The Wire

(Jan. 17, 2008) HBO series
Produced by David Simon

HBO’s The Wire, now in its fifth and final season, may be the most critically acclaimed television series nobody knows about. In addition to receiving a Peabody award, the police drama has been rated the best in its genre by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, TIME,and the Washington Post.

The Wire

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If you’re nota Wire fan, you probably think that a truly exceptional TV series wouldn’t be in the Nielsen ratings cellar. The Wire audience has been limited by its soap opera formula, but intricate plot lines aren’t the only thing that has discouraged cable channel surfers. Thematically, the show cuts a little deeper.

TheWireis alayered narrative about the messy nexus of criminality, race, class and institutional power, packaged as a police drama. Since 2001, the series has presented a multi-dimensional perspective on issues like the drug trade, the demise of organized labor and the crushing pressures facing public schools. It’s storytelling about individuals, but the impact of societal forces is ever present.

This is most evident in the way race and race relations are depicted. With the most nuanced African-American cast in TV land, the principals portray good and not-so-good cops up and down the chain of command, crime kingpins and their minions, politicians and average citizens caught in the crossfire.

The relationships between the black and white figures run the gamut from seamless to strained, with some characters barely able to squash their isms long enough to gain or maintain some advantage.

Sometimes, class seemingly trumps race as the tie that binds. In season two, barely employed white and black harbor workers have more in common with each other than with the downtown political brokers who hold their livelihoods in the balance.

Most Wirecharacters are motivated by comfortable allegiances, but the most calculating players are instinctively exploitive. In this way, politicians, cops, the business elite and street ballers are interdependent. The savviest criminals covet the path to “legitimate” power and wealth. And the greediest cops and civic leaders are vulnerable to bribery by the so-called bad guys. Corruption is a repeated theme on the show.

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