what’s the deal with prop joe’s long fingernails? that is creepy as hell
probably Robert Chew just has long fingernails and they didn’t ask him to clip them when in character, I guess? great bit from The Fader’s interview with him:
I came down and auditioned for Prop Joe. I am sitting in the office with all the other actors and I’m looking around and all these guys are like super models. You know jackets and ties and hair neatly trimmed and leather shoes. I’m like, “Am I in the right audition?” I had a sweat suit on, I’m a big guy, I looked nothing like these guys. Then the next day they said I had the part. A month later I found out that Prop Joe was a real person and that he was handsome and debonair and a ladies man. That explains the other actors, how I got this part, I’ll never know.
rapcity yesterday: bodie interviewing jeezy, luda video w/namond.
d’oh, missed that! I saw the jeezy video on tv the other day though and after watching the wire, all the flashiness of it seems faintly ridiculous
stop snitchin
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/07/60minutes/main2238188.shtml
hah
things never change, do they.
what was w/ prop joe totally breaking character and doing cartoon voices on the payphone. usually the humor is so well-placed in the writing but that scene kinda irked me.
that was hilarious. didn’t find it so much braking character as revealing—like prop joe is actually a pretty funny guy who doesn’t as get much opportunity to dabble in whimsy in his every day life as a drug lord as he’d like to.
That was one of the best scenes! I was like holy shit how awesome.
totally forgot that, you’re right! so funny. they’re so great with the use of humor to suddenly show a whole other dimension of someone.. no matter how serious they usually seem. like wee-bey in season one with his tropical fish. the smarter they are, the better the comic timing maybe. (if marlo were smarter he’d have a sense of humor wouldn’t he?) yesterday I was watching an episode I’d missed early in season three where stringer shows up to check on donette and is like “hiiii string, how you been?” in this falsetto voice and I about fell over laughing.
did chris partlow say anything totally deadpan hilarious this season or am I just imagining that he did?
also, the scene when the boys get bumped out of the way by a bunch of girls at the opening of school.. “man, these b***hes is on STEROIDS!”
Here’s a dumbass question—I just watched the final 4 episodes of s4, and I saw the name Ed Burns all over the place, as producer & writer. Is that THE Ed Burns, or someone else?
Which Ed Burns do you consider to be THE Ed Burns?
the one and only
The Brothers McNulty.
No but seriously NO it is the good Ed Burns.
ed burns is an ex-cop who became a teacher in bmore, then co-wrote “the corner” book which was made into an hbo mini-series featuring a lot of actors that went on to the wire (clarke peters as an old junkie, lance reddick as a crackhead lol; highly recommended, i think bet did reruns of it at some point)
i loved stringer’s little lecture about 40 degree days. at the end the dopey kid is like “yeah we on them like a 40 degree day!”, totally misusing his metaphor
There was one season 4 episode that ended with Chris and Snoop and a boom box. Chris presses play, listens for a second, shakes his head, and chooses a different track. And they both start quietly jammming. That was hilarious.
did chris partlow say anything totally deadpan hilarious this season or am I just imagining that he did?
capping on snoop for not knowing anything abt baltimore radio.
ed burns is an ex-cop who became a teacher in bmore, then co-wrote “the corner” book which was made into an hbo mini-series featuring a lot of actors that went on to the wire (clarke peters as an old junkie, lance reddick as a crackhead lol; highly recommended, i think bet did reruns of it at some point)
“yeah we on them like a 40 degree day!”
hahahha, the look string gave him was classic
re: Chris and snoop, is that when he puts on “lean wit it rock wit it”? good stuff.
Did I imagine it, or is Herc’s ringtone “Stay Fly”? His phone went off (from Bubbles) when the lieutenant was ripping him a new one, right?
ha
Ed Burns
Date of birth:1946
Photo Gallery:
“Did I imagine it, or is Herc’s ringtone ”Stay Fly“?”
It is!
