Anyone watch The Wire last night?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Any thoughts?

[kwassa]

1. It is the best dramatic series in the history of television.

How is that for a thought?

Last night they started the new theme in motion with the stories at the Baltimore Sun. I love this show.

It is amazing what a weasel Carcetti is turning into. (Trying to avoid spoilers.)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. It's more real than any "reality" show could ever be

Interesting if you didn't know, in the scene where The Sun reporters were looking out the window at the fire in the distance, the two persons there were played by Michael Olesker and Laura Lippman, two former columnists at The Sun.

And I'd have to point out the storyline regarding The Sun is pretty spot on. Growing up in Maryland, my family subscribed to The Sun and it was always a top-notch newspaper. When I was back in Maryland last month, I was looking at The Sun and it is a sad shadow of what it used to be.

I'm torn on Carcetti. On the one hand, he's become the typical "say anything to get elected/always thinking about the next political step" politician. On the other hand, he was based (at least in the beginning) on Martin O'Malley, who I really like and felt as though he did a good job as mayor of Baltimore (and hope for continued success as Maryland governor), so I can't hate him, either.

But the acting and the writing was top-notch, as usual.

[kwassa]

3. I live in Montgomery County, MD

so, while familiar with Baltimore, I'm sure I don't get all the references. It is a very local show, and all the interiors are actually filmed in a converted warehouse in Columbia, MD.

Many of the smaller roles involve professional and non-professional actors from this region, too. I know that the actor that plays Chris Partlow also volunteers as a wrestling coach in the Montgomery County school district.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. During the opening credits last night

There is a one second shot of St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church, where my grandmother attended church and was buried out of. (You can't miss it--it's the gold-domed Byzantine style church rising out of Patterson Park). So I thought that was pretty cool.

It's amazing how strong the performances are from non-regular actors/actresses in this show. The actress who plays Felicia "Snoop" Pearson is an ex-con who actually grew up in the streets of Baltimore. Proposition Joe also is played by a local actor.

On a related note, it was great to see Clark Johnson (Detective Lewis from Homicide) back on a David Simon series as the newsroom editor.