Comments on: The Wire Prequels

The Wire Prequels

kirkaracha — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:45:39 -0800

The Wire Prequels: Young Prop Joe, 1962 ; Young Omar, 1985; Bunk and McNulty first meet, 2000.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:47:53 -0800

By: sdodd

sdodd — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:58:51 -0800

What, what?! I've finally come to terms with being a total The Wire fanboy. But this... it... I'm having a hard time resisting the impulse to skip around the room like a little girl. Bless you for posting this.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:59:11 -0800

Eh, bullshit. Wire got together in 1976.

By: gaspode

gaspode — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:01:02 -0800

Awesome. Thanks!

By: AceRock

AceRock — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:01:08 -0800

Sweeeeet

By: box

box — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:03:59 -0800

How would someone go about downloading these and converting them to a more DVD-friendly format?

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:05:53 -0800

I want to have your babies.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:13:34 -0800

Oh, and here's a tip: Don't bother to read the "More info" link. The quotes from the HBO marketing people will not reaffirm your faith in humanity. They're so clueless I don't know how they can find their way out of bed in the morning, much less operate a motor vehicle.

By: electricinca

electricinca — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:20:16 -0800

Oh man. Thank you very much for posting these, I just cannot wait until season 5 starts.

By: dead_

dead_ — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:22:29 -0800

Nice.

By: birdherder

birdherder — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:23:06 -0800

Season 5 can't get here fast enough.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:29:17 -0800

Also, this is strangely appropriate as I ran into just now: Charlie Brooker talking about the Wire (first series).

By: Nelson

Nelson — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:37:01 -0800

Omar, a bad-ass even at age eleven.

By: Molesome

Molesome — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:42:15 -0800

Definition of Godsend: Wire shorts that don't spoil the next season and build on well-loved characters. Bravo kirkaracha

By: sdodd

sdodd — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:46:24 -0800

From slimepuppy's Charlie Brooker link: "If you like good drama, you have no excuse for not indulging in [The Wire]. It is just fucking brilliant." Says it all. I've given up on recommending books and filmed entertainment to friends, as there's no accounting for taste. But I make a special exception for The Wire.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:46:40 -0800

Is season 5 of The Wire safe from being screwed up by the writer's strike? Because I just watch the season finale of Heroes and I'm pissed.

By: skechada

skechada — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:50:56 -0800

The Bunk & McNulty clip is gold.

By: stefnet

stefnet — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:52:50 -0800

I finally started getting the series on Netflix. Will watching these spoil anything for someone who is only partway through the first season?

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:57:53 -0800

I don't think they'd spoil anything, but the more you're familiar with the characters the more likely you'd be to enjoy the prequels. I haven't seen Season Four yet, but these seem to be stand-alone character-driven vignettes that don't refer to anything specific in the plots of the show.

By: mrzer0

mrzer0 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:58:05 -0800

stefnet: No. =)

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:10:51 -0800

Thanks for these. I'm a big fan of the show. These are amusingly slight. A great amuse bouche.

By: neustile

neustile — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:44:56 -0800

Nelson: no, the wire wrapped before the strike. Season 5 is only 10 episodes, sadly, but that had nothing to do with the strike. I can't wait for Season 5 to start either but I'm also a bit sad that it's the last one so I want to prolong the excitement.

By: zerobyproxy

zerobyproxy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:50:32 -0800

Fuck. Fuck! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:52:01 -0800

yo, these clips is right, son.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:57:05 -0800

Thank you! I just finished reviewing season four DVDs. I worked for a while on a Snoop Pearson FPP last night before learning that there was one. But it was missing this non-spoiler moment from season four which I love.

By: vhsiv

vhsiv — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:06:28 -0800

Just great - a few teasers for The Wire just as the the WGA goes on strike for issues related to internet promotion and dissemination. I hope the writers got paid for their efforts, rather than being screwed via 'promotional' caveat. And WTF? McNulty and Bunk drinking in the office? I thought that their whole operendus depended on doing that shit after-hours?

By: waraw

waraw — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:07:23 -0800

Thanks lots for posting these!