Is it his code that prevents Prop Joe from, say, kidnapping Omar’s friend Butchie and holding him till Omar gives back the drugs?
seems butchie has a lot of non-omar related clout, rendering him unkidnapable. besides prop joe has mentioned many times that he’d rather not get on omar’s bad side.
stringer went to war w/dude and now stringer dead
Joe would rather risk giving up his Greek connection, his one big advantage, to Marlo? He could at least point Marlo at Butchie; Marlo’s already at war with Omar.
he doesn’t have to give anything up, he’s buying back the heroin omar got @ 20% and likely not even telling the rest of the collective who have already agreed to take the loss. he set up a meet w/greek2 for marlo knowing full well that the greeks would never have anything to do w/a street dude like him.
i just get the feeling no one fucks w/butchie. besides joe et al don’t have any info that he was in on the heist. and while butchie and omar do seem tight, what they have is a business relationship—who’s to say that marlo would even take the bait?
who’s to say that marlo omar would even take the bait?
if omar doesn’t survive season 5 i will be sad. there’s lots of reasons he shouldn’t, but i hope simon’s enough of a romantic to let him go on.
i dunno omar’s superhero routine, while still crazy fun, has gone a little too far—surviving the jailhouse hit and then making the biggest score of his life, puleeze.
butchie is also under omar’s protection—kidnap butchie and omar will find you, not the other way around. plus butchie seems to be a pillar of the community.
Plus he has that wire-haired rat terrier.
If I were Prop Joe I don’t think I’d be quite so sanguine about how, oh well, Omar’s just a force of nature. Did Joe really get to run half of East Baltimore just by being diplomatic and staying on the community’s good side? Conversely, if I were Omar, I’d go right back and rip off the next delivery.
the jailhouse hit scene was another one of the best scenes of the year. the heist was a little bit too oceans 11 though.
ok, I missed something back in season one. who made all those questionable or at least ‘of interest’ political donations all over town that the detail was looking up? the barksdale organization? if so, how did clay davis pull that scam on stringer later on? it seemed way, way, way obvious that davis was full of shit.
also, finally started on season 2. bodie in the van on the way to philly.. garrison keillor comes on the radio... “why would anyone want to leave baltimore?”
Barksdale and other less-than-desirable business leaders. Don’t see how that gets in the way of Clay screwing Stringer—the trash bags o’ cash were probably what introduced them in the first place.
it seemed way, way, way obvious that davis was full of shit.
i thought the stringer-clay davis exchanges were really well done. it seemed like stringer thought davis was shady too, but he also was out of his element and he knew it. he was trying to cross over and he needed someone to show him how. those were the scenes where he seemed most vulnerable, trying to operate in the straight world and getting shafted.
right. he did think davis was shady. but then, maybe take stringer out of barksdale’s world and put him in a developer’s office and he is too busy being self conscious to notice just how shady. maybe? ok, great writing + great acting meant a whole lot of things were going on & it’s not like I want it to be cut and dried. still, i mean come on, davis didn’t even TRY that hard. the second the guy appears anywhere it’s so obvious he is a scam artist.
i also noticed that when avon is getting ready to go to war w/marlo and proudly holding up the couple of grenades he’d acquired it came off a little bit.. pathetic.
Stringer was naive (the Barksdales operated with a sense of integrity—Clay doesn’t even bother with that) and desperate for traditional respect and authority. Add those together, and see Davis getting things done to some extent (Stringer was getting some condos built) and it’s easy to see him being fooled.
He’s kind of the young, affluent version of those old people getting sold rip-off land and pyramid schemes when they should know better.
Go for credit in the straight world
Look a dealer in the eye
Go for credit in the real world, won’t you try?
and the young people buying those damn condos for $500K when they should know better (I haven’t done this, but some days I drive down Massachusetts Avenue and feel like I SHOULD)
Now that I am watching S3 full throttle, and really seeing the character development of Stringer Bell, his conflict IS incredibly tragic.
Another funny scene to mention, from S3: The first co-op meeting, with the signs:
“Welcome! New Day Co-op!”
at the suburban Days Inn. In a conference room. With coffee cups and saucers and a selection of danishes.
maybe that’s the same scene where prop Joe makes his Republicans comment? I’m sleepy, and can’t recall.
Thank you all for thrilling me with all of your posts on this thread. It has really, really made me happy to hear all of your analyses and comments—I didn’t have to miss “the wire on HBO” so much!
keep going! Post more!
he’s buying back the heroin omar got @ 20% and likely not even telling the rest of the collective who have already agreed to take the loss
Didn’t Prop Joe tell the co-op that Omar was charging 30% to buy back the heroin, thereby arranging for a tidy sum for himself? I swear I saw some exchange where the number jumped from 20% to 30%, but maybe I’m mis-remembering.
the second the guy appears anywhere it’s so obvious he is a scam artist.
clay davis is interesting that way, because it’s like pretty much everyone knows he’s slimy, but him being slimy is its own kind of protection. everybody knows he can be bought, that he demands to be bought, but that means everyone can rightly see him as a potential ally. since he’s enmeshed in the local power structure, it’s easier to just deal with him than to try to go around him. and since everyone knows he’s for sale, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself if you don’t pay him enough to make your issues worth his time.
plus hes got such an annoying voice youre willing to pay him just to not have to hear him talk
Yeah MsLaura, that fits with my memory.
