And Freamon must have had Shardene wrapped around his finger. Dude probably put in longer hours than McNulty, working a host of cases, and we had exactly zero scenes of him getting bitched out on the homefront.
It probably helped that (as far as we knew) Freamon never picked up ladies at the bar and got nasty with them on the car hood.
At City Hall, mayor has 'Wire' unplugged It's a wrap for HBO's urban drama.
By Karen Heller
Inquirer Staff Writer
It's good to be king or, in Michael Nutter's case, mayor.
If your favorite television show of all time happens to be HBO's The Wire, which had its finale last night, you could have placed a phone call to the Greater Philadelphia Film Office's Sharon Pinkenson 10 days ago and seen if you could stage a viewing party in City Hall.
Welcome to Mayor Mike's Movie Night, complete with beer and popcorn, Raisinets and Twizzlers.
Not only did Nutter get the viewing of the 93-minute fifth-season finale a full hour ahead of national broadcast, but he lined up nine - count 'em, nine - of the series' stars.
"Omar! Omar!" some of the 100 fans assembled yelled at Michael K. Williams, better known as Omar Little, the bane of West Baltimore drug dealers, who, alas, bit the convenience-store dust a few Sundays ago. Instead of showing up with his customary long coat and shotgun, the actor was incongruously dressed in a vintage Boy Scout shirt. "I've been travelling a lot. This is what I had clean," he said.
Based on photo ops and fans amassed, Williams was the crowd favorite, despite his life of crime. This may have been the first time a vigilante was so celebrated in City Hall.
"I learned a lot from the series, what to do right and what not to do," the mayor said before the screening of his "favorite show of all time." Nutter penned a love letter to the show in yesterday's Inquirer.
The mayor stressed that he in no way resembles The Wire's fictional, opportunistic and severely unctuous Mayor Tommy Carcetti. "He is always focused on getting to the next place." Like the governorship?
"I only have my eye on the office around the corner," Nutter said.
"This parallels a lot of what we do," said Manwell Glenn, the city's assistant managing director, who is married to Sandra Dungee Glenn, chair of the School Reform Commission, who was hooting through the screening with obvious delight.
Deborah Seay, an educational consultant with 35 years in the city school district, said "I put the capital F in Fan." She's an old friend of the mayor's who was thrilled to be watching with the stars. Later, she asked the panel of nine actors "whether there was any possibility of making a movie, like they're doing with Sex and the City" - her other favorite - "then maybe you can save Dukie the way you did Bubbles."
Jermaine Crawford, the 15-year-old who played the troubled, homeless teen, was there with his father, Germantown-born Milton, and his mother, Wanda, as well as his music manager John Gore.
This would be distinct from his acting manager, who was not in attendance.
Clark Johnson, originally of West Philadelphia, had the dual distinction of directing and starring in last night's episode as heroic Baltimore Sun city editor Gus Haynes. "I'm the worst actor I've got," he said, bringing along one of his "30 first cousins in the area," Derrick Lee Sr., a school principal in Delaware.
Many of the cast members, who finished shooting in September, found the night bittersweet, an end to a stellar five-season acting project that produced a thorough portrait of a city ravaged by drugs, corruption and business as usual.
"Lester is the grown-up I want to be when I grow up," said Clark Peters, who played the smooth-talking wire expert Lester Freamon, whose career ends in flames.
Wendell Pierce, known as the can't-hold-his-beer Detective Bunk Moreland, was in attendance, though not with his customary cigar. He was the first to sign on for the movie night, and the most interested in continuing the Wire tradition.
In response to Seay's question about a movie, Pierce said he and Sonja Sohn, who played Detective Kima Greggs, "had secured financing and are hoping [series executive producer] David Simon and others will get on board."[/b]
Simon, who was in Los Angeles, addressed the assembled crowd via a video message before the screening. "I expect a key to the city of Philadelphia," said the producer and writer, who has been scathing in his view of his hometown Baltimore's corruption and crime, "because it will be a cold day in hell when I get one in Baltimore."
Had Mayor Mike's Movie Night not come together, "I would just be at home watching like everyone else."
But it did. And in introducing the evening, Nutter said "this is the beginning of other movie programs and, when the weather gets nicer, events in City Hall's courtyard," a political promise he expects to keep.
dollar_binI heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
Well, I now have a Bunk shaped hole in my life where The Wire used to live, I've been looking around for things to fill the void. I highly recommend that fans of The Wire check out Kubrick's 1957 film Paths of Glory. David Simon repeatedly cites this film as an influence on The Wire. It's not too hard to see that, particularly if you imagine the French military characters in Paths of Glory are cops in the Baltimore PD, although the shit that goes down is a bit more extreme than anything seen on The Wire.
