07/17/08
5,052
113

By Nick Denton

Comment by BowlingAlleyLawyer: @GollyG: Totally agreed. I love Eddie and I think the show got a lot better in the second season. They... more » | Other threads

  • david simon

    'Wire' Creator Proud of New HBO Miniseries, No Matter Who Wrote it

    From the creator of The Wire! Sort of! The Iraq miniseries Generation Kill premieres this weekend on HBO, with do-no-wrong David Simon linked as co-writer/executive producer of the seven-part event. The LA Times had a look and seems to have liked it fine, despite the fingerprints of journalist and source author Evan Wright having smudged some of the central characters' "expository dialogue." More »
    07/11/08
    940
    1

    By STV
  • things we will probably like

    The Wire's David Simon To Further Depress Us With New Iraq War Series

    In one month's time, David Simon will (hopefully) dazzle and depress us all over again. The mastermind behind The Wire, HBO's stunning and somber study of urban decay, has created a seven-part miniseries called Generation Kill, once again for HBO. The series, based on the Evan Wright book, depicts a group of Marines during the first forty days of the current clusterfuck debacle in Iraq. While we've not seen a screener or anything, we can certainly hope that Simon's ultra-realistic, carefully worded style will make the series as icky, uncomfortable, and thoroughly fascinating as The Wire. Above find a trailer for the series, below a brief clip of cast and crew talking about the project. More »
    06/12/08
    2,170
    19

    By Richard Lawson

    Comment by Snowden: Generation Kill is a damn good book. I'm excited about this. more » | Other threads

  • the theatre

    Things We Like

    Jim "Prez" True-Frost, from the greatest show ever on television ever, The Wire, will be taking over the part of Little Charles in the greatest show on Broadway right now, August: Osage County. Good casting.
    05/20/08
    365
    7

    By Richard Lawson

    Comment by SW-2: Awesome! Let's not forget his turn as Buzz the Bellhop in "The Hudsucker Proxy," either. more » | Other threads

  • online video

    Apple adds HBO to iTunes, but only by caving on pricing

    As a a part of a deal to bring HBO shows to the iTunes store, Apple will allow a content producer to break its $1.99-per-show price structure for the first time, HBO employees involved in the deal told Portfolio. Last summer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs refused to allow NBC to do the same, so NBC boss Jeff Zucker took his shows elsewhere — to Microsoft and the Zune, specifically. Why did HBO get the deal while NBC didn't? More »
    05/12/08
    967
    5

    By Nicholas Carlson

    Comment by jeffabc: @ValleyWorker Considering that HBO's cost per episode is somewhere around $10 per on some box sets, I'm going to guess... more » | Other threads

  • defamer

    My Name Isn't Stringer Bell

    More »
    04/11/08
    3,123
    15

    By Douglas Reinhardt
  • the wire

    The Coda

    The Wire will never die, as long as die-hard followers like Culture Vulture still remember. Here, from the New York Magazine blog, is a wonderfully geeky frame-by-frame analysis of the final montage from David Simon's crime and corruption drama.
    03/24/08
    348
    2

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by jko: Yes, it is funny how The Wire hadn't died by 8:15 a.m. on March 10—less than 12 hours after the... more » | Other threads

  • great television

    Saying Goodbye to The Wire, Over And Over Again

    As you may have heard a million and one times today, last night was the series finale of HBO's The Wire, David Simon's sad and probing look into the lives of some people who lived in an American city once. Today there has been heaps of coverage about the last gasp of the Greatest Television Show In The History of Ever, and it can be a little daunting to sort through it. So, we've gone ahead and put together a little digest of some of the more interesting write-ups after the jump. Plus, a little video bonus. Shiiiiiit. Goodnight, Baltimore. More »
    03/10/08
    8,094
    47