MsLaura is correct—prop joe is the king of making lemonade out of lemons
What was the actual original value of the theft? We see Marlo agree to pay Joe $90,000 to buy back his share at 30 percent of its original value, right? But in the previous episode didn’t he give Joe $150,000 “for six”?
I couldn’t follow any of the dollar amounts.
“of course, the significant character who killed Wallace is now deceased.”
Is he? I thought Poot killed Wallace. Am I misremembering who Wallace was?
bodie and poot were both there—can’t remember who actually shot him.
I remember that Bodie had a hard time pulling the trigger and Poot fired the first shot instead.
No, wait, Bodie fired the first shot after a lot of coaxing; Poot finished the job all stonefaced.
I think I need to watch this show again from the beginning when season 4 comes out on DVD.
With HBO’s release schedule that will be a long time from now. Sigh.
who needs DVD when u can downloads
I’m just watching season 2 now on dvd, every bit as good. d’angelo wouldn’t have flipped if they’d just left him alone. but based on what they knew of him in the past I can see how they’d worry. and my impression is there’s no doubt stringer made quite a lot more money when he was running things. he’s actually a really good boss.
also, brother mouzone is like the comic book guy or something. sort of an insufferable know it all. I think lamar keeps fucking up little things passive aggressively on purpose.
The thought that D’angelo would flip is because of his moral conflict over the killing of Wallace. By Bodie and Poot. (Can’t remember who shot first).
D’angelo couldn’t stomach that they killed Wallace. He took the sentence, but when he realized what happened...
Season two rocks!
So...Bodie and Poot shot Wallace. D’angelo was upset about it, so he got fake hanged in prison.
Marlo’s gang (the first sign of Chris and Snoop? They’re on a motorcycle) shoot a bunch of corner boys, including Poot, but Poot walks away.
Bodie, angered by the random killing of Little Kevin as a snitch, because he (Bodie) told Little kevin to go to Marlo, kicks the shit out of a police car and goes to jail.
On his release, McNutty picks up Bodie, and Bodie is seen as a snitch, which leads to his death, while Poot, begging him to reconsider, runs away.
The morality is that snitching is going to end you up dead.
Even if you don’t snitch, it will end you up dead. The suspicion of snitching will kill you.
Go Poot!
Season 2 breaks my heart.
Season 2 reminds me of New Bedford and Fall River.
he’s actually a really good boss.
Nah, wait till season 3! You don’t shoot at someone who’s walking with his grandmother in front of a church, come on now.
but, d’angelo knew about wallace before he agreed to take the years, almost flipped, and then brianna talked him out of it. it struck me as ironic and sad that.. what got him killed was his reputation for being weak (for the world he’s in) and they weren’t wrong about that, and so people believed the suicide thing (another thing seen as weak). and yet he wasn’t weak at all once he had made up his mind to cut off avon, brianna, donette—if they would have just let him alone and let him be who he was he wouldn’t have flipped. it was about pride. that was my impression. but, avon, stringer, brianna, wee-bey didn’t see it that way—either he went along with what they told him, or he was trouble, they couldn’t just trust him and leave him be.
re: season 3, I know dude, I’m saying, if you’re one of the guys who does work for string & are somewhat competent at what you do, he’s a pretty good boss. the thing with omar’s grandmother is partly the guys were incompetent, yeah, stringer told them “go” in spite of sunday truce but didn’t know anything about where they were or the grandma being there, and plus, omar was already mostly in the cab..
can’t believe I’m talking about it like that but all I’m saying is if bell were running a legit company he’d be a decent guy to work for. tough but fair.
that’s funny re: new bedford and fall river, you’re right. I went to those towns quite a few times when I lived in RI. wonder if the wiseguys are into some stuff up there
anyways, haven’t gotten through the end of season 2 yet, but so far.. every bit as interesting as the barksdale stuff. poor ziggy. I feel like I know that kid.
