The Wire, Season 5 -- Read Between the Lines

Dictatorship. I'm sure that's the message Simon and co. are trying to send.

 

I'm an insider on the law enforcement/courthouse side. I can't stand any cops/law show from L & O and CSI to even the comic book bull shit like Boston Legal and the self important crap like Murder One, even The Shield lost me after the 1st season. Up until this season, since I haven't seen it, The Wire is consistently the most accurate and realistic portrayal of street crime, drugs, police work and courthouse workings I've ever seen on TV. That said, it's still TV and entertainment. Some things happen too quickly, some too slowly. Some folks are too well spoken and nice looking. Cops, in general, aren't as personally invested in their investigations as these guys are and NO WAY do they work over time without pay. Court time? Maybe, but not OT.
So, if that's any indication, the newspaper stuff will generally be the most realistic portrayal you've ever seen on TV, but it won't be a documentary on newspapers. And Simon clearly is a thin skinned SOB with some scores to settle.

 

Tim Goodman gives his thoughts on Episode 1 of this season. It's pretty thin, especially for Tim. He, like everyone on here, can't stop talking about a mysterious plot twist in a future episode. Must be a real biggie.

http://timgoodman.blogspot.com/

He also has a summary of each season for newcomers here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2008/01/04/DDGSU8R3J.DTL

 

The opening scene with the kid and the "lie detector" was fantastic.

Fantastic.

 

Simon also used that in the first season of Homicide. Pretty funny.

 

I thought that seemed familiar. Made me laugh at loud all the same.

 

It's a very old Police Urban Legend. I've heard stories about it being used as late as 5 years ago.

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-md.vozzella06jan06,0,5193772.column

Wow.

 

"The Sun's ranking in the Columbia Journalism Review's survey was misstated when this article was published in the print edition. The Sun regrets the error."

Double wow.

I thought the newspaper was treated fairly in the first episode. The biggest shot was the higher-up (never caught his position in the paper) who essentially killed the story in budget because he was a friend of a professor at Maryland.

The City Editor caught the story and gave credit to the reporter. What was so unlikable about that?

 

Carroll's take: "David went away mad and the paper got better."

 

The gray-haired higher up was the executive editor, modeled after Carroll. The little guy is the m.e. - I think.

I didn't find the city editor all that likeable to be honest. A bit too high and mighty for my tastes. Plausible? Sure. The anger and frustration is believable. I guess his giving credit to the reporter was supposed to make him likeable but I wouldn't want someone lying on my behalf. One it's dishonest, and two its sort of patronizing. That's just me.