The Wire

[MDS]

tvtattle.com has a large collection of wire articles about the finale, including some top 10 lists about moments from the series. which is impossible to do considering the show is one giant top 10 lists (i.e. the farg scene > where wallace or how far we done fell > stringers death doesnt compute).

[ice grillin you]

you cant have a top ten without the jailhouse scene bwtn ziggy and his dad...in fact that might be number 1

[ice grillin you]

simon love letter to the fans.....

A last thank you to those HBO sunscirbers who took the time and care to accompany us on this journey.  The Wire arrived, six years ago, to little fanfare and modest expectation.  It demanded from viewers a delicate, patient consideration and a ridiculous degree of attention to detail.

It wasn't for everyone. We proved that rather quickly.

But episode to episode, you began to understand that we were committed to creating something careful and ornate, something that might resonate. You took Lester Freamon at his word: That we were building something here and all the pieces matter.

When we took a chainsaw to the first season, choosing to begin the second-story arc with an entirely different theme and different characters, you followed us to the port and our elegy for America's working class. When we shifted again, taking up the political culture of our mythical city in season three, you remained loyal. And when we ended the Barksdale arc and began an exploration of public education, you were, by that time, we hope, elated to understand that whatever else might happen, The Wire would not waste your time telling the same story twice.

This year, our drama asked its last thematic question: Why, if there is any truth to anything presented in The Wire over the last four seasons, does that truth go unaddressed by our political culture, by most of our mass media, and by our society in general?

We've given our answer:

We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end, bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first step to solving any of them.

The Wire is fiction. Many of the events depicted over the last five seasons did not, to our knowledge, happen. Fewer happened in the exact manner described. Fiction is fiction, and it should in no way be confused with journalism.

But it is also fair to note that the problems themselves — politicians cooking crime stats for higher office, school administrators teaching test questions to vindicate No Child Left Behind, sensitive prosecutions and investigations being undercut for political motives, brutal drug wars fought amid a police department's ignorance of and indifference to the forces involved -- were indeed problems in the recent history of the actual Baltimore, Maryland.

Few of these matters received the serious attention — or, in some cases — any attention from the media. These problems exist in plain sight, ready to be addressed by anyone seriously committed to doing so. For those of us writing The Wire, a television drama, story research involved dragging the right police lieutenants or school teachers, prosecutors and political functionaries to neighborhood diners and bars and taking story notes down on cocktail napkins and paper placemats. To be more precise with their tales? To record it and relay it in a manner that can stand as non-fiction truthtelling? Yes, that's harder to do. But there was a time when journalism regarded that kind of coverage as its highest mission. The true stories that The Wire traded in are out there, waiting for anyone willing to take the time. And it is, of course, vaguely disturbing to us that our unlikely little television drama is making arguments that were once the prerogative of more serious mediums.

We tried to be entertaining, but in no way did we want to be mistaken for entertainment. We tried to provoke, to critique and debate and rant a bit. We wanted an argument. We think a few good arguments are needed still, that there is much more to be said and it is entirely likely that there are better ideas than the ones we offered. But nothing happens unless the shtein is stirred. That, for us, was job one.

If you followed us for sixty hours, and you find yourself caring about these issues more than you thought you would, then perhaps the next step is to engage and to demand, where possible, a more sophisticated and meaningful response from authority when it comes to such things as the drug war, educational reform or responsible political leadership. The Wire is about the America we pay for and tolerate. Perhaps it is possible to pay for, and demand, something more.

Again, accept our sincere thanks for making the commitment to watch a show as improbable and problematic as ours and for considering the arguments and issues seriously. We are surprised as you are to be here at the end, on our own terms, still standing. As a cast and crew, we're proud. But the credit is not all ours. It's yours as well for believing, year after year, in this story.

David Simon
Baltimore, Md.
March 10, 2008

[SunMo]

he's from Baltimore?  i had no idea.

[ice grillin you]

the following is entertainment weeklys top 15 wire moments....i tried to find youtubes for them all but couldnt...

