Amazon.com: The Wire: The Complete Series: Various: Movies & TV Ad feedback Special Offers and Product Promotions Save Big On Open-Box & Pre-owned: Buy "The Wire: The Complete Seriesâ from Amazon Warehouse Deals and save 65% off the $199.95 list price. Product is eligible for Amazon's 30-day returns policy and Prime or FREE Shipping. See all Open-Box & Pre-owned offers from Amazon Warehouse Deals. Editorial Reviews Product Description In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. In the media. The places and faces have changed, but the game remains the same. Review The Wire: The Complete First Season After one episode of The Wire you'll be hooked. After three, you'll be astonished by the precision of its storytelling. After viewing all 13 episodes of the HBO series' remarkable first season, you'll be cheering a bona-fide American masterpiece.

Series creator David Simon was a veteran crime reporter from The Baltimore Sun who cowrote the book that inspired TV's Homicide , and cowriter Ed Burns was a Baltimore cop, lending impeccable street-cred to an inner-city Baltimore saga (and companion piece to The Corner ) that Simon aptly describes as "a visual novel" and "a treatise on institutions and individuals" as opposed to a conventional good-vs.-evil police procedural. Owing a creative debt to the novels of Richard Price (especially Clockers), the series opens as maverick Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West, in a star-making role) is tapping into a vast network of drugs and death around southwest Baltimore's deteriorating housing projects. With a mandate to get results ASAP, a haphazard team is assembled to join McNulty's increasingly complex investigation, built upon countless hours of electronic surveillance. The show's split-perspective plotting is so richly layered, so breathtakingly authentic and based on finely drawn characters brought to life by a perfect ensemble cast, that it defies concise description.

Simon, Burns, and their cowriters control every intricate aspect of the unfolding epic; directors are top-drawer (including Clark Johnson, helmer of The Shield's finest episodes), but they are servants to the story, resulting in a TV series like no other: unpredictable, complicated, and demanding the viewer's rapt attention, The Wire is "an angry show" (in Simon's words) that refuses to comfort with easy answers to deep-rooted societal problems. Moral gray zones proliferate in a universe where ruthless killers have a logical code, and where the cops are just as ambiguous as their targets. That ambiguity extends to the ending as well; season 1 leaves several issues unresolved, leaving you begging for the even more impressive developments that await in season 2. --Jeff Shannon The Wire: The Complete Second Season It hardly seems possible, but The Wire's second season is even better than the first . The "visual novel" concept of this masterful HBO series is taken even further in a rich, labyrinthine plot revolving around the longshoremen of Baltimore's struggling cargo docks, where corruption, smuggling, and murder draw the attention of detective McNulty (Dominic West).

What follows is a series of events which at first seem unrelated (including 13 bodies found in a cargo container), and then the ongoing effort to topple the drug empire of "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba) and the imprisoned Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), whose business is suffering from short supply, high demand, and disruption of distribution. The dutiful diligence of a Marine Police Patrol Officer and the moral outrage of the longshoremen's union leader are also factored into the suspicious goings-on at the loading docks, and what unfolds in these 12 episodes is an American crime epic easily on par with the Godfather saga. Yes, it's that good. Detailed synopsis is pointless; The Wire must be seen, heard, and absorbed to fully appreciate the way in which over 40 characters are flawlessly incorporated into a sprawling but tightly disciplined plot that deals, in the larger sense, with the deindustrialization of America and the struggle of longshoremen in a changing economical climate.

Offering a privileged and occasionally frightening glimpse of the inner workings of shipping ports and cargo transports, The Wire is also a detailed exposé of organized crime and blue-collar corruption, and an authentic, well-informed study of political maneuvering among police and city officials. There's not a single false note to be found in the cast, direction, or writing of this phenomenal series, hailed by many critics as "the best show on television." With all due respect to HBO's other excellent series, The Wire tops them all. --Jeff Shannon The Wire: The Complete Third Season With volatile issues of Baltimore city political reform as its narrative focus, the third season of The Wire superbly maintains the series' astonishingly consistent status as the greatest "novel for television" ever created. While the Baltimore police department's wire-tapping investigations continue to monitor the intricate and now legitimately fronted drug ring of Russell "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba, smooth as ever), detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) continues his loutish ways, navigating through a series of shallow sexual conquests while doing some of the best cop-work of his career.

