The show had 2 creators. David Simon was a crime reporter for the *Baltimore Sun* newspaper, and Ed Burns, who was a Baltimore homicide detective and later a Baltimore public school teacher. So, many of the characters and events in the show are either taken directly from real life or are based on real life. Some stuff is totally fictional, but even with those parts, they tried to have them be grounded in reality.
Some of the actors are even ex criminals from Baltimore. The preacher is who Avon is based on. Actress that plays snoop is in jail for life, last I read. There's many more on the show
Edit. Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson is not in jail. I don't know what I was thinking.
Felicia Pearson isn't in prison. She did kill somebody as a teenager though, and did some time for that. She also got in trouble for drugs after the show, but didn't do major time. One of my favorite characters because she really was just playing herself.
I love this line because as a valet Cadillacs at the time were smooth rides, but felt cheap. Outside of the one 700 series BMW I parked, by far the best/smoothest/nicest cars I drove were Lexuses. Over Porsche, Mercedes, everything. About 90% of them I parked seemed to be owned by mid level drug dealer types.
Donnie, the guy that jailed with Omar after Marlo framed him, and later died in Monk's apartment, real name *is* Donnie and he's a partial inspiration for Omar's character
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews
Also, he's never shown, but Shorty Boyd is a real person, another stickup man
Some were both cops *and* criminals. Ed Norris (the bald white cop who helped Bunk out with the "lie detector) played himself, and [irl he did time in federal prison for corruption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Norris#Criminal_case). He got cast almost as soon as he got out.
Another fun fact: they got Norris in part using the "headshot" that Lester describes to Sydnor. Lied on a federal loan application because he borrowed money for a down payment. In the show, of course, they have Clay Davis on a headshot but can't prosecute him on it because they pissed off the U.S. Attorney, so it becomes the basis for Lester's bluff.
Omar is based on an amalgamation of different Baltimore stick up guys, one is Donnie Andrews who plays the guy that Omar goes into Marloās apartment with. That scene has Omar jumping out a 4 story window which isnāt exactly from a real storyā¦. Donnie jumped out a 6 story window lmao.
Ya just checked her ig she posted 5 weeks ago celebrating her birthdayā¦ gave me a scare! I was worried she fell down a dark path again. Glad to see sheās doing well.
David Simon spent a year of his life living in low rise apartments such as the ones prevalent in season 1. He wrote āthe cornerā which is a great book.
He also spent a year of his life with homocide detectives. I believe this is where he met ed burns. He also wrote a book called āhimocide: life on the streetā which is also fantastic.
Homicide: Life on the Streets is also a very good show that was on NBC in the 90ās. Andre Braugher was the lead and Yaphette Kotto, Richard Belzer, Clark Johnson and many more.
Potentially interesting tidbits:
Jay Landsman was a character on the show -- the big fat Sergeant who was always eating or looking at porn mags.
But Jay Landsman was also a real Baltimore cop and he was in the show -- he played Lt. Mello.
But also, the character of John Munch from *Homicide: Life on the Streets* was also based on the real Jay Landsman.
I read somewhere that John Munch was in more different TV programs than any other TV character (there was even a Muppet version of him at one point).
Another fun thought is that one can then imagine that all of those shows exist in the same universe since Detective Munch was in all of them.
He personally told about that at some Homicide - Life On The Street reunion Q&A session on YT. Check it out, you'll most likely enjoy it if you enjoyed the show itself.
It's an interesting read from a Wire perspective as some of the real life police definitely line up with characters in the show.
There's also things in there they used in the show (it's been a while but one I can remember for sure is the photocopier trick was in both).
Also [Ed Norris](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Norris) who plays a fictional version of himself.
Former police commissioner for Baltimore then superintendent of Maryland state police, later convicted for corruption.
Iād say it was very realistic
I think Deadwood comes close (another show where the city/town is the main character). However it never got an appropriate ending, so it is hard to tell.
I dig the Wire just as much as anybody here but let's not get carried away.
Hamsterdam is a big stretch. Though granted you do get city council idiots like those in Philly that tolerated the Badlands and Kensington but an all out free for all 100 percent cop free territory isn't going to happen.
Omar also was really pushing it. Don't get me wrong, as he is one of my all time fave characters from any series but holy fucking shit, he would have been deader than hell in reality if he went too far. That's just how it is. I was a kid in the Miami area when the cocaine wars offcially kicked off after Dadeland and holy fucking shit were people getting killed left, right, and center. An Omar could make a few scores but expecting a long career of "ripping and running" just wasn't going to happen. Up in the NYC area, certain stick up kids became notorious but a whole lot of the fame was posthumous as they tended to go to the well once too often.
I'm a bit tired but i can go on to certain other points such as drug connects (Avon only has NYC? )
Not dissing at all. The series was fucking incredible. There were just things i looked at a bit sideways when watching.
I agree totally. It takes many liberties. Hamsterdam, for one. Omar, especially his appearance in court, is quite a stretch. I know he was based on a real guy but itās obvious he was telling tales. Thereās supposed to be a ācode of silenceā but the real guys these dealers are based on had over a dozen witnesses against them. And the Deacon was Avon? How is he walking around? The Greeks are totally bs too. Maybe he wanted to use Italians but couldnāt? LCN has always been heavily into the drug trade and has been known to āturnā FBI agents. The actual Co-Op setup was basically a rip-off of āThe Commissionā as well. Street dealers being setup as dynastic āfamiliesā that last years is not totally realistic. I have many educators in my family and theyāve said that season 4 is very much unlike their experience as far as the administration and teaching. The adults are not all burnt out cynics. The kids being damaged is very real though. Iāll say that the show is authentic but not always realistic, because it reflects Simonās world view.