    By Richard Lawson
  • television

    The Hubris of David Simon

    Credit where it is due: after a mid-season wobble, which shook my devotion to the foundation, The Wire has come together for the conclusion. David Simon's incredibly ambitious drama of crime and corruption in a decaying Baltimore has been compared by Slate's Jacob Weisberg, among others, to the sprawling novels of the 19th century. Most creators would be flattered to be mentioned in the same sentence as Charles Dickens. Simon, who combines cynicism about the possibility of social change with complete faith in the importance of his art, makes grander literary references in a recent radio interview on NPR's Fresh Air. "We've been stealing from a lot of the Greek tragedies... Hubris, a willingness to challenge the gods, a willingness to engage in an argument against one's fate: the same things that Antigone or Oedipus struggled with we gave the same sort of dynamic to our characters... The gods are the post-industrial institutions of modern life. Whoever you serve. Wherever your paycheck comes from. Whatever calling you thought you had. On The Wire, there is every possibility it will betray you." Talk about hubris: such a claim would normally invite ridicule. But Simon, a frustrated former journalist, has defied the fate he's assigned to The Wire's heroes: the former journalist challenged the gods of television with a show that shouldn't have worked, and they let him succeed. After the jump, a clip from the interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross. More »
    03/07/08
    2,525
    23

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by kikichanelconspiracy: @hortense: He let his anger cloud his judgment. The paper story line was almost as big a snoozer as... more » | Other threads

  • lolbama

    Obama's Favorite TV Show: You Will Never Guess, Ever

    Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent an entire day with a reporter for Us Weekly who asked "boxers or briefs" and other similarly pressing questions. The Times is kind of in a snit about it because when Us had Hillary Clinton in its pages, it was to have her make fun of her own worst outfits. Actually, the Hillary story was pretty fun compared with Obama's profile, where he comes across fairly vanilla, which is like a deadly sin in a celebrity magazine. Nevertheless, he does make fun of Stevie Wonder bumbling into things, which is kind of cool, and you'll never ever guess what his favorite TV show is: More »
    03/03/08
    11,232
    23

    By Ryan Tate

    Comment by elizabethm: @thatgirlinnewyork: I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid either. I'm sitting this election out, unfortunately. Lackluster options. more » | Other threads

  • last night's party

    Media Jews Violate Kosher At Spotted Pig

    Pictured here, New York's Adam Moss, host of the Oscars party the magazine threw at the Spotted Pig, before ab-obsessed Dave Zinczenko unbuttoned his shirt. Moss, who used to run New York Times' Sunday magazine, is one of the most high-minded of modern editors. Which makes the magazine's web triumph last week all the more disturbing. New York claims 20m pageviews per day for the arty nudes it ran of drunken starlet, Lindsay Lohan. (Yes, jealous.) Moss says the traffic is "addictive". He's joking, for the moment. But wait. (In this week's New York sex diaries, an S&M-loving comedian.) After the jump, lovingly photographed by Gawker's Nikola Tamindzic: Emily Gould; Julia Allison; Alan Cumming and other British luvvies' media gays displaying affection; "Smash" from Friday Night Lights; Marlo's enforcer from cult HBO show, The Wire; and Jews eating piglet. More »
    02/25/08
    12,024
    36

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by SecureLocation: I just watched 'The Pope of Greenwich Village' again on Sunday. Rourke and Eric Roberts were such beautiful young men... more » | Other threads

  • backlash

    Why David Simon Should Shut Down The Wire

    Devotees of The Wire, myself among them, should be delighted by this hint given by one of the HBO drama's actors. Dominic West, who plays the increasingly manic police detective, Jimmy McNulty, tells the Los Angeles Times some of his colleagues are lobbying David Simon for a movie spinoff, and the show's creator is indeed considering a prequel. But here's the sacrilegious thought, which I can't suppress: the final season is not the triumph that fans had hoped for; and it's time for Simon to let go. More »
    02/20/08
    9,324
    33

    By Nick Denton
  • suction

    The Wire Learns From West Baltimore

    Sure, the creator of HBO's The Wire is plugging his nephew's band Dead Meadow (left) in one of the drama's $1.5 million-to-produce episodes, and tapping the acting skills of Emmy-bait Dominic West to make it plausible. Jimmy McNulty this weeks complains to his kids about their music, and they reply, "it's Dead Meadow, Dad, geez." And yes, it's apparently the second time he's pimped the band in as many seasons. But The Wire itself is all about the power of incestuous and uncomfortable relationships, about the "suction" and "grease" deployed to win goodies for lovers, friends, business associates and, especially, family. Well played. [Leather Canary via NYM]
    01/30/08
    1,082
    11

