New Yorker essay on "The Wire"

[KneeCo]

Can't wait for the next season.

There is some minor spoilerish stuff for next season (mentions a couple of themes and a couple of characters to expect at the forefront), but nothing that bothered me. Basically they talk about the aim of the next season (which we all know already) but they also mention how the show ends thematically and philosophically for the characters (which shouldn't surprise the viewers) but not what actually happens to anyone. I'm pretty sensitive about spoilers, and whatever I read about next season didn't come close to outweighing the joy of reading a well written ode to 'The Wire' in my fav mag.

There is a couple of pretty major spoilers about previous seasons though.

A lot of quotes big fans of the show will recognize from articles in other places.

The anecdotes about producing the show are, as always great.

The description of mapping out, writing and filming the last season is also a must read for fans and the anecdotes, including are fun too.

Interestingly, they also talk a bit about an upcoming Simon/Burns collaboration: "after they finished writing Season Five of “The Wire,” they teamed up again on Simon’s next project for HBO: a miniseries called “Generation Kill,” based on the 2004 book, by Evan Wright, about a Marine platoon in Iraq." And Simon talks about a future HBO series set in New Orleans: "The series will focus on New Orleans’s music community, and Simon plans to base some of the main characters on real people: a jazz trumpeter named Kermit Ruffins, who plays with a band called the Barbecue Swingers; Donald Harrison, Jr., a musician who is also the chief of an Indian tribe that performs at Mardi Gras; and Davis Rogan, a local d.j. and piano player." (this also leads to an interesting discussion of the use of music in the Wire, including revealing how the theme will be sung for the final season).

[gumpzilla]

The AV Club had a little sideline today about Simon's next show. Apparently it's supposed to be about New Orleans musicians trying to rebuild their lives after Katrina. Sounds interesting - and, as somebody in the comments section noted, the New Orleans connection hopefully means more Wendell Pierce (a.k.a. Bunk)

[ematz]

Stringer Bell went all county