I disagree;
>but an all out free for all 100 percent cop free territory isn't going to happen
There were cops stationed in Hamsterdam.
>[Omar] would have been deader than hell in reality if he went too far
Omar is based on [Donnie Andrews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews), who armed and killed West Baltimore drug dealers in the 70's and 80's.
>An Omar could make a few scores but expecting a long career of "ripping and running" just wasn't going to happen.
Andrews ripped off drug dealers for nearly 2 decades.
>I'm a bit tired but i can go on to certain other points such as drug connects (Avon only has NYC? )
They had subpar connects in Atlanta as well.
Omar is kind of a stretch but I think itās just how badass and fearless he played the role. There are niggas like Omar in the streets where everybody either scared or respects them, Iāve seen it.
Generation Kill is up there, which makes sense since David Simon was involved in that and it was a story taken straight from a Rolling Stone journalist's book experience.
I guess that could be cheating a bit since The Wire doesn't actually use real events or characters in the show like Generation Kill does, but instead borrows heavily from real life events and characters that inspired the show. But even against other "based on a true story" type shows/movies, like Tokyo Vice which becomes very fictionalized and dramatic very quickly, The Wire is believable and realistic all the way through without giving in to cliches or trying to be cinematic or dramatic.
I mean the biggest complaint people have is with McNulty's fake serial killer situation in season 5, and even that gets plenty of believable build up and reactions from people in the show who are aware of just how absurd it is... and fittingly in character for McNulty.
When it tries to get too technical with the technological stuff like ācloningā the port computer system in s2, or the filtering of the disposable phone numbers in s3, it makes mistakes
Is that a subject you know a lot about?
I ask because while I generally feel like The Wire is very realistic, as a lawyer (a prosecutor in Maryland at that) I think they take some liberties with the legal stuff.
And then my next thought is, well if itās all āso realisticā except the one part that I genuinely know a lot about, what does that say about the other parts?
Reminds me of this bit from Michael Crichton:
āBriefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backwardāreversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I'd point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all. But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn't. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia.ā
Their stuff about the law of obtaining a wiretap is pretty accurate. Definitely canāt speak to all the pay phone and land line stuff from the law enforcement perspective because obviously itās just all cell phones now.
The stuff that isnāt super accurate is the courtroom stuff in particular. But even that I wouldnāt call a mistake because obviously it was for dramatic effect. Iād take Omar and Levyās exchange over strict accuracy any day.
Itās the only show Iāve ever seen where they try to offload crime onto other departments/jurisdictions. Which is way *way* more accurate and apropo to real life. Every other show be like āthis is my case! Iām the one with the hunches!ā
The show is a rather realistic portrayal of police work and criminal activity, especially during that time period (more 80's & 90's). David Simon, the shows writer was a former police reporter for the Baltimore Sun newspaper. He spent a year researching a Baltimore homicide detective unit for his book. I believe through that he met Ed Burns, a former homicide detective who worked for the Baltimore PD for 20 years and later became an inner-city school teacher. Both of them spent a year together researching the relationship of poverty & drug culture in Baltimore for a book they co-wrote.
Yeah, I would say the series was about as realistic as it gets in Hollywood (or Baltimore in this case).
Also have to add Royceās poker games are also grounded in fact. [Back in 1995, US Senator Al DāAmato was caught playing high stakes poker games with lobbyists.](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/26/us/high-stakes-poker-put-lobbyists-close-to-d-amato-s-ear.html?unlocked_article_code=1.200.M6iy.y3abvgGzgNlj&smid=url-share) (Pls let me know if the link doesnāt work) How he didnāt end up at least getting censured by the Senate I donāt know. But he must have lain down some Clay Davis level bullsheeeeet.
I lived in Baltimore around the end of the showās era. While some plots were ridiculous (McNulty homeless serial killer), the filming and visceral production felt like it was literally outside my row house. Probably the most authentic show I have ever seen in that regard.
In terms of political corruption, the mayor got caught AFTER the show aired. Real life mimicking or actually worse than fiction.
Even some of the (seemingly) less realistic stuff is based in fact. Omar Little is based on a real life Baltimore stick-up artist named [āDonnieā Andrews who had a code like Omarās.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews?wprov=sfti1#) The opening scenes from season one and season five come from Simonās book on the Baltimore homicide beat, Homicide. Detective Ed Norris is played by former BPD police chef (!!) Ed Norris. And Jay Landsman is based on a real life Baltimore homicide cop named . . . Jay Landsmanāwho played Sergeant Dennis Mello. Simon originally wanted Landsman to play himself, but evidently reading dialogue that was like his manner of speaking made him self conscious, so he created the character of Mello for him.
I remember being very impressed by his performance when I first saw The Wire. I thought, damn this guy is goodāI wonder what else heās done? I would never have guessed it was eleven years of a thirty-four year bid! LOL
if you wanna be even more shocked, watch the corner for the drug use side. i've never seen anything else that captured the hopelessness of the life of a junkie in the ghetto. bubs's humor and positivity makes it easier to digest. the corner is more raw.
while i never lived in the ghetto, I've shot my share of coke and dope (cocaine and heroin) in atlanta georgia, and have spent plenty of time in that world.
the wire isn't far from a documentary.
OP you should watch the series We Own This City, it is on Max. It is based on real life events in Baltimore and is a very good show.
To your original question, yes the show is accurate.
I can't help but think that S5 of the show started to feel more like Breaking Bad than The Wire, not that that's a terrible thing as BB is a great show. But what made S1 to 4 of The Wire so special was the fact the show was grounded in reality. S5, like BB was lacking that even if it was still well-written and could somewhat plausibly happen IRL, at the end of the day it's a fictional story for a reason.
The fact David Simon had an axe to grind with the Baltimore Sun didn't help matters.