    By Ryan Tate

    Comment by Chaim Gnadelstein: @hurleyburley: "We need a picture of a good-looking, charismatic lead for the print campaign." "Uh. Well, we don't have one of those." "Okay...what... more » | Other threads

  • the wire

    The Ubiquitous David Simon

    We love the Wire, even if the newsroom scenes are clumsy. But will former reporter and the HBO show's creator, David Simon, stop with the stream of essays? More importantly, will his fellow journalists, flattered though they are to be dramatized in the latest season of the show, stop running the pieces? Enough, already. [Baltimore Magazine]
    01/24/08
    558
    9

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by bess marvin, girl detective: @TheBigDoggy: have you watched the show? how can you say he's a horrendous writer, unless you mean a horrendous journalist more » | Other threads

  • scrapbook

    David Simon's Press Pass

    The creator of The Wire, HBO's crime-and-politics drama, used to work at the Baltimore Sun. Here's his press pass, from a recent memoir of his newspaper days, in Esquire. Funniest story: when Simon, as a newbie reporter, thought that oral sex had been legalized in Maryland. Simon is less amused by the transgressions of some former colleagues, portraying them variously as corporate stooges, buffoons and fabricators.
    01/14/08
    1,976
    18

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by AlexandraDuPont: That Esquire story was a very real lament and it made me sad. The stories about interpersonal fuckups are interspersed... more » | Other threads

  • the wire

    A Show About Us

    Yet more on The Wire, and what it reveals about journalism. The newspaper industry is much like the city of Baltimore: slightly horrified by the attention, but pleased it has its own HBO drama. [CJR]
    01/10/08
    304
    0

    By Nick Denton
  • gossip roundup

    Owen Wilson's Problems Are Caused By Men's Vogue

    01/10/08
    1,448
    4

    By Ryan Tate

    Comment by pezkills: I hear that if you snort enough coke it will straighten your nose out. Is that not right? more » | Other threads

  • cults

    Worship The Wire after this four-minute indoctrination!

    HBO's The Wire will cure cancer, save your newspaper and stand for millennia as the highest recorded form of human culture ever, every publication in the world reported this week. Gawker commenters have called the Wire "the best show ever," "completely addict[ing]," "really that good" and "I fucking love this show." But apparently "getting people to watch it is like pulling teeth" — hence the video after the jump, providing four seasons of backstory in four minutes. More »
    01/10/08
    3,772
    25

    By Ryan Tate

    Comment by Encantada: My neighbor looks so much like Omar that when I'd walk home and see him hanging out in front of... more » | Other threads

  • the wire

    The Writers Always Have The Last Say

    John Carroll (pictured speaking) became a newspaper martyr when in 2005 he resigned as editor of the Los Angeles Times rather than implement budget cuts demanded by the penny-pinching corporate overlords. But that wasn't enough for David Simon, creator of The Wire, the HBO drama about crime, politics and the media in Baltimore. Simon, a former reporter at the Baltimore Sun, still blames Carroll for "single-handedly destroying" the newspaper; he's the model for the bland manager of Simon's television show who urges staff to do "more with less". [Baltimore Sun via Fimoculous]
    01/08/08
    575
    5

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by HobeforeHos: Wow, she provides the inside scoop mere months after it was detailed in the New Yorker. Ladies and gentlemen, your... more » | Other threads

  • culture wars

    Wire creator to NYC: "You don't know shit anymore!"

    New York's media establishment may have decided that it loves the Wire. (Slate editor Jacob Weisberg was among the talking heads comparing the HBO drama to a great 19th century novel in the promo.) But David Simon, creator of the Baltimore-based show, doesn't return the regard. To be sure, Simon is generally bitter, holds a grudge and if you ask him what he thinks about Washingtonians, he'll say "fuck them." But the man reserves his real disdain for the East Coast Fantasy Island of New York. This is a 2006 link, but worth reprising. Baltimore blogger Eebmore transcribed a talk Simon gave at Eugene Lang College of the New School (famous alumni include: Ani DiFranco, Matisyahu, Sufjan Stevens and...Emily Gould!) and it's one of the best takedowns of New York we've heard. "You don’t know shit anymore!" and then some, after the jump. More »
    01/07/08
    6,350
    52