overall as great as this show is I still am aggravated by the limitations simon puts on the whole thing with his.. basically conservative worldview, you know? nostalgia for the old days, no hope of real change for the better, reformers get killed or careers ruined. because one way or another things will change. they have to. sure we all hate yuppies in condos, and I’m more than halfway a yuppie myself, but come on—what are people supposed to do? maybe if there were some powerful, politically influential unified sisterhood of strong working women who kept the city running, back in the good old days, I’d be all nostalgic for them too but I’m just not feeling it
although I guess they could name the waterfront property “Yuppietown” instead of “The Grainery,” just to avoid adding insult to injury
these articles are old but the unintentional tie-ins with the wire are interesting:
“”It was a huge case,“ said Anthony Barksdale, acting chief of the city’s organized crime division, who spearheaded Operation Arizona.”
!
heh
Daria, you’re right about D’angelo—I forgot that he knew about Wallace before he took the sentence. it just seems like there is a parallel between D’angelo and Bodie, like some awareness of the injustice of the killings occurs to them, and then they, themselves, are killed. i guess that’s the dramatic structure of the show (part of it), but because the show is so fucking good, it’s almost seamless in its construction. We all believe so deeply in these characters—it’s easy to forget that it’s all plotted and written and planned beforehand.
I’m not smart enough to analyze it as Greek or Shakesperean—although I think, like
darl-a has said, it would be an amazing thesis.
I agree that Stringer would be a decent boss ( not, perhaps, for a shorty), and watching S3 has made me really feel the tragedy in his character development. The sense of trying to escape the world he created, and become legit...it’s really tragic.
Another thing I’ve noticed, now that I’m watching S3 after S4—everyone has grown up. Like, there’s way more bars and illicit sex in S1–3—much less in S4. There’s some narrative arc there.
But I don’t think the writers equate drinking and fucking with some moral code. However, McNutty being almost sober and faithful is sort of like...hmmm. Your point is? So they better write him right back into the rage filled philandering jerk-off that he was, because I don’t want to see “redemption” for the cops while the kids are being thrown to the wolves. Or wolf—Marlo.
S2: Ziggy. New Bedford. The whole ethnic division thing—who’s Catholic? Which church? Polish or Irish or French? -is still so prominent all over Mass. and R.I. S2 is very deft at getting to the core of those ingrained, good ole boy, biases that exist all over “liberal” New England.
I think I’m losing my mind to “the Wire”.
OMG—I also need to report that my S.O.‘s coworker is going to Baltimore for her vacation! Why? To do a “Wire” vacation! She’s going, by herself, for five days, and wants to visit “Wire” places. When my S.O. told me this i was like, “What, she’s going to ask people to take pictures of her at the vacants?” He said she wants to go to the all of the places they have shot scenes—and eat some crab. And, probably, try to find the cast and crew. I’m not sure if i think it’s a weird vacation idea or if I’m JEALOUS AND WANT TO GO WITH HER!
Is this the Poe house?
Scoring some crack should be part of it. My S.O. said she wants to eat some crab cakes. I said“ Um, no, she will be eating some crab legs.”
I’m still not sure if it is weird or beautiful. It’s a weirdly beautiful quest.
But, y’know, the town right next to my town IS “the Wire”, so...questing to find the inner city is kinda wrong.
I want my inner city like they showed me on T.V!
But no real bullets, please.
A “Wire”-themed tourist trip sounds like the worst possible thing imaginable other than maybe an all-day barbeque in Chernobyl.
wow i for one have gotten sick of the cultural tourism that the wire’s deserved rise has facilitated (witness so much of the watching-is-politics/watching-is-participating on this thread), but the wire tour? seriously? there isn’t enough poverty and despair where she’s from to ogle instead?
My point exactly. But i don’t know her, and...if that is what she chooses to do with her vacation time, so be it.
I just think it is absolutely beautiful and awful—tourism based on poverty based on television.
It’s also called being a dilletante. And the media feeds us many examples of that!
In a way, I understand what she is doing. It’s a tribute to the power of the show that it is so real that people will plan a vacation around it!
I have been interviewing kids from the rough streets of Holyoke, MA. It IS “The Wire”. But what I find—which the S4 explores—is that all of the kids want to talk. Even the tough guys—everyone wants a chance at the mic.
