Re: What TV Show Did You Last Watch
"The Wire" starts Sunday night at 10:00. There was a review in Friday's Indystar saying it is the best season yet, wow that is really saying a lot.
I cannot recommend this series enough, but if you decide to give it a try, you must give it two full episodes (it is like reading the first two chapters of a new book) and be prepared to be lost, bored, confused and almost ready to turn the channel, but slowly the show will pull you in and once it does you will never leave.
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...sion-headlines
'The Wire' weaves its own world
BY VERNE GAY
Newsday Staff Writer
September 7, 2006
A critic for this paper once declared "The Wire" "the greatest dramatic series ever produced for television" and as the fourth season gets under way Sunday night, there's no reason to quibble with that assessment. Maybe a word here or there could stand a trim - "ever" does seem awfully generous while there are nights, and seasons, when "The Sopranos" is superior - but "The Wire" was and indisputably remains one of TV's very finest creations.
What "The Wire" doesn't have, and never has, is "approachability," proving yet again that all the magnificent acting, writing, editing and directing in the world might put critics into a swoon but not necessarily viewers. Their fault? Hardly: "The Wire" seems to revel in its impermeability, its plot loop-de-loops, its street talk that's so sharp it cuts. What are poor viewers to do? Embrace this porcupine?
In fact, they should, and the fourth season is as good a place as any to start. Here's why: Several new doors open Sunday, revealing fresh dimensions in the Baltimore created by David Simon and Ed Burns - the former cop, now "Wire" writer, upon whose experiences this series is broadly based. Burns became an inner-city high school teacher after his tour in blue ended. Former Det. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski inaugurates his first day at a West Side school by scraping gum off the bottom of seats. "Prez" (Jim True-Frost) was a wiz at wiretapping - for which the series is named - but had (shall we say) personal control issues. As a teacher, he's calm, gentle, and generous though utterly ineffectual in the chaos of the classroom. Prezbo, as the kids take to calling him, desperately wants to sow his idealism, but this season reasonably asks, will he be able to?
Then there are the kids, four newcomers to "The Wire" who are absolutely terrific. In the allegory of "The Wire," Simon and Burns are clearly fascinated by this foursome because they are perfectly poised between two worlds - of "the corner" and of a legit life outside of crime. Which way will they go? Namond Brice (Julito McCullum) already appears consigned to the corner, the innermost circle of hell in "The Wire," but not Duquan Weems (Jermaine Crawford), Randy Wagstaff (Maestro Harrell) or Michael Lee (Tristan Wilds). School as much as character will determine their fate but in the tightly interlocked world of Baltimore, the school itself is as impotent as anyone or anything else.
Meanwhile, councilman Tommy Carcetti - brilliantly played by Aiden Gillen - is making a run for mayor. Carcetti is a glorious condensation of the whole world of "The Wire" in one human frame: Smart, grim, realistic, funny, romantic, and utterly soaked in a cynicism that nearly incapacitates him. He knows he can beat Mayor Clarence Royce's (Glynn Turman) butt in a televised debate but will still wake up the next morning a white man in a city that's almost all black. Royce? You wonder if this corrupt political hack ever had a scintilla of the idealism of Carcetti, or if he is perhaps a mirror image of Carcetti's own future?
Quickly, catching up with some of the other characters from seasons past: Det. "Herc" Hauk (Domenick Lombardozzi) gets cushy duty as the mayor's chauffeur and later witnesses his boss in a compromising position, which (naturally) leads to a big promotion. Det. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) of Major Crimes fast-tracks some investigations of Royce cronies, which (naturally) leads to a big demotion. Det. Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) gets busted down to Homicide where she must endure the endless razing of "Bunk" Moreland (Wendell Pierce), another one of "Wire's" classic characters.
On the street, Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector) is a growing kingpin, and may be TV's most menacing hood, unless you prefer Omar (Michael K. Williams), "The Wire's" gay street cowboy, or Marlo triggerman Chris Partlow (Gbenga Akinnagbe).
Finally, let's talk about difficulty. It's the common rap on "The Wire" - that the street talk can be indecipherable, or the cop talk just as knotted, or the plot lines too twisted. For you newbies, here's some advice: Just stick with it. "Wire" demands that you enter its world, unlike other TV series, which try to insinuate themselves into yours. There's not much exposition here but everything is revealed drop by drop, like a leaky faucet. Clarity finally emerges, and the view is splendid.
