I just finished watching The Wire. I’ve watched all the best shows out there…Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and the list goes on. None have felt more real to me than The Wire. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that show-runners David Simon and Ed Burns not only lived and worked in the city of Baltimore, but that they also did extensive amounts of research to keep the show authentic. Most critics and websites now have it listed as one of, if not the best t.v. show of all time, which makes it all the more interesting to me that the show wasn’t well received by audiences and never won a Golden Globe, Emmy, or even a SAG award for chrissake. This is why The Wire is THE Most Underrated Show of All Time.
You’d think a show that launched the careers of Idris Elba and Michael B. Jordan would have been a mainstream success, especially because The Sopranos was on HBO at the same time. I mention The Sopranos because it launched HBO into a channel with must-watch television; not to mention the fact that The Wire is also a crime thriller, it pairs perfectly with The Sopranos! 12 million people watched the final episode of The Sopranos, with viewership throughout the series hovering around 8. Now – it pains me to even say this…but only 1 million people watched the finale of The Wire, with viewership dipping to almost half that in the final season on certain episodes; the series peaked in viewership at around 4.5 million in the early seasons. I mean, what kind of disrespectful HBO subscribers in 2008 thought The Wire wasn’t a good enough show to watch….SHAME I say – adding to how The Wire is underrated.
The Wire wasn’t just a cop drama, it was so much more than that. Each season was strategically broken down to address a different aspect of Baltimore.
- Season 1 – the drug scene / introduction to all the crews and cops.
- Season 2 – the ports and how they’re just as corrupt as the street gangs.
- Season 3 – the political system in Baltimore.
- Season 4 – the school system.
- Season 5 – how a newspaper (The Baltimore Sun) plays a role in addressing the problems within a city.
Additinoally, cop drama’s usually have a clear-cut good guy and bad guy, a ton of action, and minimal plot – The Wire was basically the opposite of that. Even though the “main” character was probably Jimmy McNulty, the show did not revolve around him in any way – whereas The Sopranos revolved completely around Tony. This just shows how many different storylines carried this show, and how many different characters were a point of interest throughout. In fact, possibly my favorite season (season 4) barely features McNulty at all.
Characters
And now for an ode to the show’s shotgun wielding-scarfaced-gangster-badass – Omar Little. The only problem I have with Omar is that I didn’t see enough of him. Every time he comes on screen is most likely the most interesting part of the episode. Maybe Simon and Burns wanted to keep his screen time limited to make the scenes he’s in more memorable. I don’t know for certain, but I think they could’ve had a whole spin-off show about him robbing drug dealers. He is the show’s anti-hero. A bad guy that you love. He steals from the bad and keeps for himself, and he is the most feared man in B-more. Omar’s impact on the overall trajectory of the show becomes abundantly clear in Season 3, although he was captivating from his first appearance in episode 3 – he also had the best Baltimore accent ever, plus some legendary lines. I mean, even Obama loves him.
On the police side, the show’s main characters are: the ideal police lieutenant, Cedric Daniels, badass chick cop Kima Greggs, fellow drunk detective Bunk Moreland, genius Lester Freamon. There’s also a couple guys I’m not sure I like: Carver and Herc. Also can’t forget everyone’s favorite junkie CI, Bubbles.
On the gangster side there’s the head of the crew, Avon Barksdale, the handsome brains of the operation, Stringer Bell, businessman Prop Joe, and the young buck Marlo Stanfield. Each of these guys plays a huge role throughout the show in the Baltimore drug scene, and the power struggle on the streets is constant from seasons 1-5.
In Conclusion
Now back to my original point – The Wire is extremely underrated and should be more appreciated. In recent years it has gained much more respect from critics, but it just makes me sad that it never got the respect it deserved while it was on the air. Awards aren’t everything, but they do validate how good a show is. The Wire deserved better, but I know, and anyone that watched this show knows that it is a masterpiece, and well worth the watch.
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