The Wire aired for five seasons on HBO.  The main character of the show was the city of Baltimore, with each season looking at the city through a different infrastructure (the streets, the docks, politics, the school system and the media).  I’ve done nothing to disguise the large amount of admiration for the show on a personal level.  So why is it only 15th on the countdown?  On to the tale of the tape…

Relevance:  As mentioned in the intro, the show is set in Baltimore, Maryland, one of America’s most urban areas.  Because of the locale and the show’s decision to focus on the lower class citizens, the show was filled with minority actors in every season.  If you want to be a super contrarian you can point out that the show’s creator David Simon is white, but honestly, you can say that about a lot of the shows and movies we consider ‘black.’

Legacy:  The show hasn’t been off the air that long so this one is a little harder to quantify.  So I’ll approach it from this angle:  in the past few years, I can’t think of another show that built its audience almost exclusively based on word of mouth.  A good friend of mine wouldn’t stop raving about it, so I got into it.  I got into it, and I couldn’t stop raving about it to my friends who hadn’t seen it yet.  And the chain continues on…

Craft:  David Simon himself has described his show as a visual novel.  It didn’t help bring in new viewers as the show gained steam, but you truly had to start at Episode 1 of Season 1 to stay with the show.  But anyone who made the journey will tell you the payoff for investing in these stories and these characters was almost always worth it.  Speaking of the characters, while it’s highly unlikely there will be a movie star out of the bunch, props also go to the cast, who definitely did their part in making us in the audience both empathize and at times be disgusted with every major character of the show.

Crossover:  As every Wire fan knows, the show was adored by its fans but never got Emmy love.  Ever.  Not for writing, not for any of the extraordinary actors.  The Wire continues to have a rabid fan base, and according to Simon, that’s all he cared about. 

Apollo:  For a single moment, I’d say when Herc walked in on the Mayor (if you know the show, you know exactly what I’m talking about).  But I have to speak on the one character that still sticks with me.  Duquan, better known as Dukie.  A close friend of mine is still working his way through seasons 4 & 5, so I won’t use this space to say how it all ends, but I will say this.  With the possible exception of Tyra from Friday Night Lights, there is no character I’ve felt sorrier for in my television experience.  I’ve said repeatedly that while I’m fully aware it’s just an actor playing a part, if I saw Dukie walking around L.A., I’d stop whatever I was doing, buy him lunch and spend a few minutes with him to make sure he was doing alright. 

The next entry will be up later this month…