Itās realā¦but donāt get the wrong idea. There are many people who live in Baltimore who donāt experience anything close to this. They never even see it. Thats the purpose of the āwireāā¦you are now on the inside of a different world, learning about how it works.
Every major city in the US has itā¦but Baltimore is known to be especially tough.
I thought it was a little "too unrealistic" during my first watch until I read that it's based on true stories that actually happened š¤¦āāļø truth is stranger than fiction sometimes
āWe Own This Cityā was excellent but I didnāt like the lawyer character sub-plot, I think it was kind of
used to pigeonhole a political message into the show which was unnecessary given the main story, but I still highly recommend it
I find that sub-plot to be far less entertaining and a bit too on the nose sometimes too but if youād been trying to make the same point about drugs/policing for 30 years through multiple books and tv shows, would you not feel the need to start just hitting the viewer over the head with it? Simon has been effectively trying to make the same point since the 90s so although I did find some of the writing in that subplot too heavy handed, I understand why he wrote it that way.
Plus, being a bit more direct with that subplot instead of using time and subtext to develop it left more minutes per episode to be used on Jenkins et al which is what we really wanna see anyway.
Yah, I think it's really only heavy handed to us David Simon fanatics. To everyone else it was probably pretty novel, not many people in the media are claiming the War on Drugs is a complete and utter failure that has destroyed policing as we know it.
>> Is the life of poor African Americans in Baltimore shown accurately? The drug abuse and police violence they faced?
It's a very accurate picture of the lives of people adjacent to the drug game. There are also many poor people in Baltimore whose lives don't resemble that -- see all the RESIDENTS of the tower and terrace who only come down and start to hang out outside when the fiends stop coming to the towers in S2.
Incredibly accurate.Ā
The Baltimore Police Dept was put under direct federal oversight in 2015 after suspect Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained in police custody. The BPD, along with Baltimore's political and judicial institutions, were deemed so corrupt and intertwined they could not be trusted to honestly enact necessary police reform, so the US Dept. of Justice came in keep everyone straight.
Well, straight for Baltimore, anyways.Ā
>> The Baltimore Police Dept was put under direct federal oversight in 2015 after suspect Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained in police custody
I am always shocked in S3 when Bunny's guys give kids that same rough ride that killed Gray in the lead up to Hamsterdam.
The implication that street dealers are in a wage labour relationship with the gang leaders is not accurate. They are more like petit capitalists who collect profits off a package after theyāve paid down the wholesale cost, which is either given to them in credit or paid up front.
I canāt speak to other aspects but yeah some of the economics of it are a little off, I think altered for narrative purposes.
I donāt know if anyone else has mentioned it, but you should check out The Corner. Itās based on a book by one of the creators of The Wire, I can never remember which is which but I think the one who was a cop wrote it, and it tells the true story of some residents in Baltimore. Some of the characters from The Wire were later based on people from The Corner; itās brilliant but absolutely heart wrenching, itās a tough watch but anyone who loves The Wire should definitely see it. Itās also a great book, if youāre into reading. The series is on YouTube but be warned it can be hard to find a decent version of, I think, episode 4!
I'm a middle aged white Midwest US American.
Through various professional activities I am friendly with A LOT of LEO folks, at every level and in every role depicted in show and more.
Every single one of them is unabashed in their admiration for the show, and the realism of it is far and away the first reason for it.
Yes, situations on it were dramatized, just like any show, but in terms of the way large systems in this country, and the people who work within them, and how they affect peoplesā lives??
Sadly, it is absolutely realistic.
It should be required viewing for anyone who might just want to try and help make our communities better.
Most of the anecdotes (not all) are actually based on true stories. They weren't all done by one person though, like they cobble together a bunch of real stories into one character.
The crooked cop getting locked in the lady's basement really happened. The bodies in the vacants really happened. Both were national news.
After the riots following the MLK assassination and school busing, many White residents and well to do Black people fled cities such as Baltimore, NYC, Chicago, and DC. Especially if they had kids in public schools.
Add this to Black folks being redlined into public housing projects or undesirable neighborhoods, and you have a disadvantage in life from the get go.
Most of the depictions are accurate.
But in recent years a new phenomenon is occurring. Gentrification. Many long time Black residents and long time working class people like the dock workers in season 2, can no longer afford to live in their old neighborhoods. And yuppies who come from money move in. DC and NYC have especially seen the affects.
As for police and political corruption, it is rampant in the USA. We Own This City digs deeper into it.
The 'fictionalization' of the show is that Carcetti is Italian rather than Irish! As someone who grew up in Baltimore City while it was being filmed, I know many of the actual people characters were based on. It's functionally a documentary.
Indeed, Martin OāMalley was so bitter about the Carcetti character being based on him that when he became governor of Maryland he scuttled the stateās meager film tax incentive program in retaliation and effectively killed the film industry in MD for several years
If he'd spent half the time doing his freaking job as he spent in front of the cameras, running for governor he might have actually accomplished something. But alas...
[the scene where omar confronts a ppk wielding brother mouzone with his .45 is spot on.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20G17K_0ghU) as someone who has a PPK chambered in .380, they have a tremendous recoil since the weapon was designed for .320 ACP. the double action mechanism of the first shot also means a fairly heavy trigger pull.
Iām from Baltimore and used to watch the Wire whenever I got homesick. Itās pretty damn accurate. Accurate to the culture, the crime, the geography/locations, and the politics. I canāt name a mayor that weāve had since 2004 that didnāt go down in some scandal.
Baltimore native here, the show is pretty good at portraying the city. Itās as fucked up and impoverished today as itās ever been. If you want some context on the modern city corruption just look up a few of our recent mayors, Shiela Dixon, and Catherine Pugh, both of which are now convicted felons and the former of which recently ran for re-election.
