RSS
The Wire has attained a modest but faithful and loyal audience and even been acclaimed in critic reviews as the greatest piece of television made, certainly in recent memory, yet it hasn’t necessarily won any big awards,.
The HBO drama depicts life in an American city, looking at the social and political issues one might come across in a common urban environment.
If you are an avid fan of the show, you’ll no doubt have a good insight into how life is portrayed in the city of Balitmore, Maryland, where the set for the show is. But you may be surprised by some of these interesting facts about the series:
- President Barack Obama recently included The Wire in a short, but very varied list the TV shows he likes to watch. Others that made it to the list, peculiarly included SpongeBob Square Pants and Hannah Montana, but he stated The Wire as his favourite TV show, and named Omar as his favourite character, a gay drug dealer in the show.
- You may have seen Michael K. Williams, the actor who plays the character Omar, in Madonna or George Michael music videos in the past. He’s appeared in quite a few.
- The scar on Omar’s face, which contributes well to his image as a hard fellow, is real. He acquired it during a drunken brawl on his 25th birthday.
- The Wire’s storylines, which have grossed critical acclaim for their sense of realism, have been influenced by the previous occupations of writers David Simon (also creator), who was previously a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun and Ed Burns, who worked the streets of the city himself as a homicide detective.
- Also adding to the highly notable level of realism is the fact that many of the cast members are ex police officers and criminals and it’s even been suggested that some of the criminals in the show have previously been arrested for real by their onscreen counter.
- While some cast members came straight from the backgrounds of the characters they portrayed, Larry Gilliard, Jr. who played the role of criminal, D’Angelo Barksdale, trained as a classical musician at the prestigious Julliard School.
- Robert F Colesberry, who produced the show and also played Detective Ray Cole, sadly passed away following cardiac surgery. His character in the series also ironically passed away due to a heart illness.
- In the UK, The Wire, can now be downloaded from HBO UK, all episodes from the first five seasons can be viewed on demand.
In 2008, The Wire made number 8 in a feature by Empire magazine, which celebrated the TV’s 50 greatest all time shows, gaining it even more praise from its fan base.