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David Simon Chats About The Wire's Final Weeks
By
Peter Bryce
“The kind of writers I love are writing on the backs of cocktail napkins.” So says David Simon, creator of The Wire, the acclaimed HBO Baltimore drama now in its final weeks. The former police reporter at the Baltimore Sun joined a roomful of journalists for dinner and a Wire screening Wednesday night at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association Theater near Union Station.
Smartly dressed in jeans and a sport coat, Simon received a hero’s treatment, a rock star among the media brethren. Many prefaced their questions with gushing praise (“Thank you for creating the most wonderful work of art in modern memory”).
If you’ve seen The Wire, you might agree with the chorus. If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and start now. With five seasons and sixty episodes, you’ve got a lot of work to do to catch up to the most relevant drama in television today. Simon is a storyteller in the truest sense, always looking for a deeper explanation for the seemingly inexplicable. The Wire is full of murder, government and police corruption, drug use and traffic. But in the deep, contextual portrait he draws, it is near impossible to define the line between black and white, protagonist and antagonist, good and evil. And in the end, some of today’s best ideas are scrawled on bourbon-stained napkins in smudged ink. Here’s what Simon had to say:
-On why The Wire is not as popular or mainstream as other HBO hits: “Most of American popular culture is about individuals triumphing over institutions. The idea of fated and doomed protagonists whose heroism is set against certain defeat unsettles people. If you subvert the triumph dynamic, you lose some audience.”
-On Baltimore: “I love the city. The Wire is a love letter to Baltimore—a letter from a very conflicted, pissed-off lover.”
-On good journalism: “Actual journalism is not about convincing a prize committee to validate you. It is about your city. Readers don’t care how many Pulitzers you win. They care about the life around them.”
-On bad journalism: “‘The Wire spent four seasons building a city. The fifth season is about how disconnected the attempts to cover Baltimore in the media are so different than the series we’ve seen. When the biggest drug dealer in the city gets killed, he’s mentioned in a blurb on page B3. Nobody knows. They miss every story. Sixty percent of Americans believe journalists routinely make stuff up.”
-On the creative process: “The script is easy. Most of the work is done before that, in plotting, with charts, pieces of colored paper. It’s not easy. We just end up pissing each other off.”
-On HBO: “The idea that you don’t have to stop your show every 13 minutes to sell Buicks or iPods is epic. I don’t know how they do it on network TV.”
-On the war on drugs: “It destroyed police work. One of the best inventions for police forces was the wino’s paper bag. It freed cops from enforcing public consumption laws and allowed them to do real work. Now it’s back to taking drugs out of the hands of small-time offenders. If I were ever on a jury in a drug case ... even if it was for the biggest kingpin out there ... if no one could prove an act of violence, I would vote to acquit.”
-On the end of The Wire: “My advice to anyone with a show: Write to an ending. Not only is it easier, but you also get this turn at the end where everyone’s talking about you and saying you’re the shiznit.”
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Comments
In recognizing the overall loss of such a great show, I started seeking out any videos I could find about The Wire. I found a great one where David Simon talks about the affections he feels for Baltimore and how the city has influenced his work.
Check out the video
http://www.visitmybaltimore.com/video/449/
Posted by: Anna | Mar 07, 2008 08:46:06 AM
With the success of The Wire or lack thereof, I wonder what the next project will be from Simon. So far his stories have been beautifully written and the kudos on the casting.
If The Wire came from The Corner, im willing to go ahead and preorder what’s next.
Posted by: D Smith | Mar 03, 2008 08:12:12 PM
Catherine, I’m not sure where he got that number, but I hope you don’t think he is making that up. Simon wouldn’t do that. BTW, you can count me as a part of that 60%.
Posted by: Hot Breakfast | Mar 01, 2008 10:42:42 AM
Anon, voting to acquit is how jury nullification occurs.
Posted by: Matt Tievsky | Feb 29, 2008 08:11:30 PM
in the last 7 days I have read about the following:
* Blender, a music magazine owned by Maxim, ran a review of the Black Crowes new album. They gave it 2 and 1/2 stars. The Black Crowes record label had NOT sent out a single promotional copy of the album yet and the magainze was forced to admit the ran a "review" without listening to the album.
2. An independent newspaper near Boston College (or maybe the student paper, cant remember). Ran story about the BC vs UNC basketball game this weekend mentioning key Carolina players that needed to be stopped.....one of them, bobby frasior, has been out for the season since December and the other, Ty Lawson, hasnt played in a month.
While neither of these anticdotes come anywhere close to the level of importance as stories about domestic and internaitional affairs, they serve feathers in the cap for people like Simon (and rightfully so). What editors allowed this? if it goes in in trivial things like sports and music --- added to what we already know about the likes of Stephen Glass and co.---it is not unrealstic that journalists skew/cook or make up stories.
Posted by: jd | Feb 29, 2008 03:07:56 PM
"60% of americans think journalists make stuff up on a routine basis? really? where did he get that statistic?"
Well, keep in mind, at heart, he is a journalist...
Posted by: Sean Richardson | Feb 29, 2008 12:19:44 PM
I am not a lawyer, but food for thought for anyone agreeing with Simon’s assessment of the reprehensible criminality of drug use. Rather than acquitting a defendant on trial for drug crimes, why not attempt "Jury Nullification"? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification for a backgrounder. In short, an acquittal states that the defendant did not commit the crime in question, where as a nullification goes further and states /that the criminal statute itself is unjust/. The Wikipedia article claims that it was used heavily during Prohibition. It’s a juror’s right that’s rarely known nowadays.
Posted by: Anon E Mouse | Feb 29, 2008 08:28:46 AM
60% of americans think journalists make stuff up on a routine basis? really? where did he get that statistic?
Posted by: Catherine | Feb 29, 2008 06:44:31 AM
This is a great article - I’ve heard so much about The Wire but have never seen an episode. Now I’m inspired to buy the DVDs!
Posted by: mulkodoggo | Feb 28, 2008 06:57:44 PM
ilove this show
Posted by: wire fan | Feb 28, 2008 03:41:48 PM
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