edition in the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons*NY 3E, alternate name for New York State Route 104*OK-3E, abbreviation for Oklahoma State Highway 3...
in late 2008 but there are no plans to show any further seasons. In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
purchased the rights to show the entire series on its digital station, ABC2
ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...
. It commenced screening on September 1, 2009. In France it airs under the title Sur écoute ("wiretapped") on the pay channel Jimmy. The Polish channel TVN
TVN (Poland)
TVN is a major Polish commercial television network. The broadcaster was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter and Jan Wejchert. The network launched on October 3, 1997. TVN belongs to the TVN S.A...
shows the series under the name Prawo ulicy ("law of the street").
The Swedish public service network SVT
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
has shown the first four seasons of the series. In Norway, NRK aired the first season of the show in the autumn of 2007. In Israel, the show is broadcast on the Xtra Hot channel, under the name HaSmuya (הסמויה – The Covert Unit). The show airs in Canada on The Movie Network
The Movie Network
The Movie Network is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service, owned by Astral Media. The service is licensed to operate east of the Ontario-Manitoba border, excluding the territories...
and Movie Central
Movie Central
Movie Central is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service. Movie Central is designated to operate west of the Ontario-Manitoba border, including the territories...
. In Finland the series is shown on Subtv
Sub (TV channel)
Sub is a Finnish TV channel owned by Bonnier. The previous owner Alma Media sold Sub and its sister channels to Swedish Bonnier and Proventus in 2005.-Programs and audience:...
and MTV3
MTV3
MTV3 is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV , due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials...
channels under the name Langalla ("On the wire"). The show has been broadcast in Hungary on Duna TV
Duna TV
Duna TV or Duna Televízió is one of two public television services in Hungary. "Duna" is the Hungarian name for the Danube. Duna TV operates two channels: Channel 1 and Channel 2-Autonómia....
since March 2007 under the name Drót ("Wire"). Since September 2008 the series is broadcast in Germany (Foxchannel, Pay-TV) under its original name, but dubbed into German. The show is also broadcast in Asia on Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
since May 2009. In the Netherlands and Belgium the show has started its first run on June 1, 2009 on the NBC Universal cable channel 13th Street
13th Street
13th Street Universal is a television channel specialising in action and suspense shows and movies. It is owned by NBCUniversal and was launched in France on November 13, 1997 and in Germany on May 1, 1998...
. In the Middle East, MBC Action
MBC Action
MBC Action is a free-to-air satellite TV channel that screens films and television programs from the action genre. Programs are subtitled in Standard Arabic. It is available in the Arab World by satellites BADR4 and Nilesat 102. It launched on March 5, 2007 at 6:00 P.M...
airs the show routinely. After being available only on DVD, the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n premiere of the series happened in September 2011 on HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
.
DVD releases
| Season | Release dates | Episodes | Special features | Discs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Region 2 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Region 4 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
||||
| 1 | October 12, 2004 | April 18, 2005 | May 11, 2005 | 13 |
|
5 |
| 2 | January 25, 2005 | October 10, 2005 | May 3, 2006 | 12 |
|
5 |
| 3 | August 8, 2006 | February 5, 2007 | August 13, 2008 | 12 |
|
5 |
| 4 | December 4, 2007 | March 10, 2008 | August 13, 2008 | 13 |
|
4 |
| 5 | August 12, 2008 | September 22, 2008 | February 2, 2010 | 10 |
|
4 |
| All | December 9, 2008 | December 8, 2008 | February 2, 2010 | 60 |
|
23 |
The DVD sets have been favorably received, though some critics have faulted them for a lack of special features.
Further reading
- Tiffany Potter (ed.), C. W. Marshall (ed.): The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television. Continuum international Publishing Group 2009, ISBN 9780826438041
- Rafael Alvarez: The Wire: Truth Be Told. Simon & Schuster 2004, ISBN 0743497325
- Brian G. Rose: The Wire. In: Gary Richard Edgerton (ed.), Jeffrey P. Jones (ed.): The Essential HBO Reader. University of Kentucky Press 2008, ISBN 9780813124520, pp. 82-91
- Peter Dreier, John Atlas: The Wire – Bush-Era Fable about America's Urban Poor?. City & Community Volume 8, Issue 3, pp. 329–340, September 2009 (online copy)
- Helena Sheehan, Sheamus Sweeney: The wire and the World: Narrative and Metanarrative. Jump Cut, 51 (Spring 2009), ISSN 0146-5546 (online copy)
External links
- Play or Get Played — Exclusive interviews with David Simon and cast members.
- Ten Thousand Bullets — An interview with George PelecanosGeorge PelecanosGeorge P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...
. - George Pelecanos on The Wire and D.C. pulp fiction — A supplement to "Ten Thousand Bullets."
- "The Rhetoric of The Wire" Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, No.1, 2010
- Gang and Drug-Related Homicide: Baltimore's Successful Enforcement Strategy — Ed BurnsEd BurnsEd Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
discusses some of the investigations and individuals which inspired The Wire. - A collection of interviews with Wire cast members — Interviews include Michael K. WilliamsMichael K. WilliamsMichael Kenneth Williams is an American actor known for his portrayal of Omar Little on the HBO drama series The Wire, and of Albert "Chalky" White on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.-Early life and career:...
, Lance ReddickLance ReddickLance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
, Robert WisdomRobert WisdomRobert Wisdom is an American actor. He is a graduate of Columbia University.-Biography:Wisdom was born in Washington, D.C. to Jamaican parents. He appeared in four of the five seasons of HBO program The Wire as Howard "Bunny" Colvin...
, Gbenga AkinnagbeGbenga AkinnagbeGbenga Akinnagbe is an American actor, best known for his role as Chris Partlow on the HBO original series The Wire.-Early life:...
, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and more. - Reason Magazine Interview with Ed Burns — The Wire co-creator talks about how Baltimore inspires and informs The Wire, and opinions on the "War on Drugs" from his and other co-creators' experiences.
- The New Yorker Profiles David Simon — A long profile article about David SimonDavid SimonDavid Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
with info about season five as well as his next project.