They are all goofy teenagers. I’m sure most of them have committed a crime. There’s a project called “The Teen Resource Center”—and that’s where I have interviewed the toughies.
They know about “The Wire”, but they have never seen it because noone has HBO.
But they know all of the characters! If they were being taught “The Wire” in school—analyze the plot, write an essay about a significant character—they would be really good students. it’s that simple.
They know about “The Wire”, but they have never seen it because noone has HBO.
There’s a kind of resentment I have with all HBO shows, that comes from this.
i just bought s02, through walmart/asda. for cheap.
but also i doubt people pitch shows to hbo because they actively don’t want them to be seen by people. the idea of ‘the wire’ tour is mindboggling for all that.
discussion of HBO shows are like “the public sphere—platinum club”
‘entourage’ is on itv2, bruh.
i’m not talking about the irrelevant rest of the world, enrique.
oic
discussion of HBO shows are like “the public sphere—platinum club”
isn’t that true though of an awful lot of cultural discussion? discussions of music, literature, visual art, etc., all presuppose access. some of those things are more accessible than hbo, but not all of them, and in any case probably not very much more accessible to your average inner-city kid. i don’t know how those hbo shows could exist without a subscription model; i don’t see them being supported either by advertising or public or private grants. and even if simon et al made them all available free of charge to public schools — which they might, if someone asked them — it’s impossible for me to imagine a public school (or any other publicly funded organization) showing them.
isn’t that true though of an awful lot of cultural discussion?
yep
OK, I painted myself into several corners writing about the Teen Resource Center a few posts ago. BUT...it still surprises me that all of the kids know about “The Wire”. I mean, the whole thing came up because one kid said “He’s going all Barksdale and shit.”, and I was like, um, Barksdale? What do you mean?
Most of the kids don’t have HBO. i didn’t really quiz them on the HBO thing—one kid said that they watch it at a friends house, or rent the DVD’s. But they all know all of the characters!
It just startled me—that they would be referencing a show that mirrors their own circumstances, that they would actively seek out that show.
And i can’t, and shouldn’t, say that they’re all criminals. But I know that many of them already have criminal records. Holyoke is a violent little city.
So, I don’t have to go on a “Wire” vacation. I went to Holyoke, instead.
I’m a chubby, white, thirty something female who probably looks, to these kids, like their worst schoolteacher nightmare. I am in no way “street”. I was extremely uncomfortable being in their world—like, we don’t speak the same language, (In some cases, literally, because I don’t speak Spanish.)
What happened is—because I was working with another “reporter” who had recording equipment, once the ice was broken, they all wanted to talk and be recorded.
Then, of course, they all wanted to listen to themselves talking, so many hours (over a few days) were spent recording them and then letting them listen to themselves. Which produced some funny reactions. “Shit, I sound fucking stupid!”
Me: “Don’t worry, nobody likes hearing themselves talk. You sound great.”
“No, I sound fucking stupid! I want to do the interview again!”
Us and Them has never been clearer to me—I was happy to participate in their world, and equally happy to leave. of course, when four thuggish teen boys walked me to my car to make sure I was safe....it broke my heart a little.
I didn’t want to try to be one of those old white adults who think they’re really doing everyone a favor by communing with the inner city kids. I didn’t try to be any more (or less) “street” than I am—which is zero. I have no street credibility. But then we talked about “The Wire”.
And all gaps were bridged, in a way.
I’ve gone back, a couple of times, to volunteer and hang out. It becomes increaingly obvious that I am the least cool person on the planet—and the kids make fun of me for that. Plus, they make fun of my car.
So, whatever. “The Wire”. I’m Prezbo. And I just got hired to substitute teach!
cool is kind of over. :) no, i mean, don’t worry about it. the cool thing about prezbo is he doesn’t try to be anyone other than dorky prezbo. his students wouldn’t have liked him if he had tried to change & be all cool with them.
where’s holyoke? out 195 past tiverton or is it western Mass? you are so right about the good old boy network running things, so much of new england is rough working class towns and not at all liberal, people confuse liberal for.. well, union workers, catholics, live-and-let-live MYOB attitudes which all tend toward democratic votes but they sure aren’t liberal.
if you want to eat crabs, though, get a huge pot of steamed crabs in old bay, a case of beer (natty boh if possible), and a big table covered in paper to sort of keep down the mess. if you don’t know how to eat them get a marylander to show you. as far as visiting places from “the wire”.. in my experience, just get yourself good and lost somewhere downtown off the jones falls expressway and you’ll be right there. I don’t think those are good spots to be touristy. but, what about visiting fell’s point, visionary art museum, the aquarium.. the real strip club that is orlando’s on the show, you could visit that, right? hah
Thanks. Holyoke is on the I-91 corridor—just north of Springfield, which is larger and even more violent and fucked up.