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:16:57 -0800

Sheeeeeiiiiiiiiit.

By: SageLeVoid

SageLeVoid — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:20:20 -0800

Ed Burns, the ex-cop who helps writing the show was interviewed on Fresh Air recently.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:26:41 -0800

Christmas come early! :D

By: splatta

splatta — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:38:07 -0800

My favorite drunk Jimmy moment.

By: starman

starman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:56:05 -0800

Count me in as a Wire fan. Most of the way through season 2 right now, wondering what took me so long finding it in the first place. Am I wrong to suggest it's better than Sopranos? Are they apples and oranges? I've seen every episode of Sopranos and loved it, but I'd have to go back and watch it after watching The Wire, see if it still holds up. The Wire seems to a much "tighter" show than The Sopranos story-wise through the course of the season.

By: AceRock

AceRock — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:11:37 -0800

Am I wrong to suggest it's better than Sopranos? No.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:29:19 -0800

It's far, far better than the Sopranos. The Sorpanos really only had about two, maybe two-and-a-half seasons of true greatness, and they never got close to being Season-Four-of-The-Wire awesome. Here are my (small) problems with The Wire though (spoilerish): 1). Omar has turned into a superhero. I hope he either dies or doesn't do much in season five. 2). And please never bring back Brother Mouzone, and double-please don't team them up again. 3). I hope they don't abandon the kids the way they abandoned the docks. Clearly Michael is going to stay in the story, but I want to know about the others as well. 4). I hate them for only doing ten more episodes.

By: nicolas léonard sadi carnot

nicolas léonard sadi carnot — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:33:35 -0800

What a great fucking show, seriously. Just got done watching the first three seasons over the course of about a fortnight, and I now feel like I know McNulty and Daniels and Avon and so on better than my parents. Well, better than my girlfriend, at least. Season two's my favourite, though it starts painfully slowly - some really epic Shakespearean tragedy stuff towards the end. You really get a sense of how pretty much every character is trapped by their circumstances - the narrative has this powerful sense of inevitability to it. God, I'm babbling. Just wonderful.

By: nicolas léonard sadi carnot

nicolas léonard sadi carnot — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:36:18 -0800

SPOIIILERSSS BELOW Dude, the Mouzone / Omar dream team was fucking great, what are you talking about? Omar's the gay black Punisher, sure, but I've never felt like I needed to suspend my disbelief.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:24:54 -0800

I'm pretty sure this season is going to tie back to things that happened at the docks.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:48:03 -0800

What great teasers. Reminded me to bump season 4 to the top of my netflix queue! I wish Young Omar hadn't had the scar yet. IIRC the actor got that in a 21st-birthday barfight; he said something to the effect of it probably has helped him get acting roles.

By: docpops

docpops — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:51:43 -0800

I live to see Omar. When my wife and I went to see Gone Baby Gone and he showed up, she whispered excitedly, "Hey it's that guy!!!" and she's seen about an hour total of The Wire.

By: stammer

stammer — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:56:06 -0800

2). And please never bring back Brother Mouzone, and double-please don't team them up again. Totally. I love The Wire so much that it probably qualifies as a paraphilia, but every scene with Mouzone made me wince. Mouzone? More like Mougroan! It's weird, because I'm clearly not in a position to advise Simon and Burns about realism in the Baltimore ghettoes, but Mouzone always feels like he's stepped out of some kind of blaxploitation James Bond flick. I remember a scene where he delivered a line that was something like: "Nothing in the world is as dangerous as a nigger with a library card", and cackled - I fully expected lightning to strike, followed by shots of his sinister laughter ringing through the projects. Every other supervillain in The Wire - even Marlo, who is still pretty much an enigma - feels like a fully organic personality, but Mouzone seems to have no motivation beyond being awesome. Maybe it's because he's from New York.

By: shakobe

shakobe — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:24:16 -0800

@Bookhouse What is an FPP? Were you working on a collection of Snoop scenes? (awesome idea).

