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‘The Wire’ at 20: ‘This Show Will Live Forever’

2 points by sogen 4y ago

danso 4y ago
Non-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/arts/television/david-simon-ed-burns-the-wire-anniversary.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DIDm0biO0PH5PH50rJaLRifNo02XOXTcFAPPo0Rfl1yKpSMwlnVhOuud6YmJlAPCQvpMe6WGU3wZ_XRrki4Hnqcmy9Yq9Z9YGIgiinYnK2EOHXz2tyZ0s-884yawz50H0MxqjDDrIljdlh2fx2VoQqRTwDeCONu6PvWxl7PdzVaArOqVVjA5EvUjrXlN-Y7LISIk4FWR-dEiQJsStr48hcOdgXIK_4MxQjHcH-ir4bAWdjR5y7U9xzH8OH0uU37sOe7ECE28G0xP4pFapLvrqisW2yN1cnS7P-L0y3ptUmmLCSYqyPg9xPlz0l&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/arts/television/david-sim... One of interesting bits is how Ed Burns rails against the 5th season, almost universally considered by fans to be the worst season: > NYT: In retrospect, is there anything else that you wish that the show had done differently? > BURNS: I wish that Season 5 took a different direction, as far as the newsroom was concerned, and didn’t debase the idea of investigation. But it’s fine. What we tried to get across is that the kids that we saw in [Season 4] were becoming, as they approached adulthood, the guys that we saw in [Seasons] 1, 2, 3 and 4. It was continuous. This is just the next generation. What's interesting is that David Simon has no response to this question. I know he's said that S5 was not ideal, because HBO allowed him only 10 episodes, making it the shortest season by far. But basing the season around the Baltimore Sun newsroom was definitely Simon's idea — and arguably, his baby[0] — and that almost necessitated the major subplot of the homicide detectives going off the rails as a thematic foil. I wonder if Simon 20 years later thinks the final season could have ended any other way? [0] https://davidsimon.com/the-wires-final-season-and-the-story-everyone-missed/ https://davidsimon.com/the-wires-final-season-and-the-story-...
- sogen 4y ago
  Yeah, it felt kind of a letdown, but still pretty interesting to cover so many different topics and points of view throughout each season.

2 points by sogen 4y ago

Non-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/arts/television/david-simon-ed-burns-the-wire-anniversary.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DIDm0biO0PH5PH50rJaLRifNo02XOXTcFAPPo0Rfl1yKpSMwlnVhOuud6YmJlAPCQvpMe6WGU3wZ_XRrki4Hnqcmy9Yq9Z9YGIgiinYnK2EOHXz2tyZ0s-884yawz50H0MxqjDDrIljdlh2fx2VoQqRTwDeCONu6PvWxl7PdzVaArOqVVjA5EvUjrXlN-Y7LISIk4FWR-dEiQJsStr48hcOdgXIK_4MxQjHcH-ir4bAWdjR5y7U9xzH8OH0uU37sOe7ECE28G0xP4pFapLvrqisW2yN1cnS7P-L0y3ptUmmLCSYqyPg9xPlz0l&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/arts/television/david-sim... One of interesting bits is how Ed Burns rails against the 5th season, almost universally considered by fans to be the worst season: > NYT: In retrospect, is there anything else that you wish that the show had done differently? > BURNS: I wish that Season 5 took a different direction, as far as the newsroom was concerned, and didn’t debase the idea of investigation. But it’s fine. What we tried to get across is that the kids that we saw in [Season 4] were becoming, as they approached adulthood, the guys that we saw in [Seasons] 1, 2, 3 and 4. It was continuous. This is just the next generation. What's interesting is that David Simon has no response to this question. I know he's said that S5 was not ideal, because HBO allowed him only 10 episodes, making it the shortest season by far. But basing the season around the Baltimore Sun newsroom was definitely Simon's idea — and arguably, his baby[0] — and that almost necessitated the major subplot of the homicide detectives going off the rails as a thematic foil. I wonder if Simon 20 years later thinks the final season could have ended any other way? [0] https://davidsimon.com/the-wires-final-season-and-the-story-everyone-missed/ https://davidsimon.com/the-wires-final-season-and-the-story-...

sogen 4y ago
Yeah, it felt kind of a letdown, but still pretty interesting to cover so many different topics and points of view throughout each season.