Monday, March 10, 2008

RIP, The Wire

The best show on TV ended last night. Critics and a lot of black folks opined that it didn't get the ratings and the Emmy's etc. it deserved because there were too many black people in the cast, and that David Simon relished his "outsider" role too much. I disagree. It was too real. No happy, pat endings. It was politics, crime, human beings as they are-- and we Americans don't like that. We love our candy. Watch The Wire's last season onDemand. Buy the previous 4 on DVD. It's the stuff Edward R. Murrow said TV could be. Indeed, I know right wing nuts who love the show. Can't say the same for Dancing with the Stars....

6 comments:

Lisa said...

Truly, madly, deeply I will miss the show!

I disagree with your assesment: There were too many black people and THEY were too real. They weren't buffoonish stereotypes of black comedy or ghetto evil which play to the white suburbs and nor indeed were the white characters, the police, the politicians, which would explain why white liberals like thenMayor nor Governor Martin O'Malley despised the show!

Look at the subject of the last season: the media and journalism. David Simon is biting the hand that feeds him by telling the truth, but even that's not enough to explain what's going on. The truth is that there was no Martin Lawrence, Will Smith or Ludicris or Isaiah Washington clowning gay people to make it entertaining for a larger audience of simple-mided whites and the people whom you refer to as Tyler Perry fans!

Pebbles Flintstone said...

I followed all five seasons, and you know what? I love the way it ended. Things change and yet they stay the same. The two scenes that touched me most however (in different ways) is the scene where Bubs finally gets to go upstairs and eat with his sister and the scene where the young boy Duquan is shown using heroin. The streets got to both of these characters, and one was ultimately saved, while another was not. Biting and real. It will be missed for sure.

Anonymous said...

This year was missing something. I think they should have shown the Baltimore Sun editors having to eat the Pulitzer Prize because dude did lie.

However, seeing the Irish actor become governor and that bitch become the mayor did hit a little too close. I was warmed only by "Bub's" recovery.

The game continues...

Pebbles Flintstone said...

A quote from Newsweek that is very fitting:

Last night "The Wire," HBO's critically adored but commercially anemic drama, ended its five-season run with a long whimper. The finale wasn't confounding in the same way that David Chase's smash-cut to black at the end of "The Sopranos" was, but it's likely to polarize the show's fan base in a similar fashion, pitting those who found it an appropriate, characteristic ending against those who felt short-changed. Both positions have merit.

Just to add a quick bit -- the last season was not as compelling as the rest, but it was engaging nonetheless. The four previous seasons were true works of art, and I can only imagine how difficult it was to wrap this story up.

Anonymous said...

Where were all of the Polaks from season 3?

Anonymous said...

you mean season 2