07 · 14

David Simon...the God of Great TV • Part 1: The Wire

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The lady and I have been on a bit of a David Simon bender as of late; The Wire, Treme, and now Generation Kill (and in a few days The Corner, and maybe a season or two of Homicide). These are some of the best television shows around. And Simon, the Baltimore journalist turned screenwriter, is at the core of all of them.

Simon does two things better than anybody else I have seen. First, he writes characters with real voices and depth. And second, he ties these characters into a larger critique on systemic problems. Neither of these things are easy...not to write, not to portray, and certainly not to sell to an industry, and a viewing audience, that focuses on the exact opposites. To add to this amazing accomplishment his shows are entertaining, funny, gritty, and unpretentious. It is like eating something delicious and then looking at the label and saying "Holy shit...this is actually good for me!"

During the five season run of The Wire we are pulled through the intestinal tract of the City of Baltimore. To take a burned out genre like cops and robbers and use it to connect the audience to the core issues that create the problems of America's inner cities takes balls. And David Simon and his writing partner Ed Burns (a former Baltimore cop and teacher) have huge balls...and so does HBO for letting it air for five seasons even if it didn't draw a crowd like The Sopranos. HBO even stuck it with it when, despite critical acclaim, The Wire was routinely shutout on Emmy night.

One last thing I want to say about Simon's writing is that he expects a lot out of his audience. He will plop you down smack dab in the middle of a story. There is no "It is the first day on the job for the rookie so we will vicariously learn the ropes along with him" bullshit. No...minute one and you are drowning in it, and maybe three or four episodes down the road you might tease out a little more understanding. Characters are never formally introduced...hell half the time you don't know their names. The dialogue is always rife with slang and jargon and you are left standing there without your dictionary. You are forced to pay close attention and by the end of the season you are a veteran...you speak that language. Trusting an audience to take that journey goes against everything the last 50 years of TV has stood for. But David Simon shows that there can be a market for smart TV.

So are you going to be smart and watch The Wire? I hope so. If not, I am sure there is an episode of Two and Half Men on right now.

 

UPDATE:

I forgot to add these videos of David Simon talking to Bill Moyers about The Wire, so here they are:

 

Bubbles David Simon HBO Omar Snoop Television The Wire