Wire Central

From The Wire

Contents 1 HBO 2 Comprehensive Wire Sites 3 Professional Critics 4 Real Po-lice 5 Blogs 6 TV sites with Wire Coverage 7 Books

[edit] HBO

• HBO's home page for The Wire Several features have been orphaned from the rest of the HBO site (i.e. they are impossible to navigate to using links on the site) but links can be found below.
  • Complete episode guide
  • Detailed cast and crew information
    • Org Chart - The Street A guide to the organization of the street affiliated characters in the third season
    • Org Chart - The Law A guide to the organization of the law affiliated characters in the third season
  • Behind-the-scenes coverage and interviews
    • a review of the show by acclaimed playwright Tony Kushner
    • Ask The Wire - Q&A with David Simon
    • Preview - Truth Be Told. A preview of the series guidebook
    • The Wire's murderers row. A discussion with David Simon about writing with Pelecanos, Lehane and Price
    • Stiffed Cabbage and other literary influences. Writer Rafael Alvarez discusses his influences
  • The infamous HBO community forums for The Wire
  • Wire-based trivia game. Think you know the show? Yeah, you know the show.. like a GUMP.
  • Show news and updates
  • Purchase DVDs or a lovely coffee mug
  • Download The Wire podcasts, wallpaper, and screensavers

[edit] Comprehensive Wire Sites

• Play Or Get Played: A site from Borderline Productions which has links, news, and exclusive interviews with cast and crew that can't be found elsewhere. An indispensible resource for the show.

• The Wire on Wikipedia: Extensive coverage of the show, cast and crew; original source of much of the information now found here

• Internet Movie Database: Another excellent source of detailed information on the show, much of it from official sources. Includes Wire discussion forums with a slightly more cerebral angle than those on HBO's site.

[edit] Professional Critics

• Metacritic's page for season four: Links to dozens of reviews from critics nationwide; demonstrates that The Wire has the highest combined rating from national critics in Metacritic's history

• Tim Goodman is the TV critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, and is renowned for both his intellectual championing of the show and his detailed coverage of the episodes as they air.

• Slate magazine has several articles on the show and its creator
  • Including 'Why The Wire is the best show on television'
  • And they debated every episode of season four as it aired. You have to click on that grid of Bingo numbers in order to navigate through all of the pages they have up as episode commentary--each number represents a different article. Please send mail to Slate asking who came up with that insanely obscure navigation tool, and how quickly he was fired for it.

• Salon Magazine has a number of exceptionally in-depth articles relating to the show.
  • Including a popular article that features two reviewers debating the relative merits of The Wire and The Sopranos, attempting to decide which is the 'best TV show of all time'
  • And a handy six-page introduction for people who are new to the show, laying out the characters and storylines: Everything you were afraid to ask about "The Wire"

[edit] Real Po-lice

• In his status as a retired detective of the BPD, Ed Burns wrote a fascinating report for a subsidiary agency of the DOJ, entitled Gang- and Drug-Related Homicide: Baltimore's Successful Enforcement Strategy. His perspectives here--addressed toward active law enforcement personnel and administrators--heavily influence the show's specific storyline details, even up to the creation of the New Day Co-op. There's also a mention of the real-life Stanfield gang, which seems to be part of the inspiration for Marlo Stanfield's organization in seasons 3-5 of the show.

[edit] Blogs

• the Wire HBO Fan Club is a frequently updated The Wire fan blog with a very busy forum.

• Undercover Black Man is the blog of David Mills, a writer and consultant for the show. It focuses on all things David Mills, but has some exclusive Wire content (including a couple of interviews with David Simon) that you won't find elsewhere.

• A Thousand Corners is perhaps the pre-eminent fan blog about the show, and one of the best places to look for recent updates and off-camera coverage.

• Heaven and Here a worthy rival to A Thousand Corners for the title of best fan blog and a mine of considered analysis of the show.

• The House Next Door is an intellectual blog for film and TV coverage, with many (and well educated) contributors. It's a little tricky to navigate when you're looking for specific articles, but some of the deconstructions they've written about various aspects of the show are peerless, such as the posts:
  • The Wire and the Art of the Credit Sequence.
  • Different voices: Diversity in The Wire's Baltimore
  • House Next Door season four news and profiles
    • Proposition Joe: Art of the Deal
    • Omar Little: All in the game
    • Born Fucked Up (Bubbles)
    • The Wire: Money for Something
  • House Next Door season four recaps
    • Ep. 38 Boys of Summer
    • Ep. 39 Soft Eyes
    • Ep. 40 Home Rooms
    • Ep. 41 Refugees
    • Ep. 42 Alliances
    • Ep. 43 Margin of Error
    • Ep. 44 Unto Others
    • Ep. 45 Corner Boys
    • Ep. 46 Know Your Own
    • Ep. 47 Misgivings
    • Ep. 48 A New Day
    • Ep. 49 That's Got His Own
    • Ep. 50 Final Grades

• What's Alan Watching? is the blog of Alan Sepinwall, who's the NJ Star Ledger's TV critic and a fan of the show. It covers quality TV in general, and has a good deal of Wire-specific writing.

• Matthew Yglesias has written a great many blog entries about the show.
  • And there are even more entries on his old blog site.
  • Including a pretty good discussion on the status of the Baltimore docks and why they're in decline.

[edit] TV sites with Wire Coverage

• TelevisionWithoutPity was late to get on board; when they were independent, they were limited in how many writers they could pay to cover shows, so a limited-audience show like The Wire got short shrift. After their purchase by Bravo earlier this year, they were able to hire extra hands, and are now writing recaps to make up for lost time, starting with the first season and trying to catch up by the time the fifth season hits the airwaves.

It takes a while because TWP produces the most detailed recaps in existence, averaging around 15 pages per episode. If you're ever unsure of something you saw on the show, this is the place to find out exactly what happened onscreen.

• TV Guide's news and reviews for The Wire

• TV.com offers similar coverage with an emphasis on user contributions
• BuddyTV looks to be in the same category

• Ain't It Cool News has a small but unique collection of articles covering The Wire.

[edit] Books

• Rafael Alvarez has written a definitive guide to all five seasons of The Wire; titled The Wire: Truth be Told. The previous edition covered the first two seasons and projections for the third season and beyond.