Stringer's ex-convict partner Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) is back in the picture and bent on eliminating a drug-dealing competitor named Marlo (Jamie Hector), and Baltimore P.D. Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin (Robert Wisdom) tries his own defiantly independent brand of street justice by essentially legalizing drugs in "Hamsterdam," where isolated sections of the city are established as open drug-dealing zones, utterly without the knowledge or approval of Colvin's superiors. As city councilman Tommy Carcetti (Aiden Gillen) plots his own ruthlessly ambitious strategy for the mayor's seat, Baltimore officials, McNulty's wire unit, and the entire Baltimore P.D. stand poised for the inevitable fallout from street-level and executive-level manipulations of power. Of course, this is just the tip of a very large iceberg, as The Wire continues its labyrinthine yet tightly controlled chronicle of over 50 characters, major and minor, who are all flawlessly woven into the fabric of these 12 remarkable episodes.

For season 3, series creator David Simon continued to recruit a top-drawer lineup of reputable writers (including novelists Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, and George Pelecanos) and directors (including Ernest Dickerson, Tim Van Patten, and Agnieszka Holland), and by the time a major character is killed in the season's penultimate episode (arguably the series' finest yet), it's clear that The Wire has earned its crown as the most ambitious and intelligent crime drama in the history of American television. DVD extras are excellent, as usual, including five illuminating episode commentaries (an absolute must for devoted fans of the series), a Q&A session with cast & crew moderated by renowned TV critic and author Ken Tucker, and a classroom conversation with Simon that delves deeper into the creative process of the series. Having deservedly earned its renewal for a fourth season (out of a projected five, according to Simon), The Wire delivers surprises aplenty (keep a close watch for startling revelations) while proving, yet again, that cable-TV is the place to be for anyone seeking respite from the relative mediocrity of mainstream network programming.

--Jeff Shannon The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season Even if you missed the first three seasons (the character guides and thorough episode recaps on HBO's website are recommended), and with only one season left, it's not too late to get in under The Wire. In fact, season 4 is an accessible introduction for those who know The Wire only by its street cred as arguably the very best show on television. For them especially, this season will be, as befitting its theme, a real education. Without resorting to melodramatics that other ratings-challenged series employ to gain that frustratingly elusive audience, The Wire shakes things up this season in a way that is true to the series and its characters. A major character, Dominic West's McNulty, plays a minor role as a contented street cop and family man, while a former supporting player, Jim True-Frost's Roland Pryzbylewski, goes to the head of the class as a new eighth grade teacher at beleaguered Edward Tilghman Middle School.

It may take a couple of episodes to orient yourself to the Baltimore backrooms, squad rooms, classrooms, and street corners where The Wire's intense dramas play out, and new viewers may miss something in character nuance, but they will easily grasp the big picture. A politically motivated shake-up sends Major Crimes detectives Freamon (Clarke Peters) and Greggs (Sonja Sohn) to Homicide. The gloves come off in the mayoral race between black incumbent Clarence Royce (Glynn Turman) and idealistic white challenger Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen). Gang leader Marlo (Jamie Hector) quietly and deliberately becomes the city's new drug kingpin, managing to subvert all surveillance efforts. Meanwhile, while "Prez" tries to reach his students, four highly at-risk kids will be drawn into the drug trade. Mere synopsis does not do The Wire justice. The series deftly juggles its myriad storylines and characters, all of whom make an impression, from Marlo's cold-blooded enforcers, Snoop (Felicia Pearson) and Chris (Gbenga Akinnagbe), to boxing instructor "Cutty" (Chad L.

Coleman), determined to keep his young charges off the corners. There is not a false note in the performances or the writing. Richard Price (Clockers) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) again contributed episodes. That this series has only been nominated for only one Emmy (for writing) is a travesty. As engrossing as the finest novels and in a class by itself, this isn't television; it's The Wire. --Donald Liebenson The Wire: The Complete Fifth Season A barroom toast to Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), a one-man good cop/bad cop, offered in The Wire's final episode could very well serve as this series' epitaph: "When you were good, you were the best we had." Season five bears witness to this. The 10 riveting, wrenching episodes focus on yet another beleaguered Baltimore institution, The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper, whose staff, much like the police, is forced to do more with less. One editor (Clark Johnson) struggles to maintain the paper's journalistic standards in the face of declining ad revenues, employee buyouts and bureau closures.