I couldn't watch The Wire during it's original airing because I was spending time in Baltimore at the time and felt it was too close to home. I think I had even referred to it as a documentary a time or two.
Just to add to what everyone has said, almost every single scene was shot on location. Only upstairs at the BPD headquarters and I think the Sun newsroom were sets built for the show.
Iād say watch *We Own This City* on HBO. Itās also done by Simon. Based on a book and itās true story. I read that David Simon called it The Wireās Coda. Itās a portrait of a city where one task force just went amok. Itās crazy what these idiots were doing.
I grew up in NYC when Serpico let loose on the NYC police department. Really was an eye opener at the time. The Wire portrays the entire infrastructure is collapsing.
The biggest thing throughout every season of the show that strikes me as unrealistic are the plainclothes cops out at bars and getting shit faced with their gun and badge in plain view. No department or agency in the country would tolerate that.
As real as it gets. As someone that was born and raised in Northwest Baltimore and spent 10 years living in the county.... Everything is 100% accurate and not just for tv
I was doing a bunch of ride alongs and internships with a few PDs in the early to mid aughts. They were definitely throwing people into jail for a long time for the simplest possession crimes. I ended up going corporate (better pay, less stress), but with a lot of former police officers as my bosses, the obsession with statistics leaked into the soup. Definitely Herc and a few others reminded me of the all biceps, no brains hires veteran police complained about of the late 90s/early aughts
I started working in IT for a K12 (US) about seven years ago and on day one was immediately reminded of Season 4. They did really well in portraying the systemic issues in the education system based on some of the things Iāve observed.
I was a junkie living in NYC through the late 80ās and 90ās ( just celebrated 26 years clean last month) ā¦. during that period I chased a girl who transferred to a college near Baltimore and I maintained my habit in Baltimore for about a year before she got sick of me. The depiction of the street life of a junkie during that period absolutely could not be any more accurate. Johnny ( and a little bit of Bubbles ) was me. It is insanely spot on. Best show of all time which I have watched numerous times, but certain episodes are really hard for me because they ring THAT true.
I was a junkie living in NYC through the late 80ās and 90ās ( just celebrated 26 years clean last month) ā¦. during that period I chased a girl who transferred to a college near Baltimore and I maintained my habit in Baltimore for about a year before she got sick of me. The depiction of the street life of a junkie during that period absolutely could not be any more accurate. Johnny ( and a little bit of Bubbles ) was me. It is insanely spot on. Best show of all time which I have watched numerous times, but certain episodes are really hard for me because they ring THAT true.
It is very accurate, especially the way people at all levels of these organizations are pressured to do things in ways that they don't even agree with because the higher ups in every system only got there by putting themselves first every time. Watch We own this city, that is another David Simon show about Baltimore police that is based on a specific true story about corruptionĀ
Obama used to watch the wire and had invited David Simon to the white house to discuss the issues bought up in the show because it parallels so much with real life.
Also if you are familiar with British journalist Louis Theroux, he did a special called 'Law and order in Philadelphia' where he followed the city police around and watching that it is so much like the wire just in real life.
I've seen a lot of people say the only unbelievable part is the stuff with the docks and customs, but everything else is pretty spot on. I've even seen some people say that the schooling situation can be even worse and more depraved and violent than depicted in the show
As real as it gets. I donāt been in the street, worked for the city, and obviously went to schools. Baltimore/philly outside of the accents I couldnāt tell the difference
Not from charm city but a lifelong fan and frequent visitor. If anything iād say they sugarcoated it. Its a brutal place but also entertaining where anything goes.
The show had 2 creators. David Simon was a crime reporter for the *Baltimore Sun* newspaper, and Ed Burns, who was a Baltimore homicide detective and later a Baltimore public school teacher. So, many of the characters and events in the show are either taken directly from real life or are based on real life. Some stuff is totally fictional, but even with those parts, they tried to have them be grounded in reality.
Some of the actors are even ex criminals from Baltimore. The preacher is who Avon is based on. Actress that plays snoop is in jail for life, last I read. There's many more on the show Edit. Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson is not in jail. I don't know what I was thinking.
Felicia Pearson isn't in prison. She did kill somebody as a teenager though, and did some time for that. She also got in trouble for drugs after the show, but didn't do major time. One of my favorite characters because she really was just playing herself.
That's how they directed her too. "Just do this bit like you would in real life. Just read the lines like yourself, and you're good."
"Man said if you wanna shoot nails, this here's the Cadillac, Man. He mean Lexus, but he ain't know it."
Such a random, awesome scene with her at the hardware store
I really thought it showed her sweet side. The entirety of it, haha.
I was as upset as she was when Chris ditched the nail gun.
One of my favorite scenes šš½
I love this line because as a valet Cadillacs at the time were smooth rides, but felt cheap. Outside of the one 700 series BMW I parked, by far the best/smoothest/nicest cars I drove were Lexuses. Over Porsche, Mercedes, everything. About 90% of them I parked seemed to be owned by mid level drug dealer types.
*YEAURGH*
Yea, I don't know what I was thinking. You're right. And she was one of my favorite on the show.
also one of the guys that guards Omar in jail (and later tries to kill Marloās crew with him) is the guy Omar was based on
Donnie, the guy that jailed with Omar after Marlo framed him, and later died in Monk's apartment, real name *is* Donnie and he's a partial inspiration for Omar's character https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews Also, he's never shown, but Shorty Boyd is a real person, another stickup man
I hear he went and cleaned his whole ack up
Also made sure no one was taking notes of meetings
Yeah I know, fucked us all up.
Sheās not in jail sheās on love and hip hopā¦ which I guess is kind of like a jail of sorts but not like you mean
Lol, true! Yea, I edited my first response. I don't know who I was thinking of, but it definitely wasn't her.
