Question: How could you not cite The Wire among the shows that were dissed by the Golden Globes? It is the best series of this year, or any other.
Answer: Check again, M.
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I guess actors don’t watch The Wire, either. Today’s announcement of the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations were a bit, well, “SAG”-gy with usual suspects (not to beat up on a woman whose talk show just got mercifully canceled, but one last nod for Megan Mullally for Will & Grace seems like such ancient history). The most aggravating snub, as it has been in the list of Producers Guild and Writers Guild nominations, is a complete shut-out for HBO’s The Wire. Tied for most disappointing is a lack of recognition by many of these artistic branches for NBC’s Friday Night Lights, a show that could really use this kind of spotlight. NBC’s small-town drama did earn a slot among the WGA’s new-series contenders. Another puzzling omission: It's as if FX (most notably Rescue Me and The Shield) didn't even exist this year.Maybe because The Wire is filmed in Baltimore, and Friday Night Lights in Texas, these shows fall off the Hollywood radar. A rea...
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Question: I'm amazed that the Writers Guild Awards didn't recognize The Wire as the best-written show on TV. Isn't the WGA supposed to be a guild of writers? Why would they fail to see the brilliance of HBO's one truly great show? I'll give 'em Deadwood, but The Sopranos has been very weak for years, and the weakest element of the last two seasons has been its writing. Whereas the writers of The Wire pulled off a staggering fourth season that diminished the role of their primary character (McNulty) and focused instead on the heartbreaking story of four inner-city kids and the forces that make their lives so tragic. Best of all, they brought their story back into position to focus on McNulty in the fifth season, maintaining consistency of theme and character. The continual lack of recognition for The Wire baffles me. Is it because the show is filmed and cast in Baltimore?
Answer: For those who missed it, the WGA nominees for drama series included 24, Deadwood, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and
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Question: It's OK that I can't get my friends, who like really complex and smartly written television, to watch The Wire. And I can't get my mom to watch, even though she has bemoaned the lack of black presence in dramatic television for years. The show is complex, not flashy in its pacing, and it takes time after viewing to digest what just went on. But what I don't understand is how both the Writers Guild and the Hollywood Foreign Press have ignored the series, especially after this season completely elevated the quality of television. This season was beyond great. It was a masterpiece. I cannot believe the folks doing nominations would watch the series and pass on it, or say, "Michael K. Williams was OK as Omar, but he's got nothing on Masi Oka's Hiro." What's your take on The Wire being ignored? Hollywood politics? Is it too black? I personally don't think so. I think it has the United 93 problem, where it puts a human face on America's "villains." I think The Wire is too real for ...
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The Wire
Question: After watching the season finale of The Wire, I am shocked and a little sad. I found Bodie's arc particularly compelling this season. I was also shocked to see how Namond and Michael both ended up. I just read your top-10 shows of the year and noticed you put The Wire in second place behind 24. I loved Season 5 of 24, but as you noted, The Wire is visual literature. What caused 24 to top The Wire? I believe both shows had great seasons and could be put at No. 1. I love your column, by the way.
Answer: Gee, thanks. And as you might expect, it was a tough call to choose between 24 and The Wire as the year's No. 1 show. To me, this year was the best season for both shows (24's fifth and The Wire's fourth), and how rare is it for a show to get even better this late in its run? As I noted in an earlier column, I consider 24 my pick as the most thoroughly entertaining show of last year, while The Wire qualifies as the most important drama. My decision to put 24 in the top position has
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Question: I just finished the season finale of The Wire and was blown away. This show keeps getting better every year. (If it doesn't get recognized this year at the Emmys, I think that is grounds for just abandoning that farce of an awards show altogether). But I think that HBO's plan of letting the critics view the fourth season from beginning to end in a week's time may have backfired. By the time you and others had watched it all, we were just starting. When we were just getting into the show, you were getting it out of your system. No one is talking about it anymore. Even though HBO is thankfully allowing David Simon to finish his series the way he intended with a final season, I'm afraid this show will go off the air with as little attention as its entire run has gotten. What are the odds that HBO could be pushed to run the series from beginning to end and call attention to it so that maybe people would watch? Would TV Guide help by dubbing it one of those "best shows you're not ...
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The best thing you can say about the Golden Globes nominations is that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association isn't afraid about welcoming new kids to the party, especially if they've made a little noise along the way.On the plus side, that means shining some love on deserving candidates like America Ferrera and Ugly Betty, a show and a performance that would seem tailor-made to the Foreign Press's presumed concerns about diversity in entertainment. Likewise Masi Oka, who gives one of the most endearing supporting performances in all of television as Hiro of Heroes (which also got a nod as best drama series).Other freshman acts in the nominee pool include: Michael C. Hall (yay!) of Showtime's Dexter, Alec Baldwin (yay!) of NBC's 30 Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (yay!) from The Old Adventures of New Christine, Bill Paxton and Big Love from HBO (beating out The Sopranos and The Wire, among other more deserving HBO dramas; and besides, where are Paxton's wives in the grabbag supporting ca...
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1) 24 My pulse races just thinking about this Fox hit's fifth and finest season, with its scarily high body count (President Palmer! Michelle! Tony! EDGAR!), its evil president, its ferocious First Lady and its hero, Jack Bauer, once again saving the day — with Kiefer Sutherland finally winning his Emmy. No wonder everyone wants to copy this serial-thriller format. But nothing else even comes close. 24 is 24-carat brilliance.
2) The Wire HBO's devastating urban epic of Baltimore is the opposite of a standard TV crime drama (of which there are too many). More like literature in its realism, depth and honesty, The Wire reveals breathtaking flaws in city politics, law enforcement and, this year, the school system, where four eighth-grade boys face a violent, uncertain future.
3)
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Question: Can you offer a logical explanation as to why, year after year, The Wire is constantly shut out of most awards shows? It can't be because it's "too violent." If that were the case, The Sopranos would never win. The show is so cemented in realism, I can't even watch episodic shows like Law & Order anymore. They insult my intelligence after seeing David Simon's incredibly detailed and moving masterpiece. Don't you think actors like Michael K. Williams (Omar) deserve to be recognized? Omar might very well be one of the most electrifying antiheroes in TV history. (Right up there with Al Swearengen, anyway.) Andre Royo's tortured performance as street junkie Bubbles is absolutely heartbreaking. What are your thoughts?
Answer: I've always thought that if The Wire were more violent or more notorious — in other words, more "commercial" — it would have a better shot at awards recognition. As you note, The Wire is intensely realistic, unlike any other episodic drama on TV in that
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Thanksgiving is upon us, which means it's time to update my nightly viewing schedule. I record plenty of stuff, but these are the shows that I try to watch live.MONDAYS:8 pm/ET Deal or No Deal (NBC)As a student of Jeopardy! and The Price is Right, every logical fiber of my being tells me I should be repulsed by this brainless show. Yet I cannot stop watching, and actually look forward to it. Well done, Howie and crew.9 pm/ET Heroes (NBC)The only thing I'm tired of hearing is "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." Can't wait to see how Peter gets a scar on his face.10 pm/ET CSI: Miami (CBS)I'll take Caruso's emoting over Sorkin's pontificating. TUESDAYS:8 pm/ET Friday Night Lights (NBC)Dancing with the Stars is gone and Idol is coming. In the meantime, I'll watch some fake football.9 pm/ET House (FOX)Great acting, good stories, and plenty of crotchetiness. Easily the best show of the night.10 pm/ET Nip/Tuck (FX)Yeah, it jumped the shark with the Carver, but it's still interesting to...
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