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by PandoraSpocks: @bettycrocker: Its Balta-marooons. With two aposthrophe'z. And the only reason anybody with any sense ever visits Baltimore is to see... more » | Other threads

  • grudging praise

    'The Wire' Was Hot

    The Wire, HBO's beautifully weary drama, documents the decline of industrial America. Having explored the docks, and failing schools, the fifth and final season introduces a new setting: the depressed newsroom of the Baltimore Sun, as it struggles to stay relevant in the increasingly binary American newspaper industry. Most telling line, from a bitter Sun reporter yearning to do real journalism: "The Times, The Post. Where else?" (Click the video for one of the sadder scenes from last night's show; after the jump, more on The Wire and the media.) More »
    01/07/08
    2,708
    40

    By Richard Lawson

    Comment by foursixteen: Season four of The Wire was the absolute best series I have ever watched. Seasons one and three were... more » | Other threads

  • brilliant

    The Wire's final season

    In Everything Bad is Good for You, Steven Berlin Johnson showed how television drama had become more complex over the decades, and made the contrarian claim that popular culture was making us smarter. The Wire, which returns tonight, ought to clinch the argument. The HBO drama, about crime and politics in Baltimore, is so convoluted that it takes several episodes, and sometimes several viewings, to make sense of the plot. And that's what's so engrossing: the show is a puzzle as much as it's entertainment. Bonus for media junkies: much of the action in this, the last season, takes place at the newsroom of the city's dying newspaper, the Baltimore Sun. One of the characters is a familiar figure in American publishing, the corporate executive who tells his dispirited reporters to do "less with more." 9pm, Sunday nights, HBO. Trailer after the jump. More »
    01/06/08
    2,502
    15

    By Nick Denton

    Comment by forgetitjake: Hey, know what happened on TV last night? There was this guy, and he was like a really smart journalist?... more » | Other threads

  • the wire

    Lost Things

    As has been reported several times, the new season of HBO's The Wire will focus on a fictional version of The Baltimore Sun. We'll see a depiction of a beleaguered paper that faces budget cuts and bureau closings, which is definitely familiar territory for the real Sun. What do you get when an important television show that no one is watching portrays an important medium that no one is reading? A sad and lonely little ouroboros, methinks.
    01/04/08
    980
    23

    By Richard Lawson

    Comment by MultiSlacking: @nevin: No way! I have to find the clip of Cockney Stringer. more » | Other threads

  • altarcations

    Donnie Andrews & Fran Boyd Believe In Third Acts

    Every darn week, the wedding announcements in the 'New York Times' asks you to celebrate all that is good and right in the world. Let our Intern Alexis remind you that love is like a grenade of happiness, tossing limbs of joy everywhere in a hot red spray of love-blood! More »
    08/20/07
    8,066
    21

    By Choire

    Comment by lovely nigerienne: They let colored people on here now? For shame. And they're old. more » | Other threads

  • katie couric

    Remainders: Katie Couric, Overachieving Blogger

    • Katie Couric's first week is accompanied by her first blog, a rambling, 10000-word treatment on the importance of being perky, complete with Karen Carpenter lyrics. Congrats, Katie. You're really done something. [Couric & Co.] More »
    09/14/06
    1,085
    6

    By Jessica

    Comment by Bon Jour, Pee Wee: Is Katie trying to be ironic with the statement: 'how hip am I?', for quoting The Carpenters? more » | Other threads

  • jacob weisberg

    Let Jake Weisberg Facilitate Your Ethnic Tourism

    Good news for white folks who want to watch The Wire but are afraid that they might not be able to follow the complex argot of the show's duskier characters: Noted ethnographer Jake Weisberg is here to help. More »
    09/14/06
    243
    8

    By abalk2

    Comment by raincoaster: Does someone want to give him the link to Gizoogle and watch for the inevitable article? more » | Other threads

  • new york times

    The Critics Agree: 'The Wire' Is This Season's Most Written-About Show on 43rd Street

    "When we last saw the bedraggled Bubbles, he was shuffling through a drug-infested corner of Baltimore on the HBO crime drama ''The Wire,'' pontificating as only Bubbles can." The New York Times, August 28 More »
    09/11/06
    1,950
    8

    By abalk2

    Comment by Barnacle: I'm just glad Stanley didn't write the review or any of the other articles, that way I can read them... more » | Other threads