A relavant scene from the wire.

[proverbialwisdom]

1. More on "The Wire." Also, google "the wire taught at harvard college."

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/01/barack-obama-on.html

January 14, 2008
Barack Obama on his favorite TV show

Sen. Barack Obama has previously said that HBO’s "The Wire" is his favorite show. But now Obama's revealed another tidbit. In a story from Monday's Las Vegas Sun, the presidential candidate said that the bold thief Omar is his favorite character on "The Wire."

“That’s not an endorsement. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating character,” Obama said, who noted in an audio clip on the site that Omar, who is gay, is also “the toughest, baddest guy on the show.”

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Speaking of “The Wire,” there’s an excellent piece in the Columbia Journalism Review that gives more background on creator David Simon’s history at the Sun and how that has informed his worldview and his show, which, in its last season, is spending time on story lines set at a fictional version of the Baltimore Sun. Also, Simon himself writes vividly about his tenure at the Sun in this Esquire piece.

My own Season 5 "Wire" piece is here.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/01/david-simon-tal.html

January 10, 2008
David Simon talks about his career in journalism and the final chapter of 'The Wire'

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But Simon’s indelible achievement is “The Wire,” an unflinchingly realistic portrait of life in Baltimore, from the magisterial chambers in which craven political decisions are made, to the threadbare classrooms in which the poorest kids attempt to learn, to the beat-up row houses that are home to the city’s flinty, resourceful inner-city residents.

The heart of the show, which debuted in 2002, is Baltimore’s Police Department — the street cops and detectives who attempt to keep some kind of order in the city, despite endless budget cutbacks and superiors who often spend their time fiddling with crime stats in order to win themselves promotions.

Over its four previous seasons, “The Wire” has shown how indifferent institutions and selfish individuals often stand in the way of those with intelligence and initiative. But the show’s great accomplishment is that it never preaches — it’s even quite funny at times, in a dry, roundabout way. Instead of rote lessons about urban decay, Simon’s conclusions arrive via meticulous character studies that rarely feel plotted or predictable. To watch the show is to be immersed in an interlocking series of utterly realistic worlds, from the street corner to the cop bar to the mayor’s office.

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