Through The Wire

Reader Mike asked my opinion of HBO’s heralded The Wire. Specifically, he wanted my opinion through the filter of Aspiring Television Writer.

Out of habit, I don’t usually watch HBO programming. I have nothing against it, I just have never been sufficiently hooked by their shows to come back week in and week out. Speaking of come backs, though, Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback is fantastic; The Sopranos is obviously great; I am a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm; see the goodness of Rome & Entourage; love Real Time with Bill Maher; and laugh my ass off at Da Ali G Show. But not until last night had I ever watched The Wire.

The Wire is an ensemble crime drama that is a flawless execution of screenwriting. Tightly written, well-paced and above averagely acted, it has all the ingredients of a good show. The end result is thoughtful entertainment in the Dickensian sense.

Last night opened with the show’s resident Grim Reaper walking into a hardware store and asking a clerk about a nail gun. The clerk describes the specs of the different guns, then asks the woman what type of gun she needs. She basically says, “Whatever kills a dude will do the trick.” [that’s only a paraphrase of the scene, not the dialogue]. What I like about this scene was the contrast of the thug in a hardware store. The clerk doesn’t even hesitate to go into his sales pitch despite the thug’s look. Network TV would have made the disparity in appearance an issue. But The Wire has decided to treat its characters with dignity and respect.

I don’t know if any of you will understand what I mean by dignity and respect as they relate to characters in a fictional universe, and I am actually having a tough time conjuring up a sufficient way of explaining it, but it’s extremely important to the integrity of a story. The writer(s) must have respect for her/his characters, otherwise the story will fall apart.

With The Wire, everybody has their own unique perspective on the world, their own place within it, and the audience is never directly asked/told to criticize, belittle or look down on this or that character as a result of her/his perspective and place. A lot of times, the audience is explicitly told to feel a certain way about a situation or towards a given character. The Wire is able to present a far more challenging narrative, one I think is ultimately a more rewarding viewing experience.

I’m a fan of realistic drama. The more I can identify the fictional universe I’m watching, the more likely I am to be engrossed in it. Last night got me pretty good. I’ll be back.

I plan to tune in and watch The Wire this season. If you’ve got the HBO On Demand, you might want to give it a try.