An ambitious reporter (Tom McCarthy) undermines him by taking a page out of the Stephen Glass/Jayson Blair playbook, manufacturing sensational quotes, and eventually, whole stories, while bean-counter management encourages its rising star and keeps its eye on the (Pulitzer) prize. Meanwhile, on the streets, the year-long investigation of rising drug lord Marlo Sansfield (Jamie Hector) and the 22 bodies found in "the vacants" has been discontinued and police morale is at an all-time low (the money promised to the department has been diverted to the schools). McNulty manufactures a serial killer case that will have far-reaching repercussions in the mayor's office, where Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) is mounting a run for governor a mere two years into his term. "I wonder what it would be like to work at a real police station," McNulty rages at one point. The Wire, as ever, is all about real. It's a gritty and unflinching look at life in one of roughest districts of a "broke-ass city." There is street justice for some characters, and street injustice for others. Some meet sad, sudden, or shocking ends that defy TV convention.

Referring to Marlo, McNulty declares early on, "He does not get to win; we get to win." The hard-earned victories are mostly small, or come with a price. Not that The Wire does not offer glimmers of hope. Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to maintain his sobriety (Steve Earle portrays the leader of his 12-step program and also does the theme song honors this season), and the final episode features a cameo by Jim True-Frost as the once overwhelmed teacher, "Prez," who now seems to have the hang of the job. The ratings-strapped and criminally Emmy-snubbed The Wire has always been a critic's darling with a passionate fan base. To the show's credit, it did not make itself more accessible in its final season (consequently, its send-off did not receive near the fanfare of The Sopranos or Sex and the City). That should not dissuade newcomers to the show. It is heavy lifting, and if you're just joining The Wire, a visit to the show's official website for orientation is recommended. But buy it, watch it, and be patient. It's so worth it.

From the masterful storytelling to the peerless ensemble, it just doesn't get any better than The Wire. But that's not exactly news. --Donald Liebenson Special Features The Wire (TV Series 2002–2008) - IMDb IMDb 18 January 2017 5:37 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Baltimore drug scene, seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement. Creator: Carcetti maps out a damage-control scenario with the police brass in the wake of a startling revelation from Pearlman and Daniels. Their choice: clean up the mess...or hide the dirt. 9.3 In the Season Four finale, the bodies from the vacants pile up while Burrell offers his support to Daniels and admonishes Rawls for crossing him. A distraught Bubbles finds himself at his wit's end ... 9.3 The wire begins to yield information about the Barksdale organization. Stringer and Avon reminisce on how far they have come.

McNulty finds the way to a key piece of the puzzle in an unlikely place. ... 9.3 a list of 39 titles created 26 Mar 2012 a list of 30 titles created 04 Jun 2014 a list of 30 titles created 06 Jun 2015 a list of 29 titles created 02 Jan 2016 a list of 34 titles created 1 month ago Search for " The Wire " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Title: The Wire (2002–2008) 9.4/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 14 wins & 51 nominations. See more awards » Videos New Jersey mob boss, Tony Soprano, deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life. Stars: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco An Atlantic City politician plays both sides of the law, conspiring with gangsters during the Prohibition era.

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It starts as mid-level drug dealer, D'Angelo Barksdale beats a murder rap. After a conversation with a judge, Det. James McNulty has been assigned to lead a joint homicide and narcotics team, in order to bring down drug kingpin Avon Barksdale. Avon Barksdale, accompanied by his right-hand man Stringer Bell, enforcer Wee-Bey and many lieutenants (including his own nephew, D'Angelo Barksdale), has to deal with law enforcement, informants in his own camp, and competition with a local rival, Omar, who's been robbing Barksdale's dealers and reselling the drugs. The supervisor of the investigation, Lt. Cedric Daniels, has to deal with his own problems, such as a corrupt bureaucracy, some of his detectives beating suspects, hard-headed but determined Det. McNulty, and a blackmailing deputy. The show depicts the lives of every part of the drug "food chain", from junkies to dealers, and from cops to politicians.