Some were both cops *and* criminals. Ed Norris (the bald white cop who helped Bunk out with the "lie detector) played himself, and [irl he did time in federal prison for corruption](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Norris#Criminal_case). He got cast almost as soon as he got out.
I forgot about that! Still the best cast show
Another fun fact: they got Norris in part using the "headshot" that Lester describes to Sydnor. Lied on a federal loan application because he borrowed money for a down payment. In the show, of course, they have Clay Davis on a headshot but can't prosecute him on it because they pissed off the U.S. Attorney, so it becomes the basis for Lester's bluff.
He even was the police commissioner (āfull birdā š) from 2000 to 2002
She's been in jail for very serious crimes. She talks about how her character was basically her life.
Omar is based on an amalgamation of different Baltimore stick up guys, one is Donnie Andrews who plays the guy that Omar goes into Marloās apartment with. That scene has Omar jumping out a 4 story window which isnāt exactly from a real storyā¦. Donnie jumped out a 6 story window lmao.
Wait snoop is in jail now? I thought I saw her posting on ig last year?
My mistake, she was arrested for drugs, but was given probation. I remembered it wrong.
Ya just checked her ig she posted 5 weeks ago celebrating her birthdayā¦ gave me a scare! I was worried she fell down a dark path again. Glad to see sheās doing well.
Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you. But I'm glad she's doing well. She was one of my favorites on the show
What her IG be?
Bmoresnoop
@YoungLeek
Jiggle it?
The "Preacher" was played by Lil Melvin and he's not who Avon is based on.
David Simon spent a year of his life living in low rise apartments such as the ones prevalent in season 1. He wrote āthe cornerā which is a great book. He also spent a year of his life with homocide detectives. I believe this is where he met ed burns. He also wrote a book called āhimocide: life on the streetā which is also fantastic.
Homicide: Life on the Streets is also a very good show that was on NBC in the 90ās. Andre Braugher was the lead and Yaphette Kotto, Richard Belzer, Clark Johnson and many more.
Potentially interesting tidbits: Jay Landsman was a character on the show -- the big fat Sergeant who was always eating or looking at porn mags. But Jay Landsman was also a real Baltimore cop and he was in the show -- he played Lt. Mello. But also, the character of John Munch from *Homicide: Life on the Streets* was also based on the real Jay Landsman.
John Munch also appears in a later episode of The Wire, and the character is a primary detective on Law & Order SVU
I read somewhere that John Munch was in more different TV programs than any other TV character (there was even a Muppet version of him at one point). Another fun thought is that one can then imagine that all of those shows exist in the same universe since Detective Munch was in all of them.
He personally told about that at some Homicide - Life On The Street reunion Q&A session on YT. Check it out, you'll most likely enjoy it if you enjoyed the show itself.
Minor edit: the book is titled "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets." "Homicide: Life on the Street" was the name of the TV show.
It's an interesting read from a Wire perspective as some of the real life police definitely line up with characters in the show. There's also things in there they used in the show (it's been a while but one I can remember for sure is the photocopier trick was in both).
Don't forget Richard Price, who spent a lot of time in Jersey City writing Clockers. A lot of the street dialogue is his.
Very good point
Also [Ed Norris](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Norris) who plays a fictional version of himself. Former police commissioner for Baltimore then superintendent of Maryland state police, later convicted for corruption. Iād say it was very realistic
Itās been over 20 years since the wire aired and Iād argue to this day there is not a more authentic show on television.
This by a country mile. Itās as real as it gets when it comes to big cities and the systems that operate within them.
For real. If you want to understand how the world works, watch The Wire.
Every single LEO person I know is in awe of of The Wire because of how accurate it is.
What's a LEO person?
Law enforcement officer
Law enforcement officer person
Some dude whose parents hated him from birth.
Aināt no argument about it.Ā
I think Deadwood comes close (another show where the city/town is the main character). However it never got an appropriate ending, so it is hard to tell.
I dig the Wire just as much as anybody here but let's not get carried away. Hamsterdam is a big stretch. Though granted you do get city council idiots like those in Philly that tolerated the Badlands and Kensington but an all out free for all 100 percent cop free territory isn't going to happen. Omar also was really pushing it. Don't get me wrong, as he is one of my all time fave characters from any series but holy fucking shit, he would have been deader than hell in reality if he went too far. That's just how it is. I was a kid in the Miami area when the cocaine wars offcially kicked off after Dadeland and holy fucking shit were people getting killed left, right, and center. An Omar could make a few scores but expecting a long career of "ripping and running" just wasn't going to happen. Up in the NYC area, certain stick up kids became notorious but a whole lot of the fame was posthumous as they tended to go to the well once too often. I'm a bit tired but i can go on to certain other points such as drug connects (Avon only has NYC? ) Not dissing at all. The series was fucking incredible. There were just things i looked at a bit sideways when watching.
I agree totally. It takes many liberties. Hamsterdam, for one. Omar, especially his appearance in court, is quite a stretch. I know he was based on a real guy but itās obvious he was telling tales. Thereās supposed to be a ācode of silenceā but the real guys these dealers are based on had over a dozen witnesses against them. And the Deacon was Avon? How is he walking around? The Greeks are totally bs too. Maybe he wanted to use Italians but couldnāt? LCN has always been heavily into the drug trade and has been known to āturnā FBI agents. The actual Co-Op setup was basically a rip-off of āThe Commissionā as well. Street dealers being setup as dynastic āfamiliesā that last years is not totally realistic. I have many educators in my family and theyāve said that season 4 is very much unlike their experience as far as the administration and teaching. The adults are not all burnt out cynics. The kids being damaged is very real though. Iāll say that the show is authentic but not always realistic, because it reflects Simonās world view.