I live in Easthampton, near Northampton, which is the liberal jewel in the crown of political correctness. (Northampton is). Holyoke is just over the mountain from me, but worlds away in so many ways.
Holyoke is a lost city. I grew up there, and also in Springfield.
It really is about the dead and dying mill towns.
I will be subbing in the Easthampton schools—very white, very middle class. I’m still unsure about it—because, um, I haven’t walked through those doors since I was a kid. And I’m not sure that I’m grown up enough to be a teacher. We shall see.
I’m Prezbo with the kids in Holyoke because I’m so dorky...and they are very witty. They rag on my car all the time! I’m like, “OK, talk to me when you have a car. Or a driver’s license. Whichever happens first.”
I would like to make a mess eating crab legs and slurping beer with a tablecloth/gigantic napkin attached to my body. In Baltimore.
I’m not sure when the S.O.‘s workmate is going on her quest for the full on Wire experience. My S.O. is a team leader/ supervisor at Whole Foods, so they talk about it while they stack the shelves with comestibles.
Y’know, media gives us a reality that we crave. She wants to use her vacation—her paid vacation—to experience something that she has seen on television.
I dunno—I guess I would choose to visit friends, or go to Puerto Rico and swim in the ocean. or something.
I will report back, to this thread, as soon as I hear anything about her journey.
is S2 breaking your heart, Daria?
It’s SO New Bedford/Cranston.
(speaking of access, the wire is apparently going to start a syndicated run on BET next month.)
(oops, didn’t notice that had been covered earlier in the thread.)
hehe. craaaanston. that’s some accent there. s2 is all right. I can’t understand how omar believed that shit stringer told him.
I don’t know what you’re talking about—Omar and Stringer? must go to HBO episode guide and refresh my memory.
Cranston!
I can’t find the specific episode—tell me which one so i can refresh my memory.
season 2 ep. 10—stringer talked omar into shooting bro mouzone b/c he said mouzone was the one who did all that stuff to brandon, to build his reputation and all. doesn’t add up. butchie set up the meeting and was all “it doesn’t feel right” and stringer played it like “ok, you got bird, stink, wee bey, avon’s in jail.. this is the last one, this makes it even.” but I don’t get it. doesn’t make it even because all it does is help out stringer.
did kate move back to the us??
also, am I crazy or in the s2 ending, did prop joe’s people go find that shipment the greeks left on the docks, even though he told string they’d lost it? I wonder if they did. prop joe is one smart businessman.
i saw a thing that said david simon had *considered* the idea of a sixth season dealing with latino community in baltimore but cos none of the writers knew that world they wouldn’t do it. fieldwork etc. could they not pay people who know, etc? high standards. am still mid-s02. lucky to have missed it, in a sense. why the fuck has uktv never picked it up?
I read that too.. I guess he kind of feels he doesn’t have another cop show season in him, as a writer—next thing they’re doing a show in new orleans, arent’ they?
OK, now I get the Stringer/Omar part. It’s not a great idea to watch out of order. e.g. Missing/skipping S3 for me.
Also, I fell asleep last night watching ep.9 of S3, and woke up to the theme song, sung by the Neville Brothers, which had probably been repeating for a couple of hours. Y’know, when the DVD just goes to default mode and plays the theme song, waiting for you to choose an episode? I pity my neighbors.
And my subconcious.
I think the opening credits, with theme song, can be played on the inside of my eyelids at this point.
i saw a thing that said david simon had *considered* the idea of a sixth season dealing with latino community in baltimore but cos none of the writers knew that world they wouldn’t do it. fieldwork etc. could they not pay people who know, etc? high standards. am still mid-s02. lucky to have missed it, in a sense. why the fuck has uktv never picked it up?
— temporary enrique (miltonpinsk...), December 20th, 2006.
yeah, I have no problem with them ending with 5, but I would be pretty excited if they did that, if only because the biggest latino neighborhood in Baltimore is Upper Fells Point, which is where I live (Orlando’s, or at least the exterior shots, also were done there but I guess it was supposed to be in a different part of town). Bmore has a really small latino population, though, at least compared to D.C. or Chicago or most Southern cities, but it is growing.
