“You either love The Wire, or you have not seen it yet.”

One of the age-old debate is what is the best TV shows ever. Many candidates stand out but the one series likely to jump out is The Wire, a series it seems no one even saw when it first came out. The Wire told a stories of Baltimore City and its struggles with various groups and organisation. It started off as a cops vs. drug dealers drama but expanded in subsequent season to weave in the plight of the blue-collar dock workers, the rotten intricacies of the city politics, the failure of the education system and the complicity of the media. The end result is a complex look at the problems that plague many American cities and so thought-provoking and compelling that it’s still talked about and discussed through this day.

This book presents voices from the cast and crew about their experiences writing, producing and acting in the show. It intercuts different perspective and gives a deeper insights into various junctions of many important points and characters.

There are a few things that I got listening to the audiobook of this:

• There is always a constant strife for realism. Filming was done on location with many actors/residents of Baltimore itself. I love how there’s a story how a detective told one of the actor that real communication their wiretaps of the drug dealers stopped at 10pm every Sunday when The Wire is on, since everyone stopped to watch the series!
• The series exposed the nasty side of Baltimore, drawing ires among many people. However, it also helps to call attention to the problem that exist and get us to find out how we can help to address them.
• The series demand the writers and producers really understand the subject matters depicted. Ed Burns, co-write, was a former Baltimore police detective and public school teacher while David Simon, produer, worked at The Baltimore Sun with connection into the inner politics of the city. This allows them to call on their contacts and understand the intricacies of what they’ve written about. There was talk that they wanted to stage Season 6 to cover the rising Latino community but lacking real on-ground insight, they decided against it.
• It depressingly suggests that one person cannot change the system. Systems can’t get better but people can However, positive changes and redemption is still possible so positive changes and redemption is still possible. Real systemic reforms historically happened only when there were great trauma that can (usually violent) changes.
• The book also reveals the relationships between the actors and with the characters they play. It’s fascinating to see how immersed nearly all of them are and how they reacted when told that their characters are being killed off
• Given its recent status, it’s amazing how close the show came multiple time to not get made or to get cut short. Show business really can be volatile and it takes effort, connection and luck to prevail. This shows the importance of supporting more niche platform like HBO who is willing to produce quality series like this.

This is really only for those who’ve seen The Wire and want to get immersed further into this seminal masterpiece. I’d definitely encourage you to watch it if you have not, and if you have, you should enjoy the insights share in this book!