Written by Yuri Jermaine Crawford, Maestro Harrell, Tristan Wilds, and Julito McCullum in The Wire The Wire , which has just begun its fourth season on HBO, is surely the best TV show ever broadcast in America. This claim isn't based on my having seen all the possible rivals for the title, but on the premise that no other program has ever done anything remotely like what this one does, namely to portray the social, political, and economic life of an American city with the scope, observational precision, and moral vision of great literature. During its first year, it was possible to mistake The Wire for merely an unusually shrewd and vivid police drama. But the program has gotten richer and more ambitious with each season and now fits only into a category it defines by itself: the urban procedural. Its protagonist is the broken American city of Baltimore, depicted with obsessive verisimilitude and affectionate rage. Its fundamental concern is the isolation and degradation of the black underclass, a subject that has, with the exception of a blip after Hurricane Katrina, disappeared from the political radar screen.

If the national conscience is ready for another sleepless night about the waste of lives in the ghetto, I expect that The Wire will be what keeps us awake. Advertisement It's a mark of the program's artistic courage that while drug dealing, murder, and detective work remain its bread and butter, it dares to focus Season 4 on an urban environment not ordinarily associated with prime time: an all-black middle school in West Baltimore. The show's creator, producer, and chief writer, David Simon , has had the self-assuredness to drop the Hollywood convention of the white hero. This season, Officer McNulty , the charming rascal cop played by Dominic West, is sent to the sidelines, relegated to patrol work by his repeated defiance of mindless bureaucracy. In McNulty's place at the center of the drama are the compelling characters of four adolescent African-American boys, played by little-known actors so preternaturally talented they don't seem to be acting at all. Watching the show this season feels less like observing these four children navigate their cruel world than it does like adopting them in hour-long sessions. The story begins with the boys entering eighth grade. At 12 and 13, these kids still have a chance to escape the streets.

The central drama is whether "the game" of drug dealing will exert its gravitational pull on them or whether they will somehow beat the odds pointing them toward jail and violent death. The vain, troublemaking Namond, played by Julito McCullum, has a mother who wants him to follow in the footsteps of his drug-dealing father, imprisoned for multiple murders. The sweet, enterprising Randy , played by Maestro Harrell, lives with a caring foster mother who cannot protect him from the cruelties of the drug dealers or the child welfare system. Tough, mature Michael , played by Tristan Wilds, enmeshes himself with killers in order to protect his younger brother from his addicted mother's abusive boyfriend. The most affecting of all, Dukie , played by Jermaine Crawford, comes to school hungry and dirty and lives in a home so broken we are mostly left to imagine what goes on inside. Having previewed all 13 episodes, I won't give away what happens to them, except to say that as usual, the program reverses your expectations while breaking your heart. Jacob Weisberg Jacob Weisberg is chairman and editor-in-chief of The Slate Group and author of The Bush Tragedy . Follow him on Twitter .

Several critics have commented on The Wire's "literary" quality. In particular, The Wire has echoes of the Victorian social panorama of Charles Dickens (who gets a mention this season, as an obscene anatomical reference). The drama repeatedly cuts from the top of Baltimore's social structure to its bottom, from political fund-raisers in the white suburbs to the subterranean squat of a homeless junkie. As with Dickens, the excitement builds as the densely woven plot unfolds in addicting installments. The deeper connection to Dickens' London is the program's animating fury at the way a society robs children of their childhood. In our civilized age, we do not send 12-year-olds to work in blacking factories as the Victorians did. Today's David Copperfield is instead warehoused at a dysfunctional school until he's ready to sling drugs on the corner, where his odds of survival are even slimmer. The other major theme this season is politics. A white candidate for mayor ( Tommy Carcetti , played by Aiden Gillen) cynically tries to win the election by encouraging an African-American colleague on the City Council to run and split the black vote.

