Roush on Michael K. Williams, Rescue Me and The Wire
Question: I'm a little disappointed that you didn't make a bigger deal of the travesty of Emmy ignoring
The Wire for yet another year. I suppose you're beginning to feel like you're banging your head against a wall with this topic. Do you think one of the problems with a show like
The Wire is that it takes a commitment from the viewer in order to understand the brilliance of its intricate story and nuanced performances? Is it because the subject matter is just a little too hard to swallow for an industry that persistently lauds a show like
Boston Legal, which turns real-life issues into farce? How can you not recognize an actor that brings to life a character like Omar (
Michael K. Williams), who makes your skin crawl one minute and the next seems like the only one on the streets with any dignity? Why can Emmy give comparable shows like
The Sopranos,
The Shield and
Rescue Me the accolades they deserve, but not
The Wire? I guess we avid TV fans should know better than to put much stock in the Emmys. But as much as I try to just blow it off, it is hard to keep quiet about how frustrating it is that the most prestigious award in television doesn't acknowledge groundbreaking entertainment at its best.
— Kelly C.
Matt Roush: Actually, the Emmys are merely the highest-profile of the TV awards. I would say that getting acknowledged with a Peabody, a Humanitas or (conflict of interest here) an AFI year-end citation carries more prestige and credibility. In those arenas, a show like The Wire actually has a chance. The people on those panels are actually watching and thinking about what they're voting for. The reason I didn't go overboard on the snub this year is because I had already come to grips with it not having made the top-10 cut from which the nominations were made. (The list had been leaked prior to the nomination announcements.) If it had been on that list and then passed over, the way Lost and Friday Night Lights were (what were they thinking?), then I probably would have made more of a fuss. My bad for ignoring it. But as I've often said before, the density of The Wire's narrative and its relatively low profile on HBO (where all hype focused on The Sopranos this year), not to mention a parochial bias against regionally shows filmed, as this one is in Baltimore, are all probable factors in why The Wire so invisible to the Emmy voters.