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:31:45 -0800

I wish Young Omar hadn't had the scar yet. I don't know about that, TPAA. It makes him all the more interesting of a character. Obviously he had some fucked up shit go down very early in his life that instilled in him not only a capacity for violent crime but also a strong sense of honor and the criminal code. What it could be is so mysterious, but also obviously intense. I want some more prequels: Avon the boxer turning to drugs. Avon and Stringer meeting up for the first time. Daniels' shifty early years on the force. Rawls turning into the massive asshole company man. There are so many fascinating little stories that could be told, even if they were just 1-2 minute vignettes like this. Anyway, I gotta say, I like Mouzone. He always struck me as a gangsta putting on a front, and I'd like to see more about what's behind the Farrakhan facade.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:34:26 -0800

Damn, the kid that plays young Prop Joe is just so fucking good at it. He got the cadence down perfectly.

By: skechada

skechada — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:39:27 -0800

The Believer had an article where Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, etc.) interviewed David Simon. There's only a partial excerpt online, but it's worth reading nonetheless. I, for one, love the swagger that Simon brings to his writing. For example, "I'm from Baltimore and I've got some shit you fucking need to see, people! Put down that CSI shit and pay some heed, motherfuckers!" http://www.believermag.com/issues/200708/?read=interview_simon

By: Football Bat

Football Bat — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:37:33 -0800

We really need a prequel that delves into Rawls in the gay bar. I mean, what the fuck was that? Besides being fucking cool. Oh, and awesome awesome awesome post.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:43:18 -0800

Damn you, I was just off to bed, when I stumbled over this... I've said it before and I'll say it again... the world is divided into those who think The Wire is greatest television program ever... and those who just haven't seen it yet.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:05:37 -0800

We really need a prequel that delves into Rawls in the gay bar. Yeah, what was that? I wonder if they just threw it in as an aside -- like, maybe the actor was just visiting the set and they thought, what the hell? Mouzone always feels like he's stepped out of some kind of blaxploitation James Bond flick. Yeah, right after he appeared, he shot cheese with a specially loaded bullet, and gave a little speech about it, and I said, Oh, shit, The Wire just jumped the shark. The show recovered, of course, but I never got over feeling he didn't belong.

By: robcorr

robcorr — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:14:55 -0800

I can not wait to get home from work. Six hours to go... Other prequels I would like to see: 1. How Stringer came to work for Avon Barksdale. (I always feel like Stringer should have been the top dog.) 2. How did Maurice Levy end up as the dodgy Barksdale lawyer? (I think he probably went to law school with a dodgy-lawyer career in mind.) 3. How did Tommy Carcetti get into politics?

By: arruns

arruns — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:46:41 -0800

I'm just glad to finally see "No-Heart" Anthony

By: robcorr

robcorr — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:53:13 -0800

Okay, home now, and watched them. The beauty of the Prop Joe and Omar clips is that they fit so well alongside Season 4. When Prop Joe was in school, he was crooked, but it was an altogether more innocent type of crookedness. Even by the eighties, in the Omar clip, the schoolkids are carrying guns. But robbery is, if not less evil, then at least less complicated than drug dealing. By the time we get to Michael and his friends, they've got all kinds of shit to deal with.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:47:28 -0800

Season Five preview with links to five promo vids on youtube... as far as I can tell it's just about spoiler free - there's dissuasion of the theme of the season and the very start of the main character's plotlines.

By: frances1972

frances1972 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:25:52 -0800

Just have to chime in on Brother Mouzone -- I love his character. That library card thing seemed to reference a Richard Wright essay (and dozens of other literacy narratives, I guess). There's no doubt that the dress of Nation of Islam members has become iconic, but the armed-with-intellect criminal is a pretty common figure too (like The Misfit -- his reasoning may be twisted but that doesn't mean he doesn't speak the truth). I don't know how to explain what I mean exactly but Brother Mouzone feels like one of those characters who bases his image on those kinds of icons, like he's meditated on it. Thanks for the links to these prequels. Holy crap, I love Omar.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:22:20 -0800

I am going to disagree with pretty much everyone here and say that these prequels are lame and self-serving, not to mention CHEESY. David Simon and Ed Burns can do much better than this.