I was home sick yesterday and I watched "Get On The Bus"... Wendell Pierce's character on it cracked me up, especially because with the cigar and all I couldn't stop thinking of him as "The Bunk".
one of my favorite scenes, not only from this season but the show period was the beginning of episode 2 this season. the chick talking in front of bubbles support group. she had that line where she's talking about her inner addict when she says "that bitch is trying to kill me." don't think that scene has been mentioned yet. on demand that shit if you don't remember, you won't regret it.
It's ironic in a way that Simon ground his bitter axe two fold by baiting all the reporters smitten with "The Wire" into lambasting the serial killer plot and, in the process, missing his true critique of the newspaper -- that the newspaper doesn't get all the major stories of the city: Carcetti's pandering to the homeless was a ploy in his race for governor, largly ignoring Prop Joe and Omar's murders, the never-ending stat-juking, etc.
Everyone was too caught up in the sexy serial killer story while all the stuff that really mattered was uncovered, both in "The Wire" itself and in the coverage of the show. Sure a few critics stuck in lines here and there about how the paper missed the story, but everyone pretty much wrote: "The serial killer thing seems contrived."
Simon talks a bit about that in a decent interview on Salon.com.
I had never thought of it like that. Did he really plan that? I guess I should read some of the interviews.
That's exactly what he's been saying - that the idea of oversimplifying the newsroom was intentional, to show how not only the newspaper but even viewers themselves would miss the forest for the trees.
People are saying "where's the beef" - and that's his point. Seems like a lot of people bit it hook line and sinker. It's pretty awesome.
I've mentioned this before (so has Simon) but nobody was tripping about oversimplified archetypes of "bad politician", "bad cop", "bad school administrator" in seasons 1-4...
ehhhh. I've read the interviews and I still don't really buy this.
this reads like a lame excuse for a weak plotline. "no see, I wanted the newsroom plot to be weak!"
I don't really buy it. Simon devoted a certain amount of time to the newsroom -- in this case A LOT of time season-wise. and it was sorta weak. that's what viewers are reacting to. it's not like in real life where there's a million more important things going on and shitty newspapers instead choose to focus on the sensational stuff and it's up to us to see through the bullisht. that was, and is, one of the season's messages, and that part I get. but this is not real life, it's a TV show. and whatever the writers decide, for better or for worse, to put on the screen is what we as viewers are going to react to.
there was a finite number of screen minutes in this season of the Wire and Simon devoted a huge number of those minutes to a plotline that was, comparatively speaking, among the weakest of the show's history. to then turn around and tell us that we were missing the point -- that we should have instead been focusing on the comparatively-little screentime that Simon decided not to waste on the newsroom thing -- is a copout.
anyway I am sadd doggie. this show is irreplaceable. it has provided me hours and hours of viewing/thinking enjoyment.
i buy it. there are numerous references to the fact that the paper/media dont cover the stories that reflect what is really going on in the city or problems that the city faces (alma's coverage of the triple murder, prop joe dies nobody knows who he is, omar dies not even really mentioned) unless they think its going to win them a prize, but even then they pick the wrong story (homeless over bubbles).
i buy it. there are numerous references to the fact that the paper/media dont cover the stories that reflect what is really going on in the city or problems that the city faces (alma's coverage of the triple murder, prop joe dies nobody knows who he is, omar dies not even really mentioned) unless they think its going to win them a prize, but even then they pick the wrong story (homeless over bubbles).
of course dude. no one is denying this central message of the season.
I was reacting specifically to the notion that Simon created the entire Season 5 as some macro version of this very concept, that all the screentime he gave to the newspaper and homeless killing poltlines was a metaphor for the fact that audiences ignore the important stuff in favor of the sensationalist stuff.
but when it's you the writer/producer that is choosing to devote so much of the screentime to this nonsense, well, you can't really blame the audience at that point.
Comments
It probably helped that (as far as we knew) Freamon never picked up ladies at the bar and got nasty with them on the car hood.
At City Hall, mayor has 'Wire' unplugged
It's a wrap for HBO's urban drama.
By Karen Heller
Inquirer Staff Writer
It's good to be king or, in Michael Nutter's case, mayor.
If your favorite television show of all time happens to be HBO's The Wire, which had its finale last night, you could have placed a phone call to the Greater Philadelphia Film Office's Sharon Pinkenson 10 days ago and seen if you could stage a viewing party in City Hall.
Welcome to Mayor Mike's Movie Night, complete with beer and popcorn, Raisinets and Twizzlers.
Not only did Nutter get the viewing of the 93-minute fifth-season finale a full hour ahead of national broadcast, but he lined up nine - count 'em, nine - of the series' stars.
"Omar! Omar!" some of the 100 fans assembled yelled at Michael K. Williams, better known as Omar Little, the bane of West Baltimore drug dealers, who, alas, bit the convenience-store dust a few Sundays ago. Instead of showing up with his customary long coat and shotgun, the actor was incongruously dressed in a vintage Boy Scout shirt. "I've been travelling a lot. This is what I had clean," he said.