THE WIRE. Returns for a fourth season as good as ever. Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
"The Wire" starts Sunday night at 10:00. There was a review in Friday's Indystar saying it is the best season yet, wow that is really saying a lot.
I cannot recommend this series enough, but if you decide to give it a try, you must give it two full episodes (it is like reading the first two chapters of a new book) and be prepared to be lost, bored, confused and almost ready to turn the channel, but slowly the show will pull you in and once it does you will never leave.
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...sion-headlines
'The Wire' weaves its own world
BY VERNE GAY
Newsday Staff Writer
September 7, 2006
A critic for this paper once declared "The Wire" "the greatest dramatic series ever produced for television" and as the fourth season gets under way Sunday night, there's no reason to quibble with that assessment. Maybe a word here or there could stand a trim - "ever" does seem awfully generous while there are nights, and seasons, when "The Sopranos" is superior - but "The Wire" was and indisputably remains one of TV's very finest creations.
What "The Wire" doesn't have, and never has, is "approachability," proving yet again that all the magnificent acting, writing, editing and directing in the world might put critics into a swoon but not necessarily viewers. Their fault? Hardly: "The Wire" seems to revel in its impermeability, its plot loop-de-loops, its street talk that's so sharp it cuts. What are poor viewers to do? Embrace this porcupine?
In fact, they should, and the fourth season is as good a place as any to start. Here's why: Several new doors open Sunday, revealing fresh dimensions in the Baltimore created by David Simon and Ed Burns - the former cop, now "Wire" writer, upon whose experiences this series is broadly based. Burns became an inner-city high school teacher after his tour in blue ended. Former Det. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski inaugurates his first day at a West Side school by scraping gum off the bottom of seats. "Prez" (Jim True-Frost) was a wiz at wiretapping - for which the series is named - but had (shall we say) personal control issues. As a teacher, he's calm, gentle, and generous though utterly ineffectual in the chaos of the classroom. Prezbo, as the kids take to calling him, desperately wants to sow his idealism, but this season reasonably asks, will he be able to?
Then there are the kids, four newcomers to "The Wire" who are absolutely terrific. In the allegory of "The Wire," Simon and Burns are clearly fascinated by this foursome because they are perfectly poised between two worlds - of "the corner" and of a legit life outside of crime. Which way will they go? Namond Brice (Julito McCullum) already appears consigned to the corner, the innermost circle of hell in "The Wire," but not Duquan Weems (Jermaine Crawford), Randy Wagstaff (Maestro Harrell) or Michael Lee (Tristan Wilds). School as much as character will determine their fate but in the tightly interlocked world of Baltimore, the school itself is as impotent as anyone or anything else.
Meanwhile, councilman Tommy Carcetti - brilliantly played by Aiden Gillen - is making a run for mayor. Carcetti is a glorious condensation of the whole world of "The Wire" in one human frame: Smart, grim, realistic, funny, romantic, and utterly soaked in a cynicism that nearly incapacitates him. He knows he can beat Mayor Clarence Royce's (Glynn Turman) butt in a televised debate but will still wake up the next morning a white man in a city that's almost all black. Royce? You wonder if this corrupt political hack ever had a scintilla of the idealism of Carcetti, or if he is perhaps a mirror image of Carcetti's own future?
Quickly, catching up with some of the other characters from seasons past: Det. "Herc" Hauk (Domenick Lombardozzi) gets cushy duty as the mayor's chauffeur and later witnesses his boss in a compromising position, which (naturally) leads to a big promotion. Det. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) of Major Crimes fast-tracks some investigations of Royce cronies, which (naturally) leads to a big demotion. Det. Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) gets busted down to Homicide where she must endure the endless razing of "Bunk" Moreland (Wendell Pierce), another one of "Wire's" classic characters.
On the street, Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector) is a growing kingpin, and may be TV's most menacing hood, unless you prefer Omar (Michael K. Williams), "The Wire's" gay street cowboy, or Marlo triggerman Chris Partlow (Gbenga Akinnagbe).
Finally, let's talk about difficulty. It's the common rap on "The Wire" - that the street talk can be indecipherable, or the cop talk just as knotted, or the plot lines too twisted. For you newbies, here's some advice: Just stick with it. "Wire" demands that you enter its world, unlike other TV series, which try to insinuate themselves into yours. There's not much exposition here but everything is revealed drop by drop, like a leaky faucet. Clarity finally emerges, and the view is splendid.
THE WIRE. Returns for a fourth season as good as ever. Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
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