But the ambitious Carcetti is also an idealist frustrated by the waste of lives all around him. This plot line, along with another about the venal police brass trying to manipulate crime statistics, captures the realities of government and the compound motives of politicians in a telling and subtle way. This year, The Wire's political science is as brilliant as its sociology. It leaves The West Wing, and everything else television has tried to do on this subject, in the dust. Advertisement Before this season, The Wire won much love from critics but not much in the way of ratings. That may be less because the program leaves viewers drained and disturbed at the end of an episode than because of how hard it is to catch on to at first, thanks to the complexity of its multiple storylines and the number of characters. There is also the challenge of following the localized black dialect that the program tries to represent as faithfully as it does its other details. In the Baltimore ghetto, yo is both a salutation and the third-person singular pronoun; "feel me," means "listen to what I'm telling you"; and the ubiquitous use of bitch has mostly replaced the N-word.

The cops have their own language as well, in which a capable officer is "good police," bystanders caught in the crossfire are "taxpayers," and young boys up to no good are called "hoppers." The dialogue becomes easy enough to follow after a couple of episodes, but first-time viewers should switch on the closed-captioning feature for the first hour or two so as not to miss anything. While The Wire feels startlingly lifelike, it is not in fact a naturalistic depiction of ghetto life. That kind of realism better describes an earlier miniseries of Simon's, The Corner , which was based on the book of the same title that he and Ed Burns wrote, set in the same Baltimore ghetto. The six-part HBO version of The Corner is nearly unwatchable, because—however true to life—the extended depiction of shrieking crack whores and broken-down junkies 10 cents short of the price of a "loosie" is too much to take. But for Simon, The Corner seems to have been a crucial life study for The Wire, a program that attains the dimensions of tragedy without being depressing.

The Wire does this by painting with brighter colors on a wider canvas and by leavening its pain with humor. The brilliant writing and bravura cast also make viewers root for dozens of rich characters, including several completely despicable ones. Everyone's favorite survivors from earlier seasons are two truly Shakespearean figures who get a lot of play this year: the vagabond snitch Bubbles played by Andre Royo, and Omar , the gay stickup artist played by Michael K. Williams, a cold-blooded killer whose personal code involves not serving any masters other than himself and never cursing. What ultimately makes The Wire uplifting amid the heartbreak it conveys is its embodiment of a spirit that Barack Obama calls " the audacity of hope ." It is filled with characters who should quit but don't, not only the boys themselves but teachers, cops, ex-cops, and ex-cons who lose their hearts to them. This refusal to give up in the face of defeat is the reality of ghetto life as well. Feel me: It's what The Wire is all about.

The Wire - Show News, Reviews, Recaps and Photos - TV.com EDIT In chronicling a multi-generational family business dealing illegal drugs and the efforts of the Baltimore police to curb their trade, this series draws parallels between these organizations and the men and women on either side of the battle. The words of Gary W. Potter, Professor of Criminal Justice and Police Studies at Eastern Kentucky University, in writing about the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, can also be used to illuminate some of the central premises of the show: "There is precious little difference between those people who society designates as respectable and law abiding and those people society castigates as hoodlums and thugs. The world of corporate finance and corporate capital is as criminogenic and probably more criminogenic than any poverty-wracked slum neighborhood. The distinctions drawn between business, politics, and organized crime are at best artificial and in reality irrelevant.

Rather than being dysfunctions, corporate crime, white-collar crime, organized crime, and political corruption are mainstays of American political-economic life." Tim Goodman, the television critic for The San Francisco Chronicle, summed the show up perfectly when he wrote: "This show is precisely the reason you pay for HBO." In New York's Newsday, Diane Werts says: "Most TV crime series aspire to John Grisham's level. 'The Wire' aspires to Dostoevsky's." Season Themes Season One centers around a family of drug dealers and the innerworkings of their empire. It also follows the detectives who are trying to catch the high members of the empire. Season Two steps away from the drug trade (while still mentioning characters from the previous season) to a case of dead prostitutes which turns into a look at the corruption surrounding the Port. Season Three investigates politics and finishes the main stories that were left open in season one. Season Four focuses on four middle school students and their journeys through the public school system and continues to address the politics of an inner-city and the issues of an election. Season Five is rumored to be about the media's role in Baltimore. Season Five will be the show's final season.