Based on photo ops and fans amassed, Williams was the crowd favorite, despite his life of crime. This may have been the first time a vigilante was so celebrated in City Hall.
"I learned a lot from the series, what to do right and what not to do," the mayor said before the screening of his "favorite show of all time." Nutter penned a love letter to the show in yesterday's Inquirer.
The mayor stressed that he in no way resembles The Wire's fictional, opportunistic and severely unctuous Mayor Tommy Carcetti. "He is always focused on getting to the next place." Like the governorship?
"I only have my eye on the office around the corner," Nutter said.
"This parallels a lot of what we do," said Manwell Glenn, the city's assistant managing director, who is married to Sandra Dungee Glenn, chair of the School Reform Commission, who was hooting through the screening with obvious delight.
Deborah Seay, an educational consultant with 35 years in the city school district, said "I put the capital F in Fan." She's an old friend of the mayor's who was thrilled to be watching with the stars. Later, she asked the panel of nine actors "whether there was any possibility of making a movie, like they're doing with Sex and the City" - her other favorite - "then maybe you can save Dukie the way you did Bubbles."
Jermaine Crawford, the 15-year-old who played the troubled, homeless teen, was there with his father, Germantown-born Milton, and his mother, Wanda, as well as his music manager John Gore.
This would be distinct from his acting manager, who was not in attendance.
Clark Johnson, originally of West Philadelphia, had the dual distinction of directing and starring in last night's episode as heroic Baltimore Sun city editor Gus Haynes. "I'm the worst actor I've got," he said, bringing along one of his "30 first cousins in the area," Derrick Lee Sr., a school principal in Delaware.
Many of the cast members, who finished shooting in September, found the night bittersweet, an end to a stellar five-season acting project that produced a thorough portrait of a city ravaged by drugs, corruption and business as usual.
"Lester is the grown-up I want to be when I grow up," said Clark Peters, who played the smooth-talking wire expert Lester Freamon, whose career ends in flames.
Wendell Pierce, known as the can't-hold-his-beer Detective Bunk Moreland, was in attendance, though not with his customary cigar. He was the first to sign on for the movie night, and the most interested in continuing the Wire tradition.
In response to Seay's question about a movie, Pierce said he and Sonja Sohn, who played Detective Kima Greggs, "had secured financing and are hoping [series executive producer] David Simon and others will get on board."[/b]
Simon, who was in Los Angeles, addressed the assembled crowd via a video message before the screening. "I expect a key to the city of Philadelphia," said the producer and writer, who has been scathing in his view of his hometown Baltimore's corruption and crime, "because it will be a cold day in hell when I get one in Baltimore."
Had Mayor Mike's Movie Night not come together, "I would just be at home watching like everyone else."
But it did. And in introducing the evening, Nutter said "this is the beginning of other movie programs and, when the weather gets nicer, events in City Hall's courtyard," a political promise he expects to keep.
I'm interested to see how Generation Kill turns out. Anyone know when that's supposed to air? Also, any further info on the Simon New Orleans project?
Both of these sound like they have legitimate potential...
gen kill in the summer, new orleans project pilot is being edited now, who knows when/if it actually continues through.
ehhhh. I've read the interviews and I still don't really buy this.
this reads like a lame excuse for a weak plotline. "no see, I wanted the newsroom plot to be weak!"
I don't really buy it. Simon devoted a certain amount of time to the newsroom -- in this case A LOT of time season-wise. and it was sorta weak. that's what viewers are reacting to. it's not like in real life where there's a million more important things going on and shitty newspapers instead choose to focus on the sensational stuff and it's up to us to see through the bullisht. that was, and is, one of the season's messages, and that part I get. but this is not real life, it's a TV show. and whatever the writers decide, for better or for worse, to put on the screen is what we as viewers are going to react to.
there was a finite number of screen minutes in this season of the Wire and Simon devoted a huge number of those minutes to a plotline that was, comparatively speaking, among the weakest of the show's history. to then turn around and tell us that we were missing the point -- that we should have instead been focusing on the comparatively-little screentime that Simon decided not to waste on the newsroom thing -- is a copout.
anyway I am sadd doggie. this show is irreplaceable. it has provided me hours and hours of viewing/thinking enjoyment.
of course dude. no one is denying this central message of the season.
I was reacting specifically to the notion that Simon created the entire Season 5 as some macro version of this very concept, that all the screentime he gave to the newspaper and homeless killing poltlines was a metaphor for the fact that audiences ignore the important stuff in favor of the sensationalist stuff.
but when it's you the writer/producer that is choosing to devote so much of the screentime to this nonsense, well, you can't really blame the audience at that point.
that's all I was saying.