Season 1 Episode 3- Chess scene between D'Angelo, Wallace and Bodie. All truly pawns in the end.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PAOKCQghX4

Season 1 Episode 4- The "f*ck" scene where Bunk and McNulty investigate a crime scene using variations on only one word.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbsnSVM1zM

Season 1 Episode 12- Poot and Bodie kill Wallace. IF you weren't sold on this show after this moment, you were never going to.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hor_gOBU_GU

Season 2 Episode 11- Frank Sobotka walking to his death. Awesome music in the scene, which appears on the soundtrack.



Season 2 Episode 12- The final montage from this season might have been the best of all of them.  Steve Earle's I  Feel Alright is the music.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOmx9y4GHgg

Season 3 Episode 11-  Omar and Brother Mouzone's wild-west style showdown in an alley.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20G17K_0ghU

Season 3 Episode 11- Stringer and Avon's balcony farewell, each knowing that they were setting the other one up to fall.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80qYE2u_7w

Season 3 Episode 11- Omar and Brother Mouzone kill Stringer.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqbxZG6FMeI


Season 4 Episode 8- Snoop and Chris talking about Baltimore club music, as they try to scare off NY dealers down in Baltimore.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_VS3aj2zXg

Season 4 Episode 9- Bunny takes Namond and company to Ruth's Chris.



Season 4 Episode 11- Randy yelling down the hall at Sgt. Carver.



Season 4 Episode 12- Dukie giving Mr. Prezbo a gift.



Season 4 Episode 12- Bodie and McNulty's garden lunch/ Bodie's death.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0PMyOBF4Ps

Season 5 Episode 9- Michael kills  Snoop.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0cEv_C8JAw


Season 5 Episode 9- Bubbles' anniversary speech at his NA meeting.

theres some id take off and a few id add...the following three must be on the list...

kima getting shot is an all time television moment


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB6joCuaJDQ

nick and prissy reminicing about ziggy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqxSJJqgnBk


as i mentioned previously the ziggy frank jailhouse scene is as tough as it gets...when frank sees his scared to death pusssie ass 110 lb weekling son going into prison for the rest of his life...wow real shtein....unfortunately i cant find a youtube for it

[Seabiscuit36]

We wanted an argument i now know why Havas loved Simon so much

[ice grillin you]

if you dont debate you dont think....say word

[Seabiscuit36]

I always love the scene where Omar goes to prision, and the guy who looks like a Goomba from Mario Brothers walks up to Omar and gives him a phonebook and a bunch of books to protect himself from shanks. 

[ice grillin you]

I always love the scene where Omar goes to prision, and the guy who looks like a Goomba from Mario Brothers walks up to Omar and gives him a phonebook and a bunch of books to protect himself from shanks. 

yeah thats a great scene....its not a youtube but here it is.....

[Seabiscuit36]

I always love the scene where Omar goes to prision, and the guy who looks like a Goomba from Mario Brothers walks up to Omar and gives him a phonebook and a bunch of books to protect himself from shanks. 

yeah thats a great scene....its not a youtube but here it is.....

lol...  It was one of those scenes where i never thought that you could protect yourself from gettin shanked.  Whats your Philaflava name?

[ice grillin you]

clark bent



alan sepinwall of the star ledger lists his top wire moments

http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2008/03/sepinwall_on_tv_the_wire_unplu.html

[Seabiscuit36]

Sepinwall is the shtein. 

I just got on Philaflava, got some great cd's i have to download now. 

[ice grillin you]

i dont post much on there cause i hate new hip-hop and everything that needs to be said about the golden age already has but its a great board

[Seabiscuit36]

i dont post much on there cause i hate new hip-hop and everything that needs to be said about the golden age already has but its a great board

yeah, i went into the Slept on album and put up some that i like, and found some great ones on there, i have like 15 cd's i have waiting to DL when i get home

[SD_Eagle5]

I always love the scene where Omar goes to prision, and the guy who looks like a Goomba from Mario Brothers walks up to Omar and gives him a phonebook and a bunch of books to protect himself from shanks. 

That was a great scene and one I forgot all about.

Two great scenes from this past season were when McNulty got into the elevator with Daniels in the finale. Also when the psychologist is explaining the characteristics of the serial killer and he's describing McNulty. There are so many subtle smaller scenes that get overlooked that its almost impossible to pick just 10.