As Goes "The Wire".......So goes America?

[marmar]

David Simon, the former police beat reporter and producer of the HBO series "The Wire", was the guest on Bill Moyers' Journal, which I watched earlier this afternoon.
He talked about the show, and his days covering the police beat in Baltimore seeing the America that much of America never sees.
I'm not a regular watcher of "The Wire", but enjoy it every time I see it. And I guess one of the major themes of the show is how the public school system fails students in Baltimore, and how it contributes to the crime and desperation.
Anyway, they showed a clip from the show when two teachers are talking about how the district is trying to teach exclusively for tests and doctoring stats to make their student test scores look better, and doing absolutely nothing to address the underlying issues with the students and how they're taught. And then Simon contrasted that with our financial system, which is based on the selling of real estate derivatives and other hollow financial instruments over and over again, creating the illusion of wealth and prosperity, even though there's no there there.
It was a fascinating discussion and well worth a watch. Here's a link: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04172009/profile.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I read that interview twice. Masterpiece.

Strongly recommend it.

[Fumesucker]

2. The Wire is the best crime drama I have seen.. Period..

I think I've seen the first three seasons or maybe two and part of the third, it is a great show and makes a lot of very good points about our society.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. "was" not "is". HBO ended it last year.

One of the best.

The teachers in show had no choice about what they were doing and hated it.

[Adelante]

4. There were only five seasons

Not HBO's choice, but it was written as five seasons, like chapters in a novel.

[Uzybone]

5. actually only 4 seasons

season 1: the cops
season 2: the streets/the docks
season 3: the politicians
season 4: the media

The best fucking show on television ever.

[Adelante]

6. 4 was the school system; 5 was the media

I'm pretty sure.

The best fucking show on television ever.

[Uzybone]

8. Indeed....how could I forget

Season 4 was the school system and that was the finest season. My bad. Thanks.


Sheeeiiiiittttttt.

[Adelante]

10. For me, it was season 2

I had a weekend guest a few months ago. I had been telling him about the show for years and he'd never seen it. We ended up going for dinner in the late afternoon all three days so we could watch the whole season in three evenings. He was blown away, particularly by the camera work. This wasn't what he came from New York to Mexico for, of course, but he said it was almost worth the money. I love every single season, but maybe because I grew up in a shipyard neighborhood myself, season 2 holds a special place for me.

[cliffordu]

9. Absolutely. I never missed one.

[L0oniX]

7. Yes ...the system is juked.