Theme Music In the Season One opening credits, the Blind Boys of Alabama did Tom Waits's "Way Down in the Hole". The Season Two opening credits feature Waits's version of the song. According to creator David Simon, "It was our way of saying: This is the same show (song) but this year, the tale itself (singer, tonality) will be different." The Neville Brothers's version of the song opens Season Three. The theme which plays over the end credits was composed by the show's music supervisor, Blake Leyh. International Airings Australia -- Monday at 12:00 p.m. on Ch.9. Currently airing Season 3. New Zealand -- Wednesday at 11:40 p.m. on TV2, beginning December 15, 2004. moreless By fish1413 Aug 16, 2013 Story By Kaitlin Thomas Oct 10, 2013 Story The Wire: A Streetview Tour | Welcome to Baltimore, Hon! Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!

View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map Shot on location during its five-year run on HBO, Baltimore was more than a backdrop and setting for The Wire. From its corners to its classrooms to the corridors of power, the city was the prism through which issues and themes were refracted. Here follows some of The Wire‘s more iconic locations. THE PIT View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map One of the major venues for the Barksdale crew were the Pit and the Tower, based on the McCollough Homes on the west side and other similar projects such as the Poe Homes and Lexington Terrace. Nearly all of Baltimore’s high-rise housing projects were demolished years ago. HAMSTERDAM View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map Baltimore never actually had “free zones” with open drug markets, as envisioned by Bunny Colvin. The filming location used for the first and largest of the free zones — known as Hamsterdam — was near Broadway and Gay streets. The homes in this area have been demolished and the blocks are now open space. This stretch of Lexington Avenue runs through what was supposedly Hamsterdam.

COLLINGTON SQUARE View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map This eastside park, with a commanding view overlooking the Johns Hopkins medical center and the waterfront in the distance, was the location of several meetings during the course of The Wire. The eastside-westside basketball game was played on the court here. LITTLE JOHNNIE’S View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map The dockside S. Clinton Street restaurant where Vonda and the Greek hung out. Marlo met them here a couple of times as well. Interestingly, the location of the Major Crimes Unit building is just down the street. CITY HALL View Larger Map Baltimore’s City Hall and War Memorial Plaza were a backdrop in several episodes. Facing the place, to your back, is the courthouse where Proposition Joe and Stringer Bell met in the rain — the same courthouse steps featured in Barry Levinson’s “…And Justice for All.” ORLANDO’S View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map Orlando’s strip club on South Broadway was the base of operations for Avon Barksdale’s crew during the first seasons of The Wire, until ambition got the better of Orlando.

As it was during filming, the location is actually a strip club — the Ritz Cabaret. Stringer Bell’s copy shop is just a few doors down at 510 S. Broadway. MAJOR CRIMES UNIT View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map From this small dockside building on a desolate stretch of South Clinton street, Lt. Daniels, Lester Freamon and other members of the major crimes unit played a never-ending game of cat and mouse with violent drug gangs, mobsters and corrupt public officials. POLICE HEADQUARTERS View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map This quintessential Bauhaus building designed by Mies van der Rohe, used as the location for the Baltimore City police headquarters, was part of the original Charles Center redevelopment project in the early 1960s. A news ticker runs along the building across Baltimore Street. MARLO’S COURT View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map The ambitious and ruthless Marlo Stanfield met in this secluded park near Chase and Bond Streets. Herc lost a surveillance camera here as well.

LANVALE & BARCLAY View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map Several locations were used as drug corners during the filming of The Wire. The intersection of Lanvale and Barclay was Bodie’s spot during the fourth season. THE RIM SOURCE View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map At the intersection of North and Gay, the Rim Source, with its windows distinctively outlined with blue neon lights, was one of Marlo’s meeting spots. JOHN’S RADIO & TV View The Wire: A Streetview Tour in a larger map Proposition Joe ran a repair shop at 301 S. Highland in Highlandtown, most recently a jewelry repair shop but presently vacant. The Wire - Season 1 Reviews - Metacritic Starring: J.D. Williams , Lance Reddick , John Doman Summary: In chronicling a multi-generational family business dealing illegal drugs and the efforts of the Baltimore police to curb their trade, this series draws parallels between these organizations and the men and women on either side of the battle.The words of Gary W.