Projects- Docks-Politics-Schools-Media. As someone said on the LOST thread, they should be shooting this show 52 weeks a year.
For me. because my sanity is at stake.
It just gets more complex the more you watch it. Now I know what’s gonna happen, and I can watch S3 (while, hopefully , not falling asleep. My sleepiness has nothing to do with the show.) and see everything.
When my S.O. introduced me to “The Wire—on HBO”, it was way before we had HBO, or on demand. I would lie on the couch watching episodes from netflix, I guess. And then watch it again with him! Because I never got it the first time.
It is really hard to figure out the trajectory without repeated viewings.
For me, anyway.
Somebody should watch it backwards, and report to this thread.
or maybe Al is doing that!
xpost—the whole stringer/omar thing was weird. I don’t know. sometimes I see characters who are generally incredibly smart and savvy just getting.. suckered, and it feels a bit like.. the writers had already decided the end point for the character & then had to get them to the end point no matter what. I mean with string, with all the foul stuff he did it’s no wonder someone eventually got to him, but it seems insanely risky to try and talk omar into going after bro. mouzone on his say-so, omar being no fool and bro. mouzone’s reputation and whereabouts (nyc and philly) being fairly well known.
i finished S3. And i totally get the tragedy of Stringer much more—his desire to play the game differently, etc. And I think the set-up was more of a construction by the writers than most things in the show. It’s almost like S3 was written to wrap up some narrative threads and provide a platform for a fresh take on the complex issues they are trying to deal with.
This all is probably a huge xpost from above, but I can’t read the entire thread again and figure out how much of this has been mentioned.
It’s my least favorite season, but that might be because I watched it “backwards”.
The double cross between Avon and Stringer is brilliant. The Brother Mouzone/Omar part was much less believable.
Brother Mouzone is not that believable to me.
I definitely got choked up at Stringer’s last stand. And more so when McNutty goes to Stringer’s apt., takes a book off the shelf, and says “God, I thought I knew this guy.” (or something along those lines).
i think I end up, as a viewer, while viewing, forgiving characters way too much—I started to really believe in Stringer being able to become a businessman, conveniently forgetting his transgressions, or “foul stuff”. Interesting, because there are very few innocent characters in the show. And I end up rooting for the “project” characters, no matter how fucked up they have been, because they deserve my emotional investment? or because I want to see some idealistic version of Baltimore/any inner city played out in a way, via television, that provides me with some comfort?
My S.O. burned S2 for a co-worker—I think the same coworker who is doing the “Wire” vacation—so she could give it to her dad. Her dad watched it in one sitting! Thirteen hours!
Y’know, so much of the show is about addiction, and yet...watching it is completely addictive, like “get off the pipe! You have been watching that show for thirteen hours straight! You need to stop!!”
or, as Kima said about McNutty, after Stringer’s death: “He’s acting like he lost kin.”
A question about S3—the girl who was shot, by Marlo—I must have spaced out about that set-up. (her setting Marlo up for a hit.) Who was it?
The girl was setting him up—it was a trap by the Barksdale gang to get Marlo alone in a certain place. That’s when a bunch of the Barksdale replacement crew got shot—Poot (or someone) walked off dazed after hiding under the bodies.
After that fell through, Marlo & Co. tracked her down and blew her away.
the girl—that was devonne, I guess she was close to the barksdale organization, hooked up with marlo at a club and then was insistent on meeting him again the next day. oddly insistent saying she had to go out of town. marlo picked up on it being weird. they set up the meet at a take out & that’s when chris partlow took a shot into avon’s suv killing one of the barksdale crew & wounding avon in the shoulder.
seriously boggling at the ridiculousness of a “wire” vacation. good luck with that. (i guess the snoop actress has been making appearances at various places recently)
i stopped at the waterfront hotel bar that was used in homicide the other night. need to get one of their t-shirts that say: WTF Hotel
CP had The Wire’s location scout put together a tour of places used in the show a few months ago, while acknowledging the sketchiness of the whole ‘ghetto tourism’ thing:
http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=11846
and I know there were groups of Homicide fans that would travel to Baltimore and take a tour of locations used in that show, too. I don’t necessarily think it’s an across the board bad thing, although there are definitely people who aren’t doing it with the purest intentions. but I mean, if I spend the weekend in New York and get a little geeked out at seeing some place that was featured in a movie, maybe even, gasp, a movie about crime, does that make me a bad person? I don’t get any thrill out of driving through the hood in Baltimore because, uh, I do it almost every day (and honestly a lot of times if I ever do go past a Wire location, I probably wouldn’t even recognize it, because so many vacant rowhouses and alleys and corner stores are interchangeable), but I do get excited if I’m at the movie theater and see Lester Freamon in the lobby.