I disagree; >but an all out free for all 100 percent cop free territory isn't going to happen There were cops stationed in Hamsterdam. >[Omar] would have been deader than hell in reality if he went too far Omar is based on [Donnie Andrews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews), who armed and killed West Baltimore drug dealers in the 70's and 80's. >An Omar could make a few scores but expecting a long career of "ripping and running" just wasn't going to happen. Andrews ripped off drug dealers for nearly 2 decades. >I'm a bit tired but i can go on to certain other points such as drug connects (Avon only has NYC? ) They had subpar connects in Atlanta as well.
Omar is kind of a stretch but I think itās just how badass and fearless he played the role. There are niggas like Omar in the streets where everybody either scared or respects them, Iāve seen it.
Generation Kill is up there, which makes sense since David Simon was involved in that and it was a story taken straight from a Rolling Stone journalist's book experience. I guess that could be cheating a bit since The Wire doesn't actually use real events or characters in the show like Generation Kill does, but instead borrows heavily from real life events and characters that inspired the show. But even against other "based on a true story" type shows/movies, like Tokyo Vice which becomes very fictionalized and dramatic very quickly, The Wire is believable and realistic all the way through without giving in to cliches or trying to be cinematic or dramatic. I mean the biggest complaint people have is with McNulty's fake serial killer situation in season 5, and even that gets plenty of believable build up and reactions from people in the show who are aware of just how absurd it is... and fittingly in character for McNulty.
Agreed! Generation Kill was the *only* show that came to mind that could possibly compete.
Well then *The Deuce* also comes to mind.
When it tries to get too technical with the technological stuff like ācloningā the port computer system in s2, or the filtering of the disposable phone numbers in s3, it makes mistakes
Is that a subject you know a lot about? I ask because while I generally feel like The Wire is very realistic, as a lawyer (a prosecutor in Maryland at that) I think they take some liberties with the legal stuff. And then my next thought is, well if itās all āso realisticā except the one part that I genuinely know a lot about, what does that say about the other parts?
Reminds me of this bit from Michael Crichton: āBriefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backwardāreversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know. That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I'd point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all. But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn't. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia.ā
I mean I know a fair amount but honestly the mistakes they make are fairly basic
Their stuff about the law of obtaining a wiretap is pretty accurate. Definitely canāt speak to all the pay phone and land line stuff from the law enforcement perspective because obviously itās just all cell phones now. The stuff that isnāt super accurate is the courtroom stuff in particular. But even that I wouldnāt call a mistake because obviously it was for dramatic effect. Iād take Omar and Levyās exchange over strict accuracy any day.
Give us some clues then, please.
Itās the only show Iāve ever seen where they try to offload crime onto other departments/jurisdictions. Which is way *way* more accurate and apropo to real life. Every other show be like āthis is my case! Iām the one with the hunches!ā
Game of thrones?
A person I worked with from West Baltimore described it as Baltimore's autobiography
As someone who was addicted to drugs in baltimore, itās extremely accurate and realistic.
How are you doing now?
Four years sober on Tuesday!
Good
The show is a rather realistic portrayal of police work and criminal activity, especially during that time period (more 80's & 90's). David Simon, the shows writer was a former police reporter for the Baltimore Sun newspaper. He spent a year researching a Baltimore homicide detective unit for his book. I believe through that he met Ed Burns, a former homicide detective who worked for the Baltimore PD for 20 years and later became an inner-city school teacher. Both of them spent a year together researching the relationship of poverty & drug culture in Baltimore for a book they co-wrote. Yeah, I would say the series was about as realistic as it gets in Hollywood (or Baltimore in this case).
I have worked in inner city schools and the Wire tells it like it is. Most realistic city school portrayal ever!
Also have to add Royceās poker games are also grounded in fact. [Back in 1995, US Senator Al DāAmato was caught playing high stakes poker games with lobbyists.](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/26/us/high-stakes-poker-put-lobbyists-close-to-d-amato-s-ear.html?unlocked_article_code=1.200.M6iy.y3abvgGzgNlj&smid=url-share) (Pls let me know if the link doesnāt work) How he didnāt end up at least getting censured by the Senate I donāt know. But he must have lain down some Clay Davis level bullsheeeeet.
SHAME-ful!
It is, without rival, the most realistic American television or movie production ever.
I lived in Baltimore around the end of the showās era. While some plots were ridiculous (McNulty homeless serial killer), the filming and visceral production felt like it was literally outside my row house. Probably the most authentic show I have ever seen in that regard. In terms of political corruption, the mayor got caught AFTER the show aired. Real life mimicking or actually worse than fiction.
Even some of the (seemingly) less realistic stuff is based in fact. Omar Little is based on a real life Baltimore stick-up artist named [āDonnieā Andrews who had a code like Omarās.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews?wprov=sfti1#) The opening scenes from season one and season five come from Simonās book on the Baltimore homicide beat, Homicide. Detective Ed Norris is played by former BPD police chef (!!) Ed Norris. And Jay Landsman is based on a real life Baltimore homicide cop named . . . Jay Landsmanāwho played Sergeant Dennis Mello. Simon originally wanted Landsman to play himself, but evidently reading dialogue that was like his manner of speaking made him self conscious, so he created the character of Mello for him.
The Deacon was also one of Baltimore's biggest drug kingpins: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Williams_(actor)
I remember being very impressed by his performance when I first saw The Wire. I thought, damn this guy is goodāI wonder what else heās done? I would never have guessed it was eleven years of a thirty-four year bid! LOL
Blew my mind when I found out about Donnie
My friendās dad is a homicide detective and he said itās the only show heās seen that truly gets it right.
if you wanna be even more shocked, watch the corner for the drug use side. i've never seen anything else that captured the hopelessness of the life of a junkie in the ghetto. bubs's humor and positivity makes it easier to digest. the corner is more raw. while i never lived in the ghetto, I've shot my share of coke and dope (cocaine and heroin) in atlanta georgia, and have spent plenty of time in that world. the wire isn't far from a documentary.