Potter, Professor of CriminalIn chronicling a multi-generational family business dealing illegal drugs and the efforts of the Baltimore police to curb their trade, this series draws parallels between these organizations and the men and women on either side of the battle.The words of Gary W. Potter, Professor of Criminal Justice and Police Studies at Eastern Kentucky University, in writing about the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, can also be used to illuminate some of the central premises of the show:"There is precious little difference between those people who society designates as respectable and law abiding and those people society castigates as hoodlums and thugs. The world of corporate finance and corporate capital is as criminogenic and probably more criminogenic than any poverty-wracked slum neighborhood. The distinctions drawn between business, politics, and organized crime are at best artificial and in reality irrelevant.

Rather than being dysfunctions, corporate crime, white-collar crime, organized crime, and political corruption are mainstays of American political-economic life."Tim Goodman, the television critic for The San Francisco Chronicle, summed the show up perfectly when he wrote: "This show is precisely the reason you pay for HBO."In New York's Newsday, Diane Werts says: "Most TV crime series aspire to John Grisham's level. 'The Wire' aspires to Dostoevsky's."Season ThemesSeason One centers around a family of drug dealers and the innerworkings of their empire. It also follows the detectives who are trying to catch the high members of the empire. Season Two steps away from the drug trade (while still mentioning characters from the previous season) to a case of dead prostitutes which turns into a look at the corruption surrounding the Port. Season Three investigates politics and finishes the main stories that were left open in season one. Season Four focuses on four middle school students and their journeys through the public school system and continues to address the politics of an inner-city and the issues of an election. Season Five is rumored to be about the media's role in Baltimore.

Season Five will be the show's final season.Theme MusicIn the Season One opening credits, the Blind Boys of Alabama did Tom Waits's "Way Down in the Hole". The Season Two opening credits feature Waits's version of the song. According to creator David Simon, "It was our way of saying: This is the same show (song) but this year, the tale itself (singer, tonality) will be different." The Neville Brothers's version of the song opens Season Three. The theme which plays over the end credits was composed by the show's music supervisor, Blake Leyh. International AiringsAustralia -- Monday at 12:00 p.m. on Ch.9. Currently airing Season 3. New Zealand -- Wednesday at 11:40 p.m. on TV2, beginning December 15, 2004.… Expand Genre(s): Drama Season 1 premiere date: Jun 2, 2002 Episode Length: 60 Jun 14, 2013 100 It's loose and rambling; its dramatic climaxes don't coincide neatly with the conclusion of any given episode. Its dialogue, overseen by creator David Simon ...

is so good it often sounds improvised. One criticism of the show I've read is that it's repetitive (in showing the slow process of how the police bring down bad guys). But what those critics don't get is that those qualities are exactly what make 'The Wire' the funkiest cop show on TV. Apr 29, 2013 100 Spellbinding...The Wire is compelling in its complexity, heart-rending in its humanity, and surprising in the ways it finds to spin the conventions of cop drama. [31 May 2002, p.4] Apr 29, 2013 90 It's to the network's credit that it undertakes projects that aren't necessarily big crowd-pleasers but have a palpable artistic integrity and social significance. [1 June 2002, p.C01] Apr 29, 2013 80 The Wire is a cop drama from top to bottom. It does take a systemic view of the issue, like "Traffic," Steven Soderbergh's drug-trade saga. But it never sacrifices drama and character for lecture.

[31 May 2002, p.E14] Apr 29, 2013 80 Though it's extremely well done, The Wire lacks the signature HBO kick of discovering something brand new, that giddy feeling of freshness that immediately attached itself to "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under." With The Wire, there's a less-exciting echo: Same old, same old. Been there, done that. [31 May 2002] Jun 28, 2013 70 It slowly develops into an engrossing look at the methodical nature of police work and the limits of individualism. Apr 29, 2013 40 After watching five hours of preview tapes, I'm interested to see how The Wire turns out. But without characters to care for, much less root for, I'm not exactly burning with curiosity -- the way I am with most of HBO's other series...When it comes down to The Wire, this show falls short.

