The Wire

So enough about theology, politics, voting and the like for today.  Anybody watch The Wire?  My husband has been trying to get me into the show for the past two years, or two seasons, which would be about ten years in HBO time, right?  Anyway, however long it's been on, he's been a big fan and wanted me to enjoy it with him.  But I've always declined.  I don't know why - I think I said once I only want to spend a certain amount of time watching TV and The Wire just didn't make the cut.  But I finally caved in this year after I heard the creators on Fresh Air.  They claimed this wasn't just any ol' cop TV show.  It was a novel!  I love novels!  It was about An American City, and The Futility of the Drug War, but more than that too.   From the HBO site:

"The show is crafted as a visual novel; most of episodic television, even when its very good, is crafted as a series of short stories."

Interesting.  The English major in me needs to ponder this more.  As far as TV as art vs. entertainment, David Simon says "Actually, we want the show to be entertaining. Any buncha storytellers would. But more than that, we want the show to be argued about and discussed and considered. A lot of what we feel about the drug war, about what has happened to the working class, about race and class and the dignity of individuals is there on the screen. If people are merely entertained, then we've failed what ambitions we had, I'm afraid."

And he ends with: "I can only add that we are not selling hope, or audience gratification, or cheap victories with this show. THE WIRE is making an argument about what institutions — bureaucracies, criminal enterprises, the cultures of addiction, raw capitalism even — do to individuals. It is not designed purely as an entertainment. It is, I'm afraid, a somewhat angry show."

Art with a message!  In the vacuousness of TV, it's good to see someone trying to make something meaningful.  I've watched all of this season so far, and it's difficult to catch on.  I'm still in the "who's that?  why is he doing that?  and who's this?" stage, which I'm sure is quite annoying to my husband.  So Season One should be arriving from Netflix today.