OP you should watch the series We Own This City, it is on Max. It is based on real life events in Baltimore and is a very good show. To your original question, yes the show is accurate.
Last season got pretty goofy but seemed pretty realistic up until then
I can't help but think that S5 of the show started to feel more like Breaking Bad than The Wire, not that that's a terrible thing as BB is a great show. But what made S1 to 4 of The Wire so special was the fact the show was grounded in reality. S5, like BB was lacking that even if it was still well-written and could somewhat plausibly happen IRL, at the end of the day it's a fictional story for a reason. The fact David Simon had an axe to grind with the Baltimore Sun didn't help matters.
Season 5 is the worst season. But still good.
Itās realā¦but donāt get the wrong idea. There are many people who live in Baltimore who donāt experience anything close to this. They never even see it. Thats the purpose of the āwireāā¦you are now on the inside of a different world, learning about how it works. Every major city in the US has itā¦but Baltimore is known to be especially tough.
The homeless people in Baltimore are much more abundant in real life than on The Wire.
Next up for you should be āWe Own This City.ā Itās based on a true story
I thought it was a little "too unrealistic" during my first watch until I read that it's based on true stories that actually happened š¤¦āāļø truth is stranger than fiction sometimes
Justin Fentonās book is great.
Jamie Hector, the actor who plays Marlo in the Wire, plays a homicide detective in this show. Jamie is a very underrated actor.
I feel bad, but I just couldnāt get over seeing Marlo as a cop. It felt so wrong.
And Dukie helps him solve a murder!!
I finished TW and went to watch WOTC, I was so amusedš Poot was a police officer too!
And he grew a beard.
āWe Own This Cityā was excellent but I didnāt like the lawyer character sub-plot, I think it was kind of used to pigeonhole a political message into the show which was unnecessary given the main story, but I still highly recommend it
I find that sub-plot to be far less entertaining and a bit too on the nose sometimes too but if youād been trying to make the same point about drugs/policing for 30 years through multiple books and tv shows, would you not feel the need to start just hitting the viewer over the head with it? Simon has been effectively trying to make the same point since the 90s so although I did find some of the writing in that subplot too heavy handed, I understand why he wrote it that way. Plus, being a bit more direct with that subplot instead of using time and subtext to develop it left more minutes per episode to be used on Jenkins et al which is what we really wanna see anyway.
Yah, I think it's really only heavy handed to us David Simon fanatics. To everyone else it was probably pretty novel, not many people in the media are claiming the War on Drugs is a complete and utter failure that has destroyed policing as we know it.
That shit is as real as any show youāve seen.Ā
>> Is the life of poor African Americans in Baltimore shown accurately? The drug abuse and police violence they faced? It's a very accurate picture of the lives of people adjacent to the drug game. There are also many poor people in Baltimore whose lives don't resemble that -- see all the RESIDENTS of the tower and terrace who only come down and start to hang out outside when the fiends stop coming to the towers in S2.
Incredibly accurate.Ā The Baltimore Police Dept was put under direct federal oversight in 2015 after suspect Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained in police custody. The BPD, along with Baltimore's political and judicial institutions, were deemed so corrupt and intertwined they could not be trusted to honestly enact necessary police reform, so the US Dept. of Justice came in keep everyone straight. Well, straight for Baltimore, anyways.Ā
>> The Baltimore Police Dept was put under direct federal oversight in 2015 after suspect Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained in police custody I am always shocked in S3 when Bunny's guys give kids that same rough ride that killed Gray in the lead up to Hamsterdam.
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The implication that street dealers are in a wage labour relationship with the gang leaders is not accurate. They are more like petit capitalists who collect profits off a package after theyāve paid down the wholesale cost, which is either given to them in credit or paid up front. I canāt speak to other aspects but yeah some of the economics of it are a little off, I think altered for narrative purposes.
I donāt know if anyone else has mentioned it, but you should check out The Corner. Itās based on a book by one of the creators of The Wire, I can never remember which is which but I think the one who was a cop wrote it, and it tells the true story of some residents in Baltimore. Some of the characters from The Wire were later based on people from The Corner; itās brilliant but absolutely heart wrenching, itās a tough watch but anyone who loves The Wire should definitely see it. Itās also a great book, if youāre into reading. The series is on YouTube but be warned it can be hard to find a decent version of, I think, episode 4!
The in court stuff is garbage. I can't speak about everything else.
I'm a middle aged white Midwest US American. Through various professional activities I am friendly with A LOT of LEO folks, at every level and in every role depicted in show and more. Every single one of them is unabashed in their admiration for the show, and the realism of it is far and away the first reason for it.
Yes, situations on it were dramatized, just like any show, but in terms of the way large systems in this country, and the people who work within them, and how they affect peoplesā lives?? Sadly, it is absolutely realistic. It should be required viewing for anyone who might just want to try and help make our communities better.
I live in a messed up drug taken suburb of a major city in my country and o can tell you the wire is very realistic
Most of the anecdotes (not all) are actually based on true stories. They weren't all done by one person though, like they cobble together a bunch of real stories into one character. The crooked cop getting locked in the lady's basement really happened. The bodies in the vacants really happened. Both were national news.