Mixed: 0 out of 62 Negative: 0 out of 62 Films and TV Shows Set in Baltimore Films and TV Shows Set in Baltimore Baltimore Expert By Libby Zay A number of movies, television shows, and documentaries have been filmed or set in Baltimore. Since it’s easier and cheaper to film in Baltimore than many other cities, Baltimore is often used as a filming location. But rather than a stand-in for other cities, these films are actually set in Baltimore. 1. “He’s Just Not That Into You” (2009) Directed by: Ken Kwapis The Baltimore neighborhoods of Mount Vernon and Federal Hill star in this romantic comedy that also features an all-star cast, including Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Affleck, and Bradley Cooper. Screenwriter Marc Silverstein spent a great deal of time (about 16 years) living in Maryland, and he told the Baltimore Sun that creators wanted the film to be set in a city that "didn't feel like you'd seen it a million times before." When watching the film, keep an eye open for Natty Boh sightings and the Domino Sugar sign, which appears in the background of scenes in Affleck and Aniston's shared apartment.

continue reading below our video America's Best Foodie Cities 2. “Homicide: Life on the Streets” (1993–1999) Written by: David Simon The old City Recreation Pier in Fells Point was used as the setting for the police headquarters throughout the filming of this television drama that followed Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit. The building was shown countless times during the 122 episodes of the series. In the series, Detective John Munch (played by Richard Belzer) owns a bar that is actually the Waterfront Hotel, which is currently a restaurant and bar where you can grab some food or a drink. This walking tour of Fells Point will take you right by the police headquarters and the Waterfront Hotel. 3. “The Wire” (2002–2008) Written by: David Simon Filming locations for “The Wire,” a television drama set in Baltimore, are plentiful throughout the city. Many film locations have since been demolished or are now vacant, but some recognizable landmarks remain. This includes Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.

Courthouse (100 N Calvert St.), Baltimore’s City Hall (100 N Holliday St.), Orlando’s strip club (actually the Ritz Cabaret in Fells Point at 504 S. Broadway St.), and Federal Hill, which Baltimore police detective Jimmy McNulty stumbles down in one episode. It’s also possible to visit Collington Square Park (Collington Avenue and East Hoffman Street), the basketball court where East battled West in season one and where several drug dealers met, as well as Murderland Alley (Bethel Street between Federal and Oliver streets), which appears in the show’s opening credit sequence. 4. John Waters' Films Every film by director John Waters, also known as the "Pope of Trash," was filmed in Baltimore. For more information on John Waters films and sites throughout the city, check out this guide to John Waters' Baltimore and this guide to cult classics . 5.

“Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) Directed by: Nora Ephron Next time you're down in Fells Point, you might recognize the facade of the rowhouse that Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) resided in during this romantic comedy (the exact location is 904 South Broadway, adjacent to the Broadway Pier). In the film, the character of Anne Reed, a Baltimore Sun reporter, is touched when she hears a young boy talk about how he wants his father, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks), to find a new wife. Inspired by the 1957 film "An Affair to Remember," the film has several mixed connections as the film's stars try to connect with one another. Throughout the film, several Baltimore landmarks make an appearance, including the Washington Monument , the Women's Industrial Exchange (where Annie and her workmate, played by Rosie O'Donnell, have lunch), and the George Peabody Library. 6.

”Diner” (1982), “Tin Men” (1987), “Avalon” (1990), and “Liberty Heights” (1999) Director Barry Levinson made several films set in his hometown of Baltimore: "Diner" (1982), "Tin Men" (1987), "Avalon" (1990), and "Liberty Heights" (1999). Several places around town are easily recognizable from these movies. Levinson's own childhood home, located at 3107 Cliftmont Avenue near Cliftmont Park, is used in both "Avalon" and "Tin Men." The diner at 400 East Saratoga Street is the setting for "Diner," and also makes an appearance in "Avalon" and "Tin Men." The television store from "Avalon" is actually a bookstore , the 19th Century Bookshop (1047 Hollins St.), and there's also a scene filmed in Druid Hill Park .

Also in "Avalon" is the Senator Theater (5904 York Rd.), a theater that also makes appearances in "12 Monkeys" by Terry Gilliam and "Cecil B DeMented" by John Waters . In "Tin Men," there are several locations around Baltimore that are familiar, including the Belvedere Hotel and Pimlico Race Course .

Question: The US television series ‘The Wire’ is set in which city?
Answer: Baltimore