The remains of Baltimore's alternative Homicide Division after the Wire's close of production. Wish I could have taken McNulty's inbasket or some other keep sake.
More here
Over the holidays, Cathie, my shorty, started watching. She devoured Seasons 1 and 2 like a dockworker and is now peppering 'mo-fo' into everyday conversation.
Re-up for the greatest program in the history of television.
5 comments:
Sadly, Cathie thinks that "mo-fo" is short for "more-forward looking"...
Glad to hear she didn't kill herself after watching the show. She's got a better stomach for endlessly-depressing subject matter than I'll ever have, it seems.
Actually she is really enjoying the series, going ahead through episodes and telling me that this character 'better not die, Tim!'
Too bad you could not get into it because it is not a cops and robbers show. It is about the city and the life people must adopt to live there.
'Course BSG starts back up in a couple weeks, so you can use that show to get endlessly depressed and skip the Wire.
Hey, man, I'm really sorry but I just can't get off on watching kids killing themselves with drugs the way you apparently can. It may be real, but it's still depressing and me watching it does nothing positive (for the situation itself), as far as I can tell.
I'll take well-written fantasies like Lost and BSG over that kind of experience any day of the week (and twice on Sunday).
And by the way: when the great show about the genocides in Africa starts up on HBO next Fall, I'll probably take a pass on that, too... I'm just funny that way!
(Feeling slightly bad about that last comment)
So, I just went and re-read my original "response" to watching Season One of The Wire (http://kimota94.blogspot.com/2007/07/finished-season-one-of-wire-and-it-was.html) way back in July of '07. At the time, my overarching reaction was one of... mild interest mixed in with a good-sized helping of disappointment (the latter, because Tim, who lent us the DVDs, made it sound like our minds would be blown out of our skulls by every single minute of this alleged masterpiece of TV geniousity... and yes, I'm making words up now to convey Tim's Hype Machine in action).
As time went on, though, and I heard more and more references to the show (not just from Tim), I found that I reflected on it a bit more (which is a good sign, and to its credit) but found the grim subject matter less and less to my liking (negating any positive feelings I might've otherwise had). Yes, it's well-written and well-acted... but that's not enough on its own to warm me to a story that seems to have no redeeming qualities to it in terms of elevating the human condition.
Are things as bad in parts of Baltimore as The Wire portrays them to be? Very likely (and elsewhere in the U.S., as well). But since it's unlikely that I can do anything about that sad situation (and the people actually involved in those situations would just as soon kill me as accept any help from me, if I tried), then why would I want to immerse myself in the tales of their lives when I find them so depressing? What's gained? Is my life enriched by it? Are theirs?
Maybe there are good reasons why I should be watching that show... but they're just not occurring to me (regardless of the amount of peer pressure applied). I prefer my escapist fiction to be more of an escape, and less of an ordeal. But to each their own.
@T — If anyone will appreciate this, it sounds like it's you.
@Kimota94 et al :) — Check out the first clip on that page, which is from the final season of The Wire. It means more (a lot more) in context, but it plays pretty well on its own, and gives a good idea of the tone of the series too.
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