When David Simon first learned that he won the MacArthur "genius" Grant — which comes with $500,000 tax-free, no-strings-attached, paid out in quarterly installments over five years — his first thought was to give the money to charity. He doesn't need it. "To be blunt, I'm in the entertainment industry ... and my contracts are Read More
Many reporters (Canadian ones, at least) are following in the hallowed footsteps of crime-reporter-turned-Wire-creator David Simon, reports Canada's Globe and Mail. Journalism no longer has the same sense of stability it once did--and besides, writing for TV is fun!
"As an ink-stained scribbler the last 10 years, I've sat in the same chair in Read More
"I've never seen Obama in the flesh, but I've watched everything he's ever done," said Dominic West, who played Jimmy McNulty on The Wire-"and I'm even more in worship of him than I was before."
It was after 11 p.m. on Saturday, May 1, in the foyer of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., where Read More
HBO's renaissance continues Sunday night with the premiere of Treme, David Simon's new hour-long drama about New Orleans musicians that takes place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Here, four things any informed viewer ought to know before hitting the couch tonight (or whenever you end up watching it).
It's a Reunion!
With Mr. Simon's involvement, Read More
What do you do after co-creating a television series so critically praised, Slate's then-editor Jacob Weisberg called it "the best show on television and which prompted The New York Times editorial page's Nicholas Kulish to write, "If Charles Dickens were alive today, he would watch 'The Wire,' unless, that is, he was already Read More
David Simon is taking some old pals from thedark streets of Baltimore to the desperate landscape of New Orleans for his new HBO pilot, Treme. Wire veterans Wendell Pierce (who played endearingly drunk, yet straight and true detective Bunk) and Clarke Peters (everybody's favorite fatherly figure) will star in the drama following the reconstruction of Read More
Seth Gilliam issued some fightin' words to Emmy board members on BBC's Live 5 show this morning. Mr. Gilliam, who played Sgt. Ellis Carver on HBO's The Wire, criticized them for snubbing the show, which had only one nomination this year. He added that his series "deals with inner-city civil servants, and the Emmys would Read More
The 60th Annual Emmy Awards nominations have been announced, and as Gillian Reagan points out on our sister blog, Culture Czar, quality television purveyor HBO was shut out of the Best Drama category. There wasn't even a spot for The Wire, which finished its final season beneath an avalanche of critical Read More
Critics who got an early look at Generation Kill, the new HBO miniseries about the first 40 days of the Iraq war created by Wire masterminds David Simon and Ed Burns, were treated to more than the first five (of seven) episodes on DVD. As part of a multipacket press kit, they also received a Read More
Amy Ryan, the gal who starred as "Beadie" Russell on The Wire, will reprise her role as human resources representative Holly Flax on The Office next season. Ms. Ryan appeared in last year's season finale as a puppy love interested of Steve Carell's character, Michael Scott. "I don't know what they're going to do with Read More
On Saturday night at Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of Tennessee, we caught up with the righteous and stern Lieutenant Daniels from The Wire, also known as Lance Reddick. “The funny thing for me about life after The Wire is that I’ve worked more since The Wire than I did the whole time I was on Read More
At the Columbia Journalism School on Wednesday night, David Simon, the former crime reporter and creator of HBO’s massively popular urban drama series The Wire, didn’t waste any time before he started blasting his ex-bosses at The Baltimore Sun, the overall quality of American newspapers and, harshest of all, newsrooms that are more concerned with Read More
If David Simon is Captain Ahab, then call me Ishmael. Mr. Simon, the newspaper-reporter-turned-television-producer, stands accused of unhealthy obsession because he is using the current season of The Wire to revisit his old workplace, The Baltimore Sun.
In the HBO program, in profiles and interviews, and in an Esquire essay, Mr. Simon has revived an old Read More
This is a bit off the beaten track, but we couldn't help noticing that an ongoing inter-blog discussion about the socio-political implications of the official "Greatest TV Show Ever", The Wire (whose upcoming season, by the way, takes viewers inside the newsroom of The Baltimore Sun), has been joined by none Read More
On Sunday night, Jan. 6, HBO will broadcast the first episode of the fifth, and last, season of The Wire. To assure fans: The show continues to offer perhaps the most loving and damning portrait of Baltimore ever put to film, from the cops to the teachers to the drug dealers to the politicians who Read More