right, I mean, on a level I don’t see anything wrong with coming to visit Baltimore because you love the show—people there love it too, after all. “ghetto tourism”? I mean, it’s interesting because it’s a great story, I can see how it’d be tasteless to go gawk at Hamsterdam if there really were a Hamsterdam full of people, but what is the problem with going to the park where Marlo hangs out to be like “OMG d00d, this is where Marlo hangs out!” I don’t see a problem with that.
the waterfront hotel comment shows i’m not above that nerdy shit. i meant specifically aimurchie’s (or her friend’s) take on it seems ridiculous, y’know, “Scoring some crack should be part of it,” lol poverty, etc.
It’s not me! I don’t even know her! She’s my boyfriend’s coworker!
i dunno, maybe the dudes on the corner would be more offended if you only came by to look and didn’t buy anything. just sayin. ;)
xpost michael there’s a track on clipse’s “got it 4 cheap vol 2” where malice says something abt avon and marlo warring, i cant remember which one it is
I was really curious about this so I just listened to a few of the tracks; on “I’m a Hustla” Ab-Liva says “sorta like Avon and Marlo when you set it off.”
Oh and on “Cross the Border” on vol. 1 he says “I’m Avon in the first season of the Wire,” dude really likes the show I guess!
...and the outro is over the end credits music, complete with the HBO logo crescendo at the end. I’m really sorry, I’ll stop now.
It will be great when he starts referencing specific episodes.
The Wire will be on BET starting in January!! Yippee!!!
I can’t wait to hear how they dub Bunk and McNutty at the murder scene.
“eat my socks, cutty!”
I read that for the Sopranos anyway HBO shot alternate scenes for syndication. I imagine they did the same with The Wire.
I feel so bad for Duquan. In the last episode when he’s back at his old school and talks to Prezbo is to me the saddest scene in all 4 seasons. It even made me cry. There’s just something about him...every time he’s in a scene I feel sad in some way.
when he gives prez the pens it’s definitely the tear-jerker moment we’ve all been waiting for.
anyway just finished s4 last night... definitely the best thing i saw on any screen in 2006. and possibly the best tv... ever. destroyed everything else on HBO this year, that’s for sure.
I keep thinking about the way Dookie sat down next to psycho slasher girl after her classroom freakout. Just being there with her, not saying anything.
haha, myspace is a treat.
“Yo! I’m currently the president & CEO of the leading pharmaceutical distributor servicing West Baltimore.”
So does Skillz just record one song a year from now on or what?
bet reruns start next week, sopranos too
So tempted to buy a Property of Bubbles shirt from Andre Royo.
The MySpace thing? I got lost, clicking on everyone’s profile.
They all have, like, 3,000 friends. If I had kept clicking I would have ended up -where? It got very confusing, very quickly. For me.
I sort of want the t-shirt—just because wearing it would be a secret code to other fans. Leading to grocery store discussions of “The Wire”, while trying to choose between the fresh fruit options. That would be fun. “Macoun apples or Granny Smith? No, Michael did not kill Bodie. Wow,pears are on sale!? I know, the Prop Joe part is complicated. I miss Stringer too.”
Which would lead to heated debates at the deli counter, and a general collapse of grocery store etiquette.
Dookie, Dookie, Dookie. His face is heartbreaking. The kid who plays the role has an amazing instinct for simple gestures and slow, quiet moments. It’s a very difficult role—and the fact that he has engaged all of us, so much, is a testament to his acting skills.
I’m never going to get over Wallace, so my heart gets stolen ONLY by certain, flawless performances.
What the fuck am I saying—my heart was stolen the second I watched S1.
I think the “Wire” T-shirt that I want is three guys sitting on the back of an orange couch. The more I think about it the more I think I must make this shirt.
haha one of the people in “Avon“‘s top 16 is someone I know
I’d buy one, Austin.