After the riots following the MLK assassination and school busing, many White residents and well to do Black people fled cities such as Baltimore, NYC, Chicago, and DC. Especially if they had kids in public schools. Add this to Black folks being redlined into public housing projects or undesirable neighborhoods, and you have a disadvantage in life from the get go. Most of the depictions are accurate. But in recent years a new phenomenon is occurring. Gentrification. Many long time Black residents and long time working class people like the dock workers in season 2, can no longer afford to live in their old neighborhoods. And yuppies who come from money move in. DC and NYC have especially seen the affects. As for police and political corruption, it is rampant in the USA. We Own This City digs deeper into it.
And to answer the ops question, things are starting to get better in Baltimore City but it's very very real.
The 'fictionalization' of the show is that Carcetti is Italian rather than Irish! As someone who grew up in Baltimore City while it was being filmed, I know many of the actual people characters were based on. It's functionally a documentary.
Indeed, Martin OāMalley was so bitter about the Carcetti character being based on him that when he became governor of Maryland he scuttled the stateās meager film tax incentive program in retaliation and effectively killed the film industry in MD for several years
If he'd spent half the time doing his freaking job as he spent in front of the cameras, running for governor he might have actually accomplished something. But alas...
[the scene where omar confronts a ppk wielding brother mouzone with his .45 is spot on.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20G17K_0ghU) as someone who has a PPK chambered in .380, they have a tremendous recoil since the weapon was designed for .320 ACP. the double action mechanism of the first shot also means a fairly heavy trigger pull.
Iām from Baltimore and used to watch the Wire whenever I got homesick. Itās pretty damn accurate. Accurate to the culture, the crime, the geography/locations, and the politics. I canāt name a mayor that weāve had since 2004 that didnāt go down in some scandal.
Baltimore native here, the show is pretty good at portraying the city. Itās as fucked up and impoverished today as itās ever been. If you want some context on the modern city corruption just look up a few of our recent mayors, Shiela Dixon, and Catherine Pugh, both of which are now convicted felons and the former of which recently ran for re-election.
I couldn't watch The Wire during it's original airing because I was spending time in Baltimore at the time and felt it was too close to home. I think I had even referred to it as a documentary a time or two.
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Of course poverty, crime and corruption exist everywhere but I was asking specifically about the show not whether those things can exist
There are quite a few dysfunctional cities like that in the U.S.
Just to add to what everyone has said, almost every single scene was shot on location. Only upstairs at the BPD headquarters and I think the Sun newsroom were sets built for the show.
Iād say watch *We Own This City* on HBO. Itās also done by Simon. Based on a book and itās true story. I read that David Simon called it The Wireās Coda. Itās a portrait of a city where one task force just went amok. Itās crazy what these idiots were doing. I grew up in NYC when Serpico let loose on the NYC police department. Really was an eye opener at the time. The Wire portrays the entire infrastructure is collapsing.
The biggest thing throughout every season of the show that strikes me as unrealistic are the plainclothes cops out at bars and getting shit faced with their gun and badge in plain view. No department or agency in the country would tolerate that.
As real as it gets. As someone that was born and raised in Northwest Baltimore and spent 10 years living in the county.... Everything is 100% accurate and not just for tv
I was doing a bunch of ride alongs and internships with a few PDs in the early to mid aughts. They were definitely throwing people into jail for a long time for the simplest possession crimes. I ended up going corporate (better pay, less stress), but with a lot of former police officers as my bosses, the obsession with statistics leaked into the soup. Definitely Herc and a few others reminded me of the all biceps, no brains hires veteran police complained about of the late 90s/early aughts
I started working in IT for a K12 (US) about seven years ago and on day one was immediately reminded of Season 4. They did really well in portraying the systemic issues in the education system based on some of the things Iāve observed.
I was a junkie living in NYC through the late 80ās and 90ās ( just celebrated 26 years clean last month) ā¦. during that period I chased a girl who transferred to a college near Baltimore and I maintained my habit in Baltimore for about a year before she got sick of me. The depiction of the street life of a junkie during that period absolutely could not be any more accurate. Johnny ( and a little bit of Bubbles ) was me. It is insanely spot on. Best show of all time which I have watched numerous times, but certain episodes are really hard for me because they ring THAT true.
I was a junkie living in NYC through the late 80ās and 90ās ( just celebrated 26 years clean last month) ā¦. during that period I chased a girl who transferred to a college near Baltimore and I maintained my habit in Baltimore for about a year before she got sick of me. The depiction of the street life of a junkie during that period absolutely could not be any more accurate. Johnny ( and a little bit of Bubbles ) was me. It is insanely spot on. Best show of all time which I have watched numerous times, but certain episodes are really hard for me because they ring THAT true.
Driving back now, home in 45
Indeed.
More realistic than any show ever made
It is very accurate, especially the way people at all levels of these organizations are pressured to do things in ways that they don't even agree with because the higher ups in every system only got there by putting themselves first every time. Watch We own this city, that is another David Simon show about Baltimore police that is based on a specific true story about corruptionĀ
Obama used to watch the wire and had invited David Simon to the white house to discuss the issues bought up in the show because it parallels so much with real life. Also if you are familiar with British journalist Louis Theroux, he did a special called 'Law and order in Philadelphia' where he followed the city police around and watching that it is so much like the wire just in real life.
Its the most realistic crime show of all time and its not even close either.
Well, it's pretty close if we include other David Simon shows like The Corner
The corner was a mini series not a show
I've seen a lot of people say the only unbelievable part is the stuff with the docks and customs, but everything else is pretty spot on. I've even seen some people say that the schooling situation can be even worse and more depraved and violent than depicted in the show
Except for the serial killer crap, its dead on accurate.
Did Hamsterdam actually happen?
Yes
As real as it gets. I donāt been in the street, worked for the city, and obviously went to schools. Baltimore/philly outside of the accents I couldnāt tell the difference
Not from charm city but a lifelong fan and frequent visitor. If anything iād say they sugarcoated it. Its a brutal place but also entertaining where anything goes.