How realistic is "The Wire"?

[vito]

I never watched this HBO series when it was actually broadcast, but now, several years after the series ended I have been watching it episode by episode. With all of the turmoil and crime in Baltimore it seemed very timely to watch this excellent drama (I just recently read that some critics consider this series to be one of the finest productions ever to be on TV, period). The brutal inner city violence and dominance of the drug trade over daily life seems almost incomprehensible to me. Although I grew up in '50's in a lower middle class neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, it was not even remotely like what is portrayed for inner city Baltimore. This has all made me wonder about how realistic, or not, this depiction of life in inner city Baltimore was or is. If it is accurate it would seem like an almost totally hopeless situation for the people stuck in that environment.

 

[Poco Oso]

"The Wire" was the first thing that came to mind when Baltimore blew up. It's a real gritty look at what life is really like in such areas. We started to watch it when it first started showing, but were put off by the language, at the time. We finally watched the entire series through Netflix a couple years ago and it was excellent. I still think "Hampsterdam" was a brilliant idea. I would be interested in others input on this too, especially if we can hear from some of our Maryland members. Snoop and Omar turned out to be my favorite characters. :wink: Enjoy.

 

[gramps]

This is a TV show. Violence sells, drama sells. Maybe life is being driven by shows such as this?
gramps

 

[wunbe]

Aside from the harrowing gangsta mores abroad in 'the community', The Wire also points out the deceptive political games, blatant corruption, and other betrayals of the public trust by the police hierarchy, the educational system mafia, the mayor's office, and state and federal elected representatives from the Ghetto. it is rotten to the core and has been for decades and no one does anything about it.

Folks who live in far suburbia or rural areas have no context for understanding The Wire. You have to live in or near a major American city to fully appreciate the balls it took to produce and air The Wire. The left wing media will never tell anywhere near the truth about what goes on every day there as that would expose the lies underpinning their whole ideology.

The recent riots in Baltimore just threw some light on the cesspool -- for a heartbeat in time. Soon it will all slip back into ignored background noises -- again.

wunbe